The 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival has been going on for the past couple of days in Downtown Los Angeles and Collider has been there checking out the latest offerings from the indie world along with some buzzed about films from Sundance and SXSW.  We’ve provided some reviews for Drive and The Devil’s Double already and after the jump you can read my thoughts on some of the films that have played the festival so far like Haunters, Senna, Sawdust City, and Once I Was a Champion.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Drive will be remembered as one of the best films from 2011.  It will also go down as the film that truly introduced the world to director Nicholas Winding Refn.  To put it simple:  Drive is amazing.

Refn wastes absolutely no time in letting you know that the film you are about to watch will have a unique style of its own as the film opens with a bumping synth score as a neon pink cursive title font starts rolling over immediately striking shots of Ryan Gosling cruising around a moody looking Los Angeles.  Refn makes sure that you know from the start that you are going to be watching a film that is obsessed with being as cinematic as it possibly can.  You can hit the jump to read my full review.

Some new images from Craig Brewer’s (Hustle & Flow) upcoming remake of Footloose have appeared online.  The original film told the story of a city kid who loves dancing that ends living in a place where dancing and rock & roll have been outlawed.  It looks like not much has changed in the remake after looking at these pictures, but I am still looking forward to seeing what Craig Brewer brings to the table with this one.  The film stars Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, Ray McKinnon, and Andie MacDowell.  Hit the jump to take a look at the pictures and to read about how Brewer’s film will be different from the 80s classic.

Matt Damon may make his directorial debut with the much sought after Matthew Aldrich penned script, Father Daughter Time: A Tale of Armed Robbery and Eskimo Kisses.  Deadline reports that various studios including Paramount and Fox were trying to get their hands on the script, with Warner Bros coming out on top with the winning bid.  There isn’t much known about the film except that the story is about “a man who goes on the lam with his daughter, his accomplice on a three-state crime spree.”   Aldrich describes the film as “not high concept, it’s a smallish, very personal, dark but playful road movie about a father and daughter.”  For my thoughts on the project and what else Damon is involved in, hit the jump.

Will Smith has been informally offered the lead role in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming “Southern”/Spaghetti Western, Django Unchained.  The project came out of nowhere last week and we’ve slowly been getting more details about the film during the past couple of days.  We know that Tarantino is aiming to start production in late summer or fall and we also have this plot synopsis:

“Django is a freed slave, who, under the tutelage of a German bounty hunter becomes a bad-ass bounty hunter himself, and after assisting Waltz in taking down some bad guys for profit, is helped by Waltz in tracking down his slave wife and liberating her from an evil plantation owner.”

The film is moving at a fast pace and we now have some info regarding who Tarantino is hoping to cast and which roles they play.  Here’s a hint:  Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson.  Hit the jump for more.

Laura Linney (The Big C) will star alongside Bill Murray in Hyde Park on the Hudson.  The film focuses on FDR’s love affair with his cousin, Daisy, during a June weekend in 1939 when the British King and Queen visited Roosevelt’s upstate New York cottage in what was the first ever visit to America by a member of the British monarchy.  As we previously reported, the notoriously reclusive Bill Murray has signed on to star as FDR.  Now, Deadline reports that Linney has signed on to play FDR’s cousin/lover, Daisy.  I’ll watch anything with Bill Murray and it’ll be interesting to see who will end up playing Eleanor Roosevelt along with the King and Queen.  Roger Mitchell (Morning Glory) will direct the film.

In other casting news, Ricky Gervais has signed on to voice the character of Argonaut in the upcoming Spy Kids film, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World.   In the press release Gervais said, “Not only am I lending my voice to Spy Kids, but they can keep it.  I’m sick of it.”  Not much is known about Argonaut besides the fact that he is a robot spy dog.  Gervais joins the cast which already includes Jessica Alba, Jeremy Piven, Joel McHale, Rowan Blanchard, Mason Cook, Antonio Banderas, Danny Trejo , Alexa Vega, and Daryl Sabara.  Spy Kids: All the Time in the World opens on August 19, 2011 and it’s written and directed by Robert Rodriguez.  Hit the jump  for the synopsis.

Well, this didn’t take long.  Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises started filming in Jodhpur, India today and we already have some leaked images of the set finding their way online.  Leaked set photos normally don’t reveal much about a film, but what makes these interesting for any Batman fan is the inclusion of a green screen pool.  The “green screen pool = Ra’s al Ghul’s The Lazarus Pit” theory found its way online the moment the photos popped up and it’s easy to see why so many fans have begun to speculate this given the recent news that Josh Pence will be appearing in the film as a young Ra’s al Ghul in flashbacks.   Hit the jump to see the photos and to read more about the Lazarus Pit along with what this could mean for Nolan’s final Batman film.

There is that classic saying that goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”  For famed artist Vik Muniz, it’s “One man’s trash is another man’s art.”  World renowned and applauded for his art, Muniz has spent the past couple of decades creating mesmerizing works of art by only using various pieces of trash and garbage as his tools.  Director Lucy Walker, along with co-directors João Jardim and Karen Harley, followed Muniz for three years as he created his most ambitious work of art to date and what resulted was the Academy Award-nominated documentary, Waste Land. You can read my review after the jump.

I’m pretty sure that there is not a celebrity out there who truly likes being followed by the paparazzi.  Actor-cum-documentarian, Adrian Grenier, happens to be one of those unlucky celebrities, who always have paparazzi surrounding them.  However, what makes Grenier’s issues with the paparazzi, and our current celebrity obsessed culture, truly unique is that he not only deals with flashing light bulbs following him everywhere he goes in real life, but also on set where he stars as the fake popular movie star Vincent Chase on HBO’s Entourage.

Constantly being pursued by the paparazzi, both real and fake, on a daily basis has lead Grenier to think about what really drives the paparazzi to stalk and pursue celebrities.  While walking through an airport one day, Grenier was photographed by a kid that he thought was just a fan, who actually turned out to be a 14-year-old professional paparazzo named Austin Visschedyk.  Fascinated by what would make a kid want to become a paparazzo, Grenier decided to turn the cameras on Austin while also using him as a prism to explore the intense relationship that exists between the paparazzi and celebrities. My DVD review of the resulting documentary, Teenage Paparazzo, lies after the jump.

CBS Films has given us 5 clips for their upcoming film, Beastly.  The film – directed by Daniel Barnz (Phoebe in Wonderland) – is a modern reimagining of Beauty and the Beast, which places the classic tale in a high school setting.  Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number 4) stars as a popular handsome high school student that finds himself turned into a beast, who then has one year to find someone who can love him so that he can reverse the curse.  The film also stars Vanessa Hudgens, Neil Patrick Harris, and Mary-Kate Olsen.  Beastly is set to open on March 4.  Hit the jump to watch the clips:

Daryl Hannah, Tom Sizemore, and Thora Birch will star in director Fabien Martorell’s upcoming adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel Snuff.  The Cult [via AICN] reports that Hannah has been cast as Cassie Wright, an aging porn star who is planning to film a 600-man gangbang as her last film.  Sizemore will be playing Mr. 600, the man who is responsible for introducing Cassie to the business.  Meanwhile, Birch (who happens to be the daughter of two porn stars in real life) will play the role of a “talent wrangler” named Sheila.

I still have yet to read Palahniuk’s book, but I’m always happy to see Hannah, Sizemore, and Birch getting more prominent roles.  All three actors are, in my opinion, underrated and underused.  Hit the jump to read the plot synopsis for the Palahniuk novel.

Julia Roberts has been confirmed as the Evil Queen in Tarsem Singh’s (The Fall) upcoming 3D Snow White film, The Brothers Grimm: Snow White.  Relativity Media was first courting Roberts for the role before moving into talks with the actress.  Now, Deadline is reporting that Roberts is confirmed to star in the film.  I’m personally excited about this casting news not because of the casting itself, but because it is a huge step forward towards bringing what is sure to be an extremely visual take on the fairy tale by Tarsem to the big screen.   This also marks the film’s first official casting announcement for the project even though such actresses as Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, and Anne Hathaway have been rumored as possible candidates for the film.

In other Snow White film news, Universal Pictures competing film, Snow White and the Huntsman, continues to be farther ahead when it comes to casting.  The studio is currently in talks with Kristen Stewart to play Snow White with Charlize Theron starring as the Evil Queen and Viggo Mortensen set to star as the Hunstman.  Commercial director Rupert Sanders is set to helm the picture.  Meanwhile, Disney recently announced that screenwriter Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) will be taking a crack at their long-gestating Snow White project, Snow and the Seven, which will transport the fairy tale to 19^th century China.

Lionsgate’s upcoming adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has had a tough time finding its way in front of cameras.  The studio has been trying to bring the Seth Grahme-Smith comedy-horror novel to the big screen for the past year or so with no luck.   David O. Russell (The Fighter) was first attached to direct the project with Natalie Portman set to produce and star in the film.  Portman then left the project, followed by Russell.   The studio then began to look for a new director with such names as Jonathan Demme, Matt Reeves, and David Slade being rumored for the job.  The studio eventually decided to go with Mike White (Year of the Dog) to only then have White walk away from the project a couple of weeks later due to a scheduling conflict with his upcoming HBO show, Enlightment.  Now, Vulture is reporting that Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) is the latest director being rumored for the gig.

Gillespie seems to be a smart and logical choice for the studio.  He may be currently best known for directing 2007’s heartbreakingly sweet Lars and the Real Girl, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Lionsgate is choosing to court the director before he becomes a top choice for studios after his upcoming remake of Fright Night comes out later on this year.   It will now be interesting to see if the film will finally go into production or if Gillespie will end up leaving the project as well.  You can hit the jump to read a synopsis for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

20th Century Fox has released a new international trailer for Water for Elephants.  Based on the novel by Sara Gruen, the film tells the story of a man who joins a traveling circus during the Great Depression after his parents die in a car accident. While at the circus, he finds himself falling in love with one of the main stars of the show, who is married to the circus’ cruel and violent animal trainer.  The film stars Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz, Hal Holbrook, and the always great and underused Paul Schneider; Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) directs.  Hit the jump to watch the trailer and read a full plot synopsis.

Eminem (aka Marshall Mathers) will star in the boxing drama, Southpaw, for DreamWorks. Mathers will play “a fast-rising welterweight boxer who brawls his way to the title, only to see his world crash down around him due to tragedy.”  DreamWorks bought the film from a pitch by Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter, who aims to have a screenplay draft ready by February, before he has to start preparing the fourth season of Sons of Anarchy.

Southpaw marks Mathers’ return to acting after earning a lot of critical praise for his debut performance in 2002’s 8 Mile.  Hit the jump to read about why Mathers chose Southpaw to be his return to acting, and what will make the film a semi-continuation of 8 Mile.