2012 is likely to go down in history as a banner year for film, and with nearly a month left to go before year’s end there are still a number of highly anticipated films poised to hit theaters.  High on that list is The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow’s drama about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty, and the pic finally debuted to critics yesterday to an incredibly positive reaction.  The production has been shrouded in a thick veil of secrecy given the sensitive subject matter, but many have high hopes for the film’s awards chances since the pic reteams Best Director winner Bigelow with her Oscar-winning Hurt Locker scribe Mark Boal.

It appears that those early guesstimates were entirely founded, as critics had plenty of high praise for the procedural thriller following its debut screenings yesterday.  Hit the jump to read some of the noteworthy reactions and to watch the first TV spot for the film.

When it comes to period pieces, I am a shallow man.  Put beautiful women (Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska), strapping men (Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman), and Shia LaBeouf in Prohibition-era costumes, and I am 80% sold on your movie.  Thankfully, director John Hillcoat took care of the other 20% with Lawless and delivered a taut, beautifully bloody crime drama.

To promote the November 27 Blu-ray/DVD release, Anchor Bay and The Weinstein Company sent us a set of stylish publicity photos.  I would call them effortlessly cool, but I respect the attention to detail too much.  Check out the images after the jump.

The 2013 awards race is in full swing, and what better way to spend the Thanksgiving holiday then to take a closer look at how the categories are shaping up thus far?  Over the next few days we’re providing a bit of an overview of what the state of the race looks like at this point in time.  Yesterday we ran down the contenders for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, and today we’ll be taking a look at the fiercely competitive categories for Best Actor and Best Actress.  Hit the jump to read on.

A batch of new images from director Kathryn Bigelow’s upcoming drama Zero Dark Thirty has been released online.  The film documents the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, culminating in the now-famous SEAL Team Six operation.  We only recently became aware that Jessica Chastain plays the lead in the film, a CIA operative spearheading the manhunt, and these new images feature the actress front and center.  We also get a look at Kyle Chandler, who I believe plays Chastain’s superior at the CIA.  It’s like Homeland, but with considerably less crazy.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film also stars Chris Pratt, Mark Strong, Scott Adkins, Joel Edgerton, and James Gandolfini.  Zero Dark Thirty opens in limited release on December 19th, then expands nationwide on January 11th.

Some (un)casting news today.  Check out the highlights below:

• Chris Hemsworth (Thor) is reportedly out of American Assassin, the CBS Films’ adaptation of the Vince Flynn novel.  A source cited scheduling conflicts.
• Ty Burrell (Modern Family) will join Adventureland duo Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader in The Skeleton Twins as Hader’s lover.
• Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) is in consideration for Our Kind of Traitor, an adaptation of the John le Carre novel. Ralph Fiennes (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and Jessica Chastain (Lawless) are also rumored.

Hit the jump for more on each project. 

Oscar season must be getting closer, as couple of interesting awards-related stories have surfaced today.  First up, Lionsgate’s comedy Stand Up Guys is getting an awards-qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles on December 14th, per THR.  The film stars Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin as retired gangsters who reunite for one last epic night where, naturally, everything goes to hell.  I’m not sure how strong the chances are of generating a nomination or two for some of the cast, but it can’t hurt for Lionsgate to try.  The pic opens wide on January 11th.

Additionally, it looks like Sony may be rethinking their release strategy with the highly anticipated “kill Bin Laden” drama Zero Dark Thirty.  Hit the jump for more. 

As we are currently inundated with “found footage” jump scares in mainstream theaters, it’s refreshing to get back to the bloody roots of good old fashion horror.  I’m wagering that nothing you’ve seen this year is as creepy as Mama.  From producer Guillermo del Toro and director Andres Muschietti comes a new international trailer for Mama, starring Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.  Centering on a man (Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend (Chastain) who take care of his nieces after they are found in the wild, the trailer reveals (perhaps too much) that they did not survive on their own.  Check out the previous trailer for Mama here and hit the jump to compare it to the newer, creepier (and perhaps more spoilery) one. 

A new trailer for director Kathryn Bigelow’s (The Hurt Locker) thriller Zero Dark Thirty has been released.  The film documents the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, culminating in the now-famous SEAL Team Six operation.  The new cut is heads above the first trailer, in which a war room speech presided over the trailer with scenes of covert operations taking place.  This time around, we actually see the words being spoken in the war room as well as the soldiers in the thick of it, with their boots on the ground.  And the sense of tension here is much more palpable, as it should be.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film stars Jessica Chastain, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong, Scott Adkins, Joel Edgerton, James Gandolfini, and Kyle Chandler.  Zero Dark Thirty opens on December 19th.

The first trailer for the Guillermo del Toro produced horror movie Mama has been released. Directed by Andres Muschietti, the film stars Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as a couple who takes in two sisters discovered living alone in the woods  five years  after the mysterious death of their parents.  The couple gets more than they bargained for when it turns out a supernatural presence follows the girls into their home. The trailer has some serious tension and a couple of genuinely eerie images, and though she’s relatively new to Hollywood, Chastain has displayed an impressive knack for picking quality projects. Factor in Guillermo del Toro’s involvement and you’ve got a movie worth keeping your eye on.  Check out the trailer, the first poster and new images after the jump. 

Some debut images from a couple of upcoming releases have hit the web.  First up, the first two images from director Allen Hughes’ (The Book of Eli) political thriller Broken City highlight stars Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Mark Wahlberg.  The story centers on a private detective (Wahlberg) who is hired to identify the lover of a powerful politician’s (Crowe) wife.  Zeta-Jones is onboard as said unfaithful wife, and Wahlberg—who also serves as a producer on the film—compares the pic’s elements of “really strong characters [and] plot points you didn’t see coming” to Roman Polanski’s classic Chinatown.  The pic opens on January 18th, 2013.

We’ve also got the first images from the horror film Mama, which was directed by Andres Muschietti based on his own short film.  Jessica Chastain and Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau topline the thriller as a couple who take in their neice and nephew after the children mysteriously surface five years after disappearing on the day of their mother’s murder.  The supernatural pic comes from producer Guillermo del Toro and also opens on January 18th, 2013.  Hit the jump to take a look at the images.

“It is not the violence that sets men apart,” Forrest Bondurant (Tom Hardy) tells his younger brother Jack (Shia LaBeouf) in John Hillcoat‘s Lawless.  “It is the distance he is prepared to go.”  The film presents two approaches to the gangster world: the imagined and the practical.  Jack dreams of being a gangster without the violence.  Forrest doesn’t need the gangster flash, but he is willing to take a pair of brass knuckles and punch out someone’s throat.  Hillcoat and screenwriter Nick Cave take a curious look at how two men approach the violence that must be done in order to ensure their survival, and ask themselves what they’re surviving for.  Is it for family?  Is it for personal pride?  Between Jack and Forrest, there’s a serious, meditative story.  But beyond them lies distractions of half-developed romances and a cartoonish villain.

If you enjoyed the five clips from director John Hillcoat’s Lawless we posted earlier today, you’re going to love this new red-band trailer.  It features good old-fashioned tar and feathering, blood-letting, shoot ‘em ups and even an imposing dust storm. That all fits right at home in the Depression-era drama that follows the bootlegging Bondurant family in their backlash against the law enforcement officials who are trying to taking a cut of the profits.

Lawless, starring Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman, opens August 31st.  Hit the jump to check out the red-band trailer.

Five clips from the period drama Lawless have been released.  Directed by John Hillcoat, the film stars Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, and Jason Clarke as three brothers who became bootleggers in the South during Prohibition.  I was able to see the pic at Comic-Con and it’s great.  The violence is incredibly raw and brutal, but it’s grounded with real, engaging characters brought to life by stellar performances.  Though there’s not a bad actor in the bunch, the standout is definitely Guy Pearce as a corrupt FBI agent who’s obsessed with bringing the Bondurant boys down.  His character is as slimy as he is disturbing, and Pearce chews the scenery like no other.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The film also stars Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, and Gary Oldman.  Lawless opens on August 31st.

 We recently brought you the release date shuffle for Universal pictures Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise and Olga Kurylenko, and Mama, the horror film directed by Andres Muschietti and produced by Guillermo del Toro.  Now we can actually tell you what those films are about!  An official synopsis for each film has dropped and we share that with you after the jump.  Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion opens April 19th, 2013 with an IMAX-only run-up starting on April 12th, 2013.  Mama, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Jessica Chastain will open January 18th, 2013.  Hit the jump to read the synopses.

As one of our most anticipated films of the current quarter, I’m anxious to get a look at director John Hillcoat’s Prohibition drama, Lawless, which debuts at the end of the month.  Two new behind-the-scenes featurettes have gone online that show not only new footage from the Depression era film, but the true story behind the plot.  Nick Cave (The Proposition) adapted the novel by Matt Bondurant which tells the tale of the bootlegging Bondurant family and the government officials who wanted to wet their beaks. Starring Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska, Lawless opens August 29th.  Hit the jump to see the new featurettes.