Modern technology has radically changed the way we interact socially.  Go stand in a line, and I guarantee at least a few people will have whipped out their smartphones and are happily ignoring the world around them.  We don’t call anymore; we text as if that were the same as a discussion.  As author, psychologist, and MIT professor Sherry Turkle recently noted in a New York Times editorial this past April, “we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection.”  Henry Alex Rubin‘s Disconnect ignores this contemporary issue, and sacrifices worthwhile social commentary for mere cautionary tales.  Disconnect has all the dramatic weight of a driver’s education video, but then pads its thin plots with three loosely-connected narratives, two of which feature character actions so ludicrous that the movie becomes almost completely disconnected from reality.

The first set photos of Tom Cruise in costume for Oblivion have gone online.  We previously brought you these rather generic-looking set photos of Cruise and co-star Olga Kurylenko filming in New York.  This time, Cruise was to be found in June Lake, California sporting a futuristic military uniform with a gun slung over his shoulder.  As is usually the case in set photos, these images are out of context and have no sense of dramatic lighting but, hey, cool jacket, right?  Oblivion, also starring Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Melissa Leo, hits theaters July 19th, 2013.  Hit the jump to see the new set photos.

The first official synopsis for TRON: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski’s sci-fi pic Oblivion has landed online.  The film is described as “an original and groundbreaking cinematic event,” and Tom Cruise stars as one of the last remaining drone repairman stationed on a future Earth.  He works as part of a mission to extract vital resources from the ground following a decades-long war with a threat known as the Scavs, which lead to humans moving civilization to the skies thousands of feet above.  When Cruise’s character rescues a beautiful stranger (Andrea Riseborough) from a downed spacecraft, events are set in motion that force him to “question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.”

It’s an ambitious follow-up to the (visually) spectacular TRON: Legacy, and having Cruise onboard as the lead is a major plus.  The synopsis release also notes that Kosinski is shooting Oblivion in digital 4K resolution in the U.S. and Iceland.  The supporting cast includes Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Olga Kurylenko, Melissa Leo, and Morgan Freeman.  Oblivion hits theaters on April 26th, 2013.  Hit the jump to read the full synopsis.

The first crop of set photos debuted today from director Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise and Olga Kurylenko.  Though the plot of the sci-fi pic features Cruise as a veteran soldier banished to the surface of a ruined, post-apocalyptic world, these images are fairly bright and sunny (okay, maybe a little rainy) with a lot of smiling faces and intact infrastructure in the background.  Are these pre-apocalyptic scenes from the opening of the film, a flashback within the story or just stars coming to work and smiling at the waiting cameras?  Hard to tell at this point.  It’s also hard to tell exactly what this film is about without an official synopsis.  Hit the jump for more on the story of Oblivion and a look at the first set photos.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share this afternoon.  First up, Josh Duhamel is ready to get his Nicholas Sparks on.  Variety reports that the Transformers star is in negotiations to lead the adaptation of Sparks’ Safe Haven.  The story centers on a young woman with a dark past who arrives in a small North Carolina town, and reluctantly begins a relationship with a widowed store owner and his two children, and a friendship with her plainspoken neighbor.  Duhamel would play the widowed store owner, but producers are still trying to fill the female lead role.  Also, I’m assuming someone dies at the end.

Lasse Hallström (Chocolat) is onboard to direct and the film already has a pre-Valentine’s Day release date set for February 8th, 2013.  The Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Lucky One, starring Zac Efron, opened to a successful number two at the box office last weekend.  Hit the jump for casting news concerning the low-budget thriller Hidden and to read a synopsis for Safe Haven.

It’s great when movies are a slow burn, but to qualify for that description there needs to be at least some heat.  James Marsh‘s Shadow Dancer moves at a glacial pace and barely does anything to build tension.  There’s hardly any urgency and no interest in the intrigue.  A compelling lead performance is essential to making a film like this working, but actress Andrea Riseborough meanders through her role and fails to convey any deeper emotions or conflict.  Some movies can be effective “anti-thrillers” where they play against expectations and still manage to generate drama.  Shadow Dancer just seems to be against thrills.

The female leads in writer/director Joseph Kosinski’s Untitled Tom Cruise Project have changed almost as often as the film’s title (which has previously been referred to as Horizons and Oblivion). Last year we reported that a number of actresses were vying for two lead roles opposite Tom Cruise in the sci-fi pic. Then, it seemed as if Jessica Chastain (The Help) had landed one of them with the other role still being sorted out. Now it seems that Chastain has backed out in order to work on the Kathryn Bigelow picture about the death of Osama Bin Laden. That left the door open for Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace), who previously auditioned and relative newcomer to American cinema, Andrea Riseborough (Happy-Go-Lucky) to join Cruise.

The film, whatever its name is, revolves around Cruise who plays a veteran soldier banished to the surface of Earth which has been destroyed by an alien attack. When a mysterious woman crash-lands nearby, their encounter sets off an eye-opening chain of events. Hit the jump for more.

Today, the 2012 Sundance Film Festival announced their premieres line-up. Along with the announcement comes a boat load of images from the films set to be showcased at the fest. After the jump we’ve got images and syonpses from Celeste and Jesse Forever (starring Andy Samberg, Rashida Jones, and Elijah Wood), Lay the Favorite (starring Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, and Catherine Zeta-Jones), GOATS (starring David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, and Ty Burrell), and Shadow Dancer (starring Andrea Riseborough, Gillian Anderson, and Clive Owen).

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 19 – 29th.

A quartet of actors have signed on for Henry Alex Rubin’s indie internet-centered drama Disconnect. Variety reports that Alexander Skarsgard (Battleship), Michael Nyqvist (the Swedish Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Frank Grillo (Warrior) and Colin Ford (We Bought a Zoo) are all attached to star in the flick, with Andrea Riseborough (Never Let Me Go) circling one of the lead roles. Rubin, who’s best known for directing the documentary Murderball, is making his feature directorial debut with the ensemble drama that centers on how the Internet and modern communication impacts, and sometimes ruins, the lives of its characters. Hit the jump for a rundown of how the evil internet influences each character.

Madonna’s directorial debut Filth and Wisdom was widely panned but The Weinstein Company clearly has some faith in her follow-up W.E. (or at least in their ability to market it).  The studio has sent out a press release announcing that they’ll release the movie on December 9th in the heart of awards season.  It makes sense that TWC would try pushing the film into the awards race since the story of W.E. is what was happening off-screen in The King’s Speech.  Whereas King’s Speech made King Edward VIII look like a selfish, short-sighted romantic, W.E. will recount his love story with American Wallis Simpson by viewing their relationship through the modern life of Wally Winthrop.  Wally is unhappy in her own marriage and looks for answers in the story of Edward VIII and Simpson.  The film stars features Abbie Cornish, Andrea Riseborough, James D’Arcy, and Oscar Isaac.

W.E. will be given a platform release and open in New York and LA on December 9th and go wide sometime in January.  The other films set to open on December 9th are the star-studded rom-com anthology New Year’s Eve and David Gordon Green’s comedy The Sitter starring Jonah Hill.  Hit the jump for the press release.

Director David O. Russell is readying his follow-up to last year’s The Fighter, and he’s begun searching for his lead actress. Russell will next tackle an adaptation of The Silver Linings Playbook, which already has Mark Wahlberg set to star as a former high school history teacher who has just been released from a mental institution and plans on reconciling with his estranged wife.

Now Risky Business reports that Russell will be testing a number of actresses throughout the weekend to find his leading lady. Those meeting with Russell include: Elizabeth Banks, Kirsten Dunst, Blake Lively, Rooney Mara, Rachel McAdams, Andrea Riseborough and Olivia Wilde. Jennifer Lawrence is also mentioned, but her status is unclear. Filming is set to start in August. Angelina Jolie had recently been mentioned as a possibility as well, but she’s not included in this report. Hit the jump to read a synopsis of the book.

We have a couple of casting bits to bring you this afternoon. First up, Sarah Shahi (USA’s Fairly Legal) has signed on to star alongside Sly Stallone in the Walter Hill adaptation of Matz and Colin Wilson’s graphic novel Bullet to the Head. Variety reports that Shahi will make a turn as Stallone’s daughter in the action pic. As a reminder, Warner Bros. untitled adaptation will feature Sly as a New Orleans hitman who joins forces with a Gotham cop in order to take out those responsible for the deaths of their respective partners. In addition to her work on Fairly Legal, the lovely Shahi can also be seen alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Pierce Brosnan in the comedy I Don’t Know How She Does It due out later this year on September 16th.

Next, Andrea Riseborough (Never Let Me Go) has been tapped to star alongside James McAvoy and Mark Strong in the crime thriller Welcome to the Punch. Written/directed by Eran Creevy (Shifty), Welcome to the Punch centers on a criminal (Strong) and a detective (McAvoy) who become unlikely allies in the effort to expose a conspiracy. While details regarding Riseborough’s turn are sparse, Variety is confirming that she is indeed the female lead in the pic which is scheduled to begin production on July 18th in London. Along with Welcome to the Punch, Riseborough can also be seen in W.E. (co-written & helmed by Madonna) which opens on December 9th.

W.E. is a curious project.  The romantic drama is the feature directorial debut of Madonna — in accordance with Blond Ambition, the narrative is split into two parts by more than six decades.  In 1998, Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish) obsesses over her vision of the ideal romance between King Edward VIII (James D’Arcy) and Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough).  I suppose the conceit is not too far removed from Julie & Julia, but W.E. feels decidedly less commercial.  The Weinstein Company believes in the film and its director, though, and today acquired the U.S. distribution rights for release later in 2011.  Hit the jump for the announcement details, including an official synopsis.

Last month, we brought you news of Clive Owen teaming up with Andrea Riseborough (Never Let Me Go) and director James Marsh (Man on Wire) in an IRA spy-thriller, then titled, Shadow Dancer. Actually, it’s still titled Shadow Dancer, but we have further updates as well. In a press release sent our way, BBC Films announced that Paramount Pictures will be handling distribution in the UK while Wild Bunch tackles international sales.

Briefly, Shadow Dancer stars Owen as an MI5 agent and Riseborough as a member of the Irish Republican Army in Dublin during the 1990s. James Marsh will direct from a script written by Tom Bradby, who also wrote the novel of the same name. The film also stars Aiden Gillen (Game of Thrones) and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) and will begin filming in Dublin this May. Hit the jump to check out the film’s synopsis in the full press release.

Director James Marsh may have earned an Oscar for his documentary Man on Wire, but he’s no stranger to narrative features.  He previously directed The King starring Gael Garcia Bernal and the crime drama Red Riding 1980.  Vulture now reports that he’s got another fiction film up his sleeve and that Clive Owen is attached to star.  Marsh tells Vulture that his new film “is much more like Red Riding, it’s a genre film, it’s a thriller.”

The untitled project (formerly titled Shadow Dancer) is set in Northern Ireland during the early 1990s and will co-star Andrea Riseborough (Never Let Me Go) as a former IRA terrorist turned informer.  The film also stars Aidan Gillen (The Wire) Gillian Anderson (The X-Files).  Shooting on the low-budget film is set to begin this May in Dublin.