IFC Films has released the first trailer for Why Stop Now, previously titled Predisposed.  The trailer presents a likeable farce about a piano prodigy (Jesse Eisenberg) who needs to check his drug-addict mother (Melissa Leo) into rehab on the day of his audition for a prestigious music program.  Things go awry, which draws her drug dealer, Sprinkles (Tracy Morgan), into the quest.  Mixed reviews out of Sundance suggest directors Phil Dorling and Ron Nyswaner fail to keep the plot under control throughout the runtime.  But I’m intrigued by what I see here, even if the movie only manages to coast on the charms of its eclectic cast.

Sarah Ramos and Isiah Whitlock Jr. co-star in Why Stop Now, set for release on August 17.  Watch the trailer after the break.

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.

The first trailer has landed for director Robert Zemeckis’ Flight.  Starring Denzel Washington as a heroic commercial airline pilot who miraculously lands a disabled jet, Flight goes deeper by delving into the real reasons behind the near-catastrophe.  The trailer does a nice job at highlighting the cast, which includes the always-charismatic Washington alongside John Goodman, Don Cheadle, James Badge Dale, Melissa Leo and Bruce Greenwood.  It also attempts to take what is initially a fairly thin inciting incident in John Gatins’ (Real Steel) screenplay and expand it to more of a human interest story.  You’ll have to decided for yourself whether the trailer gets you interested or not.  Flight opens November 2nd of this year.  Hit the jump to see the trailer along with the first image and poster for the movie.

Some quick casting bits today.  Here they are in brief:

• Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) is set to join Haley Joel Osment (Sixth Sense) in the sci-fi mystery, I’ll Follow You Down.
• Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation) will join Shia LaBeouf in the noir romance film, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman.

Hit the jump for more.

The first season of Treme faced the unique challenge of making New Orleans approachable for outsiders.  Viewers had to be immersed (and entertained) in a world with hurricane aftermath, generations of racial tension and an exclusive music scene. Somehow David Simon successfully ushered audiences through this unfamiliar landscape, much like he did with The Wire, also for HBO. After a critically adored first season, Simon and company expanded on their Louisianan universe with another compelling eleven episodes. Continue reading for my full review.

You have 90 minutes left to live, what do you do?  That’s the premise of The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, a new screenplay from Daniel Tapitz (Red Dog) to be directed by Phil Alden Robinson (The Sum of All Fears).  The picture centers on the fallout after a stand-in doctor mistakenly tells an obnoxious patient that he has an hour-and-a-half left to live.  While the patient goes on a tirade in New York City, attempting to right all the wrongs in his life, the doctor tries in vain to track him down.  The high concept comedy stars Robin Williams, Mila Kunis and Peter Dinklage, and has also snared Melissa Leo and James Earl Jones.  The Angriest Man in Brooklyn is set to start filming this September in Brooklyn.  Hit the jump for more.

Paramount has made a welcome release date announcement today.  Director Robert Zemeckis’ (Back to the Future) long-awaited return to live-action, the drama Flight, has been slated for release on November 2nd (per Box Office Mojo).  Zemeckis has been making creepy motion-capture films like The Polar Express and Beowulf for the last decade, but Flight marks his first live-action feature since 2000’s Cast Away.  Denzel Washington stars as an alcoholic and drug-addicted pilot who safely lands a damaged plane and is quickly heralded as a hero, despite having been under the influence during the accident. The fantastic cast includes John Goodman, Melissa Leo, and Don Cheadle.  The film will square off against the R-rated comedy 21 and Over and Disney’s animated feature Wreck-It Ralph on that November date.

In order to put Flight on the 2012 release schedule, Paramount has pushed the family comedy The Guilt Trip (formerly My Mother’s Curse) from October 2nd to a prime Christmas Day slot.  The film centers on a mother/son road-trip and stars Seth Rogen and Barbara Streisand.  The coveted December 25th date also includes Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.

With Shia LaBeouf having been attached for some time now, the gritty pulp romance film, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman continues to fill out its cast.  Oscar-winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) and German import Til Schweiger (Inglourious Basterds ) are reportedly joining the Fredrik Bond-directed picture.  The romantic actioner from screenwriter Matt Drake (Project X) stars LaBeouf as the title character who falls in love with a woman (Evan Rachael Wood) who happens to be claimed by a violent and mentally unstable mob boss (Mads Mikkelsen).  The picture is reportedly set to shoot in Eastern Europe this coming May.  Hit the jump for more on Leo and Schweiger’s character, as well as to see who else might be joining.

Oscar winner Melissa Leo is going sci-fi. Deadline reports that The Fighter actress has signed on to join the cast of Joseph Kosinski’s (Tron: Legacy) sci-fi pic Oblivion. Tom Cruise stars as a veteran soldier who’s banished to the surface of a post-apocalyptic Earth and tasked with repairing ships that hunt down the aliens who destroyed our planet. When a mysterious woman (Andrea Riseborough) crash-lands nearby, their encounter sets off an eye-opening chain of events. Deadline’s report doesn’t mention what role Leo will play, but she joins an impressive cast that also includes Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, and Game of Thrones star Nickolaj Coster-Waldau.

Leo recently wrapped a role in Robert Zemeckis’ return to live-action, Flight. The drama stars Denzel Washington as an alcoholic and drug-addicted pilot who rises to fame after flying a damaged plane to safety. The actress is currently shooting the third and penultimate season of HBO’s Treme in New Orleans, which is also where filming on Oblivion just got underway. The sci-fi pic is slated to open on April 26th, 2013.

We’re only a few short days away from the 84th Academy Awards, which means all that prognosticating and “fake controversy” business will finally come to an end on Monday morning. Until next year, that is. Nevertheless, a number of presenters have been announced over the past few weeks and we figured we’d bring you a full list of all the pretty celebrities scheduled to appear during Sunday night’s telecast. Zach Galifianakis, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Emma Stone, The Muppets and the leading ladies from Bridesmaids will (hopefully) be bringing the funny, and today the Academy announced that last year’s winners in the acting categories will return to present. I really, really liked the way the awards were given out a few years back with past winners speaking directly to each of the nominees, so I’m hoping Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Natalie Portman, and Colin Firth will be doing something similar.

Hit the jump to read the full list of presenters and performers, and be sure to check back this weekend to see how yours truly and Matt Goldberg think the awards will stack up in our predictions feature. Billy Crystal hosts the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday, February 26th.

While earlier this month the line-up for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival was announced, the fest has added four more films to the fest. Predisposed, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Melissa Leo, and Tracy Morgan will screen as part of the Premieres line-up and John Dies at the End starring Paul Giamatti, Chase Williamson, and Rob Mayes has been added to the Park City at Midnight line-up. Additionally, This Must Be the Place starring Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, and Judd Hirsch and Oslo, August 31st starring Anders Danielsen Lie, Hans Olav Brenner, and Ingrid Olava will screen as part of the Spotlight line-up.

Hit the jump to check out the first images from the films as well as a brief synopsis for each. The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 19 – 29th. Click here for all our coverage.

Over the Wall, a racing thriller written by debut director Steven Christopher Young has landed two new cast members. Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) and Melissa Leo (The Fighter) will join Nick Stahl (Sin City) and Freddy Rodriguez (Planet Terror) in the love story set in the world of stock car racing. The plot follows the characters as they get past the turmoil of a tragic event.

Alona Tal (Supernatural) and Natalie Martinez (Death Race) will star opposite Mark Wahlberg in Broken City. The Allen Hughes picture follows an ex-cop private eye (Wahlberg) who is investigating a murder while a mayoral candidate (Russell Crowe) is embroiled in an election scandal. The film also stars Catherine Zeta-Jones. Hit the jump for more on both projects.

Robert Zemeckis continues to fill out the cast for his next live-action feature Flight, and he’s looking to add two more names. Melissa Leo and James Badge Dale are in negotiations to join the drama, which stars Denzel Washington as an alcoholic and drug-addicted pilot who rises to fame after flying a damaged plane to safety. THR reports that Leo will play an investigator who is determined to expose the fact that Washington was under the influence while flying the plane, while Dale will be playing a dying cancer patient. Based on her past performances, Leo will most likely be shrill and incessantly mean. The impressive cast now includes Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman, and Brian Geraghty. Production on the alchy pilot movie is set to begin next month in Atlanta.

New Orleans as a setting is a tough place for outsiders. Between the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, generations of racial tension and the hyper-exclusive music scene, the world of New Orleans could be very intimidating to viewers. But if there was one man who could help usher audiences into this unfamiliar landscape, it was David Simon. After taking viewers through the gritty Baltimore crime scene for 5 years on The Wire, Simon returned to TV with HBO’s Treme. Following the lives of dozens of people in the Treme district of post-Katrina New Orleans, the show introduces viewers to all different walks of life and the things that connect them. Less explosive and more of a slow burn,Treme is still another Simon triumph. Continue reading for my full review.