Opening this weekend, in limited release, is director/co-writer Zal Batmanglij’s (Sound of My Voice) eco-terrorist thriller The East.  Brit Marling co-wrote the script with Batmanglij and stars as an undercover operative for an elite private intelligence firm who infiltrates a domestic terrorist organization in order to protect her corporate clientele.  Once she starts living as part of the anarchist collective, though, she finds that her loyalties aren’t as solid as she believed them to be and becomes conflicted when she starts falling for the charismatic leader (Alexander Skarsgard).  The impressive ensemble cast also includes Ellen Page, Patricia Clarkson, and Julia Ormond, and you can click here to watch the trailer and here is Matt’s review.

Last week I landed an extended video interview with Ellen Page.  She talked about  wanting to work with Marling and Batmanglij, the parallels of the film to real world issues, whether or not the script changed during production, the process of shooting the film in only four weeks, premiering at Sundance, and much more.  In addition, Page talked about the popularity of Inception and if she’s still asked about it, does she censor herself on Twitter, X-Men: Days of Future Past and having Bryan Singer tweet out a picture of her on set, upcoming projects like Freeheld and the video game Beyond: Two Souls, doing a voice on Family Guy, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.  The East opens today in limited release.]

The undercover thriller is a familiar genre, but it rarely reaches its full potential. For a setting where betrayal and shifting sympathies are central to the plot, most of these stories only provide the semblance of a grey area. Yes, the terrorist is planning to destroy the western seaboard, but his kid died ten years ago, so he’s not all bad. This is an easy road to nominal dramatic conflict while still keeping the audience firmly supporting the hero. With their new film The East, director Zal Batmanglij and co-writer Brit Marling have played the undercover thriller to near-perfection by forcing the audience to sit uncomfortably as we wonder who should deserve our sympathies. Playing to the conventions of the genre stops The East from holding any major surprises, but Batmanglij and his strong cast always keep us riveted as we become as conflicted as the film’s protagonist.

Opening this weekend is writer-director Zal Batmanglij’s The East, an espionage thriller starring Brit Marling - the film’s co-writer – in the lead.  The story centers on a former FBI agent who becomes a private intelligence operative tasked with protecting top-tier corporate clients, but soon questions her loyalties after infiltrating an anarchist group.

We’ve got five exclusive images from both behind the scenes and from the movie itself to share with you today.  Be sure to check out Steve’s extended video interview with Marling here, click here to read Matt’s review, and click here to read Adam’s interview with Batmanglij and Marling.  The film also stars Alexander Skarsgard, Ellen Page, Patricia Clarkson, Julia Ormond, Shiloh Fernandez and Jason Ritter.  Hit the jump for the new images.

Fox Searchlight has released a batch of new high-resolution images from director Zal Batmanglij’s (Sound of My Voice) eco-terrorist thriller The East. Brit Marling co-wrote the script with Batmanglij and stars as an undercover operative for an elite private intelligence firm who infiltrates a domestic terrorist organization in order to protect her corporate clientele.  Once she starts living as part of the anarchist collective, though, she finds that her loyalties aren’t as solid as she believed them to be.  I caught the film at Sundance and it’s a very solid thriller that poses some fascinating questions that don’t exactly have easy answers.  It has a lot to say about the world we live in, but the film still manages to work very effectively as commercial entertainment, as evidenced by the most recent trailer.

Hit the jump to check out the images, click here to read Matt’s review, and click here to read my interview with Batmanglij and Marling.  The film also stars Alexander Skarsgard, Ellen Page, Patricia Clarkson, Julia Ormond, Shiloh Fernandez, and Jason Ritter.  The East opens on May 31st.

As you’re probably well aware if you follow director Bryan Singer on Twitter, production is currently underway on the highly ambitious sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past.  While the film is very much a sequel to 2011’s X-Men: First Class, it also bridges the gap between the younger versions of the X-Men characters and their grown-up counterparts that were seen in the previous three X-Men films.  The story of Days of Future Past involves time travel and alternate realities, and Singer has amassed an all-star ensemble of actors that includes a large amount of the original trilogy cast in addition to the First Class stars.

One of the returning characters in DOFP is Ellen Page’s mutant Kitty Pryde, who was last seen in X-Men: The Last Stand.  Pryde plays a pretty substantial role in the comics storyline for DOFP, and so Pryde is expected to be a crucial character in Singer’s film.  Steve recently spoke with Page in anticipation of the upcoming thriller The East, and the actress talked a bit about returning for Days of Future Past, Singer’s propensity for sharing character first-looks on Twitter, shooting in 3D, and more.  Hit the jump to see what she had to say.

Director Bryan Singer has revealed yet another image from the set of X-Men: Days of Future Past.  While Singer previously gave us early looks at Hugh Jackman as Wolverine,  Halle Berry as Storm, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, and Shawn Ashmore as Iceman, this time around we see Ellen Page, who will reprise her role as Kitty Pryde.  Her superheroic alias Shadowcat may prove to be central to the storyline of Days of Future Past, which involves alternate timelines and dystopian futures.  That all explains how we’re able to see the cast of the original trilogy with the characters from X-Men: First Class.

Hit the jump to check out the new image.  The film also stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Ian McKellan, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Omar Sy, Daniel Cudmore, Booboo Stewart, Fan Bingbing, and Peter Dinklage.  X-Men: Days of Future Past opens July 18, 2014.

Fox Searchlight has released a new trailer for Sound of My Voice director Zal Batmanglij’s upcoming thriller The East.  The film stars Brit Marling as an undercover operative for an elite private intelligence firm who infiltrates a domestic terrorist organization in order to protect her corporate clientele.  Once she starts living as part of the anarchist collective, though, she finds that her loyalties aren’t as solid as she believed them to be.  I caught the film at Sundance and it’s a very solid thriller.  Batmanglij and star/co-writer Marling prove that they can skillfully craft a commercially pleasing film that still manages to be smart and thought provoking, and Marling turns in a riveting performance as the film’s protagonist.  This trailer delves quite a bit deeper into the pic’s plot than the first teaser trailer, and it gives you a good idea of the pic’s intensity level and story beats.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer, click here to read Matt’s review, and click here to read my interview with Batmanglij and Marling.  The film also stars Alexander Skarsgard, Ellen Page, Patricia Clarkson, Julia Ormond, Shiloh Fernandez, and Jason Ritter.  The East opens on May 31st.

In the acting business since the age of 10, Ellen Page (Inception) will make her directorial debut with Miss Stevens.  Written by Julia Hart (The Keeping Room), Miss Stevens will star Anna Faris (The House Bunny) in the title role.  The picture centers on the titular drama teacher whose life has hit a bit of a rough patch, but who rediscovers her self worth while chaperoning a group of high school students over a weekend trip to the state drama competition.  Hit the jump for more. 

Prior to last Sunday, Zero Dark Thirty was my favorite pic of 2012 by a considerable margin. However, after my matinee viewing of Silver Linings Playbook, that margin has been replaced with a draw. Whereas Zero provided me with a tension that left me on the verge of breathless at moments, Playbook‘s spectacular performances and head-on portrayal of mental illness and our ability to help each other cope/prevail proved not only hugely entertaining but also quite cathartic.

My 2012 movie scorecard aside, this week’s Top 5 includes our set visit coverage of Oz the Great and Powerful, Duncan Jones being tapped to helm the World of Warcraft movie, more visit coverage from the set of Jack the Giant Slayer, a slew of news from X-Men: Days of Future Past, and a Sundance 2013 wrap-up. A brief recap and link to each of the above is promised after the jump.

If it wasn’t clear before, it certainly is now: director Bryan Singer is making one incredibly ambitious film with the X-Men: First Class sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past.  In addition to First Class stars Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and Jennifer Lawrence, we previously learned that X-Men actors Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, and Hugh Jackman will be reprising their roles in the upcoming follow-up.  The story involves time travel and alternate realities, so the mixing of the younger actors and older actors fits well within the film’s complex plot.

It appears that Singer isn’t simply bringing a few stars from X-Men and X2 back for Days of Future Past, as he revealed on Twitter today that Anna Paquin (Rogue), Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde), and Shawn Ashmore (Iceman) will also be joining the cast of Days of Future Past.  Hit the jump for more.

The undercover thriller is a familiar genre, but it rarely reaches its full potential.  For a setting where betrayal and shifting sympathies are central to the plot, most of these stories only provide the semblance of a grey area.  Yes, the terrorist is planning to destroy the western seaboard, but his kid died ten years ago, so he’s not all bad.  This is an easy road to nominal dramatic conflict while still keeping the audience firmly supporting the hero.  With their new film The East, director Zal Batmanglij and co-writer Brit Marling have played the undercover thriller to near-perfection by forcing the audience to sit uncomfortably as we wonder who should deserve our sympathies.  Playing to the conventions of the genre stops The East from holding any major surprises, but Batmanglij and his strong cast always keep us riveted as we become as conflicted as the film’s protagonist.

The first trailer for Zal Batmanglij’s The East is now online.  A follow-up film to Batmanglij’s Sound of My Voice (both co-written by Batmanglij and Brit Marling), The East centers on an undercover operative (Marling) who infiltrates a domestic terrorist organization but becomes conflicted when she starts falling for the charismatic leader.  Fans of Sound of My Voice will recognize some very similar themes here, though the trailer for The East is decidedly more aggressive and promises to deliver on the tension.  The East also stars Ellen Page and Alexander Skarsgard. Hit the jump to watch the first trailer for The East.

Right now, Ellen Page is likely preparing for a big Sundance, as she has Touchy Feely and The East set to premiere at the festival later this month.  Meanwhile, another interesting project has surfaced on her horizon: Variety’s Jeff Sneider tweeted that Page is attached to Into the Forest, an adaptation of the novel by Jean Hegland.  Into the Forest is a post-apocalyptic story, but on a smaller scale than “post-apocalyptic” usually connotes.  Two teenage sisters live alone in a remote part of the Northern California forest, miles away from any neighbor, when society unexpectedly collapses: “There is talk of a war overseas and upheaval in Congress, but it still comes as a shock when the electricity runs out and gas is nowhere to be found.”  The sisters are left to hope the power eventually returns as their supplies dwindle.

It’s too bad that Page, almost 26, is still playing teenagers.  (They could age the character up, but it seems crucial that two teenagers live alone.)  But the intimate premise sounds worth the effort, adding another layer to the post-apocalyptic stories that I love so much.  Read the book synopsis after the break.

Nine new images from writer/director Woody Allen’s new film To Rome With Love have been released.  The pic is comprised of four separate vignettes and “tells the story of a number of people in Italy—some American, some Italian, some residents, some visitors—and the romances and adventures and predicaments they get into.”  Allen stars alongside an impressive cast that includes Ellen Page, Jesse Eisenberg, Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Judy Davis, Alison Pill, and Greta Gerwig.

In related news, director Bob Weide’s must-see Woody Allen documentary is now available on Netflix Instant Watch.  I can’t recommend the film enough.  Whether you’re a Woody die-hard or just a casual fan, the film is incredibly entertaining and wildly engrossing as it takes an intimate look at Allen’s life and filmography complete with insightful thoughts from the man himself.  Do yourself a favor and carve out a couple hours this weekend to give it a whirl.  Hit the jump to check out the To Rome With Love images.  The film is in select theaters starting today.

The trailers coming out of the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo have been blowing my mind and promise to blow a hole in my wallet when the new games become available.  If you missed our previous batches of trailers, you can check them out here and here (and don’t miss our villainous update on the new Star Trek game!).  The next round of trailers and demos features the much anticipated Star Wars 1313, in which players control a bounty hunter on one of the many levels of the city-planet, Coruscant.  We’ve also got the next installment in the epic Assassin’s Creed franchise, as well as a contemporary take on assassins from Ubisoft,  a new game from the makers of Heavy Rain which features the voice and likeness of Ellen Page and more!  Hit the jump to check them out.