FilmDistrict has acquired U.S. distribution rights for director Paul W.S. Anderson’s (Resident Evil, The Three Musketeers) upcoming disaster film Pompeii.  The story “follows an enslaved Celtic gladiator who falls in love with a noblewoman on the eve of a massive volcanic eruption that destroys Pompeii, an event that also brings him face-to-face with the man who slaughtered his family years earlier.”  Kit Harington stars as the gladiator, while the rest of the cast is filled out by Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Jared Harris, Kiefer Sutherland, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost), Jessica Lucas (Evil Dead), and recent addition Carrie-Anne Moss.

The script was written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, and production is currently underway in Toronto.  FilmDistrict has set Pompeii for release on February 28, 2014.  Hit the jump to read the full press release.

The 2013 Sundance Film Festival recently announced some new additions to their screening line-up, so we put together some images from the following films:

• Magic Magic – Written and directed by Sebastian Silva and starring Michael Cera, Juno Temple, Emily Browning, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Augustín Silva.
• Muscle Shoals – A musical documentary from Greg “Freddy” Camalier, featuring Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Gregg Allman, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Bono and others.
• El Mariachi (1993) – Directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Rodriguez and Carlos Gallardo, El Mariachi stars Gallardo, Consuelo Gomez, Jaime De Hoyos, Peter Marquardt and Reinol Martinez.

Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses.  The 2013 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 17 – 27th.

Some easy on the eyes casting additions today.  Here they are at a glance:

• Malin Akerman (Watchmen) will star as “Blondie” front-woman, Debbie Harry in director Randall Miller’s indie, CBGB.
• Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) is in talks to join Plush, a psychic story from director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight).
• Ahna O’Reilly (The Help) will star opposite Ashton Kutcher in the Steve Jobs indie picture, Jobs, from director Joshua Michael Stern (Swing Vote).

Hit the jump for more on each film.

Now that Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) is set in the director’s chair, producers are working to cast the lead in the MGM/Screen Gems remake of Carrie. Vulture reports that a number of actresses have been shortlisted for the part (including Dakota Fanning and Lily Collins) but Chloe Moretz and Haley Bennett (Marley and Me) are apparently the top two candidates. The remake is said to be more faithful to Stephen King’s source material than Brian De Palma’s 1976 film adaptation, and apparently The Descendants star Shailene Woodley has already passed on the lead role. Hit the jump for more on the new Carrie.

[This is a reprint of my review from the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. Sleeping Beauty opens tomorrow in limited release.]

Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty invites us into a world which unintentionally undoes its own effect. Ordinarily, the sex acts and humiliation would shock us, but we’re asked to accept a reality in which every character passively accepts these depraved circumstances. The characters have perfectly justifiable reasons for their detachment but their ennui carries over to the audience due to Leigh’s sparse approach, seductive visuals, and Emily Browning’s brave but withdrawn performance. We become numb like the film’s protagonist and we disconnect from any emotional attachment.

A new trailer has gone online for Julia Leigh’s psychosexual drama Sleeping Beauty.  Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) stars as a young woman who becomes a prostitute offering a highly-specified fetish for high-paying clients.  The trailer is a bit misleading as it sets the movie up as more of a thriller with an underlying sense of danger.  As I said in my review, the film numbs you into feeling the ennui and detachment of the protagonist and the cinematography, while gorgeous, is meant to reflect that detachment and beauty of Browning’s character.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Sleeping Beauty opens in limited release on December 2nd.

Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty invites us into a world which unintentionally undoes its own effect.  Ordinarily, the sex acts and humiliation would shock us, but we’re asked to accept a reality in which every character passively accepts these depraved circumstances.  The characters have perfectly justifiable reasons for their detachment but their ennui carries over to the audience due to Leigh’s sparse approach, seductive visuals, and Emily Browning’s brave but withdrawn performance.  We become numb like the film’s protagonist and we disconnect from any emotional attachment.

Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch hit theaters in March earlier this year, but it’s road to theaters felt like watching a train hit the emergency break. The year before it came out, the film wowed comic-con audiences, and Warner Brothers had set visits – Snyder was still seen as a wonder boy, even if Watchmen didn’t take it home. But by the week of release, Warners couldn’t hold it in the bag: Sucker Punch is a weird movie that doesn’t totally work for a number of reasons.

It’s one of the great “I made a big hit movie, I’m going to go make my art” films that fails in interesting ways. And now there’s a director’s cut, which hopes to solve some of those problems. Emily Browning plays Babydoll, a girl with a traumatic past who’s put in an insane asylum with a bunch of other girls, and leads a fantasy life that transposes her inmates and doctors into dancers and pimps. My review of the Blu-ray and director’s cut of Sucker Punch follow after the jump.

As we just reported, the selections for this year’s Cannes Film Festival have been announced.  Among this year’s selections is Julia Leigh’s dark psychosexual drama Sleeping Beauty.  How dark is the film?  Well here’s what he heard the synopsis was last year: “a haunting erotic fairy tale about a student who drifts into prostitution and finds her niche as a woman who sleeps, drugged, in a ‘Sleeping Beauty chamber’ while men do to her what she can’t remember the next morning.”

The trailer has some striking imagery and I’m intrigued by the unnerving premise.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer along with some images from the film.  The 2011 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 11 – 22nd.

For the premiere of Zack Snyder’s fantasy thriller Sucker Punch, the stars of the film gathered under a tent housing the black carpet, in order to escape the rain and keep their gowns dry. The film’s leading ladies – Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone and Jamie Chung – were ultra-glam, as they came out to support the Watchmen and 300 director, who will next be taking on Superman: Man of Steel.

Joining the film’s main cast, co-stars Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn and Oscar Isaac, mingled at the Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood with Watchmen star Malin Akerman, Diane Lane (seen next as Martha Kent), Red Riding Hood star Max Irons, Scream 4 star Emma Roberts and Juno Temple, who will be in The Dark Knight Rises. Check out all of the exclusive photos after the jump:

Imagination does not exist in a vacuum.  We’re inspired by experiences both internal and external.  We build our dreams on the dreams of others and if we possess a brilliant imagination, then we can transform these ideas into something fresh and new.  With his new film Sucker Punch, director Zack Snyder shows he not only misunderstands how imagination works, he also has no understanding of inspiration, empowerment, or joy.  The movie swims through the wet dreams of a teenage boy but pretends at higher aspirations of thoughtful escapism and transcendent determination.  For a movie where dragons battle fighter jets and teenage girls in skimpy outfits take down samurai golems, Sucker Punch is a surprisingly dull and self-serious affair that can’t be bothered to develop its heroine, but wants a round of applause every time she defeats a CGI monstrosity.  Despite all of the energy put into the stunning vistas and designs, nothing in Sucker Punch‘s visuals comes close to the majesty of its delusions of grandeur.

With director Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch opening next weekend, I got to sit down with most of the cast yesterday.  As the synopsis says, Sucker Punch is an “epic action fantasy that takes us into the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. Unrestrained by the boundaries of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, and her incredible adventures blur the lines between what’s real and what is imaginary.” The film stars Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn, and Oscar Isaac.

During my interview with Browning and Cornish, we talked about how everyone bonded off set while they filmed in Vancouver, their reaction to seeing the finished film, the many deleted scenes and will they be in a director’s cut (they will), and what is their go to karaoke song.  Hit the jump to watch and look for a new video interview for Sucker Punch everyday this week.

Warner Bros. has released five movie clips Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch which stars Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn, and Oscar Isaac.  Sucker Punch is an “epic action fantasy that takes us into the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. Unrestrained by the boundaries of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, and her incredible adventures blur the lines between what’s real and what is imaginary.”  Hit the jump to watch the clips and look for our exclusive video interviews with the cast next week.

Warner Bros. has released the full press kit for Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch.  Included are 45 high resolution images of Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn, and Oscar Isaac.  Many of the images are new.  Sucker Punch opens March 25th.  Check them out after the jump:

With writer-director Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch getting released in less than a month (March 25), Warner Bros. has finally lifted my embargo and after the jump you can either read or listen to the on set interview I did with Emily Browning.  As the star of Snyder’s crazy new film, Browning talked about how she bonded with the rest of the cast (Vanessa Hudgens, Jena Malone, Jamie Chung, Abbie Cornish), what it was like to act in several different levels of fantasy on top of all of the physical requirements of the role, the huge action set pieces, and so much more.  Like I said in my set report, if you’re a fan of Zack Snyder – especially Zack Snyder’s action sequences – you’re going to absolutely love what he has in store for Sucker Punch.