Fresh off this morning’s excellent Toronto International Film Festival lineup announcement, we have debut images from some of the films that will be screening at the fest.  Briefly:

• Before We Go – (Directed by Chris Evans) Starring Chris Evans and Alice Eve.
• Good Kill – (Directed by Andrew Niccol) Starring Ethan Hawke and January Jones.
• The Good Lie – (Directed by Philippe Farlardeau) Starring Reese Witherspoon, Corey Stoll, Arnold Oceng, Kuoth Wiel, Ger Duany, Emmanuel Jal, and Femi Oguns.
• Hungry Hearts – (Directed by Saverio Costanzo) Starring Adam Driver, Alba Rohrwacher, and Roberta Maxwell.

Hit the jump to chceck out the images and synopses.  TIFF 2014 runs from September 4th – 14th.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about Predestination, the time travel project that reteams Ethan Hawke with his Daybreakers directors The Spierig Brothers.  The last update we got was that Hawke had finished the film about a year ago, then nothing.  Then today we suddenly get a trailer for the film based on the 1959 Robert Heinlein short story “All You Zombies.”

And that trailer looks pretty cool.  It definitely seems like it mixes elements of Minority Report with elements of Looper, though the dating of its source material should clear up any claims of aping the latter.  Sarah Snook looks like she’s being put to unique use as well, with a remarkable transformation at the trailer’s halfway point.  My only real concern here is that they’re showing too much.  Sony will be distributing the film in the U.S. but a release date hasn’t been announced at the moment.  Hit the jump for the Predestination trailer.

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.  Boyhood opens today in limited release.]

Boyhood is a miracle. It is truly unique. It is a masterpiece. It is one of the best coming-of-age movies ever made. These superlatives may seem grandiose or even hyperbolic, but Richard Linklater’s 12-year project is a work of art unlike any other. More importantly, it’s a work that hits a thoughtful and emotional core. It is a movie that not only draws us into the lives of the characters, but also causes us to reexamine our own lives. Boyhood is both intimate and epic, subtle and overwhelming, and an absolute marvel.

IFC Films has released a new Boyhood clip online.  The film stars Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as a divorced couple raising their son Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and daughter Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), and it was shot over a period of 12 years.  Director Richard Linklater filmed scenes for the pic every year for over a decade with the same actors, and the result is a movie that tracks the adolescence of young Mason through the formative experiences that shape and mold him into the man he will become.  Like some of Linklater’s other movies, the majority of the picture is just people talking, but every conversation has weight because it lives in the little moments rather than grand speeches.  As Ethan Hawke’s character says in this clip while trying to talk to the young Mason and Samantha, “We should just let it happen more natural.”  Boyhood is currently my favorite film of the year, and I can’t wait for audiences to finally see it.

Hit the jump to check out the Boyhood clip, and click here for our interview with Hawke and Linklater.  The film opens in limited release on July 11th.  Click here to find out when the film will be opening at a theater near you.

From writer/director Richard Linklater, the indie drama Boyhood is a very unique and special project, in that it was filmed over 12 years with the same cast.  As you watch Mason (Ellar Coltrane) grow up, from age 6 to age 18, you will see him navigate all aspects of adolescence from road trips and family dinners to birthdays and graduations, and all of the moments in between.  The film also stars Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, as Mason’s parents, and Lorelei Linklater, as his sister Samantha.

During a conference at the film’s press day, filmmaker Richard Linklater and actor Ethan Hawke talked about taking on such an ambitious project, how they kept in contact when they weren’t filming, deciding which pop culture trends to include, deciding on the music, how much was scripted vs. improvised, the approach to the editing process, whether there’s a lot of deleted footage, and if he would ever consider using this process again.  Check out what they had to say after the jump. 

IFC Films has released a new Boyhood featurette for writer/director Richard Linklater’s wholly unique drama.  The film was shot over a period of 12 years with the same cast, as Linklater set out to fully capture the experience of “growing up” through the eyes of a young boy named Mason (played by newcomer Ellar Coltrane).  I caught the movie at Sundance and it is, quite simply, a masterpiece.  It’s a film absolutely unlike any other, and even though this is Mason’s story, you come away feeling like it’s also your story.  In this new featurette, Linklater, Ethan Hawke, and Patricia Arquette talk about the unique process of making the film and their goals when they started shooting back in 2002.  I cannot stress this enough: see this movie.

Hit the jump to watch the new Boyhood featurette.  The film opens in limited release on July 11th before expanding to more screens in the following weeks.

You really can’t question Richard Linklater’s commitment to a project.  Take Boyhood as a prime example: the writer/director filmed this ambitious drama over the course of 12 years, not due to budget issues or breaches of contracts, but because he intended to capture a few scenes of one boy’s life in each year from age 5 to 18.  Played by Ellar Coltrane, who viewers literally get to see grow up on screen, Mason’s journey from childhood into adolescence is captured on film, along with all of his life’s events that act as waypoints throughout the years.

We have a few new images from Boyhood that feature Coltrane alongside his on-screen parental co-stars Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, along with information on the film’s soundtrack, the span of which is almost as impressive as the film itself.  Make sure to check out Boyhood’s trailer here, and take a look at Matt’s Sundance review, if you’re so inclined, before the film opens July 11th.  Hit the jump for more.

The first image from Alejandro Amenábar‘s drama Regression has been released online.  The movie takes place in Minnesota in 1990, and stars Ethan Hawke as a detective who investigates the case of a young woman (Emma Watson) who accuses her father (David Dencik) of an “unspeakable crime”.  The investigation eventually leads to uncovering a “horrifying nationwide mystery.”  I’m a big fan of Amenábar’s previous films The Others and The Sea Inside, and it looks like he has another powerful story here.  Principal photography has wrapped, so I wonder if there’s a chance we’ll see this one on the fall festival circuit.

Hit the jump to check out the Regression image.  The film also stars David Thewlis, Dale Dickey, Lothaire Bluteau, and Devon Bostick.

The first Boyhood trailer for director Richard Linklater’s wonderfully ambitious drama came online a few days ago, but it was subsequently pulled down.  The trailer is now officially online, and instead of simply updating that article, we figured we’d go ahead and bring it to your attention again because the movie is just that good.  The story follows the life of Mason (newcomer Ellar Coltrane) from the age of 6 to 18, and Linklater shot the film over the span of 12 years with the same cast, crafting a wholly unique moviegoing experience that allows audiences to literally grow up with Mason.  I caught the film at Sundance and it’s an astounding accomplishment that also proves to be highly emotional, poignant, and affecting.  It still stands as the best thing I’ve seen in 2014 so far, and it’s gonna be incredibly difficult to knock it out of that top spot.  As for this first trailer, it does an excellent job of conveying the tone of the pic without giving away any major plot points.

Hit the jump to watch the official Boyhood trailer (now free of Access Hollywood’s atrocious editing), and click here to read Matt’s review.  Also starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, the film opens in limited release on July 11th.

IFC Films has released the trailer and teaser poster for Boyhood.  Richard Linklater’s remarkable film follows the life of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) over the course of 12 years, dropping in to view pivotal scenes in his life from the age of 6 to 18.  Viewers also see his sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), their mother Olivia (Patricia Arquette), and father Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawke) age alongside him.  No matter how the film is eventually received by critics and audiences alike, the idea behind Boyhood is a commendable one that eschews traditional schedules, casting age-appropriate actors to fill in the gaps, and even cutting-edge aging make-up.  Linklater has chosen, instead, to let the natural path of life carve its way forward for each of his actors; that alone makes this a film worth watching.

Hit the jump to check out the Boyhood trailer and poster, and click here to read Matt’s review from Sundance.  The film opens in limited release on July 11th.

IFC Films has announced that it will release writer/director Richard Linklater’s phenomenal 12-years-in-the-making drama Boyhood this summer on July 11th.  The film stars Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as a divorced couple raising their son (Ellar Coltrane), and it was shot over a period of 12 years.  Linkalter filmed scenes for the pic every year for over a decade with the same actors, and the result is a movie that tracks the adolescence of young Mason through the formative experiences that shape and mold him into the man he will become.  I caught the pic at Sundance and it’s a tremendous, highly emotional achievement.  It’s truly amazing to see Coltrane literally grow up onscreen, and Linklater perfectly encapsulates the shared human experience of “growing up” with grace and poignancy.

Hit the jump to read the full press release and click here to read Matt’s review from Sundance.  When Boyhood reaches a theater near you, I implore you to seek it out.  It’s unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Boyhood is a miracle.  It is truly unique.  It is a masterpiece.  It is one of the best coming-of-age movies ever made.  These superlatives may seem grandiose or even hyperbolic, but Richard Linklater’s 12-year project is a work of art unlike any other.  More importantly, it’s a work that hits a thoughtful and emotional core.  It is a movie that not only draws us into the lives of the characters, but also causes us to reexamine our own lives.  Boyhood is both intimate and epic, subtle and overwhelming, and an absolute marvel.

The Critics’ Choice Movie Awards were announced tonight, and 12 Years a Slave took home Best Picture.  The Critics’ Choice Awards have lined up with the Oscars in six of the last seven Best Pictures, but it’s worth noting that the Broadcast Film Critics Association spread the wealth around with genre awards to the other Oscar favorites, Gravity (Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie) and American Hustle (Best Comedy).  Lone Survivor only managed two Oscar nominations for the sound categories, but found some love here as the Best Action Movie.

Hit the jump for the full list of winners, including ten different acting awards.

Richard Linklater‘s Before Midnight premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, and in a way it’s a movie that’s eighteen years in the making.  Part of its power comes from growing up with the lead characters, and seeing them in different phases of their lives.  Sundance has now announced that Linklater will return this year with Boyhood, a film that was literally shot over the course of twelve years.  The film stars Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as a divorced couple raising their son (Ellar Coltrane), and Linklater and his actors have been shooting scenes for the film every year since 2002 as the story traces the boy’s life from first grade to 12th grade.  Aside from what they saved on old-age makeup, Boyhood is a unique picture that’s certain to be a hot ticket at this year’s festival.  You can bet we’ll be lining up early to see all 164 minutes of the picture when it premieres Sunday, January 19th at 9:45 p.m. at the Eccles Theatre.

Hit the jump to read the press release and check out the first two images from the movie.  The 2014 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 16 – 26th.

If, like me, you’ve never seen writer-director Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy starring Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, now’s your chance to remedy that all in one sitting.  The 29th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival will host 1995′s Before Sunrise, 2004′s Before Sunset and 2013′s Before Midnight back to back to back on the closing night of the festival, February 9th.  Following the close of the most recent film, Linklater, Delpy and Hawke will participate in an in-depth conversation about the trilogy.  Hit the jump to find out more, including information on where you can purchase tickets.