Sony Pictures Classics has released the first clip from Richard Linklater‘s Before Midnight.  The new film takes place 18 years after Before Sunrise and 9 years after Before Sunset, and sees Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) navigating married life on a trip to Greece.  Like the previous films, it’s a lot of walking and talking, but it absolutely works because of the intimate and lived-in chemistry between the lead actors, who also co-wrote the film with Linklater.  I adored the movie when I saw it at Sundance, and this clip provides a good sense of the second act as the couple reflects back on the arc of their unique relationship.

Hit the jump to check out the clip.  Before Midnight opens in limited release on May 24th.

Sony Pictures Classic has released some new images from director Richard Linklater’s follow-up to Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, the sequel Before Midnight.  The film picks up nine years after the events of Before Sunset as we once again catch up with Ethan Hawke’s Jessie and Julie Delpy’s Celine, but to say anything more would be to ruin the experience of the film.  These new images, in fact, could conceivably be considered spoilers.  I caught the film at Sundance (read Matt’s review here) and thought it was a brilliant addition to the series.  It’s emotional, funny, bare, and revealing, and once again Hawke and Delpy shine in roles that both speak to and about the audience.  You’d be hard pressed to find a trilogy better than this one, and Before Midnight might even be the best film of the bunch.

Hit the jump to check out the images, if you wish to do so, and click here to watch the trailer.  Be aware that the photos do spoil a few of the film’s surprises, but I doubt that it would affect the film’s overall quality.  Before Midnight opens in limited release on May 24th.

Universal has released the first trailer, poster, and images for The Purge starring Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey.  The “speculative thriller” takes place in a world where the government sanctions an annual 12-hour period where everything—including murder—becomes legal.  During this madness, a family inside a gated community fights to survive without turning into monsters themselves.  Even though I don’t quite follow the government’s logic on this one, perhaps there’s some sociopolitical commentary in the premise.  Perhaps the notion behind “the purge” is to let all the bad people kill each other, and then everything will be okay for the “good people” in their gated communities?  Also, what purpose do the masks serve if the action is legal?  I’m also curious to see how this film will be compared to the summer’s other masked-murderers-invade-a-home horror movie, You’re Next?

Hit the jump to check out the trailer, poster, and images.  The film also stars Adelaide Kane, and Max Burkholder.  The Purge opens May 31st.

Sony Pictures Classics has released the first trailer for director Richard Linklater’s sequel Before Midnight.  I caught the film at Sundance and it’s tough to say anything about it without ruining the film’s surprises.  If you were a fan of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset and have every intention of seeing Before Midnight opening weekend, I might suggest you not watch this trailer.  It doesn’t give anything away outright, but it’s much more fun to go into these movies knowing as little as possible.  That said, this trailer does a nice job of playing on the nostalgia from the first two films while teasing what Midnight has in store.  I will say that I had impossibly high expectations for Before Midnight going in, and I found that it somehow surpassed them.  This trilogy is truly one of the great works of cinema, and Before Midnight is not only a fantastic and worthy addition to the saga of Jesse and Celine, but it’s also one of the best films of the year so far.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, and click here to read Matt’s review of the film from Sundance.  Before Midnight stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy and opens in limited release on May 24th.

Warner Bros. has released a batch of new high-resolution images from some upcoming summer films.  Briefly:

• The Hangover Part III – A new image from Todd Phillips’ trilogy-closer teases a familiar scene as Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper, and Ed Helms ride an elevator.  The film opens on May 24th.
• The Great Gatsby – A couple of new images from director Baz Luhrmann’s colorful adaptation highlight Leonardo DiCaprio’s titular character flanked by his new friends.  The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, and Joel Edgerton and opens in 3D on May 10th.
• The Conjuring – Director James Wan’s new horror film debuted a ridiculously creepy teaser trailer earlier last month, and these new images feature Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s psychic investigator characters.  The film also stars Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston and opens on July 19th.
• Getaway – A new image from this car-set thriller gives us a canted look at Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez’s lead characters.  The film opens on August 30th.

Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses.

Here’s the thing about Sinister: it knows that we’re onto it.  A lot of horror movies evince a certain self-awareness, but Sinister doesn’t use it to nudge us in the ribs. It uses it to scare the holy crap out of us. The big reveal (which I daren’t mention here) involves one of the oldest clichés in the genre: the kind that makes audience members say “why don’t they just…?” and destroy the whole movie in the process. Sinister has our number, and is more than happy to punch it up as often as it can. Hit the jump for my full review.

With Sundance 2013 in full swing, more promotional material continues to leak out, like these new images from:

• Before Midnight – The third movie in the Richard Linklater trilogy that includes 1995′s Before Sunrise and 2004′s Before Sunset, centering on the timely relationship between Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy’s aging lovers.  Be sure to read Matt’s review here.
• The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman – Director Fredrik Bond’s crime romance centering on the title character (Shia LaBeouf) who falls for a woman (Evan Rachel Wood) claimed by a violent crime boss.

Hit the jump to check out the new images from each movie.

Richard Linklater‘s 1995 film Before Sunrise is a love story.  His 2004 follow-up, Before Sunset, is a life story.  His latest film, Before Midnight, is a lived-in love story.  The relationship of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) resumes at its most complicated point where we see what happens nine years after true love.  Once again, Linklater and his co-writers (also Hawke and Delpy) have delivered an honest and thoughtful romance that truly taps into the maturity of its lead characters.  Although the story falters when the focus pulls back from its protagonists, Before Midnight firmly establishes the trilogy as a unique and remarkable accomplishment that manages to always find the humor, tragedy, frustration, and desire in a brutally honest love story.

Warner Bros. has released a number of new high-resolution images from some of their upcoming 2013 titles.  Briefly:

• Bullet to the Head – Written and directed by action veteran Walter Hill, the film stars Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang, and Jason Momoa.  The film opens on February 1, 2013.
• 42 – Directed by Brian Helgeland, the Jackie Robinson biopic stars Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, and Jon Bernthal.  The film opens on April 12, 2013.
• The Great Gatsby – Directed by Baz Luhrmann, this 3D adaptation stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, and Carey Mulligan.  The film opens May 10, 2013.
• We’re the Millers – Directed by Rawson Thurber (Dodgeball), this pot comedy stars Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, and Emma Roberts.  The film opens on August 9, 2013.
• Getaway – Directed by Courtney Solomon and Yaron Levy, this thriller set within the confines of a car stars Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez, and Jon Voight.  The film opens on August 30, 2013.

Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses.

I hadn’t heard anything about The Purge, but today the first synopsis has been released, and it sounds quite fascinating.  Presumably, this was the secret project “Vigilandia“ that we reported on back in January.  The “speculative thriller” takes place in a world where the government sanctions an annual 12-hour period where everything—including murder—becomes legal.  During this madness, a family inside a gated community fights to survive without turning into monsters themselves.  I can’t help but wonder if there’s an ounce of political commentary in the premise that a world without police, hospitals, and other basic services becomes a pure libertarian paradise.

Hit the jump to check out the synopsis.  The film stars Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey.  The Purge opens May 31, 2013.

Sinister is a film obsessed with the past – how we long for it, wait for it to repeat itself, become our present. The past, in the film, is a destructive force, destroying the bonds of family and driving even the ones closest to us to unspeakable acts. Ethan Hawke stars as Ellison Oswalt, a true crime writer obsessed with rekindling his career and living up to his earlier successes. His nostalgia leads him to move his clueless family into the house of a horrendous murder – all in the name of solving a crime police couldn’t years ago. Once moved in, Hawke discovers a series of ‘home movies’ chronicling a number of seemingly unrelated murders. Soon these murders come to bear an incredible toll on Hawke’s psyche and the well being of those closest to him. The past in Sinister is literally alive – and it wants to hurt you.

In the following interview with Ethan Hawke, he discusses the anti-nostalgia at the heart of Sinister and much of his own work, playing the darker shades of his character Ellison and his thoughts on film vs. theater. In addition, Hawkes talks about shooting Before Midnight and reveals that this entry will quite possibly be the last in the series. For the full interview, hit the jump.

In an attempt to creep you the fuck out before it opens in theaters October 12th, Sinister has released a host of new images, GIFs (which are always fun) and clips.  The film, written and directed by The Exorcism of Emily Rose’s Scott Derrickson, centers on a family who moves into a house only to discover that its been the setting of gruesome murders of families in the past.  The evidence is found via old film reels, which also house the vindictive spirit, unbeknownst to our protagonists.  Sinister, starring Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance and James Ransone, opens October 12th.  Hit the jump to check out the new images, clips and GIFs.

Three weeks ago, production wrapped on Before Midnight, the third entry in the incredibly well regarded Before Sunrise/Sunset series directed by Richard Linklater. The fascinating thing: nobody even knew the picture had been written or was in production. The films, for those unfamiliar, follow Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) as they meet, talk and fall in love all in a day and night.

At the press junket for Sinister earlier today, I had the opportunity to speak with star Ethan Hawke about the recently shot and wrapped Before Midnight. Hawke was more than willing to open up about the newest entry in the series, the writing process behind the films and whether or not Before Midnight will be the last in the series. For Hawke’s thought on the film, hit the jump.

Words cannot express the horrific potential this new red-band trailer for Sinister has to scare you.  Unlike the first trailer for Scott Derrickson’s upcoming horror film, no one utters a word in the red-band trailer and the effect is vastly improved.  After the exhausting runs of the Saw and Paranormal Activity franchises, getting back to basics is a relief.  While the premise for Sinister isn’t exactly original and continues to invoke the current “found footage” gimmick (though with a slightly new angle), it looks like it could be a truly scary film.

Sinister stars Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance and James Ransone and opens October 12th, but you can see it first by bringing an early screening to your hometown.  Hit the jump to see the new red-band trailer. 

A bit of a release date shuffle today and man are these titles hard on my lisp:

• Sinister, the horror thriller from director Scott Derrickson and starring Ethan Hawke and Juliet Rylance moves back a week from October 5th to October 12th, 2012.
• The Sessions, from director Ben Lewin and starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy moves up from October 26th to October 19th, 2012.
• The Starbuck remake by Ken Scott (the writer/director of the original 2011 film) has been bumped from September 28th of this year to March 29th, 2013.  Starbuck stars Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt and Cobie Smulders.

Hit the jump for synopses and posters.