[This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.  The Place Beyond the Pines opens tomorrow in wide release.]

Writer-director Derek Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines is a rich, multi-layered narrative dripping with fatalism, guilt, honor, and no easy answers. It is an epic family saga that defies easy explanation, and rebels against the structure of a traditional narrative. His gripping tale shows split-second connections that last lifetimes, and old sins that reach across generations. Cianfrance has created a remarkable work that reaches a grand ambition with an intimate tale. And I have to tell you why it works without divulging the twists and turns of its razor-sharp script.

Now playing in limited release and expanding nationwide this weekend is one of the best films you’re going to see this year: director Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines.  The pic centers on a professional motorcycle rider turned bank robber (Ryan Gosling) and a rookie police officer (Bradley Cooper).  Saying more would be detrimental to your enjoyment of the film, and I would encourage you to be very careful when reading about it.  Pines also stars Eva Mendes, Bruce Greenwood, Dane DeHaan, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn, and Rose Byrne.   For more on the film, here are images, clips, and everything we’ve previously posted on the film.

At the New York City press day, I got to speak with Mendes.  We talked about how she landed her role, the way she prepared to make sure her character looked real and authentic on screen, how Cianfrance asked her to make the decision of who to cast as her on-screen mother, what’s it been like waiting for the film to come out after premiering at TIFF, and more.  In addition, she also talked about who she plays in Larry David‘s Clear History.  Hit the jump to watch.

Focus Features has released a new poster and images for Derek Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines.  The film centers on a generational conflict involving two fathers: one a pro-motorcycle rider and bank robber (Ryan Gosling) and a rookie cop on the rise (Bradley Cooper).  This was one of my favorite films at TIFF 2012, and I’m glad that general audiences are very close to seeing it.

Hit the jump to check out the poster and images.  The film also stars Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn, Rose Byrne, Emory Cohen, and Dane DeHaan.  The Place Beyond the Pines opens Friday in limited release.

We’ve got some new images, a clip and TV spot from Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines to share with you today.  The film stars Oscar-nominated actors Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook) and Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) as two fathers on opposite sides of the law.  The film also stars Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Rose Byrne and Dane DeHaan.  The Place Beyond the Pines opens in limited release on March 29th.  Hit the jump to check out the clip, TV spot and new images.

Focus Features has released a new clip from Derek Cianfrance’s drama The Place Beyond the Pines.  The film centers on a generational conflict involving two fathers: one a pro-motorcycle rider and bank robber (Ryan Gosling) and a rookie cop on the rise (Bradley Cooper).  Eva Mendes co-stars as the girlfriend of Gosling’s character.  As I’ve said before, you want to try and keep yourself in the dark as much as possible on this flick, and I would encourage you to be very careful when reading about it.  I saw the movie at TIFF, and it has a good chance of being on my Top 10 films of 2013.

Hit the jump to check out the clip.  The Place Beyond the Pines opens in limited release on March 29th.  The film has also set up a Tumblr, which you can check out here.

Check out the latest casting news for the following pictures:

• Eva Mendes (Sin City) joins How to Catch a Monster, the directorial debut of Ryan Gosling that stars Christina Hendricks and Ben Mendelsohn.
• Jane Levy (Evil Dead) will join the horror thriller In a Dark Place, directed by Bharat Nalluri (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day).
• The Rover begins production and rounds out their cast with Susan Prior (Animal Kingdom), Gillian Jones (Oscar and Lucinda), Anthony Hayes (Burning Man) and David Field (Chopper).
• Son of a Gun also adds new cast members by way of Alicia Vikander (Anna Karenina), Jacek Koman (The Great Gatsby) and Brenton Thwaites (Maleficent).

Hit the jump for more on each picture and casting announcement.

Eleven new images from Derek Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines have been released.  The film centers on a generational conflict involving two fathers: one a pro-motorcycle rider and bank robber (Ryan Gosling) and a rookie cop on the rise (Bradley Cooper).  Saying more would be detrimental to your enjoyment of the film, and I would encourage you to be very careful when reading about it.  I saw the movie at TIFF, and it has a good chance of being on my Top 10 films of 2013.  I’m a little surprised the film is getting released in March since it could have some serious awards potential.

Hit the jump to check out the images (don’t worry; they’re not spoilery).  The film also stars Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, and Dane DeHaan.  The Place Beyond the Pines opens in limited release on March 29th.

We’ve got a round-up of some of the latest posters from the following movies:

• The Incredible Burt Wonderstone starring Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin, James Gandolfini, Jim Carrey, Jay Mohr, and Michael Bully Herbig.  The Incredible Burt Wonderstone opens March 15th.

• From Up on Poppy Hill, a Studio Ghibli film written by Hayao Miyazaki and featuring the voices of Gillian Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christina Hendricks, Ron Howard, Chris Noth, Aubrey Plaza, and Anton Yelchin.  From Up on Poppy Hill opens March 15th in New York and L.A. before expanding on March 29th.

• Top Gun 3D stars Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, and Tom Skerritt.  Top Gun 3D will have a 6-day-only IMAX 3D engagement from February 8 – 13th.

• The Place Beyond the Pines stars Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Dane DeHaan, and Eva Mendes.  The Place Beyond the Pines opens March 29th.  Click here for my review from TIFF.

Hit the jump to check out the posters and synopses for the films.

The first trailer for director Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines has gone online. The film centers on two fathers: one is a pro-motorcycle rider and bank robber (Ryan Gosling) while the other is a rookie cop on the rise (Bradley Cooper). Though the two leads are instantly set on a collision course, it’s hard to know who to root for with such compelling actors in their respective multi-dimensional roles. You can also check out two clips from the film here and read Matt Goldberg’s review from TIFF.

The Place Beyond the Pines also stars Eva Mendes, Ben Mendelsohn, Rose Byrne and Ray Liotta. The film opens March 29, 2013. Hit the jump to watch the trailer. 

From writer/director Leos Crax (The Lovers on the Bridge) comes Holy Motors, a off-the-rails journey that follows a day in the life of an actor who transforms into nine different characters across multiple genres.  The first trailer for the French film has gone online and you can make of it what you will, but without seeing the whole film, I’m completely lost but enjoying the ride.  Check out Matt Goldberg’s review of the film from Fantastic Fest 2012 to get caught up.

Holy Motors, starring Denis Lavant, Edith Scob, Kylie Minogue and Eva Mendes, is touring the festival circuit.  Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.

The Toronto Film Festival is widely considered to be the place where a majority of the buzz for so-called “awards films” begins, and this year one of the biggest surprises was Derek Cianfrance’s (Blue Valentine) crime drama The Place Beyond the Pines.  The pic stars Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper and centers on the intense feud between a professional motorcycle rider turned bank robber (Gosling) and a rookie police officer (Cooper).  The film premiered to an enthusiastically positive response at TIFF, with heavy praise given to the film’s scope and impact; our own Matt Goldberg called it an “epic family saga” in his positive review.

Focus Features acquired the film for 2013 distribution, and many figured the drama would be poised for an awards season release sometime in the fall.  Now Box Office Mojo reports that we’ll see the pic much sooner than expected, as The Place Beyond the Pines has been dated for a limited release on March 29th, 2013.  This is great news for those of us eager to see what everyone was buzzing about back at TIFF, but it’s a little surprising that Focus is dropping this one so early in the year.

It looks like Larry David’s comedy feature set up to debut on HBO finally has a name: Clear History.  More important than that oddly ambiguous title is the all-star cast that David and director Greg Mottola (Superbad) have lined up.  We previously reported that Jon Hamm (Mad Men) and Michael Keaton (Batman) were attached to star, but a slew of others have joined the production.  Clear History will also feature Kate Hudson, Bill Hader, Amy Ryan, Eva Mendes, JB Smoove, Danny McBride and Phillip Michael Hall.  Hit the jump for more on Clear History.

Writer-director Derek Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines is a rich, multi-layered narrative dripping with fatalism, guilt, honor, and no easy answers.  It is an epic family saga that defies easy explanation, and rebels against the structure of a traditional narrative.  His gripping tale shows split-second connections that last lifetimes, and old sins that reach across generations.  Cianfrance has created a remarkable work that reaches a grand ambition with an intimate tale.  And I have to tell you why it works without divulging the twists and turns of its razor-sharp script.

In the drama Girl in Progress, actress Eva Mendes plays single mom Grace, a woman who is too busy juggling work, bills and her very married doctor boyfriend (Matthew Modine) to give her teenage daughter, Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez) the attention she desperately needs and craves.  Fed up and frustrated, Ansiedad is inspired to skip adolescence and get an early start on her life without her mother, but quickly learns that, in trying so hard to grow up, she just might end up exactly like the woman she’s trying so hard not to become.

At the film’s press day, Eva Mendes talked about playing such a damaged and complicated character, how she sees herself as a work in progress, her own difficult transition from girl to woman, working with her young co-star, and having no hesitation about playing a mom.  She also talked about her recent trip to Sierra Leone, for an upcoming PBS documentary.  Check out what she had to say after the jump.

The first poster for Lee Daniels‘ adaptation of The Paperboy has gone online along with a new poster for the action-comedy The Baytown Disco starring Billy Bob Thornton and Eva Mendes.  I like the simplicity of the Paperboy poster as well as the throwback font.  It doesn’t tell you much about the movie, but it does let us know that Zac Efron has really been working on his biceps.

The previous poster for The Baytown Disco was great but this new one is an overcrowded mess.  Also, both posters use the term “whip-ass”, which I’ve never heard before.  It seems like someone said the tagline should include the word “whoop-ass”, but spell-check wouldn’t accept it, so they had to go with “whip-ass”.  Hit the jump to check out the posters.  Both movies are due out in 2012.