Javier Bardem (Skyfall) has booked two feature roles.  The first is writer-director J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year.  The film is expected to start shooting in Manhattan this fall.  Bardem will also star in Pierre Morel’s film The Gunman, which already stars Sean Penn.  The action thriller centers on a spy who must clear his name from his previous organization in order to save his own life.  The Pete Travis screenplay previously went by the title of Prone Gunman.  Hit the jump for more.

A couple of new featurettes for writer/director Terrence Malick’s upcoming romantic drama To the Wonder have made their way online.  The story involves a woman (Olga Kurylenko) traveling to Oklahoma to be with the man she loves (Ben Affleck), only to discover their relationship being tested by his childhood friend (Rachel McAdams) and a wayward priest (Javier Bardem).  These featurettes are beyond fascinating for any cinephile, as they give us a peek inside the filmmaking process of elusive director Terrence Malick.  The cast and crew talk about Malick’s atypical, improvisational filmmaking process, as many of them are never given a script and have to react to things Malick says while they’re filming a take.

Hit the jump to watch the featurettes, and click here to read Matt’s review.  To the Wonder opens on April 12th.

We’re only a short week away from the 85th Academy Awards, and with the close of Oscar season approaching, we’d thought this would be a nice opportunity to take a look back at how some of the races have played out, chronicling the ebbs and flows of the past 12 months or so that got us to where we are today.  We’re kicking things off with one of the more open categories: Best Supporting Actor.

One important thing to keep in mind when looking at the Oscars is that the race is incredibly fluid.  A film could be the clear frontrunner in a category one week, then might stumble to second or even third place in the ensuing weeks.  With this series of articles, we’ll be looking at exactly how much each race has changed, starting with Best Supporting Actor.  Hit the jump to read on.

We’re delighted to bring you an exclusive look at six new images from writer/director Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder, a romantic drama starring Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem and Rachel McAdams.  The story involves a woman (Kurylenko) traveling to Oklahoma to be with the man she loves (Affleck), only to discover their relationship being tested by his childhood friend (McAdams) and a wayward priest (Bardem).  Check out Matt’s review of the film here.  To the Wonder opens April 12th.  Hit the jump to see the new images.

At last, Oscar is upon us.  Back in November I shared a look at the early awards season race by way of our 2013 Oscar Preview articles, and now nearly two months later there’s still quite a bit up in the air.  This truly is one of the more exciting awards races in recent years, as 2012 is so stacked with quality that there are a surprising number of uncertainties this close to the Academy Awards ceremony.  Nevertheless, I am once again foolishly going to attempt to predict how the Oscar nominations will shake out when they’re announced tomorrow morning, January 10th.  Hit the jump to check out my predictions.

In past years for my “Best of” list, I’ve been able to provide fun categories like “Best Kill” and “Best Quotes”, but sadly, that won’t be happening this year.  I keep notes throughout the year, but in July, my hard drive crashed, and because I am a foolish person, I didn’t back up the notes to a separate drive.  However, I do have enough information to do the traditional categories as well as Breakthrough Performance, “A Very Good Year”, Best Villain, Best Surprises, Biggest Disappointments, and a new category, “Best Movie You Probably Missed This Year.”  One final note: unlike previous years, the film had to come out in 2012; festival-only flicks don’t count, so that’s why there’s no love for The Place Beyond the Pines on this year’s list.

Hit the jump to check out my miscellaneous “Best of 2012″ picks.  Be sure to keep checking back this week as we’ll be running Top 10 lists from Adam, Dave, and me.

The first trailer has been released for Terrence Malick‘s To The Wonder.  In the vague semblance of a plot, Olga Kurylenko plays a woman who travels to Oklahoma to be with the man she loves only to discover that their relationship isn’t as strong as they previously thought.  There’s also a story involving a priest who grapples with his loneliness and has almost no narrative relation to the other plotline.  I caught the picture at TIFF, and although To The Wonder is one of Malick’s shortest films, it feels like his longest.  His attempt to make an intimate film about intimacy caved in on itself, and most of the movie is just people whispering narration and twirling.  The majesty presented in this trailer is almost completely misleading.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Javier Bardem.  To The Wonder is set to open on April 12, 2013.

Oscar season is in full swing, folks.  2012 has been a fantastic year in film so far, and with merely weeks to go before 2013 begins there are still a couple of highly anticipated films that have yet to be seen.  Just like last year, I’ll be running down a preview of the upcoming Oscar race during this fine Thanksgiving week, giving readers a look at what the state of the race looks like right now.  To be clear, this isn’t a personal list but rather an objective look at how things look to be shaping up.  I’ve divided each category into frontrunners, likely to be nominated, and other contenders in order to parse out where things stand at the moment.  There are multiple strong contenders in nearly every category, so this is looking to be a rather heated run to the finish line.

We’ll be looking at a couple of different major categories each day over the next four days, and we’re kicking things off with the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories.  Hit the jump to read on.

We’ve recently seen a number of interesting photos from the set of two new films that director Terrence Malick has been shooting this year, but we now have word on when we might get to see the filmmaker’s follow-up to 2011’s The Tree of Life.  Malick notoriously takes his time in the post-production process, and his most recent film To the Wonder (which was shot in 2010) finally premiered this past fall at the Venice and Toronto film festivals.  The story revolves around a European woman (Olga Kurylenko) and her tumultuous relationship with an Oklahoman man (Ben Affleck), and following a mixed-to-negative response, Magnolia acquired the pic for distribution.

Now The Film Stage reports that Magnolia is eyeing an April 2013 release for the pic, following its February 22nd UK release.  Despite the mixed reactions (read Matt’s review right here), I’m eager to see the latest work from the reclusive auteur.

Last night I uncovered a gem from 2011 for the first time and my only regret is that I didn’t take the time to seek it out sooner. Writer/director Thomas McCarthy‘s dramedy Win Win is not only consistently funny but also chock full of both heartwarming and heartbreaking moments. The performances are terrific all-around, the script is strong albeit somewhat easy to telegraph, and the wrestling scenes are even surprisingly intense at times (I mean, it was nominated for a prestigious ESPY for “Best Sports Film” after all). Matt gave the film his full endorsement when he reviewed it at Sundance 2011 and I’m doing the same here today.

Movie recommendations aside, in what was yet another busy week around these parts, the five standouts include our Skyfall interviews with Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, director Sam Mendes and more, a Beautiful Creatures set visit recap, the first trailer for Brad Pitt‘s World War Z, even more set visit goodness from Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s The Last Stand, and ongoing development news for the next Star Wars trilogy. Keep reading for brief recaps and links to all of the above.

The James Bond film franchise has stood for 50 years.  It has lived, died, returned, died some more, returned again, and as the longest-running blockbuster franchise in history, it constantly walks the line between life and death regarding the series’ potency.  There likely will always be another James Bond film, but the character’s relevancy is always in question.  Can the modern audience accept Bond in a world where a grittier spy like Jason Bourne seemingly has more power to engage audiences?  Isn’t James Bond a relic that can’t convincingly survive in a post-9/11 world?  The latest Bond film, Skyfall, explores these question is a fascinating, compelling manner and does so within one of the series’ most exhilarating, perfectly crafted, and absolutely captivating entries to date.

At the recent New York press day for Skyfall, I was able to speak with Javier Bardem.  We talked about what it was like to play the villain, why he wanted the role (he’s been very selective since No Country For Old Men), how this is a very grounded and realistic Bond, and more.  In addition, with Bardem currently filming Ridley Scott‘s The Counselor, we talked about why he signed on to that project.

Let me be very clear: I absolutely loved Skyfall.  Director Sam Mendes has crafted one of the best James Bond movies ever made and it’s also one of my favorite films of the year.  While the Bond franchise is now 50 years old, Mendes has shown the best might be yet to come.  I really can’t recommend this film enough.  For all our Skyfall coverage including clips, posters, my set visit and more, click here.  Skyfall stars Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Helen McCrory, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Berenice Marlohe, and Naomie Harris.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.

Sam Mendes’ James Bond flick, Skyfall, the 23rd installment in the famed franchise, opened strongly in the U.K. with $32 million, but has continued that trend to set a one-week box office record.  Pulling in $60 million, Skyfall beats out previous seven-day record holder, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which nabbed $57 million in 2011.  Internationally, Skyfall claimed $83 million (up from its initial estimate of $77 million) on its opening day and has since crossed the $100 million mark.  This achievement is especially remarkable considering there’s no ticket price uptick for 3D.  Hit the jump to see what other records Skfyfall has set, and what the positive buzz means for its domestic opening on November 9th.

A new trailer has been release for Skyfall.  There’s only a little new footage, but it does feature Bond’s iconic introduction, so that’s always worth a watch.  The movie has been garnering ecstatic buzz, and I can’t wait to finally get a look at what director Sam Mendes has brought to the franchise (other than the influence of The Dark Knight).

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film stars Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Helen McCrory, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Berenice Marlohe, and Naomie Harris.  Skyfall opens November 9th.

4 new clips from director Sam Mendes’ James Bond film Skyfall have been released.  I’m trying my best to temper my expectations following the incredibly positive early reviews, but these new clips aren’t doing me any favors.  All signs point to Mendes having crafted a Bond film for the books, and opening day can’t get here soon enough.  We’ll have video interviews with the cast soon, but until then check out Steve’s set visit and on-set interviews with Mendes, Daniel Craig and producer Barbara Broccoli, Berenice Marlohe, and Naomie Harris.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The film also stars Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw and Helen McCrory.  Skyfall opens in traditional theaters and IMAX in the U.S. on November 9th.