The Sundance Film Festival recently announced the promising lineups for a few of the festival’s categories, and we’ve now got the first images from some films that will be playing in competition as part of the U.S. Dramatic category.  Briefly:

• Afternoon Delight – Written and directed by Jill Soloway, starring Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, and Jane Lynch.
• Ain’t Them Bodies Saints – Written and directed by David Lowery, starring Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Nate Parker, and Keith Carradine.
• C.O.G. – Written and directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, starring Jonathan Groff, Denis O’Hare, Corey Stoll, Dean Stockwell, Casey Wilson, and Troian Bellisario.
• Concussion – Written and directed by Stacie Passon, starring Robin Weigert, Maggie Siff, Jonathan Tchaikovsky, Julie Fain Lawrence, Emily Kinney, and Laila Robins.

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

With Nate Parker (Red Tails) reportedly exiting Spike Lee’s Oldboy remake due to scheduling conflicts (with Non-Stop, starring Liam Neeson), the director has turned to a familiar collaborator in James Ransone (Sinister).  Oldboy will mark the third time the duo have worked together, following Lee’s Inside Man and Red Hook Summer.   Currently filming, Oldboy also stars Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson and Sharlto Copely.  Variety reports that Ransone will play a doctor who works with Olsen’s character in the remake of Chan-wook Park’s revenge thriller, a story that centers on a man (Brolin) who escapes from a decade of imprisonment and goes in search of his kidnappers.  Ransone can next be seen in Broken City, along with Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg.

For news on John Leguizamo (The Lincoln Lawyer) joining Ice Cube and Kevin Hart in the action-comedy, Ride Along, hit the jump.

Lots of male-pattern casting to get to today.  Let’s take a gander:

• Nate Parker (Arbitrage) has boarded director Jaume Collet-Serra’s airplane thriller Non-Stop, starring Liam Neeson.
• Adam Brody (Mr. and Mrs. Smith) joins Baggage Claim from writer/director/producer David E. Talbert, a rom-com adaptation of his own novel.
• Ben Bailey will step out of the Cash Cab and into Ken Scott’s Starbuck remake, opposite Vince Vaughn.
• Cam Gigandet (Twilight) and Nick Thune (Knocked Up) join Johnson, a raunchie indie comedy directed by Huck Botko (The Virginity Hit) from a Jeff Tetreault script.

Hit the jump for details on each film.

We’ve got a bit of casting news to share with you tonight.  Here it is at a glance:

• Emmanuelle Chriqui (Entourage) is in talks to star opposite Luke Wilson (Old School) in the indie sports comedy, The Million Dollar Man. 
• John Boyega (Attack the Block) is set to star in Creeping Zero, a sci-fi film from director Billy O’Brien (Isolation).
• Nate Parker (Red Hook Summer) is in talks to join Spike Lee’s remake of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy. 

Hit the jump for more on each film. 

There was a lot of buzz surrounding Red Hook Summer in development because director Spike Lee reprises his role from the 1989 classic Do the Right Thing.  There were other elements that bode well for one of the better Spike Lee joints in recent years, including the Brooklyn setting and star Clarke Peters (The Wire).  Red Hook Summer polarized critics at Sundance (Matt gave it an “F”), which could be viewed as another positive sign, given Lee’s resume.  Both the good (the music, visual flair) and the bad (poor child actors, drowning in that melodrama) are on display in the first trailer.

Jules Brown, Toni Lysaith, Nate Parker, James Ransone, and Thomas Jefferson Byrd star alongside Peters in Red Hook Summer.  Let’s you and I wait until it opens on August 10 to make up our minds.  In the meantime, test the waters by watching the trailer after the break.

The first trailer and poster for the thriller Arbitrage have gone online.  Richard Gere stars as a troubled hedge fund magnate desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire who makes a bloody error that forces him to scramble for help.  The cast, anchored by Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth and rising star Brit Marling, is impressive and Arbitrage looks to be a fairly engrossing thriller.  It’s obvious that there are two stories trying to be told at the same time, and I’m hoping the more intriguing character-centered one takes front and center.  Matt noted this dichotomy in his review from Sundance, but I’m still quite eager to check the full film out once it hits theaters.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer and check out the poster.  Directed by Nicholas Jarecki, the film also stars Laetitia Casta and Nate Parker.  Arbitrage opens on September 14th.

Spike Lee has never suffered from a lack of ambition and the most remarkable thing about his latest film, Red Hook Summer, is how it finds so many ways to be absolutely terrible.  Every seed of a good idea is smothered under the weight of incompetent directing, horrible pacing, rancid dialogue, and atrocious performances from its lead child actors.  The film vomits up banal editorials, slight commentary on religion, minor observations on modern filmmaking, and a vague sense of community.  Many of the main characters celebrate Jesus, and that carries over to the audience when you thank Christ that the movie is over.

There are two movies living inside Nicolas Jarecki‘s Arbitrage.  Both films are about justice and a wealthy man’s struggle to elude it.  They both appeal to our hope that one day the truth will out and that no one can hide their dark secrets forever no matter how desperately they might try.  Both stories transcend class because we can all relate to a character who will stop at nothing when he’s at risk of losing everything.  But only one story helps Arbitrage stand apart by intelligently showcasing a crime we rarely see depicted in film and embracing the rich drama of family betrayal.  The other story is a dull episode of Law & Order.

World War II was the last “great” war, especially for storytellers.  It was the last time we could take the horrors of war and safely rely on the knowledge that the allied forces were fighting evil.  Not an evil that was constructed by propaganda, but indisputable evil bent on world domination and ethnic cleansing.  Recent war films and mini-series have centered on the gritty realism of battle, but Red Tails leaves that conflict on land and flies to the safety of the moral high-ground.  It embraces the exhilaration of battle, throws back to the excitement of World War II dogfights, and puts its black heroes indisputably on the side of right in the face of adversity both at home and abroad.  Elevated by stellar performances from Terrence Howard and David Oyelowo, Red Tails can be a bit shaky at times, but for the most part it’s always steady and hits its target.

With director Anthony Hemingway‘s World War II action-drama Red Tails opening January 20, 20th Century Fox has provided us with six clips and fifty-two images from the film.  Produced by George Lucas, the movie is based on the real-life story of the first all African-American squadron and their fight to defend our country.  They were given second-hand planes and the most dangerous missions, and it makes their story all the more incredible.

I actually spoke to someone tonight that recently saw the film and they said the action scenes are incredible and the film was better than they expected.  Which is always good to hear.  Red Tails stars Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Bryan Cranston, Brandon T. Jackson, Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelly, Tristan Wilds, Cliff Smith, Rick Otto, Daniela Ruah, and Michael B. Jordan.  Hit the jump to watch the clips.

Spike Lee‘s Red Hook Summer is one of my must-see films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.  The movie features a cast comprised mostly of unknown and all we knew about the plot was the brief logline: “A young Atlanta boy spends his summer in Brooklyn with his grandfather, who he’s never seen before.”  A full synopsis has gone online and reveals that the grandfather, Enoch (The Wire‘s Clarke Peters) is a strict firebrand preacher who “is bent on getting [the boy] to accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior.”

Hit the jump to read the full synopsis and check out new images from the film.  The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 19–29^th.

The latest trailer for the World War II film Red Tails finally has found the right balance between drama and action.  The movie is based on the real-life story of the first all African-American squadron and their fight to defend our country.  They were given second-hand planes and the most dangerous missions, and it makes their story all the more incredible.  The new trailer is the most exciting so far because it while it still has the grandiose language, it feels more comfortable when couched in an exciting action film (and that action looks spectacular).

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film was produced by George Lucas and stars Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Bryan Cranston, Brandon T. Jackson, and Nate Parker.  Red Tails opens January 20, 2012.

A new trailer Anthony Hemingway’s World War II action-drama Red Tails. The pic tells the true story of the Tuskeegee Airmen, the first African American military aviators in the United States armed forces. The group was given second-rate aircraft and supplies, but shined through the adversity and accomplished some of the most dangerous missions of World War II. I’m still not sold on the film as a whole (the cheese factor comes through a bit too often), but the visual effects and aerial battles look top-notch. Hopefully there’s more character development to be found in the full feature.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer. The film was produced by George Lucas and stars Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Bryan Cranston, Brandon T. Jackson, and Nate Parker.  Red Tails opens January 20, 2012.

A new featurette for Red Tails has gone online.  Were you wondering if the cast enjoyed working with each other?  Did you stay up late at night thinking, “Can these actors have fun while still respecting the serious story of the first squadron African-American World War II fighter pilots?”  Well this featurette has got some obvious answers for you.

Hit the jump to check out the featurette.  The film stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, David Oyelowo, Kevin Phillips, Nate Parker, Daniela Ruah, Michael B. Jordan, Tristan Wilds, Cliff Smith, Rick Otto, and Bryan Cranston.

Director Spike Lee is currently hard at work shooting his next film Red Hook Summer, and now it looks like the pic has a tentative release date. Details on the exact nature of the film are scarce, as we only know that it centers on an adult from New York who spends the summer in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, and Lee will be reprising his role as Mookie from his pivotal 1989 flick Do The Right Thing. Earlier today, Lee took to his Twitter and posted an image of him standing next to a garage door that looks like a mock-up of an early poster for the film with the tagline “Burning Up Da Summer 2012!”

So, straight from the horse’s mouth, it seems like we’ll be getting a new Spike Lee Joint next summer. Aside from Lee’s role, the purported cast list includes Turron Kofi Alleyne, Samantha Ivers, Limary Agosto, Heather Simms, Kalon Jackson, and Blackfilm.com adds Clarke Peters (The Wire) and Nate Parker (Red Tails) to the list. After Red Hook Summer, Lee will move onto the remake of Oldboy with Josh Brolin set to star. Hit the jump to see the full promo poster.