The last time we heard anything about The Congress, Ari Folman‘s follow-up to his remarkable 2008 film, Waltz with Bashir, was back in 2011.  The movie is a blend of live action and animation that adapts Stanislaw Lem’s classic short story, “The Futurological Congress”, and follows an aging actress desperate for work (Robin Wright) who takes one last job to support her disabled son (Kodi-Smit McPhee).  We hoped to see the film in 2012, but now it will finally debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.  The trailer has debuted online, and the movie looks beautiful and enchantingly strange.  Wright plays herself, and then is scanned into an animated world where the studio now owns her, but she will be forever young.  Even though there’s a bit of sci-fi in here, it’s not too far removed from reality where motion-capture has become a regular part of filmmaking.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Danny Huston, Harvey Keitel, and Paul Giamatti.  The 2013 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 15 – 26th.

The first international trailer for director Anne Fontaine’s (Coco Before Chanel) drama Two Mothers has, fittingly, found its way online on Valentine’s Day.  The film stars Naomi Watts and Robin Wright as two lifelong friends who unexpectedly fall in love with each other’s sons (yes, it’s basically a feature film adaptation of “Motherlover”).  I caught the film at Sundance at it’s a peculiar movie.  The story chronicles these two relationships over a number of years and shows the ups and downs that feel universal to any relationship, but it’s hard to forget that you’re watching two middle-aged women cuddle up to boys that they have known since they were babies.  It’s not a bad movie, but it did elicit quite a bit of unintentional laughter at its Sundance premiere.  You can read my full review right here.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Xavier Samuel, James Frecheville, and Ben Mendelsohn and will hit theaters later this year.

This weekend, Netflix premiered House of Cards.  All of House of Cards.  It was a bold strategy that signaled that not only was Netflix now in the television business (even though it isn’t their first original series), but that they had quality programming on the level of HBO.  House of Cards is a show with the same level of plotting, character development, twists, and turns that we’ve come to expect from the celebrated premium channel.  In some ways, House of Cards is even better than some of HBO’s recent offerings.  Beau Willimon‘s adaptation of the BBC series is radical not only in its distribution, but also in how it spits in the face of those who claim that they need characters to “root for”.

Relationships are complicated.  Every person knows this; it is a universal truth.  Love can be both the best experience and the worst experience, but it’s incredibly difficult to live your life on this earth unscathed by the scars of loving another person.  Of course, a relationship is made a bit more complicated when you fall in love with your best friend’s son, and director Anne Fontaine takes this complication one step further by chronicling the extended love affair of two best friends who fall in love with each other’s sons.  Hit the jump for my full review of Two Mothers.

One of my most-anticipated TV series of 2013 isn’t on network television, cable, or premium cable.  It’s on Netflix.  The streaming service is moving into the original television business, and it might have two hits on its hands with House of Cards and the fourth season of Arrested Development.  Four new trailers have been released for the former, and if you couldn’t tell by the first trailer, the show looks downright nasty and loads of fun.  The new trailers bring us some crackling lines such as “The most you’ll ever make of yourself is blowing men like me,” and “Twitter twat.”  Who can resist dialogue like that?

Click here to see the trailers [via CinemaBlend].  We’ll update this article with embeds as soon as they’re available.  The series stars Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, Kate Mara, Corey Stoll, Michael Kelly, Sakina Jaffrey, Kristen Connolly, Sebastian Arcelus, Boris McGiver, Constance Zimmer, Jayne Atkinson, Michel Gill, and Reg E. Cathey.  All 13 episodes of House of Cards premiere on February 1st.

Today, Sundance announced their stellar Premieres line-up and we have the first images from a few of the movies playing in the category:

• Top of the Lake – Directed by Jane Champion and Garth Davis, written by Campion and Gerard Lee, starring Elisabeth Moss, Holly Hunter, Peter Mullan, and David Wenham.

• Two Mothers – Directed by Anne Fontaine, written by Christopher Hampton, starring Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel, and James Frechevile.

• Very Good Girls – Written and directed by Naomi Foner starring Dakota Fanning, Elizabeth Olsen, Demi Moore, Richard Dreyfuss, and Ellen Barkin.

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

Netflix, the ever-evolving DVD and streaming service, has really raised the bar on web series and online original content recently, both with the news of its resurrection of the beloved Arrested Development and its upcoming David Fincher adaptation of Michael Dobbs‘ House of Cards series.

In anticipation of House of Cards‘ release, Netflix has created character profiles that say something about each, while also revealing their true nature.  Hit the jump for the pics and the trailer.  The show stars Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, Kate Mara, Corey Stoll, Michael Kelly, Sakina Jaffrey, Kristen Connolly, Sebastian Arcelus, Boris McGiver, Constance Zimmer, Jayne Atkinson, Michel Gill, and Reg E. Cathey.  All 13 episode of House of Cards premiere on February 1, 2013.

Back in March, Kevin Spacey billed David Fincher‘s upcoming Netflix series House of Cards as “not your daddy’s West Wing.”  It certainly looks like The West Wing if Aaron Sorkin‘s show was dark, cynical, and filled with duplicitous characters but still entertaining as hell.  Watching the Washington, D.C. scheming in this trailer looks absolutely captivating, and Netflix might very well have a hit show not named “Arrested Development“.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The show also stars Robin Wright, Kate Mara, Corey Stoll, Michael Kelly, Sakina Jaffrey, Kristen Connolly, Sebastian Arcelus, Boris McGiver, Constance Zimmer, Jayne Atkinson, Michel Gill, and Reg E. Cathey.  All 13 episode of House of Cards premiere on February 1, 2013.

Here’s today’s casting news in brief with details to follow:

• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has added Stephanie Leigh Schlund (The Last Song) to their list of tributes.  Schlund will star opposite Jennifer Lawrence in the Francis Lawrence-directed sequel.
• August: Osage County brings in Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding) to join the family that already features Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Juliette Lewis.
• Robin Wright (The Princess Bride) is being courted to star in A Most Wanted Man, an adaptation of the John le Carre novel scripted by Andrew Bovell and directed by Anton Corbijn.

Hit the jump for more details on each project.

The first image from director David Fincher’s upcoming Netflix series House of Cards is now online.  The show is based on the British miniseries of the same name and stars Kevin Spacey as a “wily, murderous politician worming his way to the White House” in Washington D.C.  Fincher is directing the pilot, and Netflix has committed to producing and airing two seasons of 13 episodes each that will stream through the subscription service.  Fincher seems a perfect fit to tackle the dirty game of politics, and the series reteams him the director with Spacey and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo star Robin Wright.  A specific airdate has yet to be announced, but the series is set to be unveiled sometime in 2013.

Hit the jump to check out the first image of Spacey and Wright in what the former calls, “[not] your daddy’s West Wing.”

What if you made a scrappy underdog sports film that wasn’t funny? In some ways that’s what Moneyball is, it’s the story of Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and how he works with Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) to build a team to win using statistics over star players. Bennett Miller’s film is engaging enough even for those who don’t follow the game (and those that do may dismiss what they accomplished – as many have) but as a narrative it’s the rare serious attempt to tell an underdog sports story without focusing on jokes or the players. Our review of Moneyball on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Naomi Watts and Robin Wright will star in The Grandmothers for director Anne Fontaine (Coco Avant Chanel).  According to THR, The Grandmothers is “the erotic tale of misguided love”—and stop right there.  I think this is a picture for everyone who sees movies when they only know the title (yes, these people exist; you probably know at least one or two of them).  Continue, THR: “—a tale of misguided love and a celebration of the enduring nature of female friendship.”  Aww.  That’s actually kind of sweet.  So what’s the actual plot?  “The Grandmothers tells the story of two lifelong friends who fall in love with each other’s teenage sons.”

Holy crap.  Anne Fontaine is unintentionally turning The Lonely Island’s “Motherlover” into a movie.  Hit the jump for more.

The release of director David Fincher’s highly anticipated adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is quickly approaching, and today a plethora of new images from the film have been unveiled. While most image galleries give away 80% of the movie, the images here are used more to invoke mood than story. While we do get looks at stars Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig, there are quite a few shots of stationary objects or settings that give off the chilling vibe so expertly conveyed in the trailers. If the marketing materials released thus far are any indication of the film’s quality, we’re in for quite a ride come Christmas.

Hit the jump to check out the images. The film also stars Stellan Skarsgard, Christopher Plummer, and Robin Wright. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opens December 23rd.

I’ve been hearing about the cop drama Rampart for quite a while now, specifically Woody Harrelson’s performance in the film. The first trailer has now been released, and Harrelson does indeed look to be delivering one hell of a performance. The pic focuses on a Vietnam vet and cop who does his job a bit dirtier than most, unafraid to to blur the lines between right and wrong. Harrelson looks strong here, and I’m assuming the movie as a whole hinges on his character spinning out of control. Much has been said about the actor’s Oscar chances, so if he continues to pick up steam expect to hear a lot more about Rampart in the coming weeks.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Ben Foster, Robin Wright, Anne Heche, Ice Cube, Sigourney Weaver, Cynthia Nixon, Ned Beatty, and Steve Buscemi. Rampart opens November 23rd.

The international trailer for David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been released. It’s essentially a shorter version of the great four-minute trailer that hit the web a couple weeks ago. There are a couple of new glimpses here, but all in all it’s pretty much more of the same (which is definitely not a bad thing). I’m loving the marketing campaign for the film thus far. The teaser trailer was spectacular, stars Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara were featured in rather dark photo spread for Empire recently, and just today a video was released that chronicled the creation of a metal poster for the film set against Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ chilling score.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Stellan Skarsgård, Robin Wright, Christopher Plummer, and Joely Richardson. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opens December 21.