The Weinstein Company has released the first trailer for director John Wells’ (The Company Men) adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning play August: Osage County.  The story follows the women of a family whose lives have splintered in many directions until a crisis bring them back to their childhood home and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.  While a bit lighter in tone than the actual story, this trailer does a swell job of teasing the film’s absolutely terrific ensemble cast, led by a characteristically great Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in what could potentially be her best role in years.  Given the talent involved both onscreen and behind the scenes (Argo‘s George Clooney and Grant Heslov produce), this thing is a surefire Oscar contender that also promises delectable interplay amongst the film’s incredible ensemble.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Margot Martindale, Chris Cooper, Dermot Mulroney, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, and Sam Shepard.  August: Osage County opens on November 8th.

Safe House is the kind of movie that you might run across on cable a couple years down the line and forgot that you had ever seen it.  Sure, it’s got a good cast (Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, and Sam Shepard), but it’s so routine and by the numbers that by the end the film it almost completely evaporates from memory.  Our review of the Blu-ray of Safe House follows after the jump.

You’re driving down the street, and it’s suddenly blocked off.  You notice these weird yellow signs with nonsensical letters or numbers.  There’s unusual glow lighting up a neighborhood you can’t usually see from your house.  What you might have here is a film company shooting in your town.  It happens a lot, and you never know where they might pop up…until now.

The following is a semi-comprehensive list of films currently shooting, what they’re shooting, and where they’re shooting.  We’ll be telling you where you might get to see the very famous, the kinda famous and (if all goes well) the soon-to-be famous. While we can’t list every single movie, television show, or student film in production, you’ll get a pretty good idea of what the heck is going on where all those people are buzzing about.  Want to know where in the world are Matt Damon, Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Woody Harrelson, and Leonardo DiCaprio? Hit the jump for more.

The first clip from Andrew Dominik‘s Killing Them Softly has gone online.  The film (formerly titled Cogan’s Trade) stars Brad Pitt as a mob enforcer who’s tasked with investigating the robbery of a high-stakes poker game.  The terrific cast also includes Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Richard Jenkins, Ben Mendelsohn, Scoot McNairy, Bella Heathcote, and Sam Shepard.  The clip shows Shepard’s character roughing up Liotta, and it gives an indication of the tone Dominik’s trying to strike.  There’s some clever camerawork culminating in a bit of dark comedy, and I’m curious to see if the rest of the film has the same attitude.

Hit the jump to check out the clip, and click here to check out some images from the movie.  Killing Them Softly will premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, and hit theaters stateside on September 21st.

Some big name casting news for you today.  Here are the headlines:

• Willem Dafoe will join Christian Bale and Casey Affleck in the dramatic thriller, Out of the Furnace, written and directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart).
• Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) will star in the 1950s period piece, Brooklyn, adapted from Colm Toibin’s best-selling novel about a woman torn between her family in Ireland and her new found love for an American.

Hit the jump for more on both projects.

Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Zoe Saldana, and Sam Shepard are set to star in Scott Cooper‘s Out of the Furnace. The film centers on Russell Baze (Bale), who is released after serving four years in prison only to find that his younger brother, Rodney Baze Jr. (Affleck) has been brutally murdered. He sets out to avenge the death and track down the killer.  Saldana will play Russell’s love interest, Lena Warren.  We had previously reported on Bale, Affleck, and Saldana‘s connection to the project, but Shepard’s name is new.  He’ll be playing Russell and Rodney’s uncle, Red.  The press release makes no mention of Billy Bob Thornton and Forest Whitaker, who reportedly were circling the villain and sleazy bookie roles, respectively.  If they sign on, they’ll be welcome additions to an already strong cast.  Production begins later this month in Braddock, Pennsylvania.

Hit the jump to check out the press release, which contains the official synopsis.

We’re happy to debut the first poster for the drama Darling Companion.  The film stars Diane Keaton as woman who saves a lost dog and quickly forms a bond with the debraggled animal.  When her self-involved husband, played by Kevin Kline, loses the dog, they form a search party with a few remaining guests at their house and set out to find the animal.  The crux of the plot comes from how the members of the search party are affected by the rescue adventure, and the impressive cast includes Mark Duplass, Richard Jenkins, Elizabeth Moss, Dianne Wiest, and Sam Shepard.  Given that The Big Chill director Lawrence Kasdan is behind the pic, I think we can safely assume we’re in for an ensemble film that’s equal parts drama and comedy.

Hit the jump to check out the poster debut.  Darling Companion opens in limited release on April 20th.

There’s no problem with delivering a solid action thriller that doesn’t reinvent the genre, but Safe House goes through the motions without an ounce of creativity or flavor.  It’s the bare minimum of what an action movie should be and marches through gunfights and car chases because that’s what the genre requires, not what makes the film exciting.  Denzel Washington doesn’t add much by doing a tamer retread of his Training Day performance, and Ryan Reynolds is the film’s redeeming aspect as he tries to bring a little nuance and shading to his character.  But the main fault lays with director Daniel Espinosa, who knows how to make Safe House loud, but not much else.

The first trailer for director Lawrence Kasdan’s (The Big Chill) latest feature Darling Companion has gone online. The story centers on a woman (Diane Keaton) who saves an abandoned dog on the side of the highway. She brings the dog back to her home, where her husband (Kevin Kline) proceeds to lose it. The two round up a few remaining guests staying at their home and set out on a search. This is one of the strangest and most perplexing trailers I’ve come across in quite some time. The tone is all over the place, and I can’t pin down what the story is really about. Is it more in the vein of Marley and Me, Something’s Gotta Give, or Homeward Bound? I genuinely don’t know. The cast is fantastic, which gives me hope, but I’m a bit baffled by this trailer.

Hit the jump to check it out for yourself. The film also stars Mark Duplass, Richard Jenkins, Elizabeth Moss, Dianne Wiest, and Sam Shepard. Darling Companion opens in limited release April 20th.

Universal has released the first trailer for the thriller Safe House starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds.  The story centers on a young CIA agent (Reynolds) who must team up with the dangerous criminal in order to survive when their safe house is destroyed by mercenaries.  The trailer goes heavy on the action, but it looks like director Daniel Espinosa (Snabba Cash) has done a great job.  But the biggest hook is the dynamic between Washington and Reynolds.  Few actors have as much fun playing the bad guy as Washington and he clearly relishes flipping between charm and malevolence on a dime.  My only complaint with the trailer is that it shows a little too much, but overall I like what I’m seeing.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and the larger version of the poster and image released yesterday, plus two new images.  The film also stars Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Vera Farmiga, Fares Fares, Robert Patrick, Nora Arnezeder, Liam Cunningham, Joel Kinnaman, and Ruben Blades.  Safe House opens February 10, 2012.

Actor Michael Shannon is once again reuniting with director Jeff Nichols for his next project. The duo have previously worked together on the critically acclaimed Shotgun Stories and Take Shelter, and now turn their sights to Mud. Production on the “Deep South” drama penned by Nichols began today in Arkansas. The coming-of-age tale centers on two boys who come upon a fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi. Excited at the prospect of danger and adventure, they enter into a pact together to help the man escape and reunite him with his lost love. Mud also stars Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and Tye Sheridan (The Tree of Life).

Other recent additions to the cast of Mud include Sam Shepard (The Notebook), Sarah Paulson (Serenity), Ray McKinnon (The Blind Side), Joe Don Baker (Goldeneye) and Paul Sparks (Boardwalk Empire). Hit the jump for more info on the principal cast and full press release.

When we first reported on Blackthorn in March 2010, it sounded like a cheap attempt to cash in on the classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  The plot had Butch Cassidy surviving the shootout in Bolivia and going under the new name “Blackthorn”.  At the time, it sounded like it was an old criminal going in for one last heist, but the trailer and official synopsis have gone online and they make the movie seem more complex and interesting than the original logline.  Sam Shepard also makes for a good Western protagonist even though the older Butch Cassidy has become far more grizzled and a lot less lighthearted.  Also, since we get so few Westerns, I’m willing to give almost all of them a shot.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Blackthorn hits VOD on September 2nd and opens in theaters on October 7th.

Any movie with Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds and singer/actor Rubén Blades already has a top notch cast — which makes this news all the sweeter. The Wrap is reporting that four more actors will join CIA thriller Safe House: Brendan Gleeson (the Harry Potter movies), Robert Patrick (The Unit), Liam Cunningham (Clash of the Titans) and Sam Shepard (Fair Game).

Directed by Daniel Espinosa (Easy Money) and penned by new screenwriter David Guggenheim, the movie is about a CIA Agent (Reynolds) whose top secret safe house is attacked by assassins, leaving him to safely transport a criminal (Washington) to Washington.  Scott Stuber is producing through his Universal-based Stuber Pictures and Trevor Macy is executive producing through Intrepid Pictures. Safe House will be released February 10, 2012.

A few weeks ago I got to participate in a press conference with Naomi Watts and Doug Liman’s for their new movie Fair Game.  Based on the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson (Watts), the film also stars Sean Penn as her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson.  While I sort of knew their story before watching the film, Fair Game does an excellent job showing what both Wilson’s were doing before the Bush administration compromised her status as a CIA agent.  I really think after people see the movie, no matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, there is no way you can excuse the administrations behavior for what they did to this family.

During the press conference (which Summit videotaped!), you can see Watts and Liman talk about making the movie, answer how involved was Valerie Plame, the politics of the movie, what changed after Cannes, and literally so much more it would be impossible to sum it up in an intro.  Like we always do for video interviews, we’ve time indexed the entire 40 minute press conference so you can watch Watts and Liman answer the questions that interest you.  Hit the jump for more:

IFC Films has released the trailer for Inhale.  The drama stars Dermot Mulroney and Diane Kruger as parents who are forced to take their dying daughter to Mexico for an illegal organ transplant.  As you can see by this trailer, Mexico is the most dangerous place in the world for white people and you must be incredibly brave/stupid to take your child there for surgery.  And somehow this story also involves explosions, car chases, and shootouts.  On the plus side, there’s no dealing with insurance companies.

Hit the jump to check out the unintentionally hilarious trailer.  Inhale opens October 23rd.