The lineup for the 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival has been announced.  Fox Searchlight’s The Way, Way Back—which marks the directorial debut of Oscar-winning The Descendants screenwriters Jim Rash and Nat Faxon—has been selected as the closing night film, while Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives and the Sundance hits Fruitvale Station and The Spectacular Now will also fill out the festival.  Additionally, the fest will host the US premiere of the sci-fi thriller Europa Report starring Sharlto Copley and there will be community screenings of Badlands, Dazed and Confused and John Waters’ Hairspray.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

We’ve got quite a few new posters to share this evening.  Briefly:

• Rush – The new poster for director Ron Howard’s F1 racing drama starring Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, and Olivia Wilde.  The film opens on September 20, 2013.
• The Way, Way Back – A new poster for the Sundance hit takes the film’s water park theme to heart.  The pic stars Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell, and Toni Collette and opens on July 5th.  Read Matt’s review here.
• Red 2 – A couple of new character posters for the sequel showcase stars Helen Mirren and Catherine Zeta-Jones.  The film opens on July 19th.
• Before Midnight – A photoshop heavy debut poster for the third film in Richard Linklater’s Before series.  The film stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy and opens on May 24th.  Read Matt’s review here.
• Carrie – A new UK poster for director Kimberly Peirce’s remake shows the intensity of star Chloe Grace Moretz.  The film also stars Julianne Moore and opens on October 18th.
• V/H/S/2 – The poster for the horror anthology sequel is rather teasing, but nonetheless straightforward.  The film opens on July 12th.  Read Matt’s review here.

Hit the jump to check out the posters and synopses.

Fox Searchlight has released the first trailer for the coming of age comedy/drama The Way, Way Back.  The film marks the directorial debut of The Descendants co-writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash and centers on a 14-year-old boy (Liam James) who spends his summer vacation bonding with the manager of a water park (Sam Rockwell) while staying with his mother (Toni Collette) and her overbearing boyfriend (Steve Carell).  The Adventureland-esque pic looks to be a nice little summer film with a healthy mix of comedy and drama, and there’s a refreshing lack of cynicism in this trailer.  Rockwell and Allison Janney are always swell, and the two are most definitely the comedic highlights here.  Matt caught the film at Sundance and was rather mixed in his review, but I find this debut trailer to be promising.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Maya Rudolph, Rob Corddry, Zoe Levin, AnnaSophia Robb, and Amanda Peet.  The Way, Way Back opens on July 5th in limited release.

A few release date shifts/announcements have been made.  Briefly:

• The Way, Way Back – This comedy/drama from the writers of The Descendants was one of the largest acquisitions from Sundance, and the Steve Carell-starrer is set to open in limited release on July 5th of this year.  Sam Rockwell, Toni Collette, and Allison Janney.  Read Matt’s review here.
• Turkeys – Relativity Media and Reel FX’s animated comedy has been moved up a full year from November 2014 to this coming November 1st.  The pic features the voices of Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, and Amy Poehler and will open opposite the comedy Last Vegas and the sci-fi adaptation Ender’s Game.
• We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks – Director Alex Gibney’s documentary about the WikiLeaks scandal premiered at this year’s Sundance film festival and will open in limited release on May 24th.
• The Longest Ride – Yes, another Nicholas Sparks feature film adaptation is on the way.  This book isn’t even out yet, but the film now has a release date of February 13, 2015.

A few more high-profile acquisitions at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival have taken place.

• The Way, Way Back – Fresh off a standing ovation at the film’s premiere, Fox Searchlight has picked up writers/directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s (The Descendants) comedy starring Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell for a summer 2013 release.  Read Matt’s review here.
• Kill Your Darlings – Director John Krokidas’ debut feature about the formative years of the Beat generation is one of my favorites from the festival so far, and Deadline reports that Sony Pictures Classics is closing a deal.  The film features brilliant performances from Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan.  Read Matt’s review here.
• Toy’s House – CBS Films has acquired domestic rights to this offbeat coming-of-age comedy from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, starring Nick Robinson, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, and Megan Mullally.  It’s a decidedly unique film, but definitely worth checking out.
• Concussion – Radius-TWC has acquired domestic rights to this decidedly sexual drama from writer/director Stacie Passon.  The film stars Robin Weigert.

Hit the jump to read the press releases.

In their directorial debut, The Way, Way Back, writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash show they’re incredibly adept at humor.  They know how to tell a good joke, push the envelope without being mean-spirited, and find the right actors to deliver the comedy.  Unfortunately, a film has to put story and characters before comedy, and the film fails where it matters most.  Faxon and Rash put a painfully bland character at the center of their movie, and then try to convince us that anyone would help the uninteresting protagonist.  Surrounded by one-dimensional characters and a predictable plot, The Way, Way Back can tell a joke, but has difficulty doing anything else.

Last week we saw the 2013 Sundance Film Festival announce lineups for its competition and Spotlight/Park City at Midnight programming, and today they have unveiled the list of films that will screen as part of the Premieres lineup.  It’s one hell of a program, as films that will screen include the Ashton Kutcher-fronted Steve Jobs biopic jOBS, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut Don Jon’s Addiction, director Richard Linklater’s trilogy-completing Before Midnight with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, the ensemble comedy A.C.O.D., director Park Chan-wook’s English-language debut Stoker, and much, much more.

Hit the jump to check out the full lineup for the narrative and documentary premieres.  The 2013 Sundance Film Festival runs January 17 – 27th.

Fresh off of winning the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for The Descendants, writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (who plays the dean on NBC’s Community) have just begun production on their directorial debut.  Based off their original screenplay, The Way, Way Back centers on a teenage boy on summer vacation (Liam James) who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a local water-park manager (Sam Rockwell) while coming to grips with some family issues.  The impressive cast includes Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney and Annasophia Robb, and now it appears that Maya Rudolph, Rob Corddry, and Amanda Peet are signing on as well.  Hit the jump for more.

A couple of heavy hitters in casting news today.  Here are the headlines at a glance:

• John Cusack may join Elijah Wood in the indie thriller, Grand Piano.
• Jude Law will star in the title role of Richard Shepard’s Dom Hemingway.
• Liam James joins Steve Carell and Toni Collette in indie drama, The Way, Way Back.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

There’s a reunion of sorts happening for Steve Carell and Toni Collette, who last starred together in 2006 Oscar-winner, Little Miss Sunshine.  Carell and Collette will join Jim Rash (Community) and Nat Faxon’s (Bad Teacher) directorial debut, The Way, Way Back.  Their script landed on 2010′s Black List, and after earning an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay of their effort for The Descendents, I’m sure we can look forward to much more from the duo.  The Way, Way Back is an indie drama about a dysfunctional family, but that’s where the similarities to Little Miss Sunshine seem to stop.  The plot centers on a teenage boy on summer vacation who is coming to grips with his emotionally-distant mother and his cheating step-father.  The parental roles will be played by Collette and Carell, while the film also stars Sam Rockwell, Allison Janney and Annasophia Robb. Hit the jump for more.