Movies like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close are difficult to review.  On the one hand, part of me wants to rip Stephen Daldry’s film to shreds and call it a manipulative, corny, over-the-top, Oscar-seeking mess.  But the other part of me wants to drop the cynicism and enjoy the heartfelt emotional journey for what it aspires to be: a film that attempts to cope with the aftershocks of 9/11, and mourn those we lost in the fire.

Watching Extremely Loud on Blu-ray over the weekend, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.  While not exactly the masterpiece it thinks it is, Daldry’s film at least sidesteps the problems I had with the director’s previous efforts, especially the overtly saccharine The Reader and the morbid, depressing The Hours – both of which tried to do too much and therefore lacked focus.  Hit the jump for my review.

With each passing awards ceremony, it’s looking more and more likely that we’re in for a fairly boring/predictable Oscars this year. The Artist continues to dominate the precursor ceremonies as it took home the Best Picture and Best Director prize at the Critics Choice Awards. On the acting side of things, George Clooney was named Best Actor for his work in The Descendants, and Viola Davis won Best Actress for The Help. The Artist is our clear frontrunner headed towards Oscar night, and I don’t really think anything else will be able to take it down. I can’t really complain about any of the acting wins, though for what it’s worth I think Brad Pitt gave the best performance of the year in Moneyball.

Elsewhere, Drive won Best Action Movie (though it’s really a drama) Bridesmaids won Best Comedy, and Rango was named Best Animated Feature. Hit the jump to see the full list of winners.

Warner Bros. has released five clips from Stephen Daldry‘s adaptation of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  I found the film surprisingly moving and well-made, but I recognize that it’s one of the most divisive flicks this year.  The people who hate the movie really hate it and I can understand where they’re coming from.  The characters’ odd affectations will either push you out of the story to where you’re no longer willing to come back or they’ll intrigue you until the film has your full attention till the final frame.  Watching individual clips isn’t the best way to sell the flick since the scenes work better in context, which is why the trailers are so terrible.  But if you’re itching to see more footage from the flick, we’ve got your covered.

Hit the jump to check out the clips.  The film stars Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, and Max Von Sydow.  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is currently playing in limited release.  It opens in wide release on January 20, 2012.

September 11^th, like any tragedy, can be easily exploited.  It can be exploited for profit, for political gain, and for an easy strike at your emotional soft spots.  But it can also be handled in a mature, thoughtful manner like Paul Greengrass‘ United 93.  It’s been over ten years since 9/11 and we must start accepting that the event can be used in a story that’s not directly about 9/11.  That’s an incredibly tricky proposition because of the easy route to exploiting our national tragedy, and that’s where Stephen Daldry‘s adaptation of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close seems to be going at its outset.  Daldry has to scale a mountain of negative expectations as we struggle to see how 9/11 could be absolutely essential to the story.  We must also contend with a painfully affected character played by a child actor gives a off-putting, robotic performance.  But Daldry’s brilliant direction ultimately brings the 9/11 plot point and the bizarre lead performance together to create an emotional finale.

A large batch of new images from the upcoming drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has been released. The film is based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer and tells the story of a nine-year-old boy who sets out to find the lock that fits a key left to him by his father, who perished in the 9/11 attacks. I’m a big fan of the book so I’ve been looking forward to this one for quite a while. The cast is great and director Stephen Daldry has a pretty nifty track record, so I’m hoping everything comes together well. The pic has already started screening, but it’s under a strict embargo after the whole Girl with the Dragon Tattoo fiasco (plus Scott Rudin is also the producer of Extremely Loud).

Hit the jump to check out the images. The film stars Thomas Horn, Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright, and John Goodman. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close opens in limited release on December 25th, then expands nationwide on January 20th.

A new trailer for director Stephen Daldry’s (The Reader) adaptation of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has been released. Based on the book by Jonathan Safran Foer, the film follows nine-year-old Oskar Schell (newcomer Thomas Horn) who sets out to find the lock that fits a key left to him by his father who perished in the 9/11 attacks. This trailer gets into the plot a bit more, but it plays little too heavy-handed. Having read the book, I can say that the film undeniably rests on Horn’s performance. He seems to have the peculiarities of the odd Schell down, so I’m hopeful he’s got the goods. Von Sydow also looks promising in a very crucial (and sweet) role. This is an adaptation that could end up being fantastically original and moving, or terribly sappy and maudlin. Daldry has a pretty great track record, so I’m really hoping it’s the former.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright, and John Goodman. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close opens in limited release on December 25th, then expands nationwide on January 20th.

With the holiday movie season upon us, a few new images from some of the upcoming Oscar contenders have been unveiled. We’ve got a new look at Michael Fassbender in the extremely well-received drama Shame. Fassbender plays a sex-addict opposite Carey Mulligan, and our own Matt Goldberg loved the flick. There’s also a new image of Rooney Mara from David Fincher’s highly anticipated adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, another look at Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, and an ominous image of Gary Oldman from the spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Additionally, we’ve got another look at Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn, and an image of Sandra Bullock and Thomas Horn in the adaptation of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

But that’s not all! We’ve also got new images from We Bought a Zoo, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Haywire, Underworld: Awakening, In the Land of Blood and Honey, New Year’s Eve, and One for the Money. Hit the jump to check them out.

Warner Bros. has released the first trailer for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer.  The movie centers on Oskar, a boy who is convinced his father, who died in the 9/11 attacks, hid a final message somewhere in the city: “Oskar begins searching New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key he found in his father’s closet.”  Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max Von Sydow, Viola Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright, and James Gandolfini star in the film directed by Stephen Daldry (The Reader).  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close opens in limited release on December 25, and expands wide on January 20, 2012.  Watch the trailer after the jump.

Warner Bros. thinks they have a serious Oscar contender this year with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and it’s not tough to see why.  You’ve got a thrice Oscar-nominated director Stephen Daldry (The Reader), Oscar-winning leads Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, and it will be released in a limited theatrical run on December 25th so it can qualify for Oscar consideration.  It will expand nationwide on January 20, 2012.  Wouldn’t you know it: Oscar nominations are announced on January 24th.  What a coincidence.

This is my long-winded way of leading up to the news that Warner Bros. has released the first image from the movie.  It’s an image of Oskar (Thomas Horn) being held by his father (Hanks) even though the events of the book center around Oskar’s father dying in the 9/11 attacks and Oskar trying to uncover the secret of the key he found in his father’s closet.  Apparently the film has found a way to incorporate Hanks’ character (most likely through flashback).  Hit the jump to check out the image along with the official synopsis.

12-year-old Thomas Horn will costar with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock in Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  Horn’s previous claim to fame was winning $31,800 on Jeopardy! after scoring $12,000 in the final wager.  Sadly, I don’t think his answer was “Suck It, Trebek” or “Kebert Xela“.  According to Deadline, “Daldry (who previously directed The Reader) needed an exceptionally intelligent kid to play Oskar Schell, the bright and precocious 9-year old whose father is killed in the World Trade Center collapse. The youth finds a key left behind in his father’s belongings, and sets out on a cathartic journey to uncover the lock.”

Hit the jump for the synopsis of Foer’s novel.  Hanks is also attached to Kathryn Bigelow’s Triple Frontier and an adaptation of Cloud Atlas.  Bullock is attached to star in Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, a comedy with Meryl Streep and Oprah Winfrey, and a Saturday Night Fever-like drama with her Proposal director Anne Fletcher.