Right before the Christmas break I got to sit down with Tim McGraw to talk about his movie Country Strong.  By now you’ve probably seen the clips or the trailer and know the film is about an emotionally unstable country star (Gwyneth Paltrow) that gets involved with a rising young singer-songwriter (Garrett Hedlund). McGraw plays Paltrow’s husband/manager and Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) plays a beauty-queen-turned-singer who is trying to make a name for herself.

Anyway, during the interview McGraw talked about how he got involved in the project, does he know anyone like his character, did he ever think he’d be acting in big Hollywood movies, the rehearsal process, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.  Country Strong is in theaters now.

Tim McGraw (The Blind Side) is in talks to star opposite Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in Safe House.  The action thriller follows “the only surviving agent of an attack on a CIA safe house (Reynolds) as he tries to get a lethal prisoner (Washington) to a second safe house before being taken out by violent forces that want them both dead.”  According to Heat Vision, McGraw will play Reynolds’ mentor at the CIA, who may not be all he appears to be.”  Daniel Espinoza (Snabba Cash) will direct from a script by David Guggenheim, which recently landed on the 2010 Black List of the top unproduced screenplays in Hollywood.

Hit the jump for details on Rosario Dawson (Unstoppable) and Lynn Collins (True Bloods) in Ten Year, plus Jack Huston’s upgrade to regular status on Boardwalk Empire.

With Country Strong opening in limited release  December 22 and everywhere Friday, January 7th, Screen Gems has released 8 clips which showcase the characters and the music.  If you haven’t heard of Country Strong (watch the trailer here), it was written and directed by Shana Feste and it stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Leighton Meester, and Garrett Hedlund. Here’s the synopsis:

Soon after a rising young singer-songwriter (Hedlund) gets involved with a fallen, emotionally unstable country star (Paltrow), the pair embarks on a career resurrection tour helmed by her husband/manager (McGraw) and featuring a beauty-queen-turned-singer (Meester).  Between concerts, romantic entanglements and old demons threaten to derail them all.

Something that surprised me about the film is that everyone who sings is really singing.  Meaning when Paltrow, Hedlund and Meester are on stage, you’re really hearing their voices  And they’re all pretty good.  Hit the jump for more – including 8 clips:

Good morning, world. As Jason cooks up an article covering the four amazing new posters for Black Swan, I decided to grab the posters for two of my most anticipated films in the next few months and one that just came to my attention. There is a lot of internet hate for The Green Hornet, but I stand in the camp that just wants to see how it is. I have reserved most of my judgment because I adore the director (Michel Gondry) and like that it is not an easy sell. The other film is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, which is the start of the two-part epic conclusion to the blockbuster film series. The poster we are displaying focuses on one of my personal favorite characters: Dobby. Meanwhile, we have a poster for the country music drama Country Strong that features Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow. So hit the jump to check out the posters.

Screen Gems has released the first trailer for Country Strong from director Shana Feste (The Greatest).  Gwyneth Paltrow stars as a troubled country singer who is trying to make her comeback by embarking on a tour with a young rising singer (played by Garrett Hedlund).  The film also stars country singer Tim McGraw and Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester.  The trailer doesn’t really do much for me, but I’m sure it’ll appeal to people who are into country music, or those who want to see Paltrow sing on screen again after 2000’s Duets.

Hit the jump for the trailer along with a plot synopsis for the film.

Milla Jovovich, William H. Macy, Mary Steenburgen, Dwight Yoakam and Tim McGraw have boarded the cast of the indie drama Dirty Girl starring Juno Temple.  According to Variety, the film “is set in 1987 in Oklahoma, features a high school tramp seeking the father she never knew who runs away with a closeted gay boy who wants to escape going to military school, portrayed by newcomer Jeremy Dozier.”

While the logline makes it sound like the film is a parody of an indie movie, first-time writer-director Abe Sylvia’s script was on the Black List (a list of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood).  Jovovich will next be seen in Resident Evil: Afterlife, and Macy will next be seen in Marmaduke.  One of those films could use more zombies and the other could use more talking animals.

I’ll admit that when I sat down to watch “The Blind Side” last week, I really didn’t expect much.  I thought it would be a Lifetime movie of the week except on the big screen.  But even though I walked in ready to dismiss the film, I’m forced to say “The Blind Side” was a lot better than I expected and I enjoyed the way it mixed a few different genres together.  What you need to know is, “The Blind Side” is both a football movie and a family values film.  It’s also a bit of a comedy.  When films try and mix genres like this, you almost always end in disaster.  So I have to give credit to director John Lee Hancock (“The Rookie”) for crafting a film that should appeal to both football fans and families.  He even made me feel something for Sandra Bullock.  Trust me, that’s not easy.  Anyway, to help promote the film, we’ve been provided with seven clips and you can watch them after the jump.

For those unfamiliar with the book it’s based on, the film is based on the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home who is taken in by the Touhys (Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw), a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher’s presence in the Touhys’ lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle.

Warner Bros. has released a preview of their upcoming 2009 movies. In the preview, they’ve got updated synopsis’ along with new images from “Whiteout”, “Ninja Assassin”, “The Invention of Lying”, “The Informant!” and a few others. So if you’d like to see the new images and read what’s coming later this year (it’s a lot of great stuff), it’s all after the jump: