Today, we’re proud to debut the first poster for Ramin Bahrani‘s drama, At Any Price.  The film stars Dennis Quaid as an ambitious farmer whose rebellious son (Zac Efron) has aspirations to be a race car driver.  An investigation into the family business brings the pair together in order to preserve their livelihood.  I really enjoyed the film when I saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival, and I’m glad that it’s about to hit theaters.

Hit the jump to check out the poster.  The film also stars Kim Dickens, Heather Graham, Clancy Brown, Chelcie Ross, Maika Monroe, Red West, Ben Marten, and Dan Waller.  At Any Price opens in limited release on April 24th.

Zac Efron is heading into fantasy territory.  Fresh off his role in Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy, Heat Vision reports that Efron is teaming up with producer Akiva Goldsman for a mystery supernatural project at Warner Bros. called The Falling.  The logline is being kept under wraps for now, but the story is said to be “an edgy thriller centering around an otherworldly being.”  Efron will star in the film and will produce alongside Goldsman, Tory Tunnell, and Joby Harold (All You Need Is Kill).

The story idea was brought to Goldman’s attention by Warner Bros., and Goldsman then hammered out a full story with Harold.  The search now begins for a screenwriter to pen the script.  Goldsman most recently wrapped his directorial debut, a fantasy pic called Winter’s Tale.  A screenwriter by trade, Goldsman won the Oscar for penning A Beautiful Mind and was also responsible for writing I Am Legend and I, Robot.

The first trailer for the drama At Any Price has been released online.  Directed by Ramin Bahrani, the film stars Dennis Quad as an ambitious farmer who is a father to a rebellious son (Zac Efron) with aspirations of race car driving.  An investigation into the family business brings the pair together in order to preserve their livelihood.  The trailer makes the film come off as a tad melodramatic, but I’ve give it the benefit of the doubt on account of the bounty of positive reviews that surfaced after the film’s festival screenings.  In his review, Matt called it “a thoughtful, rich exploration of how there’s not enough American Dream to go around.”

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Heather Graham and Kim Dickens.  At Any Price opens on April 26th.

Love him or loathe him, you’ve got to admit that filmmaker Lee Daniels has some stones on him.  His schlock in sheep’s clothing Precious garnered tremendous acclaim and award nominations.  It also must’ve persuaded actors to wanna work with him because his follow-up film, The Paperboy, features some big names despite its uneven script and shockingly insane moments that became quickly infamous.  Does the insanity onscreen outweigh the poor script? Find out after the jump with our Blu-ray review of The Paperboy.

A couple of actors have been added to writer/director Peter Landesman’s JFK feature film Parkland.  Produced by Tom Hanks, the pic revolves around the chaotic events that occurred at Parkland Hospital in Dallas on the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  Parkland Hospital is where Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby all died.  It was announced today that Zac Efron and Marcia Gay Harden will be joining previously announced Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton, and Jacki Weaver in the film.

Specific character details regarding any of the actors have yet to be disclosed, but production is set to begin in Austin soon for a 2013 release around the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s death, which is November 22nd.  Hit the jump to read the full press release.

We have word that Shawn Levy (Real Steel) is stepping in to direct the ensemble comedy,  This Is Where I Leave You as a replacement for Adam Shankman (Rock of Ages).  Shankman was attached to the Warner Bros. film as recently as this past summer, but he departed the picture along with star Jason Bateman.  The studio then put the picture in limbo, but have recently entered final negotiations with Levy to direct.  The original cast also featured Jason Sudeikis, Malin Akerman, Zac Efron and Leslie Mann, but it’s not yet clear whether their schedules can accommodate the shoot.  Hit the jump for more.

Harrison Ford and Zac Efron are in negotiations to star in the psychological thriller You Belong to Me, which Rob Reiner will direct.  Ford would play a psychiatrist struggling with the recent suicide of a patient.  He bonds with the patient’s brother (Efron), but learns to regret that bond when the young man begins seducing the psychiatrist’s wife and daughter.  Producers Richard Lewis, Alan Greisman, and Mark Damon are currently presenting You Belong to Me to buyers at the American Film Market.  According to The Wrap, the filmmakers are planning for a March 2013 start date.

I am definitely intrigued, in part because Reiner has not directed something of this ilk since 1990′s Misery.  Reiner previously explained the appeal, “They are hard to make well, but this one has a deep psychological bent to it and a big twist in the end that I didn’t see coming.”  No one among Ford, Efron, and Reiner, however, guarantee quality at this stage in their careers—so there is a considerable measure of caution mixed in with that intrigue.

Four Canadian character posters have been released for Lee Daniels‘ The Paperboy.  The film is about a reporter (Matthew McConaughey) and his younger brother (Zac Efron) working with a nymphomaniac (Nicole Kidman) to free her beloved felon (John Cusack).  It’s pretty terrible.  However, I can’t argue with the pull quote that describes the movie as “sweaty”.  I would add that the flick is also sticky, rancid, and pungent.  But it does have famous people in it, and these posters convey that fact perfectly.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The Paperboy opens October 5th in the U.S.  It opens October 19th in Canada.

Lee Daniels‘ The Paperboy technically has a plot.  It’s an idiotic, rambling plot that has no level of cohesion or momentum whatsoever, but it’s a story that chronologically follows from “A” to “B”.  Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy has characters.  They’re gross, idiotic people whose actions are repulsive and ambitions are bizarre, but their repulsive behavior and bizarre ambition are consistent.  Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy doesn’t earn points just because it meets the bare minimum of plot and character since it fails on just about every level of filmmaking.  Daniels, in his effort to go big all the time, mistakes luridness for atmosphere, sweat for character, and style for substance.

The American Dream is based on keeping the nuclear family intact and creating uninterrupted growth of property.  Our families can always be closer, and we can always have more wealth.  That’s the “dream” part, since families can’t stay close if some members expect to grow their independence, and acquiring more wealth usually means taking it away from somebody else.  Ramin Bahrani‘s At Any Price doesn’t show the corruption of the American Dream; it shows the American Dream’s complexity.  Set in the American heartland and revolving around farming—the industry our nation was built on, and one that still relies on family relationships—At Any Price is a thoughtful, rich exploration of how there’s not enough dream to go around.

It appears that Zac Efron is ready to have himself a DTR (“Determine The Relationship”) talk.  Variety reports that Efron has signed on to star in the indie romantic comedy Are We Officially Dating?.  Written by Tom Gormican, the story “follows three friends in Manhattan who make a pact to remain single just as they each start to fall in love.”  Gornican will direct the pic with Treehouse Pictures’ Justin Nappi and Kevin Turen producing.

Efron has been stretching his acting chops lately as he stars in Lee Daniels’ upcoming polarizing drama The Paperboy alongside Nicole Kidman, he’s set to star in Adam Shankman’s adaptation of the novel This Is Where I Leave You with Jason Bateman, and he’ll appear opposite Seth Rogen in the Nicholas Stoller comedy Townies.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the North American and Eastern European rights to director Ramin Bahrani’s At Any Price.  Dennis Quaid stars as an ambitious farmer who is a father to a rebellious son (Zac Efron) with aspirations of race car driving.  An investigation into the family business brings the pair together in order to preserve their livlihood.

In other acquisition news, Drafthouse Films has picked up North American rights to Wrong, from Quentin Dupieux (Rubber). The picture centers on Dolph Springer (Jack Plotnick), a man embarking on a metaphysical journey to find his lost dog, while encountering strange characters along the way.  Hit the jump for more on both projects.

The first trailer for Precious director Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy has been released, and it’s pretty out there.  The film is an adaptation of the Pete Dexter novel and stars Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron as two brothers who team-up to investigate the potential wrongful conviction of a death-row inmate played by John Cusack.  The trailer’s pretty muddled, and it’s tough to make out just exactly what this movie is.  Efron appears to be fixated on a rather free-spirited woman played by Nicole Kidman, while Cusack seems to be playing some sort of victim/villain.  The pic was greeted with a less than enthusiastic response when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and while this trailer doesn’t inspire much evidence to the contrary I’m still interested to see the talented ensemble cast work together.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer and check out the poster.  The Paperboy opens on October 5th.

Emboldened by the success of Valentine’s Day, Garry Marshall took another crack at the holiday-based all-star anthology in 2011, with similarly repulsive results. This time, though, movie-goers commendably ignored him (and hopefully quashed plans for Columbus Day or whatever the hell was coming next). Of course, it’s never a good idea to interpret the commercial failure of a terrible movie as anything more than an aberration. But in this case, there was an encouraging sense that the world had finally revolted against a sub-genre populated by cynical, bald-faced cash-grabs.

And indeed, New Year’s Eve is the romantic comedy distilled to its basest form; a film that trots out a dizzying array of A-listers and expects applause, while abandoning time-consuming chores like character, story and dialogue. Hit the jump for the full review.

This year’s Toronto International Film Festival has a killer line-up, and the festival has released new images and synopses for the movies playing at the fest.  Among the films with new images and synopses are:

• At Any Price (Directed by Ramin Bahrani) Starring Dennis Quaid, Heather Graham, and Zac Efron.
• The Attack (Directed by Ziad Doueiri)
• Capital (Directed by Costa-Gavras) Starring Gabriel Byrne and Gad Elmaleh
• Caught in the Web (Directed by Chen Kaige) Starring Mark Chao, Gao Yuanyuan, and Chen Hong

Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses.  The 2012 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 – 16th.