The Beaver preview/synopsis

Now playing

Directed by Jodie Foster ( Little Man Tate, Home For The Holidays ) starring Mel Gibson, Foster, Jennifer Lawrence, Anton Yelchin. Written by first time screenwriter Kyle Killen, cinematography by Hagen Bogdanski ( The Lives Of Others ), editing by Lynzee Klingman ( Ali, City Of Angels ) and original score by Marcelo Zarvas ( The Good Shephard, Hollywoodland )

Premise: The Beaver follows a depressed CEO of a toy company (Gibson) who dons a beaver handpuppet to communicate better with his wife (Foster) and his two sons (Yelchin, Riley Thomas Stewart) in a quest to repair his damaged life.

Rated PG-13 for thematic elelments, some language and sexualty. 91 min.

Oscar chances: If Gibson wasn't so reviled by a lot of the American public and many of those being film critics he'd be a shoe in for a best actor Oscar nomination. It's clearly his best performance to date. Foster may garner a supporting actress nod as well as the screenplay. The early release date always hurts a films Oscar chances. Not my rules but it hurts more than it helps. Gibson is very moving in the role regardless how you feel about his personal antics off camera. Very much worth seeing.

Director Wes Anderson's new project

Wes Anderson ( The Royal Tennenbaums ) is right in the middle of filming his new project Moonrise Kingdom. Here’s the synopsis:

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s, Moonrise Kingdom follows a young boy and girl falling in love. When they are moved to run away together, various factions of the town mobilize to search for them and the town is turned upside down – which might not be such a bad thing. Bruce Willis plays the town sheriff; two-time Academy Award nominee Edward Norton is cast as a camp leader; Academy Award nominee Bill Murray and Academy Award winner Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents; the cast also includes Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman. The young boy and girl are played by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward and what Wes Anderson film would it be if Owen Wilson wasn't cast.
Indian Paintbrush, which executive-produced and co-financed Mr. Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Darjeeling Limited, which were both produced by Scott Rudin, is presenting the American Empirical Pictures production which is produced by Anderson, Rudin, Indian Paintbrush’s Steven Rales, and American Empirical’s Jeremy Dawson.
The film is seeking a 2012 release date.

This Must Be The Place trailer

Starring Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Jud Hirsch, Kerry Condon, Harry Dean Stanton.
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino ( El divo )

Premise: Cheyenne (Sean Penn) is a wealthy former rock star, now bored and jaded in his retirement in Dublin. He travels to New York to reconcile with his estranged father during his final hours, only to arrive too late. After learning the true extent of his father's humiliation in Auschwitz at the hands of former SS Officer Aloise Lange, Cheyenne begins a journey across America to track down Lange, who is now hiding out in the US. The film releases sometime in 2011.

Tree Of Life trailer

Directed by Terrence Malick ( Badlands, Days Of Heaven, The Thin Red Line )

Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday and will release wide May 27th.

Premise: "The Tree of Life" is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950's. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn) finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith. Through Malick's signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.

The Conspirator preview/synopsis

In theaters now

Directed by Robert Redford ( Quiz Show, A River Runs Through It, Ordinary People ) Starring James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, Kevin Kline, Tom Wilkinson, Justin Long, Danny Huston, Stephen Root, Toby Kebell, James Badge Dale, Jim True-Frost. Written by Gregory Bernstein ( Trial & Error ) Cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel ( Valkyrie, Three Kings ) Editing by Oscar nominee Craig McKay ( Silence Of The Lambs, Reds ) Original music by Mark Isham ( Quiz Show, Nell )

Premise: In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt (Wright) owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell) and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken (McAvoy), a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt, her own son, John (Johnny Simmons). As the nation turns against her, Surratt is forced to rely on Aiken to uncover the truth and save her life. Aiken is at first very reluctant to take the case and believes his client is guilty. However, he uncovers evidence of her innocence and conducts a spirited defense. However, in the end Mary Surratt is found guilty and hanged.

Rated PG-13 for some violent content. 123 min.

Oscar chances? Possibly a long shot, though I was impressed with several performances ( McAvoy and Wright most notably ) but the film hasn't bowled over the critics and there is little praise scuttlebutt regarding the movie.

30 Minutes or Less trailer

August 12, 2011

Directed by Ruben Fleischer ( Zombieland ) starring Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson, Fred Ward, Dilshod Vadsaria, Bianaca Kajich,

Premise: After hiring an assassin to murder his father for his insurance money, meaty antagonist Dwayne and moronic partner in crime Travis kidnap a pizza delivery driver and force him to rob a bank with a bomb vest attached to his chest with a 9-hour timer in order to pay for the job to be done.