Country Strong Trailer

After the Oscar success of "Crazy Heart" here comes another boozehound country singer redemption tale, only this time it's a female singer played by Gwyneth Paltrow and she has a loving hubby/manager supporting her, played by real life Country legend Tim McGraw.

This looks like standard fare that can be elevated by the lead performances, throw in a young maverick country star (Garrett Hedlund) who strikes up a relationship with Paltrow's older strummer and helps her get back on track with a comeback tour, as well as a young female rival (Leighton Meester) and this is likely to be a solid drama with a decent soundtrack.

John McTiernan Returns To The Directors Chair With Shrapnel

John McTiernan was the man in the late 80's when it came to action movies, delivering classics "Die Hard" and "Predator" back to back, however he has not made a film since the underwhelming "Basic" in 2003 and has spent the last few years in legal trouble, however he is set to return to the fray with a new movie entitled "Shrapnel" according to the Trades.

The film, not to be confused with the in development comic book adaption, is centered on two war veterans engaged in a game of cat and mouse, the script is by Evan Daughtery and featured on the 2008 Black List. Casting is expected to be announced shortly.

I'd love to see McTiernan recapture his glory days with this film, casting-wise maybe he can call on some old friends to give the film a star power boost, Bruce Willis and John Travolta maybe?

The Osterman Weekend Gets A Writer

Earlier this week there was news that Summit's adaption of the Robert Ludlum novel "The Osterman Weekend" was possibly going to be Robert Schwentke's (Flightplan, Red) next directing vehicle, now news comes from the trades that Summit have hired Jesse Wigutow (It Runs in the Family) to draft the screenplay.

Now some might see this as a remake because the book was adapted by Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch) as his last film in 1983, however that one was a mess, destroyed in the editing room by the producers (Who'd used a script whose writer admits was poor) after Peckinpah refused to edit his cut that took satirical shots at the novel because he didn't like it. All in all the premise is excellent and ripe material for a big screen adaption, hopefully this time things go smoother.

Here is a synopsis from Amazon.

In a secret room in Washington DC John Tanner is asked to stake his life - and those of his wife and children - on a gamble whose goals and risks no one will fully reveal to him. In a small suburban town, where only the nicest people live, friends, neighbours, everyone and anyone could be part of a monstrous conspiracy of international evil. The machinery has already been set in motion. And at stake is the very existence of America - and the future of the entire free world...

The trailer for the Peckinpah version:

The Osterman Weekend | John Hurt | Rutger Hauer | Movie Trailer

First Source Code Image And Release Date

Film Source Code is a blog dedicated to Duncan Jones (Moon) upcoming Sci fi thriller "Source Code" starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a man constantly reliving the same train bombing over and over, so kind of a sci fi Groundhog Day.

Now the aforementioned blog has gotten the 1st image from the movie scanned from Empire Magazine as well as a little bit of info from Jones and a release date, all of which you can check out below.

Duncan Jones tells Empire 'On this one I've got four really talented actors - Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright. It's a new test, a new experience...'

Jake Gyllenhaal was apparently the one 'who pushed him to board the sci-fi thriller'.

Duncan describes Jake Gyllenhaal's character briefly as 'a military man who wakes up on a train not knowing how he got there. Before he gets a chance to work it out, things change in such a dramatic way, he doesn't know whether the train's real or not...When it was brought to me it was serious, quite cerebral, dark and depressing, My take was, "This could actually be quite fun..."'

The director also tells us of Paul Hirsch (editor) and how he is 'thrilled to be working with him'. However it was Paul Hirsch who called Duncan the genius after suggesting something during the editing process, which made his year.

Olivia Thirlby Joins Judge Dredd

News of the Judge Dredd reboot had fans of the 2000AD comic ecstatic, a joy that was doubled when Karl Urban was cast, promising not to take the helmet off, something that annoyed comic fans about the Sly Stallone version in 1995, although in fairness that film had way worse problems hampering it.

Now word arrives via the trades that Olivia Thirlby has signed on to play Judge Cassandra Anderson, a rookie trainee of Dredd's who has psychic powers. Thirlby is probably best known for her role in Juno but she also gave a great performance in the under the radar gem "The Wackness," how suitable she is for this role I am unsure, but since the characters strength is mental rather than physical the petite Lady may be astute casting.

The new Judge Dredd film is to be directed by Pete Travis who's most notable cinematic credit is the decent action thriller "Vantage Point," the script was written by Alex Garland.

Mackie, Bell And Adams To Join Worthington On The Ledge

Over the past couple of days casting for Asger Leth's (Ghosts of Cite Soleil) forthcoming thriller "Man on the Ledge" has picked up pace as news across the trades reports that Anthony Mackie (Hurt Locker) and Jamie Bell (Jumper) have signed on, while the adorable Amy Adams (Enchanted) is also circling a role. Sam Worthington (Avatar) has already signed on as the films titular character.

The story centers on a disgraced cop who is jailed for a crime he didn't commit, while on day release for his father's funeral he escapes onto the ledge of a building and threatens to commit suicide, a female psychiatrist (Presumably the part Adams is interested in) tries to talk him down.

Bell will play Worthington's brother who just so happens to be planning a jewelry heist across the street at the same time, Mackie will play the ex partner of Worthington's suicidal cop.

Obviously there are going to be plenty of twists at play here and I think the cast is solid and potential strong for a cool high concept thriller that seems to be meshing sub genres, the film's success though will hang on how well the scenes play between Worthington's cop and Adams psychiatrist.

Liam Nesson To Battle Wolves For Joe Carnahan

Joe Carnahan is an interesting one, he made the excellent "Narc" that won critical acclaim and put him on his way, then he followed it up with the ultra messy "Smokin Aces"  which got panned and he threw somewhat of a fit over the negative reaction, and that seemed to stall interesting projects such as  the James Ellroy adaption "White Jazz" and  potential Christan Bale starrer "Pablo."

Anyway this year he got back in the game with "The A Team" and while that wasn't the hit it deserved to be it paired him with Liam Neeson and the two will reteam for his follow up movie according to Heat Vision.

Liam Neeson is in negotiations to reteam with director Joe Carnahan for the survival drama "The Grey."

Neeson steps into the shoes of Bradley Cooper, who was slated to topline the project when it was first unveiled earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival.

Co-written by Carnahan and Ian Jeffers, the story begins after a plane goes down in Alaska, with a man (Neeson) and his oil drilling team find themselves struggling to survive in the wild. The men come under attack by large, vicious, aggressive wolves who see the humans as intruders who must be killed.

 Inferno Entertainment is financing the film, which is being produced by Scott Free. Inferno's Bill Johnson is producing with Carnahan and Jules Daly.

I like Cooper but Neeson is a nice grizzly upgrade for this type of film, Carnahan lucked out here in my view, if he keeps it tight and brutal and lets Neeson really get into the character of a man fighting against nature to survive as opposed to flooding it with action set pieces, this could be fantastic.

International 'Let Me In' Clip And Poster

The original Swedish version (Let the Right One In) is quite the cineclasts darling as well as getting love from the horror aficionados. I thought it was a well made eerie film that was definitely one of the more interesting and subversive recent takes on the O'l neck biters.

Now /Film has the new French Poster and a clip from the American remake, to be directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield). "Let Me In" Opens on October 1st.

Del Toro Wants Cruise for Mountains Of Madness?

Well this is an interesting one, by now most know that Guilermo Del Toro's next movie will be his dream project, an adaption of the H.P. Lovercraft story "At The Mountains Of Madness." Well just after that was announced the news circulated that he had dropped out of a Van Helsing project at Universal that also featured Tom Cruise's involvement, now news comes from Collider that apparently Del Toro wants Cruise for the lead in Mountains.......but the studio want James McAvoy.

Now I get in the US some still have an issue with Cruise, it's strange to me that the country with the world's biggest porn distributors and endless videos on MTV with guys waving guns rapping about drugs, murder and bitches, has such a "moral" hang up over him being in a weird religion, but oh well, the rest of the world has moved on to more pressing matters, however clearly Universal are worried and want the massive star James McAvoy to head up their $150M tent-pole because that is a much safer bet.

Ok, ok, before anyone spits the dummy, I like McAvoy, he's a talented young actor no doubt and was superb in "The Last King Of Scotland" But for this I really see Cruise as a better fit given his age and the intensity he can bring to the role, however my biggest concern is that the studio is already trying to control Del Toro, so for me it's like this, I'm looking forward to this film but I hope the lead, whoever it is, will be Del Toro's choice not the studios, as starting out with the director compromising from the beginning is a bad omen in my view.

Paula Patton Takes New Mission

The casting on the new as yet titled Mission Impossible movie picked up the pace last week with "Hurt Locker" star Jeremy Renner signing on for the co male lead, no Toldya! is reporting that Paula Patton of "Deja Vu" and "Precious" fame has inked a deal to join the team, she will apparently play a young female operative who works with Cruise's Ethan Hunt.

Production will begin this fall with Brad Bird in the directors chair and a $150M budget to bankroll the no doubt elaborate action sequences.

Personally I can't wait for this, I'm a big fan of the franchise and thought M:i-III was actually the best in the series so far, now with Bird on board, JJ back in the producers seat and Cruise being joined by quality co stars and the promise of a fresh take on the espionage genre I am even more interested.