One of the big mysteries of this awards pre-season will be whether or not Lee Daniels latest effort, The Butler, will be an Oscar player or not. Following his Academy Award nominated film, Precious, in 2009, many were excited to see what he would do next. Unfortunately, that was The Paperboy. But there are very few directors without an asterisk somewhere in their filmography (Spielberg’s The Terminal anyone?), so it would be foolish to think Daniels couldn’t rebound with The Butler. Especially with The Weinsteins distributing the film.
Read more on First Trailer for Lee Daniels’ ‘The Butler’ Features All-Star Cast – Potential Oscar Player?…
Categories: Trailer Tags: Alan Rickman, Alex Pettyfer, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo, forest whitaker, James Marsden, Jane Fonda, John Cusack, Lee Daniels, Liev Schreiber, melissa leo, Minka Kelly, Oprah Winfrey, Robin Williams, Terrence Howard, The Butler, The Butler trailer, vanessa redgrave
 Written By: Danny Strong and Lee Daniels
Directed By: Lee Daniels
Cast: Forest Whitaker, Alex Pettyfer, John Cusack, Robin Williams, Alan Rickman, James Marsden, Minka Kelly, Lenny Kravitz, Jesse Williams, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Mariah Carey, Oprah Winfrey, Liev Schreiber, Nelsan Ellis, Jane Fonda, Melissa Leo, Terrence Howard, Vanessa Redgrave, Yaya DaCosta, David Oyelowo, Colman Domingo, Alex Manette
Synopsis: A look at the life of Eugene Allen, who served eight presidents as the White House’s head butler from 1952 to 1986, and had a unique front-row seat as political and racial history was made. Read more on Awards Profile: The Butler…
Categories: Award Profile Tags: Alan Rickman, Alex Pettyfer, alexandre desplat, Awards Profile, Colman Domingo, danny strong, David Oyelowo, forest whitaker, James Marsden, Jane Fonda, Jesse Williams, John Cusack, Lee Daniels, Lenny Kravitz, Liev Schreiber, mariah carey, melissa leo, Minka Kelly, Nelsan Ellis, Oprah Winfrey, Robin Williams, Terrence Howard, The Butler, vanessa redgrave, Yaya DaCosta
As we discussed on one of our previous Power Hour podcasts, it can be hard to define what a “breakthrough” performance/year really is. It could be someone coming out of seemingly nowhere to land several big roles (ala Jessica Chastain in 2011), or it could be someone who has made a few films and just finally lands that one fantastic role that launches them into stardom (ala Michael Fassbender in 2010). It doesn’t necessarily mean they are new to the screen (though they might be), it just means this is someone who has arrived and it’s time to take notice.
Read more on The 10 Biggest Breakthrough Performances Of 2012…
Categories: Article Tags: Alicia Vikander, Aubrey Plaza, Bradley Cooper, Breakthrough Performances, Dane DeHaan, David Oyelowo, Doona Bae, Jason Clarke, Kelly Reilly, Logan Lerman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Nate Parker, Quvenzhané Wallis, Samantha Barks, Scoot McNairy
 Much like the title character, the film ‘Jack Reacher’ gets in, does its job, and gets out. Tom Cruise’s potential new franchise is a decidedly low tech detective story that offers audiences some old school entertainment. It’s hardly original, but I’m pretty sure that’s intentional on the part of Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie. They know the kind of movie this is, and in adapting Lee Child’s popular series of books about the title character, they seem to have effectively achieved their goals. Cruise is sufficiently charismatic and carries the movie from an acting standpoint, while McQuarrie plays around with the tone a little more than you’d expect. Paramount seems to be confident in this as a new franchise for Cruise (despite having a review embargo in place until opening day, normally the sign of a film with something to hide), and I think they’ve got a winning formula in place. I can see this flick playing on TV for the next decade, and I mean that as a compliment. It’s never revolutionary and does have its problems, but for pure entertainment this is a solid holiday outing at the movies. If you like action movies starring Cruise, this is another one to check out…
Read more on Jack Reacher (***)…
 NYFF: When discussing this film after seeing it at the New York Film Festival, my friend and colleague from The Playlist Drew Taylor said something that pretty much sums up our thoughts on Lee Daniels’ latest work. Drew said that there’s “good trash” and there’s “bad trash”. Well ladies and gentlemen, ‘The Paperboy’ is definitely bad trash. It aspires to be pulpy and scummy in a way that suggests that it’s so bad that it’s good, but it never gets there and repeatedly shows off just how bad of a filmmaker I find Daniels to be. All of the bad habits that he annoyed me with in ‘Precious’ are on display here in triplicate. His saving grace again is his ability to get a terrific supporting female performance out of his cast, and many of the actors here do fine work, especially Nicole Kidman and John Cusack, but almost everything else here downright sucks. From a screenplay that you could be charitable in calling mediocre to amateurish camera work and editing all the way to any number of bizarre filmmaking decisions, this is definitely trash, just not that kind that the cast and crew intended it to be. For every interesting decision that ‘The Paperboy’ makes, there are at least two that make you scratch your head. The film opens on Friday so you’ll hypothetically be able to see for yourself what a mess this is if you’re inclined, but I wouldn’t want you to waste your time on this nonsense.
Read more on The Paperboy (*½)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: David Oyelowo, Early Review, John Cusack, Lee Daniels, Macy Gray, Matthew McConaughey, nicole kidman, Oscar hopeful, Scott Glenn, The Paperboy, Zac Efron
 With The Paperboy set to hit cineplexes soon, Lee Daniels is hard at work on his next feature film, The Butler. Based on the Wil Haygood’s report “A Butler Well Served by This Election,” the film will tell the story Allen, who worked for eight presidents, starting with Harry Truman in 1952 and ending in 1986 with Ronald Reagan. Daniels has assembled quite the cast for the film (Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Liam Neeson, John Cusack, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda, Robin Williams, James Marsden, Aml Ameen and Liev Schreiber are among it’s members) and now we get our first glimpse at Forest Whitaker as the title character via Coming Soon. Take a look at the first image after the jump!
Read more on First Official Image of Forest Whitaker in ‘The Butler’…
Categories: Images Tags: American film directors, Butler, David Oyelowo, Entertainment/Culture, forest whitaker, Images, James Marsden, Jane Fonda, John Cusack, Lee Daniels, Liam Neeson, Liev Schreiber, news, Robin Williams, The Butler
 Lee Daniels is currently at the Cannes Film Festival promoting his film The Paperboy, which many are calling a glorious mess, but he’s taking time to speak about his next movie. Screen Daily sat down with the director to discuss his next film, The Butler and he let some more details slip regarding the anticipated project. Minka Kelley, of Friday Night Lights fame, has been chosen by the director to play Jackie Onassis to Matthew McConaughey’s JFK. The movie tells the story of Eugene Allen (Forrest Whitaker), a butler who served under eight presidents.
Read more on Daniels discusses ‘The Butler’, wants Minka Kelly to play Jackie O…
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