 In what seems like an eternity, Tom Hooper’s long-awaited Les Miserables starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway has finally been screened and finished. Director Hooper came out to introduce his film at the Alice Tully Theater at Lincoln Center on Friday, November 23, 2012 and explained that he had just finished the picture at 2 a.m. the evening before. The wait was well worth it. Les Miserables is not only stunningly powerful, and beautifully crafted, it’s the best stage musical adaptation since Rob Marshall’s Chicago (2002). Incredibly moving and featuring some of the most powerful musical numbers ever constructed, Tom Hooper tops his previous film The King’s Speech (2010) with artistry and passion. Read more on Les Miserables (****)…
Categories: Editor, Film Reviews Tags: Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway, Arts, British films, Chicago, Chris Dickens, conductor, Cosette, Danny Cohen, Director, Eddie Redmayne, Editor, Editor Film Review, Entertainment/Culture, Eve Stewart, Fantine, Film, film reviews, Helena Bonham Carter, Hugh Jackman, Human Interest, Javert, Jean Valjean, King, Les Miserables, Lincoln Center, Marius, Movie Release, Oscar, player, police inspector, principal actor, Rachel Getting Married, Rob Marshall, Romantic drama films, Russell Crowe, sacha baron cohen, Samantha Barks, single actor and craftsman, The Academy Awards, The King, the Oscars, Tom Hooper
 Do you hear the people sing? Well in the new trailer for Les Misérables you can as this stirring full trailer gives us snippets of all of the cast singing the iconic songs of the musical. Though we only get brief taste of how the live singing will translate to the screen, its nice to see that the actors can actually sing (never a given in Hollywood) and that they have acquitted themselves quite nicely to the tale. Check out the heart tugging trailer and plot synopsis after the jump!
Read more on Full length ‘Les Misérables’ trailer highlights epic scope, iconic songs…
Categories: Trailer Tags: Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway, Cosette, Eddie Redmayne, Film, Helena Bonham Carter, Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables, musical, news, Russell Crowe, sacha baron cohen, Tom Hooper, trailer
 Casting News
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire sequel seems to be releasing casting news by the day. They’ve cast the extremely underated actor Alan Ritchson to play Gloss and extremely overrated Sam Claflin to play Finnick.
Abie Cornish, who wowed in Bright Star, is stepping into another biographical film, Fellini Black and White. She’ll play a woman who Fellini meets and falls in love with. – Indiewire
Jason Momoa has cut many an imposing figure as Conan the Barbarian and Khal Drogol on Game of Thrones. He’s now set to terrorize Lucas Till as the werewolf pack leader in the aptly titled, Wolves – Film School Rejects
Read more on Late Pass: Casting + Production News…
Oh my, what is this? One of the most anticipated movies of the year seems to be causing a bit of a stir if the early responses are an indication of what’s to come when everyone sees it (and certainly everyone from Awards Circuit will/has)…
That’s right; Ridley Scott’s long awaited sort-of-Alien-prequel-but-not thriller Prometheus is finally upon us! Is it the sci-fi masterpiece that fully lives up to the standard Sir Scott set with Blade Runner and Alien? Well…depends on who you ask. While the majority of critics are leaning positive overall for its visual wizardry and performances, some frustrations have been raised about the film’s script, including our own Mike Ward’s mostly positive take. Frankly, I welcome the debate. Even if it’s as flawed as some of its harshest detractors are saying, I’d rather watch a misfire with huge ambitions than a proficient example of assembly-line filmmaking.
Read more on Weekend Openings (June 8-10)…
Categories: Weekend Openings Tags: Ben Stiller, Best Animated Feature, Best Supporting Actress, Best Visual Effects, Bruce Beresford, Catherine Keener, Chris Rock, christina ricci, Christopher Walken, David Schwimmer, divisive films, Greta Gerwig, Idris Elba, Jane Fonda, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lola Versus, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Martin Short, Mia Farrow, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Oscar hopefuls, Peace Love & Misunderstanding, Prometheus, Ridley Scott, Robert Pattinson, sacha baron cohen, Safety Not Guaranteed, Selma Blair, Uma Thurman, Weekend Openings
Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean in Academy Award winning director Tom Hooper’s (The King’s Speech) Les Misérables, based on the tale by Victor Hugo. The first teaser has dropped for the film, and while we just get to chew on the beautiful imagery – set to Anne Hathaway singing “I Dreamed a Dream” – I feel reassured with its promise to be a legitimate contender in a multitude of categories come awards season.
Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Helena Bonham Carter also star, and the film is set to be released on December 14th.
Check out the first trailer (and synopsis) for Les Misérables after the jump…
Read more on First Teaser Trailer for Tom Hooper’s ‘Les Misérables’…
 I laughed at ‘The Dictator’ more than I’d care to admit. More a stretched out Saturday Night Live sketch or Adam Sandler high concept comedy than anything that star/co-writer Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles have tackled before, this is far from a good movie, but it does manage to be a reasonably entertaining one. Like some of Sandler’s recent outings, there’s very little in the way of quality craftsmanship and the jokes are hardly new ones, but they manage to elicit more chuckles and belly laughs than they should. Now, ‘The Dictator’ once or twice manages to do some interesting things (and end speech satirically comparing democracy to a dictatorship isn’t just funny, but surprisingly biting and right on the money), but most of the time they go for the easy jokes. The hit to miss ratio is pretty good, but the ones that miss, well, they miss pretty badly. Baron Cohen is a fearless performer, and his straight up chutzpah is hard not to admire, but I’m still waiting for him to put it all together. I wasn’t as big a fan of ‘Borat’ as most, though I still found it funny, and ‘Bruno’ was disappointing however you slice it, so this is another mixed bag for the comedian. This time around, it’s a narrative instead of a mockumentary, and honestly, I’m not sure which suits him better as of yet. Personally, I prefer his more subdued work in other films, but that’s just me. On its own terms, ‘The Dictator’ is entertaining, it’s just not especially good. If that’s an odd combination to you, well…you’re not alone there.
Read more on The Dictator (**½)…
 Directed By: Larry Charles
Written By: Sacha Baron Cohen, Alec Berg, David Mandel, Jeff Schaffer
Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, John C. Reilly
Synopsis (From IMDB): The heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.
Read more on Awards Profile: ‘The Dictator’…
 Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming film ‘Django Unchained’ seems to be having a bit of a hard time keeping its cast intact. The Playlist is reporting here and here that Kurt Russell and Sacha Baron Cohen have both had to drop out of the flick, and that’s in addition to Kevin Costner and Joseph Gordon-Levitt previously. Russell’s role was originally going to be played by Costner and seems like more than a cameo, but it appears that Cohen’s is apparently a rather small one, so the latter should be easier to recast than the former. Regardless, this isn’t exactly ideal for any production, let alone as high profile a one as this. After the jump, I’ll speculate if ‘Django Unchained’ is becoming a troubled production or not, but I wouldn’t worry if I were you…
Read more on Kurt Russell and Sacha Baron Cohen have dropped out of Django Unchained?…
 So far, we’ve only seen a few short looks at the upcoming Sacha Baron Cohen film ‘The Dictator’, and honestly it looks like more of the same after ‘Borat’ and ‘Bruno’, only far less original looking. This new trailer has shown more of a plot, and makes me slightly more optimistic for the flick. Take a look at his next collaboration with filmmaker Larry Charles after the cut…
Read more on The Dictator gets a new Trailer!…
 Directed By: Tom Hooper
Written By: William Nicholson
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Amanda Seyfried, Samantha Barks, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveilt, George Blagden, Bertie Carvel
Synopsis:
In 19th Century France, Les Misérables tells the story of a prisoner Jean Vaijean and his quest to begin a new life after 19 years of imprisonment. After his release, Vaijean breaks his parole and the ruthless policeman Javert hunts him down. When Vaijean agrees to care for a factory worker Fantine and her illegitimate daughter, Cosette, their lives are changed forever.
Read more on Awards Profile: Les Misérables…
Categories: Award Profile Tags: Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway, Awards Profile, Helena Bonham Carter, Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables, Oscar hopeful, Russell Crowe, sacha baron cohen, Tom Hooper, universal studios
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In what seems like an eternity, Tom Hooper’s long-awaited Les Miserables starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway has finally been screened and finished. Director Hooper came out to introduce his film at the Alice Tully Theater at Lincoln Center on Friday, November 23, 2012 and explained that he had just finished the picture at 2 a.m. the evening before. The wait was well worth it. Les Miserables is not only stunningly powerful, and beautifully crafted, it’s the best stage musical adaptation since Rob Marshall’s Chicago (2002). Incredibly moving and featuring some of the most powerful musical numbers ever constructed, Tom Hooper tops his previous film The King’s Speech (2010) with artistry and passion. Read more on Les Miserables (****)…
