LONE SURVIVOR TRAILER

Men! White men! Tough white men! Tough masculine white men! Tough driven masculine white men! Tough driven straight masculine white men! Tough driven straight masculine white men with guns! Shouting! With guns! Was this what David Bowie had in mind when he wrote those lyrics? Some say heroes, some say murderers! Some say get over it. I hope the other guys win.

A NEW ACADEMY BRANCH - CASTING DIRECTORS

The casting directors are the fashion designers. The actors are just the seamstresses. About time! Casting directors have been Academy members for over thirty years now, but mostly as members at large. They'll now have their own branch, which suggests that perhaps a casting award is on its way! After all, it was mere months ago that costume designers were granted theirs, despite having had a separate category for many decades. Elections will be held later this year to decide which three members of the branch will represent it on the Board of Governors.

MICHAEL ALMEREYDA AND ETHAN HAWKE RETURNING TO SHAKESPEARE FOR CYMBELINE

In 2000, Michael Almereyda caused a bit of a stir with his modern-day adaptation of Hamlet. He's now tackling Shakespeare's Cymbeline, positing the tragic romance against an urban battle between a biker gang of drug dealers and corrupt police officers. Hamlet's leading man, Ethan Hawke, who's having a darn good year so far, will star, and principal photography has been scheduled for the 19th of August in New York.

AWFUL, AWFUL POSTER FOR PARADISE

Please don't tell me they actually want people to go see this film. Not with this poster. Even I'm having second thoughts. From the other day, some stills.

AMERICAN HUSTLE TRAILER

Maybe they didn't name it 'American Bullshit' because that was the name of David O. Russell's last film, if I remember right. This is a fun trailer for what I hope will be a fun film. That's all I ask of Mr. Russell. Another I Heart Huckabees, if he pleases! In the US on Christmas Day, and the UK on Boxing Day, cos we don't have cinemas open on Christmas Day cos no-one would go (except me).

NEW TRAILER FOR AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS

You're gonna have to click dat pic! This trailer for Ain't Them Bodies Saints covers the same ground as the last one, but it looks good all the same.

DAVID GYASI AND DAVID OYELOWO JOIN INTERSTELLAR

Davids Gyasi and Oyelowo have joined the increasingly star-studded cast of Christopher Nolan's sci-fi film Insterstellar. After impressing with Inception, there's already a lot of excitement around Nolan's next original project. Recently, the film also added Wes Bentley, joining a cast already comprising Jessica Chastain, Ellen Burstyn, John Lithgow, Michael Caine, Casey Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Bill Irwin and Topher Grace. As with Inception, plot details are being kept pretty darn quiet.

CHERYL BOONE ISAACS IS NEW ACADEMY PRESIDENT

After Bette Davis and Fay Kanin, Cheryl Boone Isaacs is only the third woman to be elected AMPAS president. Also, she's the first black person to take that post. She succeeds Hawk Koch, who served one year. Pixar's John Lasseter is first vice president, make-up artist Leonard Engelman and the excellent costume designer Jeffrey Kurland are vice presidents, former Disney chairman Dick Cook is treasurer and Field of Dreams' Phil Alden Robinson moves from holding a four-term post as vice president to taking over as secretary ("Hello, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, how may I help you?" - that's what he has to do now.)

REVIEW - EUROPA REPORT

Though Europa Report does just about nothing new, it at least does almost everything different enough from similar films to make it a worthwhile sit. Herein is evidence to disprove the prolific humbug theories - found footage that doesn't render the action unintelligible, a space exploration thriller that doesn't rely on aliens or explosions. Director Sebastian Cordero is chiefly occupied with establishing tension through tone, and evoking a strong sense of space (appropriately). This is standard sci-fi stuff to anyone who's seen Alien, but when one considers how often such films are made with total disregard for these issues, and how acutely Cordero nails it, it's only reasonable to be impressed. And despite the film's lack of distinguishable / conventional space-set thrills, it never resorts to the kind of generic suspense or horror tropes that could have stranded it anywhere in the universe - on solid footing here on Earth or floating above Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Cordero makes the setting the seventh character on board (and off) this vessel, and no matter how aware the crew members think they are of it, it will find ways to punish them for their complacency, and for their curiosity. A smart international cast seems rather more concerned with keeping their careers afloat than the usual ragtag bunch of teens who populate found footage films; their characterisation is stronger, but they fail to generate a sense of ease or spontaneity that's essential with this format. They face unknown threats and promises deeper in space than any human has gone before, the nature of which is wisely kept concealed... until a cack-handed ending that drowns every ounce of faith you had invested in the story. Up to this point, it's a darn good piece of work, Europa Report, so I won't denounce its many attributes. But none of those have lasted with me like that fucking ending.

OBIT - EILEEN BRENNAN

The Hollywood Reporter has been informed by Eileen Brennan's publicist that the Oscar-nominated actor died on Sunday, the 28th of July, having suffered from bladder cancer. The popular film and TV star received her Oscar nomination for 1980's Private Benjamin. She also starred in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show, and she played Mrs. Peacock in 1985's Clue. She is survived by her two sons, Patrick and Sam.

OLDBOY BUMPED BACK A MONTH TO THANKSGIVING

Looks like Josh Brolin will be giving plenty of thanks over Thanksgiving weekend, as the Oldboy remake in which he stars has been pushed back to the 27th of November for its domestic release. It was scheduled for release on the 25th of October, but would have gone up against The Counsellor. Scared, are we? Not by the look of that still!

FAITH CONNECTIONS TRAILER

Utterly beautiful trailer for Pan Nalin's Toronto-headed documentary about the Kumbh Mela. I wonder if people will flock to see a film by the name of Faith Connections, though. Well, I certainly will. If, that is, I'm capable of flocking by myself... You know what you gotta do: click that pic!

TRAILER FOR THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY

Nice, fun trailer for a film that actually looks very good. Ben Stiller's one of the more reliable comic leading men in Hollywood, and he's a pretty good director too. I'm looking forward to this.

THE STRANGE COLOUR OF YOUR BODY'S TEARS - POSTER

Stunningly yummy first poster for Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani's The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears. We now know that it's headed Toronto's way. Hopefully reviews will begin to appear after it shows in Locarno on the 12th of August.

TRAILER FOR THE ARTIST AND THE MODEL

How Fernando Trueba's The Artist and the Model managed to evade my attention since its festival debut last September is beyond me. It looks ever so similar to Renoir, remember Renoir? I'd rather not. There's a jump next, and then five pictures!

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS - POSTER

You know what would have been a better name for this film? Captain America! Oh no wait...

NEW STILLS FROM THE ARTIST AND THE MODEL, GRAVITY, HOW I LIVE NOW

Save a release in Spain last September and a French one in March, Fernando Trueba's The Artist and the Model has been making just a quiet festival run so far. Claudia Cardinale is seen in the image above, in the film which also stars Jean Rochefort. It receives a US release in August, and September for the UK. After the jump, an image of Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in Gravity, and a new one of Saoirse Ronan in Kevin MacDonald's drama How I Live Now.

TIFF DOCUMENTARY SLATE RELEASED

Among the excellent-looking list of documentaries showing at TIFF in a few weeks are works from veteran filmmakers Marcel Ophuls, Frederick Wiseman, Errol Morris and Claude Lanzmann, as well as works from Jody Shapiro (a frequent collaborator of Guy Maddin), British writer Mark Cousins and Jehane Noujaim.

• Ain't Misbehavin' (Marcel Ophuls) - France (North American Premiere)
• At Berkeley (Frederick Wiseman) - USA (North American Premiere)
• Beyond the Edge (Leanne Pooley) - New Zealand (World Premiere)
• Burt's Buzz (Jody Shapiro) - Canada (World Premiere)
• The Dark Matter of Love (Sarah McCarthy) - UK (North American Premiere)
• The Dog (Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren) - USA (World Premiere)
• Faith Connections (Pan Nalin) - France / India (World Premiere)
• Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story (Barry Avrich) - Canada (World Premiere)
• Finding Vivian Maier (John Maloof and Charlie Siskel) - USA (World Premiere)
• Hi-Ho Mistahey! (Alanis Obomsawin) - Canada (World Premiere)
• Ignasi M. (Ventura Pons) - Spain (World Premiere)
• Jodorowsky's Dune (Frank Pavich) - USA (North American Premiere)
• The Last of the Unjust (Claude Lanzmann) - Austria / France (North American Premiere)
• The Mayor (Emiliano Altuna Fistolera) - Mexico (Canadian Premiere)
• Midway (Chris Jordan) - USA (World Premiere)
• Mission Congo (David Turner and Lara Zizic) - USA (World Premiere)
• The Square (Jehane Noujaim) - Egypt / USA (Canadian Premiere)
• A Story of Children and Film (Mark Cousins) - UK (North American Premiere)
• Tim's Vermeer (Teller) - USA (World Premiere)
• The Unknown Known (Errol Morris) - USA (North American Premiere)
• Unstable Elements (Madeleine Sackler) - USA (World Premiere)
• When Jews Were Funny (Alain Zweig) - Canada (World Premiere)

After the cut, and not in format, a few more lists from TIFF.

JUL 26-28 BOX OFFICE REPORT: THE WOLVERINE SLASHED DOWN

The Wolverine may have earned over twice as much as any other film at the US box office this weekend, but its $53.1 million opening was below expectations, and not up to scratch. Indeed, no matter its decent long-term prospects, this is a clear disappointment, as the lowest start yet for a film from the X-Men franchise (not even considering box office inflation nor 3D ticket pricing). It was the only major nationwide release, although there were some other, more successful films opening over the weekend, as you'll find out after the jump.

IMAGES FROM RIDLEY SCOTT'S THE COUNSELLOR

I wouldn't want counselling from any of these people because I'd just stare at them all day and think about how famous and perfect they all are. Except Cameron Diaz. But I still wouldn't want counselling from her. After the cut, lots more images.

TIFF MIDNIGHT MADNESS PROGRAMME

• Afflicted (Derek Lee and Cliff Prowse) - Canada / USA (World Premiere)
• All Cheerleaders Die (Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson) - USA (World Premiere)
• Almost Human (Joe Begos) - USA (World Premiere)
• The Green Inferno (Eli Roth) - USA (World Premiere)
• Oculus (Mike Flanagan) - USA (World Premiere)
• R100 (Hitoshi Matsumoto) - Japan (World Premiere)
• Rigor Mortis (Juno Mak) - Hong Kong (World Premiere)
• The Station (Marvin Kren) - Austria (World Premiere)
• Why Don't You Play in Hell? (Sono Sion) - Japan (North American Premiere)

TRAILER FOR ABOUT TIME

This is an MSN exclusive trailer so you'll have to click the pic. I haven't seen the trailer actually since you have to enter your DOB and for some reason Safari won't let me and I can't be fucked opening another browser cos my computer's so shit so I haven't seen the trailer. But I already know what I'm gonna think of it. Yuck.

TEASER FOR RIO 2

I never saw Rio, because I had better things to do like cry in the corner and gain eight inches around my waist. It got an Oscar nomination, one of two that year for Original Song. What an honour. This is the worst teaser trailer for an animated sequel about talking birds in South America that I've ever seen. 

HARVEY WEINSTEIN WILL PRODUCE DISNEY'S ARTEMIS FOWL

My mum tried to get me to read Artemis Fowl when I was a kid. She wanted me to be such a nerd! Not a video game nerd, hell no, but a speccy booky nerdy nerd. I wanted her to be a good mum, but at least we both disappointed each other! Harvey Weinstein will produce, with Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal executive producing, so this means that Harvey and Bob will reunite with Disney, after all these years! After all that palaver! Michael Goldenberg is adapting the first two novels in Eoin Colfer's series for the fantasy film.

DGA DATES ANNOUNCED

Not that it matters to the rest of the world, but the DGA has announced its dates for the upcoming awards season. Voting for feature film nominees will be open between the 3rd and the 6th of January, with nominations announced on the 7th, the day before Oscar ballots are due. Last year, they announced their nominees after Oscar ballots were sent in, although I wonder if that one day will make any difference (no.) Documentary rules and requirements are different; those nominees will be announced on the 9th. Between the 8th and the 24th, members will be able to cast their votes for the feature film nominees, with the awards ceremony held at the dinner on the 25th, which will be the day I change my contact lenses, because I always do that on the 25th cos I have monthlies.

REVIEW - WHAT MAISIE KNEW

Maisie says she's fine. Maisie says she didn't put the flowers in the closet. Maisie says she doesn't know. But what Maisie knew, and what we know, is that she is lying. This film reminds us of why children learn to lie. The adults around her, making her life decisions on her behalf, finding ways to make their desires appear to be her requirements, do not know. They might, would they only look as closely as we can. There's a simplicity to childhood, a make-do-and-mend resilience that surprises those of us who have forgotten how not to take things so seriously. But, on the other hand, there's a complexity to it too - what to make of these baffling grownups doing bafflingly stupid, harmful things to one another. What Maisie Knew is less about what she knew than what she thought. The seven-year-old actress in every scene of the film, Onata Aprile, is smarter than every other major contributor to this contemporary adaptation of Henry James' 19th Century novel. She divulges those thoughts with us, in every physical inflection, in every bat of her eyelids, in every evasive glance - is she afraid of giving the game away or is she resentful here? Taking things much too seriously, naturally, are those grownups, shuttling her (and us) around like ping pong balls, concerning themselves with whats and whens and wheres and whys. Were it not for Aprile, or an actor of equal skill, we'd be as clueless as they are. Taken as a narrative-driven film, there's little worth in What Maisie Knew, as it is comprised of merely scene after scene of obnoxious fools stumbling around in the dark trying to reach a conclusion we reached within the first five minutes. Thank goodness this has been told from Maisie's perspective. Whether or not the writers, the directors or even the other cast members know it, hers is the only one of any significance to the viewer. After all, the film is called What Maisie Knew.

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS WILL OPEN NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL

Before you ask "Who the fuck is Captain Phillips?" I mean the film. The one directed by Paul Greengrass and written by Billy Ray. The one based on the book. The one that's a true story. THIS ONE! Fuck's sake! NYFF runs from the 27th of September to the 13th of October. They decided to wait until after my birthday cos all the celebs will clearly be at my party and that would be a huge faux pas! The film opens in the US on the 11th of October, and one week later, on the 18th, in the UK.

BEVERLY HILLS COP 4 ON THE WAY

Beverly Hills Cop 3 was nineteen years ago, but that ain't stopping Paramount, who are putting Beverly Hills Cop 4 into production, it appears. Eddie Murphy's back on board as Axel Foley too, which is surely essential for another sequel. The franchise was headed for TV, and a pilot was made with Brandon T. Jackson as Foley's son, but that inexplicably never made it to air. The writers are Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec, who have plenty of TV experience behind them, as well as Paramount's extremely successful Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.

REVIEW - FRANCES HA

The wry comedian in Noah Baumbach won't be kept down. In Frances Ha, he's not parodying these insufferable hipsters. He loves them too much to be that mean. But there are things that only a friend can say, and as a friend to his characters, he's allowed to say them. He gives credence to their causes just as he undermines them, and encourages his cast to expose elements of themselves that are unattractive or unseemly. Because he is that wry comedian before he is anything else, and no matter how much respect he has for these people, they're all subject to his sardonicism at some point. By the end, I too loved these insufferable hipsters, and it was Baumbach's (and Greta Gerwig's) willingness to lay them each bare when it was required, or even when not, that earned my love. We're privy to their few moments of triumph, but also to their many moments of embarrassment. The throbbing awkwardness that is captured so acutely throughout Frances Ha is captured so with a surprising lack of pretentiousness. Indeed, perhaps it's Baumbach's honesty, perhaps it's the fact that, as one of these characters himself, his familiarity with their lifestyles fends off any crass romanticism, but this isn't nearly as pretentious a movie as it might appear to be. Self-awareness is largely kept at bay, and is mostly only employed in the pursuit of humour, and a successful pursuit it is, as Frances Ha is a terrific comedy at times. Mickey Sumner is brilliant as Sophie, but the film is thoroughly Greta Gerwig's, of course. Frances is ever-chipper, ever-hopeless, to the point that you realise that anyone with any less carefree self-assuredness would probably have jumped off the Manhattan bridge after all she puts up with. But Frances' effervescence sees her through every painful minute of it, and Gerwig is so completely immersed in her role that there's never a smidgen of doubt that she'll make it through.

HIDDEN TREASURES: ELENA, FAUST, HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI

As limited as the reach of my blog is, I nevertheless like to think that any extra attention I can bring to undervalued films won't be in vain. Since I started this blog, there are some films which I haven't posted reviews about but which undoubtedly deserve larger audiences than they have reached since release. Today's Hidden Treasures article is about three recent films which fit that bill.

ELENA (2011) - ANDREY ZVYAGINTSEV

A spare, often wordless drama, that resembles a film noir without the thrills, and with some provocative social statements in their place. This is a formalist's dream, executed with utmost style and precision, with excellent, stark cinematography from Mikhail Krichman. Nadezhda Markina's performance is a marvellous accomplishment, in what she conceals and what she reveals. For a film so narratively simple, it's incredibly thematically rich.

FAUST (2011) - ALEKSANDR SOKUROV

Aleksandr Sokurov weaves a hazy, dazy, almost half-remembered tapestry of curiosity and quirk out of the classic tale of Faust, ambling around it mischievously, pausing only to interject with a mocking smirk at the story's hapless inhabitants. A gritty texture of shades of beige from DP Bruno Delbonnel adds a layer of visual fogginess to compliment Sokurov's lewd irreverence.

HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI (2011) - TAKASHI MIIKE

Not the action film you expect - its only scene of true samurai action is a messy brawl at film's end, a callous disturbance of the rigour exerted elsewhere by Takashi Miike, at his most serious. In most respects, it's an anti-samurai film, lingering on the pain and poverty that accompany the lifestyle, and the emotional wounds, rather than the physical. The images are spellbindingly beautiful, and a number of moments will linger long in the memory.

CLIP FROM ELYSIUM

District 9 was a good action film marred by a terrible script. I see no reason to believe that Elysium will be anything worse, but I see no reason to believe that Elysium will even be any different. Isn't this just District 9 without the aliens and with Matt Damon?

FIRST IMAGES FROM DIABLO CODY'S PARADISE

Here are some pics from Diablo Cody's directorial debut, Paradise, formerly known as Lamb of God. Julianne Hough plays a conservative Christian who survives a plane crash but with burns and a loss of faith. She takes a trip to Las Vegas, and explores her wild side! Russell Brand, Octavia Spencer, Holly Hunter (not in any of these images) and Nick Offerman (that's Nick Offerman above, srsly) co-star. Why is Julianne Hough in this? Isn't she just so vanilla? Like, she's a dancer. That's it, surely? I suppose she's playing a pretty vanilla character anyway. And much as I like Russell Brand and Octavia Spencer, I wonder if it took Charlize Theron for me to get into Cody's dialogue. I'm not sure how they'll fare. More pics after the cut, including one where Julianne Hough appears to have been replaced by Jennifer Lawrence!

JOHN WILLIAMS WILL SCORE STAR WARS: EPISODE VII

No matter how bad elements of the Star Wars movies got (and, at one point or another, all of them got pretty bad), there was one element that remained consistently brilliant: John Williams' music. The themes are iconic, the incidental music exceptionally well-written. He'll score Star Wars: Episode VII, says producer Kathleen Kennedy, and I expect he'll likely score Episodes VII and IX. I hope, at least!

REVIEW - THE WOLVERINE

Far from being sick to death of playing this character, Hugh Jackman still seems remarkably positive about assuming the role of Wolverine for, now, the sixth time. After all, it's the role that made his career, and it's a curiously neat fit for the usually more theatrical star. This time out, it's Wolverine himself who's sick to death of playing his own character, and when his immortality is stripped of him, almost literally so. Not so many wisecracks from Logan now, which is reasonable considering what he's gone through, but a lot more contemplation and self-doubt. He's the latest superhero to suffer from a severe case of 'conscious vulnerability,' which is when a superhero gets all glum about themselves and starts caring about how they feel, like a big ol' wuss. Off to Japan with this self-obsessed prick! There, he gets involved in an odd plot about corporate familial relationships like an episode of Dallas. This supplies him with a litany of foes, some human, some mutant, like the 5'11" size 2 blonde bombshell convincing no-one that she's a doctor, and her special power is really bad breath. Much as I hated Wolverine's previous solo film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I'm not so keen on how this one papers over the cracks carved out by that disastrous film, rather than sorting them out. There's a proper good fun action scene set on top of a bullet train, which might limit the box office potential in Santiago de Compostela, but is the best thing in this film anywhere else in the world. There are also some extremely silly touches, like the bit where Wolverine is best friends with a grizzly bear.

NEW CLIP FROM KICK-ASS 2

Click dat pic, chica!

Aaron Johnson's so good at comedy! How come he's so bad at drama?

TEASER FOR CHAPTER TWO OF NYMPHOMANIAC

As we now know, this counts as publicity. I don't think eight teasers and a smattering of pics will suffice as publicity for such an ambitious project as Nymphomaniac, but then again I don't care cos I've pretty much already set up camp on the pavement outside my local arthouse for this shit. There was a teaser for the first chapter, remember? It seems that Lars von Trier was less concerned with finding people who can do English accents convincingly than finding people who'll get their knobs out for a small fee and the promise of 'creating art.'

After the cut, a snapshot of what's to come. Not literally, as that won't be necessary, TY Shia!

MANIAC EFFECTIVELY BANNED IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand's Office of Film and Literature Classification didn't like slasher film Maniac, and neither did I, but I wouldn't have banned it from public release in an entire country! They did, though, restricting it to screenings only in festival release, film studies courses and tertiary media. After all Elijah Wood did for New Zealand, and look what they've done for him in return!

LEE SANG IL'S REMAKE OF UNFORGIVEN - TRAILER

No subtitles for this Japanese-language film, although as Peter Greenaway taught me, we are a visually illiterate bunch of people these days. And anyway, if you've seen Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning original, you'll gather what's going on pretty quickly, as this looks to be a very faithful remake. The story looks to transpose quite well to the new setting, I'd say. In fact, much as I like the original, the only thing I'll miss will be Lennie Niehaus' plantive score, if anything (unless it's shite). This will be showing out of competition at Venice.

POSTER FOR DISNEY'S FROZEN

Remember the hilarious teaser trailer for Frozen? This poster is not quite as hilarious.

POSTER FOR ROMEO AND JULIET

As the rather clunky line on this rather clunky poster reminds us, this was written by Julian Fellowes, although it doesn't actually remind us of that. No doubt Hailee Steinfeld is a very talented actor, but this seems like a pointless adaptation to me, and nothing I've yet seen convinces me that this is much to get excited about.

POSTER FOR SAVING MR. BANKS

Is this a sequel to Saving Private Ryan?

PRISONERS - POSTER

No matter how many 'Academy Award nominees' this film has, I don't get the feeling that it's designed to go anywhere near Oscar. Not that Denis Villeneuve isn't capable of it. This is gonna screen at Toronto.

ANOTHER CLIP FROM GRAVITY

This is getting ridiculous now. I nearly shat myself.

ROSAMUND PIKE WILL JOIN BEN AFFLECK IN GONE GIRL

It was rumoured that Brit Rosamund Pike could be joining Ben Affleck in the lead roles in David Fincher's Gone Girl. Now, it ain't no rumour. She's in, he's in, that's that.

TRAILER FOR KIM KI DUK'S MOEBIUS

I discovered this just after learning that Kim's Moebius will screen as part of the Venice Film Festival this year. The controversial film was effectively banned in its native South Korea, requiring cuts to 21 scenes in order to be widely distributed. Hopefully, Kim, whose films often touch on taboo topics, will release the unedited version internationally. It would be a shame if he let the Korean censors determine what the rest of the world gets to see.

2013 VENICE FILM FESTIVAL LINEUP

So this is what Bernardo Bertolucci's jury will be voting on. Last year's winner was The Master, until it wasn't, and it was Pieta instead.

• Ana Arabia (Amos Gitai)
• Child of God (James Franco)
• L'Intrepido (Gianni Amelio)
• La Jalousie (Philippe Garrel)
• Joe (David Gordon Green)
• Miss Violence (Alexandros Avranas)
• Night Moves (Kelly Reichardt)
• Parkland (Peter Landesman)
• Philomena (Stephen Frears)
• The Police Officer's Wife (Philip Groning)
• The Rooftops (Merzak Allouache)
• Sacro Gra (Gianfranco Rosi)
• Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming Liang)
• Tom at the Farm (Xavier Dolan)
• Tracks (John Curran)
• Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
• The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld (Errol Morris)
• Via Castellana Bandiera (Emma Dante)
• The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki)
• The Zero Theorem (Terry Gilliam)

That's 20 films, two of which are directed by women. There's an animation (guess) and two documentaries, I think (Sacro Gra might be a documentary, I'm not yet sure). Films from Amos Gitai, David Gordon Green, Tsai Ming Liang, John Curran and Hayao Miyazaki (YES!) should keep me happy, even though I'm not going, while films from James Franco, Jonathan Glazer and Terry Gilliam should keep mainstream movie fans around the world happy too. Kelly Reichardt's Night Moves stars my boy Peter Sarsgaard, and Xavier Dolan's Tom at the Farm stars Caleb Landry Jones. After the cut, films screening out of competition.

REVIEW - THE FROZEN GROUND

Am I alone in thinking that an Anchorage-set thriller about a serial murderer of women and the police search for his identity is a good idea for a film? An even better idea for a TV series, right? Well, I'm a sucker for stories like this, which makes such a lame effort as The Frozen Ground all the more inexcusable. Premises like these are inherently exciting. All they need is a little push, and they become thoroughly riveting. And The Frozen Ground's premise already existed - it's based on a true story - so where's the effort? Where's the ambition? As soon as Nicolas Cage signed on to play the lead, they ought to have known to call it a day then and there. That said, I continue to admire Cage for what appears to be nonchalance regarding choosing his roles - an Oscar-winning actor capable of so much better who's doing trash like this because he just wants to. Or maybe he needs a new agent. Radha Mitchell needs a new agent. Where is Radha Mitchell's agent anyway? Since tales like this have been told to death (and since The Frozen Ground so relentlessly reminds us of this), to say that you couldn't make this shit up is incorrect, as you could, and as Scott Walker possibly should have. What you can't make up, though, are these characters, because they're real! Only writer-director Walker makes them seem made up, tired tropes defined by details so overused that you may wonder if Walker is employing them ironically, or deceptively. He's not. 50 Cent shows up with a wig on, and that alone is hilarious, and then he gets his car stolen by Vanessa Hudgens (Bandslam). An even better bit, though, is when Vanessa Hudgens (Bandslam) turns into an alleyway and encounters a moose. Out of context, that sounds like it'd make this film a classic! In context, it slightly does. Lorne Balfe's string-and-brass-led score evokes Howard Shore's for Se7en a little too strongly, but it's still the best thing about this tepid thriller.

THE CANYONS POSTER

I'm honestly quite excited to see The Canyons. I hope it's either good or so bad it's good. I'm afraid it might just be bad. But it has Lindsay Lohan and a porn star in it! Lindsay Lohan! From Mean Girls! It's an Amanda Bynes away from being an instant classic already.

CHRISTOPHER WALKEN CAST IN CLINT EASTWOOD'S JERSEY BOYS

Hey! Remember Clint Eastwood's gonna direct a movie version of the stage musical Jersey Boys? The first confirmed cast member is Oscar-winning actor Christopher Walken, who has never before worked with Eastwood. He'll likely be one of just a few big-name screen actors in the cast, as Eastwood is looking for actors with stage experience in the musical to play the film's four leads.

FIRST TRAILER FOR 47 RONIN

They're actually trying with this! Thing is, it's being sold on a number of things which won't appeal to mass audiences. To most people, this probably just looks like a more adult The Last Airbender. And nobody wants to see that. 47 is a prime number, btw.

SECOND CLIP FROM GRAVITY

This one sort of picks up where the last one left off. It's scary. Everything I've seen from this film is scary.

FIRST FULL CLIP FROM GRAVITY

This is as intense as you already know it's going to be. It's also interesting how it appears that most of the footage that has been released to date is from the first half or so of the film. So stoked!

COOL POSTERS FOR X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

I'm still totally sceptical about Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past, since that franchise fell apart as soon as Fox realised what they were on to with it. It just feels like a desperate rescue mission. Anyway, I'll admit this: those posters are super-cool.

REVIEW - JUST THE WIND

It is, as far as this film's internal narrative goes, a day in the life of three members of one Romany family. A text slide that opens Just the Wind, though, transforms these banal occurrences, and it becomes, perhaps, a day in the death. Or is it? The knot of tension as Benedek Fliegauf's film progresses is tied by this factual text, and tightened by adroit filmmaking that subtly builds the tone of anxiety scene by scene. The sound design, which Fliegauf is, directly, partly responsible for, is exceptional, with non-diegetic ambient sound combining with heightened atmospheric noise and minimal dialogue - these wide open spaces, overgrown green fields and forest suddenly so close, the bushes and long grass concealing an unseen threat, the stagnant air buzzing like tinnitus, the heat and dirt offering no respite from the silent fear that pervades this family's life, no matter how aware of it they may be. In response to the emotional concerns of this (semi-)true story, gone is Fliegauf's chilly ponderousness, but the relative absence of obsessively long, languorous takes doesn't diminish the human detail therein. He's observing reality, rather than creating it, and he has an exquisite style of detached intimacy: the camera never feels like another figure in this reality, yet its intrusion is insisted upon, as it follows the actors (whose performances never betray any evidence of being such) through these rural lanes, or lingers on their faces in close-up, drinking in their obliviousness. We feel how near danger truly is to them, and we see how little they know it. Fliegauf's attention to mood is absolute, and he has thus made a tonally perfect film. The ending is not frustratingly ambiguous, it's tantalisingly ambiguous.