Peter Jackson ‘s initial Hobbit is looking to match its Lord of the Rings brethren. Also in Wednesday’s news round-up, Joel Edgerton is eyeing to star in next Natalie Portman pic; Andy Samberg is set to take on the Spirit Awards ; Top Gun is flying toward IMAX; and Hobbit mock-buster gets a new title. The Hobbit Tracking for $70 Million Opening Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey looks like it will take in $70 million-plus at the box office this weekend, putting the 3-D pic on par with the Lord of the Rings franchise. On the same weekend in 2003, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King opened to $72.6 million in North America, THR reports . Joel Edgerton Eyes Jane Got a Gun Edgerton is in talks to join the Lynne Ramsey-directed Western action pic Jane Got a Gun , which stars Natalie Portman and Michael Fassbender. The film revolves around Jane Hammond (Portman), who reaches out to her ex-lover (Fassbender) to help her when her outlaw husband becomes the target of a violent gang, Deadline reports . Andy Samberg to Host 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards The Saturday Night Live veteran will host the 28th annual event in February, which honors the best in the indie film world. The 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards will take place in Santa Monica on February 23rd, LAT reports . Top Gun Aims for IMAX in 3-D The 1986 Tom Cruise feature has been remastered in 3-D, which the late director Tony Scott supervised. Top Gun will head back to the big screen for a six-day IMAX engagement beginning February 8th followed by the latest Blu-ray release in a 3D/2D two-disc set coming February 19, Deadline reports . Age of the Hobbits Set for Cambodian Release Under New Title Backers of the mock-buster who were stopped by a Federal judge Monday from releasing their film with the title saying it could be confused with Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey , will now release the pic under the title, The History of Mankind in its native Cambodia, THR reports .
I’ve never heard of this Natalia Baccino before, and I’ve barely heard of DSS Magazine , but I’m liking what I’m seeing from both here. Apparently Natalia is a model from Panama, and judging from these pictures, I think she’s got what it takes to make it big in North America. And because I’m such a nice guy, I’d be happy to marry Natalia to help make that dream come true. Of course, we’d have to make it look convincing… But hey, some sacrifices are worth it.
Peter Jackson ‘s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey had its New Zealand premiere Wednesday, and although local press are still under embargo, the New York Daily News has burst out of the gate with the first published review of the anticipated Lord of the Rings follow-up. What’s the early verdict on Jackson’s groundbreaking 48 fps presentation, which was so publicly panned in previews ? Ethan Sacks’ review is enthusiastic if not terrifically detailed, but let’s cut to the elephant in the room: Will audiences reject the super-resolution 48 fps look of The Hobbit ? “Critics who saw a trailer earlier this year were unimpressed, but after a minute or two of adjusting, the higher resolution is eye-popping, similar to discovering HD television for the first time,” Sacks writes. Phew. Well, grain of salt: This is the first and only review out there now, so we’ll see if other critics agree as The Hobbit begins screening stateside tomorrow. As for the film itself, expect a cameo-filled romp that should satisfy Tolkien fans: “Lighter and funnier than its Lord of the Rings predecessors, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey remains faithful to the fantasy world last seen in the 2003 Academy Award-winning The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King .” There is just one little glaring notation; Sacks warns of one potentially grating character by dropping three of the most fearsome words in popular geekdom: Jar Jar Binks. “Like all unexpected journeys, there are a few pitfalls along the way, most notably the tangential subplot surrounding bumbling wizard Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy), whose buffoonery at times descends into Jar Jar Binks territory.” [ New York Daily News ] The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hits theaters December 14. Read more: Wranglers Say ‘Hobbit’ Animals Suffered Gruesome Deaths On ‘Death Trap’-Ridden Farm The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and 48 FPS: More Tolkien In Store for Peter Jackson? The Hobbit 48 FPS Preview Divides Audiences at CinemaCon Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The Sundance Film Festival continued its roll out of films playing its 2013 event in January, unveiling its out-of-competition Spotlight, Park City at Midnight and New Frontier sections as well as installations and performances headed to the festival’s New Frontier venue. Jeff Nichols’ Mud , starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon , festival favorite No with Gael García Bernal and the U.S. premiere of Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers are among the films set for Sundance’s Spotlight section, which includes North American and U.S. debuts. [ Related: Check out Sundance’s 2013 U.S. and World Competition lineup as well as films in its NEXT program ] “I couldn’t be more pleased to announce the films selected for these sections because they illustrate the tremendous creativity and vibrancy of the independent film community,” said Sundance’s Director of Programming Trevor Groth in a statement. “Spotlight features our favorite films that have premiered at other festivals and the Park City at Midnight and New Frontier sections are comprised of films that are bound to shock, intoxicate, derange or dazzle. Expect the unexpected when you venture down the path of these cinematic sensations.” The Sundance Film Festival takes place January 17 – 27 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. Sundance’s Spotlight, Park City at Midnight and New Frontier lineups (with descriptions provided by the festival): SPOTLIGHT Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world, the Spotlight program is a tribute to the cinema we love. Fill the Void / Israel (Director and screenwriter: Rama Burshtein) — A devout 18-year-old Israeli is pressured to marry the husband of her late sister. Declaring her independence is not an option in Tel Aviv’s ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community, where religious law, tradition and the rabbi’s word are absolute. Cast: Hadas Yaron, Yiftach Klein, Irit Sheleg, Chaim Sharir, Razia Israeli, Hila Feldman. Gangs of Wasseypur / India (Director: Anurag Kashyap, Screenwriters: Anurag Kashyap, Zeishan Quadri) — Exiled and outcast for robbing British trains, Shahid Khan spurs a battle for revenge that passes down generations. Shahid’s son vows to get his father’s honor back, becoming the most feared man in the Indian town of Wasseypur. Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddique, Richa Chadda, Huma Qureshi, Tigmanshu Dhulia. U.S. Premiere The Gatekeepers (documentary) / Israel, Germany, Belgium, France (Director: Dror Moreh) — Since its stunning military victory in 1967, Israel has hoped to achieve a long-lasting peace. Forty-five years later, this has yet to happen. Six former heads of Israel’s Secret Service reflect on the successes and failures of the “peace process.” Mud / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeff Nichols) — Two teenage boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trail and reunite him with his true love. Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland, Reese Witherspoon. North American Premiere No / Chile, U.S.A. (Director: Pablo Larraín, Screenwriter: Pedro Peirano) — When Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet calls for a referendum to decide his permanence in power, the opposition persuades a young advertising executive to head its campaign. With limited resources and under scrutiny, he conceives a plan to win the election. Cast: Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers, Luis Gnecco, Marcial Tagle, Néstor Cantillana. Sightseers / United Kingdom (Director: Ben Wheatley, Screenwriters: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram) — Chris wants to show girlfriend Tina his world, but when events conspire against the couple, their dream caravan holiday takes a very wrong turn. Cast: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram. U.S. Premiere Stories We Tell (documentary) / Canada (Director: Sarah Polley) — Sarah Polley is both filmmaker and detective as she investigates the secrets kept by a family of storytellers. She unravels the paradoxes to reveal the essence of family: always complicated, warmly messy and fiercely loving. PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT From horror flicks to comedies to works that defy any genre, these unruly films will keep you edge-seated and wide awake. Each is a world premiere. Ass Backwards / U.S.A. (Director: Chris Nelson, Screenwriters: June Diane Raphael, Casey Wilson) — Loveable losers Kate and Chloe take a road trip back to their hometown to claim the beauty pageant crown that eluded them as children, only to discover what really counts: friendship. Cast: June Diane Raphael, Casey Wilson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alicia Silverstone, Jon Cryer, Brian Geraghty. Hell Baby / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon) — An expectant couple moves into the most haunted fixer-upper in New Orleans – a house with a demonic curse. Things spiral out of control and soon only the Vatican’s elite exorcism team can save the pair – or can it? Cast: Rob Corddry, Leslie Bibb, Keegan Michael Key, Riki Lindhome, Paul Scheer, Rob Huebel. In Fear / United Kingdom (Directed and story by: Jeremy Lovering) — Trapped in a maze of country roads with only their vehicle for protection, Tom and Lucy are terrorized by an unseen tormentor exploiting their worst fears. Eventually they realize they’ve let the evil in – it’s sitting in their car. Cast: Alice Englert, Iain De Caestecker, Allen Leech. kink (documentary) / U.S.A. (Director: Christina Voros) — A story of sex, submission and big business is told through the eyes of the unlikely pornographers whose 9:00-to-5:00 work days are spent within the confines of the San Francisco Armory building, home to the sprawling porn production facilities of Kink.com. The Rambler / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Calvin Lee Reeder) — After being released from prison, a man known as “The Rambler” stumbles upon a strange mystery as he attempts the treacherous journey through back roads and small towns en route to reconnecting with his long-lost brother. Cast: Dermot Mulroney, Lindsay Pulsipher, Natasha Lyonne, James Cady, Scott Sharot. S-VHS / U.S.A., Canada (Directors: Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Edúardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Huw Evans, Jason Eisener, Screenwriters: Simon Barrett, Jamie Nash, Timo Tjahjanto & Gareth Huw Evans, John Davies) — Searching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his abandoned house and find another collection of mysterious VHS tapes. In viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they realize there may be terrifying motives behind the student’s disappearance. Cast: Adam Wingard, Lawrence Levine, L.C Holt, Kelsy Abbott, Hannah Hughes. Virtually Heroes / U.S.A. (Director: GJ Echternkamp, Screenwriter: Matt Yamashita) — Two self-aware characters in a Call of Duty-style video game struggle with their screwy, frustrating existence. To find answers, one abandons his partner and mission, seeking to unravel the cheat codes of life. Cast: Robert Baker, Brent Chase, Katie Savoy, Mark Hamill, Ben Messmer. We Are What We Are / U.S.A. (Director: Jim Mickle, Screenwriters: Nick Damici, Jim Mickle) — A devastating storm washes up clues that lead authorities closer and closer to the cannibalistic Parker family. Cast: Bill Sage, Ambyr Childers, Julia Garner, Michael Parks, Wyatt Russell, Kelly McGillis. NEW FRONTIER With media installations, multimedia performances, transmedia experiences, panels, films and more, New Frontier highlights work that celebrates experimentation and the expansion of cinema culture through the convergence of film, art, and new media technology. Films Charlie Victor Romeo / U.S.A. (Directors: Robert Berger, Karlyn Michelson, Screenwriters: Robert Berger, Patrick Daniels, Irving Gregory) — An award-winning theatrical documentary derived entirely from ‘Black Box’ transcripts of six real-life major airline emergencies brought to the screen with cutting-edge stereoscopic 3D technology. Cast: Patrick Daniels, Irving Gregory, Noel Dinneen, Sam Zuckerman, Debbie Troche, Nora Woolley. Fat Shaker / Iran (Director and screenwriter: M Shirvani) — An obese father and his handsome, deaf son share extraordinary experiences in Tehran. Then a beautiful young woman upsets the balance of their relationship, forcing them to renegotiate their position with each other and the world around them. Cast: Levon Haftvan, Maryam Palizban, Hassan Rostami, Navid Mohammadzadeh. Interior. Leather Bar. / U.S.A. (Directors: Travis Mathews, James Franco, Screenwriter: Travis Mathews) — To avoid an X rating, it was rumored that 40 minutes of gay S&M footage was cut from the controversial 1980 film, Cruising. Filmmakers James Franco and Travis Mathews re-imagine what was in the lost footage. Cast: Val Lauren, James Franco, Travis Mathews, Christian Patrick, Brenden Gregory. Halley / Mexico (Director: Sebastian Hofmann, Screenwriters: Sebastian Hofmann, Julio Chavezmontes) — Alberto is dead and can no longer hide it. Before surrendering to his living death, he forms an unusual friendship with Luly, the manager of the 24-hour gym where he works as a night guard. Cast: Alberto Trujillo, Lourdes Trueba, Hugo Albores. The Meteor / Canada (Director: François Delisle, Screenwriter: François Delisle) — Forty-something Pierre, his mother and his wife are linked by crime, guilt and loneliness. Like casualties of love and desire, they are dying to stick their heads above water and breathe the air of life. Cast: Noémie Godin Vigneau, François Delisle, Laurent Lucas, Brigitte Pogonat, François Papineau, Andrée Lachapelle. INSTALLATIONS Cityscape 2095 Artists: Yannick Jacquet, Mandril, Thomas Vaquié [AntiVJ] AntiVJ artists Yannick Jacquet and Marc Ferrario blend painting with light projection to transform the walls of New Frontier into a luminous, three-dimensional cityscape that feels strangely familiar yet impossible to locate. With its disorienting sense of time and space, Cityscape 2095 places spectators on the observatory deck of a skyscraper, where they take in a sprawling, imaginary city as it glitters over the course of one day. Coral: Rekindling Venus Artist: Lynette Wallworth Inspired by the first collaboration among the international science community to witness the celestial transit of Venus in 1761, Lynette Wallworth’s visually stunning Coral: Rekindling Venus is an augmented-reality and full-dome planetarium presentation designed to nurture an emotional connection between a global audience and the planet’s endangered coral reefs. This epic project features original deep-sea photography, augmented-reality artwork and music by Antony and the Johnsons. Presented at the New Frontier venue in Park City, Salt Lake City’s Clark Planetarium and other locations nationally. Details to be announced. E.M-bed.de/d, Datamosh, Augmented Real Artist: Yung Jake Rap artist Yung Jake is Net art incarnate, flowing lyrics about tweet culture, data-moshing, hashtags, and memes as he blows up on Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, and Instagram in his HTML5 music video, E.M-bed.de/d. This MC drops unexpectedly into your browser sessions, streams into Festival screenings, Skype-bombs live DJ performances, and pops out of floors and magazines in augmented-reality music videos. Eyjafjallalokull Artist: Joanie Lemercier [AntiVJ] Inspired by the 2010 Icelandic volcanic eruption that wreaked travel havoc across Europe, Eyjafjallalokull is a stunning, three-dimensional, audiovisual mapping installation that challenges audiences’ perception of space by creating an optical illusion that transforms the walls of New Frontier into a sweeping digital vista that artistically recreates the seismic event. North of South, West of East Artist: Meredith Danluck North of South, West of East enhances narrative storytelling by wrapping the film around the entire room. Presented to an audience in swivel chairs, Meredith Danluck’s remarkable four-channel narrative feature deftly unspools a darkly humorous tale of small-town folks as they try to make sense of a posthope America. Shot on location in Detroit, Michigan, and Marfa, Texas, this unique film features fantastic performances by Ben Foster, Stella Schnabel, and Sue Galloway, and a soundtrack by Marfa local punk band Solid Waste. Pulse Index Artist: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s beautifully resonant, interactive media installation swaths the central lounge of New Frontier with images of the warm, breathing flesh of its visitors. Pulse Index records the heart rates and fingerprints of participants and exhibits them in a beautiful Fibonacci pattern. Place your finger into the custom-made sensor, and your fingerprint appears on the largest cell of the display, pulsating to your heartbeat. Your print then travels down the sequence to join those of all the others who have visited the room, immersing the community space with the radiant glow of the human touch. What’s He Building in There? Artists: Klip Collective Ricardo Rivera and the Klip Collective transform the entire front of the New Frontier venue into an interactive, 3-D projection-mapped parable, inspired by the Tom Waits song. Sip a hot beverage in the outdoor lounge and watch the walls and windowpanes dissolve into a story about a man on a mysterious mission inside the building. Use the X-ray flashlight to peek at what he is up to. RELATED: Sundance Film Festival Reveals 2013 U.S. & World Competition Slate Follow Brian Brooks on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The Sundance Film Festival continued its roll out of films playing its 2013 event in January, unveiling its out-of-competition Spotlight, Park City at Midnight and New Frontier sections as well as installations and performances headed to the festival’s New Frontier venue. Jeff Nichols’ Mud , starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon , festival favorite No with Gael García Bernal and the U.S. premiere of Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers are among the films set for Sundance’s Spotlight section, which includes North American and U.S. debuts. [ Related: Check out Sundance’s 2013 U.S. and World Competition lineup as well as films in its NEXT program ] “I couldn’t be more pleased to announce the films selected for these sections because they illustrate the tremendous creativity and vibrancy of the independent film community,” said Sundance’s Director of Programming Trevor Groth in a statement. “Spotlight features our favorite films that have premiered at other festivals and the Park City at Midnight and New Frontier sections are comprised of films that are bound to shock, intoxicate, derange or dazzle. Expect the unexpected when you venture down the path of these cinematic sensations.” The Sundance Film Festival takes place January 17 – 27 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. Sundance’s Spotlight, Park City at Midnight and New Frontier lineups (with descriptions provided by the festival): SPOTLIGHT Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world, the Spotlight program is a tribute to the cinema we love. Fill the Void / Israel (Director and screenwriter: Rama Burshtein) — A devout 18-year-old Israeli is pressured to marry the husband of her late sister. Declaring her independence is not an option in Tel Aviv’s ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community, where religious law, tradition and the rabbi’s word are absolute. Cast: Hadas Yaron, Yiftach Klein, Irit Sheleg, Chaim Sharir, Razia Israeli, Hila Feldman. Gangs of Wasseypur / India (Director: Anurag Kashyap, Screenwriters: Anurag Kashyap, Zeishan Quadri) — Exiled and outcast for robbing British trains, Shahid Khan spurs a battle for revenge that passes down generations. Shahid’s son vows to get his father’s honor back, becoming the most feared man in the Indian town of Wasseypur. Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddique, Richa Chadda, Huma Qureshi, Tigmanshu Dhulia. U.S. Premiere The Gatekeepers (documentary) / Israel, Germany, Belgium, France (Director: Dror Moreh) — Since its stunning military victory in 1967, Israel has hoped to achieve a long-lasting peace. Forty-five years later, this has yet to happen. Six former heads of Israel’s Secret Service reflect on the successes and failures of the “peace process.” Mud / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeff Nichols) — Two teenage boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trail and reunite him with his true love. Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland, Reese Witherspoon. North American Premiere No / Chile, U.S.A. (Director: Pablo Larraín, Screenwriter: Pedro Peirano) — When Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet calls for a referendum to decide his permanence in power, the opposition persuades a young advertising executive to head its campaign. With limited resources and under scrutiny, he conceives a plan to win the election. Cast: Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers, Luis Gnecco, Marcial Tagle, Néstor Cantillana. Sightseers / United Kingdom (Director: Ben Wheatley, Screenwriters: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram) — Chris wants to show girlfriend Tina his world, but when events conspire against the couple, their dream caravan holiday takes a very wrong turn. Cast: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram. U.S. Premiere Stories We Tell (documentary) / Canada (Director: Sarah Polley) — Sarah Polley is both filmmaker and detective as she investigates the secrets kept by a family of storytellers. She unravels the paradoxes to reveal the essence of family: always complicated, warmly messy and fiercely loving. PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT From horror flicks to comedies to works that defy any genre, these unruly films will keep you edge-seated and wide awake. Each is a world premiere. Ass Backwards / U.S.A. (Director: Chris Nelson, Screenwriters: June Diane Raphael, Casey Wilson) — Loveable losers Kate and Chloe take a road trip back to their hometown to claim the beauty pageant crown that eluded them as children, only to discover what really counts: friendship. Cast: June Diane Raphael, Casey Wilson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Alicia Silverstone, Jon Cryer, Brian Geraghty. Hell Baby / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon) — An expectant couple moves into the most haunted fixer-upper in New Orleans – a house with a demonic curse. Things spiral out of control and soon only the Vatican’s elite exorcism team can save the pair – or can it? Cast: Rob Corddry, Leslie Bibb, Keegan Michael Key, Riki Lindhome, Paul Scheer, Rob Huebel. In Fear / United Kingdom (Directed and story by: Jeremy Lovering) — Trapped in a maze of country roads with only their vehicle for protection, Tom and Lucy are terrorized by an unseen tormentor exploiting their worst fears. Eventually they realize they’ve let the evil in – it’s sitting in their car. Cast: Alice Englert, Iain De Caestecker, Allen Leech. kink (documentary) / U.S.A. (Director: Christina Voros) — A story of sex, submission and big business is told through the eyes of the unlikely pornographers whose 9:00-to-5:00 work days are spent within the confines of the San Francisco Armory building, home to the sprawling porn production facilities of Kink.com. The Rambler / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Calvin Lee Reeder) — After being released from prison, a man known as “The Rambler” stumbles upon a strange mystery as he attempts the treacherous journey through back roads and small towns en route to reconnecting with his long-lost brother. Cast: Dermot Mulroney, Lindsay Pulsipher, Natasha Lyonne, James Cady, Scott Sharot. S-VHS / U.S.A., Canada (Directors: Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Edúardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Huw Evans, Jason Eisener, Screenwriters: Simon Barrett, Jamie Nash, Timo Tjahjanto & Gareth Huw Evans, John Davies) — Searching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his abandoned house and find another collection of mysterious VHS tapes. In viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they realize there may be terrifying motives behind the student’s disappearance. Cast: Adam Wingard, Lawrence Levine, L.C Holt, Kelsy Abbott, Hannah Hughes. Virtually Heroes / U.S.A. (Director: GJ Echternkamp, Screenwriter: Matt Yamashita) — Two self-aware characters in a Call of Duty-style video game struggle with their screwy, frustrating existence. To find answers, one abandons his partner and mission, seeking to unravel the cheat codes of life. Cast: Robert Baker, Brent Chase, Katie Savoy, Mark Hamill, Ben Messmer. We Are What We Are / U.S.A. (Director: Jim Mickle, Screenwriters: Nick Damici, Jim Mickle) — A devastating storm washes up clues that lead authorities closer and closer to the cannibalistic Parker family. Cast: Bill Sage, Ambyr Childers, Julia Garner, Michael Parks, Wyatt Russell, Kelly McGillis. NEW FRONTIER With media installations, multimedia performances, transmedia experiences, panels, films and more, New Frontier highlights work that celebrates experimentation and the expansion of cinema culture through the convergence of film, art, and new media technology. Films Charlie Victor Romeo / U.S.A. (Directors: Robert Berger, Karlyn Michelson, Screenwriters: Robert Berger, Patrick Daniels, Irving Gregory) — An award-winning theatrical documentary derived entirely from ‘Black Box’ transcripts of six real-life major airline emergencies brought to the screen with cutting-edge stereoscopic 3D technology. Cast: Patrick Daniels, Irving Gregory, Noel Dinneen, Sam Zuckerman, Debbie Troche, Nora Woolley. Fat Shaker / Iran (Director and screenwriter: M Shirvani) — An obese father and his handsome, deaf son share extraordinary experiences in Tehran. Then a beautiful young woman upsets the balance of their relationship, forcing them to renegotiate their position with each other and the world around them. Cast: Levon Haftvan, Maryam Palizban, Hassan Rostami, Navid Mohammadzadeh. Interior. Leather Bar. / U.S.A. (Directors: Travis Mathews, James Franco, Screenwriter: Travis Mathews) — To avoid an X rating, it was rumored that 40 minutes of gay S&M footage was cut from the controversial 1980 film, Cruising. Filmmakers James Franco and Travis Mathews re-imagine what was in the lost footage. Cast: Val Lauren, James Franco, Travis Mathews, Christian Patrick, Brenden Gregory. Halley / Mexico (Director: Sebastian Hofmann, Screenwriters: Sebastian Hofmann, Julio Chavezmontes) — Alberto is dead and can no longer hide it. Before surrendering to his living death, he forms an unusual friendship with Luly, the manager of the 24-hour gym where he works as a night guard. Cast: Alberto Trujillo, Lourdes Trueba, Hugo Albores. The Meteor / Canada (Director: François Delisle, Screenwriter: François Delisle) — Forty-something Pierre, his mother and his wife are linked by crime, guilt and loneliness. Like casualties of love and desire, they are dying to stick their heads above water and breathe the air of life. Cast: Noémie Godin Vigneau, François Delisle, Laurent Lucas, Brigitte Pogonat, François Papineau, Andrée Lachapelle. INSTALLATIONS Cityscape 2095 Artists: Yannick Jacquet, Mandril, Thomas Vaquié [AntiVJ] AntiVJ artists Yannick Jacquet and Marc Ferrario blend painting with light projection to transform the walls of New Frontier into a luminous, three-dimensional cityscape that feels strangely familiar yet impossible to locate. With its disorienting sense of time and space, Cityscape 2095 places spectators on the observatory deck of a skyscraper, where they take in a sprawling, imaginary city as it glitters over the course of one day. Coral: Rekindling Venus Artist: Lynette Wallworth Inspired by the first collaboration among the international science community to witness the celestial transit of Venus in 1761, Lynette Wallworth’s visually stunning Coral: Rekindling Venus is an augmented-reality and full-dome planetarium presentation designed to nurture an emotional connection between a global audience and the planet’s endangered coral reefs. This epic project features original deep-sea photography, augmented-reality artwork and music by Antony and the Johnsons. Presented at the New Frontier venue in Park City, Salt Lake City’s Clark Planetarium and other locations nationally. Details to be announced. E.M-bed.de/d, Datamosh, Augmented Real Artist: Yung Jake Rap artist Yung Jake is Net art incarnate, flowing lyrics about tweet culture, data-moshing, hashtags, and memes as he blows up on Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, and Instagram in his HTML5 music video, E.M-bed.de/d. This MC drops unexpectedly into your browser sessions, streams into Festival screenings, Skype-bombs live DJ performances, and pops out of floors and magazines in augmented-reality music videos. Eyjafjallalokull Artist: Joanie Lemercier [AntiVJ] Inspired by the 2010 Icelandic volcanic eruption that wreaked travel havoc across Europe, Eyjafjallalokull is a stunning, three-dimensional, audiovisual mapping installation that challenges audiences’ perception of space by creating an optical illusion that transforms the walls of New Frontier into a sweeping digital vista that artistically recreates the seismic event. North of South, West of East Artist: Meredith Danluck North of South, West of East enhances narrative storytelling by wrapping the film around the entire room. Presented to an audience in swivel chairs, Meredith Danluck’s remarkable four-channel narrative feature deftly unspools a darkly humorous tale of small-town folks as they try to make sense of a posthope America. Shot on location in Detroit, Michigan, and Marfa, Texas, this unique film features fantastic performances by Ben Foster, Stella Schnabel, and Sue Galloway, and a soundtrack by Marfa local punk band Solid Waste. Pulse Index Artist: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s beautifully resonant, interactive media installation swaths the central lounge of New Frontier with images of the warm, breathing flesh of its visitors. Pulse Index records the heart rates and fingerprints of participants and exhibits them in a beautiful Fibonacci pattern. Place your finger into the custom-made sensor, and your fingerprint appears on the largest cell of the display, pulsating to your heartbeat. Your print then travels down the sequence to join those of all the others who have visited the room, immersing the community space with the radiant glow of the human touch. What’s He Building in There? Artists: Klip Collective Ricardo Rivera and the Klip Collective transform the entire front of the New Frontier venue into an interactive, 3-D projection-mapped parable, inspired by the Tom Waits song. Sip a hot beverage in the outdoor lounge and watch the walls and windowpanes dissolve into a story about a man on a mysterious mission inside the building. Use the X-ray flashlight to peek at what he is up to. RELATED: Sundance Film Festival Reveals 2013 U.S. & World Competition Slate Follow Brian Brooks on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Director Jacques Audiard’s nifty 2009 prison epic A Prophet took a classic arc — the rise of a young man through a criminal world — and found in it something bracing and transformative: an anti-hero for a diverse and changing France. His deeply enjoyable new feature Rust and Bone also feels like a fresh reworking of an older mode of filmmaking; the swooning romantic melodrama shaped by tragedy. The film has a beautiful heroine brought low by a terrible accident and a brutish hero who’s more eloquent with his fists than with words. It’s a pleasing film with old bones, though its surfaces are all brightly contemporary, including the unexpectedly emotional appearance of a Katy Perry song. Adapted by Audiard and Thomas Bidegain from a short story collection by Canadian author Craig Davidson, Rust and Bone is set in sunny Antibes in the south of France. It’s where Stéphanie ( Marion Cotillard ) works as an orca trainer at the local marine theme park and where Ali ( Matthias Schoenaerts ) washes up with the five-year-old son Sam (Armand Verdure) he inherited from a neglectful mother. Ali and Sam have come to stay with Ali’s sister Anna (Corinne Masiero), a supermarket cashier who, alongside her truck-driver husband, gets by with a combination of side gigs and expired food snuck home from work. Ali and Stéphanie first cross paths at a nightclub. He’s working as a bouncer, and she’s there to dance and to spite the lover she left at home. He comes to her rescue when a guy gets rough with her (while noting without censure that she’s dressed “like a whore”), but she shoos him away after he drops her off at home. Stéphanie is aloof and untouchable until an accident at the water park leaves her permanently changed: She wakes up in the hospital with both legs gone below the knee and a whole new life to learn. The next time our two leads meet, it’s because Stéphanie seeks Ali out, needing a semi-stranger and drawn to his bluff lack of pretense. Stéphanie is tentative and ashamed in her reshaped body, while Ali is all physicality. He’s a happy animal who takes up bare-knuckle brawling for cash on the side and who falls into sexual encounters with the comfortable ease of someone sitting down to a meal. There’s an evident class difference between the two, but it doesn’t bother Ali, who’s blithely indifferent to social niceties. And while Stéphanie might have cared once, her new reality has left her appreciative of Ali’s acceptance and lack of pity. Rust and Bone rests on its twin lead performances, and Cotillard daringly bares everything to play Stéphanie — her body, sure (this film rivals The Sessions for its frank, unruffled depictions of disabled sex), but also her unadorned face and the cool, distanced dignity she gives to her character who’s lost everything, including an aspect of the standard physical beauty that was part of her identity. “I liked being watched,” she tells Ali, as she struggles to deal with attracting stares for other reasons, and one of the film’s great satisfactions is watching her rebuild herself as a new and stronger person with the help of her companion and eventual lover. Schoenaerts, who played the lead in recent foreign language Oscar nominee Bullhead , is a real find. His hulking build houses a disarmingly sweet nature (as well as the ferocious temperament of a brawler) but no gift for forethought. The scenes between him and his son are beautiful when they aren’t terrifying. Ali lives in the moment, and as a simple guy himself, he can get along well with the boy. But he’s got no paternal instincts and this leads to a visceral parenting nightmare that’s unforgettably staged on screen. The chemistry between his character and Cotillard’s is unusual, meanwhile. The attraction, while there, is less important than the ways they end up inserting themselves into each others lives, and how each begins to recognize the other’s importance. Rust and Bone is very aware of our flesh and how we inhabit it. It’s there in the unreserved way it depicts Stéphanie’s path back to mobility, from her ecstatic first dip in the ocean after the accident to her careful navigating of the stadium steps at her old place of work. And it’s there in Ali’s dangerous, bloody and exhilarating fights, as he batters someone in slow motion and afterward, too wired up to sit and talk, has to go for a run. The film has its soapy moments — as will any movie in which a character drags herself across a hospital floor crying “What did you do to my legs?” But its generous awareness of how our bodies relate to our sense of ourselves makes Rust and Bone both one of the year’s most exceptional (and bittersweet) romances and a remarkable portrayal of how two people change and grow after traumatic experiences. RELATED: Movieline’s Toronto International Film Festival Review of Rust and Bone. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
You can be sure the folks at MGM are really happy they spent $70 million and counting remaking the totally ’80s teen insurgency actioner Red Dawn for the CW set. (Not to mention sitting on , then digitally reworking their baddies from Chinese to more marketable Korean villains because they look similar enough anyway, right ?) The clumsy, politically misguided, arguably irresponsible, totally ” America: F*** yeah! ” tale of Washingtonian teens taking up arms against North Korean invaders is so fantastically paranoid and plodding, it’s yielded some of the most rancorous reviews in recent memory. Crack open a Budweiser and raise the flag and let’s get to poring over the 9 most scathing critical responses to Red Dawn ! 9. “There aren’t many occasions when I think a movie literally shouldn’t have ever been made, but the release — or more specifically, the end result — of Red Dawn marks an important one.” — Todd Gilchrist , Celebuzz 8. ” Red Dawn is a ghoulish parody of reality, served up earnestly and obliviously, to an audience whose enjoyment will, perforce, be directly proportional to its ignorance.” — Hugh Ryan , Salon 7. “Reasonably dopey fun on its own, the remade Red Dawn simply can’t stand up to the real-world issues it steps on like a land mine.” — Mark Olsen , L.A. Times 6. “This paint-by-numbers picture with false drama and middling action has next to nothing to justify its very existence. Red Dawn , on a fundamental level, is garbage.” — Jordan Hoffman , Film.com 5. “Early on, I was rolling my eyes at the strained familiarity of Red Dawn ; by the time it started wedging Subway references into the mouths of its teenage freedom fighters between firefights, I may have been rooting for the invaders a little.” — James Rocchi , MSN 4. “Less easy to overlook though is [Josh] Peck’s overactive emoting or the dumbstruck look that [Isabel] Lucas can’t seem to shake. Some of these actors are just dead, and that’s before they’re supposed to be.” — Tom Long , Detroit News 3. “[As] the forces of Kim Jong-un overrun Spokane, Wash., by sea in Red Dawn , a soon-to-go-guerilla high schooler exclaims, ‘North Korea? That doesn’t make sense!’ Get used to it, kid.” — Jim Slotek , Jam! 2. “By the end, we appreciate the wisdom of the character who says, ‘Dude, we’re living Call of Duty . And it sucks.’ That’s a big 10-4, soldier.” — Jay Stone , Canada.com 1. “[The] Heaven’s Gate for the Hunger Games generation… Not since The Truman Show have we seen characters so blatantly stunted by studio interference.” — David Erlich , Box Office Magazine Way to go, Wolverines! Did you see Red Dawn ? Tell us if you agree with the critics below. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Convicted killer Michelle Kosilek’s facial hair was the subject of a hearing in a case where a judge has already ordered Massachusetts to pay for her sex-reassignment surgery. The attorneys for Kosilek argued before Chief US District Court Judge Mark Wolf that her electrolysis treatments should continue despite Department of Corrections resistance. It was not clear whether Wolf would decide today whether to compel the department to continue with the beard removal treatment that stopped after six weeks. According to Kosilek’s attorney, Fran Cohen, the removal – part of her male-to-female transformation that includes a sexual reassignment surgery – was incomplete when halted. Robert Dierner, a medical expert who met with Kosilek and determined that electrolysis wasn’t necessary, testified that Kosilek appeared to exaggerate her facial hair growth. For example, Dierner testified, during one evaluation, Kosilek said going several days without shaving would result in a full beard. “I didn’t think that was possible,” Dierner testified on behalf of the state Department of Correction. Kosilek strangled his wife, Cheryl, in Mansfield, Mass., in 1990 and dumped her body in a car at the Emerald Square Mall in North Attleborough. Kosilek then fled to New York State before being arrested. Kosilek, who was convicted as Robert Kosilek but appeared at trial dressed like a woman, legally changed her name to Michelle in 1993 and has been living as a woman in an all-male prison in Norfolk since. In September, Wolf issued a landmark ruling that taxpayers must pay for Kosilek to undergo sex-reassignment surgery for a transsexual prison inmate. The surgery, he ruled, is the only adequate care for his serious mental illness, gender identity disorder. Kosilek first sued the Department of Correction in 2000, arguing that its refusal to pay for a sex-change violates her Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment. The department has consistently opposed Kosilek’s request. Wolf ruled that the DOC violated the Eighth Amendment.
“A man was arrested for cutting almost all of his girlfriend’s nose off after she refused to have sex with him, Fort Lauderdale Police said. Ricardo Salamanca, from Plantation, faces a charge of aggravated battery causing bodily harm and remains in jail on $75,000 bond on Wednesday. It wasn’t immediately known if he had an attorney. On Oct. 28, the victim was taken to North Broward Hospital for surgery to have her nose reattached.” – 6 news
