With just one week to go until the 2013 Sundance Film Festival kicks off next Thursday, images are trickling in of the many films to debut. Beginning next week, M.L. will begin publishing short interviews with this year’s Competition and NEXT section filmmakers. But to whet that Sundance whistle, here is a poster debut for Halley , directed by Sebastian Hofmann. [ Related: Sundance Film Festival Unveils Star-Studded Premieres & Documentary Premieres Lineup ] Screening in the festival’s New Frontiers section, insiders noted it plays more like a genre pic, from the producer of Post Tenebras Lux . The film centers on Alberto who is decomposing and can no longer hide it, so he decides to withdraw from the world. Before yielding to his living death, Alberto forms an unusual friendship with Silvia, the manager of the gym where he works as a guard. Sebastian Hofmann’s Director’s statement follows (with Poster Below): Halley is an essay on the anguish experienced when the illusion of control over our bodies disappears. It is a contemporary gothic story that casts a compassionate look at the life of a zombie; a helpless witness to the decomposition of his own body. Alberto’s condition offers a reflection of our mortality and the solitude of decay. Halley seeks to reassert the temporality of our bodies in a culture engaged in its collective denial. By means of fictional infomercials, and the gym culture Alberto lives in, the film will explore how we conceal the frailty of our condition as living beings underneath a pathological idealization of beauty. We will see human beings running, though never escaping, the more disquieting facts of their existence. Halley is the name of the famous comet which orbits the sun every 75 years; the only short-period comet plainly visible from Earth. Records of its existence can be found in Ancient Greek and Chinese writings. Halley has been an enduring witness of our cyclical history. The time that spans each of its visits is the average length of a human life.
Awesome; Danny Boyle is back with his first new film since 2010, and what it lacks in James Franco amputations, his latest, Trance more than makes up for in James McAvoy, and a reunion with writer John Hodge for the first time since 2000’s The Beach . Trance stars James McAvoy as Simon, an art dealer who plots with, then betrays a criminal gang over the theft of a Goya masterpiece. The leader of the gang (Vincent Cassel) bashes Simon in the head over the betrayal, an injury which Simon then claims as the cause of amnesia which has the convenient side effect of erasing the memory of where he hid the pilfered art. (Note to self: practice amnesia for my spectacular bank robbery plan.) The question of whether or not Simon is lying looms large, and the mobster then hires a hypnotherapist ( Rosario Dawson ) to draw the damaged memories out, which apparently leads to a confusing blend of reality and dream, plus, we assume, plenty of angry Europeans and punching. Basically, it’s Dreamscape meets Memento . Danny Boyle is inarguably great, but it’s been a while since I’ve felt anything beyond basic admiration for his films. Yay to him for returning to thrillers, and Scottish actors, after so many years.
5 Broken Cameras won Outstanding Feature at the 6th annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking Wednesday night during a ceremony at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore accepted the prize for co-directors Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi whose film centers on Israeli settlements encroaching on Burnat’s Palestinian village. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Detropia , meanwhile won two prizes – the only one to do so of the evening – including Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Original Score for “Dial.81.” “I personally feel it’s one of the most beautiful pieces of artistic cinema,” Michael Moore commented about 5 Broken Cameras . “You don’t see this on the evening news. You don’t see Palestinians portrayed this way.” Lee Hirsch’s Bully received the Cinema Eye Audience Choice Prize chosen from 4,500 votes cast online and via Twitter. This year’s Legacy Award was presented to the 1993 verite classic The War Room , which took viewers behind the scenes of the 1992 Bill Clinton campaign. The Legacy Award is “intended to honor classic films that inspire a new generation of filmmakers and embody the Cinema Eye mission: excellence in creative and artistic achievements in nonfiction films,” according to organizers. The following is a complete list of Cinema Eye Honors winners for 2012: Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking 5 Broken Cameras Directed by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi Produced by Christine Camdessus, Serge Gordey, Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi Presented by Chris Hegedus & D A Pennebaker Outstanding Achievement in Direction Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady Detropia Presented by Marshall Curry Audience Choice Prize Bully Directed by Lee Hirsch Presented by Andrea Meditch Outstanding Achievement in Production Dimitri Doganis The Imposter Presented by Daniel Chalfen and Judith Helfand Outstanding Achievement in Editing T. Woody Richman and Tyler H. Walk How to Survive a Plague Presented by Daniel Chalfen and Judith Helfand Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography Jeff Orlowski Chasing Ice Presented by Jennie Livingston and Darius Marder Spotlight Award Argentinian Lesson Directed by Wojciech Staron Presented by Jennie Livingston and Darius Marder Heterodox Award Museum Hours Directed by Jem Cohen Presented by Marie Therese Guirgis and Eugene Hernandez Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking Goodbye Mandima (Kwa Heri Mandima) Directed by Robert-Jan Lacombe Presented by Laura Gabbert and Sam Green Outstanding Achievement in an Original Music Score Dial.81 Detropia Presented by Laura Gabbert and Sam Green Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Animation Oskar Gullstrand and Arvid Steen Searching for Sugar Man Presented by Jonathan Caouette and Susan Froemke Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims Only the Young Presented by Jonathan Caouette and Susan Froemke Legacy Award The War Room Directed by Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker Produced by R.J. Cutler, Wendy Ettinger and Frazer Pennebaker Presented by Michael Moore
Whatever your Oscar nomination predictions were, you were wrong: This morning’s Academy Awards announcements by host Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone jolted Oscarwatchers awake with surprises and snubs so shocking they made everyone forget within minutes that MacFarlane made a Hitler joke, live, before six in the morning, setting the tone for his upcoming hosting gig. From all the Beasts of the Southern Wild love to the freezing out of shoo-ins Kathryn Bigelow ( Zero Dark Thirty ), Ben Affleck ( Argo ), and Tom Hooper ( Les Miserables ) from the Best Director race, which were the biggest shocks of the morning? [ Get the full list of 2013 Oscar nominees ] WTF, BEST DIRECTOR RACE? It was the most unexpected category of the bunch: Major snubs for Bigelow, Affleck, and Hooper shake up the Best Picture race, and the confidences of Oscar prognosticators everywhere. With Steven Spielberg ( Lincoln ), Ang Lee ( Life of Pi ), and David O. Russell ( Silver Linings Playbook ) competing against Michael Haneke ( Amour ) and Zeitlin ( Beasts of the Southern Wild ) the temperature of the Best Pic/Best Director races changes drastically. I was so sure the Academy would get suckered in by Hooper’s uber close-ups that the fact that he wasn’t nominated makes me think Oscar voters aren’t such easy lays after all… WHERE’S LEO? Christoph Waltz’s Best Supporting nod for Django Unchained (which scored fewer nominations than expected/hoped) pushed cast mate Leonardo DiCaprio out despite his Golden Globes nod. JOHN HAWKES IN THE SESSIONS It’s too bad the great John Hawkes wasn’t recognized for his work as a paraplegic poet in the underseen The Sessions , because it’s some of the best acting of the year. MARION COTILLARD IN RUST AND BONE Guess two French ladies in the Best Actress race was two too many. BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay) Who knew the Academy had so much love for Benh Zeitlin’s little Sundance darling? Quvenzhané Wallis becomes the youngest Best Actress nominee in Oscars history — vying against Amour ‘s Emmanuelle Riva, the oldest — but who out there actually predicted Zeitlin would get a coveted Best Director nod while so many front-runners were left out in the cold? And while we’re on the subject of Beasts star Wallis: How great is it that the Oscar-watching world will soon know how to pronounce “Quvenzhané?” I can already see MacFarlane’s telecast writing staff furiously scribbling their “Uma-Oprah”-esque gags. ZERO DARK OSCARS Critics and pundits had Bigelow’s bin Laden pic riding high as an Oscar hopeful before this morning, but even with Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay nods the Bigelow snub puts ZDT ‘s potency into question. Did the torture controversy and assorted Congressional hullabaloos dampen the film’s buzz, or did its dispassionate mood leave voters a bit cold? SKYFALL FOR BEST SCORE Methinks Academy members confused Adele’s fantastic Skyfall theme song with the Bond pic’s score, because one stuck to my bones and the other, well, did not. These folks clearly saw Beasts of the Southern Wild , which boasted one of the best original scores of the year but didn’t earn a musical nod. OH, AND ALSO THE SIMPSONS GOT AN OSCAR NOMINATION “Maggie Simpson attends the Ayn Rand Daycare Center, where she finds a caterpillar and faces off against her nemesis.” Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare will compete in the Animated Shorts race vs. Disney’s Paperman , among others. Were you shocked and awed by the Academy’s surprise moves? Chime in below with your reactions! RELATED ARTICLES: Academy Award Nominees Announced – ‘Lincoln’ Leads 2013 Oscar Noms Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
It’s a good morning for Harvey Weinstein , Fox and Sony Pictures Classics . Sifting through the more surprising-than-usual list of Academy nominations , these are the three big winners of the fierce behind-the-scenes campaigning that movie studios, their specialty divisions (and their consultants) do to get their pictures, directors, actors, etc. onto the hallowed Oscars short list. The Weinstein Company has the enviable dilemma of now having to decide how to run two Best Picture campaigns for Silver Linings Playbook and Django Unchained. It also managed to get Joaquin Phoenix a Best Actor nomination for The Master despite Phoenix’s slagging of the Oscars as the “stupidest thing in the world” and the picture’s quick fade as a contender in the awards buzz circus. David O. Russell’s nomination, after being passed over by the Director’s Guild , is another sign of TWC’s political muscle, particularly since the Silver Linings Playbook director is an outsider in Hollywood — like Weinstein and Phoenix, for that matter. (Okay, so Weinstein may be way more inside than he was in the Miramax days, but he’s still an outsider. Fox employee and this year’s Oscars host Seth MacFarlane made that clear earlier this morning, when referring to the Best Supporting Actress nominees, he cracked: “Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein.”) Fox and Sony also did well in the Best Picture category: Fox 2000 has Life of Pi and Fox Searchlight has Beasts of the Southern Wild in the top category, but Sony is the more interesting story here. While the Annapurna-produced Columbia Pictures-distributed Zero Dark Thirty was nominated for Best Picture as expected, director Kathryn Bigelow’s omission in the Best Director category goes down as one of the biggest snubs of this morning. On the other hand, the nominations of Sony Pictures Classics’ Amour in the Best Picture and Best Foreign Picture categories and Michael Haneke for Best Director is quite a coup for the mini major given the competition this year and the film’s difficult subject matter. In other words, Haneke’s gain is related to Bigelow’s loss. Thoughts? Leave them in the comments section. More On Today’s Oscar Nomintions: Academy Award Nominations — What Were The Biggest Snubs & Shocks Of The 2013 Oscar Noms? Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards have come in with Lincoln and Beasts of the Southern Wild making strong showings in the initial list of noms Thursday morning. (More to come). Best Motion Picture of the Year “Amour” Nominees to be determined “Argo” Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers “Django Unchained” Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers “Les Misérables” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers “Life of Pi” Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers “Lincoln” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers “Silver Linings Playbook” Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers “Zero Dark Thirty” Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers Achievement in Directing “Amour” Michael Haneke “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Benh Zeitlin “Life of Pi” Ang Lee “Lincoln” Steven Spielberg “Silver Linings Playbook” David O. Russell Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Bradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook” Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln” Hugh Jackman in “Les Misérables” Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master” Denzel Washington in “Flight” Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Alan Arkin in “Argo” Robert De Niro in “Silver Linings Playbook” Philip Seymour Hoffman in “The Master” Tommy Lee Jones in “Lincoln” Christoph Waltz in “Django Unchained” Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty” Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook” Emmanuelle Riva in “Amour” Quvenzhané Wallis in “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Naomi Watts in “The Impossible” Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Amy Adams in “The Master” Sally Field in “Lincoln” Anne Hathaway in “Les Misérables” Helen Hunt in “The Sessions” Jacki Weaver in “Silver Linings Playbook” Animated Feature Film “Brave” Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman “Frankenweenie” Tim Burton “ParaNorman” Sam Fell and Chris Butler “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” Peter Lord “Wreck-It Ralph” Rich Moore Achievement in Production Design ” Anna Karenina ,” Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer ” The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ,” Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright ” Les Misérables ,” Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson ” Life of Pi ,” Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock ” Lincoln ,” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson Achievement in Cinematography “Anna Karenina,” Seamus McGarvey “Django Unchained,” Robert Richardson “Life of Pi,” Claudio Miranda “Lincoln,” Janusz Kaminski “Skyfall,” Roger Deakins Achievement in Costume Design “Anna Karenina,” Jacqueline Durran “Les Misérables,” Paco Delgado “Lincoln,” Joanna Johnston “Mirror Mirror,” Eiko Ishioka “Snow White and the Huntsman,” Colleen Atwood Best Documentary Feature “5 Broken Cameras,” Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi “The Gatekeepers,” Nominees to be determined “How to Survive a Plague,” Nominees to be determined “The Invisible War,” Nominees to be determined “Searching for Sugar Man,” Nominees to be determined Documentary Short Subject “Inocente,” Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine “Kings Point,” Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider “Mondays at Racine,” Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan “Open Heart,” Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern “Redemption,” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill Achievement in Film Editing “Argo” William Goldenberg “Life of Pi” Tim Squyres “Lincoln” Michael Kahn “Silver Linings Playbook” Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers “Zero Dark Thirty” Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg Best Foreign-Language Film of the Year “Amour” Austria “Kon-Tiki” Norway “No” Chile “A Royal Affair” Denmark “War Witch” Canada Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling “Hitchcock,” Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane “Les Misérables,” Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) “Anna Karenina,” Dario Marianelli “Argo,” Alexandre Desplat “Life of Pi,” Mychael Danna “Lincoln,” John Williams “Skyfall,” Thomas Newman Music Original Song “Before My Time” from “Chasing Ice,” Music and Lyric by J. Ralph “Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from “Ted,” Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane “Pi’s Lullaby” from “Life of Pi,” Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri “Skyfall” from “Skyfall,” Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth “Suddenly” from “Les Misérables,” Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil Best Animated Short Film “Adam and Dog” Minkyu Lee “Fresh Guacamole” PES “Head over Heels” Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly “Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”” David Silverman “Paperman” John Kahrs Best Live Action Short Film “Asad” Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura “Buzkashi Boys” Sam French and Ariel Nasr “Curfew” Shawn Christensen “Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)” Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele “Henry” Yan England Sound Editing “Argo” Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn “Django Unchained” Wylie Stateman “Life of Pi” Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton “Skyfall” Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers “Zero Dark Thirty” Paul N.J. Ottosson Sound Mixing “Argo,” John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia “Les Misérables,” Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes “Life of Pi,” Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin “Lincoln,” Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins “Skyfall,” Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson Visual Effects “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White “Life of Pi” Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott “Marvel’s The Avengers” Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick “Prometheus” Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill “Snow White and the Huntsman” Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson Adapted Screenplay “Argo” Screenplay by Chris Terrio “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin “Life of Pi” Screenplay by David Magee “Lincoln” Screenplay by Tony Kushner “Silver Linings Playbook” Screenplay by David O. Russell Original Screenplay “Amour” Written by Michael Haneke “Django Unchained” Written by Quentin Tarantino “Flight” Written by John Gatins “Moonrise Kingdom” Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola “Zero Dark Thirty” Written by Mark Boal http://www.youtube.com/user/Oscars?v=cM3-uj3rOns
Nolanites, prepare to get really nerdy: Per THR , Christopher Nolan is in talks to direct and produce Interstellar , scripted by brother Jonathan Nolan , AKA the 2001 -esque project that Steven Spielberg was once attached to which “involves time travel and alternate dimensions in a story that sees a group of explorers travel through a wormhole.” What’s just as exciting as the prospect of another Chris/Jonah Nolan team-up (following Memento , The Prestige , The Dark Knight , and The Dark Knight Rises ) is the fact that Interstellar is grounded in the scientific developments of CalTech gravitational physicist and astrophysicist Kip Thorne, who theorized that cosmic wormholes can be used to time travel by connecting two points in time . Like, in real life . As Thorne told Discover Magazine in 2007, his musings on time travel via space-warping wormhole began when Carl Sagan asked advice while writing Contact : In Carl Sagan’s original version of his novel Contact , he had his heroine traveling through a black hole to a distant part of the universe, and he asked me for advice. I immediately told him, “You can’t do that. Black holes can’t be used in that way,” and I suggested he use a wormhole instead. That got me interested in the issue of whether or not there really could be wormholes that you could travel through, and quite quickly I came to realize that if they did exist, it would not be hard for a very advanced civilization to use a traversable wormhole to make a time machine . Of course, toying with time travel — especially the kind of fate-changing backward time travel characters frequently attempt in the movies — could have catastrophic consequences: It’s quite unlikely that one can go backward in time — although it is certainly not ruled out — and it may be that nature has mechanisms to prevent backward time travel. When I was studying this, I came away convinced that the laws of physics can be readily adapted to backward time travel without any serious loss of ability to predict and without self-inconsistencies. I think more interesting was the discovery I made with a postdoc, Sung-Won Kim from Korea, that there is a universal mechanism that always occurs: If any highly advanced civilization attempts to make a time machine for backward time travel, quantum effects will cause the time machine to begin to self-destruct explosively at the moment you activate it . Prior to Jonathan Nolan’s scripting involvement, Interstellar began as a treatment written by Thorne and producer Lynda Obst back when Spielberg was attached. According to Thorne, Interstellar concerns what he calls “the warped side of the universe” — something he discusses in this video, describing it as a fist-in-a-trampoline before jovially telling his young interviewer that a black hole ” would rip the atoms your body is made from apart “: [ THR , Discover ] Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Let the Games continue! EW has your first look at the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire , with a peek at Jennifer Lawrence ‘s Katniss and cast newcomer Sam Claflin as returning Games victor Finnick Odair. Katniss and her baker boyfriend Peeta are back in Catching Fire , based on Suzanne Collins’s second Hunger Games book, but things haven’t exactly settled down; with revolution sparking in the Districts, the duo are sent back on the Games circuit and thrust into a new, even more dangerous competition. In the next ten months you’re going to see a lot of Claflin ( Pirates of the Caribbean , Snow White and the Huntsman ), the British up-and-comer who plays charismatic Finnick, a previous Games winner known for his seductive charm… who also has a notable scene in which he’s clad only in a fishing net. Ahem. Joining Claflin in the Francis Lawrence -directed sequel are new castmates Jena Malone as Johanna Mason, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee, Amanda Plummer as Wiress, and Jeffrey Wright as Beetee. For now, enjoy this first image of Finnick cozying up to Katniss in what might be the knot-tying scene. To borrow from the master R. Kelly: Peeta, don’t bring your girl around Finnick because he’s a flirt (with a trident). Catching Fire hits theaters November 21. Synopsis: THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Let the Games continue! EW has your first look at the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire , with a peek at Jennifer Lawrence ‘s Katniss and cast newcomer Sam Claflin as returning Games victor Finnick Odair. Katniss and her baker boyfriend Peeta are back in Catching Fire , based on Suzanne Collins’s second Hunger Games book, but things haven’t exactly settled down; with revolution sparking in the Districts, the duo are sent back on the Games circuit and thrust into a new, even more dangerous competition. In the next ten months you’re going to see a lot of Claflin ( Pirates of the Caribbean , Snow White and the Huntsman ), the British up-and-comer who plays charismatic Finnick, a previous Games winner known for his seductive charm… who also has a notable scene in which he’s clad only in a fishing net. Ahem. Joining Claflin in the Francis Lawrence -directed sequel are new castmates Jena Malone as Johanna Mason, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee, Amanda Plummer as Wiress, and Jeffrey Wright as Beetee. For now, enjoy this first image of Finnick cozying up to Katniss in what might be the knot-tying scene. To borrow from the master R. Kelly: Peeta, don’t bring your girl around Finnick because he’s a flirt (with a trident). Catching Fire hits theaters November 21. Synopsis: THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Forget all those “most anticipated movies of 2013” lists — there’s only one major motion picture event I can’t wait to get my mind blown by, and that’s Harmony Korine ‘s Spring Breakers . Tween idols on a crime spree, James Franco channeling Riff Raff, the ATL Twins, and love for the pop powerhouse that was ’00s-era Britney Spears … who can resist? Are we not human beings? Today Vulture ‘s got the U.S. poster debut to tease the Spring Breakers marketing wave that’s coming in the next few months, which will have me floating in a fluorescent fever of anticipation until March. Spring Breakers , which stars Ashley Benson , Selena Gomez , Vanessa Hudgens , and Rachel Korine as a foursome of coeds who decide to fund their spring break shenanigans by robbing a fast food restaurant, also reportedly has a release date of March 22 (NY/LA) via A24 Pictures. Mark. Your. Calendars. As for the new U.S. poster, there’s a decidedly more dangerous, leering sensibility here than in the previous Girls Gone Wild -party time materials and sneak peeks we’ve seen; the obscuring ski mask makes it so that you can’t tell which Spring Breaker belongs to that nubile body posing provocatively in a camera flash in the dark, exactly, and how do you feel about that, you perv? To paraphrase Godard: All you need for a movie is a girl in a Day-Glo bikini and a gun. And if you don’t know: “SPRING BREAKERS tells the story of four sexy college girls as they plan to fund their spring break getaway by robbing a fast food joint. But that’s only the beginning… At a motel room rager, fun reaches its legal limit and the girls are arrested and taken to jail. Hungover and clad only in bikinis, the girls appear before a judge but are bailed out unexpectedly by Alien (James Franco), an infamous local thug and amateur rapper who takes them under his wing and leads them on the wildest Spring Break trip in history. `Rough on the outside but with a soft soul on the inside, Alien wins over the hearts and dreams of the young Spring Breakers, and leads them on a Spring Break they never could have imagined.” Head to Vulture for the full high-res poster debut. MORE ON SPRING BREAKERS : Spring Breakers Smacks The Disney (Mostly) Out Of Selena Gomez In Venice WATCH: First Clip From Spring Breakers, Harmony Korine’s Hottie Crime Caper Help Movieline Caption This Picture of James Franco in Cornrows for Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
