Do you have A.C.O.D.?
In this comedy that premiered at this year’s Sundance festival to good buzz, Adam Scott plays one of the many A.C.O.D. (adult children of divorce) in the world. He struggles to deal with his constantly bickering parents (Catherine O'Hara and Richard Jenkins), his recently engaged younger brother (Clark Duke), and the revelation that he was part of a study on children of divorce that his therapist (Jane Lynch) turned into to a best-selling book. Writer-director Stu Zicherman’s stellar cast also includes Scott’s TV co-star Amy Poehler, plus Jessica Alba and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. A.C.O.D. comes to theaters October 4th.
Don Jon’s good vibrations
The second trailer for Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s debut as a feature writer-director de-emphasizes the porn “addiction” of original title Don Jon’s Addiction, but it still provides a taste of what to expect from this look at Jon Martello (Gordon-Levitt), his new girlfriend Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson ) and his family (Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, Brie Larson). Get to know Don Jon when it hits theaters September 27th.
Blue Caprice
Strong reviews greeted Blue Caprice when it premiered at Sundance in January. Alexandre Moors’ debut feature traces the relationship of John A. Muhammad (Isaiah Washington) and Lee Boyd Malvo (Tequan Richmond), the pair who perpetrated the Beltway sniper attacks of 2002. The film gets its name from the vehicle they altered to perpetrate their crimes. Tim Blake Nelson, Joey Lauren Adams, and Leo Fitzpatrick also star. See Blue Caprice in select theaters beginning September 13th or on iTunes/VOD September 17th.
Blood-sucking teenagers, again
Vampire Academy is an adaptation of the first book in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. The story focuses on Rose (Zoey Deutch), a Damphir (half vampire, half human) and her best friend Lissa (Lucy Fry), a Moroi (mortal, full-blooded vampire). After running away together two years earlier, Rose and Lissa are brought back to St. Vladimir's Academy, where Rose trains with Guardian Dimitri Belikov (Danila Kozlovsky) to become Lissa’s Guardian and protect her from Strigoi (undead vampires). Olga Kurylenko, Gabriel Byrne, Joely Richardson and Sarah Hyland also star in this film from director Mark Waters (Mean Girls, Mr. Popper’s Penguins) and his brother, writer Daniel Waters (Heathers, Sex and Death 101). Vampire Academy opens on February 14th, 2014.
A new international trailer for 300: Rise of an Empire
If grand statements and slow-motion horses emerging from the ocean is your thing, then this one-minute look at the sequel to Zack Snyder’s 300 should satisfy. Snyder has moved to the producer’s chair, leaving Noam Murro (Smart People) to assume directing duties. Lena Headey returns as Queen Gorgo, and Rodrigo Santoro is back as Xerxes, while Sullivan Stapleton represents the Greeks as Themistokles and Eva Green leads the Persian navy as Artemisia. 300: Rise of an Empire hits 2D, 3D, and IMAX theaters beginning March 7, 2014.
Are you a C.O.G.?
For his second feature film, writer-director Kyle Patrick Alvarez (Easier with Practice) becomes the first to adapt a David Sedaris’ essay for the big screen. C.O.G. (Child of God) stars Jonathan Groff (Glee) as he picks apples, suppresses his homosexuality in the face of the aggressive Curly (Corey Stoll), and becomes a C.O.G. at the behest of Denis O’Hare. The supporting cast also includes Dean Stockwell, Troian Bellisario, Dale Dickey, and Casey Wilson. Early reviews from its premiere at this year’s Sundance were mixed, but you can find C.O.G. in select theaters beginning September 20th.
Zaytoun
Zaytoun tells the story of the changing relationship between Yoni, an Israeli pilot played by Stephen Dorff who has been shot down during the 1982 Lebanon War, and Fahad, a Palestinian boy played by Abdallah El Akal, who makes a deal with Yoni to help him escape if he’ll take him back to his ancestral village where he hopes to plant his father’s olive tree (Zaytoun is the Arabic word for olive). Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree) directs from a script by Nader Rizq. Look for Zaytoun in limited release beginning September 20th.
Disneynature’s grizzly bear jamboree
Coming to theaters on April 18th, 2014 (just in time for Earth Day) is Disneynature’s Bears, a look at an Alaskan grizzly bear mother and her cubs. Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey, the directors of African Cats, are at the helm for this family-friendly doc which will donate part of its ticket proceeds to support America’s national parks.
Early looks at a few films coming to the TIFF
The Toronto International Film Festival is the peak of the upcoming festival season. Here’s a peek at a just a few of the films coming to the festival this year that we haven’t covered yet. Unfortunately, these films don’t have U.S. release dates at the moment.
Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises, his first feature as director in five years, has created a bit of controversy due to its subject: Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the Zero fighter plane. Regardless, it looks to be another beautifully drawn film from the director of Spirited Away and Ponyo.
Ken Watanabe stars in director Lee Sang-il’s remake of Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, which has been re-imagined as a samurai epic set in 1880s Japan.
How I Live Now is the latest film from director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland, Marley). Adapted from the young adult novel by Meg Rosoff, the film tells the story of Daisy (Saoirse Ronan), an American teenager who comes to stay with her relatives in England just before a nuclear device explodes and WWIII begins. The film also stars George MacKay, Tom Holland, and Anna Chancellor.
The late Cory Monteith will have his last two films shown at TIFF. One is titled All the Wrong Reasons and the other is McCanick, in which he stars as a drug addict and convicted murderer whose release from prison triggers extreme actions in David Morse’s detective. Ciaran Hinds, Mike Vogel and Rachel Nichols have supporting roles.
Fading Gigolo stars Woody Allen as John Turturro’s pimp. That should be all you need to know, but to be slightly more informative, Turturro also wrote and directed the picture, which includes Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, and Vanessa Paradis.
Quick notes: Rumors, release dates, casting news and more
- Latino Review reports that Ian McDiarmid and Ewan McGregor will return in Star Wars: Episode VII as “ghosts” (like the end of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi). The Emperor is also rumored to have been training a new apprentice before he was killed.
- Sony Pictures Classics will release Bennet Miller’s Foxcatcher on December 20th.
- Spike Jonze’s Her has been pushed back a month to an award-season date of December 18th.
- Spike Lee’s Kickstarter joint has reached its funding goal.
- Joel Edgerton will play Ramses opposite Christian Bale’s Moses in Ridley Scott’s Exodus. - THR
- Mel Gibson and Antonio Banderas have joined Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Milla Jovovich, Wesley Snipes, Jackie Chan, and Kellan Lutz in The Expendables 3. - EW
- Vin Diesel is in talks to voice Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy, and is also attached to star in an original sci-fi action film titled Soldiers of the Sun from writer Arash Amel. - Deadline & THR
- Charlotte Gainsbourg and Marie-Josee Croze have joined lead James Franco in Wim Wenders’ 3D film Everything Will Be Fine. - THR
- Breaking Bad writer/producer George Mastras will adapt Dean Unkefer’s 90 Church: The True Story Of The Narcotics Squad From Hell for director Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman). - Deadline
- Kirsten Dunst will star alongside Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton in Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special. - Deadline
- Susanne Bier (Love Is All You Need) will direct Saoirse Ronan in Mary Queen of Scotts from a script by Penelope Skinner (How I Live Now) and Michael Hirst (Elizabeth). - Screen Daily
- Elysium director Neill Blomkamp’s next film will be Chappie, in which a robot with artificial intelligence (voiced by Sharlto Copley) is stolen by two gangsters played by Ninja and Yolandi Visser of Die Antwoord. - Sony Pictures
- Darren Aronofsky is in talks to develop and direct an adaptation of Jason Matthews’ Russia-set espionage novel Red Sparrow. - Deadline
- Sterling Jerins (World War Z, The Conjuring) will play a young girl who survives the massacre of her family in Gilles Brenner’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places. Charlize Theron plays the same character as an adult and Corey Stoll, Nicholas Hoult and Chloe Moretz are also in the cast. - Variety
- Sam Trammell (True Blood) will play Shailene Woodley’s father in The Fault in Our Stars, the story of two cancer-stricken teenagers who fall in love. Woodley will also be donating her hair to Children With Hair Loss. - The Wrap & The L.A. Times
- Jeremy Piven has joined Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt in Doug Liman’s All You Need Is Kill adaptation, Edge of Tomorrow. - Deadline
- Kristen Wiig is in talks to join TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe (previously seen in Rachel Getting Married) and Sebastian Silva in Silva’s Nasty Baby, his follow-up to Crystal Fairy and Magic Magic about a gay couple who enlists their female friend to help them have a baby. - The Wrap
- Would you like to read Ron Burgundy’s memoir, Let Me Off at the Top! My Classy Life and Other Musings? Well, you can when it’s released on November 19th. - The New York Times
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