Following the potentially game-changing Up in the Air, director Jason Reitman (admirably) returns to a smaller, indie-flavoured milieu, re-teaming with his Juno scribe Diablo Cody to bring another highly memorable female character to life, and in the process, managing to create his strongest work to date.

We first catch thirty-something divorcee Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) in a pretty disheveled state. Moping around her unkempt apartment the morning after yet another boozing night, she’s furiously quaffing down a two litre bottle of Diet Coke and nonchalantly peeling off her now firmly-affixed chicken fillets. Ghost author of a series of young adult fiction novels (the popularity of which is increasingly on the wane) she tends to live her life like the superficial adolescent characters she writes about. Making a somewhat arbitrary decision to head back to the small Midwest town where she grew up to win back high school sweetheart Buddy (Patrick Wilson), she’s under the horrendously mistaken assumption that he’s still deeply in love with her, when in reality, he’s happily married with a young child.

Back in town and steadily concocting her nefarious scheme, she bumps into another figure from her school days, Matt (Patton Oswald). Semi-debilitated after a violent teenage incident and stuck eking out a modest living as a bookkeeper in the very existence Mavis despises, he unwittingly becomes a sounding board for the writer, despite her apparent indignation towards him and the life he leads.

It’s early days yet in this year’s cinematic calendar, but already here’s a film which may find itself sitting comfortably within the 2012 top ten lists for many. Young Adult is a fantastic character-driven look at adulthood in arrested development and felled by misjudged nostalgia, all wrapping up in a subtly dark comedic outlook, and courageously offering up a lead protagonist who is as pretty much as far from likable as can possibly be.

It also represents the opportunity for the great Charlize Theron to showcase her considerable acting talents once more. She’s able to effortlessly disappear into the role, and similar to her turn as real-life serial killer Eileen Wornos in Monster, it relies on her ditching any vanity as a performer and revealing a delusional, often extremely unpleasant persona. Make no mistake, Mavis is as thoughtless and insensitive as they come, but just as she was able to humanise Wornos, Theron does an excellent job here of keeping the audience engaged despite her character’s egregious flaws.

Some of the credit here must be attributed to Cody’s thoughtful and restrained script. There’s a noticeable maturity to her work, and she doesn’t go for the obvious (albeit witty) one-liners and put-downs which characterised Juno. Where her teen creation often felt more like a cipher to project her own skewed perspective and musings of the world, Mavis is a much more believable flesh and blood creation.

The quality writing also extends beyond the central character and allows Oswalt (historically associated with broader material) the opportunity to really shine and give his female co-star serious competition in the acting stakes. Matt is a sad and somewhat tragic figure, yet Oswalt manages to gain the audience’s sympathy without ever pandering to them, and somehow his character is able to bring out the best in Mavis, offering the emotional reliance she sorely needs. It’s a shame his face won’t be seen amongst the Best Supporting actors, come Oscar night. He deserves to be there.

More so than any of his previous films, Reitman proves to be very much a disciple of the Alexander Payne school of filmmaking here (a point which is further established by Payne regular Rolf Kent once again lending his skills to the filmmaker) and he’s interested in capturing revealing little character moments throughout, adding texture and a richness to the narrative. This delicate attention to detail is beautifully illustrated during the opening credits where Mavis keeps rewinding the cassette player in her car to the beginning of her favourite track (on an old mixtape from the Buddy era) before the song has had the chance to play out to the end. Everything you need to know about Mavis is served up right there.

Populated with a fine selection of 90’s indie rock from both sides of the Atlantic which manages to cast a halcyon glow over that decade (a small wonder in itself), Young Adult is a highly-accomplished piece of work from a creative trio who’s bold and risky creative decisions have paid off handsomely.

****½ (4.5/5)

With the US release just around the corner for Jason Reitman’s next directorial venture, Young Adult, working once more with his Juno scribe Diablo Cody, we’ve seen some terrific things from the film in the past few weeks and months.

We got our first official look at the film’s lead, Charlize Theron, back in August, and it was excellent, and most recently the first UK trailer for the film at the start of the month, and you can catch up with everything else in between right here.

Yahoo Movies have now put out a great new clip, entitled ‘I Wrote The Book’, in which Theron realises that the books she’s written aren’t selling as well as they used to, and have landed in the clearance section.

“A writer (Theron) of teen literature returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). However, when returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either.”

Young Adult has just had its limited release this past weekend in the States, before going wide this coming Friday, but we’ve got a little while longer to wait until we see it here in the UK, with its release scheduled for 10th February in the new year. It definitely looks like it’s going to be worth the wait though, and until then, here’s the great new clip to tie you over. Reitman’s career has been pitch-perfect to date, and he looks to be bringing us a terrific film once more.

Paramount have released the U.K. trailer for Mandate Pictures’ Young Adult, and it’s everything you hoped it would be and more.

Young Adult stars Charlize Theron (Monster) as a young adult fiction writer who, after a messy divorce, returns to her hometown of Minnesota in a bid to win back her now married ex-boyfriend.

Marking the second collaboration between director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody after the Academy Award winning Juno, Young Adult features a terrific supporting cast, including Patton Oswalt (Magnolia), Patrick Wilson (Hard Candy), Elizabeth Reaser (Twilight) and Collette Wolfe (17 Again).

While the film hits selected cinemas in the US this weekend, U.K. audiences will have to wait until February 10, 2012.

In the meantime, you can check out the new U.K. trailer below:

Source: Digitalspy

Jason Reitman’s return behind the camera with his Juno scribe Diablo Cody penning the script for Young Adult is looking pretty damn awesome so far. We got the trailer for it last month, and everything else we’ve seen before and after (which you can catch up on here) has been excellent, most recently with an excellent Japanese poster for the film.

The film stars Charlize Theron in the lead, with support coming from Patrick Wilson, Patton Oswalt, Elizabeth Reaser, and the ever brilliant JK Simmons, and will be Reitman’s first feature film since his Oscar-nominated turn writing and directing 2009’s Up in the Air.

“A writer (Theron) of teen literature returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). However, when returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either.”

We’ve now got a great new red band TV spot to share with you, courtesy of Deadline, in which a fellow guest at a party accidentally spills her wine down Theron’s top, and gets utterly chewed out for it.

The States are lucky enough to be getting this in just a few weeks, on 16th December (which incidentally makes it eligible for the Oscars), but we’ll have to wait until 10th February to see it on the big screen here in the UK. I have high hopes that it’s going to be well worth the wait though, and this new TV spot shows off Theron’s brilliant talents as an actress. All we’ve seen so far from the film has been so promising, and I think she’s playing this role perfectly, and can’t wait to see it. Without further ado, here’s the great new clip. (Beware, the language earns the spot its red band, so if you’re at work, I’d recommend checking back in later.)

Jason Reitman’s return to the director’s chair for Young Adult, with a script penned by Juno writer Diablo Cody, is definitely something to look forward to next year. It has the mark of brilliance about it.

We’ve been seeing some excellent things from it, including an awesome first trailer and a first and second poster, and now we’ve got another great poster to share with you, courtesy of IMP Awards.

I really liked the first poster we saw, but I wasn’t quite so keen on the second poster’s design, but this new Japanese poster is just as brilliant as the first one in my books. So first and third time’s a charm.

Along with Theron in the lead role, Young Adult also stars Patrick Wilson, Patton Oswalt, Elizabeth Reaser, and JK Simmons, and will be a very much welcome return behind the camera for Jason Reitman since his Oscar-nominated turn writing and directing 2009’s brilliant Up In The Air.

“A writer (Theron) of teen literature returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). However, when returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either.”

America is getting this early next month, which will qualify it for the Oscars next year, but we’ve got a bit longer to wait until its release here on 10th February. It’s definitely going to be worth the wait though, because I really can’t see a re-team of Reitman and Cody being anything but brilliant. Without further ado, here’s the excellent new Japanese poster for the film. I still love the contrast between the Hello Kitty t-shirt and the Victoria’s Secret bag that Theron is holding in the bottom two sections of the poster, which we saw back in our first look at Theron in the film.

Following on from the three excellent clips and the new poster that we got just a few days ago from Jason Reitman’s very much anticipated upcoming film, Young Adult, which the brilliant Charlize Theron is leading, we’ve got another new clip to share with you, courtesy of the nice folk over at ComingSoon.net.

The scene is one we’ve seen before, in both the trailer and one of the recent clips, but it’s slightly extended, and is pretty damn excellent in the little extras that we get – it’s all about the little things. The hotel employee’s painfully slow typing, for example, as well as some of Charlize Theron’s excellent facial expressions.

Young Adult sees the return of Reitman and his Juno scribe, Diablo Cody, working together, which I’m definitely predicting will make this project awesome, and everything we’ve seen so far is pointing that way in my eyes. Along with Theron, the film also stars Patrick Wilson, Patton Oswalt, Elizabeth Reaser, and JK Simmons, the last of whom worked with Reitman and Cody on their Oscar-winning Juno.

“A writer (Theron) of teen literature returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). However, when returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either.”

This new clip sees Theron checking into her hotel, dog-in-handbag-in-tow, greeted by a somewhat indifferent employee who seems to do a good job of unintentionally offending Theron just with her existence, which is always good fun to watch. The US are lucky enough to be getting this really soon on 9th December, but we’ll have to wait a little longer here in the UK until its 10th February release next year. I definitely think it’s going to be well worth the wait though, and will be clearing my calendar when it finally hits to see it at the first possible opportunity. It’s going to be excellent.

Paramount Pictures have released the second poster for their new movie, Young Adult.

Directed by Jason Reitman (Up in the Air), Young Adult stars Charlize Theron (Monster), Patrick Wilson (Little Children), Patton Oswalt (Magnolia), Elizabeth Reaser (Twilight) and J.K. Simmons (Juno).

A writer (Theron) of teen literature returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). However, when returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either.

Check out the poster below:

Young Adult will be released in the U.K. on February 10, 2012.

Source: Hitfix

Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody working together again after the awesome work they did on Juno can be nothing but a good thing, which is one of the many reasons I can’t wait for Young Adult.

We got our first look at Charlize Theron, the film’s lead, back in August, followed up a month later with the excellent first poster, and then came the brilliant first trailer just over a month ago.

We’ve now got three excellent new clips to share with you, courtesy of The Playlist, giving us a look a bit of an extended look at some of the scenes from the trailer.

“Academy Award winner Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either.”

America are lucky enough to be getting this in less than a month’s time – which, incidentally, qualifies the film for next year’s Oscars – but we’ll sadly have to wait a little while longer until its 10th February release date here. It definitely looks like it’s going to be worth the wait though.

Theron has a fantastic range to her acting talents, and the trailer and these clips show us a side of her we don’t often get to see, and it’s one that she does brilliantly. As the trailer says, she’s the girl you hated in high school, and she’s back. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Without further ado, here are the three new clips. Enjoy.

Premiering at the 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival in June to – mostly – rapturous applause, Albatross is a coming-of-age comedy-drama centring on verbose, would-be writer Emilia’s incendiary effect on a struggling author, Jonathan (Sebastian Koch), and his respective family, including wife Joa (Julia Ormond) and daughter Beth (Felicity Jones.

Last week, HeyUGuys had the opportunity to speak to the films riotous writer Tamzin Rafn about Albatross’ inspiration, the trials and tribulations letting her script be made into a film, how she felt about Niall MacCormick as a director, her neglected yet brilliantly titled rom-com and her plans for the future.

Here is said interview in its full, unabridged glory.

___________

HeyUGuys: Firstly, what was your inspiration behind Albatross?

Obviously there are pre-conceived ideas and conventions behind the coming-of-age genre. For me, Albatross marked a defiance of those boundaries and represented a new direction. Was it always intentional to push the boundaries and try something new rather than succumbing to generic ideals?

Did you work closely with him/have any say when it came to the final cut?

Who in the film industry do you admire?

Can you name some of your favourite films. Did they have any influence on Albatross?

Do you have any projects currently in the works?

Finally, for those who might not know much about Albatross, could you sum the film up in a snappy sentence for us?

Ambition is in the eye of the beholder.

Thank you very much for your time, Tamzin.

Albatross hits U.K. cinemas on October 14. Click here to read my review.

This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. (If you’ve not been waiting for this moment, feel free to substitute yourself out of the ‘we’. But only momentarily, because you’ll be looking forward to this film too within the next few minutes.)

We got the first look at Charlize Theron in Jason Reitman’s upcoming Young Adult back in August, followed by the terrific first poster for the film last month, and now comes the brilliant first trailer via ComingSoon.net, showing Theron returning to her home town having never really grown up. It’s excellent.

The project reunites Reitman with Diablo Cody, having worked together on the Academy Award-winning 2007 film, Juno, which won Cody the Best Screenplay Oscar and earned Reitman the first of his two Best Director nominations.

“Academy Award winner Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either.”

America is lucky enough to be getting this on 9th December, whilst we have to wait until 10th February next year before seeing it. Its December release date in the States, if my basic understanding of the Academy’s eligibility rules, does qualify the film for being nominated at next year’s Oscars, and I’m really interested to see whether or not it will get any nominations.

By all means, it’s clearly got an absolutely stellar set of people working behind and in front of the camera, with an Academy Award-nominated director, and an Academy Award-winning writer and leading actress, and I’m intrigued as to whether or not it will be making an appearance at the Oscars next year. Though I’m of course still yet to see it, I have a feeling it’s going to be such a good film, and I’d love for it to get nominated in a number of categories, but we shall have to wait until early next year when the nominations are announced to find out.

If this first trailer is anything to go by, at least, the film should be excellent. We’ve still got a few months to go before we get it here, but here’s something to enjoy in the meantime. And if you fancy watching it in beautiful HD, then you can do so over at iTunes Movie Trailers here.

After her tremendous Oscar-winning debut writing Juno back in 2007, Diablo Cody as much as the film became something of an overnight success, with her name suddenly becoming so well known.

She’s since written the not-brilliantly-received Megan Fox-starrer Jennifer’s Body, and has reteamed with Juno’s director Jason Reitman for the upcoming Young Adult, which already has so much positive buzz surrounding it.

It was really only a matter of time before Cody made her directorial debut, and Deadline are reporting that Russell Brand (Get Him to the Greek) and Julianne Hough (the upcoming Footloose) are set to star in her first film behind the lens.

“Hough plays a sheltered young woman who loses her faith after a plane crash and revels in the decadence of Las Vegas. There, she meets an unlikely companion who helps her find herself.”

The film is currently untitled, but production is set to start in spring next year, presumably from a script Cody has herself written, which by itself would be something to look forward to. Add to that the fact she’ll be helming the project too, and it becomes even more interesting. I’m already looking forward to seeing what she’ll be like behind the camera as a director. More news as and when we get it.

We got a great first look at Charlize Theron in Jason Reitman’s next directorial effort, Young Adult, a few weeks ago, and it showed her fitting the title role perfectly, as an adult still in part living and looking like a youngster.

We’ve been sent the first poster for the film, due out on 10^th February here next year, and it is a pretty brilliant poster in my books – no pun intended (you’ll see what I mean in a minute).

Young Adult sees fellow Juno collaborators Reitman and Diablo Cody working together again, after Reitman earned a Best Director nomination and Cody won Best Screenplay at the Academy Awards for their first project together just a few short years ago. Juno was of course incredibly well-received, and I have every expectation that Young Adult will be too.

Reitman followed up Juno with Up in the Air a year and a half ago, which earned him a further three Oscar nominations – Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay – and a lot of people, myself included, have been eagerly anticipating his next film. The film centres around Charlize Theron, in a role I’m really looking forward to seeing her play.

“Theron plays an alcoholic writer of young-adult novels who, on a whim, decides to return to the small town that she left behind years ago to aggressively pursue her ex-boyfriend from high school (Patrick Wilson) — only, now he is happily married and the father of a young child, which certainly complicates matters, and leads her to another high school classmate (Patton Oswalt), and no shortage of trouble.”

This first poster is an excellent look at the film. With a similar feel to the first image of Theron in a Hello Kitty t-shirt, we see her now passed out in bed, but rather than a bottle of beer or wine in her hand, there’s an almost-empty fizzy drink bottle instead. The brilliant touch of it all is that it’s presented like the cover of a book, written by Diablo Cody, with a little “Bargain Price $4.95” sticker hanging in the top-right corner of the cover. Excellent stuff.

America is getting Young Adult on 9^th December, two months before us, so we can probably expect some more posters, images, and what is sure to be a fantastic first trailer in the next couple of months ahead of its release Stateside. Without further ado, here’s the great first poster.

Young Adult is definitely one of the lower-budget films I’m looking forward to most next year. The film sees director Jason Reitman teaming back up with writer Diablo Cody after their incredibly successful work on Juno together in 2007, which won Cody her Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and Reitman his first nomination for Best Director.

The first image of Charlize Theron as the lead, Mavis Gray, has now been released, /Film report, and it gives a great first taste.

Cody’s two features so far, Juno and Jennifer’s Body, show that she’s capable of a pretty diverse range of writing, and Young Adult is said to be an entirely different film again, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Reitman is an excellent director, who I personally think deserved to win at least one of his three nominations for Up in the Air at last year’s Oscars, and all his three films are absolutely terrific. Working with Cody again for Young Adult definitely promises good things for the film.

“Synopsis: Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either.”

Just as Cody and Reitman are brilliant behind the camera, so is Theron in front of it, and I can’t wait to see her lead this. J.K. Simmons, who starred as Ellen Page’s father in Juno, will be working on this project too as the film’s narrator, and he’s certainly got a great voice for it. That it even has a narrator suggests it really is likely to be another very different film from Cody, and its 10th February release next year is something to get excited about.

This first picture of Theron from the film seems to show the two sides of her character, the adult and the youngster. For the latter, we have the Hello Kitty tee that she’s wearing, appealing to the writer of teen literature in her. And for the former, we have the token handbag-sized dog, coupled with the Victoria’s Secret bag atop her suitcase. As usual, click to make it go big.

This really is good news. As the improbable and wonderful name of Diablo Cody pops up in twitter timelines and RSS feeds around the world proclaiming that the Oscar winning screenwriter is set to make her directorial debut with a religious comedy called Lamb of God.

THR report the synopsis to be as follows,

[The film] follows a young conservative religious woman who loses her faith after a plane crash, decides to go to Las Vegas to live the life of a sinner, and on her journey finds her way back to her faith.

Juno was Cody’s first brush with screenwriting success, winning her an Academy Award and beginning a creative association with Jason Reitman, whose next film Young Adult is based on a script Cody wrote. Her TV series United States of Tara was recently cancelled, having its final episode broadcast on the 20th of June, and there are a scripts of Cody’s lying in wait, notably Girly Style, a college comedy drama set in an all girls school, which is still at Universal.

The announcement that Lamb of God is moving ahead at Mandate Pictures is already being well received and casting is, apparently, imminent.

Jason Reitman’s next project, Labor Day, has found two of its leading cast in Academy Award-winning Kate Winslet and -nominee Josh Brolin, Deadline report.

The film is an adaptation of the 2009 novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard, who also wrote To Die For, which was adapted for the screen back in 1995 with Gus Van Sant at the helm and Nicole Kidman in the lead, relatively early on in both their careers.

Reitman has adapted the novel for the screen already, and is set to take the director’s job for the project too. His three feature films to date (Thank You For Smoking, Juno, and Up in the Air) have all been successful with audiences, and they show that he’s clearly a director we should all be keeping close tabs on.

Labor Day will see Winslet playing,

“a single mother of a young son who takes in a stranger [Brolin] with a dangerous past. She falls in love with him over the course of Labor Day Weekend.”

Winslet has most recently turned her attention to the five-part TV drama, Mildred Pierce, playing the eponymous character, a role which she’s been highly praised for. It’s been a few years since she’s starred in any features, back in late 2008 with Revolutionary Road and The Reader, the latter of which won her her Oscar for Best Actress, to go with her five nominations. But we can look forward to seeing her in Roman Polanski’s Carnage, alongside Christoph Waltz and Jodie Foster, Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, alongside Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Gwyneth Paltrow, and Movie 43, which has one of the best ensemble casts I think I’ve ever seen, including Elizabeth Banks, Gerard Butler, Chloë Moretz, Emma Stone, Uma Thurman, Johnny Knoxville, and Hugh Jackman, to name but a few.

Brolin is an actor who has been around for a good few years longer than Winslet, getting his first ever role in that brilliant ’80s film we all love, The Goonies, but it’s only been in the past few years that he’s truly come to be a rising star, with roles in Milk (for which he got his Oscar nomination), True Grit, and the upcoming Men in Black III as the Young Agent K.

The original novel is told through the eyes of Henry, the young son of Winslet’s character, and so the success of the film will quite possibly depend in a large way on the acting capabilities of whoever is cast as the young boy. Winslet and Brolin are of course already well established in their craft, and the film will need just as strong a young actor for the characters’ relationships with each other to truly work.

Reitman is currently finishing up work on Young Adult, in which he partnered back up with Juno’s screenwriter, Diablo Cody, which is another project to be very excited about. Once he’s finished work on that, hopefully his attentions can then turn to Labor Day and get the project truly rolling towards production, and finding the young teen to play Winslet’s son.

A genre we have been seeing more and more of in recent years is something I’ve come to call the ‘New-Age Dramedy.’

Films in this category, including Garden State (2004), Running with Scissors (2006), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and Charlie Bartlett (2007), have attained both box-office success and critical acclaim, but what is it about these dramatic comedies that make them tick and what is it about them that we like so much?

First of all, here’s what classifies this budding group of films:

• A series of laugh-out-loud, quirky and ironically funny moments backed by a more serious/somber plotline
• A family dynamic that dabbles into the absurd; the sort of family that puts the “fun” in dysfunctional
• One or more main characters who are lost or struggling and are brought to resolution by brighter, more eccentric secondary characters
• A fixation with mental illness; be it depression, bipolarity, suicide, obsessive compulsive and generalized anxiety disorder, etc, and an emphasis on psychiatric medicine and psychology

The newest addition to this genre is an indie film by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (credited together on such projects as Half Nelson [2006] and Sugar [2008]) called It’s Kind of a Funny Story (2010). In the film, depressed 16-year-old Craig (Keir Gilchrist) checks himself into the psychiatric ward of a hospital after experiencing thoughts of suicide. Craig meets an unlikely group of patients and friends, including his love-interest Noelle played by Emma Roberts, as he learns about himself and attempts to find purpose.

The film, also starring The Hangover’s Zach Galifianakis, is heart-warming and hilarious, definitely fitting the ‘New-Age Dramedy’ checklist. The reason I liked this movie, as its fellow dramedies listed earlier, is twofold. First of all, everyone feels a little crazy sometimes, so its comforting to watch people on screen who seem to be just a tad bit worse off than you are; let’s call it Schadenfreude mixed with an appreciation for the absurd. Second, everyone’s two favorite things to do at the movies are laugh and cry, and these movies make you do both. Plus, they have a way of showing us something about ourselves without being overly didactic and shoving neatly packed life lessons down our throats.

As for the performances in this particular Dramedy, Zach Galifianakis shines as always but is especially touching in the more serious moments of his role, something slightly different for him. However, it was the performances of the two younger stars, Kier Gilchrist and Emma Roberts, which truly caught my attention. Gilchrist is a London native who is still relatively unknown aside from his role as Toni Collette’s gay son on Diablo Cody’s dark Showtime comedy, The United States of Tara. Interestingly enough, the show seems to fit the ‘New-Age Dramedy’ bill as well, centering on the quirky Gregson family, led by their schizophrenic mother, Tara. With dark eyes and a permanent puppy-dog expression, Gilchrist was perfect to gain pathos for his sympathetic character. Roberts, who is a growing contender for the next big starlet spot in Hollywood, seems to be gaining a typecast in her roles. As charming and understated as she was in this film, she seems to be cast as the same object of an indie-loner boy’s affections in the upcoming film, Homework, due for release this summer, where she plays opposite the Chocolate Factory’s own Freddie Highmore.

It’s Kind of a Funny Story was a valiant effort for the New-Age Dramedy, and I believe this genre has room for more commercially and critically successful films in the future.

Here at HeyUGuys, we aim to provide you with an all-encompassing look into the world of film. Whether you’re a fully-fledged cineaste, or just possess a casual interest, there’s something for anyone with our alternative A-Z of cinema, which starts today and runs through the week.

If you’ve ever wondered just what it is an Executive Producer does, or maybe you’ve heard the ambient soundscape of Tangerine Dream in an 80’s film favourite without knowing who you were listening to, this is the list for you!

Here are the letters A-E…

American Movie is the title of an award-winning 1999 documentary which follows the exploits of wannabe auteur Mark Borchardt as he attempts to pull together the funds to make his long-cherished feature film, “the great American movie” Northwestern.

Borchardt (with best friend and acid/booze casualty Mark Schank in tow) embarks on the making of a low-budget horror short named Coven (with often hilarious results) in the hopes of raising the capital for his dream project. This production soldiers on as Mark struggles to maintain a balance in the real world – he is way behind on maintenance for his three kids (from a past relationship), doesn’t hold down any regular employment, and still owes a large amount of money to his once-encouraging family.

American Movie was a critical success upon its debut and went on to win the Grand Jury prize for Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. Borchardt has yet to make his magnum opus.

Black List (The). Not to be confused with the politically-charged blacklist a number of figures from the US entertainment industry found themselves on during the 1940’s and 50’s, this one is an annual list of Hollywood’s most-admired unproduced screenplays, published each year on the second Friday of December.

Compiled by film executive Franklin Leonard, it began in 2004 as a survey with contributions from 75 film studio and production company executives. In 2009, over 300 executives gave their opinion and thoughts on that year’s entries.

Over the course of seven years, a number of screenplays which have cropped up on the list have been optioned, produced, and released – many to great commercial success, including the Oscar-winning Juno by Diablo Cody and Lars and the Real Girl by Nancy Oliver. Current titles from the list in production are Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and The Wizard of Oz reworking, Oz the Great and Powerful.

Chungking Express (1994) is a Hong Kong feature written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film is made up of two narratives, each concerning a Hong Kong policeman and his relationship with a woman. The first features Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin and the second stars Ka-Wai veteran Tony Leung, Faye Wong and Valerie Chow.

Wong Kar-wai is renowned for his expressionistic and often breath-taking imagery and lyrical beauty, achieved (in part) by a highly successful and collaborative relationship with Australian-born cinematographer Christopher Doyle, who has worked on the majority of his films. Chungking Express is no exception, and the vibrant Hong Kong city culture is captured here in all its bustling and exotic beauty. Be warned however – if you’re not a fan of 60’s classic California Dreamin’ stay away. It’s played almost constantly throughout!

This was the first film of the director’s to really reach an international audience, and in 1996, the film was release theatrically in the US under Kar-wai fan Quentin Tarantino’s (now defunct) distribution company under Miramax, Rolling Thunder.

Donald Cammell (1934 – 1996) was a Scottish-born director who came to prominence in 1968 when he co-directed the cult classic Performance alongside Nicolas Roeg. Throughout his almost thirty-year career, Cammell made only four films, and his second feature (1977’s sci-hi horror Demon Seed) was released almost a decade after his debut. His lack of productivity didn’t stop him becoming a cult figure in the industry however, where his bold and unconventional approach to narrative and content (his underappreciated serial killer thriller White of the Eye is another example of his unique viewpoint) found many admirers.

1995’s Wild Side was wrestled away from him in the edit by the producers, who had hoped for a more straightforward erotic thriller (had they not seen any of his previous work?!) This situation caused Cammell great distress and he ultimately committed suicide because of it. A happy ending of sorts came about when FilmFour commissioned a new edit of the film a few year later, which attempted to restore the late director’s original vision.

A novel called Fan-Tan he co-created with the equally-eccentric Marlon Brando in 1978, was published posthumously in 2005.

Executive Producer is the title given to someone who is generally not involved in any technical aspects of the filmmaking process, but who may still have a hand in the overall production, possibly in dealing with the business and legal issues side.

Sometimes the title is more arbitrary in nature, and actors and directors can receive the credit in instances like bringing the property to the attention of a studio/other director, or by spending some time developing it themselves, before moving on elsewhere. Darren Aronofsky is a recent example of being credited in this role for The Fighter, a film he toyed with making (even bringing in another creative team) before settling on The Wrestler.

A number of popular family favourites from the 80’s and 90’s bore the mark of Steven Spielberg as Executive Producer. These films were made through his production company (Amblin), although in this case, it’s likely Spielberg would have been on hand to offer creative advice and support alongside the other aspects of production.

Check back tomorrow for the next installment of the HeyUGuys A-Z.

**Read all the posts in our ‘Love Theatrically’ series here**

#6 – “JUNO” (2007)

Directed by Jason Reitman

Since appearing as “Boy Kissing Girl” alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Kindergarten Cop” aged just 13 Jason Reitman has come on in considerable leaps and bounds, quick to step out from the shadow of his father (“Ghostbusters” director Ivan Reitman) and forge himself an impressive directorial career of his own with the likes of the 2005 political satire “Thank You For Smoking” and the 2009 Academy Award nominated “Up in the Air”.

But it was to be with the truly wonderful “Juno” that Reitman was to gain a great deal of cinematic kudos with a scathingly smart’n'sassy screenplay by professional blogger and ex-stripper Diablo Cody married to an electrifying central performance by the then 20 year old Ellen Page but two of the many masterstrokes behind this hilariously heart-warming  romantic comedy.

Two years after wowing audiences and critics alike in David Slade’s psychological thriller “Hard Candy” Page once again walks away with the majority of the plaudits as the eponymous Juno delivering a performance that exudes confidence, sophistication, maturity, warmth and heart with a biting wit and an enviable grasp of comic timing. “Zeus had tons of lays but I’m pretty sure Juno was his only wife.”, she remarks, when quizzed on the origin of her unusual name. “And apparently she was supposed to be super beautiful but really mean, like Diana Ross”

Thankfully such eminently quotable bon mots are liberally scattered throughout Cody’s delightful screenplay yet never at the expense of character or emotion. For as Juno comes to terms with the fact that a new life is growing within her so too does she begin to re-evaluate her own life and, in particular, her true feelings towards the child’s father, one Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera).

Cera’s performance as Bleeker is every bit the insecure teenager and whilst many have since criticised Cera for repeating the self same “deer in the headlights” geek chic in more or less every movie he’s subsequently starred in there’s no doubting that he’s got this particular corner of the market covered. Whether it’s his gangly form clad in bright yellow shorts and headband or his decidedly bewildered initial reaction to Juno’s pregnancy it may at times be confusing as to quite what Juno sees in such an individual but such uncertainties are sure to dissipate come the film’s conclusion whereupon you’ll be more or less convinced the two of them were destined to be together.

The film also benefits from a superb supporting cast with Reitman regular J.K. Simmons making the most of his brief screen time as Juno’s father and Jason Bateman delivering a typically assured performance as Mark, the husband of the couple chosen by Juno to become her child’s adoptive parents. But perhaps the biggest surprise comes from Jennifer Garner who puts all memories of the abysmal “Elektra” behind her and subsequently defies all expectation as Vanessa, Mark’s wife, a woman who, whilst initially appearing cold, obsessive and domineering, slowly develops into someone sure to elicit a great deal of empathy and admiration (not to mention tears) from the audience.

Yet amongst such a raft of stellar performances it’s perhaps ironic yet altogether fitting that the briefest of them all is the one to have the greatest impact on the characters. For though initially considered a burden Juno’s unborn child ultimately destroys the one relationship it was intended to heal and, perhaps more importantly, reignites the one that was, until recently, both overlooked, undervalued and unappreciated. Cue the moment whereupon the simple sight of hundreds of orange Tic Tacs is sure to have your heart performing back flips and a beautifully scripted scene between Juno and Paulie that is quite possibly one of the most tenderly beautiful reconciliations in recent movie memory.

Sonically the film’s unique tone and charm is further heightened by a great soundtrack which features tracks from the likes of “Sonic Youth”, “Mott the Hoople”, “Belle and Sebastian”, “The Velvet Underground” and “The Moldy Peaches” whose song “Anyone Else But You”, combines a whimsical acoustic charm with simple, childlike lyrics and ends the film on a beautifully heart-warming note.

Subsequent performances in Drew Barrymore directorial debut “Whip It” and Chris Nolan’s “Inception” have furthered Page’s meteoric rise to fame yet for me it’ll always be as the feisty Juno MacGuff that she’ll be most fondly remembered. Yet whatever the future may hold for Page “Juno” is certain to forever hold a place in my personal movie mythology.

Intelligent, thought-provoking and beautifully written and acted, “Juno” is a truly delightful film that tackles a serious subject with both sensitivity and grace whilst finding plenty of time for a bellyful of laughs along the way.

“I need to know that it’s possible that two people can stay happy together forever.”

Track #9 – “ANYONE ELSE BUT YOU”

Written by Adam Green and Kimya Dawson

(Performed by The Moldy Peaches)

Cinematical have exclusively posted some set pictures from Jason Reitman’s new film Young Adult, which stars Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson, Patton Oswalt, Hettienne Park, Brian McElhaney and Steven Wothe Jr.

The film is currently in production, with filming taking place in Massapequa Park, NY for the rest of the week.

Young Adult reunites Reitman with his Juno collaborator Diablo Cody on a story about a divorced writer (Theron) who returns to her hometown in the hopes of re-connecting with an old flame (Wilson), who’s now married with a family.

Check out two pictures embedded below, or head over to Cinematical for the full foray:

Young Adult will be released in 2013.

Paramount have acquired the worldwide distribution rights to Jason Reitman’s Young Adult, THR are reporting.

Young Adult stars Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson and Patton Oswalt and was scripted by Diablo Cody, who also collaborated with Reitman on Juno. It centers on a divorced, young-adult fiction writer who returns to her hometown in Minnesota to chase an ex-boyfriend who’s now married and has a baby.

The film is a co-production between Mr Mudd, Indian Paintbrush and Mandate Pictures.