A couple of these we’ve seen before but in the most part, here’s a rather nice new bunch of images from Emma Watson and Logan Lerman’s new movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower which is set to be released in the UK later in the year. The film is helmed by Director Stephen Chbosky and also stars Ezra Miller, Maw Whitman, Kate Walsh and Dylan McDermott. The film is based on the novel that Chbosky wrote in 2009.

A funny and touching adventure based on a best-selling novel that has sold over a million copies in the U.S. and has been published in 16 countries and 13 languages, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER is a modern classic about a shy, sensitive teenager caught between trying to live his life and escape it.

No news on a UK release date as yet but we’ll keep you posted.

Source: Collider

Kris Kringle (Richard Attenborough) is a department store Santa with a difference – he’s the real thing. Due to some ill-tempered rivalry between competing stores and some deliberate provocation, he winds up in court on trumped-up assault charges, leading to a consideration by the judge as to whether he really is Father Christmas or not. Six year old Susan (Mara Wilson) desperately wants to believe, but her mother Dorey (Elizabeth Perkins) has become weary and cynical, while Dorey’s partner Bryan (Dylan McDermott) defends Kris Kringle in court. Is he just an old, confused man, or is he really real?

*****

Remade from the 1947 film of the same name, Miracle is a deliberate and enthralling throw-back. Whereas there could have been lashings of post-modern irony, cynicism and winks to the audience, instead this is played straight as a die. As Kris Kringle, Attenborough is perfectly cast; innocent, guileless, warm, affectionate and a dab-hand at sign-language in one of the all-time great “make a grown man cry every time” scenes. Yes, Wilson is too cute to be true as Susan, but her presence is absolutely essential, her arc towards heartfelt, unwavering belief the fulcrum of all that happens around her.

McDermott is excellent as the good-hearted and faith-filled attorney, trying to coax out of Perkins’ Dorey some of the wonder and innocence about Christmas that she seems to have lost on the way. Neither of them are mere ciphers, enjoying fleshed out characterisation and story-lines that have room to breathe, with convincing developments towards that wonderful finale.

As the court case that sits at the core of the story builds towards its conclusion, it seems unthinkable that the outcome would be anything other than what by that stage you are desperately hoping for and as one by one the citizens of Manhattan declare that they believe, you may find that something gets in your eye with alarming predictability.

In many ways, Miracle is the summation of all that Christmas movies are and should be. Commercialisation is held up for ridicule and the cold-hearted manager of the “bad” department store is consistently presented in the negative. Hope, wonder and belief are offered up as praiseworthy traits and rewarded with honour. The unashamed good nature of Kris Kringle is presented as an ideal and something to which we all ought to aspire and happy endings are shown to not merely be the stuff of fairy tales. Yes, Die Hard and Lethal Weapon are Christmas films and yes, Gremlins can be a welcome antidote to the sometimes lazy Christmas-themed films that are presented to us at this time of year. But Miracle on 34th Street is where it is at, alongside It’s a Wonderful Life as a perfect representation of all that Christmas should mean.

Watch it, feel free to blub a bit* and get yourself in the mood for the most wonderful time of the year.

* or in my case, a lot

The brilliant John Lithgow, twice Oscar nominee and beloved star of the excellent comedy series 3rd Rock From The Sun (which also starred a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt), was last seen taking a more dramatic turn this summer’s blockbuster, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Variety are reporting that he’ll next be returning to the world of comedy to star alongside Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis in Dog Fight, which will see,

“Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis star as two rival politicians running for a congressional seat in a small North Carolina district election.”

The film is to be directed by Jay Roach, whose credits include Austin Powers and Meet the Parents, with a script coming from Chris Henchy, who wrote the Ferrell comedies The Other Guys and Land of the Lost, and Shawn Harwell, who makes his feature debut after writing on Eastbound & Down.

Along with Ferrell and Galifianakis, Lithgow will be joining a cast that includes Jason Sudeikis, who was great in Horrible Bosses this year, Dylan McDermott, Sarah Baker, and Katherine LaNasa.

Ferrell and fellow producing partner Adam McKay will produce under their Gary Sanchez Productions shingle, along with Roach, under his Everyman Pictures, and Galifianakis.

Dog Fight already has a 10th August release date scheduled for next year in the States, and hopefully we’ll be getting a summer release for the film too, because it sounds like it has potential.

Three new images for writer and director Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower have been released this month, which emphasise the film’s romantic setting as Emma Watson and Logan Lerman lead in this young adult novel adaptation.

The story follows a shy, unpopular high-school freshman, Charlie (Lerman), who is coping with his mental issues while trying to find a place to belong. Through a series of letters to an anonymous person, he explores his awkward adolescence and is introduced to a world of drugs and sex by his senior friends Sam (Watson) and Patrick (Ezra Miller) in 1991 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The cast for this adaptation also includes Johnny Simmons, Melanie Lynskey, Mae Whitman, Nicholas Braun, Dylan McDermott and most excitingly, Paul Rudd.

The film will be written and directed by Chbosky, with Summit releasing the film sometime in 2012.

Here are the new images, thanks to IndieWire:

In my opinion, if you’re making a trailer, you want to make one just like this! Apple have just released the first trailer and poster for new movie, Burning Palms which features a rather impressive cast including  Zoe Saldana, Jamie Chung, Rosamund Pike, Lake Bell, Nick Stahl, Paz Vega, Dylan McDermott, Shannen Doherty and is directed by Christopher B. Landon.

This is a lesson is how to cut a trailer that makes you want to go and see a movie, especially when the subject matter for the movie looks so crazy!

Synopsis: BURNING PALMS is a subversive tale that interlaces five stories where no taboo is left unexplored. Framed as a graphic novel come to life, the film unfolds in five popular neighborhoods of Los Angeles as each character careens toward a dark and often comic fate.

Just leave them wanting more…. and it has… Enjoy!

No UK release date for this one yet but we’ll keep you posted. According to the trailer, it’s out on the 14th January in the US… which is now. Weird that we’ve not seen any marketing for the movie until now unless it comepletly passed us by which isn’t really good either!

This week marks one of America’s big national holidays.  Thanksgiving.  Every year, on the fourth Thursday of November, America engages in a tradition of food, family, football (in some cases), maybe some games, then more food. 

Most of the people I know look forward to Thanksgiving.  Most however, do not look forward to the actual dinner event.  As with every major holiday gathering that involves family, one can be overcome with a sense of dread.  There are boatloads of movies that cover all aspects of the Christmas holiday, but there aren’t too many that cover Thanksgiving.  The one I can name off the top of my head that is by far the best holiday family gathering movie is Home for the Holidays.

Released in 1995, the film was directed by Jodie Foster and starred Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, Steve Guttenberg and Clare Danes.  Quite a cast wouldn’t you say?

Holly Hunter plays Claudia Larson.  She’s a single mother, who right before she leaves for holidays, loses her job, makes out her boss, and finds out her daughter is most likely going to lose her virginity over the holiday weekend.  Not that she has enough to deal with, she has to deal with a flight back to her hometown to spend the holiday with her nerve wracking parents, Henry and Adele (Durning and Bancroft).  Upon arrival at the airport, she sees her parents waiting for her at gate and you begin to feel the sense of dread she is experiencing at that given moment.  One of the things I enjoyed the most about this movie are the little nuances it has.  There is a scene that takes place on the drive home from the airport where Claudia, while stuck in the car with her parents rambling on and on, she looks over at the car next to them and there is a grown man stuck in the exact situation she’s in.  He looks over at her as if to say “My God, someone help me!!” and the looks she gives back is full of sympathy and understanding.  Those are the moments that really make this movie work.  As you watch it, you can’t help but think of how you know exactly what these people are going through.

After arriving at her parents house, Claudia seems to run on auto pilot just going through the motions.  That is until her brother Tommy shows up.  The relationship between brother and sister that is portrayed in this movie is something that anyone with a sibling can relate to.  He’s infuriating and irritating, but the sibling love is apparent.

Robert Downey Jr. of course, delivers.  It’s amazing he was able to pull this role off since he has spoken of using black tar heroine during the filming (see this part of his interview on Inside the Actor’s Studio here).  He also gets some of the best lines in the movie as well.

After going rounds with her brother, her sister, her parents, her crazy aunt and the friend her brother brought home, Claudia manages to make it through the weekend no worse for wear, but with a little more insight into the craziness that is her family.  As she leaves her parents at the airport, you can tell she is grateful to be going home, but also a little sad as well.

Home for the Holidays is an entertaining look into a holiday family gathering.  You watch the movie thinking “Thank God I don’t have to deal with that!” and then you get to your own family gathering.  Even if you don’t have to deal with the level of drama or crazy that Claudia endures, everyone has at least one family holiday gathering story they can tell.

I think the greatest thing about this movie is that it shows what family really is. Infuriating, irritating and lovely all served with most likely, dry turkey.  So for anyone who has a gathering on their calendar, I suggest watching Home for the Holidays.  I watch it every year and am thankful that my family isn’t quite that crazy.