Oscar Nominated “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” starring Academy Award® winners Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock is in cinemas everywhere from 17^th February. Adapted from the acclaimed bestseller by Jonathan Safran Foer “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”   tells the story from inside the young mind of Oskar Schell an inventive eleven year-old New Yorker.

Oskar’s discovery of a key in his deceased father’s belongings sets him off on an urgent search across the city for the lock it will open.  A year after his father died in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls “The Worst Day,” he is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who encourages him into confronting his wildest fears.

To celebrate the release, we are giving you the chance to win a beautiful digital photo frame courtesy of Prezzybox.com!

The star of the film Oskar saves photographs to remember his journey, so to celebrate this release we have teamed up with Prezzybox.com to offer you a fantastic Digital Photo Frame to store your favourite photos and memories. Prezzybox.com have 1000′s of unusual, comical and quirky, yet extremely useful presents for all of the family.

To be in with a chance of winning this great prize, simply click next to be taken to the entry form and question….

I know it’s very early days yet, but I have a feeling that Ben Affleck’s Argo could well be my film of the year. His directorial debut and follow-up in Gone Baby Gone and The Town were beyond impressive, and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us third time around.

If you’ve been following the project’s progress, you’ll already know that it boasts a very impressive cast, headed up by Affleck himself, including Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Scoot McNairy, Kyle Chandler, Alan Arkin, Michael Parks, Titus Welliver, Rory Cochrane, Taylor Schilling, Clea DuVall, Kerry Bishé, Christopher Denham, and Tate Donovan.

We got our first image from the film just after Christmas last year, giving us the chance to see Affleck in character in the 1979-/1980-set film, sporting a rather brilliant beard. In that image was also a photo of Scoot McNairy, rocking a supremely awesome moustache.

We’ve now got a fantastic new image to share with you, courtesy of ComingSoon.net via The Playlist, which looks to be taken from a little while into the film, with Affleck drilling his companions on their aliases.

“Based on true events, “Argo” chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis–the truth of which was unknown by the public for decades. On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist named Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.”

Doing a little bit of detective work, by reading the fascinating original article that the film is based on (which you can, and should, read here), here’s the run-down of who we can see in the new image:

Ben Affleck is of course front and centre, standing up in the middle. McNairy, playing Joe Stafford, is sat in the chair on the left. Kerry Bishé, playing his wife Kathy, is on the chair on the right. Clea DuVall, playing Cora Lijek, is on the chair on the left (though has the back of her head to the shot), with her husband’s character, Mark (Christopher Denham), in the middle of the sofa on the right. Beside him is Tate Donovan, playing Robert Anders, on the bottom of the sofa, and on the other side is Rory Cochrane, playing Lee Schatz.

Now, technically, some of these are guesses – DuVall’s back of the head, for example. But, it should be noted, the scene is clearly one in which Affleck is running them through their aliases, and so we can assume that these six characters are the six people he’s rescuing from Tehran. So adding two and two together, those are my guesses. The hair/make-up and costumes look so impressive on this film to disguise pretty much everyone out of recognition, but I’d say that it’s at least an educated guess.

Chris Terrio has adapted the original Wired magazine article, How the CIA Used A Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran, for the film, for what looks like a very promising feature debut from the screenwriter.

Argo will be with us on 5^th October this year, so we’ve got just over nine months to wait for its release. Again, very early days yet, but I’m really hoping that the film will take Affleck’s film to the Oscars this time next year, just like Gone Baby Gone and The Town did. As usual with this new image, click to enlarge.

The road to Cooper’s Dell is almost as interesting and eventful a journey as Red State itself with director Kevin Smith taking matters of distribution into his own hands and releasing the film through his own Smodcast Pictures company, something he announced in typical understated fashion at Sundance last year.

Eschewing the studio system (with which he brought us Cop Out) the freedom he enjoys bears juicy fruit as this deliberate move into new territory results in a fine horror film from the director, one which makes his promised retirement all the more disappointing. It also shows that as a director Smith knows how to let his actors lead the film, though occasionally they run too far and risk running the show into the ground, but the powerful central performance from Michael Parks anchors the film.

This is not a straight up horror film, and the film shifts gears between your typical horny teen-infused cautionary tale to a Wacoesque siege movie with the (Westboro in all but name) Five Points Trinity Church taking their unholy orders to a grisly extreme and it’s one of the few films of last year which keeps you guessing.

As head of the church Michael Parks is magnificent, spitting his hateful rhetoric and curling his venomous words with distinct glee to his small congregation who watch as the Church take the word of God, twist it, and get biblical on those unfortunate  enough to get caught in their trap. There’s fine support from Melissa Leo and John Goodman, who seems to relish the opportunity to pay things straight, but Parks is the dark heart of the film, the black hole around which the other members of the church orbit, teetering close to the inevitable.

A couple of moments stand out from the film, one problematic and the other inspired. It’s better, if you’ve not seen the film, that you go in knowing only the bare bones of the story (horny teens, psycho church, guns) as there’s great stock in the unexpected here. These two plot elements which tell the story of the film point to what’s good and not so good about the film but make no mistake – this is a director finding his feet on new ground and the film is absolutely worth a watch.

Here’s where the two sides of the film fall. When we meet Michael Parks’ FredPhelpsalike he is delivering a sermon to the congregation and there’s an unhealthy line in fire and brimstone, death by stoning, centered around the eroding moral centre of America and most of the blame is laid firmly at the feet of the gay community, and it goes on and on and on – almost too far. We’re meant to hate this man, and we do, but his grounding in reality is his power in terms of being the villain of the piece and Smith’s love of dialogue threatens the scene, the crux of the film.

The second moment comes towards the end of the film and I’ll not spoil things but there’s an important sign, one that is unexpected and for a moment you think that Smith has done something truly extraordinary. He hasn’t, as it turns out, but the fact that for a moment you believe is testament to the power of the film.

This is a brutal and effective horror film, with some moments of extreme violence and real terror (Kerry Bishe deserves a lot of the credit here – her performance as the one member of the church with any sense at all is a real eye-opener for the actress up until now best now as the lead in the death rattle of the sitcom Scrubs) and Smith has his moment of dark comedy pitched perfectly. A genuine surprise, and a welcome one.

****~ (4/5)

Extras

What you need to watch is the making of documentary which charts the film’s progress from the Sundance auctionnouncment to the release and it has Kevin Smith in fine, and candid, form. In amongst the usual praise for the cast and crew there’s another story being told here. Smith is a filmmaker who infuriates and inspires in equal measure, with a legion of hardcore fans and a line of haters a mile long and yet there’s a genuine sense of gratitude which comes across, of a man who gets to tell story in many mediums (and some stories are better than others), but the fact that his life would have turned out very differently if Clerks hadn’t been picked up all those years ago never seems far from his mind.

It’s been a bumpy road and if Red State is to be the penultimate stop on Kevin Smith’s filmmaking journey then it’s a fine road to take before heading home and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for his big finish.

We’ve just been sent these two new posters for Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock’s new Oscar nominated movie, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It comes to UK cinemas 17th February, is directed by Stephen Daldry and co-stars John Goodman, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright and Max von Sydow.

If you’d like to see a trailer for the movie, fear not as we have one for you right here!

Based on the acclaimed novel of the same name, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” tells the story of one young boy’s journey from heartbreaking loss to the healing power of self-discovery, set against the backdrop of the tragic events of September 11.

Eleven-year-old Oskar Schell is an exceptional child: amateur inventor, Francophile, pacifist.  And after finding a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11, he embarks on an exceptional journey—an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York.  As Oskar roams the city, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity, who are all survivors in their own ways.  Ultimately, Oskar’s journey ends where it began, but with the solace of that most human experience: love.

Check out the posters below and click to enlarge.

I love the word canoodle, so was very happy to see this new clip from Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close appear.

Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks are joined by Thomas Horn to tell the tale of Oskar, an young boy who loses his father in the 9/11 attacks and then goes on a journey of discovery, following clues he believes his father left him.

Steel yourself for a synopsis so moving there may be tears,

Nine-year-old Oskar Schell​ is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and collector of butterflies.

When his father is killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre, Oskar sets out to solve the mystery of a key he disovers in his father’s closet. It is a search which leads him into the lives of strangers, through the five boroughs of New York, into history, to the bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima, and on an inward journey which brings him ever closer to some kind of peace.

Here’s your clip, all the way from The Sun, thanks Sun! (in case the clip doesn’t work – it’s a little tempremental – click the link above to see it.

Akira may be suffering set-backs (fans of the original the world over rejoice), but Garrett Hedlund doesn’t appear to be taking it to heart.

The Tron: Legacy star has signed on to star in the Coen brothers’ latest project, a drama set in the 1960s Greenwich Village folk music scene. The film, titled Inside Llewyn Davis, follows the career of singer Dave Van Ronk, a real life friend of Bob Dylan and author of the memoir the film is to be based on.

This isn’t Hedlund’s first foray into musical drama, having starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in last year’s Country Strong. While the film might have faltered, Hedlund held his own in a relatively demanding role.

Although at this time it isn’t clear who the actor will be playing, he will join a cast which also includes Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman.

Variety had this one first.

Argo, Ben Affleck’s third time directing a feature film, is by far one of the films I’m most looking forward to in 2012. By far. Both of his last films, Gone Baby Gone and The Town, were Oscar-nominated, and both were brilliant. The Town, especially, took the box office a little by storm last year when it went straight to #1 across theAtlantic, in what was one of the best films of 2010.

After directing his brother Casey Affleck in Gone Baby Gone and leading The Town himself, Affleck is once more stepping both behind and in front of the camera in Argo, assembling a fantastic supporting cast that includes Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Kyle Chandler, Alan Arkin, Scoot McNairy, Michael Parks, Taylor Schilling, Clea DuVall, and Tate Donovan.

Warner Bros. have now put out the brilliant first official image from the film, via ComingSoon.net, in which we can see Ben Affleck perfectly looking the part with his suit and his beard, holding a document that bears the face of Scoot McNairy on its front page (which you might recognise if you saw Gareth Edwards’ amazing Monsters last year), playing the character of Joe Stafford.

The film has been written by Chris Terrio, adapted from an article in Wired magazine printed back in April 2007 entitled, How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran. If you have a few minutes spare, you can read it here; it’s definitely a very interesting read.

The official synopsis looks a little like this:

“Based on true events, “Argo” chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis–the truth of which was unknown by the public for decades. On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist named Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.”

Both Affleck’s directing and acting career to date has been brilliant, and 2012 looks to be another brilliant year for him. We should first be seeing him in the as-yet-untitled Terrence Malick project, opposite Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz, Javier Bardem, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Sheen, before Argo is released here in the UKon 5^th October. I literally cannot wait; every sign points to it being amazing, and this first look is already getting me even more excited than I already was. Here’s to hoping that it will be taking Affleck to the Oscars once more come spring 2013. As usual with this great first image, click to enlarge. Ben Affleck can really do no wrong.

Judging by the first and second trailers that we’ve seen for Tom Hanks’ next film, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, we’re certainly due for a powerful cinema experience when this comes to our screens early next year.

Directed by Stephen Daldry (The Reader, Billy Elliot), the film is an adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel of the same name by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), led by the young Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, and Sandra Bullock, with a supporting cast that includes Max von Sydow, John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright, and Viola Davis.

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” tells the story of one young boy’s journey from heartbreaking loss to the healing power of self-discovery, set against the backdrop of the tragicevents of September 11. Eleven-year-old Oskar Schell is an exceptional child: amateur inventor, Francophile, pacifist. And after finding a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11, he embarks on an exceptional journey–an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. As Oskar roams the city, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity, who are all survivors in their own ways. Ultimately, Oskar’s journey ends where it began, but with the solace of that most human experience: love.

Yahoo Movies have now got five new clips from the film to share with us, entitled ‘Strawberry Fields’, ‘Amateur’, ‘Swings’, ‘Odd’, and ‘My Story Is My Story’, respectively. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close will be with us on 3rd February next year, after getting a Christmas Day release in the States this month, setting itself up for the 2012 Oscars in February. Until then, here are the new clips to enjoy. There really is no other actor quite like Tom Hanks.

MSN ave released a brand new trailer for Laika Entertainment’s ParaNorman and it’s just wonderful.

Sam Fell and Chris Butler are directing and the film stars Kodi Smit-McPhee​, Casey Affleck​, Anna Kendrick​, John Goodman​, Leslie Mann​, Jodelle Ferland​, Christopher Mintz-Plasse​, Bernard Hill​ and Jeff Garlin​.

There’s a small synopsis before the trailer below,

A misunderstood boy (Smit-McPhee) who can speak with the dead, takes on ghosts, zombies and moronic grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse.

Here’s your trailer,

Entertainment Film have sent us this fantastic gallery of images for their new movie, The Artist which is getting rave reviews left right and center (and right here on HeyUGuys)! I don’t want to scare you all away but it’s actually a 90 minute long silent movie AND it’s in black and white! Do I still have you here?! I’ve still not seen it but what I’ve heard is that it has a dog in it which is amazing which, to be honest, that is all I need to know!

It’s directed by Michel Hazanavicius and stars Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Missi Pyle. Scroll down to check out the gallery and you can click the images to enlarge.

Hollywood 1927. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into oblivion. For young extra Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), it seems the sky’s the limit – major movie stardom awaits. THE ARTIST tells the story of their interlinked destinies.

The Artist is in cinemas everywhere January 2012. Go and see it!

Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock head up Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s powerful novel of a young boy who loses his father in the World Trade Center attacks and searches the greiving city of New York for a message he believes his father left for him.

This is a far more emotionally involving trailer than we’ve seen before. Not least the shots of the Twin Towers cloaked in smoke and the phone call that is made. Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock look to be on fine form here, though it is the relationships between Oskar (the young boy played by Thomas Horn) and the disparate people he meets on his sad journey through the film which are of more interest.

Check out the trailer and synopsis below,

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” tells the story of one young boy’s journey from heartbreaking loss to the healing power of self-discovery, set against the backdrop of the tragicevents of September 11. Eleven-year-old Oskar Schell is an exceptional child: amateur inventor, Francophile, pacifist. And after finding a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11, he embarks on an exceptional journey–an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. As Oskar roams the city, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity, who are all survivors in their own ways. Ultimately, Oskar’s journey ends where it began, but with the solace of that most human experience: love.

The mighty Apple cart have a shiny HD version or you can suffer in SD below,

It may still be Hallowe’en in some dark corner of the world but if you’re already missing the spooky season here’s a trailer that will get those bones chilled good and proper.

You can see the lineage of co-director and writer Chris Butler here, with art department work on Coraline and Corpse Bride seemingly inspiring his first feature, co-directed with Sam Fell whose previous work includes The Tales of Despereaux and Flushed Away.

ParaNorman stars Kodi Smit-McPhee, Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, John Goodman, Leslie Mann, Jodelle Ferland, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bernard Hill and Jeff Garlin and this new trailer delivers just the right amount of tease.

A misunderstood boy (Smit-McPhee) who can speak with the dead, takes on ghosts, zombies and moronic grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse.

ParaNorman will be released in the US on August 17, 2012.

Yahoo debuted the trailer and if I’m honest, they had me at ‘Coraline’. There’s some excellent character designs here as well as some hints at the nastiness to come. With a solid voice cast and an intriguing visual style this looks like one to watch.

Trailer time,

Focus Features have released a brand new teaser poster for Laika Entertainment’s ParaNorman.

Directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, ParaNorman stars Kodi Smit-McPhee, Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, John Goodman, Leslie Mann, Jodelle Ferland, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bernard Hill and Jeff Garlin.

A misunderstood boy (Smit-McPhee) who can speak with the dead, takes on ghosts, zombies and moronic grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse.

ParaNorman will be released in the US on August 17, 2012.

Check out the poster below:

Source: Yahoo!

In the past four years, Ben Affleck has been firing on all cylinders, showing no sign of slowing down. He made his incredible directorial debut with his brother Casey Affleck heading up the cast in Gone Baby Gone, and then followed this up last year with his immense second effort, The Town, which he led himself.

Both films earned an Oscar nomination for one of their supporting cast, and both did well at the box office, with The Town utterly exceeding all expectations by turning a $37m. into more than $150m. when it came out last September.

Warner Bros. seem to be hopeful that Affleck’s third time directing a feature film will replicate his past successes, giving his next film, Argo, which has already begun principal photography, the same third weekend in September slot in which to release it next year, The Playlist report. The States will be getting it on 14th September, and since we got The Town just a week after the US did last year, I’m really hoping that we’ll be getting Argo either on or very soon after the 14th again next year.

The film has been written by relative newcomer Chris Terrio based on a 2007 article in Wired magazine by Joshuah Bearman, which makes for an incredibly interesting read (you can do so here if you care to take a look), entitled How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran. The film adapts this real-life story of how the CIA went into Iran in order to rescue a group of Americans who managed to escape from the embassy during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979.

The article itself is a brilliant read, and I cannot wait to see Affleck helming this feature adaptation. His work on both Gone Baby Gone and The Town was utterly impressive, and you just know that he’s going to do the same again with Argo. The film has a terrific cast, including Affleck, Kyle Chandler, John Goodman, Bryan Cranston, Michael Parks, Alan Arkin, Clea DuVall, and Scoot McNairy, and it literally could not come soon enough.

Less than one year from today, we should be lucky enough to have seen Argo. It’s going to be awesome. Is anybody else as excited about this as me?

The fantastic news came just a few days ago that John Goodman, known for such brilliant roles as Sulley in Monsters, Inc. and of course Walter in The Big Lebowski, is set to join Robert Zemeckis’ return to live-action in Flight, starring as the best friend of the leading man, Denzel Washington.

More great casting additions have now surfaced over at THR, with Academy Award-winning Melissa Leo (The Fighter) and James Badge Dale (TV’s 24 and The Pacific) in talks to join the project.

Written by John Gatins (Coach Carter, the upcoming Real Steel), Flight,

“centers on an alcoholic and drug-addicted pilot (Washington) whose plane engine malfunctions, forcing him to rescue the aircraft and its passengers, becoming a hero in the process. When the FAA investigates and finds evidence of drug abuse, it tries to sweep the evidence to the side to help preserve the image of the captain, who is trying to change the course of his life.”

If talks go well, Dale would be playing a dying cancer patient and Leo an investigator determined to expose Washington’s character’s drug addiction and cast the blame upon him.

Leo’s talents were deservedly well recognised at the Oscars earlier this year, where she won Best Actress for her part as Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale’s mother in The Fighter. She’s currently starring in Kevin Smith’s Red State, out in cinemas now, having just been nominated for an Emmy for her role in Mildred Pierce.

After a terrific role in the third season of 24 as Kim Bauer’s boyfriend and Jack’s fellow CTU agent, Dale has mostly been picking up small roles here and there, but has seen some attention heading his way in the past year or so, with a lead role in HBO’s The Pacific, and upcoming roles in Steve McQueen’s highly anticipated Shame with Michael Fassbender, Joe Carnahan’s The Grey with Liam Neeson, and Marc Forster’s World War Z with Brad Pitt.

With Bruce Greenwood having just officially signed on for the project too, and Don Cheadle and Kelly Reilly in negotiations along with Goodman, and of course with Washington as the leading man, signing on to Flight can only be good news and further great recognition for both Leo and Dale, and hopefully we’ll soon be getting the news that their negotiations have been successful. This is definitely shaping up to be a project to look forward to.

Emmy Award- and Golden Globe-winning actor, John Goodman, one of my favourite people to have graced the big and small screen, is now in talks to join Denzel Washington on Robert Zemeckis’ next film, Flight, Deadline report.

The film will see Zemeckis’ first return to live-action since 2000’s Cast Away, having directed The Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol in the years since then, and will be written by the rising screenwriter, John Gatins (Coach Carter, the upcoming Real Steel).

Flight will see,

“Denzel Washington as an airline pilot who averts a plane crash, only to come under a cloud for possible substance abuse problems. Goodman will play a friend of the pilot who helps him come to terms with his problems.”

I think the pairing of Washington and Goodman on the screen will be absolutely brilliant, and I can’t wait to see it happen. Both men are now in their late fifties, and both have had such immense roles in all their years of acting, and seeing them come together for this project should be awesome.

Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes), and Bruce Greenwood (JJ Abrams’ Star Trek) are also in negotiations to star, and with Goodman now coming into talks to join too, the cast is really shaping up nicely.

Goodman is coming into our cinemas as of today with Kevin Smith’s Red State (which I cannot wait to see), and will soon be soon in the upcoming silent film, The Artist, which has some pretty big buzz surrounding it, and the Tom Hanks-starring Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and is currently at work filming Ben Affleck’s Argo, the highly anticipated follow-up to last year’s The Town. Essentially, Goodman is going to be in a number of ridiculously brilliant projects over the next few years (and we can add to that list Monsters University), and Flight will hopefully be yet another film of his to look forward to.

Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of the celebrated novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer has got itself a trailer today.

It’s a little less idiosyncratic than I expected but the combination of Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, the tragedy of the World Trade Center and a child suddenly lost in the world is a powerful one, though sticking U2 over the top seemed a touch unecessary.

Also appearing is the epic talent of Mr. John Goodman who joins Viola Davis​, Jeffrey Wright, Max Von Sydow​ and James Gandolfini​ in supporting roles.

The book sees Oskar travel the city meeting various lost souls, each taking him a little closer to his father. Thomas Horn is the actor chosen as Oskar and his is no easy task, but Daldry knows what he is doing with young actors, Billy Elliot being the obvious example, and I’m hoping there’s more of Oskar’s personality carried over in the final film.

Pray silence please for an imminent synopsis,

Nine-year-old Oskar Schell​ is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and collector of butterflies.

When his father is killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre, Oskar sets out to solve the mystery of a key he disovers in his father’s closet. It is a search which leads him into the lives of strangers, through the five boroughs of New York, into history, to the bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima, and on an inward journey which brings him ever closer to some kind of peace.

Moisten those heart-strings and ready your tears to be jerked -  Trailer time…

MSN Movies graciously bequeathed this to the world and thanks be to them.

Red State is out in UK cinemas this Friday and our friends from Upbeat got the chance to chat with Writer / Director Kevin Smith about the movie, what we can expect and why we should go and see it. He also goes into detail about how many of the actors were paid very little to be in the movie but did it for the love of the script, or the characters in which they got to play. If you missed our review of Red State, you can click here to check it out and we also have the chance for you to win merchandise from the film.

Red State stars John Goodman​, Kyle Gallner​, Michael Angarano​, Melissa Leo​, Stephen Root​ and Kevin Pollak​.

The 10th film from writer/director Kevin Smith (“Clerks”, “Chasing Amy”, “Dogma”, “Clerks 2″, “Zack & Miri Make a Porno”), RED STATE unfolds in a small town dominated by a fundamentalist preacher, Abin Cooper. It tells the story of three high school boys who, on their way to an internet arranged meeting with a woman, end up crossing paths with Cooper. The encounter sets into motion a series of events that causes all hell to break loose. A horror thriller that could only come from the imagination of Smith, RED STATE stars Tarantino and Rodriguez favorite Michael Parks (“From Dusk Till Dawn”, “Kill Bill Vols. 1 & 2″), Oscar Nominee for Best Actress Melissa Leo (“The Fighter,” “Frozen River”) and John Goodman, Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner and Nicholas Braun.

Seemingly lost in a foggy haze of a mid-life crisis love affair with the chronic (often blurring his decisions on how to deal with fans and critics alike), former prodigal Weinstein son and self-confessed purveyor of the “dick and fart” school of comedy (which has now fully infiltrated the Hollywood mainstream), Kevin Smith, returns from the Cop Out creative wilderness with an entirely new bag of directorial tricks up his sleeve.

Three horny teenagers make plans to meet and have their wicked way with a middle-aged woman they meet via an on-line personal sex ad. Lured to a single trailer park in the woods, the supposed night of a dirty, mini-orgy is nothing but a ruse concocted by a fundamentalist religious group (clearly modelled on the real-life, controversy-baiting, Westboro Baptist Church) and the trio are instead drugged and taken to the nearby compound run by the sect, with the intent of being offered up as sacrificial offering during the epic sermons by the deranged leader of this equally warped collective, Paster Abin Cooper (Michael Parks).

By a strange quirk of events, a team of ATF officers show up outside the pastor’s residence, which sets in motion a chain of messy actions and violence, leading to a decidedly leftfield turn of events.

Foregoing any noticeable middle act, Red State exists as a strange, if intriguing, two-act structural set-up. The first half definitely has a whiff of a Hostel-type set-up, and this is also where the only trace of Smith’s trademark style is apparent, namely in the vulgar back and forth banter between the youths as they swap insults in preparation for their trip. Despite some scenes which point towards the film heading into torture porn territory, thankfully, this never comes to fruition, and we’re presently which something else entirely.

This is a very different Smith to the crude, knockabout frolics of the Jay and Silent Bob, View Askew universe, and the earnest, pop-cultural, hipster indie philosophising. In shedding all of that, Smith has brought a leaner, more exciting cinematic style to his work. Shot on digital (using the Red camera) the film looks fantastic, and there’s a pleasingly visceral energy and fluidity to the hand-held work on display.

The film also acts as a reminder that Smith is fully capable of eliciting fine performances from his cast. You may have already heard the superlatives being directed towards Michael Parks for his role as the seriously twisted pastor, and these are completely justifiable. The 15 minute barnstorming sermon he delivers midway through may have smacked of overindulgence on Smith’s behalf if Parks wasn’t so mesmerising, and similar to his turns in Kill Bill Vol.2 (and the opening to From Dawn Till Dawn, for that matter), it’s impossible to tear your gaze away from the actor (which is further enhanced by Smith’s use of big close-ups throughout). Mellissa Leo delivers a solid turn as Cooper’s daughter and ostensive right-hand woman, and another real surprise here is John Goodman as the beleaguered ATF leader whose ill-conceived actions yield disastrous consequences for both sides.

Unfortunately, Goodman’s introduction is also where the film loses it a little, and turns proceedings into an all-out botched war zone (à la Waco), where the actions of some characters don’t ring true at all as Smith tries too hard to hammer his points across. The climax may prove a little hard to swallow for some (although the strength of Parks’ performance brings a feasibility to what’s happens) but the film has trouble wrapping up things, and sometimes requires too much of a leap in imagination to really get behind Smith’s theories, and suffers from some abrupt shifts in tone (which may be attributed, in part, to a filmmaker working outside of his normal boundaries). Goodman’s last comment on the whole debacle, which strives for a Tommy Lee Jones-esque No Country for Old Men gravitas, is a little ham-fisted and fails to satisfyingly pin down what Smith is reaching for.

Nevertheless, this change of direction is exciting to witness. It may prove to be a tough sell for Smith’s legion of fans (it’s easy to see why, from a commercial point of view, the Weinstein’s passed on it) but it’s still a film which has much to offer, and may even benefit from repeat viewing. The director seems intent on slowly winding down his filmmaking career, and instead focus his creativity towards his burgeoning series of podcasts and a specialist radio network, but on the strength of this flawed, yet fascinating attempt at addressing the misconceptions of extremist behaviour in the US, he should perhaps think twice about folding away that director’s chair.

There seems to be life left in Smith when challenged to deliver something fresh and altogether more grown-up, and even if the end result is uneven, its nice to see a filmmaker jettison the style he’s arguably coasted on for a good decade or so, and attempt to make a genuinely absorbing (semi) real-world thriller, with a delicious streak of dark humour running throughout.

***½~ (3.5/5)

To mark the release of Kevin Smith’s new movie, Red State in cinemas 30th September, Entertainment One have given us some rather great merchandise to give away. We’ve been given one Kevin Smith signed Red State poster and 5 sets of merchandise which includes a poster, t-shirt and cool silver cross USB stick.

(Please note: The first person pulled out of the digital hat will get the signed poster, the others will receive a non-signed version.)

Red State stars Michael Angarano, Nicholas Braun, Kyle Gallner, Stephen Root, Melissa Leo, Marc Blucas, John Goodman and is directed by Kevin Smith.

Synopsis:

The 10th film from writer/director Kevin Smith (“Clerks”, “Chasing Amy”, “Dogma”, “Clerks 2″, “Zack & Miri Make a Porno”), RED STATE unfolds in a small town dominated by a fundamentalist preacher, Abin Cooper. It tells the story of three high school boys who, on their way to an internet arranged meeting with a woman, end up crossing paths with Cooper. The encounter sets into motion a series of events that causes all hell to break loose. A horror thriller that could only come from the imagination of Smith, RED STATE stars Tarantino and Rodriguez favorite Michael Parks (“From Dusk Till Dawn”, “Kill Bill Vols. 1 & 2″), Oscar Nominee for Best Actress Melissa Leo (“The Fighter,” “Frozen River”) and John Goodman, Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner and Nicholas Braun.

To be in with a chance of winning this great prize, just answer the following question using the form below:

Who directed the movie, Red State?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 3rd October at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!