Nathan (Taylor Lautner) is a relatively regular kid, about to finish high school, a bit of a thrill-seeker and seeing a therapist due to ill-defined anger management issues from his early teens. He is paired up with his friend and neighbour Karen (Lily Collins) for a school project, through which they find themselves scanning through a website detailing children who have disappeared. Nathan notices an uncanny resemblance between himself and one of those children, which serves as a catalyst for the murder of the people he believed to be his parents, sending him on the run with the CIA and a Serbian secret agent on his tail, while he tries to figure out who he really is and what has become of his real parents.

*****

To get the obvious out of the way first thing, Taylor Lautner is no great shakes as an actor. His relative youth was a serviceable excuse for Sharkboy & Lava Girl, but by the time we now get four films into the Twilight saga, it is starting to show glaringly. He can scowl, smile and (we now discover) kick and punch with the best of them, but his line delivery and conveying of emotional weight remain lacking.

Having said that, his limitations do not really present much of a problem in relation to the overall impact of this film, the latest in a long line of illustrations that director John Singleton really has gone a long, long way downhill since Boyz N The Hood, his searing 1991 debut. Singleton at least has the good sense to pack the film out with impressive actors (Alfred Molina, Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello, Michael Nyqvist), who take care of the heavy-lifting, while Lautner frowns, runs, punches and looks good on a motorcycle. The script is pure bunkum (Nathan’s real father stole a list of secret agents from the aforementioned Serbian who wants it back), but remains believably conveyed without too much ham-fisted exposition and it cannot be questioned that Lautner is more than a match for the physical requirements of the film, holding his own in fight scenes with bigger, older and more accomplished men on the basis of an apparently impressive background in martial arts. Although Lautner does not have much range, the role does not require too much of him and he acquits himself well with limited material.

Aside from Lautner, everyone does their part. Weaver, Molina et al could do this stuff in their sleep, but to their credit they do not phone their performances in and give good value for the most part. As by the numbers as the film is, there is no sense of anyone having ideas above their station in terms of their aspirations for the film and no-one does the film the disservice of sleep-walking through their scenes. All concerned seem to appreciate that the film is what it is, a serviceable action thriller, built on and playing to the appeal of Lautner and not trying to be anything more than that. The running time is fine, knocking around the 100min mark and although the plot takes a little longer to kick into gear than it should, once Nathan and Karen are on the run the pacing is excellent, alternating between action sequences and moments of rest and plot development, which whilst far from emotionally affecting, do at least keep you interested to the end.

There are a number of good set pieces, some involving Lautner, others bringing in Bello and Isaacs for some welcome ass-kicking and they help to keep our attention when the admittedly unsurprising narrative begins to become formulaic. This is nothing that will convert those uninterested in Lautner’s tight abs, nor will it deter those who adore him and it seems likely that with the right choices Lautner can carve out a decent career for himself. You can catch it here from 13th February.

**½~~ (2.5/5)

Extras: Lautner comes across as surprisingly and pleasantly enthusiastic, realistic, grounded and focussed in the raft of extras which inevitably focus on him. He waxes eloquent about working with the rest of the impressive cast and seems to understand how fortunate he is to find himself where he is, career-wise. Everyone has genuinely nice things to say about his physical ability and commitment to the performance, whether in the brief making of doc, or the featurette that looks at fighting training. We also get a slightly longer featurette that takes us through the shooting schedule and Lautner’s recollections of and reflections on each phase. It is quite interesting to see the shooting sequence and how much time is given to each element of the film and to see Lautner’s self-effacing nature come through. Finally, there is a run of the mill gag reel.

**½~~ (2.5/5)

To mark the release of Abduction starring Taylor Lautner on DVD and Blu-ray 13th February, Lions Gate Home Entertainment have given three copies of the movie to give away on Blu-ray. Abduction is directed by John Singleton and also stars Lily Collins, Alfred Molina, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello, Michael Nyqvist and Sigourney Weaver.

TAYLOR LAUTNER (The Twilight Saga) stars as a young man whose secret past is set to collide with a dangerous reality. ABDUCTION, also stars SIGOURNEY WEAVER (Avatar) and LILY COLLINS (Priest, Mirror Mirror) and will be available to download, and to rent and buy on DVD and Blu-ray from 13^th February 2012.

For as long as he can remember, Nathan Harper (Lautner) has had the uneasy feeling that he’s living someone else’s life. When he discovers an image of himself as a young boy on a missing persons website, all of Nathan’s darkest fears come true – his life has been a carefully fabricated lie which hides something more dangerous than he could have ever imagined. Before his ‘parents’ can explain they are murdered and Nathan finds himself on the run.

Propelled on a lethal, no-holds barred mission to learn the truth, every second counts as Nathan and his friend Karen (Collins), aided by an undercover agent (Weaver), race to evade an army of assassins and federal operatives. But as his opponents close in, Nathan realizes that the only way to survive is to stop running and take matters into his own hands.

Click next to be taken to the competition question and entry form:

Taylor Lautner is risen to the accolade of ‘Hollywood megastar’ after playing Jacob in the Twilight franchise and subsequently rocking to stardom.

The good news for Twihards is that there are still two more movies to look forward to but in the meantime Taylor has been a very busy man and has somehow found time to make this new movie, Abduction with Lionsgate which is out in UK cinemas now.

We got to catch up with him in a very swanky hotel in London earlier in the week and the interview is embedded below.

In the interview, we talk about how Taylor has adapted to becoming a leading man after working so closely with such a huge cast in the Twilight movies, we talk stunts and how they were carried out, how certain scenes in the movie were shot and we get a little insight into what you can expect when you go and see Abduction at the cinema.

For the rest of our Abduction coverage, click here.

Monday night in a very wet London held the European premiere of Abduction. It was absolutely pouring with rain but that didn’t stop the Twilight fans flocking their in their droves to get a glimpse of Taylor Lautner and his co-star in the movie, Lily Collins (daughter of singer Phil Collins) on the red carpet at the BFI.

Our friends from Upbeat were there to brave the rain and got interviews with both the young actors who told them what it was like filming the movie. We got to chat with Taylor at the junket on the same day and our interview will hopefully be going live tomorrow or Friday.

Abduction is directed by John Singleton​​ and stars Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins​, Alfred Molina​​, Jason Isaacs​​, Maria Bello​​, Michael Nyqvist​​ and Sigourney Weaver​​. If you’ve missed the trailers for it, you can catch up here.

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

In a couple of weeks, I think I’m going to get interview time with Taylor Lautner for his new movie, Abduction which comes out in the UK 28th September. Until then however, we’ll have to make do with the US premiere to get our weekend Lautner fix. Earlier this week, all the stars of the movie were at the US premiere in Hollywood and Lionsgate have created this interview featurette.

Abduction is directed by John Singleton​​ and stars Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins​, Alfred Molina​​, Jason Isaacs​​, Maria Bello​​, Michael Nyqvist​​ and Sigourney Weaver​​. If you’ve missed the trailers for it, you can catch up here.

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

Here’s a nice little treat for all your Taylor Lautner fans out there as Total Film have released this new image from his latest movie, Abduction. The image comes from the set of the movie that they used for their photoshoot in their latest issue. If you want to see a snippet of their interview, you can have a little look here.

Abduction is directed by John Singleton​ and stars Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina​, Jason Isaacs​, Maria Bello​, Michael Nyqvist​​ and Sigourney Weaver​​. If you’ve missed the trailers for it, you can catch up here.

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

Abduction should be with us in the UK 28th September.

You can keep track of all our Abduction coverage right here.

Lionsgate UK have sent over this new extended clip from their new movie, Abduction which stars Taylor Lautner and from what we can tell, he spends most the movie kicking the cr*p out of people! In this new extended, clip, you get to see him board a train and then proceed to kick said cr*p out of someone who is obviously out to get him – with his thighs!

Abduction is directed by John Singleton​ and stars Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina​, Jason Isaacs​, Maria Bello​, Michael Nyqvist​​ and Sigourney Weaver​​. If you’ve missed the trailers for it, you can catch up here.

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

Abduction should be with us in the UK 28th September.

Taylor Lautner is once again jealous that Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson got loads of new images from their honeymoon in Twilight: Breaking Dawn so once again made sure that he got a new poster with just him on it for his new movie, Abduction!

Abduction is directed by John Singleton​ and stars Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina​, Jason Isaacs​, Maria Bello​, Michael Nyqvist​ and Sigourney Weaver​. If you’ve missed the trailers for it, you can catch up here.

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

Abduction should be with us in the UK 28th September.

This poster comes from MovieFone

Yahoo have released this new stunt featurette for Taylor Lautner’s new movie, Abduction! Abduction is directed by John Singleton​ and stars Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina​, Jason Isaacs​, Maria Bello​, Michael Nyqvist​ and Sigourney Weaver​. If you’ve missed the trailers for it, you can catch up here.

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

Abduction should be with us in the UK 28th September.

Check out the featurette below:

I literally just finished writing up a post for a new image of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart from Twilight: Breaking Dawn only to see this new trailer for Taylor Lautner’s new movie, Abduction! I think he’s just trying to outdo his co-stars!

We’ve already had one trailer for his new movie, Abduction (which if you missed you can see here) and you’ll be pleased to hear that this new one still has him sliding down buildings! I think this trailer gives away a little too much though so if you don’t want to know any spoilers, don’t watch this! Abduction is directed by John Singleton​ and stars Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina​, Jason Isaacs​, Maria Bello​, Michael Nyqvist​ and Sigourney Weaver​.

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

Abduction should be with us in the UK 28th September.

Source: Apple

To mark the release of The Company Men on DVD and Blu-ray NOW, Universal Pictures have given us five copies of the movie for you to win on DVD.

When you fall from grace, you often fall hard. Academy Award®* winners Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and Kevin Costner star in this compelling  film which captures the heart breaking and emotional realities of corporate downsizing during an economic recession.

Bobby Walker (Affleck – Pearl Harbour) faces the cut-throat world of layoffs and redundancies as an executive in the midst of the 2009 economic collapse.

Bobby epitomises the typical city boy at the top of his game, complete with big house, fast car and designer suit. In an instant, the economic climate changes, and with it, Bobby’s whole life and that of his family’s are turned upside down.

Brutal cuts are made across the industry and thousands of employees take the hit, including Bobby who is left unemployed along with colleagues Gene (Tommy Lee Jones – Men in Black) and Phil (Chris Cooper – American Beauty). Each deals with this blow to the economy, and their own personal lives, in various different ways. Their speedy regression from the white collar lifestyle affects not only their pockets, but also their families, their relationships and their spirits.

Moving performances from the cast give us an insight into each character’s vulnerability, Bobby in particular becomes more human as he goes from having everything, or so he thinks, to seemingly having nothing.

To be in with a chance of winning the movie, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Who directed the movie, The Company Men?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 22nd August at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available
• Prize is non-exchangeable and non-refundable. There is no cash alternative
• The Editor’s decision is final and binding on the entrants. No correspondence will be entered into

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

Here’s a brand new poster which as the title would suggest, would see Twilight star Taylor Lautner sliding down a building for his new movie, Abduction. We’ve had a trailer for the movie which if you missed you can see here. The movie is directed by John Singleton and stars Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello, Michael Nyqvist and Sigourney Weaver.

Abduction should be with us in the UK 23rd September.

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

Source: Yahoo

I’ve done the gag about Taylor Lautner being abducted a couple of times now so we’ll leave it this time! The official Facebook page for Taylor Lautner’s new movie, Abduction has released a couple of new images from the movie.

Abduction is directed by John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood) and also stars Sigourney Weaver, Danny Glover, Alfred Molina, Michael Nyqvist, Lily Collins, Maria Bello, and Jason Isaacs.

According to IMDb , Abduction should be with us in the UK & US 23rd September.

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

No people, it’s not true, the Twilight star hasn’t been abducted, this is the poster for his new movie. Abduction had it’s first trailer this week which you can see here. The movie is directed by John Singleton and stars Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello, Michael Nyqvist and Sigourney Weaver.

Abduction should be with us in the UK 23rd September.

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

This new poster comes from Just Jared via the lovely chaps at ComingSoon.

Just released, the new trailer for director John Singleton’s Abduction, starring Taylor Lautner (Twilight) and Lily Collins (The Blind Side), promises face punching, gun shooting, making out with a girl on a moving train during what seems to be an important action sequence, and much more.

It also tells me that I’ll be watching a pre-teen’s version of The Bourne Identity that, instead of balancing great acting with adrenaline-pumping action and intelligent screenwriting, will sacrifice all 3 to milk the money machine that is Lautner. Call me Negative Nancy if you must, but even with supporting performances by Maria Bello, Michael Nyqvist and Sigourney Weaver, it will be hard to turn this unoriginal plot into a winner. Check out the trailer below (along with the synopsis), courtesy of MTV, and let me know what you think.

Official synopsis:

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website? Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

You can catch up here on all of our posts so far on “Beautiful Boy”, a new drama from first time feature director Shawn Ku about a couple coming to terms with their teenage son’s involvement in a deadly campus shooting.

Although much of the content of the new second trailer is repeated from this first trailer, there are some important differences. Firstly, the son remains off screen for the whole trailer and secondly the emphasis is firmly on the ensuing strain on his parents (Michael Sheen and Maria Bello) as they contend with grief, blame, self-recrimination and anger.

In some ways, this is seeming to be marketed as a companion piece to recent offerings like Rabbit Hole and Blue Valentine, though it remains to be seen where this will pitch itself, thematically and tonally.

Certainly Sheen and Bello seem to be on excellent form, Sheen no doubt relishing the chance to showcase another different accent, without having to try to impersonate a historical character. Hopefully this will steer clear of the potentially melodramatic elements and give us something a bit more subtle and considered.

You can catch the trailer here on Apple Movies, or enjoy the embedded version below.

Boys will be boys… some longer than others. Grown Ups is the latest offering from comedy legend Adam Sandler and Fred Wolf. Set over the 4th of July holiday weekend, Sandler and his former basketball school buddies, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider are reunited 30 years later at the funeral of their inspirational grade-school basketball Coach. In honour of his memory, these middle-aged amigos venture out to the old lake house they used to frequent with their respective families in tow, to pay their respects to their beloved Coach, and reflect on the good ol’ days. Each marriage, of course, has it’s own problems and typically with this sort of film, the conflicts resolve themselves in true Hollywood happy ever after fashion. The climax of the movie gears towards the penultimate basketball showdown with the guys being challenged to a rematch by their old grade school basketball rivals. A predictable outcome which only just about manages to save itself (by the skin of it’s teeth) to not fall into complete gooey, schmaltzy over-sentimentality.

Cheesier than a packet of Wotsits, and admittedly filled to the brim with brainless humour, it’s just so hard to NOT actually enjoy watching this ‘remember the time we…’ movie. For such a stellar comedy line-up, reminiscent of a Best of Saturday Night Live sketch show, the film does fall short of being as funny as it potentially could have been. It really should have been so much funnier. Being brutally honest,  the plot is non-existent, relies heavily on gross-out jokes (hurray if you like boob and penis humour) and James’s endearingly lovable performance to carry the weight of this SNL bulk. In spite of the shallow soul-searching and meandering storytelling, it’s still an enjoyable, light-hearted comedy which manages to make you laugh out loud and entertain in places. I don’t care what the critics say – a guilty pleasure it may be, but this is a comedy still worth seeing.

The chemistry and camaraderie between the guys is as natural as it gets. Unlike most tired bromance comedies, this one doesn’t feel contrived and and the lighter parts in the movie, when they kick-back for more “guy time” away from their wives, really make for some of the most enjoyable moments overall. I won’t lie. The selling point, for me, is the simple fact that these comedy legends are all onscreen together. Given that I’m a huge fan of both Chris Rock and David Spade, I didn’t expect to end up hating this movie, and I don’t, despite the negative reception it’s received. My main gripe with these particular two is that they didn’t get enough air time, especially Rock. The leading ladies fared far worse , however, barely scraping together any notable appearances worth mentioning.

This is of course Sandler’s movie and the ongoing joke about his character being ‘Mr Hollywood’ and being all about him is true. If you’re a fan of any of these comedy giants then I think you’ll enjoy this. If not, proceed with caution as this will really only appeal to comedy nostalgists…

With a running time of 102 minutes, the “generous” 2 DVD extras on offer are just about worth a mention: Laughing is Contagious and The Cast of Grown Ups are nice little featurettes sure to please most, but it would have been nice if a compilation of outtakes/deleted scenes had have been put together too. Afterall, you’d expect to see this with such a critically acclaimed cast! Visually, the DVD transfer is just gorgeous and the golden huey tones are perfect for this feel-good nostalgic film.

Save this for a Sunday afternoon and kick back, relax and enjoy this fugly friend-fest with the family for all it’s worth! It’s not Sandler’s best movie, but it’s by no means his worst.

Hasta-la-vista, Chicken Shiznits.

**½~~ (2.5/5)

Grown Ups is available to buy on DVD now or click here to rent.

]]> http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/01/25/grown-ups-dvd-review/feed/ 0 http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/01/22/new-images-from-taylor-lautners-abduction/ http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/01/22/new-images-from-taylor-lautners-abduction/#comments Sat, 22 Jan 2011 12:00:31 +0000 David Sztypuljak http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/?p=67648

The title of this post could be read in a way that implies Taylor Lautner has been abducted and some kind by-stander was on hand to take photos but alas, as far as we know, the Twilight star has not been kidnapped! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist!)

Instead,three new images have been released from his new movie, Abduction which is directed by John Singleton and also stars Sigourney Weaver, Danny Glover, Alfred Molina, Michael Nyqvist, Lily Collins, Maria Bello, and Jason Isaacs.

According to IMDb , Abduction should be with us in the UK 23rd September.

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

Images courtesy of Collider.

Set to hit theaters at some point in 2011, Taylor Lautner’s new thriller, Abduction, is finally making some fresh moves with the release of its officially synopsis.  Yesterday, Collider revealed the synopsis along with the first image for the film but unfortunately they were asked to take it down.

The film, which is directed by John Singleton (Four Brothers, 2 Fast 2 Furious), stars Alfred Molina, Maria Bello, Lily Collins and Sigourney Weaver in supporting roles.

While I am personally not a fan of Lauter, the idea behind the film seems pretty cool and very promising given the supporting cast.  Check out the synopsis below:

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website?  Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

I think the man-on-the-run premise seems like it’s going to work really well given the unique twist in the plot.  What do you all think?

According to Latino Review, Antonique Smith has joined John Singleton’s Abduction in a supporting capacity.

The actress, who was last seen as Faith Evans in 2009′s Notorious, will star alongside Alfred Molina as a couple who try to protect Taylor Lautner’s character as he seeks the truth after finding his baby picture on a missing person website.

With principle photography currently underway, a release date has yet to be set for the Lionsgate property which also stars Lily Collins, Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs and Maria Bello.

Smith, who drew attention through her performance onstage in Rent, will appear next in Victoria Mahoney’s Yelling to the Sky at some point next year.

Stay tuned for more details.