Nicholas Jarecki’s feature directorial debut in Arbitrage has just made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival out in Park City, Utah, and boasts an impressive cast that includes Richard Gere in the lead, supported by Tim Roth, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling, and Nate Parker.

A new clip from the film has surfaced over at Deadline, showing Parker coming to Gere’s rescue as he sets up an alibi for them. We can probably safely presume that something has gone wrong for Gere in the previous scene, no doubt involving the crossing of the line of the law.

“Richard Gere plays a hedge fund trader desperate to unload his company before his fraud is found out. An unexpected misstep forces him to turn to a figure from his past played by Nate Parker.”

Parker and Marling are both rising stars, with the former currently starring in the George Lucas-produced Red Tails, which has just been released in US cinemas this past weekend, and Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer, which is also playing at Sundance. Marling went to Sundance last year with two films premiering that she both led and co-wrote, Sound of My Voice and Another Earth (the latter of which will be released here on DVD/Blu-Ray on 2^nd April this year, and is definitely worth buying if you missed its theatrical release at the end of last year).

Jarecki made his writing debut on Gregor Jordan’s The Informers, co-writing with Bret Easton Ellis the adaptation of Ellis’ original novel of the same name. Having worked with such an esteemed writer already, it will be interesting to see how he works writing this project solo, and how he’ll fare as a director too, making his feature debut. As it’s just making its premiere at Sundance, there’s no word yet on a theatrical release either side of the Atlantic, but if it gets a strong reception, it will no doubt be picked up for distribution soon. Until then, here’s the new clip of Gere and Parker to enjoy. It doesn’t set up a significant indication of what we can expect from the film, but the cast and synopsis alone are enough to keep me intrigued.

ARBITRAGE from Rick Grayson on Vimeo.

Here’s the first trailer for The Double which has a top notch cast which includes Richard Gere, Topher Grace, Stana Katic, Stephen Moyer, Martin Sheen and Odette Annable. I put up some images from it a week or two ago and was pleased when this new trailer came out. The only issue is that it gives far too much away.

There is a quiet cool and clever twist that the movie contains which is given away in this trailer and therefore spoils the audience’s chance of being surprised when they see the movie in their local multiplex. With that in mind, only watch on if you’re not too bothered about spoilers.

The synopsis below is clever and gives nothing away, so why does the trailer?!

In THE DOUBLE, the mysterious murder of a US senator bearing the distinctive trademark of the legendary Soviet assassin “Cassius,” forces Paul Shepherdson (Richard Gere), a retired CIA operative, to team with rookie FBI agent, Ben Geary (Topher Grace), to solve the crime. Having spent his career chasing Cassius, Shepherdson is convinced his nemesis is long dead, but is pushed to take on the case by his former supervisor, Tom Highland (Martin Sheen). Meanwhile, Agent Geary, who wrote his Master’s thesis on Shepherdson’s pursuit of the Soviet killer, is certain that Cassius has resurfaced. As Shepherdson and Geary work their way through crimes both past and present, they discover that Cassius may not be the person they always thought him to be, forcing both to re-examine everything and everyone around them.

The Double is directed by Michael Brandt and is released in the US 23rd September. No UK release date as yet.

Source: Apple

Image Entertainment have released the first few images from their new movie, The Double which is directed by Michael Brandt and stars Richard Gere, Topher Grace, Martin Sheen, Stephen Moyer, Odette Yustman and Stana Katic.

In THE DOUBLE, the mysterious murder of a US senator bearing the distinctive trademark of the legendary Soviet assassin “Cassius,” forces Paul Shepherdson (Richard Gere), a retired CIA operative, to team with rookie FBI agent, Ben Geary (Topher Grace), to solve the crime.

Having spent his career chasing Cassius, Shepherdson is convinced his nemesis is long dead, but is pushed to take on the case by his former supervisor, Tom Highland (Martin Sheen). Meanwhile, Agent Geary, who wrote his Master’s thesis on Shepherdson’s pursuit of the Soviet killer, is certain that Cassius has resurfaced. As Shepherdson and Geary work their way through crimes both past and present, they discover that Cassius may not be the person they always thought him to be, forcing both to re-examine everything and everyone around them.

No news yet on when this will be in the UK but we’ll keep you posted.

Most films, however awful they may be, always contain at least one nugget of cinematic richness.

Below is our list of seven features (some of which are plain disappointments, while others are just plain bad) that all share a commonality in regards to the inclusion of one scene where that ticket purchase or time invested in home viewing was (almost) justifiable.

Richard Gere’s car crash in Intersection

Some of you may not be overly familiar with this film, and why would you? It’s a little-seen 1994 feature in which Gere stars alongside a post-Basic Instinct Sharon Stone in a familiar flashback-leaden Hollywood melodrama about a marriage on the rocks, which failed to make any dent at the box office and has since slipped into relative anonymity.

It does however (oddly) feature one of the greatest car crashes committed to film and happened towards the end, before Gere’s adulterous character is able to reach closure with his wife. The crash itself is a beautifully-constructed slow-mo sequence, where the incident is stretched out for a minute or so, allowing to see the full impact of a collision from all angles, and it’s also a device which lets you literally see Gere’s life slowly flash before his eyes.

It’s the kind of scene that someone could easily rip-off, frame-by-frame, and present as their own (which has probably happened anyway, to be honest).

Escaping the creatures in The Village

While nowhere near as awful of The Happening (but hardly up there with Unbreakable either) The Village rates merely as a “meh” on the cinematic scale, but you’ve got to hand it to Shyamalan with his ability in creating moments of genuine Spielbergian wonder (also see the kid’s party footage in Signs).

This occurs here when the village elders (spoiler alert) are dressed as the mythical creatures they’ve conjured up to ensure their children remain within the titular residence. People are fleeing left right and centre from the spiked hoard when a creature advances toward the blind, vulnerable heroine, Bryce Dallas Howard. Suddenly the music swells (an enchanting James Newton Howard score), and in slow-motion, her potential suitor (Joaquin Phoenix) reaches out and takes her hand, pulling her to safety inside.

This accomplished cinematic moment somehow feels cheapened when the contrived Twi(lite) Zone ending reveals itself.

The Lord of Darkness reveal in Legend

This Ridley Scott feature is a classic case of style over content, and no matter how many director’s cuts, soundtrack reinsertions and reappraisals from the film blogosphere you read, it’s not enough to disguise what is a wafer-thin story, populated by dull, lifeless characters (with one magnificent exception, of course).

It features one of the most stunningly-realised and striking-looking fantasy villains of all time, in the shape of the Lord of Darkness (played by an unrecognisable Tim Curry) who is intent on both destroying daylight (gasp!) and marrying Ferris Bueller’s missus.

We catch a fleeting glimpse of the evil one throughout, but he’s finally revealed in all his sinuous glory towards the end of the film when he strides out of a magical mirror, hoof-first, and we get our first clear look of his astonishing blood-red muscular body and terrifying devilish, pointy visage, with the biggest pair of horns you’ve ever seen, protruding out of his forehead. A truly awe-inspiring moment in an otherwise average film.

Campsite sing-a-long from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Of course it’s corny as hell (surprise, surprise – Spock doesn’t get it) but who can resist seeing old favourites Kirk, Spock and McCoy, who’ve been to hell and back together, or in Spock’s case, heaven (or whatever the Vulcan variant is), sat around an old-fashioned camp fire, decked in lumberjack attire and singing ‘Row Your Boat’?

Sadly, before it goes all Brokeback, the trio are summoned back to the Enterprise for a mission that ultimately finds them crossing paths with a deity of some form (maybe even our own!). Yep, it’s all downhill after their frolic in the wilderness.

For those non-Trekkies out there who are now converts, thanks to J.J Abram’s glorious reboot, skip the rest of the film if you like (apart from when Uhura does her hysterical sexy desert striptease act to distract some villains), but it would be most illogical of you to miss the beginning.

Achilles’ first fight in Troy

Achilles (Brad Pitt, subscribing to the smell the fart method of acting here) is awoken from his lazy slumber to take on a blood-thirsty mountain of a man, who he proceeds to cut down with the greatest of ease via one nifty, awesome-looking sideswipe from his sword. With this initial glorious victory, the audience is tricked into the promise of an exciting action/adventure to come.

Unfortunately what you get is a film bathed in a Timotei ad aesthetic, a truly excruciating performance by Borlando Gloom, a limp Eric Bana (who seems to have lost his Chopper) and one unimaginative CGI-heavy battle after another. Even the Trojan horse scene (a pivotal and truly iconic moment in Greek mythology) seems like an afterthought and is relegated to the last ten minutes or so.

To top it off, Pitt is killed by an innocuous arrow wound to the ankle!*

Darth Maul has a surprise (or two) in store in The Phantom Menace

An obvious choice perhaps, and while not enough to salvage what turned out to be (arguably) the most disappointing film in the history of cinema, the uncloaked appearance of the tattooed Sith Lord and his advanced lightsaber which he wields with the utmost ease and deadly grace during the subsequent three-hander fight scene, almost comes close to achieving some of that ole’ Star Wars magic.

If you haven’t seen this for a while, it’s worth checking out again. Just don’t forget to close your eyes when Lucas cuts to the other narrative strands, where a horrible CGI day-glo hillside battle with giant sparkling marbles is taking place, and an annoying little Junior Jedi ‘hilariously’ inadvertently destroys an imperial stronghold and saves the day.

Ape gets in a right (Empire) State in King Kong

Let’s face it, for all Peter Jackson’s supposed reverence to the 1933 original and his claims of how it first captured his interest in the world of cinema (in much the same way Star Wars would do for a later generation of filmmakers), the director didn’t really achieve a fitting homage with this rather bloated remake.

Some of it looks fantastic (Kong in particular, is a WETA wonder), but as much of the action is studio-set (and pre-Avatar) the very noticeably unnatural-looking, green screen segments continually threaten our emotional engagement with the characters, both ape and human.

Jackson is only really able to ramp it up during Kong’s last stand atop of the Empire State Building, where each successive blast from the bi-plane’s machine guns gradually get the better of the him, and his life slowly ebbs away until he has nothing left to give and slumps off the top. It’s an incredibly moving scene and a welcome respite to the overblown spectacle of a film which has come before it.

*Yes, we know.

Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction) has signed on to co-star in Arbitrage.

Roth will star opposite Richard Gere (Primal Fear), Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise), Aubrey Graham (Charlie Bartlett) and Brit Marling (Another Earth) in the crime-drama.

Arbitrage focuses on a troubled hedge fund magnate (Gere), so desperate to sell his trading empire that when he makes a mistake he turns to an unlikely person for help and that leads him down a dangerous trail.

Nicholas Jarecki (The Outsider) is attached to direct, with production expected to begin shortly in New York City.

Roth can currently be seen in the crime-mystery series Lie to Me.

Source: Deadline

Sundance breakout star Brit Marling (Political Disasters) has been cast in Arbitrage, Movieline has revealed.

Marling, who replaces Eva Green (Casino Royale), will star opposite Susan Sarandon (The Lovely Bones) and Richard Gere (Pretty Woman) in the financial drama.

A troubled hedge fund magnate desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire makes an error that forces him to turn to an unlikely person for help.

Writer/director Nicholas Jarecki (The Informers) is at the helm, with production expected to commence in April.

Marling can be seen in Another Earth and Sound of My Voice, both of which are due for release later this year.

Momentum Pictures have just sent us this brand new trailer for new movie called Brooklyn’s Finest. I was sure the name rang a bell a did a little hunt on HeyUGuys to discover that the last clip we had from the movie was back on the evening of the Superbowl in February. Seems odd we’ve heard absolutely nothing since the especially as the movie is out tomorrow!

Brooklyn’s Finest stars Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Wesley Snipes and Ethan Hawke. It’s been directed by Antoine Fuqua who brought us Training Day.

Synopsis: DON CHEADLE, RICHARD GERE and ETHAN HAWKE are BROOKLYN’S FINEST. This gritty urban thriller follows three doomed New York police officers, each trying to overcome their own demons whilst working in the city’s most dangerous precinct run by ruthless drug-running gangsters.

Detective Salvatore “Sal” Procida (HAWKE), desperate for money to feed and house his rapidly growing family, has started pocketing the money left on the table during drug raids. Deeply religious, he finds that he’s in the bad place of trying to reconcile his misdeeds with his needs. The mold in the walls of his home is making his wife (LILI TAYLOR) ill and endangering the life of his unborn twins. And the down payment on his coveted new, bigger house is past due.

It’s released in the UK, tomorrow, 9th June. Check out the new trailer below and let us know what you think.

Apple have released a brand new featurette which gives us a behind the scenes look at the movie based on the amazing woman who made an attempt to be the first person, male or female  to fly solo across the world. This featurette focuses on how they achieved some of the aerial shots.

Amelia stars Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart with Ewan McGregor, Richard Gere, Christopher Eccleston with direction coming from Mira Nair. Check out the featurette which I’ve embedded below or head over to Apple to view in HD.

Amelia is out in cinemas 13th November.

AMELIA stars two-time Academy Award®-winner Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart, the legendary aviatrix and enigmatic symbol of the American free spirit, who was guided by a profound curiosity for everything life had to offer. Earhart’s early aviation triumphs and meteoric rise to fame and fortune were propelled along by her tempestuous partnership and eventual marriage to publisher George Putnam (Richard Gere). Bound by mutual ambition, admiration and, ultimately a great love, their bond could not be broken even with her brief passionate affair with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor). Ms. Earhart was the first woman to solo the Atlantic and was the first pilot, man or woman, to fly unaccompanied across the Pacific. In Amelia’s attempt to be the first to fly around the world in an equatorial flight her life was tragically cut short with her mysterious and untimely disappearance over the South Pacific in 1937.