To celebrate the release of Drive on Blu-ray and DVD on January 30th, we have 2 stylish Drive T-shirts and 4 copies of the brilliant novel written by James Sallis up for grabs.

Ryan Gosling stars as a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac).

After a heist intended to pay off Standard’s protection money spins unpredictably out of control, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). But when he realizes that the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash in his trunk—that they’re coming straight for Irene and her son—Driver is forced to shift gears and go on offense.

Here’s our review of the film – we, like almost everyone else in the world, loved it. Click Next below for the question and the entry form,

Danny Trejo has a credits list longer than probably any well-known actor I can remember seeing, making a name for himself as being tougher than a coffin nail on screen. Best known for his frequent collaborations with Robert Rodriguez, the actor also has leading and smaller roles in much lesser-known films, and the upcoming Bad Ass is one such film.

Led by Trejo, the film also stars Ron Perlman (Hellboy) and Charles S. Dutton (Alien 3, Gothika), and marks the feature directorial debut of Craig Moss. We’ve now got the first trailer to share with you, via /Film, and it looks pretty much like what you’d expect from a film called Bad Ass.

“Decorated Vietnam hero Frank Vega returns home only to get shunned by society leaving him without a job or his high school sweetheart. It’s not until forty years later when an incident on a commuter bus (where he protects an elderly black man from a pair of skin heads) makes him a local hero where he’s suddenly celebrated once again. But his good fortune suddenly turns for the worse when his best friendKlondikeis murdered and the police aren’t doing anything about it.”

I’d never personally heard of him, but the film is based on the true story of the Internet meme Epic Beard Man, and we see Trejo sporting a rather fabulous beard in this first short trailer.

Bad Ass doesn’t yet have a release date secured either here or in the States, and it’s possible that we might well have to wait for it to hit the shelves before we get a chance to watch it.

In ancient times, Conan (Jason Momoa), a Cimmerian, grows up with vengeance in his heart, having seen Khalar Zim (Stephen Lang) lay waste to his village and kill his father in his pursuit of a mystical mask with which he will subdue the whole world and resurrect his enchantress wife. He wants to become a god, you see, and he doesn’t care what he has to do get there.

*****

Conan was not well-received on its initial release and at the risk of skipping to the punchline in the first paragraph of my review, it’s easy to see why. It has some decent elements within it, such as a good sense of the viciousness, grimness and harshness of ancient life, some evocatively brutal fight scenes and in Jason Momoa a modest dose of charisma and some well-chiselled physicality. But, it’s not enough.

Conan was already an iconic figure before Arnie embodied him and although the Austrian Oak’s shortcomings as an actor are self-evident, he does have masses of screen presence. Though Momoa is a chunky guy, handy with a sword and possesses some sparkle, it is not nearly enough to propel the predictable and derivative narrative along. The rest of the actors are familiar to a degree (Ron Perlman as Conan’s father can do this sort of thing in his sleep and kind of does, Stephen Lang chews the scenery like it’s the elixir of life) but it all sort of looks and feels like The Scorpion King – too little genuinely compelling mythology, no explanation of the rules of the game when it comes to the supernatural elements, far too much box-ticking with the plot and in the end, nothing to make us care one way or another about what happens.

Director Marcus Nispel is fast-becoming type-cast as a director of unnecessary, lambasted and needlessly gory remakes (Texas Chainsaw and Friday the 13th were his too) and although it was noted above that a sense of the brutality of the ancient world was welcome, there are more subtle, intelligent and considered ways of doing that than having your lead character stick his finger two knuckles deep into the nasal cavity of an enemy, having already sliced his nose off in an earlier scene.

There are some energetic fight scenes, but the low budget and small cast of extras reveal some obvious shortcomings and ultimately it is hard to care about what happens. The script is pretty flat, the acting one-dimensional and the gore eventually tiresome. A great big waste of invaluable source material and a sad mis-handling of a project with big potential. You can rent it or buy it here from 12th December, but you probably won’t.

**~~~ (2/5)

Extras: Not bad, though hardly ground-breaking. All manner of contributors and experts wade in regarding the origins of Conan, from Robert E Howard’s pulp material, through Marvel, Arnie and later iterations, we then get a bit more on the development of this particular project and how they tried to build a sense of time and space with its own rules and mythology (spoiler alert – it didn’t really work). We also get some background on Robert E Howard himself, including the tragic revelation that he took his life at the age of 30, when faced with the prospect of his mother’s imminent death. She passed away the day after Howard took a gun to his head. There are brief featurettes on the staging of the action sequences and fight scenes and everyone contributes their tuppence-worth about how much fun it was and how hard Momoa worked. The commentaries were not available on the review disc, though there are to be two on the BD, one by the director Marcus Nispel and the other a two-hander with Momoa and co-star Rose McGowan. You can choose between the 2D and 3D versions as well, if that sort of thing is your bag.

***~~ (3/5)

Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive is by far my favourite film of the year. By so far.

It very much deservedly won him the Best Director Award when it debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival back in May. And, in my opinion, it is quite simply one of the most awesome and coolest movies ever made.

Though it didn’t do as well as it should have at the box office, earning $43m., it still more than trebled its $13m. budget, which is an impressive accomplishment to make, especially with an 18-/R-rated film (a rating it very much both deserves and enjoys).

Ryan Gosling gives arguably the best performance of his career to date, with tremendous supporting performances from Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, and Albert Brooks – the last of which is tipped to having a shot at the Best Supporting Actor award at the Oscars next year.

So it gives me a lot of pleasure to share this awesome fan-made poster for the film, courtesy of Badass Digest, designed by James White of Signalnoise. It takes the design of the original – and what I hope will become iconic – poster and infuses it with a sense of awesomeness/retroness that’s very much in keeping with the feel of the film.

“The film had a strong but modernized 80′s vibe, and I really wanted to keep that flavour intact.”

Drive was released at the end of last month, and if you’re lucky, your local cinema might still be showing it for a few more days. If you haven’t already seen it, I highly recommend you take the opportunity to watch it now. And if it’s not still playing, then it is scheduled to come out on DVD/Blu-Ray on 30^th January next year – I already can’t wait for my Blu-Ray copy to arrive in the post.

White’s poster is hopefully going to be available to buy soon, and it’s definitely tempting to pick up a print because it really is brilliant. Without further ado, here it is (and as usual, click to enlarge). Enjoy. It’s pretty damn beautiful, just like the film.

There are so few films that get made these days in which a director, writer, and cast genuinely stretch themselves to try and make something different. Bunraku is one of those films. And it is awesome almost beyond words.

Writer-director Guy Moshe clearly had a vision for his film, and together with a fantastic cast led by Josh Hartnett and international newcomer Gackt (though he’s already a famous Japanese musician/actor) and supported by Woody Harrelson, Kevin McKidd, Ron Perlman, and Demi Moore, he saw the realization of that vision into an utterly creative film that just doesn’t stop giving. From start to finish, it’s an explosive film that will blow your mind.

Much like Sin City has been praised for the creativity of its production and has gained cult status, Bunraku is just as worthy of such praise and status, and not only because Hartnett is a thread that connects the two films. Both are very different, yet very similar in that they succeed in creating a film that barely compares to the other films being made at the same time, so visually different are they.

Moshe and cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchía, who has since worked with Hartnett on I Come With The Rain, shot the entirety of the film in a Romanian studio, for budget reasons, creating their terrific and impressive sets in the studios and using green screens for all of the unbelievably awesome visual effects the films features. It gives the film a very contained feel, which is perfect because it allows them to very naturally create a whole new world within which this film is set. But it is one part of the world reigned over by one evil ruler, making the contained feel of the sets very part. It is a world, as Woody Harrelson’s character The Bartender says, which sees,

“A cowboy with no gun and a samurai with no sword team up to defeat a common evil.”

Hartnett plays the role of the gunless cowboy so well, in what is one of my favourite roles from him, having an air of mystery and silence about him that naturally makes him all the more interesting as a character. Gackt, too, gives an excellent performance as the samurai, and I’m looking forward to seeing whether his international debut will gain him some attention and get him cast in more films beyond Japan in years to come. And Harrelson, as he always is, is a genius as The Bartender; no one could have done it better.

It is the job of Hartnett, Gackt, and Harrelson to take down the evil lord Nicola ruling this town, as played by the immovable Ron Perlman, who brings a dominating presence to the role with ease (one need only take a look at him in Hellboy to be convinced), with Kevin McKidd playing his right-hand man, Killer No.2, and Demi Moore playing the love interest, Alexandra, caught under Nicola’s power and pregnant with his child.

Ultimately, the story boils down to a tale of good vs. evil, as many stories do. But it is the way in which it is told, and the way in which it is so uniquely shot, that make it such an incredible film. It’s a film worth watching, worth talking about, worth forcing upon your friends just so you can discuss it with them because you know how much they’ll love it and you need somebody to talk to about it. Sadly, perhaps because of its uniqueness, it didn’t get to see the light of day in UK cinemas – and very few cinemas in the States too – and so it is perhaps also a film that may have some difficulty in finding its target audience.

But if you’re still reading this, there’s a very good chance that that target audience includes you, and I really do urge you to seek this movie out. Moshe is an immensely talented director, and he has made nothing short of an epic film with Bunraku. Not epic in its scale and number of extras on the screen, but epic in its sheer brilliance. It is a film that would have looked so good in the cinema on a big screen, but nonetheless looks incredible on Blu-Ray, a format I highly recommend you watch this in if at all possible to enjoy the film’s full experience. I can’t wait to see what Moshe brings us next.

Bunraku has been released on DVD/Blu-Ray today, and I cannot recommend enough how much you should go and pick this up.

****½ (4.5/5)

Special Features:

The copy that I’m reviewing didn’t actually come with any extras, and I can’t find any extras listed anywhere else, which is a great shame, because I would have loved to have seen some of the Making Of or Behind the Scenes work on this film. But alas, it appears it was not to be. Despite this lack of special features though, it is definitely still worth checking out this awesome film if you have the chance; it won’t disappoint.

See this film. It’s great. Ryan Gosling leads Drive, Nicholas Winding Refn’s latest. which has itself a phenomenal amount of positive momentum since its festival showings and today there’s two TV spots to convince you.

Refn has himself a handsome cast in the shape of Ryan Gosling​, Ron Perlman​, Carey Mulligan​, Bryan Cranston​, Albert Brooks​, Christina Hendricks​ and Oscar Issac, and if you’ve not seen the trailers that have been released then click here right now.

Drive centers on a Hollywood stunt performer (Gosling) who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

 

Few films have approached the box office with quite the same seductive momentum as Nicolas Winding Refn’s latest film.

Drive has Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan lining up alongside Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, Oscar Isaac and Ron Perlman in a film about love, fast cars and a man with a hammer.

It’s clear that Mulligan and Gosling are fast rising stars and if you’re in any doubt of this I urge you in the strongest possible terms to find out exactly why The Gozbox is a head turner in this excellent post from The Incredible Suit (who gave us the moniker The Gozbox).

The good folks at Yahoo have given us another clip and its very easy to see why this film is so admired. The framing of the shots, the pacing and delivery particularly from Gosling is pitch perfect.

So much to enjoy in these 50 odd seconds and you can enjoy the whole thing when it arrives in UK cinemas on the 23rd of September.

Drive is fast becoming the must-see movie of 2011 and with just under three weeks until Nicolas Winding Refn’s film enters UK cinemas there’s still time to enjoy a few more choice clips.

Refn has himself a handsome cast in the shape of Ryan Gosling​, Ron Perlman​, Carey Mulligan​, Bryan Cranston​, Albert Brooks, Christina Hendricks​ and Oscar Issac, and if you’ve not seen the trailers that have been released then click here right now.

Drive centers on a Hollywood stunt performer (Gosling) who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

TV spots ahoy,

Here’s the poster, which fans of international variants of posters will enjoy.

We have IMPA to thank for the poster, and Yahoo to thank for the moving picture shows.

Here’s a brand new set of nine new character banners in total which show the supporting cast in Nicolas Winding Refn’s new movie, Drive which we recently reviewed and gave it a stonking 5/5!

If you’ve missed our rather extensive coverage of this intense movie, you can keep track of it all here and if you missed the first trailer for the movie, you can catch up here. These banners features the majority of the supporting cast which includes Carey Mulligan​, Bryan Cranston​, Christina Hendricks​, Ron Perlman​, with Oscar Isaac, and Albert Brooks

Ryan Gosling stars as a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac).

After a heist intended to pay off Standard’s protection money spins unpredictably out of control, Driver finds himself driving defence for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). But when he realizes that the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash in his trunk-that they’re coming straight for Irene and her son-Driver is forced to shift gears and go on offence.

Drive is released in the UK 23rd September this year and in the US 16th September.

The six landscape banners come from Collider while the three portraits from The Film Stage. All are awesome! Check them all out below.

Everything we’ve seen from Guy Moshe’s upcoming Bunraku has looked absolutely awesome. The first trailer was one of my favourites of the year, followed by a brilliant poster, and recently a great clip of Ron Perlman itching for a fight.

With its US Video on Demand release just around the corner on 1st September, we’ve now got another awesome clip promoting the film via Yahoo Movies, entitled Take It Outside, that sees Josh Hartnett and Gackt throw down.

“In a world with no guns, a mysterious drifter (Josh Hartnett), a young samurai (Gackt) and a bartender (Woody Harrelson) plot revenge against a ruthless leader (Ron Perlman) and his army of thugs, headed by nine diverse and deadly assassins. This visually stunning film is filled with uniquely choreographed action sequences of a new style that melds east with west and old school with new.”

It was clear right from the first trailer that this film was going to be different from the majority of action/fantasy films of recent years, and the clips have only been cementing that notion. In an interview with MTV a few years back, Hartnett himself likened the film’s visuals to the recent neo-noir success that he also starred in, Sin City:

“It’s a story of revenge… My character is called ‘The Drifter,’ and he comes into this world that doesn’t look like anything like you’ve ever seen before. It’s in the vein of ‘Sin City’ or something like that, where the world doesn’t look like reality at all.”

This new clip begins with Woody Harrelson, The Bartender, playing the role of mediator, as bartenders do, between the two men, telling them to take it outside. Then in seemingly one take, the camera moves in towards Harrelson and turns around, and we’re suddenly outside. But we’re not quite outside, just a sort of semi-outside that will make up the feel of Bunraku, shot predominantly with green screens. It’s a hard thing to describe, so I recommend watching the clip to fully understand and appreciate the look of the film.

Once outside, the fight between them begins, sizing each other up. And the music that accompanies them is just so good. It’s a mix of brilliant brass, pounding drums and bass, and an exceptional guitar that is just fantastic, and sets the tone for their fight perfectly. Watch out for Harrelson taking a seat at the 1:00-mark, too; it’s just a small motion, but it looks brilliant all the same.

Whilst I wish the UK would be getting a theatrical release for Bunraku, it’s looking pretty unlikely. After coming out on VoD in America on 1st September, it will then get a theatrical run there at the end of the month. And though we probably won’t be getting the same, we thankfully won’t have to wait long to see it, with its DVD/Blu-Ray release scheduled for 3rd October. Without further ado, here’s the immensely awesome new clip to get your anticipation rising for October. This is going to be awesome.

Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive has played extremely well on the festival circuit this year and has impressed everywhere it has shown.

There was a distinct buzz around the second day of the recent Big Screen event in London as rumours spread that Drive was going to be the secret screening that night and it did not disappoint. We saw the film that night and reviewed it very positively here and in the month leading up to its theatrical run here in the UK you can be sure we’ll see the momentum for the film build.

Latino Review  happened upon these new posters, each bearing one of the main players in Refn’s tale and if you can ignore the visible camera flash on these images then you’ll enjoy a new look at the cast, which is one of the strongest of the year with Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan lining up alongside Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks and Albert Brooks.

Eyes down for a full house,

We got a scorcher of a first trailer for the upcoming Bunraku last month that showed Josh Hartnett absolutely on top of his game in this little-known, but highly anticipated, film.

We then got a poster that looks simply awesome at the start of the month, and now we have a great new clip, entitled ‘You Want A Shot At The Title’, focusing on Ron Perlman and Kevin McKidd’s characters, courtesy of Ain’t It Cool News.

Starring alongside Hartnett, Perlman, and McKidd in Bunraku will be Woody Harrelson, Demi Moore, and Japanese musician/actor, Gackt, directed by Guy Moshe from his own script. It was shot back in 2008, so you can understand why it’s so highly anticipated for me; it’s been a long time coming.

“In a world with no guns, a mysterious drifter (Josh Hartnett), a young samurai and a bartender (Woody Harrelson) plot revenge against a ruthless leader (Ron Perlman) and his army of thugs, headed by nine diverse and deadly assassins. This visually stunning film is filled with uniquely choreographed action sequences of a new style that melds east with west and old school with new.”

You can really get that sense of visually mixed styles from the trailer and it comes across in this new clip too. I love the way the background has been built behind Perlman when we get that first reveal as McKidd pulls back the door. The scene really reminds me of the final fight scene of the first volume of Kill Bill, in the garden at night with the snow falling. There’s no fighting between McKidd and Perlman in this clip, but you can cut the tension between them with a knife – or Perlman’s wood-chopping axe – and if you’ve seen the trailer, then you’ll know that McKidd’s character has got some serious skills in this film, just as Perlman’s characters tend to have in all of his films.

Bunraku has a bit of an unusual release schedule, coming out on Video on Demand in the States on 1^st September, followed by a theatrical release at the end of September. Sadly, here in the UK, it’s not looking likely that we’ll be seeing this in the cinema at all. But, having said that, the likes of HMV and Amazon are currently listing a 3^rd October release date for the DVD/Blu-Ray here, so we’ve not got long at all to wait for its release, even if we won’t get to see it on the big screen. Without further ado, here’s the great new clip from the film. Enjoy.

Icon Film have released the official UK trailer and poster for action-drama Drive (read our 5* review here).

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson), Drive stars Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Ron Perlman, Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks and Oscar Isaac.

A Hollywood stunt performer (Gosling) who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

Drive premiered at the 64th annual Cannes Film Festival to overwhelmingly positive reviews, and will be revving into UK cinemas on September 23.

Check out the trailer and poster below:

Source: Facebook

Yesterday I was lucky enough to hear Nicolas Winding Refn talk in detail about his latest film, Drive. The film won Refn the prize for Best Director at Cannes and understandably the film has a lot of hype surrounding it. And it is all entirely justified.

Adapted from the book by James Sallis, the director explained how Ryan Gosling approached him with the initial idea, but the process had a very rocky start at a restaurant after the director reacted to medication he was taking for feverish symptoms. Not being able to even string a sentence together, Refn had Gosling drive him home as he was too ill to get a taxi. Still unable to talk, Gosling turned the radio on to unhinge the awkward silence. Things got increasingly worse for the director when he started to cry along to ‘Can’t Fight This Feeling’ by REO Speedwagon. After suddenly breaking his silence and singing along, air drumming, the works, Refn screamed in Ryan Gosling’s face that he has the answer. He knew what Drive was all about. It’s the music.

It is exceptionally clear how Refn’s emotional experience has carried over to his work. The soul of the film is the soundtrack, the characters appearing to breathe with it, tracking both the intensity and fragility of Gosling’s emotions perfectly. Adding a euphoric veneer to the simple act of driving through the normally monotonous city streets, the electro beats automatically make us view this film as retro, even when showing us the modern American skyscrapers.

From the trailer, you’ll know this film is rather heavy in regards to violence – hammers, guns, fists, you name it – but the film’s strength is that it commits unfailingly. There may not be blood in every scene, but when it comes it is all the more hard-hitting, arriving in short sharp bursts that are hard to predict and more than a little jumpy. The brutality comes from the hands of Gosling’s beautiful monster; silent, stoic and absolutely mesmerising. The incredible ability he has to emote with his eyes says more than any amount of words and was a fantastic choice Gosling and Refn made in regards to how little dialogue the character has throughout the film.

Next-door neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan) is the only person able to make him drop his unyielding outer shell, stripping him down and making way for a very beautiful and fragile relationship between the two. The scenes they share are nothing short of stunning, especially a pivotal part of the film that takes place in a lift and shares a kiss with a boot-driven skull-smashing – as stunningly tender as it is utterly merciless. Where other films would have the girl screaming to the heavens and running for the nearest exit, what plays out here is silence. Gosling’s contorted face and Mulligan’s numbed expression after this incident being just one of many examples that display Refn’s ability to continue a thought process through silence. But the silence in this film does not irritate, it simply draws you further in.

Albert Brooks really is the standout of the fantastic supporting cast, a world away from his days on Saturday Night Live, and a complete revelation as the relentless Bernie. Bryan Cranston plays brilliantly alongside the silent Gosling, coaching him at work, arranging his getaway cars at night and providing paternal advice in-between. Oscar Isaac impresses as always, almost unrecognisable as Irene’s husband Standard and Ron Perlman has a nasty and deliciously egotistical character in Nino.

Visually stunning, Drive is magnificently brutal. It is a haunting work that, for all its knives and guns, is never afraid to be still. You are invested from the instant the film begins and you never have a chance to get off the ride – not that you’d want to. An incredibly tense viewing experience, as an audience you feel completely relaxed under Refn’s direction and never feel for a second that he might falter. To contradict the film’s retro tones, Drive really is a modern masterpiece.

Review by Emma Thrower

***** (5/5)

]]> http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/08/15/drive-review/feed/ 3 http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/08/14/new-international-poster-shows-ryan-gosling-in-drive/ http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/08/14/new-international-poster-shows-ryan-gosling-in-drive/#comments Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:00:24 +0000 David Sztypuljak http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/?p=101517

I know there’s a lot of people out there who can’t get enough of Ryan Gosling so here as a viewing treat is a new International poster showing the man himself in his new movie, Drive.

If you missed the first trailer for the movie, you can catch up here. It’s directed by Nicolas Winding Refn​ and also stars Carey Mulligan​, Bryan Cranston​, Christina Hendricks​, Ron Perlman​, with Oscar Isaac, and Albert Brooks

Ryan Gosling stars as a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac).

After a heist intended to pay off Standard’s protection money spins unpredictably out of control, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). But when he realizes that the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash in his trunk-that they’re coming straight for Irene and her son-Driver is forced to shift gears and go on offense.

Drive is released in the UK 23rd September this year and in the US 16th September.

Here’s the first poster for Josh Hartnett, Woody Harrelson, Ron Perlman and Demi Moore’s new movie, Bunraku which comes to us from ARC Entertainment. We’ve had a trailer for the film which you can see here but I do rather like this first poster!

It’s directed by Guy Moshe and will feature at the Festival during the September 9th-19th, 2010.

Here’s the synopsis:

In a world with no guns, a mysterious drifter (Josh Hartnett), a young samurai and a bartender (Woody Harrelson) plot revenge against a ruthless leader (Ron Perlman) and his army of thugs, headed by nine diverse and deadly assassins. This visually stunning film is filled with uniquely choreographed action sequences of a new style that melds east with west and old school with new. The film also stars Demi Moore.

Source: Yahoo

Bunraku, Josh Hartnett

Josh Hartnett, Woody Harrelson, Ron Perlman and Demi Moore

FilmDistrict have unveiled the first official poster for Drive, and it pays homage to the unapologetic genre thrillers of the 80′s.

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson), Drive stars Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac and Albert Brooks.

Synopsis: A Hollywood stunt performer (Ryan Gosling) who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

Drive premiered to overwhelmingly positive reviews at the 64th annual Cannes Film Festival, where Refn even picked up the coveted Best Director award.

Icon Film will release Drive in the UK on September 23.

Check out the poster below:

Source: IMP

A new picture has landed online for Lionsgate’s upcoming reboot of the Conan franchise: Conan the Barbarian (in 3D).

Orphaned when his village is destroyed and his father killed, Conan (Jason Momoa – who, like, nearly died a bunch of times) wanders a path of “wanton adventure and women”, surviving as a thief, a pirate and a warrior. Chancing upon the man responsible for his predicament, Conan must overcome monsters, henchmen and a powerful witch if he is to achieve revenge on the warlord Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang).

The image depicts Ron Perlman as blacksmith and father Corin, and Leo Howard as a young Conan.

Source: ComicBookMovie.com

Toronto Film Festival posts continue with a few new images from Drive which stars Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan who also features in Shame (see new images here). Drive had a new trailer which debuted at Comic Con a few days ago which you can see here. It’s directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and also stars Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, with Oscar Isaac, and Albert Brooks.

Ryan Gosling stars as a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac).

After a heist intended to pay off Standard’s protection money spins unpredictably out of control, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). But when he realizes that the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash in his trunk-that they’re coming straight for Irene and her son-Driver is forced to shift gears and go on offense.

Drive is released in the UK 23rd September this year and in the US 16th September.

Source: TIFF

Bunraku is not a film that many people will have heard about, but I’ve been waiting for it for what feels like forever, and this brilliant first trailer from Collider definitely makes it look like it will be well worth the wait.

Filmed back in the spring and summer of 2008, this film has been a long time coming, and it’s great to see how nicely it’s shaped up with very impressive special effects.

The film has an excellent cast, starring Josh Hartnett (Lucky Number Slevin), Woody Harrelson (Zombieland), Japanese musician/actor/writer Gackt (making his international debut), Kevin McKidd (Grey’s Anatomy), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), and Demi Moore (G.I. Jane).

Hartnett is an actor I think is highly underrated and often overlooked, but his past performances in Black Hawk Down, 30 Days of Night, and Lucky Number Slevin prove to me what an exceptional actor he is, and he looks to be on top form in this trailer. Harrelson is of course always great to watch, and we can expect a lot of fun from him in his role as The Bartender in Bunraku. And whilst Gackt is not especially well known outside of Japan, beyond fans of Japanese rock music and/or films and television, the fact that writer-director Guy Moshe went to Japan to convince Gackt to sign on should encourage anyone doubtful of his abilities as an actor, and he looks awesome in the trailer opposite Hartnett. The film sees,

“A mysterious drifter (Josh Hartnett) and an ardent young Japanese warrior Yoshi (Gackt) both arrive in a town that has been terrorized by outrageous and virulent criminals. Each is obsessed with his separate mission, and guided by the wisdom of The Bartender (Woody Harrelson) at the Horseless Horseman Saloon, the two eventually join forces to bring down the corrupt and contemptuous reign of Nicola (Ron Perlman), the awesomely evil “woodcutter” and his lady Alexandra (Demi Moore), a femme fatale with a secret past. This classic tale is re-vitalized and re-imagined in an entirely fresh visual context, set in a unique world that mixes skewed reality with shadow-play fantasy, a place where even the landscape can betray you. Heroes triumph here only because the force of their will transforms and transcends both space and time. The world of BUNRAKU is past and present, fantasy and reality, Samurai and Western all combined. Like SIN CITY and 300, it gives classic conflict a whole new graphically supercharged dynamic. Resonating through a wide range of cultures and showcasing a mind-blowing array of martial arts disciplines, BUNRAKU is a fresh arena for breathtaking fight action.”

Unfortunately, I’m not especially optimistic for the film’s sake of making good on its budget. According to the film’s Facebook page, it will be released in the States through Video on Demand on 1st September this year, before being released in cinemas on 30th September. Maybe it’s an attempt to drum up interest for its theatrical release, I’m not sure. I know I’d still want to see it in the cinema if I saw it first on VoD, but I can imagine that I’d be in a minority.

Sadder still, because of this being the planned release schedule for Bunraku in the States, it’s probably wishful thinking to hope for a release in cinemas in the UK, so we may well have to wait (and hope) for a DVD/Blu-Ray release here instead. Hopefully we’ll get lucky and have at least a small theatrical run by the end of the year. Without further ado, here’s the great first trailer. Let us know what you think of it in the comments section below. I’m interested to see what other people’s thoughts on it are.