Artificial Eye have released the official UK poster for Kaboom.

Directed by Gregg Akari (Mysterious Skin), Kaboom stars Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Chris Zylka, Juno Temple, Roxane Mesquida, Andy Fischer-Price, Jason Olive, Nicole LaLiberte and James Duval.

Smith’s everyday life in the dorm – hanging out with his arty, sarcastic best friend Stella, hooking up with a beautiful free spirit named London, lusting for his gorgeous but dim surfer roommate Thor – all gets turned upside-down after one fateful, terrifying night.

Kaboom – winner of the Queer Palm at the 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival – is scheduled to hit select UK cinemas on June 10.

Check out the UK poster below:

Source: Sky Movies

Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers, Whip It), Thomas Dekker (Kaboom), Laurence Laboeuf (Being Erica) and Max Thieriot (Chloe) have been cast in road trip drama Foreverland.

Foreverland will tell the story of a young man (Thieriot) stricken with cystic fibrosis who travels with the sister (Laboeuf) of his fallen friend to deliver his friend’s ashes to a healing shrine in Mexico.

Max McGuire (Crossing the Wake) is attached to direct.

Production is expected to commence in late February.

Source: The Playlist

Sundance Selects, via Apple, have released the official trailer for Kaboom.

Directed by Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin), Kaboom stars Thomas Dekker (My Sister’s Keeper), Juno Temple (Greenberg), Haley Bennett (Marley & Me), Chris Zylka (My Super Psycho Sweet 16), Roxane Mesquida (Rubber).

Tells the story of Smith (Dekker), an ambisexual 18-year-old college freshman who stumbles upon a monstrous conspiracy in a seemingly idyllic Southern California seaside town.

Kaboom will be released in the US on January 28.

Check out the trailer below:

Gregg Araki’s new movie has a poster to match its name, and should convince some of the eager Sundancers to catch it when it plays the festival shortly.

We saw Kaboom in Cannes last year where the film was awarded the first Queer Palm, although we weren’t able to see it a few months later in FrightFest, Gregg Araki’s movie has a great deal of momentum coming into Sundance.

Sex, sci-fi and students is what we’re told to expect when the film finally hits cinemas so keep an eye on this one.

And hey – film poster designers do have more than orange and blue in their palette.

I like it far more than this previous one, which tries hard to be all things to all men,

The new poster came from Vulture (from the ever excellent Live for Films) and IMPA had the other one.

Going into the festival there were a select few films that I had earmarked as definites for viewing: Wall Street 2 was top of the list, and closely following it was Gregg Araki’s Kaboom, a delightfully intriguing prospect for anyone familiar with Araki’s body of work.

Araki is one of those indie-darling, festival veterans who has never really cemented the promise his earlier works showed into a sustainable breakthrough into mainstream cinema, even despite great critical acclaim for Mysterious Skin, and even some of his lesser known productions. And I for one always lamented a cross-over that might bring with it more Araki films, but I seems that I grossly underestimated the director.

No-one who left the mid-afternoon screening could possibly have been left in any doubt that Araki has no intention of ever making that breakthrough, or that he positively wallows in his classification as a fringe film-maker. Kaboom was a great big two-fingered salute to anyone who thought he might be making a conscious attempt to make widely accessible films in any way, and it was a ludicrous, incredibly confusing, but wildly enjoyable offering at that.

It looks like Araki has consciously moved back to his earlier loves, wild key changes and genre-blends that can be nauseatingly difficult to balance, while the presence of James Duval- Araki’s muse of sorts- is an even more explicit inference that Araki is shifting his tone back to somewhere around his Teen Apocalypse Trilogy- comprised of Totally Fucked Up (1993), The Doom Generation (1995) and Nowhere (1997)- and that the marked difference of Mysterious Skin was merely a meander from his real artistic manifesto.

My immediate reaction was a mix of utter bewilderment and excitement, for I knew this would be the most enjoyable review I have ever set out to tackle. That post-screening confused euphoria was in stark contrast to those I felt prior to it, as once again the logistical model for allowing press into screenings failed miserably, and I ended up being left to feel like a second class citizen because of the colour of my badge. Cant we all just get along?!

Anyway, the synopsis, for future reference claims the film flows something like this:

Smith’s everyday life in the dorms – hanging out with his arty, sarcastic best friend Stella, hooking up with a beautiful free spirit named London, lusting for his gorgeous but dim surfer roommate Thor – all gets turned upside-down after one fateful, terrifying night. Tripping on some hallucinogenic cookies he ate at a party, Smith is convinced he’s witnessed the gruesome murder of an enigmatic Red Haired Girl who has been haunting his dreams. What he discovers as he tries to find out the truth leads him deeper and deeper into a mystery that will forever change not only the course of his young life but the destiny of the entire world.

I am at a bit of a loss as to where to start with this, as there are a million things you can say about Kaboom, and much like the film itself, they just tumble over one another chaotically, grasping for attention. So, Ill start with the acting. Thomas Dekker, as lead Smith actually puts in a very watchable performance, and I can see him moving into more mainstream projects in the near future, having already appeared in My Sister’s Keeper and the recent remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. His on-screen best friend Stella (Haley Bennett) is initially just as good, though her Juno-like indie-talk, and tendency for filthy metaphors soon begins to grate badly, and her performance overall begins to really hit the tubes around the mid-point, from where it never returns.

The other female lead London, played by Juno Temple, of Atonement fame, looks incredible, particularly when she has her clothes off, it has to be said, but she sounds terrible. I was never certain where her character comes from, and it is ironic that she is called London, as her accent definitely kept wandering from America back across the Atlantic. She is a little full on in places, and reminded me exactly why hyper-sexed college girls drive me up the wall, and her propensity for sleeping with everything that moves became a little tasteless even for the most attracted member of the audience (that would be me).

Elsewhere, Andy Fischer-Price (like the toy) and Roxane Mesquida prove that casting actors on looks alone is not always a viable option if you want good performances out of them. It is, though, another more marginal character who grabs most of my plaudits- Chris Zylka, who plays moronic surf boy (with typically impossible good looks) is excellent in his role of humorous relief. For someone whose major credits so far have included the recently cancelled TV series version of 10 Things I Hate About You, and something called My Super Psycho Sweet 16, Zylka is great, and plays the brainless whipping boy perfectly. He is another one who I suspect may well find his feet in more and more upcoming film projects.

Oh, and James Duval’s in it. Being James Duval. For fans that means something entirely different to the majority of people who will inevitably think he couldn’t act his way out of a plastic bag. His stoner-guru routine is admittedly very funny, though.

But this an Araki film- and no one acting performance would ever overshadow the ideas that Araki himself visibly plays with on-screen, and they pale into utter insignificance against the ludicrous multi-coloured insanity-fest that is Kaboom as a movie.

In places the film feels exactly like a conversation between three stoners, which would have began “Dude, you know what would make an awesome movie…?!”, and would be entirely devoid of reason, stylistic convention and intelligible resolution, thanks to their cloudy minds and inability to develop ideas properly. It could have been at least four different films, so distinct are the different aspects, which would seem to be on-manifesto in terms of Araki’s tendency towards generic smorgasbords, though sadly at least two of the films wouldn’t have been even remotely watchable.

As far as I could discern, the first genre, and the most accessible and enjoyable for myself, was somewhere along the lines of Rules of Attraction or even Kids, with an intriguing look at the sexual awakening of a group of close-knit teenagers, which the first twenty minutes or so of film seemed to hint at wonderfully. The character portraits were dead on, with ultra-hip, quirky language, the behavioural rebellion of nest-flyers, and near graphic sexual scenes, all peppered with genuinely humorous passages, but it was not to last.

The second genre, of course was that of a form of supernatural intrigue film- think Donnie Darko, with magic more than hinted at, and odd, spooky goings on that could very easily have blended in with the first genre on show, with enough skill. But Araki patently has no intention of making the two mesh, and the flitting from one to the other was definitely unsettling (as one assumes was the intention). The third discernible genre was a sort of political conspiracy film, heavy on shady figures and a faceless organisation with the power of the world in their largely unsettled hands: in line with this genre, and presumably following stereotypical conventions, Araki seems to have made a conscious effort to break the world record for the number of times the old chloroform hanky is used on a character in one film.

The problem with the conspiracy side of the film is that its defining characteristics are far too main-stream to balance with the other two styles, and no matter how much Araki might have been intending to unsettle with the jarring swing of style and form, it just didn’t work, apart from getting a great deal of bewildered laughter throughout the audience. Admittedly this genre did offer the means towards the ending, which has to be seen to be believed, and left a brainless grin on my face all the way from the Palais to my new-found local, so it cant have all been bad. It’s just that up until the last twenty minutes or so, when things really begin to get odd, you can never fully suspect that Araki is playing with the audience, and trying to self-parody with the ridiculous blend of plot-strands, and the experience is a little uncomfortable.

More uncomfortable still, especially for someone whose early pornographic experiences were mostly just with the late night soft-core, soft-focused movies that Channel 5ive used to show on a Friday night- definitely aimed at the horny post-pub brigade, but I was never going to miss the chance to crash that particular grubby party as an early teen- was the fact that Araki seems to have in parts aped the obvious lack of plot that hampers even the most conscientious of skin-flick makers. There are a ludicrous number of times when Araki uses an extremely flimsy plot device to get his unanimously beautiful cast to shed their clothes, and start putting things in one another, which is usual for his work, but this time it felt a little forced. The sight of Smith’s mother seamlessly moving from exercising on one of those great big inflatable balls (the gag being that it sounds like she is having sex, and the subsequent reveal that she is in fact merely exercising) into responding to her trainer’s question of what he should do next with some lurid order to take off his “fucking clothes” was just plain unwelcome, and robbed the film of a genuine joke. And I’m sure I saw the same scene in something with far less artistic credentials than an Araki, and quite a few more naked bodies.

Sadly, despite showing some good ideas, and being a ludicrous, brainless thrill ride, there are a few technical errors that I feel Araki should have addressed before releasing the project to general consumption, which detracted from the more clever intentions of his very distinct style. There are a number of continuity errors, like two passengers in a car reacting to a supposedly bumpy road, but the driver remaining totally static, or certain unresolved narrative strands, including the disappearance of Roxane Mesquida’s character Lorelei which has no real explanation. And the otherwise goodl ooking visuals are often let down by very ropey sequences, which look at best like fan-made YouTube films, or the aforementioned car scene (which must rank as one of the worst car chases ever) or by terrible fade-outs that look like they are made for TV advertising slots. I just think it is a shame that a clever film like this, which is such a cinematic rebellion (and will probably never see a wide cinematic release as a result), falters on some of the simple film-making things that a non-first time director shouldn’t really make. And those are the things that people will point to when they are poo-pooing the irony of the project.

But I could forgive those errors, personally, because I enjoyed the mindless lunacy of the whole thing. Okay, so I wish Araki would make a film that sticks to the Rules of Attraction/Kids model, so I can tick off a tangible wish on the Movies To Be Made list in my head, but the unbridled silliness, and jarring switches of tone and genre were- oddly- hugely entertaining.

I’m still left with a lot of unresolved feelings about Kaboom, and  would definitely urge anyone reading this review to go and see it if it ever gets any kind of cinematic release, or to buy it on DVD (as I’m sure a cult-like amount of people will eventually), simply to make up your own minds. I guarantee you will be flabbergasted.

If ever you tried to think of a movie which would suit the new motion poster medium, it would have to be A Nightmare on Elm Street.

New Line Cinema have released a new motion poster seeing Freddie Kruger slashing through the poster with his claws. I’ve embedded it below. A Nightmare on Elm Street stars Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Thomas Dekker, Kellan Lutz, Katie Cassidy, Connie Britton, Jackie Earle Haley and is directed by Samuel Bayer and produced by Brad Fuller and Michael Bay.

It’s released in the UK May 7th.

We’re two weeks away from having seven shades of sleeplessness scared out of us by Jackie Earle Haley as the rebooted Freddy Krueger in Samuel Bayer’s A Nightmare on Elm Street and if the profusion of media from the clawfingered one’s next bedtime story hasn’t whetted/dulled your appetite allow me to present a new clip from the film.

It’s a short clip, but is exactly what you’d expect from this film, and it follows the other clips (all available here) in having Freddy torment a teenage girl with just the right amount of predatory insouciance.

Here Rooney Mara’s character Nancty has an exchange with the scarfaced scoundrel and it professes to be both chilly and chilling. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if it has the desired effect.

This one came in from ShockTillYouDrop.

Yahoo Movies have released a brand new clip from A Nightmare on Elm Street, a remake of the 1984 classic horror movie with Jackie Earle Haley taking on the task as the legendary Freddy Krueger. Katie Cassidy, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Thomas Dekker, Kellan Lutz and Clancy Brown all star alongside Earle Haley with Samuel Bayer directing.

This new clip is entitled ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’ and shows Nancy (Rooney Mara) being stalked by Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley) at the supermarket.

Synopsis: A group of suburban teenages share one common bond; they are all being stalked by Freddy Krueger, a horribly disfigured killer who hunts them in their dreams. As long as they stay awake, they can protect one another… but when they sleep, there is no escape.

Our friends over at FirstShowing.net have put up another new poster for the A Nightmare on Elm Street which is starting to gain promotion all over the place.

Last week, we put up a poster and a new trailer for the movie which is directed by Samuel Bayer and stars Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker and Kellan Lutz. This new poster really sets the scene and I’ve been loving all the artwork that Warner Bros. are coming out with for the movie.

It’s scheduled for release 7th May so not too long to wait.

A new poster has been released for the A Nightmare on Elm Street reboot over on MySpace which stars Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Kellan Lutz, Thomas Dekker and Clancy Brown and is directed by Samuel Bayer. They’ve also told us that we can also expect the final trailer for the movie this Thursday. We’ll obvioualy bring it to you as soon as it goes live.

Click the image to enalrge.

“Freddy Krueger returns in “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” a contemporary re-imagining of the horror classic.

A group of suburban teenagers share one common bond: they are all being stalked by Freddy Krueger, a horribly disfigured killer who hunts them in their dreams. As long as they stay awake, they can protect one another…but when they sleep, there is no escape.

Donning Freddy’s trademark fedora, red-and-green striped sweater, and four-bladed glove is Academy Award® nominee Jackie Earle Haley (“Little Children,” “Watchmen”).

The film is being directed by award-winning music video and commercial director Samuel Bayer (Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”), marking his feature film debut.

This new poster ties in nicely with these new images that Jon posted earlier today. A Nightmare on Elm Street is released in cinemas 7th May.

With the explosive end to the first season of T:TSSC all we were left with, excepting a charred robot corpse, were questions, and given the seemingly constant threat of cancellation most US TV shows seem to live with it’s gratifying that giving T:TSSC a second series allowed the creators to delve further into the Terminator mythology and spend more time in industrial labyrinths and watching things get blown up. And it looks beautiful in Blu-ray.

What I enjoyed most about the first series was the glimpses of the future world, so evocatively rendered in the first two Terminator films, and how the present is informed by our knowledge of the future world, and how the extended Connor family survive under the weight of the expectation that knowledge bought. Now with Cameron, the friendly Terminator, fizzing and popping a spark or two and her possibly sinister agenda is given more air to breathe, further soldiers from the future sent back to help, or hinder, Sarah Connor and her son John becoming the future leader of the resistance, and the formative years of Skynet and Cyberdyne and their AI experiments, the second series of T:TSSC is an improvement on the first in every way.

There is no better way to discover a new series than on a DVD box set, and if you’ve not yet caught up with this show I’d recommend it, particularly if Terminator: Salvation left you colder than a red-eyed exoskeleton. The trials and tribulations of the present and future John Connor are enhanced greatly by the luxury of time a 22 episode run allows, and the more we learn of the birth of the software and systems which become the murderous Terminator AI and the ethical questions it poses adds considerable depth to the original Terminator films.

Though they cannot compete on an action level, and often lapse (but never dally for too long) into family soap opera territory, each episode is a self contained part of the Terminator puzzle, and this series becomes more about the machines than the humans. And – yes, there is the patented Terminator hunt with stone faced chases and shotguns taking chunks out of everything and lots of staring at computer screens and talk of destiny and fate, but it works, and you’ll find yourself sucked in.

The sad news is that this series was canceled after this season, and would have benefited from another season or a final mini series. While not many people mourned its, seemingly inevitable, fall from the network’s graces it is far less trivial and ephemeral than much that survived on the TV schedules. Don’t mistake me – this is not The Wire, nor does it do too well in the comparisons with the recent Battlestar Galactica series (which it shares themes of paranoia and conflict between man and machine), but it is a solid world and asks interesting questions and has a lot to say about the themes of the Terminator series.

It’s worth your time, and worth seeking out on Blu-ray. You’ll get 22 episodes of which only a few are throwaway, characters that may take their time in settling down but by the end they are comfortable in their skin and the writers allow them to drive the story, making for an enjoyable watch. And casting Garbage diva Shirley Manson may seem an odd choice but it works.

There are the obligatory gag reels, deleted scenes and commentaries on the discs, and it’s well presented and strong enough to make it worthwhile watch. We’ve got a couple of clips below and the Blu-ray and DVDs are out now.