Heads up, L.A. rejects. Focus Features has hooked us up with a way to send you to the Los Angeles premiere of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, starring Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch. And by send, we mean give you tickets. You’ll have to furnish your own local transportation to get you to the event. To boot, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is an excellent movie. I can confirm as much first hand, as I caught it a few weeks ago. You’ll get a free, good movie to watch and you may even end up seeing a few famous people, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Find out how you can enter to win yourself a pair of tickets after the jump.

1. The premiere will take place on Tuesday, December 6th in Los Angeles. So make sure you are (a) available that evening and (b) live in Los Angeles, as we can’t get you there otherwise (our private jet doesn’t exist).

2. We will be providing one (1) pair of tickets to three (3) different winners each. That means you can bring a guest, so start thinking of who you’d like to bring. And then think of who you will brag to later in order to make them feel jealous (because you know you’ll want to).

3. Jump down to the comments section below and provide an answer to the following question: Next Monday is my birthday. Yes, I’m getting old. But as a tradition, I always buy myself something nice. Not super rich nice, but nice. I usually put a limit of $100 on it. So use your skills of espionage (read: Google search) and find me the coolest, nerdiest most awesome gift that I could get for myself (it doesn’t have to be movie related, but you get extra points for making it somehow tie into Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy). The most inspired choice will win one pair of tickets. The other two will be chosen at random by our office supercomputer. Drop a link or description in the comments section and you’re officially entered.

4. Be sure to include your email address in the comment form below (there’s a place for it, don’t put it in the main comment box or everyone will see it) so that we can contact you if you will. Winners will be contacted by Saturday, December 3, so make sure your entry is in by then.

About the Film

The long-awaited feature film version of John le Carré’s classic bestselling novel. The time is 1973. The Cold War of the mid-20^th Century continues to damage international relations. Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), a.k.a. MI6 and code-named the Circus, is striving to keep pace with other countries’ espionage efforts and to keep the U.K. secure. The head of the Circus, known as Control (John Hurt), personally sends dedicated operative Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) into Hungary. But Jim’s mission goes bloodily awry, and Control is forced out of the Circus – as is his top lieutenant, George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a career spy with razor-sharp senses. Estranged from his absent wife Ann, Smiley is soon called in to see undersecretary Oliver Lacon (Simon McBurney); he is to be rehired in secret at the government’s behest, as there is a gnawing fear that the Circus has long been compromised by a double agent, or mole, working for the Soviets and jeopardizing England. Supported by younger agent Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch), Smiley parses Circus activities past and present. In trying to track and identify the mole, Smiley is haunted by his decades-earlier interaction with the shadowy Russian spy master Karla. The mole’s trail remains cold until maverick field agent Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy) unexpectedly contacts Lacon. While undercover in Turkey, Ricki has fallen for a betrayed married woman, Irina (Svetlana Khodchenkova), who claims to possess crucial intelligence. Separately, Smiley learns that Control narrowed down the list of mole suspects to five men. They are the ambitious Percy Alleline (Toby Jones), whom he had code-named Tinker; suavely confident Bill Haydon (Colin Firth), dubbed Tailor; stalwart Roy Bland (Ciarán Hinds), called Soldier; officious Toby Esterhase (David Dencik), dubbed Poor Man; and – Smiley himself. Even before the startling truth is revealed, the emotional and physical tolls on the players enmeshed in the deadly international spy game will escalate…

Director: Tomas Alfredson (“Let the Right One In”)

Writers: Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan; Based on the novel by John le Carré

Cast: Gary Oldman, Kathy Burke, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Dencik, Colin Firth, Stephen Graham, Tom Hardy, Ciarán Hinds, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Simon McBurney, Mark Strong

MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 128 minutes

Find out more at www.TinkerTailorSoldierSpy.com.

This is my Christmas. Over the next couple of months, we’re going to real cozy with some of the titles listed here – the twenty-six films that make up the upcoming Sundance Film Festival‘s in-competition programming. There are some expected titles here – like Mark Webber‘s The End of Love, Ry Russo-Young‘s Nobody Walks, Colin Trevorrow‘s Safety Not Guaranteed, and James Ponsoldt‘s Smashed, to name a very slim few – and there are already a couple of surprises, most of which consist of films that I’ve just yet to hear of (like Ben Lewin‘s The Surrogate, which sounds fantastic). But the full list of these in competition titles is worth poring over, so I’ll set you to it in just a moment, after a couple of necessary bits of ‘dance info.

This is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg, as a total of 110 feature-length films were picked for the festival, coming from 31 countries and 44 first-time filmmakers. No less than 88 films at the festival will be world premieres. More programming announcements will be arriving soon, with picks for the Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, NEXT <=> and New Frontier sections due to be announced tomorrow, December 1, with films in the Premieres and Documentary Premieres sections getting announced on Monday, December 5.

This year’s festival runs from January 19 through 29 in Park City, Utah. Should the press-credential-givers be so kind (hi, press-credential-givers, we love you), your own Allison Loring and I will be there to cover that town and that festival like a fresh snowfall, for our second and third Sundances, respectively. After the break, check out the full list of films showing in competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, and happy holidays, cinephiles.

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films.

Beasts of the Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar) — Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under, in this tale of a six year old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world. Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry.

The Comedy / U.S.A. (Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Robert Donne, Colm O’Leary) — Indifferent even to the prospects of inheriting his father’s estate, Swanson whiles away his days with a group of aging Brooklyn hipsters, engaging in small acts of recreational cruelty and pacified boredom. Cast: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, Kate Lyn Sheil, Alexia Rassmusen, Gregg Turkington.

The End of Love / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Mark Webber) — A young father unravels following the loss of the mother of his child. Cast: Mark Webber, Shannyn Sossamon, Michael Cera, Jason Ritter, Amanda Seyfried, Frankie Shaw.

Filly Brown / U.S.A. (Directors: Youssef Delara, Michael D. Olmos, Screenwriter: Youssef Delara) — A Hip Hop-driven drama about a Mexican girl who rises to fame and consciousness as she copes with the incarceration of her mother through music. Cast: Lou Diamond Phillips, Gina Rodriguez, Jenni Rivera, Edward James Olmos.

The First Time / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jonathan Kasdan) — Two high schoolers meet at a party. Over the course of a weekend, things turn magical, romantic, complicated and funny, as they discover what it’s like to fall in love for the first time. Cast: Brittany Robertson, Dylan O’Brien, Craig Roberts, James Frecheville, Victoria Justice.

For Ellen / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: So Yong Kim) — A struggling musician takes an overnight long-distance drive in order to fight his estranged wife for custody of their young daughter. Cast: Paul Dano, Jon Heder, Jena Malone, Margarita Levieva, Shay Mandigo.

Hello I Must Be Going / U.S.A. (Director: Todd Louiso, Screenwriter: Sarah Koskoff) — Divorced, childless, demoralized and condemned to move back in with her parents at the age of 35, Amy Minsky’s prospects look bleak – until the unexpected attention of a teenage boy changes everything. Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Blythe Danner, Christopher Abbott, John Rubinstein, Julie White. DAY ONE FILM

Keep the Lights On / U.S.A. (Director: Ira Sachs, Screenwriters: Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias) —An autobiographically inspired story of a passionate long-term relationship between two men driven by addiction and secrets but bound by love and hopefulness. Cast: Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth, Julianne Nicholson, Souleymane Sy Savane, Paprika Steen.

LUV / U.S.A. (Director: Sheldon Candis, Screenwriters: Sheldon Candis, Justin Wilson) — An orphaned 11-year-old boy is forced to face the unpleasant truth about his beloved uncle during one harrowing day in the streets of Baltimore. Cast: Common, Michael Rainey Jr., Dennis Haysbert, Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton.

Middle Of Nowhere / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ava DuVernay) — When her husband is incarcerated, an African-American woman struggles to maintain her marriage and her identity. Cast: Emayatzy Corinealdi, David Oyelowo, Omari Hardwick, Lorraine Touissant, Edwina Findley.

Nobody Walks / U.S.A. (Director: Ry Russo-Young, Screenwriters: Lena Dunham, Ry Russo-Young) — Martine, a young artist from New York, is invited into the home of a hip, liberal LA family for a week. Her presence unravels the family’s carefully maintained status quo, and a mess of sexual and emotional entanglements ensues. Cast: John Krasinski, Olivia Thirlby, Rosemarie DeWitt, India Ennenga, Justin Kirk.

Safety Not Guaranteed / U.S.A. (Director: Colin Trevorrow, Screenwriter: Derek Connolly) — A trio of magazine employees investigate a classified ad seeking a partner for time travel. One employee develops feelings for the paranoid but compelling loner and seeks to discover what he’s really up to. Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karen Soni.

Save the Date / U.S.A. (Director: Michael Mohan, Screenwriters: Jeffrey Brown, Egan Reich, Michael Mohan) — As her sister Beth prepares to get married, Sarah finds herself caught up in an intense post-breakup rebound. The two fumble through the redefined emotional landscape of modern day relationships, forced to relearn how to love and be loved. Cast: Lizzy Caplan, Alison Brie, Martin Starr, Geoffrey Arend, Mark Webber.

Simon Killer / France, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Antonio Campos) — A recent college graduate goes to Paris after breaking up with his girlfriend of 5 years. Once there, he falls in love with a young prostitute and their fateful journey begins. Cast: Brady Corbet, Mati Diop, Constance Rousseau, Michael Abiteboul, Solo.

Smashed / U.S.A. (Director: James Ponsoldt, Screenwriters: Susan Burke, James Ponsoldt) — Kate and Charlie are a young married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of music, laughter and… drinking. When Kate decides to get sober, her new lifestyle brings troubling issues to the surface and calls into question her relationship with Charlie. Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally.

The Surrogate / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Ben Lewin) — Mark O’Brien, a 36-year-old poet and journalist with an iron lung, decides he no longer wishes to be a virgin. With the help of his therapist and the guidance of his priest, he contacts a professional sex surrogate to take him on a journey to manhood. Cast: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy.

U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
The world premieres of 16 American documentary films.

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry / U.S.A., China (Director: Alison Klayman) — Renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has garnered international attention as much for his ambitious artwork as his political provocations and increasingly public clashes with the Chinese government.

The Atomic States of America / U.S.A. (Directors: Don Argott, Sheena M. Joyce) — In 2010, the United States announced construction of the first new nuclear power plant in more than 32 years. A year later, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Fukushima Power Plant in Japan sparking a fierce debate in the U.S. over the safety and viability of nuclear power.

Chasing Ice / U.S.A. (Director: Jeff Orlowski) — Science, spectacle and human passion mix in this stunningly cinematic portrait as National Geographic photographer James Balog captures time-lapse photography of glaciers over several years providing tangible visual evidence of climate change.

DETROPIA /U.S.A. (Directors: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady) — The woes of Detroit are emblematic of the collapse of the U.S. manufacturing base. This is the dramatic story of a city and its people who refuse to leave the building, even as the flames are rising.

ESCAPE FIRE: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare / U.S.A. (Directors: Matthew Heineman, Susan Froemke) — What can be done to save our broken medical system? Powerful forces are trying to maintain the status quo in a profit-driven medical industry, but a movement to bring innovative methods of prevention and healing is finally gaining ground – potentially saving the health of a nation.

Finding North /U.S.A. (Directors: Lori Silverbush, Kristi Jacobson) — A crisis of hunger looms in America and is not limited to the poverty stricken and uneducated. Can a return to policies of the 1970s save our future?

The House I Live In / U.S.A. (Director: Eugene Jarecki) — For over 40 years, the War on Drugs has accounted for 45 million arrests, made America the world’s largest jailer and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet, drugs are cheaper, purer and more available today than ever. Where did we go wrong and what is the path toward healing?

How to Survive a Plague / U.S.A. (Director: David France) — The untold story of the intensive efforts that turned AIDS into a manageable condition – and the improbable group of (mostly HIV-positive) young men and women whose amazing resilience broke through a time of rampant death and political indifference.

The Invisible War / U.S.A. (Director: Kirby Dick) — An investigative and powerfully emotional examination of the epidemic of rape of soldiers within the U.S. military, the institutions that cover up its existence and the profound personal and social consequences that arise from it.

Marina Abramović The Artist is Present / U.S.A. (Director: Matthew Akers) — Marina Abramović prepares for a major retrospective of her work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York hoping to finally silence four decades of skeptics who proclaim: ‘But why is this art?’

ME at the ZOO / U.S.A. (Directors: Chris Moukarbel, Valerie Veatch) — With 270 million hits to date, Chris Crocker, an uncanny young video blogger from small town Tennessee, is considered the Internet’s first rebel folk hero and at the same time one of its most controversial personalities.

The Other Dream Team / Lithuania, U.S.A. (Director: Marius Markevicius) — The 1992 Lithuanian National Basketball Team went from the clutches of Communism to the Summer Olympics in Barcelona – a testament to the powerful role of sports as a catalyst for cultural identity.

The Queen of Versailles / U.S.A. (Director: Lauren Greenfield) — Jackie and David were triumphantly constructing the biggest house in America – a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot palace inspired by Versailles – when their timeshare empire collapses and their house is foreclosed. Their rags-to-riches-to-rags story reveals the innate virtues and flaws of the American Dream. DAY ONE FILM

Slavery By Another Name / U.S.A. (Director: Sam Pollard) — As slavery came to an end with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, a new system of involuntary servitude took its place with shocking force, brutalizing, terrorizing and ultimately circumscribing the lives of hundreds of thousands of African Americans well into the 20th century.

Love Free or Die: How the Bishop of New Hampshire is Changing the World / U.S.A. (Director: Macky Alston) — One man whose two defining passions are in conflict: An openly gay bishop refuses to leave the Church or the man he loves.

We’re Not Broke / U.S.A. (Directors: Karin Hayes, Victoria Bruce) — As American lawmakers slash budgets and lay off employees, leaving many people scrambling to survive, multibillion-dollar corporations are concealing colossal profits overseas to avoid paying U.S. income tax. Fed-up Americans are taking their frustration to the streets.

WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Fourteen films from emerging filmmaking talents offer fresh perspectives and inventive styles.

4 Suns / Czech Republic (Director and screenwriter: Bohdan Sláma) — Immature Fogi attempts to straighten up and accept his responsibilities as a new husband and father, as well as role model to his troubled son from a previous relationship, but finds himself unable to change his nature, leaving him to watch haplessly as his family begins to crumble. Cast: Jaroslav Plesl, Aňa Geislerová, Karel Roden, Jiří Mádl, Klára Melíšková. World Premiere

About the Pink Sky / Japan (Director and screenwriter: Keiichi Kobayashi) — A high school girl finds a wallet full of money and tracks down its owner, leading to unexpected consequences for the girl and her friends. Cast: Ai Ikeda, Ena Koshino, Reiko Fujiwara, Tsubasa Takayama, Hakusyu Togetsuan. International Premiere

Can / Turkey (Director and screenwriter: Rasit Celikezer) — A young married couple live happily in Istanbul, but their decision to illegally procure a child threatens their future together. Cast: Selen Ucer, Serdar Orcin, Berkan Demirbag, Erkan Avci. World Premiere

Father’s Chair (A Cadeira do Pai) / Brazil (Director: Luciano Moura, Screenwriters: Elena Soarez, Luciano Moura) — Following the trail of his runaway teen son, Theo confronts his own identity as a son, a father and a man along the way. Cast: Wagner Moura, Lima Duarte, Mariana Lima. World Premiere

L / Greece (Director: Babis Makridis, Screenwriters: Efthymis Filippou, Babis Makridis) — A man who lives in his car gets caught up in the undeclared war between motorcycle riders and car drivers. Cast: Aris Servetalis, Makis Papadimitriou, Lefteris Mathaios, Nota Tserniafski, Stavros Raptis. World Premiere

The Last Elvis (El Ultimo Elvis) / Argentina (Director: Armando Bo, Screenwriters: Nicolás Giacobone and Armando Bo) — A Buenos Aires Elvis impersonator who believes that he is the reincarnation of the King struggles to shake free from reality and live his musical dream. Cast: John McInerny, Griselda Siciliani, Margarita Lopez. World Premiere

Madrid, 1987 / Spain (Director and screenwriter: David Trueba) — The balance of power and desire constantly shifts during the meeting of an older journalist and a young student, of two generations completely foreign to one another. Cast: José Sacristán, María Valverde, Ramon Fontserè. International Premiere

My Brother the Devil / United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: Sally El Hosaini) — A pair of British Arab brothers trying to get by in gangland London learn the extraordinary courage it takes to be yourself. Cast: James Floyd, Saïd Taghmaoui, Fady Elsayed. World Premiere

Teddy Bear / Denmark (Director: Mads Matthiesen, Screenwriters: Mads Matthiesen, Martin Pieter Zandvliet) — Dennis, a painfully shy 38-year-old bodybuilder who lives with his mother, sets off to Thailand in search of love. Cast: Kim Kold, Elsebeth Steentoft, Lamaiporn Sangmanee Hougaard, David Winters, Allan Mogensen. World Premiere

Valley of Saints / India, U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Musa Syeed) — Gulzar plans to run away from the war and poverty surrounding his village in Kashmir with his best friend, but a beautiful young woman researching the dying lake leads him to contemplate a different future Cast: Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, Mohammed Afzal Sofi, Neelofar Hamid. World Premiere

Violeta Went to Heaven (Violeta se Fue a Los Cielos) / Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Spain (Director: Andrés Wood, Screenwriters: Eliseo Altunaga, Rodrigo Bazaes, Guillermo Calderón, Andrés Wood) — A portrait of famed Chilean singer and folklorist Violeta Parra filled with her musical work, her memories, her loves and her hopes. Cast: Francisca Gavilán, Thomas Durand, Luis Machín, Gabriela Aguilera, Roberto Farías. International Premiere

Wish You Were Here / Australia (Director: Kieran Darcy-Smith, Screenwriters: Felicity Price, Kieran Darcy-Smith) — Four friends embark on a carefree holiday, but only three return home. Who knows what happened on that fateful night? Cast: Joel Edgerton, Teresa Palmer, Felicity Price, Antony Starr. World Premiere. DAY ONE FILM

WRONG / France (Director and screenwriter: Quentin Dupieux) — Dolph searches for his lost dog, but through encounters with a nympho pizza-delivery girl, a jogging neighbor seeking the absolute, and a mysterious righter of wrongs, he may eventually lose his mind… and his identity. Cast: Jack Plotnick, Eric Judor, Alexis Dziena, Steve Little, William Fichtner. World Premiere

Young & Wild / Chile (Director: Marialy Rivas, Screenwriters: Marialy Rivas, Camila Gutiérrez, Pedro Peirano) — 17-year-old Daniela, raised in the bosom of a strict Evangelical family and recently unmasked as a fornicator by her shocked parents, struggles to find her own path to spiritual harmony. Cast: Alicia Rodríguez, Aline Kuppenheim, María Gracia Omegna, Felipe Pinto. World Premiere

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Twelve documentaries by some of the most courageous and extraordinary filmmakers working today.

½ REVOLUTION / Denmark (Directors: Omar Shargawi, Karim El Hakim) — In January 2011, two filmmakers captured the reality of the Egyptian revolution as it occurred out of view from the world’s media in the alleyways and streets away from the square – and in the process were arrested by the secret police. North American Premiere

5 Broken Cameras / Palestine, Israel, France (Directors: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi) — A Palestinian journalist chronicles his village’s resistance to a separation barrier being erected on their land and in the process captures his young son’s lens on the world. International Premiere

THE AMBASSADOR / Denmark (Director: Mads Brügger) — What happens when a very white European man buys his way into being a diplomat in one of Central Africa’s most failed nations? Welcome to the bizarre and hidden world of African diplomacy, where gin and tonics flow and diamond hustlers and corrupt politicians run free. North American Premiere

BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* / Sweden (Director: Fredrik Gertten) — The behind-the-scenes story of a full-scale attack on freedom of speech. When Dole set its sights on the WG Film production Bananas!* in May 2009, confusion was the method, aggression was the tactic and media control was the story. North American Premiere

China Heavyweight / Canada, China (Director: Yung Chang) — In central China, where a coach recruits poor rural teenagers and turns them into Western-style boxing champions, the top students face dramatic choices as they graduate – should they fight for the collective good or for themselves? A metaphor for the choices everyone in the New China faces now. World Premiere

Gypsy Davy / Israel, U.S.A., Spain (Director: Rachel Leah Jones) — How does a white boy with Alabama roots become a Flamenco guitarist in Andalusian boots? A tale of self-invention and the pursuit of happiness, regardless of the cost to others. International Premiere

The Imposter / United Kingdom (Director: Bart Layton) — In 1994 a 13-year-old boy disappears from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three and a half years later he is found alive thousands of miles away in Spain with a shocking story of kidnap and torture. But all is not what it seems in this tale that is truly stranger than fiction. World Premiere

Indie Game: The Movie / Canada (Directors: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky) — Follow the dramatic journeys of indie game developers as they create games and release those works, and themselves, to the world. World Premiere

The Law in These Parts / Israel (Director: Ra’anan Alexandrowicz) — Israel’s 43-year military legal system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories unfolds through provocative interviews with the system’s architects and historical footage showing the enactment of these laws upon the Palestinian population. International Premiere

Payback / Canada (Director: Jennifer Baichwal) — Based on Margaret Atwood’s best-selling book, Payback explores how debt is a central organizing principle in our lives – influencing relationships, societies, governing structures and the very fate of this planet. World Premiere

Putin’s Kiss / Denmark (Director: Lise Birk Pedersen) — 19-year-old Marsha is a model spokesperson in a strongly nationalistic Russian youth movement that aims to protect the country from its enemies. When she starts recognizing the organization’s flaws, she must take a stand for or against it. North American Premiere

Searching for Sugar Man / Denmark, United Kingdom (Director: Malik Bendjelloul) — Rodriguez was the greatest ‘70s US rock icon who never was. Hailed as the greatest recording artist of his generation he disappeared into oblivion – rising again from the ashes in a completely different context many miles away. World Premiere. DAY ONE FILM [Sundance]

Most zombie stories have their own origins for the walking dead, and their own special names for the rotting, shuffling fiends. In Cherie Priest’s novel “Boneshaker” they’re called “Rotters” and they’re created when people are exposed to a toxic gas. That’s one way in which Priest puts a new spin on the old zombie tropes, the other is that she’s set the zombie apocalypse in a steampunk world, creating a mish-mash of genres that should get nerds dressed in black clothes and nerds dressed in brown clothes drooling alike. A more descriptive introduction to the book, from its Amazon page, reads like this:

“In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born. But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead. Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.”

According to a press release sent out by Cross Creek Productions and Exclusive Media Group, who are teaming up to bring an adaptation of this book to the big screen, Rotters aren’t the only thing that Briar has to deal with. This world is also rife with airship pirates and heavily armed refugees. Sounds like a jam-packed story, and if this new film adaptation becomes a success, there’s even more material to mine that could turn Boneshaker into a potential franchise. Priest published a sequel called “Dreadnought” in 2010, a third book called “Ganymede” in September, and a fourth called “Inexplicables” is set for sometime next year. Dang, she’s really churning these things out.

Boneshaker is set to be adapted by John Hilary Shepherd (Nurse Jackie), but as of yet no director has been announced. Once that happens, we should get a better idea of how much potential this book series has to be a legitimate film franchise. Are we looking at the next big thing in horror, or just a new piece of junk to release next to the Resident Evil movies? Let’s hope the former. [THR]

Despite the fact that they have a go-to wheelhouse of gags that include mostly low-fi special effects, shrill noises, absurdism, and repetition, I find that I never get used to the strange video creations of comedians Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. Every time I sit down to watch an episode of Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job or take a look at a short that they’ve made for the Internet I have a general idea of what’s coming my way, but they always manage to get under my skin again nonetheless. Some people just find the stuff they do to be uncomfortable and weird, other people think that it’s fall down hilarious. Me? I fall somewhere in the middle. I laugh at how uncomfortable and weird they are always able to get, and then I move on.

Which is why I was impressed at how much they were able to creep me out in just a few seconds in the teaser trailer for their upcoming film Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, which ludicrously claims to be the most expensive movie ever made. A lot of people have been announced as appearing in the new Tim & Eric film, huge names in comedy like Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Zach Galifianakis, Will Forte, and Robert Loggia (he had that one orange juice commercial!). But you won’t see any of them appear in this teaser. No, what you’ll see is decidedly…different. You’ll just have to watch yourself.

Apparently Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie will be available on V.O.D. services January 27, it will then hit theaters on March 2. So it’s only a matter of time before #shrim takes the world by storm.

There’s some action going on over at J.J. Abrams’ super secret lair where he makes all of his super secret movies, and Variety has the scoop. Apparently his upcoming Star Trek sequel calls for even more attractive young actors than his original go around with the franchise did, because he’s been testing actresses like Theresa Palmer, Hayley Atwell, and Alice Eve to play a character new to Star Trek canon. And after all the tests were tested and the deliberations were deliberated, it’s looking like Eve is the first choice of Abrams and crew to become the newest member of the Star Trek universe. She hasn’t officially signed yet, but sources expect it to happen soon.

Eve is kind of a wild card casting in my eyes. Mostly she’s done a bunch of TV series and the Sex and the City sequel, so I don’t have much of a basis to form an opinion on her as an actress. I did see her starring turn in She’s Out of My League though, and I remember that not only was I presently surprised by how palatable that film was as a whole, but I kind of walked out of the theater having a crush on Eve as well. She’s pretty and charming, so high five Star Trek 2!

Someone I’m much more familiar with, however, is that suave devil Benicio Del Toro. According to the same Variety article, Abrams still has his eyes on the actor as his first choice to play the Star Trek sequel’s big villain. And some new whisperings coming out of the uncharacteristically unsecured Abrams camp are saying that Del Toro’s character won’t be a newcomer to the Trek mythos like Eve’s, but instead he’s going to be someone we’re all much more familiar with. You know where my hopes lay. Say it with me again: KHAAAAAN!

Lets not beat around the proverbial bush here. I’m excited about Gareth Evans‘ latest film, The Raid, for a number of reasons. One is that Evans delivered one of my favorite films — not action films, or foreign films — favorite films of the last 5 years with Merantau. Then came the first trailer for The Raid, which sent me through the roof with excitement. Then came word from the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness screenings that The Raid was, in fact, everything it was promised to be. Now I just can’t stand it. If I knew there was someone within driving distance of me who had a copy of this movie, I would most likely drive to them and take it by force if absolutely necessary. Not the kind of force displayed in this trailer, mind you, as all of this is so brutal that it’s very illegal, but force nonetheless.

So watch this trailer, damn you. It’s the most badass thing you’ll have a chance to see until Sony Pictures Classics releases The Raid (complete with a new soundtrack from Linkin Park) in Spring 2012. Also, if you’re holding on to a screener, you’d better watch your back.

Watch the trailer below:

Trailer found via Twitch.

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly collective of links and thoughts breaking down all the news and great essays from around the movie blogosphere. A celebration of quality programming, if you will. Thus, it becomes quality programming in and of itself. In short, it’s worth however long it takes you to read to the end (where we’ve strategically placed a Christopher Nolan-themed video as your reward).

We begin this evening with the internet’s story of the night, Daniel Day-Lewis’ awesome Abe Lincoln beard, as shot by Virginia local Michael Phillips. He snapped a shot of the highly method actor in a Richmond restaurant (not far from where Steven Spielberg’s film is currently in production). Basically it looks like Abraham Lincoln with jeans on. So yes, that works. Also worth noting: It’s being reported that Day-Lewis has not dropped his Lincoln accent since March. That’s one hardcore mother-effing emancipator, right there.

The end of the year is approaching and with it will undoubtedly come a number of lists from a number of websites telling you which 13 things were the best 13 things of the year. We’ve got at least 75 of these lists planned ourselves, but it’s always been our thing. Hats off to Screenrant though, who come out of the gate first with their Best and Worst Posters of 2011 article. Minus ten points for dissing the poster for The Chaperone.

Over at Badass Digest, Devin Faraci posits that David Fincher has changed the sound of trailers with his use of a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song in the trailer for Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. So instead of just reusing a song, movie trailers will now be completely revamping songs? Well, Hollywood is remaking everything else. Why not music, too?

The countdown is on to the end of Community‘s run — or at least their run for a while — and everyone should be talking about it, signing petitions, calling congressman and yes, we should even Occupy NBC. For now though, lets just read this NBC.com feature Abed’s Roommate Rules and enjoy what time we have left with these wonderful characters.

Tonight’s art spotlight is one I found over at Movies.com, where Peter Hall writes about The JP Show (Just People) in Alhambra, CA. It’s an art project celebrating the people of Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. There’s one in Hall’s article featuring Pete Postlethwaite that you’ll want to jump over and see. Personally, I can’t get enough of this Ian Malcolm print:

Because I’m a fan of attention to detail, and because I noticed all the intricate number placements in Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on my first viewing, I’m a big fan of Crack’s list of 7 Movies That Put Insane Work Into Details You Didn’t Notice. In other news, Stanley Kubrick was a crazyperson.

Over at /Film, Peter Sciretta has opened up a new feature that allows you to ask the guy who Googles better than you ask the expert (I kid, I kid). In his first installment, he answers the age-old question Who Gets Credit for a Screenplay? And What’s the Deal with the Ampersands and Ands? The answer is actually quite fascinating.

Christian Bale will not star in Darren Aronofsky’s Noah. It’s now being rumored that the production has moved on to the other great actor of the moment, Michael Fassbender.

Joining the cast of The Expendables 2 today was not a big action star, not even a big name in movies. Heck, he doesn’t even play a sport that’s ever been described as manly. Tennis star Novak Djokovic will appear alongside Chuck Norris, JCVD, Stallone and the rest of the cast and somehow work into the story, as he’ll be playing himself.

Our own box office prognosticator and commentary track addict Jeremy Kirk has written a very lovely piece over at First Showing about the Lord of the Rings Feast - A Day of Middle Earth Dining at the Movies, based on his experience at a recent feast held at the Alamo Drafthouse. Fair Warning: It will make you hunger for meat.

Over at Hollywood.com, former Reject staffer Matt Patches writes in the MindFood column about how NC-17 could be the new 3D. Please let this be true. I don’t know why, but I want it.

Speaking of sex. Total Film has unleashed their list of the 50 Sexiest Movie Moments (in history, one can only assume). I haven’t had a chance to comb through the entire list — we have a sex columnist for that — but I can tell you that the Sarah Michelle Gellar/Selma Blair kiss from Cruel Intention is far too low on the list at 46.

We close tonight with another video from Kees van Dijkhuizen, proprietor of the “[the films of]” project that highlights the collective works of various influential directors. Here’s what he had to say about his latest subject, Christopher Nolan: “Christopher Nolan’s films have kept anyone of us on the edge of their seat. Every film is filled with secrets, surprises, twists and turns, and only a true movie mastermind could keep even the biggest film nut fooled until the very last minute. They’re films that demand a second, third and fourth viewing. Christopher Nolan is a perfect example of traditional filmmaking with modern twists, and is a fine addition to a series already filled to the brink with inspiring artists.” And now, his video:

Last week, the Internet was swarmed with a bevy of information and bootlegged marketing from Ridley Scott‘s upcoming Prometheus, his Alien maybe-kinda-sorta-in a way-prequel. Various spots around the web posted a variety of material, from a bootlegged trailer to some scanned stills from the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, and (most interestingly enough) a reported official synopsis. If you saw any of those things, this batch of official stills from the film will look quite familiar, but you didn’t, these five photos will be pretty intriguing.

Scott’s latest crack at his own mythology features an all-star cast that includes Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, and Noomi Rapace. And, well, you know, a giant metal head. What does it all mean? I don’t know either, but at least we’ve got something much more officially official to look at until the film opens on June 8, 2012. Check out four more stills from Prometheus after the break.

[ComingSoon]

I’ve found that this list comes up fairly often on the Internet – however every time I read one I’m surprised by how many redundancies they all share. While a few of said redundancies will also appear in the following (because sometimes you just can’t deny a good performance) I’m going to try and mix this up and give a you a few of my personal favorite and slightly less talked about non-funny roles some real funny people took on. Let’s get started with a picture of a pen jabbed into Jon Stewart’s eye.

10. Jon Stewart in The Faculty

I love Jon Stewart, but I also think there should be more movies out there where he turns into an alien and gets stabbed in the eye. I don’t know why, I just love watching it happen in this film. This happens right after he also gets his finders lopped off by Josh Hartnett, one of the many random actors stuck in this early Robert Rodriguez film. Seriously – the cast features Robert Patrick, Elijah Wood, Famke Janssen, and Christopher McDonald just to name a few. Oh and Usher, Usher’s in this film as well.

Here, check out Jon’s alien death for yourself:

9. Adam Sandler in Spanglish

Spanglish probably isn’t the most serious role you could say Sandler has been in. I’d even argue that his role in Funny People was probably more dramatic – however with films like Punch Drunk Love and Reign Over Me, while his roles have been more serious they’ve also been a lot more outstanding in nature. What I like about this particular role is that it is not only fairly serious, but extremely subdued as well. It’s a simple character, a man struggling to keep faithful in a marriage, and Sandler plays it beautifully by downplaying his own sense of humor – often appearing as not the funniest person in the room, such as with the following scene:

8. Steve Carell in Little Miss Sunshine

This is, of course, one of those you see in all the lists about serious roles by comedians. I actually don’t think the reason why has much to do with the level of drama involved in the part, to me it’s the same Steve Carell personality we see in some of his other work, only heavily downplayed – muted. But that’s why it works too, the character comes across as a skeleton of a man that was once jubilant, humorous, and charismatic. Any humor that comes from this beaten down suicide case is from his exhaustion with those around him and the reactions of his family. This clip really says it all:

7. Steve Martin in Shopgirl

I hate it when a movie like Shopgirl comes along, adapted by Steve Martin from a novel he himself wrote, and shows me this wonderful window – Steve Martin taking on a serious role that was clearly something person to him – and then the window shuts and never seems to open again. Since The Jerk, this man has made me laugh consistently, but it was so cool to see him try something as subdued as this role. My guess is that it’s because of the subdued nature of the role, and the film in general that it didn’t see the success it deserved. Also you can’t beat co-star like Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman.

Of course when I mean subdued, I really mean subdued – as you will see by the first time Steve Martin’s character meets his future lover at her place of work:

6. Rodney Dangerfield in Natural Born Killers

This role had both absolutely nothing to do Dangerfield’s actual performance and at the same time had everything to do with it. The reason why is because his character in this film is not really unlike any of his comedic performances – which is what makes it so scary when you hear the words coming out of his mouth. This is probably one of the smartest scenes in a film I’ve ever seen – as director Oliver Stone disturbingly juxtaposes Rodney Dangerfield’s reputation and performance as well as a sitcom like environment with the extremely dark portrayal of a dysfunctional suburban family. Watch if you dare.

Click to the next page below to see the final five… 

Why Watch? Breath-stealing animation that draws from comic books and video games in equal measure.

Animator Jesús Orellana definitely knows his stuff. With this short (which feels huge), he’s created an entire universe right down to the last dust fiber. It tells the story of a cyborg deployed in a wasteland of a future to restore Earth’s eco-system. As you might guess, she’s not the only one out there, and things get ugly.

What it lacks in story, it makes up for in style, action and ambition.

What does it cost? Just 8 minutes of your time.

Check out Rosa for yourself:

ROSA (2011)

Trust us. You have time for more short films.

When it comes to director/screenwriter Steve McQueen and screenwriter Abi Morgan’s film about living a life of secrets (and what it does to those who carry them), much more is said with their characters’ actions than any of the words that pass through their lips. Even more so when it seems most of the words that are said are unreliable and laced with the feeling that they are not simply lies, but lies each are telling themselves. Shame shows us a complicated and layered world that is both enticing and chilling, begging the question – what kind of music would underscore and accompany these distinctive moments? A mix of score (by composer Harry Escott), piano concertos (as performed by Glenn Gould), jazz (John Coltrane and Chet Baker) and popular music (from Tom Tom Club, Blondie and Chic) come together to create a musical landscape that is both sexy and unsettling while also deeply sad, troubling, and (at times) terrifying.

Escott begins the film with an almost mournful-sounding orchestration (aptly titled “Brandon”) as we focus in on our lead, Brandon (Michael Fassbender), lying in bed with a mix of emotions already playing across his face. The piece is driven by an unrelenting ticking which immediately gives you the sense that this is not a place of rest as we begin to realize Brandon’s addiction to nighttime rendezvous may not be the only thing keeping him awake. Brandon never seems able to rest or relax. If he is not out getting his sexual fix, he is running (both literally and figuratively) the streets of New York, the pace of which is mimicked here and called upon throughout the film as we delve into Brandon’s frenetic life and routine.

Neither McQueen nor Fassbender present a simple picture of a man who happens to be flawed. Yes, Brandon has a predominant flaw that he deals with on a daily basis, but if there is anything “simple” about him it is that he is human and, while he plays more into the extremes when it comes to seeking out intimacy and connection, the most alarming moments of the film come when you find yourself identifying with him. The music choices only help to reinforce this feeling as we listen to soothing, sexy jazz and upbeat pop songs that instinctively make you feel at ease, but are contrasted against scenes and moments that are anything but. It is this constant push and pull that is brilliantly portrayed throughout the film and strung together by the musical choices that accompany it.

The musical highlight (and one of the more striking moments in the film) comes from Brandon’s sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan), and her rendition of “New York, New York.” Slowed down and sung at an almost painful pace, Mulligan proves she not only has acting chops, the girl can sing. The unrelenting close-ups during her performance, focusing on both Sissy and Brandon, only further drive home the idea that this is the most intimate moment of the film – when everyone’s clothes are on and the two characters are on opposite ends of the room from one another.

Despite Sissy’s repeated attempts throughout the film, she and Brandon never have a real conversation, but as she sings, the lyrics of the song speak so honestly to what they both are clearly feeling (and craving) – acceptance. They want to be a part of something, be connected to something and no longer feel the need to run or hide (or be ashamed) of who they are or how they feel. But they are damaged people living in an imperfect world and watching Sissy truly lay herself bare and Brandon’s reaction to it makes you both intrigued and terrified to know what events may have led these two to this place. As our own Kate Erbland pointed out in her review of the film, we never get Brandon and Sissy’s full backstory, but this moment works as one of the closest hints we get towards what that story may entail.

Like most songs, the titles of those featured here highlight the ideas of love, lust or loss and those same themes play out throughout the film in a raw and unshakable portrait of two broken people. From “Genius of Love” and “I Want Your Love” to “Rapture” to “Let’s Get Lost” to “Unraveling” to “The Problem,” it quickly becomes clear that the thin lines between love, lust, shame and honesty are what make these topics so enticing and, at the same time, utterly maddening since you can easily flow from one to another in the blink of an eye. Having one of Escott’s pieces followed by Howlin’ Wolf’s bluesy “You Can’t be Beat” may seem like a black and white juxtaposition of two totally different styles, but they actually work well together, proving that these feelings and choices may not be so different from one another after all.

Shame is a film that stays with you long after you leave the theater and the music helps to add texture and resonance to its captivating and unshakable feeling. The music may seem random as it pulls from many different genres and the film itself may seem that way too at times as Brandon ping pongs between facing and giving into his demons, but in the end there is one thread that ties everything together – human nature and it’s constant need to fulfill its wants and needs. The soundtrack (and film) ends with Escott’s simple piano where only a few notes work to say so much and at the same time, nothing at all. We all have our secrets, but sometimes more is said or revealed in what isn’t said and Shame‘s soundtrack works to fill those gaps without overpowering the performances of the enigmatic characters on screen.

This soundtrack is available through Sony Masterworks.

1. “Brandon” – Harry Escott
2. “Goldberg Variations; BMW 988; Aria” – Glenn Gould
3. “Genius of Love” – Tom Tom Club
4. “Rapture” – Blondie
5. “I Want Your Love” – Chic
6. “My Favorite Things” – John Coltrane
7. “New York, New York ‘Theme’” – Carey Mulligan; Liz Caplan
8. “Let’s Get Lost” – Chet Baker
9. “Prelude & Fugue No. 10 in E minor, BMW 855; Prelude” – Glenn Gould
10. “Goldberg Variations, BMW 988: Variation 15 a 1 Clav. Canone alla Quinta. Andante (1981 Version)” – Glenn Gould
11. “Unraveling” – Harry Escott
12. “You Can’t Be Beat” – Howlin’ Wolf
13. “The Problem” – Mark Louque
14. “Prelude & Fugure No. 16 in G minor, BMW 885; Praeludium” – Glenn Gould
15. “End Titles” – Harry Escott

Disney’s latest would-be-blockbuster, John Carter, has had a hell of a time making it to the screen – with live-action feature film development interest first kicking off back in the 1950s (from Ray Harryhausen, no less), though the rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ novels weren’t bought until the 1980s, when Disney picked them up. From there, the project seemed ready to go (with cast and crew falling into place), until its own would-be director John McTiernan himself noted that technology was not yet advanced enough to create the write cinematic vision. Then Paramount got the rights for Robert Rodriguez to direct, then it was Kerry Conran, then it was Jon Favreau, and then Paramount didn’t renew the rights, and then Disney got them back, and then I fell asleep.

The film is finally hitting screens next year, thanks to Disney and Wall-E director Andrew Stanton (making his live action debut), with John Carter himself being played by rising star Taylor Kitsch. And while this is all well and good, John Carter has one huge obstacle to overcome – it is huge, multimillion dollar production that comes from a beloved and deep source material that has an obviously epic scale, and awareness by the general public for the property is negligible. And I can’t quite believe that the film’s first full-length trailer will do much to alleviate that. Check it out, along with more of my concerns, after the break.

I have never read any of the extensive Barsoom novels that make up the John Carter universe, but they are a source of great admiration in the geek world at large, so yes, John Carter is certainly an anticipated feature for a select group of film geeks (of which I count myself), but the general public has no idea just what the heck this all is. Will that work for Disney? Or will they up their marketing and pump out action-packed, visually-dazzling materials that will draw in people who have never even heard of Edgar Rice Burroughs? Or will they attempt to clarify the story a touch more?

John Carter virgins, what will it take to get you interested in the film?

John Carter opens on March 9, 2012. [IGN]

Combining short films with titles like Wadzilla and The Diary of Anne Frankenstein, Chillerama is an anthology film stuffed to the brim with movie references from the collaborative minds of Adam Green (Hatchet), Tim Sullivan (2001 Maniacs), Adam Rifkin (Detroit Rock City), and Joe Lynch (Knights of Badassdom). Weaving the films together is the over-arching movie Zom-B-Film, a tale of a zombie pervert invasion at a drive-in movie theater.

Chillerama features Joel David Moore, Lin Shaye, Ray Wise, Eric Roberts, and the man behind many masks, Kane Hodder, all of whom are intentionally hamming it up in roles ranging from cliched military generals to a Frankenjew to Adolf Hitler. Never taking itself too seriously, the film makes an inordinate amount of dick jokes, spills a lot of blood, makes two dozen poop jokes, and sprays all sorts of fluids across the screen.

So if you’re into that…

Kills

As a whole, Chillerama probably kills somewhere between 35 and 50 people. Wadzilla kills a bunch in a monster rampage, while each of the others contribute plenty of individuals getting things bitten, stomped, and popped.

Ills

There are a wide variety of nasty things in the movie – most of them of a bodily fluid nature, not a death nature. The violence is pretty much all campy, but we get to see a bunch of heads getting popped, eyeballs eaten, a menorah rammed through a face, arms ripped off, heads knocked off, people ripped in half, bit in half, and fucked in half. On the just regular gross side, there are plenty of sperm, seminal fluid, balls, zombie dicks, burst testicles, and human excrement.  Oh, also a Werebear rapes a guy in the ass so hard a pink bear dick pops through his stomach.

Lust

Wadzilla features several smoking hot women, fully clothed, while Zom-B-Film features a couple of real lady tits. There are also some prosthetic dicks and balls, the Statue of Liberty does a sexy dance and then gets raped by a giant sperm, there are a few blowjobs enacted, and two dozen zombies fuck each other in various states of death.

Learning

Zombies are perverts and the level of maturity in this film makes a preschool class seem like a Gatsby party.

Review

Chillerama starts off strong with Wadzilla, a tale of a giant sperm told through a non-stop barrage of euphemisms and blatant dick jokes. It’s hilarious, with a fantastic sperm-creature design, though there is some poor CGI spread throughout. I Was a Teenage Werebear is second in line and is easily the worst of the shorts, though I must admit I was partial to he 60s style doo-wop music.

Adam Green’s The Diary of Anne Frankenstein is a close second after the sperm-tale, featuring Joel Moore as hilarious Hitler who ends up building a super-Jew. The short starts off with Moore speaking something close to German, but by the time it finishes he’s spouting off non-sense before a Kane Hodder Meshugannah breaks into a traditional Jewish dance. The story bringing them all together, Zom-B-Film is okay for the most part, but it really wants to shock you with its depictions of zombie blowjobs, zombie masturbation, and blue ejaculate.

I really wanted to love Chillerama from start to finish. It sounds like the most amazing of films and I was totally on-board, full steam ahead until I Was a Teenage Werebear. Despite how enjoyable Anne Frankenstein is, the film never really recovers and starts to slide down an immature slope. If you’ve read my writing, it’s clear that my tastes aren’t too sophisticated so for me to call a film immature, something has gone wrong.

From pretty much the first frame, the film is packed with trying-too-hard on the nose references to other films or actors, whether it’s theater owner Cecil B. Kaufman (combining Cecil B DeMille and Lloyd Kaufman) or the countless quotations, it really starts to grate on you after awhile. There are call-outs to Star Wars (Red Five, Standing By), Gone With the Wind and pretty much every movie you can think of. It seemed as if every character was only speaking in quotes during the last 10 minutes – and one of them was. At one point Cecil Kaufman (played by Richard Riehle) just shouts catch-phrase after catch-phrase as he kills zombies. That was mildly entertaining, but before that, the constant quotes were driving me nuts. When Riehle told two kids to “get to the chopper” when there was no chopper, I literally threw my pen and said “what the fuck.” It’s as if they ran out of dialog and decided to just recycle other films. It wasn’t all that clever at the beginning of the movie and let me tell you, 100 minutes in and you’ve had enough – but they’re just getting started.

Really, the entire film is one big dick joke about ejaculation – there isn’t a single segment that doesn’t feature ejaculation and most of them also feature rape and blowjobs. I’m obviously not against any of this, but it’s just repetitive and seems like shock for shock’s sake that isn’t all that shocking. Perhaps the film wanted to make a statement when Cecil Kaufman stares at the camera and says “Fuck modesty” while zombies rape and masturbate and someone shits on a painting, which is clever the same way a child thinks he’s clever when he shits himself. That is, it’s not clever.

Again, I really wanted to like the movie, but overall, it was just immature and fell short of expectations. I would definitely watch Wadzilla and The Diary of Anne Frankenstein again, as well as most of Zom-B-Movie, but viewing Chillerama a second time will benefit from the fast forward feature. A for effort and the idea, C+ for execution.

Welcome to Day Two of Kate Christmas. Yesterday, the 2012 Sundance Film Festival announced their first wave of programming, featuring twenty-six titles that will be screening in competition. While the arrival of those titles was enough to send me into a tizzy I have still not recovered from, today the festival has only piled on the pre-holiday goodies with the announcement of their Spotlight, Next, Park City at Midnight, and New Frontiers films.

A few titles of note to get your juices flowing - Gareth Evans‘ The Raid (also known round these parts as “oh, hell yeah”), Andrea Arnold‘s take on Wuthering Heights, Katie Aselton‘s second directorial outing Black Rock (scripted by her husband Mark Duplass), Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, Mike Birbiglia and Seth Barrish‘s Sleepwalk With Me (based on Birbiglia’s hilarious book), and Lynn Shelton‘s Your Sister’s Sister. Again, that’s just a taste, so check out the full list of Spotlight, Next, Park City at Midnight, and New Frontiers films after the break.

SPOTLIGHT

Regardless of where these films have played throughout the world, the Spotlight program is a tribute to the cinema we love.

Corpo Celeste / Italy (Director and screenwriter: Alice Rohrwacher) — After moving back to southern Italy with her mother and older sister, 13-year-old Marta struggles to find her place, restlessly testing the boundaries of an unfamiliar city and the catechism of the Catholic church. Cast: Yle Vianello, Salvatore Cantalupo, Anita Caprioli, Renato Carpentiere.

Declaration Of War / Belgium (Director: Valérie Donzelli, Screenwriters: Jérémie Elkaïm, Valérie Donzelli) — A young couple embark upon a painful, enlightening journey when they discover that their newborn child is very ill. Cast: Valérie Donzelli, Jérémie Elkaïm, César Desseix. North American Premiere

Elena / Russia (Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev, Screenwriter: Oleg Negin) — A meditative, modern-noir tale about an older woman, Elena, who marries the wealthy business man for whom she worked and, when his health fails, is forced to deal with his estranged daughter who threatens her inheritance. Cast: Andrey Smirnov, Nadezhda Markina, Elena Lyadova, Alexey Rozin.

Monsieur Lazhar / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Philippe Falardeau) — An elegant reflection on loss and death focused on an Algerian immigrant teacher who brings emotional stability to a Montreal middle school class shaken by the suicide of their well-liked teacher. Cast: Fellag, Sophie Nélisse, Émilien Néron, Danielle Proulx, Brigitte Poupart.

The Orator (O le Tulafale) / New Zealand (Director and screenwriter: Tusi Tamasese) — A Samoan villager must defend his land and family when they are threatened by powerful adversaries. Cast: Fa’afiaula Sagote, Tausili Pushparaj, Salamasina Mataia, Ioata Tanielu.

The Raid / Indonesia (Director and screenwriter: Gareth Evans) — All hell breaks loose when an elite SWAT team, given orders to raid a run-down Jakarta apartment building that houses the city’s most notorious crime boss, is forced to fight their way to freedom or die trying. Cast: Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, Joe Taslim, Doni Alamsyah. U.S. Premiere

Where Do We Go Now? / France, Lebanon, Italy, Egypt (Director: Nadine Labaki, Screenwriters: Nadine Labaki, Jihad Hojeily, Rodney Al Haddad, with the collaboration of Thomas Bidegain) — A group of Lebanese women try to ease religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in their village. Cast: Claude Baz Moussawbaa, Layla Hakim, Nadine Labaki, Yvonne Maalouf, Antoinette Noufaily. U.S. Premiere

Wuthering Heights / United Kingdom (Director: Andrea Arnold, Screenwriters: Andrea Arnold, Olivia Hetreed) — A freshly conceived retelling of Emily Bronte’s classic novel about Heathcliff and Cathy, two teenagers whose passionate love for each other creates a storm of vengeance. Cast: Kaya Scodelario, James Howson, Solomon Glave, Shannon Beer, Steve Evets. U.S. Premiere

Your Sister’s Sister / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Lynn Shelton) — While still mourning the recent death of his brother, a bereft and confused man finds love and direction in a most unexpected place. Cast: Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mark Duplass. U.S. Premiere

PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT

From horror flicks to comedies to works that defy any genre, these unruly films will keep you edge-seated and wide awake. Each is a world premiere.

Black Rock / U.S.A. (Director: Katie Aselton, Screenwriter: Mark Duplass) — Three childhood friends set aside their personal issues and reunite for a girls’ weekend on a remote island off the coast of Maine. One wrong move turns their weekend getaway into a deadly fight for survival. Cast: Katie Aselton, Lake Bell, Kate Bosworth.

Excision / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Richard Bates, Jr.) — A disturbed and delusional high school student with aspirations of a career in medicine goes to extremes to earn the approval of her controlling mother. Cast: AnnaLynne McCord, Traci Lords, Ariel Winter, Roger Bart, John Waters.

Grabbers / Ireland, United Kingdom (Director: Jon Wright, Screenwriter: Kevin Lehane) — When the residents of an idyllic Irish fishing village are attacked by mysterious, blood-sucking sea creatures, a high blood alcohol content could be the only thing that gets them through the night. Cast: Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Russell Tovey, Bronagh Gallagher.

The Pact / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Nicholas McCarthy) — As a woman struggles to come to grips with her past in the wake of her mother’s death, an unsettling presence emerges in her childhood home. Cast: Caity Lotz, Casper Van Dien.

SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS / United Kingdom (Directors: Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace) — A documentary that follows LCD Soundsystem front man James Murphy over a crucial 48-hour period, from the day of their final gig at Madison Square Garden to the morning after, the official end of one of the best live bands in the world.

Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie / U.S.A. (Directors and screenwriters: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim) — After two guys are given a billion dollars to make a movie, their Hollywood dreams run off course and they decide to rehabilitate a run-down shopping mall in an attempt to make the money back. Cast: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim.

V/H/S / U.S.A. (Directors: Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Radio Silence, Screenwriters: Simon Barrett, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence) — When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for. Cast: Joe Swanberg, Calvin Reeder, Adam Wingard, Sophia Takal, Kate Lyn Sheil.

NEXT <=>

NEXT <=> encompasses a selection of pure, bold works by promising filmmakers distinguished by an innovative, forward-thinking approach to storytelling. Presented by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Each is a world premiere.

COMPLIANCE / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Craig Zobel) — When a prank caller convinces a fast food restaurant manager to interrogate an innocent young employee, no one is left unscathed. Based on true events. Cast: Ann Dowd, Pat Healy, Dreama Walker, Bill Camp, Philip Ettinger.

I AM NOT A HIPSTER / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Destin Daniel Cretton) — Set in the indie music and art scene, this is a character-driven story exploring themes of love, loss and what it means to be creative in the face of tragedy. Cast: Dominic Bogart, Alvaro Orlando, Brad William Henke, Tammy Minoff, Kandis Erickson, Lauren Coleman.

KID-THING / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: David Zellner) — A rebellious girl whose existence is devoid of parental guidance, spends her time roaming the land, shoplifting, and vandalizing. Her routine is broken one day while playing in the woods when she hears a woman calling from a mysterious hole in the ground, asking for help. Cast: Sydney Aguirre, Susan Tyrrell, Nathan Zellner, David Zellner.

Mosquita y Mari / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Aurora Guerrero) — A friendship between two 15-year-old Latinas becomes complex as they struggle to recognize the sexual undercurrent in their relationship. Cast: Fenessa Pineda, Venecia Troncoso, Joaquín Garrido, Laura Patalano, Dulce Maria Solis.

My Best Day / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Erin Greenwell) — Karen’s life as a small-town receptionist is turned upside down when the father she never knew calls for a refrigerator repair. That day she encounters a sister addicted to off track betting, a brother struggling with grade school heartache and bullies, and a load of fireworks. Cast: Rachel Style, Ashlie Atkinson, Raúl Castillo, Jo Armeniox, Robert Salerno, Harris Doran.

Pursuit of Loneliness / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Laurence Thrush) — An elderly patient dies in a county hospital leaving no known next of kin. Over the next 24 hours, four central characters try to find a family member to contact regarding the death of this anonymous individual. Cast: Joy Hille, Sandra Escalante, Sharon Munfus, Kirsi Toivanen, Natalie Fouron.

Sleepwalk With Me / U.S.A. (Co-directors: Mike Birbiglia and Seth Barrish, Screenwriters: Mike Birbiglia, Ira Glass, Joe Birbiglia, Seth Barrish) — Reluctant to confront his fears of love, honesty, and growing up, a budding standup comedian has both a hilarious and intense struggle with sleepwalking. Cast: Mike Birbiglia, Lauren Ambrose, Carol Kane, James Rebhorn, Cristin Milioti.

That’s What She Said / U.S.A. (Director: Carrie Preston, Screenwriter: Kellie Overbey) — Armed with nothing but their addictions and lots of personal baggage, two best friends and a mysterious young interloper battle a series of misadventures on their quest for love in New York City. Cast: Anne Heche, Marcia DeBonis, Alia Shawkat.

TWENTY-EIGHT HOTEL ROOMS / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Matt Ross) — Seen only as fragments in the secret world of hotel rooms, a long-term affair becomes perhaps the most significant relationship of a couple’s lives. Cast: Chris Messina, Marin Ireland.

NEW FRONTIER

With media installations, multimedia performances, transmedia experiences, panels, film screenings, and more, New Frontier highlights work that celebrates experimentation and the expansion of cinema culture through the convergence of film, art, and new media technology. These films complement the previously announced installations and performances in the New Frontier venue at the Festival.

Bestiaire / Canada, France (Director: Denis Côté) — The boundaries we place around animals are provocatively and formally explored in this meditation on the relationship between nature and humanity. World Premiere

An Oversimplification of Her Beauty / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Terence Nance) — A quixotic young man humorously courses live action and various animated landscapes as he tries to understand himself after a mystery girl stands him up. Cast: Terence Nance, Namik Minter, Chanelle Pearson. World Premiere

THE PERCEPTION OF MOVING TARGETS / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Weston Currie) — A segmenting journey into the dreams of four neighbors. Cast: Brighid Thomas, Cherie Blackfeather, Gerald Casey, Tom Wood, Jin Camou.

Room 237 / U.S.A. (Director: Rodney Ascher) — This experimental documentary explores the numerous theories about the real meaning of Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining. World Premiere

whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir / U.S.A., Kazakhstan (Directors: Eve Sussman | Rufus Corporation, Screenwriters: Eve Sussman, Kevin Messman, Jeff Wood) — A computer program assembles raw elements of music, dialogue, sound and footage shot in Kazakhstan into a generative noir mystery film in this live algorithmic performance. Cast: Jeff Wood, Marina Fedorenko.

Be sure to check back on Monday, December 5, when films in the Premieres and Documentary Premieres will be announced. This year’s festival runs from January 19 through 29 in Park City, Utah.

Material similar to Shame, to use an immature and simplistic description, could easily falter into emotion porn. With a story that’s, on the surface, about a self-loathing sex addict, overwrought drama is easy to get into, even with the slightest lack of subtlety. This could be one of those films where characters are emotionally tortured for the sake of torture, with no greater meaning.

Co-writer and director Steve McQueen, who is surely aware of the dramatic trickiness of Shame, takes a more sensitive and observant approach. McQueen uses his cold and perfect framing to create the atmosphere and world Brandon’s created, not to draw attention to himself as a filmmaker. This, among many other topics, is what I recently discussed with the press tour-exhausted filmmaker.

Here’s what Steve McQueen had to say about internal writing, powerful expressions, capturing beautiful butterflies, and why films can be important:

To start, both Hunger and Shame both kind of throw audiences into the middle of the characters’ story, with there being no big intro or typical set up. What’s the intention behind that?

In some ways, when you’re racing to catchup with the protagonist, I think it’s interesting. It’s more stimulating. You have to make yourself aware of your surroundings in a very quick way, and I like that. It’s for the audience. I prefer throwing people into the deep end, rather than having the birth and long yawn sort of a beginning. [Laughs]

You also don’t seem to be a big fan of spoken exposition. Where’s the desire come from to express ideas facially and visually?

Well, I wouldn’t say I’m not a fan of exposition, since there is a moment in Hunger that’s like a fifteen-minute conversation. In the reality, when we’re speaking, we’re not telling each other about where we come from and why we behave the way that we behave. We don’t want to let everyone in our background and our private life, that just doesn’t happen. What I wanted to do with Shame, as a film, was to look at this character, Brandon, to show who he was and how he was. There was no best friend or shrink he could confide in and talk to, and a lot of writers use that to tell the audience more about the character. I wanted to, as you said, throw the audience into the deep end. In the narrative, the past comes into the present – who he is somehow arrives within the present.

With moments where characters are communicating through expressions, like the “New York, New York” sequence, do you write down what those expressions mean, or do you let actors interpret scenes like that?

Oh no, I write it. You want to let an actor know what you’re thinking and when the character’s emotion appears. For example, when she does the a cappella stuff, when the camera falls back and you hear her voice, that was in [the script] too; it was meticulous. Also, sometimes it’s difficult to write things in the abstract — you have to put it out there on paper. It just makes people imagine better what it possibly can be and how they can actually interpret that.

You even give minor characters, like David, their own story with expressions. When David leaves the room, after discussing his computer, you see him stare off sadly. Is a character touch like that in the script?

No, that’s James Badge Dale. What it is, sometimes you have to leave the actor hanging. It’s not about me saying cut, it’s about what happens afterwards. They’ve been wound up and compelled, so what happens afterwards? It’s very important to allow the actors to imagine. It’s a simple expression, but a very powerful moment.

To capture those type of moments, what type of atmosphere do you try to give the actors?

It starts with the staging, starts with hair and makeup, starts with wardrobe, starts with the grip, starts with the cinematographer and the sound department, basically the whole crew. It was such an amazing experience being with this crew. Of course, actors come to a situation and tend to know what’s going on. If the environment is collaborative, warm, and has a certain kind of unity to it, they are allowed to take risks because they’re in a safe environment.

What happens, even with that safe environment, when an actor does not feel comfortable or is having a hard time finding honesty?

I think that whole process has to happen before we get on the set. You’re talking, talking, talking, and talking. For Michael [Fassbender], it was like that on Hunger. This time, when we were on set, we wouldn’t have to talk; we knew each other. For Carey [Mulligan], there was a lot of talking, reassuring, and reading, to get to that place. Again, [same with] James Badge Dale and Nicole Beharie. When you’re on the set, they know what’s going on. If there’s a problem, we go back to where we started and retrace those steps. The homework has to happen, obviously, before we get on the set. It also comes down to rehearsals, but we don’t rehearse too much, because you want to bring freshness to it.

Are you very tied to your words on set? If an actor has an impulse that differs from your idea, will you let them run with it?

Oh yeah, goodness gracious. Of course, if it’s wrong, then… [Laughs] I’m all about experimenting, and that’s what film is. Of course, it has to come within the confine of the story. I feel like a bandleader in some way: I write a song and a harmony, and then they jump on the train. Within that, they improvise within the harmony or the melody. If they go out of it, then it’s wrong. It’s not all improvisation, since they’re interested in the script. In fact, 90% of the script they found improvisation in.

The idea of a film being about sex-addiction could make it distancing to a good amount of people, but I think there are some universal and relatable themes in the film. Was it important to make a film that thematically went beyond being solely about sex addiction?

Absolutely. Again, it’s from the starting point, of course, with the story. This is also about me. What I want from movies – and why I’m interested in doing them – is creating a screen, which is a mirror. When you’re in the cinema, I want you to see yourself, so you can reflect on the screen and totally understand it. That’s very important to me. I see cinema as important, and it can be important. I know a lot of people may laugh at me, but, no, I find it important. Sex addiction isn’t focused on enough, but hopefully people will start talking about it. There’s hardly any movies made about it. If there have been, it’s played as a joke. There’s a stigma attached to sex addicts; they’re ostracized. If people start talking about the subject because of the film, that’d be great. I think that’s what movies can do – they can be important and start conversation. Of course, it’s not specifically about addiction, it’s about how we live today. The majority of people who use the internet look at pornography. Show me someone who says they haven’t looked at pornography on the internet, they’d be lying. Everyone does it, but nobody talks about it. It’s strange that no one talks about it — how is that possible? It’s all around us. My goodness, it’s the elephant in the room.

There’s a very relatably human aspect of sex addiction, that feeling of self-loathing and regret.

Yeah, it’s very human. The film’s not about freak-shows, it’s about human beings. I love Brandon very much. He’s trying and he’s doing his best. You know, I think that’s what we’re all doing, in our own way; they’re human beings. It’s one of those things where – if I had self-will, then I’d have a six pack. I don’t, and why don’t I? We’re sometimes fighting against ourselves.

You do see that Brandon is trying, and he never does anything inherently bad. Did you and Michael always see him as a genuinely good person?

He’s not a bad guy, at all. He’s just in a situation where his addiction…he’s terrible to his sister, in a way, but we’re all terrible to our siblings in one way. What Cissy does is bring the past to the present, and he doesn’t want to have anything to do with. He is a good guy, totally. He’s like you and me; he’s trying. We’re not all angels.

Sissy’s presence also seems antagonistic because she’s the only person who sees his problems. Is she aware of the pain she’s causing him or is she oblivious to it?

I think she’s oblivious to it, in a way. A lot of the time people are just about, “Me, me, me, me, me,” and Sissy is one of those [people]. At the same time, she thinks, through her love, he’ll open up his love. She thinks her love is enough, like, “I’m only giving you love.”

When Sissy sings “New York, New York,” she seems to be finding some sort of catharsis in expressing herself. As an artist yourself, do you relate to that idea?

[Pause] No, it’s not therapy. Art is not therapy, at all. At the same time, it is an outlet for her, absolutely. I saw her as an extrovert, and Brandon as an introvert. As a performer, she lets herself out, in that way. For me, it’s all ideas, really. It’s about we than me, that’s for sure.

Does art ever affect you in a personal and unintended way, though?

It does take a toll. When I finished Hunger, I had this huge rash under my arm. I was talking to murderers and people who have done horrible things to each other. I block them out, because making a movie is about focusing on all the information about making a movie. When you stop, the world of the merry-go-round stops, and you sort of confront what you took on and and what spoke to you. There will be a reaction. I’m not sure what the reaction will be once Shame is finished, so we’ll see.

You mentioned in the Hollywood Reporter roundtable how, when it comes to finding a beautiful moment, it’s like trying to capture butterflies. When you do capture one, do you know it right away?

Yes, everyone does. It’s like you capture it, then move on. You feel it with your goosebumps, and that’s when you move on. The duality that comes with Michael, ‘New York, New York,’ and the threesome, which I like to call a foursome, you just know.

Is there ever a case, when you’re editing, where you find a moment you didn’t even notice on set?

When Brandon comes out of the cab — and David and Sissy go up into the apartment — what happens is: Michael is supposed to go straight up into the elevator, but Michael stands outside of the elevator. Of course, the elevator goes up and he sits on the cushion behind him. It’s a wonderful moment. It’s not an accident, at all, but it’s a wonderful moment of Michael being so much in character.

It’s a very precise shot. If I recall correctly, you didn’t storyboard on Hunger. Was that the same case here?

No, I didn’t storyboard, at all. I never storyboard. Ever. I have to find it; I never storyboard. The idea you bring up of storyboards offends me. [Laughs]

[Laughs] At first, I was going to say you sound angry.

[Laughs] No, no, I’m joking. I never storyboard.

Visually, do you usually know what you want, though?

Yes, but sometimes no — sometimes I gotta find it.

Can you give me an example of, in Shame, where you had an image in your head, and you then captured it?

For example… you know what? Sometimes when you’re in the environment, you sometimes find something better than what you had in your head. I rely more on half of an idea than a whole idea. I don’t want a whole idea. Otherwise, what’s the point? I really want to be in the moment, which is very important.

Even though I said there’s a preciseness to the framing, I think the camera is always at an observant state. Are you always conscious of, no matter how good a shot is, not calling attention to yourself?

Absolutely. I don’t want to put a stencil on a situation, I want a situation to tell me what it wants. On Hunger and Shame, it had to tell me what it wants. You have to deal with it.

In the wrong hands, a director could be very emotionally exploitative with this type of material. Where was that line for you, where you weren’t reveling in showing Brandon and Cissy’s pain?

Well, that’s a very good question. Let me think. [Pause] It is a balancing act. If you fall down, you can fall down, in a big way. It’s also about responsibility, really. I have a responsibility to this movie, and a responsibility to show what you don’t show. I think we achieved that, and I hope we did that.           

–

Shame is now in theaters.

Possible introductory pieces of wordsmithery to lead off this post – “not worth nyuk-ing about!” or even “better than a poke in the eye!” or possibly a longer rife on the use of “just say Moe” as the film’s tagline. Yet all of those cracks at humor are rendered absolutely and starkly unnecessary by this first trailer for the Farrelly Brothers‘ The Three Stooges, which is so painfully unfunny that it makes even related humor feel useless.

The Farrellys have been wanting to make a Stooges feature film for years, proclaiming it a passion project, but its journey to the screen has been filled with its own pratfalls and slams to the face – development delays and huge casting issues abounded. The film was originally rumored to star Jim Carrey, Benicico del Toro, and Sean Penn, but when they all dropped the project, other potential casting options were mentioned and reported, including Hank Azaria, Johnny Knoxville, Andy Samberg, and Shane Jacobson. Which doesn’t explain how we ended up with a cast that includes Chris Diamantopoulos as Moe Howard, Sean Hayes as Larry Fine, and Will Sasso as Curly Howard. And Snooki is there, because why not make something that looks terrible look even more bogglingly awful?

If you don’t value your eyes, your soul, or the possibility that Hollywood would greenlight an original and creative project, check out the first trailer for The Three Stooges after the break.

The Three Stooges opens in theaters on April 13, 2012. That’s all I can say about that. [Apple]

It’s been a long, winding road to get Disney’s new version of The Lone Ranger to the big screen. We went through the whole casting process, we went through a phase where everybody was waiting to see if Gore Verbinski would come on to direct, we were told that Disney had canned the movie due to its budget being out of control, and then there was a whole series of will-they-won’t-they back and forths where Verbinski kept trying to cut money from the budget to save the film and nobody knew whether or not each cut would be enough to do the job. But, finally, after what feels like years of reporting on this movie already, Deadline Tioga is saying that it’s actually set to go in front of cameras in February.

The amazing thing is, despite all of the delays and uncertainty, The Lone Ranger still has the original cast it put together in place. Armie Hammer is still going to be the title character, Johnny Depp is still going to be Tonto, and they’ve even now got Tom Wilkinson signed, sealed, and delivered to play the film’s villain, Latham Cole, and Ruth Wilson locked in to play the female lead, Rebecca Reid. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, there’s also a strong supporting cast featuring names like Barry Pepper and Dwight Yoakam that are still on board.

I always figured that Disney had too much invested in this project for it to just go away completely, but I imagined the version we would eventually get would have had a different director and a radically different cast from the original plan. Without even seeing how this movie turns out, I think a lot of credit has to be given both to the suits at Disney for taking a stand against the escalating cost of summer blockbusters and Verbinski and crew for sticking with this project and getting it down to a reasonable cost rather than moving on to the next bloated summer whatever for another studio. The astronomical numbers we were seeing thrown around that were going to be spent on a remake of a cowboy show from the ’50s was absurd, and I’m more than happy to watch a version with some huge train crashes and CG werewolves or whatever taken out.

Maybe they can even make up for the loss in spectacle by focusing a bit more on the stories and the characters, you know? Okay, probably not, let’s not get crazy.

The newest development in Selena Gomez’s career is by far the most insane. According to MTV, she’s going to be working with director Harmony Korine on his next film Spring Breakers.

If you don’t know who Gomez is, she’s the sugary sweet teen idol best known either for coming out of the Disney factory of loud-talking and sassy tween actors or for dating a twelve-year-old kid named Justin Bieber. If you don’t know who Harmony Korine is, he’s the certifiable weirdo who’s responsible for directing movies like Gummo and Julian Donkey Boy, films that could be described as shock fodder at best, and pure exploitation at worst. Korine is always digging into the darkest facets of the human psyche and them gleefully shining a spotlight on the sick behavior that he finds. So, you know, this is pretty much a match made in heaven.

Spring Breakers is about a group of college kids who rob a restaurant to get money to go on spring break, but eventually wind up jailed and at the mercy of a skeezy drug dealer. According to Gomez, “It’s a different character than I have ever played before. It’s a different kind of vibe I think than people are used to seeing me in. What you’re going to see is more raw, I think. It’s going to be raw and more about acting.” Of course, to Gomez’s young eyes this looks like a chance at credibility, but for us more seasoned film aficionados it looks more like another clear case of a young actor trying to prove that they’re grown up and serious by doing gross things that nobody will respect on film. That will be good news for Korine’s marketing people, but I have a feeling this isn’t the beginning of a road to prestige film for the young actress.

Gomez joins a pretty star-studded cast that already includes names like James Franco, Emma Roberts, and, another Disney vet, Vanessa Hudgens. Does this sound like a weird prank Korine is pulling to anybody else? Like his next shock tactic will be to get all corporate and wholesome so we don’t know how to react to what he’s doing? Whatever the approach to this film is, I’m intrigued. Seeing how far toward darkness a guy with the creative approach of a Korine can push these young, mainstream actresses will be worth watching for sure. I can just imagine him using Franco as his gateway to get the girls on board. “Come on ladies, James is doing my movie, he’s cute and popular but deep and interesting too. Don’t you want people to think you’re like him?” If you’ll excuse me, I need to go take a shower.

Editor’s note: This week, your tireless Criterion Warrior (oh, idea for a new column!) requested a week off to pursue something literary and intelligent and, well, big-wordy. With Mr. Palmer out, our own J.L. Sosa stepped up to the plate to file his very own Criterion, um, File. Be nice, bloodsuckers!

When I first saw Paul Morrissey‘s Blood for Dracula, I definitely felt like I was partaking of an illicit pleasure. A friend of mine with an encyclopedic knowledge (and equally impressive collection) of B-movies was moving to new digs and bequeathed to me, along with many other obscure relics, his VHS dub of the Criterion Collection’s unedited laserdisc edition of the film (LD spine #287, for the digit-obsessed). Based on the rumors I’d long heard, I was expecting copious over-the-top gore. The film delivered on that promise, but also unexpectedly unfolded with the langorous pace of a high-falutin’ costume drama. You know, just like Sense and Sensibility, except with more extended scenes of softcore grinding and vomiting of blood.

I later caught a midnight showing of the film at the beloved St. Anthony Main theater, just across the Mississippi from downtown Minneapolis. This time, the salacious tale of Count Dracula (Udo Kier) and his quest for the blood of a “wirgin” was screened from an authentically scratchy print, and curiously retitled Young Dracula. Although the R-rated Young Dracula had most of its eroticism trimmed, there was still enough suggestive content and bloodletting to draw whoops of approval (and sometimes loving derision) from the audience. There was no doubting the film’s ability to please fans of exploitative sleaze.

And that’s what makes the film’s appearance (along with that of its fraternal twin, Flesh for Frankenstein) in the Criterion Collection back catalog something of a puzzler. Why would the devoted archivists, who’ve so lovingly preserved the works of Resnais, Bergman and Kurosawa, deign to champion a flick in which our protagonist greedily laps away at a puddle of blood (said puddle being the sanguinous aftermath of a busted hymen)?

The glib answer is, at one point Warhol gave this thing the Factory seal of approval (yup, another of this film’s alternate titles is Andy Warhol’s Dracula). And if Warhol says it’s art, then it’s art, right? I’m totally willing to buy that answer, although doing so does something of a discredit to Morrissey’s achievement. That achievement was basically to craft a film that delivered the goods as well as or better than many of the B-horror movies which preceded it, while indicting those who mindlessly lust for the flesh and gore.

Most of the characters in Blood for Dracula might well be analogues for the audience’s baser appetites. The randy servant Mario (Joe Dallesandro) and his incestuous bedmates, Rubinia and Saphira (Stefania Casini and Dominique Darel), are constantly giving in to lust. It seems that most of the time, they’re either about to shag, are in mid-shag, or have just finished shagging.

The viewers’ bloodlust is personified by (you guessed it) the titular count. Dracula’s hunger for virgins’ blood seems less like a natural need for wholesome sustenance and more like a junkie’s craving for smack. He’s racked with paroxysms of withdrawal when he can’t have it. When he does get it, his relief is intense and short-lived. And when the stuff ain’t pure enough, he vomits violently and quite memorably declares, “The blood of these whores is killing me!”

Of all the characters, the most obvious surrogate for the audience might be Dracula’s butler, Anton (Arno Juerging). He eyes all the proceedings with lascivious glee. And a filmmaker (Roman Polanski in an inspired cameo), makes him the butt of a clever joke.

So, is Morrisey just dripping with contempt for his audience? Maybe, but I doubt it. If he were truly disgusted with those of us of who enjoy a good wallow in the mire, I think he wouldn’t bother to pander to our tastes in this and his even sleazier Flesh for Frankenstein.

I like to think that, even if he’s smugly looking down his nose at us, he regards us with the same grudging affection that he has for his characters. For as Morrissey once told the New York Times, “The characters may be losers, but they’re all kind of likable.”

Sink your teeth into more Criterion Files.

The trailer for The Five-Year Engagement doesn’t make it look like a movie I’m too excited to see. Which is strange, because it’s not just the latest film from director Nicholas Stoller, it’s also his latest writing collaboration with Jason Segel, and I love pretty much everything that these guys do. I think the problem is that this one looks like it’s going to be a romantic comedy that’s a little bit heavier on the relationship drama than it will be on the comedy. I like my Jason Segel more silly and whimsical than the one I’m seeing here, dealing with the trials and tribulations of loving a woman who’s career path is taking his life in a different direction than he saw it going.

On the flip side of the coin, this little two-and-a-half minute trailer is pretty much the most comedy I’ve ever seen Segel’s co-star Emily Blunt do, and she seems to be rather good at it. Not every actor can do comedy, so you’re never sure what you’re going to get until they try. The image of Kate Hudson getting shot in the leg with an arrow really doesn’t do much for me, but when it happens to Blunt here I got my one solid laugh from the trailer. Emily Blunt certainly isn’t my issue. Check out the first trailer for The Five-Year Engagement after the break.

When I look over the supporting cast for this film, I see nothing but names that I love. This trailer gives us brief appearances from Jacki Weaver, Chris Pratt, Rhys Ifans, and Alison Brie (how dare you only give me two seconds of Alison Brie!), all people that are welcome additions to anything that I’m watching. When you add it all up, there isn’t any aspect of this movie that I don’t like on paper. And yet, the trailer has left me cold, like I’m watching a generic relationship movie that I’ll forget about a couple weeks after I watch it.

Hopefully this is just a case of lame advertising and all of the best bits are still out there for discovery. What do you guys think, does this get you excited for the next Stoller and Segel collaboration?

The Five-Year Engagement opens on April 27, 2012. [Yahoo! Movies]