Just in time for the holidays comes a new family film featuring a huge cast with a Christmas theme.
Directed by Jessie Nelson and written by Steven Rogers, LOVE THE COOPERS follows the Cooper clan as four generations of extended family come together for their annual Christmas Eve celebration.
As the evening unfolds, a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn to night upside down, leading them all toward a surprising rediscovery of family bonds and the spirit of the holiday.
Starring Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Ed Helms, Diane Keaton, Jake Lacy, Anthony Mackie, Amanda Seyfried, June Squibb, Marisa Tomei and Olivia Wilde, watch the first trailer for the upcoming holiday film, LOVE THE COOPERS.
How fun does this look – big stars, holiday theme. Count me in!
Yahoo Movies interviewed director Jessie Nelson about the film.
Highlights include Nelson’s comments on:
How Love the Coopers might remind you of other festive movies with big ensembles: We’re in the spirit of Love Actually or The Family Stone…We’ve got a lot of comedy but we also have a lot of warmth and heart – that embraces the painful insanity of the holidays.
John Goodman playing the role of the family patriarch after 20 years: He was really excited to get a role like this…He had that dream dad vibe and Diana had always wanted to work him.
The scene that impressed Nelson the most – when the family goes Christmas caroling: I had no idea of the level of musicianship from some of my actors. Alan Arkin is an amazing ukulele player. John Goodman plays the harmonica beautifully. Ed Helms can play the guitar so well. Diane sings beautifully, and June Squibb has a beautiful voice. It was amazing what they did with that scene.
CBS Films will release LOVE THE COOPERS in theaters on November 2015.
Every daughter should know this history, every son write it on his own heart. – Meryl Streep
I come to ask you to help to win this fight. If we win it, this hardest of all fights, then, to be sure, in the future it is going to be made easier for women all over the world to win their fight when their time comes. – Emmeline Pankhurst (1913)
On August 26, 1920 the United States government accorded women the right to vote.
Each year, the President of the United States designates August 26 as Women’s Equality Day to commemorate this landmark decision.
In celebration of the 95th anniversary of the historic moment for equal rights, Focus Features has released the U.S. theatrical poster for SUFFRAGETTE.
The moving and powerful SUFFRAGETTE shines a light on women who risked everything for the right to vote, in early-20thcentury Britain.
The cast includes Academy Award nominees Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter and three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep.
The female filmmaking team includes producers Alison Owen (an Academy Award nominee) and Faye Ward (a Golden Globe Award nominee), Emmy Award-winning writer Abi Morgan, and BAFTA Award-winning director Sarah Gavron.
This video below from Focus Features commemorates Women’s Equality Day and the impact of Emmeline Pankhurst (played by Meryl Streep in the film).
The stirring story centers on Maud (played by Carey Mulligan), a working wife and mother whose life is forever changed when she is secretly recruited to join the U.K.’s growing suffragette movement. Galvanized by the outlaw fugitive Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep), Maud becomes an activist for the cause alongside women from all walks of life. When increasingly aggressive police action forces Maud and her dedicated fellow suffragettes underground, they engage in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with the authorities, who are shocked as the women’s civil disobedience escalates and sparks debate across the nation.
Inspired by true events, SUFFRAGETTE is a moving drama exploring the passion and heartbreak of those who risked all they had for women’s right to vote – their jobs, their homes, their children, and even their lives. The film also stars Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff, Ben Whishaw, Romola Garai, and Natalie Press.
Anne-Marie Duff remarks, “This is the time to tell the Suffragettes’ story; there are countries whose regimes diminish women, and countries where there is a terrifying preoccupation with external appearances rather than with women who are achievers.”
Helena Bonham Carter adds, “Around the world, there are still glass ceilings for women. This is a subject we must continue to talk about.”
Meryl Streep notes, “The full measure of our equality as human beings has yet to be gained across the world as well as here at home. I think it will shock people that this was London in 1912-1913, and how hard won the vote is. I don’t think any young woman who sees SUFFRAGETTE can conscientiously sit out any election after seeing how people suffered to give her the right to decide her own future.”
Carey Mulligan reflects, “There is a general apathy towards voting, especially among younger people, despite so many voices being heard online. So for them to see the dedication, hard work, determination, passion, and grief that went into achieving equality in a voting system is important.
“SUFFRAGETTE is a universal story for today and about equality; the Suffragettes’ battle for change is still being fought, not only for women’s rights but for equality between races, between societies, between classes. Hopefully our film will inspire people to go out and do something to make the world a better place.”
With a moving score from Oscar winner Alexandre Desplat, SUFFRAGETTE opens on October 23rd in New York and Los Angeles – expanding across the country in the following weeks.
Broad Green Pictures has released three new featurettes for director Isabel Coixet’s wonderful film, LEARNING TO DRIVE.
Chosen as the Audience Award runner-up at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and inspired by a true story, LEARNING TO DRIVE stars Academy Award nominee Patricia Clarkson and Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley in a feel-good comedy about an improbable friendship.
Wendy is a fiery Manhattan author whose husband has just left her for a younger woman; Darwan is a soft-spoken taxi driver from India on the verge of an arranged marriage. As Wendy sets out to reclaim her independence, she runs into a barrier common to many lifelong New Yorkers: she’s never learned to drive. When Wendy hires Darwan to teach her, her unraveling life and his calm restraint seem like an awkward fit. But as he shows her how to take control of the wheel, and she coaches him on how to impress a woman, their unlikely friendship awakens them to the joy, humor, and love in starting life anew. (trailer)
Of special note – the movie is edited by triple Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
For Schoonmaker, the film served as a reunion of sorts. Schoonmaker explains, “Having had the wonderful experience of editing Sir Ben Kingsley’s performance in two Scorsese movies, Shutter Island and Hugo, and also having had the same wonderful experience editing Patricia Clarkson’s performance in Shutter Island, it was a delightful surprise to discover how much humor both of them brought to their parts in Learning to Drive, and how Sir Ben’s stillness and quiet dignity as a Sikh was the perfect foil for Patricia’s highly emotional and wonderfully courageous performance as Wendy. They were magical together and enormous fun to edit.”
This delightful, independent film is playing in select theaters now and opens in St. Louis on Friday September 4.
Today marks the five year anniversary since the release of Suzanne Collins’ final Hunger Games book, Mockingjay.
To celebrate, fans were encouraged to click the map of The Capitol on the all-new microsite: Squad451.TheHungerGames.movie. This website empowered them to ‘tap to reveal’ the exclusive new “Fallen Snow” banner for THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 2.
Following a cumulative 11,202,015 clicks from fans around the world in just one hour, fans can now view the banner and explore this vision of a toppled regime via your cursor or phone’s accelerometer.
The final installment of the epic HUNGER GAMES series – THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 2 – stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Willow Shields, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Natalie Dormer, with Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland.
The blockbuster Hunger Games franchise has taken audiences by storm around the world, grossing more than $2.2 billion at the global box office. THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 2 now brings the franchise to its powerful final chapter in which Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) realizes the stakes are no longer just for survival – they are for the future.
With the nation of Panem in a full scale war, Katniss confronts President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in the final showdown.
Teamed with a group of her closest friends – including Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Finnick (Sam Claflin) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) – Katniss goes off on a mission with the unit from District 13 as they risk their lives to liberate the citizens of Panem, and stage an assassination attempt on President Snow who has become increasingly obsessed with destroying her.
The mortal traps, enemies, and moral choices that await Katniss will challenge her more than any arena she faced in The Hunger Games.
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 2 is directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Peter Craig and Danny Strong.
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 2 Opens In Theaters November 20
Watch Emily Blunt in this brand new clip from the upcoming cartel-thriller SICARIO. (trailer)
From director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Incendies) comes a searing emotional-thriller that descends into the intrigue, corruption and moral mayhem of the borderland drug wars.
When Arizona FBI agent and kidnap-response-team leader Kate Macer (Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt) uncovers a Mexican cartel’s house of death, her shocking find leads to profound consequences on both a personal and global level.
Kate is recruited to join a covert black-ops mission headed by a mysterious Colombian operative known only as Alejandro (Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro, Best Supporting Actor, Traffic, 2000) along with special agent Matt Graver (Academy Award nominee Josh Brolin, Best Supporting Actor, Milk, 2008).
Even as Kate tries to convince herself she’s on a hunt for justice, she is thrust into the dark heart of a secret battleground that has swept up ruthless cartels, kill-crazy assassins, clandestine American spies and thousands of innocents.
The jagged line of the U.S. and Mexican border is now awash in some of the most pressing questions of our times – drugs, terror, illegal immigration, corruption and an escalating swath of dark crime that has left people on both sides frightened and vigilant.
Sicario explores the journey of an intelligence operation that pushes the rules to engage with those who don’t play by any.
Director of Photography is Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (True Grit, 2010; No Country for Old Men, 2007) and the score is from composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (The Theory of Everything, 2014; Prisoners).
Varèse Sarabande will release the SICARIO – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally and on CD September 18, 2015, the same day that the Lionsgate film premieres in limited release, before opening wide on September 25.
“Choose wisely, for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you.”
INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE screens Midnights This Weekend at The Tivoli as part of the Reel Late at The Tivoli Midnight series.
In case INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE somehow passed you by in 1989, the film opens with a scene showing a young Indiana Jones (River Phoenix) demonstrating his tenacity when uncovering grave robbers taking precious artifacts in Utah. The film begins properly when Dr Jones (Harrison Ford of course) is invited by wealthy Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) to help locate and recover the Holy Grail, said to grant eternal life to those who drink from it. But as Dr Jones soon realizes, he must rescue his Grail-expert father (Sean Connery) from the Nazis who also covet the Grail for their own evil purposes.
From the start, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE simply doesn’t let go. Each scene is a riotous, action-packed sequence of stunts, explosions and fisticuffs. Harrison Ford is more comfortable in his third stab at Indy and Sean Connery is more than a match, playing against his usual macho self by becoming a bumbling, almost comic sidekick as Indy’s dad Henry. Special mention must also go to Denholm Elliott as Marcus Brody (this time given much more prominence) as well as Alison Doody as the love interest (remember her? Me neither). And given that this is written and directed by two of the biggest names in the business (Spielberg and Lucas), it is a stone-hearted curmudgeon who would argue that INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE is anything other than simply magnificent entertainment, and one that has not been seen on the big screen much, unlike RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, since it was made. Now you’ll have your chace to see INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE in all its big screen glory when it plays midnights this weekend (August 28th and 29th) at Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater as part of the Reel Late at The Tivoli Midnight series.
Admission is $8. Hope to see everyone this weekend at The Tivoli!
The Tivoli is located at 6350 Delmar Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63130 = In ‘The Loop’
“Well guys, we’ve made it to the end of the summer in one piece, except for a few campers who are lepers. “
WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER screens midnights this weekend (August 28th and 29th) at The Moolah Theater (3821 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, MO). Admission is only $5
WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER from 2001, is a comedy about summer camp, a spoof of movies about summer camp, a grab bag of random absurdity and a collection filmmakers and now-familiar actors hamming it up as hard as they can. It didn’t make much of a splash when it premiered 14 years ago (I don’t think it even played theatrically here in St. Louis, but I could be wrong about that), but it’s developed such a cult following over the past 14 years that Netflix has made a sequel series, WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER – FIRST DAY OF CAMP.
It’s the last day at Camp Firewood in the summer of 1981 and pretty much every stock summer camp storyline is trotted out for derision and mockery in WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER. There’s the love triangle between the geek camp counselor, the hot girl who treats him like her pet and the teen rebel she’s really hot for. There’s the desperate virgin counselor trying to make it with the camp slut. There’s the lonely, divorced arts-and-crafts teacher, the weird camp cook, the kids stuck on a raft approaching the raging rapids, the big talent show, the big game against the kids from the “evil camp” and the outcast kids who come together to save the day. There’s also a talking can of vegetables that boasts of his sexual prowess, a gay subplot that seems to have wandered in from another movie, the old space station Skylab, the worst motorcycle chase in film history, some generic 80s allusions and the charm of a bunch of people who clearly had a great time making this thing.
Filmmakers David Wain and Michael Showalter took a scattershot approach in WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER, throwing joke after joke against the wall to see what sticks. On one hand, they’ll do a running gag about the kid at camp who never takes a shower all summer, which could come from any number of traditional comedies about this subject. On the other hand, they’ll do a lot of parodies of summer camp movies, like having a kid actually drown while two 30-something teenage counselors French kiss with abandon (my personal favorite scene). They’ll just throw out some odd gag about something like Kenyan marathoners. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t, but the movie moves along quickly enough that when a joke bombs, the smell doesn’t linger.
As far as the acting goes, well, Marguerite Moreau as the camp hotty is the only one in the whole cast doing any real acting (and, ironically, the one whose post-WET HOT career went mostly nowhere) . Everyone else, including David Hyde Pierce as a college professor and Janeane Garofolo as the camp director, mug shamelessly for the camera. Again, that results in some moments that are funny as hell, like Paul Rudd’s portrayal of slothful adolescent defiance. But there are also moments that fail to make any sense, like Garafolo riffing on Jewish surnames, but it’s all so weird and off-the-wall, there’s never a dull moment. Also look for Christopher Meloni, Molly Shannon, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler, and Bradley Cooper.
Relive Summer Camp 1981 when WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER screens midnights this weekend (August 28th and 29th) at The Moolah Theater (3821 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, MO). Admission is only $5
The Moolah will also be screening all 8 episodes of the new Netflix prequel series, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, for FREE in the Mini-Moolah starting at 7pm both days. Come out early for the critically-acclaimed Netflix series and stay late for the original cult classic movie!
Local comedians will perform a brief stand-up set and host Wet Hot American Summer trivia before each night’s screening. Comedians Ryan Dalton & Milly Naeger will be performing on Friday night and Emily Hickner & Andrew Mihalevich will be performing on Saturday night.
Here’s The Moolah’s upcoming midnight schedule:
September 4th and 5th: GREASE (sing-along version)
September 24th and 26th: AFTER HOURS
October 9th and 10th: THE EVIL DEAD
October 20th, 23rd, and 24th: BACK TO THE FUTURE Part 2
Principal photography is underway on Warner Bros. Pictures’ dramatic thriller UNFORGETTABLE, which is the first film in the director’s chair for veteran producer Denise Di Novi (“Crazy, Stupid, Love,” “Focus”).
Katherine Heigl (KNOCKED UP, 27 DRESSES) and Rosario Dawson (SIN CITY films, Netflix’s DAREDEVIL series) star in the film. UNFORGETTABLE marks a reunion for Heigl and Di Novi, who previously collaborated on “Life as We Know It.”
Heigl stars as Tessa Connover, who is barely coping with the end of her marriage when her ex-husband, David (Stults), becomes happily engaged to Julia Banks (Dawson) – not only bringing Julia into the home they once shared but also into the life of their daughter, Lilly (Isabella Rice). Trying to settle into her new role as a wife and a stepmother, Julia believes she has finally met the man of her dreams, the man who can help her put her own troubled past behind her. But Tessa’s jealousy soon takes a pathological turn until she will stop at nothing to turn Julia’s dream into her ultimate nightmare.
The main cast also includes Geoff Stults (TV’s “Zoo”), young actress Isabella Rice (“True Blood”), Simon Kassianides (TV’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”), Whitney Cummings (“The Wedding Ringer”), Robert Wisdom (TV’s “Chicago PD”) and film and television star Cheryl Ladd.
The film is being produced by Di Novi, Alison Greenspan (“If I Stay”) and Ravi D. Mehta (“Grudge Match”), from a screenplay by Christina Hodson.
The behind the scenes creative team is led by multiple Oscar-nominated director of photography Caleb Deschanel (“The Right Stuff,” “The Natural”), production designer Nelson Coates (“Flight”), editor Frédéric Thoraval (“Taken”), and costume designer Marian Toy (HBO’s “Ballers”).
UNFORGETTABLE will be lensed in and around the Los Angeles area and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Sit down with Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber and director Edward Zwick as they explore the genius behind the madness of American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer in a new featurette from Bleecker Street’s PAWN SACRIFICE.
In a gripping true story set during the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire. Also starring Liev Schreiber and Peter Sarsgaard, PAWN SACRIFICE chronicles Fischer’s terrifying struggles with genius and madness, and the rise and fall of a kid from Brooklyn who captured the imagination of the world.
“The political moment of confrontation between East and West is such an interesting and rich moment dramatically,” says Zwick. “The idea of this kid from Brooklyn going up against the great Soviet Bear was irresistible on so many levels. Then, it also deals with the odd and sometimes inevitable correspondence between genius and madness.”
The year 1972 was packed with watershed events across the globe, including the winding down of the war in Vietnam, the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, the terrorist attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, the Watergate break-in and Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking trip to China. But it was an international event of a very different kind that dominated headlines that summer.
In Iceland, Bobby Fischer, America’s foremost chess player, faced the reigning champion, Boris Spassky of Russia, in a series of matches that held the world spellbound.
Around the world, people were captivated by a mano-a-mano fight between two masters of the so-called “game of kings.” Eastern European players dominated the chess scene, and Fischer unknowingly became an avatar for the United States and its Cold War battle for dominance with the Soviet Union.
PAWN SACRIFICE chronicles Bobby Fischer’s pursuit of the chess world’s ultimate prize and the price he paid for his victory.
With a screenplay by Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) and the score from James Newton Howard, PAWN SACRIFICE opens in select theaters on Wednesday, September 16th.
New posters and a NSFW trailer are here for HELL AND BACK.
In the outrageous R rated animated comedy from the Animation studio that brought you “Robot Chicken,” “Triptank” and “Bojack Horseman,” three friends embark on a wayward journey into the deepest, darkest depths of hell to rescue one of their own.
While navigating their escape, they provoke a slew of misfit demons, a super sexy angel, infamous Greek legends, and the Devil himself; Hell has never been hotter!
In the film, T.J. Miller plays a not-so-svelte guy named Augie who gets pulled into Hades along with his best friend Remy (stand-up comedian Nick Swardson). The thing is, this Hell is pretty hilarious, raunchy, and boasts an all-star cast that includes Mila Kunis as a devious demon who leads the two mortals on an odyssey through Satan’s inferno. Bob Odenkirk voices the devil, and Susan Sarandon plays his angel of desire.
With performances by Danny McBride, Rob Riggle, Jennifer Coolidge, Michael Peña, and more, HELL AND BACK’s underworld serves up a virtual who’s who of the foul-mouthed.
When speaking with Yahoo! Movies, Miller equated the animated feature to his upcoming Marvel comic book movie. “Deadpool is another opportunity like this. This is a movie, it’s R-rated, and it’s in a space that isn’t usually R-rated… R-rated stop motion comedy: It just doesn’t happen.”
HELL AND BACK will open in theaters in October 2, 2015.
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