Trailer Tuesday: Liberal Arts

This week sees the trailer for Liberal Arts, a film written, directed and starring Josh Radnor (perhaps better known as Ted Mosby from How I Met Your Mother). This indie-drama-romance has a unique take on the difference in perception of life between a 35 year old and a university student, and how love brings them together.  Radnor's firm optimism and drive to make feel-good things is blatantly present, with a charming style and sense of humour to match, making this a front runner on the indie circuit. Here's what it's all about:

"When 30-something Jesse returns to his alma mater for a professor's retirement party, he falls for Zibby, a college student, and is faced with a powerful attraction that springs up between them." - IMDb

• Performances look great from the two leads, Radnor and Elizabeth Olsen, which is good considering that most of the screen time will likely be solely them. 
• Radnor seems to be tackling the issues/joys of Uni life and the scary world that comes after it, with a head on approach -- something which has earned it the right to be called "The best movie about college since I don't know when.".
• Although absent from this trailer, Zac Efron also stars, albeit in a small, student role (I presume). 
• Desperately holding back the How I Met Your Mother references here (Break-up beard, Classic Schmosby, etc)...
• Not quite sure of the specifics of the distribution, but here's hoping for a wide release range. I believe Radnor's a true up-and-coming talent that needs some more recognition to be put beside the likes of Zach Braff.

You can catch Liberal Arts out now in the US or October 5th in the UK. 

That's all for today's rather brief post, see ya next time.  

ATR

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Trailer Tuesday: Looper

One film that's been making waves at the Toronto International Film Festival this past week is Looper: the ambitious time-hopping sci-fi, starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. From visionary writer/director, Rian Johnson, Looper looks set to thrill with its no-holds-barred high concepts and wiz-bang action set pieces, all the while walking the very thin tight rope that is making time travel work. Here's the surprisingly detailed synopsis, from Wikipedia:

"In a futuristic gangland in the year 2044, a 25-year-old assassin named Joseph Simmons (Gordon-Levitt) works for a mafia company in Kansas City as a "Looper." Loopers kill and dispose of agents sent by their employers from corporate headquarters in Shanghai from the year 2074. Loopers are foot soldiers, paid on the condition that all targets must never escape. When Simmons recognizes his target as a future version of himself (Willis), his older self escapes after incapacitating him. The failure of his job causes his employers to come after him, forcing him to fight for his life as he hunts his older self" - Wikipedia

And now the pretty darn impressive trailer: 



Breakdown:

• 0:19 - "I don't want to talk about time travel" -- are we getting a tongue-in-cheek, direct reference to how difficult time travel is to explain and how Looper's going to potentially side step that? Meta nod + cut the crap = awesome.
• 0:24 - Yes, it is hard to believe that this is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, what with all the digital refiguring of his face to look like a younger Willis. Ah, Technology, will your limits ever be reached?
• 1:01 - English actress Emily Blunt co-stars as Sara, Simmon's love interest it seems.
• 1:04 - The tone of the city is said to be a mix of futuristic and retro themes, particularly focusing on a 1940s and 50s vibe with architecture, clothing and even the "gangster lifestyle".
• 1:21 - Hell yeah; The Newsroom star, Jeff Daniels portrays what looks like the Looper leader.
• 1:35 - Spin shots, motion runs -- Johnson's directional style will certainly be present.
• 2:09 - Perhaps time travel isn't the only Sci-Fi trope we'll be seeing as telekinesis and other physics-bending abilities come into play.
• 2:12 - Oh and Burlesque. Very physics-bendy. Well, bendy at least.
• 2:24 - The flashy title card is a refreshing break from the looming, solid metal fonts of the big-budget blockbusters of late, presenting a slight indie feel to this one (hence its place at opening TIIF).

And you don't even have to wait long for what is already being described as "this generation's Matrix", as it releases 28th of September. Originality, talent and a hell of a lot of potential; definitely one not to be missed. 

ATR

Step back in time with Trailers of the past!

Trailer Tuesday: Chronicle

Behold the first trailer for indie-super powered flick, Chronicle. Now let me guess, you've never heard of it? Well me neither, but just give it a watch, you might find it rather impressive (I did!).

So here's the synopsis:

"Three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to their developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, and their darker sides begin to take over." 

And here's the chilling trailer:



So it starts out all well and good; three high school buddies just goofing around etc, etc. Then we see how they have these "muscle controlled" powers of telekinesis and impenetrable skin etc, etc. And then things get weird: the whole trailer changes tone very quickly into a dark, frosty thriller-type display of a movie. Very cool. And finally right at the end we glimpse that  supernatural hole in the ground that presumably grants them their powers.

   It may not sound entirely original, i.e. teenagers gaining some powers and messing around with them until things get serious, but it does look like it could be half-decent. The idea that one friend gets power hungry, and only the other two buds can stop him, potentially ending in something tragically dramatic and driven, is a story arch I'd be willing to pay money to see and experience, especially if handled with care. Plus the handheld camera style suggests that this could be the Paranormal Activity of the SuperHero genre.

The US release date is February 3rd 2012, but UK is still unknown. Either way, be sure to check it out if your interest has been piqued here. And remember, it was HERE that it was piqued: dudemeisterblogs.blogspot.com . Yep totally just plugged myself. On the same site I was plugging. Is that even legal?

ATR

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Joss Whedon's 'Much Ado About Nothing' Announced

Late Sunday night, Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle) tweeted a link to the site muchadothemovie.com, announcing the new Joss Whedon project, an adaptation of the Shakespeare comedy, Much Ado About Nothing. And the amazing part? It has already been written, cast and filmed, with the principal photography being completed within 12 days in Santa Monica.

   The cast includes a huge array of actors from Whedon's expansive library, with stars from his previous shows, Angel, Dollhouse and Firefly, as well as The Avengers' Clark Gregg and, obviously, Nathan Fillion. As a modern take on Shakespeare's "Romance Deconstruction" (as Whedon says), the film will be a "fancy" piece, premiering at film festivals once it's finished  in early Spring, and shall boast a "DIY" sense of film making and fresh dialogue, directly from the House of Whedon.

The whole thing's been shot in black and white, giving it an indie-type feel and dramatic over-tone. But if we see splashes of colour like on the title image, I reckon we can expect a very tight example of some beautiful cinematography  to accompany the quirkiness that the whole "cocktail and scuba" style portrays.

What's more, Whedon has set up his very own independent film company (which will produce the film) with wife, Kai Cole, called Bellwether. The "micro-studio" vowes to create "small, independent narratives" for all and any media, meaning Cinema, Web, TV, Page and beyond. Does this mean his further web projects, (like Wastelanders, a post-apocalyptic web series colaboration with comics/novel legend, Warren Ellis or even a Dr Horrible sequel) could be produced under the company?

I'm pretty excited about this, because I know Whedon's a pretty big Shakespeare buff, so his work will be nicely dedicated to the story, as well as offering up his own comedic flair to it all, and the super-impressive cast is sure to knock it out of the park. My one question is where does the time come from? Literally only just getting off of the set of The Avengers, with his directing duties there, Whedon couldn't have stopped working. Theory: Time Lord, definitely Time Lord.

You can read the whole press release here, with further details into casting and so forth.

ATR