THE ONLINE AUTHORITY ON MOVIES

Whatever happened to brevity? Xavier Dolan‘s latest project – the transgender-infused romantic melodrama Laurence Anyways that was chosen as part of this year’s secondary Un Certain Regard competition in Cannes – weighs in at a comfort-busting two hours and thirty nine minutes. That, in any context, is too long.

But, perhaps the plot might offer redemption, and make for an engrossing enough experience to make time less of an issue? It all appeared very promising – a decade spent in the company of Laurence (Melvil Poupaud), who makes the bold and brave decision to change his sex, and his girlfriend Frederique (Suzanne Clement) who must come to terms with exactly what that decision must mean. Over the ten years the pair refind each other as Laurence advances on his personal journey of discovery, making this sort of like When Harry Became Sally, if you’re looking for a provocative, self-indulgent pop reference.

The arrival of a new Jackie Chan trailer hasn’t really been something worth noting for a while now as the past decade of his career has been heavy with (mostly) inferior Hollywood productions. His hometown productions fared better with films like New Police Story, Little Big Soldier and Shaolin offering up some solid action alongside stronger than usual stories.

But now we’ve gotten a one-two punch of Chan-related news, and both parts are equally interesting… ven if only the second half is actually welcome.

Chan has announced that he’s retiring from action films. Or at least, he won’t be taking lead roles in big action movies anymore.

I’ve been fighting and doing action films all my life, you’ve got to find a point to stop. With this movie I’m the director, I’m the writer, I’m the producer. So okay, I think it’s a good time to announce that it’s my last big action movie. I would still do action movies but not a big one like this.”

Chinese Zodiac follows the adventures of a renowned thief/treasure hunter who’s searching for a set of ancient Chinese sculptures crafted in the likeness of the zodiac animals. The trailer fails to mention it, but Chan has previously disclosed that this is in fact the long-awaited third film in his absolutely kick-ass Armour of God series (aka Operation Condor series here in the US).

Check out the trailer for what appears to be Chan’s final all-out action movie.

In Lawless, John Hillcoat has almost crafted the perfect modern Western, infusing more explicitly the gangster genre elements that always occur in the genre, but never quite so explicitly. The film follows the Bondurant brothers – Jack (Shia Labeouf), Forrest (Tom Hardy) and Howard (Jason Clarke) – rise as the most famous bootleggers in sun-dried Prohibition-era Virginia, and the government’s attempts to stop them.

The government’s chief agent is Guy Pearce‘s Charlie Rakes, a flamboyant looking, but profoundly villainous Special Deputy, let off his leash when the Bondurants, lead by Hardy’s powerhouse Forrest refuse to pay a monthly toll on their illegal activities.

While it may sound like an all guns-blazing, epic Prohibition-era Western, the story, adapted well from Matt Bondurant‘s historical novel by Nick Cave (who also once again offers a superlative score) focuses on human stories to add poignancy and depth to the more explosive sequences.

What is Movie News After Dark DRINKING? It’s the end result of a long work day, a half dozen mini doughnuts, a glass of cheap Canadian whisky, Robert Fure, and a keyboard. Suck on it, suckers!

This week’s movie news after Drinking is brought to you by Revel Stoke spiced whisky (We should not get paid for this because I’m not drinking this again. Or no we should still get paid, but I’m not drinking this again). But basically the deal is I get kind of drunk and then try to type up a whole bunch of movie news before my arms stop working. If you’re wondering why I’m typing all this nonsense, it’s because we need a certain amount of buffer before we move into the news to put a proper text break in here.

But totally keep reading because Will Smith NO JOKE SLAPS A RUSSIAN IN THE FACE IN THE FIRST STORY. (OH LOOK AT ME I’M FRILMCRIT HULK BECAUSE THIS IS ALL CAPITALS)

Co-workers! Pffft! Amirite? Yeah! You know what I mean! It looks like Elizabeth Banks feels me too, as she is set to star in Alan Ball‘s dark comedy What’s The Matter With Margie? as a “downtrodden” office drone who snaps and kills her co-workers. Fun! Deadline Henderson reports that Daniel Minahan will be directing the film, which comes from producer Balls’ own original screenplay.

Not much else is known about the project at this time, but so far, it sounds like a perfect fit. Banks has long been due her own comedy vehicle, and she’s terrifyingly adept at going off the rails in hilarious fashion (her freak-out in this week’s What to Expect When You’re Expecting is one of the film’s rare bright spots, and she’s also done it in films like Wet Hot American Summer, The Details, and The 40 Year Old Virgin). Ball’s brand of dark American humor is a solid fit for this film, which is (shockingly) only his third screenplay. Yet, considering his first was American Beauty, we’re lucky to be getting another film from such a talented scribe. While this will be only Minahan’s second feature, the director has a lot of great TV gigs under his belt – including Deadwood, John From Cincinnati, Game of Thrones, and two Ball properties – Six Feet Under and True Blood.

It’s not every day that press releases are issued that refer to Susan Sarandon as a “devious criminal,” but that’s where we’re at when it comes to Jonathan Mostow‘s Still of Night, a project that sounds compelling just by virtue of those two little words. News from Cannes (duh) reports that Exclusive Media will finance and produce the new thriller, which will see Sarandon’s criminal character making life really hard for Michelle Monaghan, who will portray a woman with more than enough trouble on her plate already.

Mostow (Terminator 3, U-571, Surrogates) has penned the script himself, which is described (quite effusively) as “a paranoia thriller that builds to a pulse-pounding crescendo, Still of Night is a smart, stylish ride packed with shocking twists that will give you nightmares – because it could actually happen to you.” What? What, really? No! Tell me more!

After The King’s Speech won the Oscar for Best Picture and got multiple theatrical releases, it was always just a matter of time before Hollywood tried to capitalize on its success by releasing a whole slate of King George VI movies. So here we are, getting the release of the trailer for the first of these films, Hyde Park on Hudson. It’s not quite as exciting as the inevitable news that King George will be joining The Avengers in the summer of 2014, but for now it will have to do.

Seriously though, all joking about King George showing up on the cover of “Tiger Beat” aside, everyone is actually looking forward to Hyde Park on Hudson for one reason: the chance to see Bill Murray play Franklin Roosevelt. So, how does he do? From what we can tell from this first look at the film, it seems like he does wonderfully. He’s not quite doing an F.D.R. impression, but he’s not just being Bill Murray either. Most importantly, it seems as if Murray’s version of Roosevelt is a charismatic troublemaker – something of a Woody Woodpecker archetype – who’s not just being portrayed as a historical figure and a powerful man, but instead as a multi-faceted individual with his own quirks, hang-ups, and small pleasures. Quite simply, it appears as if getting the chance to watch Murray live in the skin of this character for a couple of hours is going to be a terribly entertaining experience.

With Brave, Pixar’s latest film, not hitting theaters for another month, the studio is still looking to capitalize on some early summer dollars, particularly when it comes to the impending Memorial Day holiday weekend. The three-day weekend has a surprisingly slim release schedule that’s not particularly kid-friendly (its only two wide releases are Men in Black III and Chernobyl Diaries), so Pixar’s decision to re-release four of their most popular films exclusively to AMC Theatres for the weekend is a total no-brainer.

From May 25 to May 28, select AMC locations will be showing Toy Story 3, Ratatouille, Up, and Wall-E on a rotating schedule as part of the “Pixar Summer Movie Weekend.” Each film will also come with a classic short from Pixar and an exclusive new look at Brave.

While it would be nice if Americans used the upcoming three-day holiday to, I don’t know, go outside?, there are worse things to do with your kids (or your adults) than to take them to check out some Pixar classics in theaters. Some of these films haven’t been in theaters for nearly five years (Ratatouille specifically), so this offer will likely provide a first chance for some tiny Pixar fans to see their favorites on the big screen, and that’s a pretty charming prospect. Also, if you go to see Wall-E in an Austin-area theater, the odds are high that you’ll see the Head Reject snuffling into his beard.

When the first trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming male stripper drama, Magic Mike, came out, it painted Channing Tatum’s titular character as a dreamer whose side job was at odds with his aspirations for becoming an artist and finding true love. It seemed like the movie was a fun excuse to have a bunch of ripped dudes take their shirts off in order to sell tickets to the boy-crazy segment of the film-going population, sure, but it also looked like a story that had heart and the potential to connect with audiences on a deeper level.

This new international trailer is a little bit different. Its focus is on Alex Pettyfer’s character making his debut in the world of male stripping, and it doesn’t make even momentary mention of anyone’s post-stripping goals. Basically, it makes Magic Mike look like a movie where, for a couple of hours, girls will be shrieking and guys will be wiggling. I guess abs translate much easier than dreams to a multilingual audience.

When it was said that “there can be only one,” obviously the original Highlander movie was referring to mystical, sword-wielding immortals and not movies about mystical, sword-wielding immortals because, despite the fact that we were down to one by the end of that first film, sequels were made. And now Lionsgate-Summit seems to be well on their way to making a reboot a reality. They’ve already got Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) on board to direct and a script from screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, so, after a little casting, things should be good to go.

In an earlier press release announcing the project Summit described this new Highlander’s plot by saying, “In Highlander, after centuries of dueling to survive against others like him, Connor MacLeod, an immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his kind, a murderously brutal barbarian, who lusts for the Prize.” So, basically this is a straight remake of the first film, and though Christopher Lambert was still looking pretty spry the last time I saw him, he’s definitely aged out of playing a hunky immortal. Simply put, we’re gonna need a younger Connor MacLeod.

Editor’s note: With Indie Game: The Movie opening up in Los Angeles today as it begins its theatrical run, we thought it only appropriate to re-run this Sundance review, originally posted on January 20.

They say to truly be happy you should “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life,” but what does it mean to take something you love doing and try and make it your career? Or at least something you dedicate the majority of your time to? Those who are writers or make films or music usually get into it because they love reading/writing, movies and music, but there is a caveat to this idea that people do not always realize. Even if you are “pursuing your dreams,” at the end of the day, work is work. It may be more exciting and different than your average 9-5 cubicle life, it is still a job with deadlines, pressure, and stress.

Indie Game: The Movie follows three sets of video game creators (Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes, creators of Super Meat Boy; Phil Fish, creator of FEZ; and Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid) each at different points in their careers (and the games they are working on) to show not only the process of being an independent game creator, but what happens when you pour yourself into something that you eventually have to leave up to other people to determine its success. None of these creators are in it for the money (although there is certainly money to be made here), but rather all three started making games because they loved playing them as kids and wanted to make their own. Each comes from a generation that grew up gaming and really becoming a part of that world from drawing sketches of their favorite characters to figuring out how to put together their own rudimentary games making the next logical step becoming game creators themselves.

Suspense novelist Patricia Highsmith will forever be known as the scribe behind “Strangers on a Train,” which has been adapted for the big screen over two dozen times (and most memorably by Hitchcock himself), but Highsmith also wrote another seminal work of fiction whose influence arguably surpassed “Strangers.” Two years after publishing “Strangers,” Highsmith adopted the pseudonym Claire Morgan to pen a very important piece of homosexual fiction – “The Price of Salt.” Despite the book’s ground-breaking portrayal of a lesbian relationship in the 1950s, the book has yet to yield a full-scale cinematic adaption – but that’s changed now.

News from Cannes (our new favorite kind of news!) reports that John Crowley (who previously directed the achingly beautiful and deeply sad Boy A) will direct a big screen take on the book, now titled just Carol for the film, that will star Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska as the lovers, Therese and Carol.