Not only will Joel Edgerton be in at least four dozen movies this year, The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that he’s just sold a spec script to Regency called One Night Stand that has them on the hunt for a director. The concept, which seems light-years away from The Square, involves an honest look at what happens when a guy and girl shack up for a single night. Consequences ensue. That’s a sadly inexact description of the script (considering that it describes a ton of movies), but hopefully there’s some magic hidden in it that caught the eye of the studio. Edgerton of course wrote The Square which caught a lot of attention, but seemed more than a bit clunky as a thriller. This new project is outside that wheelhouse just a bit as it’s described as a “drama with comedic elements,” which means someone gorgeously recites the To Be Or Not To Be speech before slipping on a banana peel. Or, if his Square sensibilities in tact, the main character will sleep with a dude no-string-style and then dump an illicit bag of money on his bed before leaving. All of this adds up to continued dominance from the Australian actor/writer/producer who just keeps making his presence known. At any rate, he’s come a long way from playing Owen Lars in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, eh?

Once again utilizing his low budget sensibilities and a few friendly faces, writer/director/producer/actor Ed Burns has crafted an impressive adult dramedy that feels blissfully familiar (and awkwardly familial). Newlyweds is a semi-documentary style film that relies almost solely on the talents of its cast – a true ensemble made up of Burns as Buzzy, the cocksure fitness instructor on his second marriage; Caitlin Fitzgerald as his sweetly sarcastic wife Katie; Kerry Bishé (seen above) as his self-destructive sister Linda; Marsha Dietlein as his opinionated sister-in-law Marsha; and Max Baker as Marsha’s perverted old husband (in his second outing as a character named Max for an Ed Burns film). Buzzy and Katie are the kind of couple you want to be best friends with. They’re pragmatic and funny, obviously looking at life through the sober and absurd lens that their first marriages afforded them. They are tonal opposites of Marsha and Max whose 18 years together have given them emotional crow’s feet and an aggressive bitterness that doesn’t make them flinch when it starts gnashing its teeth in public. They could be representations of different stages and styles of relationships as a means to put on display the human fragility of latching yourself on to another human being for “the rest of your life.” Or, you know, they could just be real people. Which is more likely.

In The Paperboy, Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey play reporters from Miami hired to prove the innocence of a death row inmate (John Cusack). The woman who hires them is the highly sexual Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman) who has fallen in love with the inmate despite never meeting him. She’s convinced he should be free, and that they should be married. The movie is based on the novel by Pete Dexter (who wrote the screenplay), and it’s being directed by Precious helmer Lee Daniels. With one Oscar-nominated film under his belt, it will be interesting to see if he shoots for a second. It will also be interesting to see if they keep the harrowing ending to the novel, because if they do, things are about to get a lot darker. A new poster for the film is making the rounds, and it’s the kind of artwork that makes most poster artists seem lazy (as if they need help). It’s a fantastic throwback style with a little too much eye-liner. Check it out for yourself:

Like all Harry Potter alumnae, audiences have questioned what David Yates will make his first film coming out of Hogwart’s. His name has been attached (no matter how loosely) to The Stand, to the Al Capone biopic Cicero, to an adaptation of the Vertigo comic Fables, to a movie about Alan Turing, to a war picture called St. Nazaire, and to the divisive new Doctor Who movie from BBC. Now, according to Variety, there’s a new project to add to the list. Yates is reportedly on board to direct Your Voice in My Head- an adaptation of the Emma Forrest memoir of the same name which chronicles her experience with bipolar disorder and the death of the psychiatrist who was helping her cope. Here’s the money quote from the Guardian review of the book:

Why Watch? A little girl’s bedtime story, told while bullets fly. I featured another Jamin Winans film yesterday, but there’s no reason not to check out more – especially when Winans cuts to the chase in a movie’s first second. This short features a gambler on the run who gets a phone call from his niece and has to tell her a bedtime story that seems to have some clear parallels to his own chase scene. A little comedy, a little coincidence and another magical urban fairytale from a fresh voice. What does it cost? Just 5 minutes of your time. Check out Uncle Jack for yourself:

Why Watch? DJ as destiny. People as Rube Goldberg device. Jamin Winans came out of nowhere (seemingly) to amaze with Ink, but this is the short film that got him the attention he deserved in the first place. It’s a head-noddable exploration of the rhythm of life where editing has as big a role to play as camera work. How does everything in life work out? Apparently it’s because of a guy in a bandana lugging around twin turntables. What does it cost? Just 8 minutes of your time. Check out Spin for yourself:

Why Watch? A gorgeous example of dynamic camera work done for a poetic patchwork of story imagery. Yes, it’s funny to see a movie called The Last 3 Minutes be 4 minutes long, but every second is well worth it. This is death through the eyes and ears of our memory – the last gasping wonder of a world brimming with colors and trumpet bursts that we don’t think about as we walk through our normal hours. This short film is as evocative as it is stunning. A common idea presented uncommonly. What does it cost? Just 4 minutes of your time. Check out The Last 3 Minutes for yourself:

Is there really any doubt? With Meryl Streep‘s consistent successes and the added bonus of a win for The King’s Speech last year, all that The Iron Lady has to do is prove that it’s not a carbon copy with a female in the lead to make Academy voters happy. There’s a shot in the new UK trailer for the film where Streep, as former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher, stands tall with her chest out and her chin held out in the air. It’s followed immediately by a somber shot where she hangs her head low while seated in the shadows. I can only assume that the film will focus on both aspects of her life, the trials and triumphs, the personal and the political. She’s joined by the brilliant Jim Broadbent, and the whole basket of crumpets was directed by Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!, Macbeth). It’s a gorgeous trailer. Check it out for yourself:

Why Watch? It’s all about camera work, parallel visions, and grief in this humbling drama short by Dan Marcus. A young man faces emotional chaos after his mother’s death, and a father tries sorely to reconnect with his son. The performances from Greg Schweiner and Joshua Brail as father and son are awkward perfection. They’re in the same room, but on completely different planets. It’s enough to make the air turn blue, but the real triumph here is with every framed image that belies a strong sense of storytelling through what we can see (and what we can’t see) on the screen. What does it cost? Just 11 minutes of your time. Check out Wake for yourself:

Why Watch? Keep an ear out for some inspired sound design in this short drama about a young man facing the darkness inside of him. Yes, that’s a tried and true story we’ve heard millions of times before, but writer/director Julius Amedume does something bold and uncomplicated with an ancient concept. It comes close to noir with its narration, a steamy voice over about a father that feels more like poetry than prose, and the long shots of London give it a vice grip on visuals. What does it cost? Just 13 minutes of your time. Check out Mr. Graham for yourself:

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, Ben Solovey explains why he’s personally restoring a 16mm print of Manos: The Hands of Fate, one of the worst movies ever made. Plus, I Melt With You director Mark Pellington talks drugs and demons, and it’s Fat Guy Kevin Carr versus Geek Tyrant editor-in-chief Jim Napier in a Movie News Pop Quiz that will change everything forever and ever. Download This Episode

Being a parent is no easy task – when your child acts out or does something wrong, it’s hard not to take it as a personal reflection on yourself. In Carnage, after a playground altercation turns violent, the parents of the two boys involved decide to come together to try and come to a reasonable agreement on how to rectify the situation. What starts out as a civil conversation between the two parties quickly devolves into an honest and bitterly funny examination of not only each others’ parenting skills, but their marriages and even themselves as people. Based on Yasmina Reza‘s play, God of Carnage, director Roman Polanski takes the story to the big screen with four powerhouse performers who make being trapped in an apartment an engaging look at human nature you want to run away from, but at the same time are unable to tear your eyes from. After Nancy (Kate Winslet) and Alan Cowan’s (Christoph Waltz) son hits Penelope (Jodie Foster) and Michael Longstreet’s (John C. Reilly) son in the face with a stick, the parents decide to try and settle things like adults, but how they each think that should happen differs from person to person and those differences are eventually revealed when the Cowan’s (despite repeated efforts) find themselves unable to simply leave the Longstreet’s apartment.

Very few films resemble the structure of Martha Marcy May Marlene. The story follows a young girl, Martha (Elizaebth Olsen), both when she was a part of a cult and when she leaves it to try to relive a normal life. The psychological drama doesn’t give you the introduction of how Martha made it into the cult, which one would expect to take up the first act, and the film also ends on a scene that would’ve been the beginning of any other story’s third act. Martha Marcy May Marlene features subverted conventions, bare-boned exposition, and a whole lot of ambiguity. However, writer/director Sean Durkin never approached his drama to deliberately “subvert conventions,” it just happened to turn out that way. Durkin confessed to never quite getting the lessons from screenwriting courses, and perhaps that was for the better. By avoiding expected screenwriting tropes, in his feature debut, Durkin made an anti-cliche cult film. There are no heroes. There is no third act bang. Plus, the moral compass of the film, Ted (Hugh Dancy), is almost as off-putting as the ambiguous cult leader, Patrick (John Hawkes). Clearly, not your regular “cult” film. Here’s what Sean Durkin had to say about cracking the structure of Martha Marcy May Marlene, approaching the story with a fresh perspective, despising lazy flashbacks, and the mysterious ways of the warm and scary community leader, Patrick:

On January 19th, 2008, Bryan Cranston had one claim to fame, Malcolm in the Middle. Certainly not a bad role, but it did place everyone’s opinion of what Cranson was capable of into a box. That all changed on January 20th, 2008. Breaking Bad transformed his career and made people realize that Cranston was more than a wacky dad on a FOX sitcom. Since 1984, Kelsey Grammer has had exactly one claim to fame, his famous role as Dr. Frasier Crane on Cheers and the spin-off Frasier. Much like Cranston, it’s a role that has come to define Grammer’s career and has allowed, like Cranston, for people’s opinion of the man’s ability to be put into a single box… That will all change this Friday thanks to the new Starz series, Boss.

Almost a year ago we got our first glimpse of William Monahan‘s (the writer behind The Departed and Kingdom of Heaven) directorial debut, London Boulevard, but it’s unfortunately taken a while for it to open in the states. Originally the film was going to be released by FilmDistrict, then not too long ago IFC took over distribution. While the British gangster pic wasn’t greeted with the best response, I happen to like Monahan’s debut a whole lot. This trailer, which is fairly similar to the U.K. one, is well representative. It sells the slickness and cool factor just right, where the film works best. The film isn’t as grand or as epic as The Departed, but it’s a smooth and clever directorial about a gangster trying not to be a gangster. And, yes, Ray Winstone is as fun as he looks in this trailer.

Masterpieces tend to be weighty. They tend to aggravate and enthrall both during the runtime and once the credits have rolled. They tend to have a heft that makes them difficult to carry even though they demand to live in your gut for months or years afterward. On that front, and on many others, Michael defies the rules and expectations by being a shockingly breezy masterwork. Make that a shockingly breezy masterwork about a pedophile with a young boy locked in his basement. Writer/director Markus Schleinzer has created a film that shoves all of the horrifying elements into your imagination without ever delivering the goods visually. It’s an incredible feat that makes its mark from the opening scene where our villain returns his dumpy self to his dumpy home and visits the cub scout he keeps locked away. They eat dinner, they watch a little television, and the scene cuts to a shot so suggestive post-act that it makes everything far, far too clear for comfort. This is the primary technique of the rougher segments of the movie, and it works with a stark skill that streamlines the nightmare. Michael Fuith commands the screen as Michael – a middle aged nobody who is remarkable in his plainness. He keeps quiet at work even though he excels at what he does. He is neat and tidy around the house. He regularly molests a 10-year-old house prisoner. All part of the ho-hum tedium of Michael’s life. However, the young boy, Wolfgang (David [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Audiences are no strangers to political films these days. While they usually have more of a thriller angle and focus on government figures already in power, there have been a decent number that follow candidates on the campaign trail and as such, any new film tackling old ground needs to make a conscious effort to distinguish itself in some way, to stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately, The Ides of March makes no such effort and seems content to languish in probable obscurity. The film is a character study following Ryan Gosling‘s Stephen Meyers, a whip-smart but naive young campaign staffer during his time working for Governor Mike Morris. Morris, played by George Clooney who also co-wrote the screenplay and directed the film, is a presidential hopeful, and the film takes place during his campaign to win the Democratic party nomination. Meyers is essentially the number two man on the campaign at only 30 years old working directly under campaign manager and political mainstay Paul Zara, played with zeal by the incredible Philip Seymour Hoffman. Their competition is technically a Senator Pullman (Michael Mantell), though the opposition is almost entirely represented by Paul Giamatti, who plays Pullman’s campaign manager, Tom Duffy. Duffy and Zara are old school, both having come up around the same time, with Duffy seeming to have been in Zara’s shadow to a certain degree. Duffy and Zara are hardened political guys, but Meyers is still idealistic, believing in a man who can truly bring change to the country. He’s put [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

After the crucible of Antichrist, Melancholia is the closest thing to a palette cleanser that Lars von Trier is capable of producing. The problem is that a palette cleanser is not what anyone should want from the director who normally pushes the envelope to the point where it can’t even be called an envelope anymore. This is von Trier at his least challenging. The film consists of two halves that almost make a whole. They both focus on a pair of sisters — the first giving more attention to depressive Justine (Kirsten Dunst) on her wedding night, the second to the troubled mother and wife Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) on the eve of the earth coming into contact with another planet. However, more than just characters, the pair act more as a platform for delivering archetypes, ideas and more than a bit of visual poetics.

A sharp twist to the concept of getting together for a boys’ weekend (and the ultimate bizarre response to the influx of Dude Bro movies), The Corridor opts for rounded, deeply complicated characters who have the kind of shared history that is as likely to cause an outbreak of hugs as it is a burst of heated words and violent threats. The whole messy pile then gets an eyebrow-raising element right out of The Outer Limits dropped on top, and it’s off to the races. The film opens with a frantic confrontation where Tyler (Stephen Chambers) hides in a closet while his mother (Mary-Colin Chisholm) lies dead on the ground ostensibly by her own handful of pills. A brick wall named Bobcat (Matthew Amyotte), pretty boy named Lee (Nigel Bennett), and Brad Cooper look-a-like named Everett (James Gilbert) bust into the house only to be confronted by a maniacal Tyler who takes a swipe at Everett’s face and stabs Lee in the hand. Months later, they find themselves at a funeral/reunion at Tyler’s mom’s house in the woods with another childhood friend (Glen Matthews) in tow, trying to reconcile their relationship and deal with a supernatural force that threatens their existence.

Why Watch? Will you sink back and be safe or step forward and put yourself at risk? This thoughtful, difficult short is a cinematic litmus test that can’t help but produce questions. In it, a young man boards a subway train headed for Brooklyn late at night and faces some primal choices. Well-shot with a dangerous view, you’ll find yourself riding in the same seat. What does it cost? Just 6 minutes of your time. Check out Train for yourself: