Joe Wright first gained recognition in Hollywood by doing period dramas starring Keira Knightley. After stepping out of that genre for 2009’s The Soloist and this year’s Hanna, he is set to return to what brought him to the party. This time he has Knightlyy cast as the lead in an adaptation of the Russian classic “Anna Karenina”. Written by Leo Tolstoy, “Anna Karenina” tells the story of a woman in a loveless marriage who bucks societal expectations by starting an affair with a military man.

Damn. It’s been a tough world for movie marketers lately. Stars aren’t selling as strongly, companies are forced to crib from other designs if a movie is ultra popular, and there just aren’t that many pre-pubescent assassins out there to brag about. Hanna, the story of a young girl (Saoirse Ronan) trained to kill by her CIA father (Eric Bana), looks incredible. Now it’s got an incredible poster. Check it out for yourself:

It’s best to go into this trailer with no expectations which explains the absence of an introduction. Also, I didn’t write one. But back to the trailer…

Hanna could best be described as what a David Lynch action film would be like, and that’s how director Joe Wright describes it himself. Immediately after seeing the surreal (and rather impressive) footage from Hanna that comparison immediately came to mind. Wright is best known for his epic period dramas, and from the looks of it, he’s bringing that epic scope into the action world in a new light. There was a fluent and dreamlike quality to what Wright showcased and from what he says below, especially when he mentions lots of long steady-cam takes, it sounds like Wright will deliver heavily on the action front. But Hanna actually isn’t an action film, or at least not completely. Instead, it’s better to be described as a twisted fairy tale. Hanna, the main protagonist, is a fourteen year old assassin and one of the only books she’s ever read is Grimm’s Fairy Tales, so we’re basically going to be seeing the world clearly through her eyes in a heightened way. There are the fairy tale archetypal characters involved and the world Wright seems to have created feels like a modern day fairy tale. And finally, if you want to read my full impression of the footage make sure to head over to my NY Comic-Con reaction piece. Here’s what director Joe Wright had to say about crafting action, the fairy tale nature of the story, and even a little bit about the Chemical Brothers scoring the film.

Concepts that will always stop me in my tracks: when a visually compelling director (in this case, Atonement’s Joe Wright) takes on a project that is being described as having shades of La Femme Nikita and the Bourne movies.

Kevin Carr reviews this week’s new movies: The Soloist, Earth and Obsessed.

Even though they and their studio brethren are doing everything possible to not make any news today, Paramount Pictures did send over a brand new featurette for Atonement director Joe Wright’s new film The Soloist.

The folks over at Yahoo Movies debuted the first trailer for director Joe Wright’s (Atonement) upcoming film The Soloist, which stars Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.

The Soloist will be released on November 21 and has already garnered some Oscar buzz. Keep your eyes on FSR as we will keep close coverage on the film.

Atonement is not a Jane Austin story, but it could be, if Jane Austin hardened up her subject matter a bit.

…stumbles a bit out of the gates but will leave audiences in awe of it’s beauty and more than satisfied and maybe a little teary-eyed by the indelible conclusion.

Opening in the English countryside during the build-up to WWII, the film shows no sign of any expense having been spared in its pursuit of visual opulence.

In 2007 newcomers got noticed and some veterans got their chance to shine in breakout performances from actors, screen writers and directors.

Though this film had me at “achingly romantic,” I cringe at the thought of someone rolling their eyes and overlooking this remarkable film at the fault of the advertisers who betrayed this film’s distinct uniqueness.

Atonement is a beautiful disaster.

When you write for a site that panders to the male 18-25 “geek” demographic, it makes it somewhat difficult to write about a film such as Atonement.