It is rare that I don’t hear about a bestselling novel being turned into a film.  Sarah’s Key seems to have slipped by me.  It is based on the novel by Tatiana de Rosnay.  The trailer is excellent, and it is a tear-jerker.  It also highlights a piece of history that not many people know about.  The cast includes Kristin Scott Thomas and Aidan Quinn.  Just today I interviewed Tatiana de Rosnay about Sarah’s Key, and it will be posted to our site soon.  The review of the film is forthcoming as well. “Based...

A team of six players, called Quiet Corral, took the Riot Room stage on Friday night. While their first song was observed with a meager audience by their final number they had attracted a crowded bar focused intently on the stage. The audience swayed to every melody introduced and there were even a handful of over-enthusiasts who danced, sometimes interpretively, throughout the entirety of their set.  No small feat for an opening band hailing from Lawrence, Kansas. This enthusiasm from the audience could only be explained due...

This is the first poster for The Dark Knight Rises, the last Batman film by Christopher Nolan.  Rumor has it that the first teaser trailer may be shown before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 when it releases on Friday.  Christian Bale reprises his role as Bruce Wayne, and brings along Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as Bane. July 20, 2012 cannot come soon enough. by Sarah Ksiazek Source: AMC Theatres

This is really short notice, but for all of our DALLAS readers, you are able to see a screening of Sarah’s Key Tuesday night, July 12, 2011.  Yes, that is tomorrow!  The screening is at 7:30 PM at Studio Movie Grill in Dallas.  Everyone in attendance will also receive a paperback of Sarah’s Key, the novel the film is based on.  AND the author of Sarah’s Key, Tatiana de Rosnay, will be in attendance for a Q & A session after the film. Please remember even if you have a pass, seats are first come, first...

Win run of engagement  passes for you and a guest to see PHASE 7 directed by Nicolás Goldbart. Coco (Hendler) has just moved to a new apartment with his wife Pipi (Stuart), who’s seven months pregnant. At first, they don’t seem to notice the growing chaos around them, but when authorities quarantine their building after a deadly pandemic breaks out, Coco joins forces with his off-kilter, but well-prepared and stocked next-door neighbor Horacio to defend his refrigerator and keep Pipi safe. Meanwhile, outside the...

This week on Blu Monday we take a look at The Criterion edition of Naked. Naked is a film that relies on the conversations of its central characters more than the overall story itself. This is mostly due to the manner in which it was created, as Director Mike Leigh allowed his actors to find the characters before creating any central dialog. This dialog is what makes Naked so great and deems it worthy of the Criterion label. The film follows Johnny, a homeless drifter that has left Manchester for London, to avoid any punishment...

Florence and the Machine is an act that I have been passionately following for a long time now, and was beginning to think I would never be able to see her live as she is from the UK. The opportunity finally came inside the beautiful theater, The Pageant in St. Louis. Opening for Florence was a young man named Hanni El Khatib from Los Angeles. He only brought drummer, Nicky Fleming-Yaryan with him, so the musical arrangement was vastly different than Florence. My first thought of Hanni was that this was the wrong place for him....

On the drive to Bonner Springs Ks, the weather seemed to be setting up for a perfect day. Cloudy gray sky, the chance for a few sprinkles, and a temperature around 85. The staff at Sandstone must have felt the same way as I was told to throw my sealed bottle of water away before entering the venue, being as a patron died at last year’s Warped Tour I was a little shocked. The weather situation quickly turned from chance of rain to the fiery pits of Hell, but it wouldn’t be Warped Tour if it was any other way. Sweaty...

Beginners is a film about a father and son and their new beginnings.  They are on different paths to finding love and acceptance, but seem to echo the same risk that needs to be taken to find the path and its outcome.  Ewan McGregor plays Oliver, a guy who has past relationships in spades.  Christopher Plummer plays Hal, Oliver’s father, who, after his wife passes away, comes out to his son as a gay man.  Mind you, Hal is 75 years old.  Hal does not just want to be kind of gay, but seriously out there, mingling at the...

Hasn’t everyone had that boss, I mean, THAT boss? Remember that one? The one that demeaned you in front of all your coworkers right after denying you a raise? I’m sure that none of you guys ever wished ill on that boss, right? Pshhhh, my ass. Of course, I believe you! Well, Horrible Bosses tackles this subject and shows how it could play out if you took those daydreams to the next level. While I pray to God that none of you have ever killed any of your bosses (or film critics), I can assure you that Horrible Bosses...

Another Earth won Sundance 2011, and it was a secret screening at SXSW 2011.  You would think that with the subject matter, this would be a big budget movie, but that is not the case.  The film focuses mostly on Rhoda Williams and her relationship with John Burroughs after their worlds collide.  The supernatural element of it all is that a second Earth appears.  Another Earth stars William Mapother, Brit Marling, Jordan Baker, Robin Lord Taylor, and Flint Beverage. “In ANOTHER EARTH, Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling),...

Brave is the next Pixar/Disney movie and it centers around a Scottish girl with curly red hair.  Suprisingly, this is the first Pixar movie that has a female lead character.  The voice talent in this Scottish adventure includes Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Julie Walters, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, and Robbie Coltrane.  I am looking forward to this one because I can listen to a Scottish accent for a couple of hours with no problem. “Since ancient times, stories of epic battles and mystical legends...

A treat and a tease just landed in my inbox.  It is the first six minutes of Project Nim.  The film is a documentary about a chimp that was raised as a human to study if the chimp could develop any language skills.  I learned about this study when I was in undergrad at UGA.  I took an upper-level psychology class that was just on primate behavior.  I find documentaries like this disturbing, from an animal keeper perspective.  I first saw the trailer a couple of weeks ago, and I found it odd that it came off as a comedic...

A new poster for The Whistleblower debuted today.  I like it, and the film itself looks intriguing.  In The Whistleblower, Weisz plays a police officer who goes to Bosnia with high hopes only to have them dashed by rampant corruption and crime.  Vanessa Redgrave, Monica Bellucci, and David Strathairn also star along Weisz.  Official Synopsis: “Inspired by actual events, Kathy (Academy Award® winner RachelWeisz) is an American police officer who takes a job working as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia. Her expectations...

This is the second trailer for Restless, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper.  I listed the first trailer as one of my top trailers of 2010.  Although this trailer gives us more scenes and lines, it has a far less emotional impact compared to the first.  I don’t think I would be as excited for this movie if this trailer was the first one out.  The film costars Sissy Spacek’s daughter, Schulyer Fisk.  This is the first movie for screenwriter Jason Lew.  Synopsis: “From Imagine...