fEatUredTraiLeR
MAGGIE'S PLAN

Writer-director Rebecca Miller, wife of actor Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, is known for films like The Ballad of Jack & Rose (2005) & The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009); but this would be her work which I'm most looking forward to. Making its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in September last year, Maggie's Plan stars Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, Travis Fimmel, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Travis Fimmel, Wallace Shawn and Ida Rohatyn. The romantic comedy revolves around Maggie (Gerwig), an independent New Yorker whose plan to be a single mother is derailed when she falls for a married man, John (Hawke). This affair quickly destroys his volatile marriage to theorist wife, Georgette (Moore). When Maggie realizes that she has fallen out of love, she soon makes it her mission to reunite John and his ex-wife again! Maggie's Plan is scheduled for a May 20 release

‪#‎MaggiesPlan‬ ‪#‎MaggiesPlanMovie‬ ‪#‎RebeccaMiller‬ ‪#‎DanielDayLewis‬‪#‎GretaGerwig‬ ‪#‎EthanHawke‬ ‪#‎JulianneMoore‬ ‪#‎TravisFimmel‬ ‪#‎BillHader‬‪#‎MayaRudolph‬ ‪#‎WallaceShawn‬ ‪#‎Comedy‬ ‪#‎Romantic‬ ‪#‎MovieTrailer‬‪#‎Films‬ ‪#‎Movies‬

fEatUredTraiLeR
•• Foreign Film Edition ••
THE IDOL

The Idol, directed by two-time Academy Award nominee Hany Abu-Assad (2006 Paradise Now, 2013 Omar), tells the true story of Mohammed Assaf, wedding singer from a refugee camp in Gaza who went to win 2013's Arab Idol singing competition. The 2015 Palestinian drama film was shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival

‪#‎TheVoice‬ ‪#‎TheVoiceMovie‬ ‪#‎ArabicFilms‬ ‪#‎HanyAbuAssad‬ ‪#‎ArabIdol‬‪#‎Movies‬ ‪#‎MovieTrailers‬ ‪#‎Biography‬ ‪#‎TrueStory‬ ‪#‎Drama‬‪#‎TorontoInternationalFilmFestival‬ ‪#‎ForeignFilms‬ ‪#‎AcademyAward‬

fiLmReviEw
THE DANISH GIRL
[2015, UK, USA, BELGIUM - English]

Tom Hooper directed one of my all time favourite drama films The King's Speech, which won Best Picture at both the Oscars and British Academy Film Awards in 2011. Along with it the forty-three year-old English director helmed two other successful films, sports drama The Damned United (2009) and musical epic Les Misérables (2012). Interestingly the idea to film The Danish Girl began before all that, where Hooper came upon Lucinda Coxon's adapted screenplay of a historical novel about the true story of trans woman Lili Elbe's painful transition and her heart-wrenching love story with her wife, painter Gerda Wegener. The plan was placed on the back burner due to funding difficulties, mainly because of the taboo subject. Seven Academy Awards and big box office numbers later, Hooper finally rekindled his passion project and cast Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander to bring the extraordinary love story to life. Though the selection of Redmayne was initially met with backlash (that a cisgender was playing the transgender role), the Les Miz star took the challenge and gave everyone nothing lesser than a doozy of performance.

Set in the late 1920s, the film opens with a brief glimpse into the lives of painters Einar Wegener (Redmayne) and Gerda, both nestled in their happy marriage. When the female subject of her portrait art bails on her, Gerda convinces her husband to help her complete the painting. She slips a pair of stockings on his legs, and makes him pose for her with a gown placed on him. A pivotal moment in the film, where we witness a parallel development of Gerda’s discovery of her new muse (her husband modelling for her dressed as a fictitious female model named Lili) that finally helps lift her painting career, and the unearthing of Einar’s true identity. Whilst Gerda plays along, even partly amused with her husband’s newfound kink, Einar’s life whirlwinds into a conflicting and confounding transformation.

Redmayne embodies the look and emotions of Einar-Lili like a suit and glove. As Einar continues to be enthralled in his transition, Gerda finds herself caught in an equally gripping journey. Vikander’s performance is thoroughly moving, bubbling with restrained emotions, as she pushes herself to accept, forgive and even stand by to support her husband’s plight. They both soon come to a juncture where they realize there isn’t room enough for both Einar and Lili, where Einar must make a life-threatening choice, whilst Gerda must decide where she stands in this whole entanglement.

Granted, the whole approach by director Hooper on this delicate subject and the film’s trajectory is rather conventional, but you can’t help but be hypnotized with the picture-perfect filming and setting. A visual feast, from the cinematography right up to each costume and close-up of Redmayne’s entrancing expression. I just wished there could’ve been heavier emphasis on Einar’s intricate dilemma. If Hooper would’ve taken us just a few steps closer into the agonizing development of Lili, the devastation in foreboding his bleak future given his sexual identity crisis, it would have perhaps cemented a more convincing momentum to the story. Gerda’s sacrifice and surrender end up becoming the bigger focus and throughline that really moved the audience, instead of feeling how torn apart Einar-Lili’s emotions are. It would’ve been perfect if we were left equally shattered by both their stories.

Rating: A-

#TheDanishGirl #TheDanishGirlFilm #TomHooper#EddieRedmayne #AliciaVikander #LiliElbe#GerdaWegener #Transgender #TransgenderFilms#LesMisérables #FilmReview #MovieReview#EnglishFilms #Drama

“If it ever came knocking, it would be an extraordinary opportunity”
- Tom Hiddleston, on taking on the role of James Bond. The High-Rise and Thor star reveals that he was a big fan of the Bond franchise in general, adding “I simply love the theme tune, the tropes and the mythology. I love the whole thing.”

#TimHiddleston #CelebQuotes #JamesBond #007#HighRise #MaleActors #MaleCelebs #Hollywood#HollywoodNews

fEatUredTraiLeR
LOUDER THAN BOMBS

Norwegian director Joachim Trier created two well-received films Reprise (2006) and Oslo (2011), where both were shortlisted to contend for the foreign-language category at the Academy Awards. Trier, who is a distant relative to Danish director Lars von Trier, debuts his first English-language feature Louder Than Bombs, and was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The film follows a father (Gabriel Byrne) and his eldest son (Jesse Eisenberg) as they grapple with whether or not to talk to their younger son/brother (Devin Druid) about the details of his mother’s suicide.

‪#‎LouderThanBombs‬ ‪#‎LouderThanBombsFilm‬ ‪#‎JoachimTrier‬‪#‎JesseEisenberg‬ ‪#‎GabrielByrne‬ ‪#‎DevinDruid‬ ‪#‎LarsoVonTrier‬ ‪#‎Movies‬‪#‎MovieTrailers‬ ‪#‎Drama‬ ‪#‎FamilyDrama‬ ‪#‎Films‬ ‪#‎AcademyAwards‬‪#‎CannesFilmFestival‬

fEatUredTraiLeR

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE

Although speculations are flying around suggesting or even figuring out its heavy ties to the 2008 sci-fi monster film Cloverfield, most of us didn't even know that 10 Cloverfield Lane existed until some time in January, when JJ Abrams' Bad Robot announced the film's release in March. The trailer looks enticing enough. A girl (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up handcuffed to a cot under the care of an older man (John Goodman), who tells her he "saved" her from the outside by bringing her into this bunker. The actors are keeping mum when it comes to further details about the plot, but its producer JJ Abrams did share during an interview that there is a monster in 10 Cloverfield Lane. Describing the film as a "blood relative" or "spiritual successor" (but not a "literal sequel"), Abrams would not elaborate whether the monster is the same monsters seen destroying New York in Cloverfield. "It's not the monster you expect, but there is a monster," he shared, adding that told he thought the movie would satisfy fans hoping to "see something that is not of this natural Earth." A directorial debut for Dan Trachtenberg, the film also stars John Gallagher Jr (American Idiot).

‪#‎10CloverfieldLane‬ ‪#‎Cloverfield‬ ‪#‎JJabrams‬ ‪#‎MaryElizabethWinstead‬‪#‎JohnGoodman‬ ‪#‎JohnGallagherJr‬ ‪#‎DanTrachtenberg‬ ‪#‎Thriller‬ ‪#‎SciFi‬‪#‎Horror‬ ‪#‎MonsterMovies‬ ‪#‎MonsterFilms‬ ‪#‎Movies‬ ‪#‎Films‬

#Sundance
2016 Sundance Entry: CERTAIN WOMEN - Director Kelly Reichardt was once nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for her debut film River of Grass (1994) twenty-two years ago, and her latest Sundance entry Certain Women is reuniting the indie director with her muse Michelle Williams who has previously worked with her in Wendy and Lucy (2008) & Meek's Cutoff (2010). In Certain Women,Reichardt has adapted short stories by Maile Meloy to tell intersecting narratives about three women's lives in Montana; a morally stressed lawyer (Laura Dern) whose client (Jared Harris) who has become a hostage-taker, a nest-building mother (Michelle Williams) and a lonely horse rancher (Lily Gladstone) who develops an intense but innocent fascination with her tutor (Kristen Stewart).

#Sundance #2016SundanceFilmFestival#CertainWomen #CertainWomenFilm#KellyReichardt #MichelleWilliams #KristenStewart#LauraDern #LilyGladstone #FilmFestival