The 19 Best Movies That You Didn't See in 2011 - Stellar Indie Gems
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The best of the best - that you didn't see. It's back again and we're a bit late, but with the Oscars coming up, perfect timing once again. Back by popular demand is our fifth annual list of the 19 Best Movies That You Didn't See in 2011 (you can find our past lists here: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007). Featured below is a hand-picked selection of the best independent and/or mainstream films that were either quietly dumped, ignored by audiences, or just not marketed well enough. So to give them some extra time in the spotlight, and to support some of the best filmmakers out there, we've put together a 2011 recap. Read on for the list!
I would like to encourage everyone to watch at least one of these that they haven't heard of (or didn't see) beforehand. If you spend the two hours or so that it will take ... |  |
Fox Searchlight Sets 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' to Open Late June
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Briefly: Word from the internets, rather from the updates of @boxofficemojo (found via SlashFilm), is that Fox Searchlight has just set a late June 29th release date for the release of Benh Zeitlin's Beasts of the Southern Wild, the highly praised, award winning, universally loved Sundance sensation. The film stars lovable newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis as Hushpuppy, a six year-old girl striving to survive with her dad in the "the Bathtub," a community at the southern edge of Louisiana. I loved it (my Sundance review) and it won the Grand Jury prize. I don't think this is the best date to let this wonderful film explode, since it is a hard sell, but we can only hope they're getting ready to go all out with it. They've got my full support for it! |  |
Jeffrey Nachmanoff to Adapt Vince Flynn Novel 'American Assassin'
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Just last summer, word came that The Last Samurai and Blood Diamond director was going to be at the helm of a big screen adaptation of the Vince Flynn novel American Assassin featuring the author's recurring character, counter-terrorism agent Mitch Rapp who's battling a Saudi billionaire, an ex-East German Stasi spy and a husband-and-wife team of assassins, all while dealing with a knee injury. However, now Deadline has word that Jeffrey Nachmanoff, who directed the underrated thriller Traitor starring Don Cheadle, will direct the film for CBS Films who acquired all of Flynn's novels all the way back in 2008.
Originally CBS Films wanted to start the big screen adaptation of Flynn's novels with Consent to Kill, which was to be directing by Antoine Fuqua, but it looks like this prequel novel (actually the 11th book in the series) will be how the potential Jack Ryan style franchise will kick off. ... |  |
Check Out This Massive Mosaic of a 'Star Wars' Themed Last Supper
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There's no denying that Star Wars is always going to be present in pop culture in nearly every form. Even living a lifestyle based around parts of the sci-fi franchise is possible with the expensive books The Jedi Path and The Book of Sith. Though each has become a strange religion of sorts among certain hardcore fans, digital artist Avinash Aurora (which just sounds like a Star Wars character) has crafted a huge mosaic that combines religion and Star Wars in a new way. Aurora has put together an image of The Last Supper but replaced Jesus Christ and the rest of the Biblical gang with characters from the Star Wars universe.
Here's Avinah Aurora's mosaic of The Last Supper with Star Wars characters via The Daily What Geek:
And so you can see how big this mosaic is, here's a diagram of the frames used to compose the image:
The specs for ... |  |
Edgar Wright to Direct Johnny Depp in Adaptation of 'Night Stalker'
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With only three feature films under his belt, it might seem crazy to deem Edgar Wright one of my favorite directors working today. But when those films are Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, I don't feel like it's an unfounded or unreasonable claim. Now Wright is poised to make his career even better as Deadline reports the British filmmaker has been lined up to helm The Night Stalker, a new adaptation of the ABC made-for-TV film that followed the late Darren McGavin as tabloid reporter Carl Kolchak who, in the 1972 TV movie, hunted a killer who was draining blood of girls on the Las Vegas strip.
In the series that follows the film, Kolchak always found himself on the doorstep of vampires,zombies, werewolves and aliens, and that sounds like it's right up Wright's alley. As we learned last summer, Johnny Depp is already ... |  |
New Website Tugg.com Hoping to Bring More Movies to More Towns
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One complaint I hear time and time again is that many great indie films we talk about never show in cities where people live. They never come, or they show up randomly for two weeks then disappear again. So how can you actually get a movie to come to your town and play there? Well, there's a new site launching called Tugg that's aiming to solve this problem, or at least attempt to organize local groups. The site is just in pilot stage but can be accessed at Tugg.com. In web lingo, I'd call it Demand It (from Paranormal Activity) meets KickStarter, and if they've got all the right studio connections, this will work wonders for film fans all over.
Touted as "the Movies YOU Want at Your Local Theater", Tugg.com is a collective action web-platform that enables individuals to choose the films that play in their local theaters. They're working ... |  |
Watch: First Trailer for Sundance Fave 'The Imposter' Documentary
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"From as long as I remember, I wanted to be someone else." Time to take a look and get an introduction to The Imposter, Bart Layton's documentary about Frédéric Bourdin, which premiered at Sundance to rave reviews, including my own. Bourdin is a French criminal who deceived authorities and convinced them that he was a 16-year-old missing child from Texas found in Spain. It's a nearly unbelievable true story, and these are the first glimpses at what they have and where they go in this, with the family and Frederic's side of it. Now you know what we are all talking about and why this looks so good. Fire up the first trailer below!
Watch the first trailer for Bart Layton's documentary The Imposter, from YouTube via AETV.com:
Removed at request. It may still be available at:
http://youtu.be/nIbERkqYe0M
From the Sundance guide: "Like his canny subject, gifted filmmaker Bart Layton (who we interviewed here) ... |  |
Check Out This Vibrant New Poster for Pixar's Animated Epic 'Brave'
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Later this week a brand new trailer for Pixar's first venture into the medieval epic will debut online, but in the meantime, we have a vibrant new poster for the anticipated summer release of Brave. Hopefully it's a film that will help audiences forget that Pixar missed the Oscar boat this year with Cars 2 getting left out of the Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Film. Princess Merida (voiced by "Boardwalk Empire" regular Kelly Macdonald) is front and center on the poster, and in the film she'll be joined by characters voiced by Emma Thompson, Craig Ferguson, Billy Connolly, Robbie Coltrane and more. Look!
Here's the poster for Pixar and Mark Andrews' animated epic Brave from Apple:
Brave is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Merida is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Thompson). An unruly daughter and accomplished archer, Merida one day ... |  |
Jai Courtney Signed to Play John McClane Jr. in 'Die Hard' Sequel
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Just last year it was reported that Bruce Willis would return again as John McClane in A Good Day to Die Hard, set for a Valentine's Day release next year. At the time, it was revealed that the story would follow McClane trying to save his son somewhere in Russia where "nothing is what it seems." Some pretty big names were up to play John McClane, Jr. but a press release from Fox has revealed that "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" star Jai Courtney has landed the coveted role instead, and they've included a snapshot of the actor from a screen test alongside Willis, each with guns in hand, which you can see in its entirety below.
Here's Jai Courtney alongside Bruce Willis screentesting for A Good Day to Die Hard:
Names like Ben Foster (The Mechanic), Paul Dano (Knight & Day), Aaron Paul ("Breaking Bad"), Paul Walker (Fast and Furious) and Milo ... |  |
Watch: Another Hilarious 'American Reunion' Theatrical Trailer Hits
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"Then we graduated and started getting jobs, getting married, having kids and all that other stupid stuff." We've already seen a handful of trailers for the nostalgic sex comedy American Reunion (including a raunchy Red Band teaser and another filthy international tease), and now we have yet another full length trailer for the film as the April 6th release date looms ever closer. Gotta love the use of Closing Time by Semisonic (yeah, that takes me back) and the original opening credits song, and I really feel like this could be a great finale for the franchise that started back when I was a teenager full of hormones. Watch it below!
Here's the new trailer for Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg's American Reunion, via Yahoo:
American Reunion is the fourth installment in the comedy series that started with American Pie in 1999. Written/directed by Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle creators ... |  |
Taylor Kitsch Gunning for Aliens in International 'Battleship' Poster
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Spring is just around the corner, which means summer isn't far behind and the marketing machine for all the blockbusters is in full swing. There was quite an explosive and impressive tease for Battleship during the Super Bowl not too long ago, and while there's probably at least one more trailer coming before the film's May 18th release, this time we have a new international poster. It's a shiny Photoshop job, but it's the first real action shot of Taylor Kitsch being used as the star of the film as he charges at the dangerous alien enemy ready to blow their damn heads off. Here's hoping the film delivers a summer surprise. Look!
Here's the international poster for Peter Berg's Battleship via IMP Awards:
A fleet of ships is forced to do battle with an advanced armada of unknown origins in order to defeat them.
Battleship is directed by American filmmaker Peter Berg, ... |  |
WB Setting Peter Segal & Dan Mazeau to Develop the 'Bleach' Movie
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While we wait for Akira, how about a little Bleach? Warner Bros, who's developing the live-action Akira, is apparently now moving forward on developing a live-action adaptation of the manga/anime Bleach. We first heard about this project existing a few years ago, but Variety is now saying that Peter Segal (Anger Management, 50 First Dates, Get Smart) and writer Dan Mazeau (Wrath of the Titans, The Flash, Jonny Quest) have come on-board to develop at the studio, and Segal "will produce with an eye toward possibly directing." Interesting update on another live-action anime project that's going to get a lot of fan resistance.
Bleach, with more than 75 million copies in circulation in Japan alone, follows Ichigo, a teenager with the ability to see ghosts. When his family is attacked by a Hollow, he absorbs the power to hunt Hollows and dedicates his life to protecting the innocent and helping tortured ... |  |
