Runner Runner (2013)

When a poor college student who cracks an online poker game goes bust, he arranges a face-to-face with the man he thinks cheated him, a sly offshore entrepreneur.

Director:

 Brad Furman

Writers:

 Brian Koppelman, David Levien

Stars:

 Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake, Gemma Arterton

Truth be told, I would’ve had the review up sooner if not for the fact that when I was Runner Runner, I fell asleep during the movie.  Not because of being sleep depraved or having narcolepsy, no, it’s because the movie was boring me so much, my brain decided it would be better to pay $10.75 just to take a nap. But when you’re writing a review, its best to see the whole movie…or so I’ve been told.  The bad part is, I had to pay and watch Runner Runner again (I may also have the distinct pleasure of being the only person in America to have seen this movie twice).  So if you haven’t already caught on to where I’m going with this, Runner Runner is awful…just plain awful

No one really wanted to see Justin Timberlake’s Runner Runner this weekend. In fact, that film’s stumble had us discussing around the Fandango offices how Jt can better guide his professional acting career. Our consensus? There’s hope for him yet, but he needs to pick several more projects like Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis.     Gravity might be the best movie I see this year, but Llewyn Davis is establishing its place as the movie I’m most going to love with all of my heart simply because it speaks to all of the warm, relatable and slightly damaged elements I look for in off-kilter stories.

Over the weekend, Justin Timberlake's latest film, Runner Runner, hit theaters. You may know it as the film in which he says, "Those are crocodiles," while staring at crocodiles. It did not do great.  Today, Variety published an op ed titled, "Why Justin Timberlake Should Stop Acting." In it, Runner Runner was deemed a "a spectacular box office flop" and J.T.'s acting in it was described as, "A lost celebrity hosting Saturday Night Live who can't find the teleprompter."  The piece concludes, "An artist who can rock the [Vmas] like Timberlake doesn't need a second mediocre career." While we wait for Mila Kunis to verbally bitch slap the Variety writer

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Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)

Flint Lockwood now works at The Live Corp Company for his idol Chester V. But he's forced to leave his post when he learns that his most infamous machine is still operational and is churning out menacing food-animal hybrids.

Directors:

 Cody Cameron, Kris Pearn

Writers:

 Judi Barrett (characters), Ron Barrett(characters), 6 more credits »

Stars:

 Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Will Forte 

Movie News - A huge opening for 'Gravity' - the Sandra Bullock and George Clooney film brought in big crowds in Us theaters and enjoyed a record-breaking opening weekend in the United States. The Alfonso Cuaron-directed space thriller, which stars George Clooneyand Sandra Bullock, had the highest grossing October debut in history, taking in $55.5 million between Friday (04.10.13) and Sunday. The blockbuster film stars Bullock as a medical engineer who goes on her first deep space mission with an experienced astronaut (Clooney), however, the pair find themselves lost in space and struggling to survive when their shuttle is damaged. 'Gravity' has earned rave reviews from critics and fellow filmmakers, including 'Titanic' and 'Avatar' helmer James Cameron, who deemed the flick the ''best space film'' he's ever seen. The film ousted last week's box office number one, 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2',

Five things we learned at the Us box office this week, as Alfonso Cuarón's space story smashes records, and the Spanish language market goes loco

• Gravity makes out-of-this-world profit

• Gravity - watch the trailer

Originality matters!

Remember Sally Field's deliciously batty Oscar acceptance speech back in 1985 for Places in the Heart when she bleated to the crowd, "You like me!" Gravity director Alfonso Cuarón and the folks at Warner Brothers could be excused for having a Field day right now, after audiences took their original story to heart. Gravity soared to No 1 on an estimated $55.5m, delivering a ringing endorsement of original storytelling.

Originality is an endangered species in Hollywood so hats off to Cuarón, who co-wrote the screenplay with his son Jonas, and his studio backers. If you could hear them scream with delight from space, you'd hear it from space.

October box office records tumble

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Gravity (2013)

A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space.

Director:

 Alfonso Cuarón

Writers:

 Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón

Stars:

 Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris

Warning: The following post contains major spoilers for Gravity. Unless you're an astronaut or a scientist out to pick apart all the little truths Gravity may or may not have stretched in order to create a captivating work of fiction, there aren't many controversial moments to be found in the film. However there is one particular scene that stands out as what we'll call "the borderline scene" -- and what that means is this scene pulls you completely out of the film before dropping you back in way deeper than you were before. 

By now I hope most (if not all) of you have seen Alfonso Cuaron's terrific new film Gravity at least once. Some of you have probably even seen it a bunch of times already. Not only is it an epic piece of cinema and among the year's best movies, it also represents a rare science fiction Oscar contender (and yes, I know calling it "sci-fi" is debatable, but it's close enough). That genre has had a hard going in the Best Picture field over the years, but it's possible that the days of knowing that a sci-fi flick was a surefire Academy loser might very well be over this year. I don't actually think that Gravity will take home the Oscar at this point, but it could make a stronger play than just about any other contender of its ilk over the last decade or so

The Hollywood Reporter Woody Allen pulls Blue Jasmine from its India release due to anti-smoking laws. Don't tell Woody how his films have to be shown. He gets riled up. See also: Manhattan's (lack of) history on television.

Vulture one of our all time favorite DPs Emmanuel Lubezki looks at scenes from 5 of his beauties: The Tree of Life, Y Tu Mama Tambien,Children of Men and Gravity

Cinema Blend Katey on SNL's 50 Shades of Grey audition skit

San Francisco Chronicle how to spot a future classic? interesting article.

The Wrap on the huge amount of documentaries that Oscar voters will have to mull over

Vulture Patton Oswalt reveals his crushes from the Whedonverse. This is so cute

Cinema Viewfinder on the racial politics of Captain Phillips

Playbill NYC and Brooklyn residents take note: sing-along screening of Little Shop of Horrors coming up with Rick Moranis

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CBGB (2013)

A look at the New York City punk-rock scene and the venerable nightclub, CBGB.

Director:

 Randall Miller

Writers:

 Jody Savin, Randall Miller

Stars:

 Alan Rickman, Malin Akerman, Justin Bartha

Ashley Greene is looking cute in floral—not ready to hit the club like the character she plays in Cbgb! On Sunday, Oct. 6, the 26-year-old actress and Paul Khoury had a day date in Studio City, Calif. Greene held hands with her Aussie beau, who unlike her, was dressed in all black. This isn't the first time the brunette beauty has shown a bit of Pda with the TV personality, who happens to be a friend of Liam Hemsworth's. On Sept. 29, he and Greene stepped out together in L.A., sparking engagement rumors because the Twilight alum had a ring on that finger.

New York was a darker place in the 1970s, when President Ford essentially told the bankrupt city to “Drop dead,” and Martin Scorsese’s Travis Bickle rhapsodized about “a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.” It was the perfect breeding ground for a generation of angry youth whose creative obsessions with rebellion and anarchy, both real and stylized, became legendary at a church of punk called Cbgb. The club was a dive when it opened in 1973 and it was exactly the same when it finally closed in 2006.

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Beckett has accepted Castle's marriage proposal, but how will that affect the rest of the group on "Castle"? That's the tease Stana Katic gave of some of the troubles facing the couple in a new interview with "Good Morning America."

"I think that [marriage is] a big step for the two of them, of course. They had a lot of that will they/won't they for a long time. Finally they're committed to each other," Katic says. "It will be interesting to see how that trickles down to the rest of the group, because I'm sure everyone has an opinion about weddings and dresses and all that."

In addition to her work on "Castle," Katic also stars in "Cbgb" as real-life musician Genya Ravan. That film is due in theaters on Oct. 11, and it turns out Katic has an emotional attachment to the famous nightclub. 

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All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006)

A group of high-schoolers invite Mandy Lane, a good girl who became quite hot over the summer, to a weekend party on a secluded ranch. While the festivities rage on, the number of revelers begins to drop quite mysteriously.

Director:

 Jonathan Levine

Writer:

 Jacob Forman

Stars:

 Amber Heard, Anson Mount, Whitney Able

BAFTA TV Award and Tony Award winning actress Jennifer Ehle (Zero Dark Thirty,Contagion), Anson Mount (AMC’s “Hell on Wheels,” Safe), Abigail Spencer (Sundance Channel’s “Rectify,” Oz The Great And The Powerful) and Marcus Thomas (You Kill Me,Drowning Mona) join the cast of heist film The Forger.

The four will star alongside two-time Academy Award nominee and two-time Golden Globe winner John Travolta, Oscar winner Christopher Plummer (Beginners, The Last Station) and Venice Film Festival Award winner for Best New Young Actor Tye Sheridan (Joe, Mud, The Tree Of Life).

The film started shooting today, October 7th on location in Boston, Massachusetts.

BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning director Philip Martin (BBC’s “Wallander”) is directing from a script by Richard D’Ovidio (The Call)

Title: All the Boys Love Mandy Lane Director: Jonathan Levine (’50/50,’ ‘Warm Bodies,’ ‘The Wackness’) Starring: Amber Heard (‘Paranoia,’ ‘Zombieland’), Anson Mount (TV’s ‘Hell on Wheels’) and Michael Welch (‘Twilight’) Finding a way to intriguingly stand out from the crowd, and capturing a unique voice among your peers who are telling stereotypically similar stories, can be a difficult process for some. FilmmakerJonathan Levine, who has gained attention for helming such movies as ’50/50,’ ‘Warm Bodies’ and ‘The Wackness’ in his later career, is finally releasing his feature film directorial debut, 2006′s horror mystery thriller, ‘All the Boys Love Mandy Lane.’ Not only does the title character of the film

The Pain is Calling, Oh Mandy: Levinson’s Satisfying Debut Finally Hits Theaters

Premiering at the Toronto Film Festival way back in 2006, Jonathan Levine’s directorial debut, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane will finally hit theaters. Three subsequent films by Levine have been completed and released in the interim, and star Amber Heard has gone on to become a notable rising star in the Hollywood film system. Curiously, his debut is modeled after 1980s slasher flicks, though featuring better character development than many of the grindhouse titles it pays homage to. Trashily compelling in its over the top handling of the male gaze and consumption of the female image, there’s hardly anything revolutionary going on in the thanklessly delayed flick, and it’s blighted with a wowser of an ill-advised final twist

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The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete (2013)

Coming of age story about two inner city youths, who are left to fend for themselves over the summer after their mothers are taken away by the authorities.

Director:

 George Tillman Jr.

Writer:

 Michael Starrbury

Stars:

 Skylan Brooks, Ethan Dizon, Jordin Sparks 

Codeblack Films/Lionsgate will release George Tillman Jr.'s The Inevitable Defeat Of Mister And Pete in theaters on October 11, in a limited release, and will roll it out to other major markets gradually. Making its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, the drama stars Jennifer Hudson, Skylan Brooks, Anthony Mackie, Jordin Sparks, Jeffrey Wright, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, in a film that sees Hudson as a drug addict mother whose arrest forces her son and his best friend to fend for themselves. During a sweltering summer in New York City, 14-year-old Mister’s hard-living mother is apprehended by the 

Bet has an exclusive look at one of the films that are going to have all of the critics buzzing this year. The website posted a clip of Anthony Mackie in “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete.” Mackie plays a powerful kingpin who becomes involved in a Mister’s (Skylan Brooks) search for his missing mother (Jennifer Hudson). Check out the clip, embedded below, as well as the poster. “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete” is directed by George Tillman, Jr. and also stars Jordin Sparks, Jeffrey Wright, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Ethan Dizon. The film also features new music by co-producer Alicia Keys. The film is presented by Codeblack

George Tillman Jr's The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete has been selected as the 2013 closing night film for the Hollywood Black Film Festival (Hbff), announced this afternoon by Tanya Kersey, Founder and Executive Director of the festival. The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete will close out the 13th annual edition of Hbff on Sunday, October 6, 7pm at the Montalban Theater, 1615 Vine Street, Hollywood, CA.  Codeblack Films/Lionsgate will release George Tillman Jr.'s The Inevitable Defeat Of Mister And Pete in theaters on October 11. The drama stars Jennifer Hudson, Skylan Brooks, Anthony

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Escape from Tomorrow (2013)

In a world of fake castles and anthropomorphic rodents, an epic battle begins when an unemployed father's sanity is challenged by a chance encounter with two underage girls on holiday.

Director:

 Randy Moore

Writer:

 Randy Moore

Stars:

 Roy Abramsohn, Elena Schuber, Katelynn Rodriguez 

A labyrinthine descent into the grotesque extremes of a Disneyfied society, "Escape From Tomorrow" is surreal for many reasons and wholly original because of them. It's also a daring attempt to literally assail Disney World from the inside out. The loosely constructed, starkly black-and-white directorial debut of Randy Moore, which follows a family on their twisted final day of vacation in Disney World, takes place throughout the theme park behemoth and appears to have come together without an iota of permission. Moore portrays Disney World as the ultimate horror show -- and gets the point across in nearly every scene. Beyond the issue of whether or not it has the legal right to exist, however, "Escape from Tomorrow" displays a fascinating ingenuity in its appropriation of the Disney brand. Seeming everyman Jim White (Roy Abramson) awakens at the start of the story to learn that he has lost his job for inexplicable reasons

Going to Disneyland as a child, I heard there were cameras in the bushes. My mom's best friend, a California native, said she had considered working there in her youth and heard that employees who didn't cooperate with the "Disney way" were immediately terminated. This knowledge (or hearsay) helped dissuade me years later from applying to the Disney College Program.

So when I heard that writer-director Randy Moore had shot his debut Escape From Tomorrow at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, without requesting permission, I became intrigued: If there really are cameras in the parks bushes, why would Disney executives allow a film to be created on their soil that has such blatant disregard for the company's image?

There are no cameras in the park's bushes ... or is that what Disney wants us to think?

Escape From Tomorrow is the film that shouldn't exist. Shot entirely on location in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, director Randy Mooreand director of photography Lucas Lee Graham filmed Escape From Tomorrow guerilla-style, without permission from anyone at Disney. This surrealist tale follows a father who, on the last day of his family's Disney World vacation, finds out he lost his job, and the theme park begins to lose its luster - even become threatening.

We spoke with Randy and Lucas at this year's Fantastic Fest, and they told us about almost getting caught, how they prepped for a shoot like this, and torturing their child actors by not allowing them on the rides.

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