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Oscar winners Alan Arkin and Kathy Bates, as well as Teyana Taylor have joined Casey Affleck in indie heist thriller The Smack.

The trio join a growing cast that already includes Marisa Tomei, Isabel May and Yul Vázquez.

David M. Rosenthal, who directed thrillers The Perfect Guy and the remake of Jacob’s Ladder, is helming the feature that starts shooting in L.A. later this fall.

Rosenthal and Keith Kjarval wrote the script, adapting the novel by Richard Lange. Kjarval, who runs the prolific indie banner Unified Pictures, is also producing along with Sam Rockwell, Play Hooky’s Mark Berger (Of Mice and Men) and Sugar Rush Pictures’ Andrea Bucko (Tin Soldier).

Smack centers on a con man (Affleck) who has hit rock bottom when he meets an upstart hustler, to be played by Taylor. After a tip from a wise con (Arkin...

Exclusive: David M. Rosenthal is directing an untitled thriller about freediving, which has been boarded by Netflix France.

Starring in the pic are Camille Rowe (Rock’n Roll) and Sofiane Zermani (Close Enemies), with César Domboy (Outlander) and Zacharie Chasseriaud (Hippocrate) in supporting roles.

The film follows Roxana Aubrey, a young university student with a troubled past and a passion for the sea, who decides to drop her studies and escape her life in Paris for a freediving course in the south of France. She is quickly pulled into a life that reaches new depths brought by the weight of an ocean’s descent.

The pic is shooting now and will film in the south of France, the Cote D’Azure, as well as Guadeloupe and Brussels. Thomas Hardmeier is lensing, Stéphane Roche is editor, Atli Orvärsson is composer and Jean Philippe Moreaux is production designer.

Jacob's Ladder is getting a remake this month, and early word of mouth from horror fans is that this is a twisty turn on the original 1990 classic starring Tim Robbins. This time out, Michael Ealy stars as Jacob Singer. As we learn in the first clip released by Vertical Entertainment, Jacob's believed to be deceased brother is still alive and living in the Subway tunnels under the city. The government has been experimenting on soldiers with a new drug, and it's not exactly going as planned.

As you can see from the first Jacob's Ladder clip, strange things are afoot, as Singer is warned of an experimental drug before facing a surprising death by way of subway train. It's pretty shocking and surreal, leaving the audience to ask, 'What is real and what is a hallucination?'

Jacob's Ladder premiered exclusively on Dish starting July 25th. It will now head...

Exclusive: Filmmaker David M. Rosenthal has inked with Verve.

Rosenthal directed the recent remake of the cult 1990 Jacob’s Ladder. Vertical Entertainment took U.S. rights recently to the Ld Entertainment movie and it will hit Dish in an exclusive July window before hitting theaters in August.

In Rosenthal’s Jacob’s Ladder, Jacob Singer is getting his life back together after his brother is killed in Afghanistan. Jacob has a beautiful wife, a newborn child and a successful career as surgeon in a Va hospital. When a stranger approaches Jacob and reveals that his brother is actually alive and living in an underground shelter with other homeless vets, Jacob’s life starts to unravel. He begins hallucinating, believes he is being followed by violent attackers and becomes paranoid about the truth of what really happened to his brother. When he discovers that his brother is alive and addicted to an experimental drug,...

"Now matter what happens we're going to make it! Okay?" Netflix has launched one final trailer for an intense end of the world movie titled How It Ends, the latest from filmmaker David M. Rosenthal. How It Ends is a post-apocalyptic survival thriller, where they're not sure what exactly is happening and/or what exactly the apocalypse is. The plot involves a desperate father trying to return home to his pregnant wife after a mysterious event turns everything to chaos. Theo James stars, along with Forest Whitaker, Kat Graham, Kerry Bishé, Mark O'Brien, Nicole Ari Parker, and Grace Dove. This is available on Netflix today, so they're giving it one big push in hopes some of you want to watch this. Or maybe no one wants to escape to an apocalyptic story when it's already so bad. Enjoy. Here's the second & final trailer for David M. Rosenthal's How It Ends,...

"There's a lot to be afraid of out there..." Netflix has debuted an official trailer for an indie film titled How It Ends, the latest from filmmaker David M. Rosenthal. How It Ends is a post-apocalyptic survival thriller, one of those where they don't really explain the apocalypse or what happened. The plot involves a desperate father trying to return home to his pregnant wife after a mysterious apocalyptic event turns everything to chaos. Theo James stars, along with Forest Whitaker, Kat Graham, Kerry Bishé, Mark O'Brien, Nicole Ari Parker, and Grace Dove. This pretty much came out of nowhere, so I'm not sure what to make of it. It seems like there's some cool things going on here, but I really don't have a good feeling. It's worth a look just to check out another Netflix film. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for David M. Rosenthal's How It...

Louisa Mellor Jul 17, 2017

Fearless concludes a promising series with a mixed finale that relied on predictable twists and contrivance…

This review contains spoilers.

See related Preacher renewed for longer second season Preacher episode 10 review: Call And Response

You know when you come home from a funeral and you’re having a couple of drinks and scrolling through all the nice funeral photos you took? The usual snaps – digger shifting the soil, coffin being lowered, the cutting of the funeral cake, grievers doing the hokey cokey?

No. Of course not, because no one takes photos at funerals. Only an alien or a soulless tabloid paparazzo at a celebrity interment would do such a thing and John Bishop’s character in Fearless is supposed to be neither. So why was he snapping away at Kevin Russell’s final goodbye like a tourist at the Tower of Pisa?

It’s hard for crime...

Brandon Christensen gave birth to the Overlook Film Festival’s “Scariest Film” this past weekend at the Timberline Lodge, the iconic hotel from The Shining. Hailing out of Canada is Christensen’s Still/Born, starring Christie Burke (Twilight: Breaking Dawn, A Single Shot), Jesse Moss (Tucker and Dale Vs Evil, The Uninvited), Rebecca Olson (Kindergarten Cop 2) and Michael Ironside (Starship […]...

Brandon Christensen gave birth to the Overlook Film Festival’s “Scariest Film” this past weekend at the Timberline Lodge, the iconic hotel from The Shining. Hailing out of Canada is Christensen’s Still/Born, starring Christie Burke (Twilight: Breaking Dawn, A Single Shot), Jesse Moss (Tucker and Dale Vs Evil, The Uninvited), Rebecca Olson (Kindergarten Cop 2) and Michael Ironside (Starship […]...

As Without So WITHINDear Fern,"Risky" festival choices can take all sorts of forms, whether betting on first time filmmakers (Hello Destroyer, which you rightly praised, and Ashley McKenzie's promising, incredibly compassionate debut Werewolf), or hoping that something as potentially goofy as Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids might just be something special. (Judging by both our responses, it very much was—in fact, it's one of the best films of the year.) Still, I encourage you to come to Wavelengths with me—it's bliss!While much of the festival area here in Toronto is fairly condensed, which finds us sprinting across a multiplex with mere minutes between screenings or from one venue to another but a few blocks away—these being press and industry timeslots; the public ones are spread around a bit more—I had the pleasure to discover more of our host city by tracking down several...

I saw The Black Dahlia the day it opened in the fall of 2006. I can safely say it was one of my favorite moviegoing experiences. My husband and I saw it at AMC River East 21, which is one of Chicago’s largest multiplexes. The showing we went to was sold-out. There must have been 400 people there. The movie started, everyone was quiet and seemed excited for the celeb-packed whodunit we were about to see. Slowly, muffled giggles could be heard from different points of the theatre, mostly whenever Aaron Eckhart or Josh Hartnett mumbled “Fire and Ice.” By the middle of the movie, people were openly laughing at Hartnett’s silly, serious narration. Everyone went ballistic when, referring to the resemblance between Hilary Swank and Black Dahlia Elizabeth Short, Scarlett Johansson yells, “She looks like that dead girl!” We went even more ballistic when a woman sitting near me in the audience screamed,...

Unified Pictures, the production company founded by Keith Kjarval that produced Rudderless, Trust Me and A Single Shot among others, is developing an animated Vampire Hunter D TV series. The popular series of Japanese novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi has spawned two movies in 1985 and 2000. We spoke with another Unified founder, Kurt Rauer, and […]

The post Interview: How the ‘Vampire Hunter D’ TV Series Will Avoid the ‘Game of Thrones’ Problem appeared first on /Film.

The legend of Hugh Glass lives on.

After winning three Oscars, including best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio and best director for Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant proved to be one of the best movies to watch in 2016.

Viewers familiar with the movie not only discussed the performance by DiCaprio, but about the story of Hugh Glass, a fur trapper who was left for dead after a bear mauling in the 1820s.

One of the big contributors to this film will have to be historian Clay Landry, who served as a technical advisor for the film. With his help, he advised on the historical accuracy for the time period on the project. The production staff consulted on the details with him from the weapons, clothing, language and even down to the buffalo meat.

Landry has plenty of stories to tell about the production and his contribution to the project.

In an exclusive phone interview last month,...

Here's the thing about remakes: even the bad ones can't taint our fond memories of the original. Which is why I'm choosing not to feel any way at all about today's news that Ld Entertainment's Jacob's Ladder "reimagining" will be directed by David M. Rosenthal, who helmed last year's critically-reviled thriller The Perfect Guy (which nevertheless made $60 million at the box office). Before that: A Single Shot starring Sam Rockwell (49% Rotten Tomatoes score) and Janie Jones starring Abigail Breslin (52%). Am I sensing a downward trend here? Joining Rosenthal for the destined-to-be-mediocre effort is his Perfect Guy star Michael Ealy, who is talented and attractive and will likely be wasted in the lead role. All due respect to Rosenthal, but his resume makes it pretty clear what kind of "remake" they're going for here. The original Jacob's Ladder may not be a masterpiece, but it is still a bracing, personal and...

Lousy Smarch is almost here and the debut schedules for all the movies and series that will be hitting Netflix in March have arrived. We also have the Amazon Prime folks covered as well! The second season of Marvel’s Daredevil and the premieres of the fourth season of House of Cards and the first season of the new comedy Flaked, with Will Arnett hit the small screen. Did you forget about the premiere of the Judd Apatow-produced Pee-wee’s Big Holiday? We didn’t.

On the Amazon Prime front, check out below to see what you’ll be able to stream for free and what’s going to have a cost. Let’s watch!

All Title Dates are Subject to Change

Netflix U.S. Release Dates Only

Available 3/1

Adult Beginners (2015)

Ahora o Nunca (2015)

Aldnoah.Zero: Season 2

American Pie Presents: Beta House (2007)

American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile...

Icelandic cinema scored one more victory at the 2016 Harpa Awards, which took place at the Nordic Embassies during Berlinale on February 15, 2016. Composer Atli Örvarsson won the award for Best Film Score for the Icelandic film "Rams," while Johann Johannson took home the Honorary Award.

“The award for Best Film Score goes to a man with a unique sound,” said the jury who consisted of Thomas Robsahm, Konrad Sommermeyer and Christineauf der Haar. “The accordion perfectly matches the loneliness, the nature and the sound of the sheep calling out for each other - the bleating. The music, the atmosphere and the pictures fit perfectly together. It feels as if the director and the composer really are in close contact – and telling their story together.”

Grímur Hákonarson's "Rams" took home the Un Certain Regard Award at last year's Cannes Film Festival and has since screened at numerous festivals around the world charming critics and audiences alike. Cohen Media Group released the film stateside earlier this month.

Read More: 'Rams' Director Grímur Hákonarson on Icelandic Pastoral Life and Casting the Right Sheep

Atli has worked with Hans Zimmer in Los Angeles for a number of years. Since moving back to his original hometown Akureyri in northern Iceland, he has scored a number of Hollywood films and TV series as well as Icelandic films. The film "Rams" was coincidentally shot in the remote countryside village where his mother grew up and is based on a true story about two elderly brothers living on the same farm and leading a very rural countryside life - but have not spoken to each other for many decades. Atli is the son of Iceland´s most distinguished accordionist Örvar Kristánsson who passed away last year. Atli created the score to a large degree using his father’s old accordion which is heavily featured in the score.

Atli’s credits include orchestrating and writing music for some of Hollywood’s biggest projects, including the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series. He has contributed music to films from "Angels and Demons" to "The Holiday. As a composer, Atli Örvarsson displays musical diversity throughout his action-film scores in "The Eagle," "Vantage Point," "Babylon A.D.," the Morgan Freeman caper "Thick as Thieves," "The Fourth Kind," and the Nicolas Cage medieval fantasy "Season of the Witch." Atli’s most recent credits include "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones," the dark and edgy film "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters," the drama/thriller "A Single Shot" starring Sam Rockwell, the hit NBC series "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago Pd," and working with Hans Zimmer to contribute music to the Zack Snyder's Superman reinstallment "Man of Steel."

The Harpa Awards were invented in 2009. The aim was to put a spotlight on Nordic talent, skills and know-how and to promote the great Nordic film talents in music and acting for the international film industry and thereby strengthening the opportunities for cooperation between the Nordic countries and the international film market. More information you can visit http://www.nordicfilmmusicdays.com/

Take a look at Örvarsson on the accordion in the video below.

Female Misbehavior: Gavron’s Noble Depiction of British Women’s Suffrage Movement

There’s much to admire in Sarah Gavron’s sophomore directorial effort, Suffragette, a turn-of-the-century snapshot of the British Women’s suffrage movement as the struggle for the right to vote considerably intensified against the patriarchal code. Enhanced by some superb performances from its talented cast, there’s a surprising degree of dramatic potency for a vehicle specifically calibrated to convey a cumbersome and obvious message, even as it stacks an overwhelming amount of tension on the back of its lead protagonist, balanced magnificently by its star, Carey Mulligan.

Reuniting with the screenwriter of her 2007 debut Brick Lane, Abi Morgan (who penned McQueen’s Shame, as well as The Iron Lady in 2011), Gavron concocts a rather conventional snapshot of a struggle for equality still being exacted, to varying degrees, across the globe.

In 1912 London, laundrywoman Maud Watts (Mulligan...

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A single shot shows a mustachioed cowboy as he stares directly into the eyes of the audience before raising his gun and firing it point blank into the camera. It was 1903, and the release of The Great Train Robbery signalled the birth of the action movie.

Few other movie genres have proven to be quite so enduring; in the century since Edwin S. Porter’s 12 minute silent film action movies have morphed into countless subgenres starring dozens of household names, frequently clearing up at the box office. Netflix certainly delivers when it comes to blockbuster action movies. but if you dig a little deeper you’ll find that there’s more on offer than just the latest crowd-pleaser starring Dwayne Johnson, and Tom Cruise.

There are plenty of straight-to-video 80s action movies available for those feeling nostalgic (or fancy a reminder of just how bad many of these much-loved...

After a dismal outing over the Labor Day holiday weekend, the box office started to show signs of life again, with The Perfect Guy fending off The Visit in a very close race. The Perfect Guy took in $26.7 million over the weekend, with The Visit just behind it in second place with $25.6 million. Since these estimates are so close to each other, it's possible these results could change when the actual box office figures are announced on Monday, but, for now The Perfect Guy has the top spot, according to the estimates at Box Office Mojo.

Both The Perfect Guy ($12 million budget) and The Visit ($5 million) have already turned a profit after just one weekend, but The Perfect Guy's win is more impressive since it opened in far fewer theaters than The Visit. The Perfect Guy opened in 2,221 theaters, earning an robust $12,022 per-screen average. The Visit, on the other hand,...

The Perfect Guy‘s marketing campaign doesn’t do the self-consciously campy stalker-thriller (a less over-the-top but still ideal double billing with last January’s The Boy Next Door) any favors – its tagline, “Trust One, Fear the Other,” promises a tastelessly regressive sort of love triangle in which two possessive men clash violently over the affections of a lady love. That’s not the kind of film, in a year that’s already delivered some of the decade’s most indelible female characters (in fare as diverse yet mainstream as Ex Machina, Mad Max: Fury Road, Spy and Inside Out), many critics are chomping at the bit to sample.

Luckily, this is one of those rare Hollywood productions with surprises in store, most notably lead actress Sanaa Lathan, who takes a simple harangued-heroine part and draws out of it enough charisma and complexity to elevate the entire movie above the...

There’s been a lot of talk lately about indie directors making the leap to studio productions, but few have handled the transition as skillfully as David M. Rosenthal does in the smart, funny, and scary thriller The Perfect Guy. In a way it’s the perfect studio assignment for Rosenthal, in that it takes full advantage of the skills he exhibited in his previous film, 2013’s richly atmospheric thriller A Single Shot, while also allowing him to explore new territory as an old-school genre director. The basic premise is nothing new – it’s the stuff of dozens of Lifetime “woman in jeopardy” […]...

There’s been a lot of talk lately about indie directors making the leap to studio productions, but few have handled the transition as skillfully as David M. Rosenthal does in the smart, funny, and scary thriller The Perfect Guy. In a way it’s the perfect studio assignment for Rosenthal, in that it takes full advantage of the skills he exhibited in his previous film, 2013’s richly atmospheric thriller A Single Shot, while also allowing him to explore new territory as an old-school genre director. The basic premise is nothing new – it’s the stuff of dozens of Lifetime “woman in jeopardy” […]...

After pulling off an improbable holiday win at the box office, the War Room faces some stiff competition this weekend, going up against a pair of thrillers, The Visit and The Perfect Guy, and yet another faith-based film, 90 Minutes in Heaven. Now that the summer movie season is over, the box office receipts have already started to dwindle, which was part of the reason War Room was able to take the top spot over Labor Day. Don't expect this trio of new releases to put up big numbers, but, according to the projections at BoxOffice.com, War Room's reign atop the box office should be a short one.

The Visit is expected to take in $17 million at the box office, which should easily give it the top spot over The Perfect Guy, which is expected to earn $13 million in its opening frame. War Room is expected to drop to third place this weekend,...

For those who got a heaping ton of the heebie-jeebies from Michael Ealy's turn on the thankfully cancelled The Following, get ready for your not-so-long-awaited re-up. The first trailer from The Perfect Guy, courtesy of A Single Shot helmer David M. Rosenthal, features ample time witnessing Ealy, playing the obsessive, over-protective new boyfriend of Sanaa Lathan, putting his all into the role of a total, irrefutable creep, and that would be the exact pull of the story. There's a trashy zip to films like this, focused on the overblown melodramatic fears that go off into diabolical, often fatal directions. And that's Morris Chestnut, hot off some solid work on the previous season of Nurse Jackie, as Lathan's commitment-phobe ex-boyfriend who begins to have second thoughts about putting a ring on it when he sees Ealy romancing her. This, thankfully, looks more knowingly trashy than most of its ilk, and...

You’ll love this new film about hate! In Supremacy, Joe Anderson (A Single Shot, Hercules) plays white supremacist Tully, who’s just been paroled. But his first night out could be his last. He just killed a cop. He’s on the run. And no one’s going to listen to an ex-con with the Aryan Nation. His leader (Anson Mount) just cut him loose, and as the police close in, Tully and his girlfriend (Dawn Olivieri) add home invasion and hostages to the body count. But no one counted on Mr. Walker (Danny Glover), an ex-con himself, to fight back – using his understanding of the racist mind to turn the tables on a desperate and violent man. Will it be enough to keep his family alive?

Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon franchise), Joe Anderson (Hercules, Horns) and Dawn Olivieri (“The Vampire Diaries,” American Hustle) star in Director Deon Taylor...

Principal photography has started today on Screen Gems. new thriller The Perfect Guy, starring Sanaa Lathan (The Best Man Holiday), Michael Ealy (Think Like A Man,About Last Night) and Morris Chestnut (Think Like A Man, The Best Man Holiday). The film, directed by David M. Rosenthal (A Single Shot, Janie Jones) also stars Charles S. Dutton (.Longmire.), Rutina Wesley (.True Blood.) and Kathryn Morris (.Cold Case.).

Wes Bentley rarely takes on leading roles, probably partially because his youthful, nondescript features lead audiences to identify with him most as a background player. Things People Do, a quiet drama directed by The Thin Red Line editor Saar Klein, finds Bentley taking on the main role of insurance adjuster Bill Scanlon, who turns to a life of crime when always playing the nice guy leaves him jobless and heavily in debt. Unfortunately, the film’s plodding, ham-fisted narrative allows neither Bentley nor Things People Do as a whole any opportunity to leave even the slightest impression.

Klein and co-writer Joe Conway clearly wanted their film to be received as a morality play, with seemingly every line of dialogue holding deeper meaning. In moderation, symbolic dialogue can be one of a screenwriter’s most potent weapons, but here it’s more exhausting than enlightening. One of the reasons Things People Do...

The North American premiere of the film >A Single Shot was shown at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, which stars Sam Rockwell as hunter John Moon. The 116 minute film was shot in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States and was directed by David Rosenthal. Written by Matthew F. Jones (who also wrote the book), the film follows the hunter as he accidentally kills a young woman and finds a large amount of money on her. As he tries to escape the wrath of the criminals looking to find him and the money, he finds himself putting his survival skills to the test for his ultimate existence.

The film also stars William H. Macy as Daggard Pitt who is a shady lawyer, Jeffrey Wright as Simon who is a drunk that is expected to move the plot along with his character but is rather impossible to understand within the film,...

Sam Rockwell is one of the greatest actors working today. If you’re not already in agreement with me, look over his diverse body of work. Rockwell has killed roles, both lead and supporting, in movies as weird as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, as shattering as Conviction, and as breathtakingly original as Moon. Along the way, he’s played integral parts in classics like The Green Mile and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. He’s one of my favorite actors because, no matter how many great roles I see him in, he just sells it every time.

A Single Shot, a relentlessly bleak and atmospheric noir drama, is no exception. As hunter John Moon, who accidentally shoots and kills a young woman, only to uncover a huge amount of money she was guarding, Rockwell is absolutely terrific. It’s a very physical part for the actor,...

Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week

"20 Feet From Stardom"

What's It About? Being a back-up singer is no easy task, especially when you're working so hard and getting so little credit. Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Judith Hill, and other singers take front and center in this doc about the women who've revolutionized the music we listen to.

Why We're In: The doc features fantastic footage of performances from every era of modern music -- we dare you not to get teary when you see and hear Luther Vandross doing backup with Fischer and others for David Bowie. Interviews with Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, and Bette Midler are icing on the cake.

Moviefone's Top Blu-ray of the Week

"Rififi"

What's It About? Director Jules Dassin snagged the Palme d'Or for this film noir about four guys going in on one last heist -- and we all...

Short Term 12 One of my top ten movies of 2013, Short Term 12 was a movie that surprised me with its honesty as well as writer/director Destin Cretton's ability to turn a cliched moment into an authentic one. It's a film filled with passion, disappointment, love and humor. You know, sorta like life. I urge you to check it out.

Fruitvale Station A heavy contender for my top ten movies of 2013, on another day, perhaps Fruitvale Station actually makes it into my top ten. From the feature writing and directorial debut of Ryan Coogler to the performances from Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz and Octavia Spencer, this is a film that deserves recognition, but it unfortunately won't receive anywhere near as much as it deserves.

Rififi (Criterion Collection) I will have my review of this one online shortly, but until then know this Blu-ray looks great, far better than the previous DVD release.

Each Monday we present you with the most up-to-date list of the top 10 (indie) movies in the iTunes store (combining rentals and purchases). This week, "I Give It A Year" and "Closed Circuit" top the list. It's worth noting that "I Give It A Year" was an iTunes Movie of the Week and was on sale for 99 cents, which, no doubt, helped to boost its popularity. Thee top 10 indies in iTunes are listed below (number represents North American gross, where applicable): 1. Give It A Year (Magnolia Pictures, $34,657) 2. Closed Circuit (Focus Features, $5,750,401) 3. Thanks for Sharing (Roadside Attractions, $1,065,881) 4. Murph: The Protector (Starz/Anchor Bay, N/A) 5. A Single Shot (Tribeca Film, $18,642) 6. The Way, Way Back (Fox Searchlight, $21,502,690) 7. Inequality for All (Radius-twc, $1,194,500) 8. Enough Said (Fox Searchlight, $17,517,110) 9. The Spectacular...

Out of the Furnace

Written by Brad Inglesby and Scott Cooper

Directed by Scott Cooper

USA, 2013

In the last few years, American filmmakers have turned to the bleak parts of the country, both to explore the sharp, darkened corners of our current psyche, and to depict a world stuck in the past. Films like Winter’s Bone, Killing Them Softly, and A Single Shot, among others, attempt to mine pathos for what amounts to a forgotten stretch of the nation, peopled with hard-bitten survivors desperately trying to get by and possibly escape. And now we can add to this list the tightly wound thriller Out of the Furnace. It is a film set in the present, but one marked by the past, both in its storytelling and visual presentation.

Christian Bale, mostly, avoids going over the top and instead opts to play his character, Russell Baze, as something close to a ghost walking the earth.

Don’t let the lack of theatrical output foul you. Adam Rapp is a man of many hats, alternating between novelist, playwright, television, guitarist, actor (Ryan Piers Williams’ X/Y) and the filmmaker of indie comedy (Tiff 2005 preemed) Winter Passing. Rapp shot his third film Why Now?! in upstate New York for peanuts in comparison to several other films mentioned on this list with this talent pool size (Sam Rockwell, Marisa Tomei, Aya Cash, Brian Geraghty) somewhere in late 2012/2013.

Gist: Written by Ivan Martin and Michael Godere, details on this one are buttoned, zipped, throw away the key mum.

Production Co./Producers: Parts and Labor’s Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen (Narco Cultura) , New Artists Alliance’s Gabriel Cowan and John Suits (Bad Milo), Unified Pictures’s Keith Kjarval (A Single Shot), Ivan Martin, Michael Godere, Tory Lenosky.

Prediction: Premieres category or a return to Tiff in the fall.

Director David M. Rosenthal (Falling Up, See This Movie) assembles an all-star cast including Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2, Moon), Academy Award® nominee William H. Macy (Best Supporting Actor, Fargo, 1996), Ted Levine (TV’s “The Bridge”), Kelly Reilly (Flight, TV’s “The Black Box”), Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter franchise), Joe Anderson (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2) and Jeffrey Wright (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, TV’s “Boardwalk Empire”), for the tense thriller A Single Shot, debuting on Blu-ray™ and DVD January 14th from Well Go USA Entertainment. The tragic death of a beautiful young girl starts a tense and atmospheric game of cat and mouse between hunter John Moon (Rockwell) and the hardened backwater criminals out for his blood. A Single Shot comes loaded with more than...

Though David Ayer’s Fury has already begun filming, a new cast member has joined today in the form of Jason Isaacs. Perhaps best known for his role as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter series, the actor has been laying low as of late. He starred in NBC’s Awake, which was cancelled and recently showed up in the excellent indie film, A Single Shot, but aside from that we haven’t really seen him in a whole lot.

It looks like the actor is ready to get back into things, though, as Fury is set to be a pretty big film. The World War II tank thriller boasts a wildly impressive cast, with names like Brad Pitt, Shia Labeouf, Logan Lerman and Michael Pena starring. The film will focus on the titular American Sherman tank crew in its final days during the Second World War. As for Isaacs,...

Following his wrap-up as Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II in 2011, Jason Isaacs has laid pretty low key. Last year, he starred in the sadly canceled, but stellar, NBC series "Awake," and he can be seen in indies like Sweetwater and A Single Shot from this year as well. Now he's getting back into some big films with an impressive cast as THR reports Isaacs has joined the cast of David Ayer's World War II tank thriller Fury. The film already stars Brad Pitt, Shia Labeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena and Jon Bernthal as the five crew members of an American Sherman tank called Fury in the final days of Ww II. Isaacs has joined the film as the confident captain and veteran on the team to which Pitt looks to for advice. That makes six people rather than five, so maybe Isaacs isn't...

Jason Isaacs has signed on to star in director David Ayer's World War II drama Fury, which is currently shooting in London.

The actor will play the the senior member of a five-man tank crew, who come across a desperate Nazi unit towards the end of World War II. His character is the confident captain and team veteran, who Brad Pitt's character looks to for advice. Shia Labeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pe&#241a and Scott Eastwood co-star.

David Ayer is directing from his own screenplay, with Bill Block, John Lesher and Ethan Smith serving as producers.

Jason Isaacs most recently starred in A Single Shot, and he will next be seen in the indie Sweetwater, opening in theaters this weekend.

Fury comes to theaters November 14th, 2014 and stars Brad Pitt, Shia Labeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña, Scott Eastwood, Jason Isaacs. The film is directed by David Ayer.

Given that writer-director David Ayer showed off the main cast of his latest, tank thriller Fury a couple of weeks ago, we weren’t expecting a new piece of casting. We are, however, happy to learn that Empire favourite Jason Isaacs is aboard.Fury finds Brad Pitt as an Army sergeant nicknamed Wardaddy (unless his family had some incredible foresight when it came to naming their sprogs) who commands a five-man hunk of battle-armour and guts through Germany as the Nazi regime begins to crumble in 1945. The enemy cannot be counted out entirely, however, and the mission will be a tough one.Michael Pena, Scott Eastwood, Shia Labeouf and Logan Lerman are the crew going through hell alongside their commander. Isaacs is set to play a veteran captain who advises Pitt when he needs it.Ayer is putting the cast through their paces right now in London. As for Isaacs,...

A new addition has been made to the ensemble cast of David Ayer's Fury . The Hollywood Reporter today brings word that Harry Potter franchise star Jason Isaacs is joining Brad Pitt, Shia Labeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena and Jon Bernthal for the World War II actioner. Set at the very end of World War II, in April 1945, Fury follows the battle-hardened Wardaddy, who commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany. Isaacs, who recently starred in A Single Shot , will play an experienced captain that Wardaddy turns to for advice. Qed is producing the film with John Lesher.s Le Grisbi Productions and...

William H. Macy has signed with Wme for representation in all areas, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Photos: Up Close and Personal With the Gallaghers on the 'Shameless' Set The busy actor last starred opposite Sam Rockwell in the Tribeca manhunt thriller A Single Shot, and he recently completed shooting on the dramedy Walter, with Virginia Madsen, as well as the drama Rudderless, which marks his debut as a feature director. Macy is currently in postproduction on the film, which stars Billy Crudup, Laurence Fishburne, Selena Gomez and Anton Yelchin. His Showtime dramedy Shameless will return for its fourth season

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If you happened upon a large stash of money in the woods, what would you do with it? Your impulse might tell you to take it and run-- after all, nobody is guarding it, and nobody is there to see you take it, right? But if you've seen enough movies, you probably know that the money inevitably belongs to some terrifying gangsters, and no matter what problems you think the cash might solve, it's only going to create much bigger, much more violent ones down the road. In the tradition of thrillers like No Country for Old Men and A Simple Plan, the newly release A Single Shot follows what happens when a hunter (Sam Rockwell) accidentally shoots a woman instead of the deer he's hunting, and happens upon a box of money near her body. William H. Macy plays the low-rent lawyer he hires to settle his divorce suit,...

David M. Rosenthal’s A Single Shot joins the ranks of some superior 2013 thrillers, the uniting factor being their complete grasp of a sense of place and time and their ability to unconditionally exploit their setting for the benefit of the story and characters. Mud, The Frozen Ground, Scenic Route and now this poetic backwoods chiller all place a compelling central character in a potentially life threatening ordeal, surrounds them with superior supporting players and executes their motives and actions with fluidity and respect. This year has so far seen a resurgence in this type of yarn – a stripped down, character based story that extracts its involving tenseness through simple actions, not bombast and explosions.

For A Single Shot, Matthew F. Jones adapts his own novel which can often be the kiss of death for any film in such a situation. Though I have not personally read his book, it...

  A Single Shot (2013) Film Review, a movie directed by David M. Rosenthal and starring Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy, Ted Levine, Kelly Reilly,  Jason Isaacs, Joe Anderson, Jeffrey Wright, Ophelia Lovibond, Melissa Leo, Amy Sloan, W. Earl Brown, Heather Lind, Christie Burke, Jenica Bergere, and Lana Giacose. The very [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: A Single Shot (2013): Authenticity + Consequences Collide...

The Fab Five are together again.No, not The Beatles ... the "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" guys! Carson Kressley, Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Jai Rodriguez and Thom Filicia reunited on Thursday night in NYC for the "A Single Shot" premiere after-party.Pretty hard to believe it's been 10 whole years since the show, which followed a team of gay men as they offered lifestyle and grooming tips to straight guys in desperate need of a makeover, debuted on Bravo.The show even helped make over the network itself, making it the reality TV goldmine it is today.The gang got together over a couple Purity vodka cocktails last night and filmed a special today with Andy Cohen for Bravo, airing in October. So, what do the guys all look like now? Click the gallery to see. Plus, find out what they've all been up to since the show went off the air!

“It’s kind of like a detective movie but it’s set in the Appalachians,” is the way Sam Rockwell encapsulates his latest film, A Single Shot. Rockwell plays John, a true anti-hero who gets in way over his head after a hunting accident and finding a good deal of cash. What follows that opening is a dirty film noir, where you rarely know who to trust, despite having a positive attitude to all the familiar faces Rockwell is surrounded by in the film: Jeffrey Wright, William H. Macy, Joe Anderson, and Jason Isaacs. It’s an impressive ensemble that Rockwell relished working with. This adaptation was another opportunity for the acclaimed actor to transform himself in subtle ways, which, as Rockwell puts it, is always a bonus. Here’s what else Sam Rockwell had to say about A Single Shot, performing adaptations, and having to take risks: Which movies or characters did you watch for preparation...

The 2013 summer movie season is over, so we focus now on our favorite time for movies, the fall and holiday season! The City of Films has put together a guide of all the films being released for the rest of the year, the precursor to the Oscars some might say, or “how many movies is Robert De Niro in right now?”. Join the dialogue on Facebook and Twitter.

Note: Dates are subject to change – CoF will keep it updated. Contact us for additions/changes.

September & October – November – December

Prisoners – September 20

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Stars: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal

Synopsis: When Keller Dover’s daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?

Analysis: I like a good revenge movie (see Ransom), so this looks promising to me.

Frequent moviegoers have gotten used to seeing Sam Rockwell play smart and funny characters in a wide variety of movies, but more recently, he's had more success with comedic roles like the one in the recent Sundance hit The Way, Way Back . As much as it's always fun to see Rockwell's trademark wit on screen, he's an actor first and foremost so it's just as great seeing him do more dramatic roles like the one he plays in David M. Rosenthal's A Single Shot . Based on the novel by Matthew Jones, who adapted it into a screenplay, Rockwell plays John Moon, a solitary hunter who accidentally shoots a young woman who has in her possession a box full of money. It doesn't take long before the criminals that the money belongs to--including Jason Isaacs, almost unrecognizable with a...

The main narrative surrounding the evolution of David M. Rosenthal’s “A Single Shot” has been about the longer-than-usual casting merry-go-round -- since 2009, a roster of talent as long as your arm has signed up then signed out of the film. However the fear that, as the accepted wisdom goes, there must be something fundamentally wrong with a project that takes this long to put together was somewhat mitigated by the kind of names who kept on stepping up: as worrying as it might be to lose the likes of (pre-breakout) Michael Fassbender, Alessandro Nivola, Forest Whitaker or Juliette Lewis, it doesn’t sting so hard when you get Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy, Jeffrey Wright and Jason Isaacs to show up instead -- all actors we admire. Except in this case, accepted wisdom should again be accepted: “A Single Shot” does not add up to anywhere near the sum of its parts,...

A Single Shot

Written by Matthew F. Jones

Directed by David M. Rosenthal

USA, 2013

Sam Rockwell’s secret weapon is not his gift of gab, but his ability to use that chatty nature to disarm everyone around him. Rockwell, so rakish and charming in this summer’s indie hit The Way, Way Back, isn’t the kind of actor who can’t play taciturn, but deliberately robbing him of his quirky, squirrelly speech patterns is always a bit of a letdown. As such, so too is A Single Shot, a grim, drab crime drama with Rockwell playing strong and silent at the center, leaning too heavily on the latter quality.

Rockwell is John Moon (a nice, if unintentional, nod to one of his best films, the 2009 sci-fi drama Moon), an estranged husband and father living in the hills of West Virginia in a nondescript little shack. One morning, while on the hunt for some deer,...