Jan 27 2012 01:47 PM ET

Sundance 2012: Ira Glass and Mike Birbiglia debut 'This American Life"s first movie!

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Categories: Comedy, EW Exclusive, Film, Ira Glass, Mike Birbiglia, Movies

CHRISTOPHER BEYER FOR EW

Every fan of This American Life has listened to a particular episode and thought: THAT would make a great movie.

Though Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant! and the 2006 family comedy Unaccompanied Minors were both inspired by reports from the WBEZ Chicago public radio show, the minds behind This American Life have finally created their own feature-length movie.

Sleepwalk With Me was produced by Ira Glass and based on writer-director-star Mike Birbiglia’s harrowing tale of life as a not-so-good, but-getting-better comedian. The film has been a bright spot in a Sundance lineup already brimming with comedies.

Click through for an EW video interview in which:

– Glass edits Birbiglia’s storytelling in real time. (“I’m going to shortcut this…”)

– Birbiglia discusses the peculiarities of pretending to bomb on stage.

– The two storytellers provide the greatest-ever description of Sundance. (“It’s like a weird theme park where you keep running into celebrities. Like, ‘Oh…Paul Giamatti!’”) READ FULL STORY »

Jan 27 2012 01:13 PM ET

'Lock-Out' trailer: Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace escape from space

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Categories: Movie Trailers

There is plenty of ridiculata in the trailer for Lock-Out, which hits theaters April 20. There’s the fact that it features a line about a prison that, according to serious voice-over man, is “impenetrable because… it’s not on Earth.” There’s the fact that I blacked out a few seconds into the trailer because the prison alarm — activated after the incarcerated take over the space prison — sounds exactly like my iPhone alarm, and I cannot deal with the terrible feeling associated with that sound this late in the day. And there’s the fact that the badass man (Guy Pearce) commissioned to save the President’s daughter (Maggie Grace) is named… Snow. Still, there’s no denying that this looks like a delightfully fun film to see in theaters. Think Escape From New York… but not on Earth. Trailer after the jump. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 27 2012 01:09 PM ET

Directors Guild Award: Who will win?

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Categories: Awards Season, Awards Shows, Best Director Oscar, Movies, Oscars, Pre-Oscar Prizes
HAZANAVICIUS-SCORCESE

Image Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

In each of the last eight years, the winner of the Directors Guild of America Award went on to win the Best Director trophy at the Oscars. And in nine of the last 10 years, the DGA-winning film ended up taking Best Picture. So all eyes will be on tomorrow night’s DGA Awards, where The Artist‘s Michel Hazanavicius, Hugo‘s Martin Scorsese, Midnight in Paris‘ Woody Allen, The Descendants‘ Alexander Payne, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo‘s David Fincher will compete for the evening’s biggest prize.

After dominating this week’s Oscar nominations, clearly The Artist and Hugo are the two top contenders for the DGA as well. Though both films share an affection for a bygone age of cinema, their directors couldn’t be more different: Hazanavicius, 44, is a relative newcomer with only three goofy French-language films under his belt, while Scorsese, 69, is a nine-time DGA nominee (and two-time winner, for 2006′s The Departed and HBO’s Boardwalk Empire). Hazanavicius is helped by the fact that Scorsese took the feature prize only five years ago. Either man could win, but my hunch is that just as rookie Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) bested Fincher (The Social Network) last year, the less-experienced Hazanavicius will pull out the victory tomorrow.

Check back here tomorrow night for the results. And my colleague Adam B. Vary will have a complete on-the-scene report as well.

Dave on Twitter: @davekarger

Jan 27 2012 12:54 PM ET

Oscar-nominated shorts scheduled for pre-ceremony theatrical release

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Categories: Oscars

ShortsHD and Magnolia Pictures have re-upped their a deal to screen all 15 Oscar-nominated short films beginning Feb. 10. The films will show in more than 200 theaters across the U.S. and Canada up until the Oscars telecast on Feb. 26 and will be organized into three programs by their Academy category (live action, animated, and documentary). To complement the theatrical run, the shorts will also be released Feb. 21 on demand and through iTunes stores in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, and other global markets.

It’s the second year of the documentary shorts have been part of the screening series, which began in 2005. Last year, the initiative took in $1.35 million nationally, breaking records and marking an 800 percent growth in attendance since the series’ first year.

Read more:
EW Special Coverage: Oscars 2012
Oscars 2012: And the nominees are…
Oscars 2012: Interesting facts about this year’s nominees…

Jan 27 2012 11:42 AM ET

Sundance 2012: Mystery man behind 'Safety Not Guaranteed' meme takes a bow

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Categories: Comedy, Movies, Sci-Fi

For about 15 years, the Internet has been laughing at this small, mysterious classified ad.

It became an Internet meme, tweaked and toyed with by online jokesters, though few knew where or when it originated. Those 43 words took on a life of their own.

At Sundance this year, the ad finally manifested itself as a full-length feature film — a comedy-romance-adventure starring Mark Duplass, Aubrey Plaza, and Jake Johnson. At the biggest public screening so far, the creator of the original text finally got to stand up and take a bow…

READ FULL STORY »

Jan 27 2012 10:13 AM ET

The 10 Must-See Movies This Weekend

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Categories: Movies
hugo

Image Credit: Jaap Buitendijk

On Tuesday morning, breakout starlet (and burgeoning icon in your high school’s Archery Club) Jennifer Lawrence woke up extremely early to announce the Academy Award nominations. Rumors indicate that the lovely Ms. Lawrence was joined on the podium by a sad trombone player during the reading of the Best Picture nominations.

Now, any list that includes Terrence Malick’s cosmic masterpiece The Tree of Life deserves props, but it’s striking just how underwhelming the big race feels compared to the last couple of years, which generally featured a neat mix of arty thrillers, fantasy blockbusters, classy Big-Idea dramas, and movies directed by someone other than Stephen Daldry.

But we’re well into the winter doldrums now — this weekend sees the release of Katherine Heigl’s One for the Money, the long-awaited prequel to the Pacino/McConaughey unclassic Two for the Money — so why not get caught up on all the prestige pictures you’ve mostly been avoiding? The most important movie to see this weekend is: READ FULL STORY »

Jan 27 2012 09:00 AM ET

George Lucas on 'Star Wars': 'The first film was really hard. It was painful. It was unpleasant.' -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

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Categories: George Lucas, Star Wars

Star Wars will be back on the big screen soon when The Phantom Menace arrives in theaters in 3-D on Feb. 10, and the occasion has got George Lucas reminiscing about his original trilogy, and, specifically, the movie that started it all: Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope. In this exclusive clip, the man who recently revealed he was retiring from making any sort of big-budget feature film talks about his influences (mix a dash of Kurosawa with a sprinkle of anthropology and a pinch of mythology) and expectations (“I didn’t expect the film to be successful at all. I don’t think anybody did”). But what’s most revealing are his thoughts on the actual making of the 1977 movie, which are not quite as rosy as you might think. “The first film was really hard,” says Lucas. “It was painful. It was unpleasant. We never had enough time or enough money, and we were always compromising on everything, and it was a difficult experience all the way around.” Just click on the video player below to hear more from Lucas on the struggles of making his landmark film.

Fellow nerds can follow me on Twitter: @DaltonRoss READ FULL STORY »

Jan 27 2012 03:35 AM ET

Sundance 2012: Clive Owen finds Troubles in 'Shadow Dancer'

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Categories: Movies, Sundance Film Festival
andrea-riseborough-shadow-dancer

Casting Clive Owen as an MI5 operative in your movie is never a bad idea, but in Shadow Dancer, the taut British thriller about espionage and betrayal set during a spike of Irish/English violence in the early 1990s, Owen isn’t some gun-toting super-agent quick with a quip. Instead, he’s a middle-level field officer assigned with recruiting a captured Irish nationalist (W.E.’s Andrea Riseborough) — whose subway bomb failed to explode — to betray her family. “I think it’s a great performance by Clive,” says director James Marsh, a Sundance fave after his heralded 2008 documentary, Man on Wire. “It’s something he doesn’t do enough of, in my view. It’s very understated and discreet what he’s doing in the film.”

In Shadow Dancer, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival Tuesday night, Owen’s Mac and Riseborough’s Colette find themselves wary partners as the political ground shifts beneath them. “I love the dilemmas of the main characters,” says Owen. “He’s somebody who spends a long time reeling her in, and then develops a conscience when he realizes that his superiors are willing to sacrifice her. I thought it was a great conflict for a character.” READ FULL STORY »

Jan 26 2012 10:37 PM ET

Sundance 2012: Caity Lotz -- extremely hot, and incredibly badass -- saves 'The Pact'

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Categories: Horror Movies, Movies

CHRISTOPHER BEYER FOR EW

In the Sundance midnight movie The Pact, a ghostly force grabs Caity Lotz, swings her through the air, throws her up against walls, and slams her down on the floor.

Critics did basically the same thing to the film, which has more than a few logic holes.

But Lotz, whose character ultimately forms an alliance with the angry spirit, may also have saved the film with her tough-as-nails, yet ultra-sexy performance. Not only did The Pact get picked up for distribution by IFC, but she signed a new deal with United Talent Agency during the festival.

Below, we have a selection of exclusive studio photos of the 25-year-old actress, martial artist, dancer, singer, and parkour expert, accompanied by her thoughts on dumb horror chicks and how she found evidence of something extremely creepy (in real life) while shooting The Pact. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 26 2012 09:54 PM ET

Box office preview: Liam Neeson should conquer weekend with 'The Grey'

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Categories: Box Office, Liam Neeson, Movie Biz
THE-GREY-03

Image Credit: Kimberley French

It’s all action, all the time. After such recent action releases as Contraband, Haywire, Red Tails, and Underworld: Awakening, this weekend will keep the thrills coming with two action thrillers and one action comedy.

The thrillers are The Grey, in which Liam Neeson stands up to a hungry pack of Alaskan wolves, and Man on a Ledge, in which Sam Worthington stands up to a ledge. The third film, One for the Money, will try to continue Katherine Heigl’s streak of starring in critically panned comedies that somehow perform decently at the box office. Also, the Best Picture nominee The Descendants, starring Best Actor frontrunner George Clooney, expands to 1,997 theaters.

Here are my weekend predictions: READ FULL STORY »

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