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Roadside Attractions and Vertical have acquired the U.S. rights to the historical thriller “Firebrand,” which will open in theaters on June 21. Based on the historical novel “Queen’s Gambit” by Elizabeth Fremantle, the film stars Alicia Vikander and Jude Law and is directed by Karim Aïnouz.

“Firebrand” follows “legendary Queen of England, Katherine Parr, and her quest to survive the perilous last months in the life of her ailing and abusive husband, Henry VIII,” per the release. The cast also includes Eddie Marsan, Sam Riley, Simon Russell Beale and Erin Doherty. Gabrielle Tana and Carolyn Marks Blackwood produce the film, which played competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

“I could not be more excited to be bringing ‘Firebrand’ to the screen and telling the story of Katherine Parr — a ferociously brilliant, enlightened, and emancipated woman who I am deeply inspired by — a woman who has been largely disregarded,...

No wonder the writers are on strike.

Being forced to try to bring freshness to the same tired ideas over and over to get some studio work must be frustrating. I would be picketing Lionsgate (which is behind this movie) just because it’s really not easy making this kind of thing original. The latest ripoff — and it literally is because it comes from the 2015 Spanish film El Desconocido, which itself has been remade more than once in the past few years — is the Liam Neeson-starring Retribution. A better title might be Generic Neeson #9. I even looked up the title on IMDb just to make sure this was a new Neeson movie.

This is not to say that Regurgitation, er, I mean Retribution isn’t effectively made. Its director, the talented Nimród Antal (Control), does what he can to make Christopher Salmanpour’s (basically a TV procedural writer) by-the-numbers...

Summer exclusive theatrical release planned.

Roadside Attractions and Vertical have acquired North American rights to Sophie Barthes’ 2023 Sundance Alfred P. Sloan feature prize-winner The Pod Generation.

The distribution partners plan a summer exclusive theatrical release on for the film, which is set in a near future where A.I. is all the rage as a New York couple participate in an initiative involving mobile, artificial wombs.

Emilia Clarke, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Vinette Robinson, and Jean-Marc Barr star in Barthes’ third film after Cold Souls and Madame Bovary.

Geneviève Lemal, Yann Zenou, Nadia Kamlichi, and Martin Metz served as producers, while the executive producers are Clarke,...

Exclusive: Roadside Attractions and Vertical have nabbed North American rights to the futuristic fable The Pod Generation, starring 4x Emmy nominee Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) and Academy Award nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave), which opened this year’s Sundance Film Festival and claimed its Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. It’s slated for release exclusively in theaters this summer.

The third feature written and directed by Barthes (Cold Souls) is set in the very near-future world where AI is all the rage and technology has trumped nature in nearly every aspect of life. Its protagonists are Rachel (Clarke) and Alvy (Ejiofor), a New York couple who are ready to start a family. As a rising tech company executive, Rachel lands a coveted spot at the Womb Center, which offers couples the opportunity to share pregnancy on a more equal footing by way of mobile, artificial wombs,...

Take a look at actress Naomi Watts posing for "Harper’s Bazaar (Taiwan)” magazine:

Watts made her film debut in the Australian drama "For Love Alone" (1986), then appeared in the Australian TV series "Hey Dad..!" (1990), "Brides of Christ" (1991), "Home and Away" (1991), followed by the film "Flirting" (1991).

In the US, Watts obtained parts in the films "Tank Girl" (1995), "Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering" (1996), "Dangerous Beauty" (1998) and the TV series "Sleepwalkers" (1997–1998).

Watts played an aspiring actress in director David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" (2001) and starred in the horror remake of "The Ring" (2002). She subsequently received an Oscar nomination as a grief-stricken mother in Alejandro González Iñárritu's "21 Grams" (2003). Her next films include "I Heart Huckabees" (2004), "King Kong" (2005), "Eastern Promises" (2007) and "The International" (2009).

For her role as 'Maria Bennett' in the disaster film "The Impossible" (2012), Watts received another Academy Award nomination for 'Best Actress'. She appeared in "Birdman...

Exclusive: Legendary got ahead of the scrum and pre-emptively acquired Fight Fast, a spec script by Chris Sparling. The project is a high-concept take on underground fighting that has franchise potential. 

Sparling most recently wrote and produced the Phillip Noyce-directed thriller The Desperate Hour, and his other credits include Intrusion, which he wrote and produced for Netflix; the Espen Sandberg-directed The Prize; and Bed Rest, which he has in post at STX.

He also wrote Greenland, the Gerard Butler-starrer for STX and Thunder Road, and the Gus Van Sant-directed Sea of Trees, which starred Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe. His breakthrough was Buried, the claustrophobic thriller that starred Ryan Reynolds.  

Sparling is represented by UTA, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment and Lichter, Grossman.

Take a look at actress Naomi Watts posing for "Harper’s Bazaar" (Taiwan) magazine:

Watts made her film debut in the Australian drama "For Love Alone" (1986), then appeared in the Australian TV series "Hey Dad..!" (1990), "Brides of Christ" (1991), "Home and Away" (1991), followed by the film "Flirting" (1991).

In the US, Watts obtained parts in the films "Tank Girl" (1995), "Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering" (1996), "Dangerous Beauty" (1998) and the TV series "Sleepwalkers" (1997–1998).

Watts played an aspiring actress in director David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" (2001) and starred in the horror remake of "The Ring" (2002). She subsequently received an Oscar nomination as a grief-stricken mother in Alejandro González Iñárritu's "21 Grams" (2003). Her next films include "I Heart Huckabees" (2004), "King Kong" (2005), "Eastern Promises" (2007) and "The International" (2009).

For her role as 'Maria Bennett' in the disaster film "The Impossible" (2012), Watts received another Academy Award nomination for 'Best Actress'. She appeared in "Birdman...

(From left) Nicholas Crovetti, Naomi Watts, and Cameron Crovetti star in Goodnight Mommy. Photo: Prime Video Remaking successful international productions, particularly European ones, is a tried and true Hollywood tradition. In most cases we end up with a rehash that loses whatever edge the original had; in the process of...

Watching the remake of a horror movie is a lot like watching a magic trick after you know how it’s done. You may have lost your sense of wonder at the trick itself, but if they’re doing it right, you’ve got an even deeper appreciation for the skill and showmanship of the magician.

The words “if they’re doing it right” are doing a lot of heavy lifting in that paragraph. Matt Sobel’s remake of Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s “Goodnight Mommy” tries to pull off the same mysteries and revelations from the original, but for some reason Sobel is doing it without the majority of the scares.

So much of the film’s brutality has been removed in favor of melodrama and CGI fake-outs that it doesn’t matter that the cast is bringing their A-game. The game has already been called due to lack of interest.

Co-financing, co-production forum takes place September 11-12.

New projects involving the producer of The Babadook, Game Of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin and Lemon Tree filmmaker Eran Riklis will be front and centre when the first in-person Ontario Creates International Financing Forum (Iff) in three years kicks off at TIFF next month.

Now in its 17th year, the two-day co-financing and co-production market takes place from September 11-12 in association with TIFF and features 42 feature film producer teams – 20 from Canada and 22 from as far afield as Australia, India, Norway, Scotland and the US.

The producers will participate in one-on-one producer...

Co-financing, co-production forum takes place September 11-12.

New projects involving the producer of The Babadook, Game Of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin and Lemon Tree filmmaker Eran Riklis will be front and centre when the first in-person Ontario Creates International Financing Forum (Iff) in three years kicks off at TIFF next month.

Now in its 17th year, the two-day co-financing and co-production market takes place from September 11-12 in association with TIFF and features 42 feature film producer teams – 20 from Canada and 22 from as far afield as Australia, India, Norway, Scotland and the US.

The producers will participate in one-on-one producer...

Amazon Prime Video’s ‘The Lake’ Producer Amaze Signs COO & Business Affairs VP

Canadian TV and film studio Amaze has forged a Chief Operating Officer role and hired a Senior Vice President of Business Affair as it clears a path to growth. Michael Souther and Teza Lawrence’s outfit, which is behind Amazon Prime Video’s debut Canadian series The Lake, has brought in Alex Lalonde in the former role and Gina Vanni in the latter, both of whom join from Stratagem Rx. Lalonde, who produced The Desperate Hour and the Canadian shoot for Marvel’s Hawkeye and Secret Invasion while at Stratagem, is tasked with managing corporate operations, as well as sourcing IP and co-production opportunities, packaging, financing, sales and acting as an Executive Producer across projects. Vanni will oversee business affairs and finance for the Amaze slate. “Alex and Gina are leaders in global treaty co-production, commercial co-production,...

Exclusive: Emily VanCamp (The Resident), Sebastian Quinn (Dynasty), Enrique Murciano (Panic), Brent Sexton (Long Slow Exhale) and Josh Bowman (Revenge) will round out the cast of Michelle Danner’s courtroom drama, Miranda’s Victim. They join a stacked ensemble led by Abigail Breslin, which also includes Luke Wilson, Andy Garcia, Donald Sutherland, Ryan Phillippe, Mireille Enos, Kyle MacLachlan and Taryn Manning, as previously announced.

The film will tell the true story of Trish Weir (Breslin), who in 1963 was kidnapped and brutally raped by Ernesto Miranda (Quinn). Committed to putting her assailant in prison, Trish’s life is destroyed by America’s legal system as she triggers a law that transforms the nation. Her case notably results in the establishment of the Miranda rights afforded to criminal suspects taken in police custody, to ensure the admissibility of statements made during interrogation, as part of subsequent criminal proceedings.

VanCamp will play Trish...

Exclusive: Lily James, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Himesh Patel are set to star in Providence, a comedy from Dylan Sellers and Chris Parker’s Limelight and David Boies and Zack Schiller’s Boies Schiller Entertainment. Limelight and Bse will fully finance and produce, along with Shannon Houchins’ Hideout Pictures with Potsy Ponciroli directing. Michael Vukadinovich penned the script.

The story follows the eclectic residents of a small, picturesque island town who must navigate a sensational murder and the discovery of a million dollars as a series of increasingly bad decisions upends the once-peaceful community. Principal photography begins this week in North Carolina.

Sellers, Parker, Hutchins, Schiller and Boies will produce, with Vukadinovich, Tyler Zacharia, Sam Slater, Phil Keefe and Dane Eckerle executive producing. Cj Barbato will co-produce. Ponciroli recent collaboration with Hideout include Old Henry, which has been a critic’s darling since its premiere at Venice. Verve Ventures and UTA...

Exclusive: Deadline has an exclusive track recorded for Netflix’s Russian Doll, which is set for digital release on a Seasons 1 & 2 soundtrack tomorrow via Gardener Recordings, as the show returns for its second season.

In its first season, debuting in 2019, Russian Doll introduced viewers to a woman named Nadia (Natasha Lyonne), who is caught in a time loop as the guest of honor at a seemingly inescapable party, one night in New York City. She dies repeatedly, and always restarts at the same moment at the party, as she tries to figure out what is happening to her.

Season 2 is set four years after Nadia and her fellow looping human Alan (Charlie Barnett) discover a time portal that sends them both on an era-spanning adventure through the past. Now, once again, the two must search for a way out of the loop together. Wong’s latest soundtrack release features dream-like...

Take a look at new images of Australian actress Naomi Watts posing for the latest issue of "As If" magazine, photographed by Tatijana Shoan:

Watts made her film debut in the Australian drama "For Love Alone" (1986), then appeared in the Australian TV series "Hey Dad..!" (1990), "Brides of Christ" (1991), "Home and Away" (1991), followed by the film "Flirting" (1991).

In the US, Watts obtained parts in the films "Tank Girl" (1995), "Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering" (1996), "Dangerous Beauty" (1998) and the TV series "Sleepwalkers" (1997–1998).

Watts played an aspiring actress in director David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" (2001) and starred in the horror remake of "The Ring" (2002). She subsequently received an Oscar nomination as a grief-stricken mother in Alejandro González Iñárritu's "21 Grams" (2003). Her next films include "I Heart Huckabees" (2004), "King Kong" (2005), "Eastern Promises" (2007) and "The International" (2009).

For her role as 'Maria Bennett' in the disaster film "The Impossible" (2012), Watts received another...

New Release Wall

It’s possible that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) might have somehow been an even bigger box-office sensation had it not been released during a global pandemic, but all things considered, it still did pretty well for itself. Monetary success aside, this is a rousing and thrilling superhero tale that manages to feel self-contained as it compulsorily sets the stage for a whole bunch of upcoming MCU plot twists. The 4K and Blu-ray versions include a smattering of extras, including bloopers, panel discussions with the guest villains, and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Also available:

“C’mon C’mon” (Lionsgate): Mike Mills’ disarmingly lovely look at family ties offers Joaquin Phoenix one of the more subdued and humane characters he’s ever played.

“Death on the Nile” (20th Century Studios): Toast Kenneth Branagh’s second Agatha Christie adaptation with enough champagne to fill the… oh, you know.

Naomi Watts has had a penchant for highly physical roles unusual among female stars not particularly associated with action movies. It made her acrobatics the most special effect amidst so many CG wonders in Peter Jackson’s “King Kong,” and a vividly plausible victim of grueling crises in films like “Funny Games” and “The Impossible.” Of course, one can always get too much of a good thing, as when recent, regrettable “The Desperate Hour” seemed to reduce the hot-button topic of school shootings to a gimmicky “Watch this fearless actress run the gamut of emotions while Jogging!”

Fortunately, there is nothing gratuitous about the physicality demanded of Watts by “Infinite Storm,” which is based on a real-life incident that took place in New Hampshire’s White Mountains a dozen years ago. Visually splendid, Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska’s second English-language feature (following 2019’s “The Other Lamb”) is an impressive outdoor...

Naomi Watts is no half-measures actor, as attested by her resume of vividly drawn women struggling with forces natural (“The Impossible”), unnatural (“King Kong”), and soul-crushingly internal (“21 Grams”).

For Watts, it’s as if psychic pain is a renewable resource for her characterization skills, and of late, she seems to have specialized in the dark allure of imperiled solitude, having played a paranoid urban shut-in (“The Wolf Hour”) and an isolated mom (“The Desperate Hour”) with all the physicality and interiority they require, whether or not the movies around her are any good.

Watts brings that same full-body intensity to Polish filmmaker Malgorzata Szumowska’s “Infinite Storm,” a yikes-y title which is also not a bad way to categorize the totality of her often relentlessly stricken characters. And like with “The Impossible,” she’s bringing a true story to life, playing Pam Bales, a registered nurse and mountain guide...

Take a look at actress Naomi Watts posing for "Harper’s Bazaar (Taiwan)” magazine:

Watts made her film debut in the Australian drama "For Love Alone" (1986), then appeared in the Australian TV series "Hey Dad..!" (1990), "Brides of Christ" (1991), "Home and Away" (1991), followed by the film "Flirting" (1991).

In the US, Watts obtained parts in the films "Tank Girl" (1995), "Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering" (1996), "Dangerous Beauty" (1998) and the TV series "Sleepwalkers" (1997–1998).

Watts played an aspiring actress in director David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" (2001) and starred in the horror remake of "The Ring" (2002). She subsequently received an Oscar nomination as a grief-stricken mother in Alejandro González Iñárritu's "21 Grams" (2003). Her next films include "I Heart Huckabees" (2004), "King Kong" (2005), "Eastern Promises" (2007) and "The International" (2009).

For her role as 'Maria Bennett' in the disaster film "The Impossible" (2012), Watts received another Academy Award nomination for 'Best Actress'. She appeared in "Birdman" (2014), "St. Vincent...

The remaining previously non-home available titles among Best Picture and acting Oscar nominees by tomorrow will all arrive either on PVOD, VOD, streaming, or some combination. “West Side Story” hits HBO Max and Hulu and PVOD, “Drive My Car” VOD and HBO Max (the latter tomorrow), while “Licorice Pizza” is out on PVOD only.

Meanwhile, Tyler Perry’s blockbuster Madea franchise moved to Netflix in one of the streamer’s most significant franchise acquisitions, with “A Madea Homecoming” immediately taking the top position.

“Drive My Car” is making the most interesting news. As of today, it is listed at Vudu and Amazon Prime to rent at $5.99 and iTunes $6.99. Google Play lists is still as not released.

The interesting play here is that Janus, whose 179-minute Japanese arthouse title is approaching a stunning $2 million in gross, and score four key nominations including Best Picture, is skipping the higher return PVOD price,...

It’s been a little bit of time since we’ve seen Naomi Watts in a major blockbuster film. However, that doesn’t mean the actress hasn’t been working. In fact, she’s been super busy, with no fewer than four films arriving last year, including the Hulu action film, “Boss Level,” and the festival drama, “Penguin Bloom.” And she’s already got one coming in 2022, with the new feature, “Infinite Storm.”

Read More: ‘The Desperate Hour’ Trailer: Naomi Watts Stars As A Mother In A Race Against Time On February 25

As seen in the new trailer for “Infinite Storm,” the film tells the story of an experienced climber (Watts) as she finds herself facing a blizzard while ascending Mt.

Continue reading ‘Infinite Storm’ Trailer: Naomi Watts Tries To Survive A Blizzard In New Mountain Rescue Thriller at The Playlist.

Naomi Watts is an actress doesn’t shy away from challenging roles. Her latest performance epitomises that fact, in real-time thriller The Desperate Hour, a role that is exhausting both physically and mentally. We had the pleasure of speaking to Watts to mark the film’s release, as she talks about her process, and what it is about roles of this nature that appeal to her so greatly.

Watch the full interview with Naomi Watts here:

Synopsis

A mother mourning the loss of her husband lives with her teenage son in a small town. As she’s on a jog in the woods, she finds her town thrown into chaos as a shooting takes place at her son’s school.

The Desperate Hour is available on Sky Cinema and streaming service Now in the UK and in US Theaters, on Digital, and On Demand now.

The post Naomi Watts on...

It’s a so-so weekend at the box-office with the release of the action-drama “The Desperate Hour” with Naomi Watts and her cellphone and the western “Desperare Riders.” Tyler Perry’s “A Madea Homecoming” also arrives on Netflix but that one wasn’t shown to critics. It’s a bit quiet at the box-office right now because next

The post “The Desperate Hour,” “Desperate Riders” appeared first on Manny the Movie Guy.

In big, broad, unsubtle strokes, writer Chris Sparling and veteran director Philip Noyce sketch out the background of the central character, Amy Carr (Naomi Watts), in The Desperate Hour, a spare, sparse suspense-thriller shot during the pandemic utilizing minimal resources. A recently widowed, single mother of two children, Noah ( Colton Gobbo), a sullen, withdrawn teen, and Emily (Sierra Maltby), a seemingly well-adjusted preteen, Amy is struggling with the loss of her husband a year earlier, making her, if not an inattentive mother, then a slightly distant one, isolated by her grief even as she participates in the rituals and rhythms of everyday life. Amy can’t be described as a bad mother, of course, just...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

This review of “The Desperate Hour” (formerly known as “Lakewood”) was first published on Sept. 12, 2021 after the film’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

A mom’s morning jog becomes a gimmick running in place in “The Desperate Hour,” a crisis scenario striving for issue-driven importance that should have paid more attention to its dull suspense mechanics, slapdash style, and implausibility.

The estimable Naomi Watts is always in fighting shape for the deep feelings of a peril picture, as her all-in turns in “Funny Games,” “The Impossible” and “The Wolf Hour” attest — hell, throw in “King Kong” too — but as Amy Carr, a widow in the woods and desperate to get to a son in danger, it’s the actress who’s stuck and unable to escape the confines of a cheap trap that only gets more tedious as it goes along.

Her captors are filmmakers who should know...

Take a look at new images of actress Naomi Watts posing for the latest issue of "Harper’s Bazaar (Taiwan)” magazine:

Watts made her film debut in the Australian drama "For Love Alone" (1986), then appeared in the Australian TV series "Hey Dad..!" (1990), "Brides of Christ" (1991), "Home and Away" (1991), followed by the film "Flirting" (1991).

In the US, Watts obtained parts in the films "Tank Girl" (1995), "Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering" (1996), "Dangerous Beauty" (1998) and the TV series "Sleepwalkers" (1997–1998).

Watts played an aspiring actress in director David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" (2001) and starred in the horror remake of "The Ring" (2002). She subsequently received an Oscar nomination as a grief-stricken mother in Alejandro González Iñárritu's "21 Grams" (2003). Her next films include "I Heart Huckabees" (2004), "King Kong" (2005), "Eastern Promises" (2007) and "The International" (2009).

For her role as 'Maria Bennett' in the disaster film "The Impossible" (2012), Watts received another Academy Award nomination for 'Best Actress'.

(Welcome to SlashClips, a series where we bring you exclusive clips from hot new Digital, Blu-ray and theatrical releases you won't see anywhere else!)In this edition:

Pursuit  A Week in Paradise The Desperate Hour A Peloton of One

Our first exclusive clip of the week features movie star John Cusack in Lionsgate's action-thriller "Pursuit," which also stars Emile Hirsch ("Into the Wild"), Jake Manley ("Midway"), and Elizabeth Ludlow ("Godzilla: King of Monsters"). It was co-written by Brian Skiba ("The 2nd"), Andrew Stevens ("Night Eyes"), Dawn Bursteen, and Ben Fiore and directed by Skiba. The film is scheduled to hit select theaters and on demand on February 18,...

The post Clips Round-Up: John Cusack In Pursuit, Malin Akerman Has A Week In Paradise, & More! [Exclusive] appeared first on /Film.

Netflix has debuted the first teaser trailer and poster for Shawn Levy’s ‘The Adam Project’ featuring Ryan Reynolds.

A time-travelling pilot teams up with his younger self and his late father to come to terms with his past while saving the future.

Directed by Shawn Levy, the film stars Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Walker Scobell, with Catherine Keener and Zoe Saldaña.

Also in trailers – Naomi Watts stars in trailer for ‘The Desperate Hour’

The film will launch on Netflix on March 11th

The post Ryan Reynolds stars in teaser trailer for ‘The Adam Project’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Sky has dropped a new trailer for the upcoming second season of ‘Devils’ featuring Patrick Dempsey.

The protagonists of the bestseller ‘The Devils’ by Guido Maria Brera (published by Rizzoli) are back for an eight-part second series which, through fragments of reality interwoven with fictional characters, continues the story of the silent yet devastating financial war that has been affecting the Western world over the last decade. An underground war, fought with the most powerful of weapons: money.

Alongside the two leads – Alessandro Borghi as Massimo Ruggero, who at the end of the first series was appointed CEO of the New York-London Investment Bank, and Patrick Dempsey as Dominic Morgan, one of the most influential figures in the world of international finance – the returning cast also includes Malachi Kirby (The Race – Corsa mortale, Radici), Pia Mechler (Everything Is Wonderful), and Paul Chowdhry (Live at the Apollo, Swinging with the Finkels...

Universal Pictures and Blumhouse have released the first trailer for its Stephen King adaptation ‘Firestarter.’

In a new adaptation of Stephen King’s classic thriller, a girl with extraordinary pyrokinetic powers fights to protect her family and herself from sinister forces that seek to capture and control her.

For more than a decade, parents Andy (Zac Efron) and Vicky (Sydney Lemmon) have been on the run, desperate to hide their daughter Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) from a shadowy federal agency that wants to harness her unprecedented gift for creating fire into a weapon of mass destruction. Andy has taught Charlie how to defuse her power, which is triggered by anger or pain. But as Charlie turns 11, the fire becomes harder and harder to control. After an incident reveals the family’s location, a mysterious operative is deployed to hunt down the family and seize Charlie once and for all. Charlie has other plans.

Sky Cinema has debuted a new trailer for the upcoming feature starring Naomi Watts, ‘The Desperate Hour.’

While out for a run Amy Carr (Naomi Watts) tries to escape from what is her daily race. Surrounding her is nothing but an open country road during the daybreak in the morning. Everything is silent, nothing but peace of mind as she carries on, until an unforgettable cell phone ring stops her in motion.

What follows is a continuous sequence of her world crashing down in front of her while she’s miles away from home. She learns there is an active shooter at her son’s school. As she’s too far away from home or the holding area for parents she does whatever she can to protect her son and grapple with the situation while on the go.

The film is set in a small town, takes place in real-time,...

Sony Pictures Classics has pushed back the theatrical release date for Eva Husson’s romantic drama Mothering Sunday, starring Odessa Young, by a month—from February 25 to March 25. It will open in theaters in New York and Los Angeles, on the heels of a one-week, awards-qualifying run in Los Angeles in November of 2021, before expanding to other markets over the following weeks.

Mothering Sunday was previously set to open against MGM and United Artists Releasings’ musical adaptation of Cyrano from director Joe Wright; Good Deed Entertainment’s dramedy Moon Manor; Open Road Films’ Foo Fighters horror-comedy Studio 666; Paramount Pictures’ re-release of The Godfather; Vertical Entertainment’s thriller The Desperate Hour, starring Naomi Watts; and Greenwich Entertainment’s doc Let Me Be Me.

It will now play against The Daniels’ A24 SXSW opener Everything Everywhere All at Once, starring Michelle Yeoh; Paramount Pictures’ comedy The Lost City, starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum,...

The Desperate Hour starring Naomi Watts will be in theaters, on Digital and On Demand February 25th. Here’s the trailer:

Unfolding in real time, The Desperate Hour is a “riveting and pulse pounding” thriller from award-winning director Phillip Noyce. Recently widowed mother Amy Carr (Academy Award®-nominee Naomi Watts) is doing her best to restore normalcy to the lives of her young daughter and teenage son in their small town. As she’s on a jog in the woods, she finds her town thrown into chaos as a shooting takes place at her son’s school. Miles away on foot in the dense forest, Amy desperately races against time to save her son.

The Desperate Hour stars Naomi Watts, Colton Gobbo, and Sierra Maltby

The post Check Out the Trailer For The Desperate Hour Starring Naomi Watts – In Theaters, on Digital and On Demand February 25th appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.

Horror fans are well catered to in this month’s slimmed-down selection of film premieres on Sky Cinema, with serial killer body-swap comedy Freaky, The Forever Purge, and Ben Wheatley’s pandemic weird-fest In the Earth. Joining those is the latest from Steven Soderbergh, whose Contagion enjoyed a surge of interest early on in the pandemic. His new feature is Kimi, a thriller starring Zoe Kravitz set during the time of Covid-19.

For half-term viewing with the kids off school, there’s Space Jam: A New Legacy and Dream Horse, as well as the many archive titles already available. Speaking of which, save Book of Love, there doesn’t seem to be a big Valentine’s night-in premiere this year, so perhaps look out one of our picks.

And here’s what else is coming to Sky Cinema in the UK this February.

Movie Premieres and Sky Originals

Freaky – 4th...

Is your blood pressure okay? Your stress level? Maybe check those before you watch the new trailer for the upcoming film "The Desperate Hour." The Vertical Entertainment film starring Naomi Watts, Colton Gobbo, and Sierra Maltby ("Jupiter's Legacy") is going to upset you in ways that no horror movie ever could. "The Desperate Hour" is a film about a family dealing with a loss, when a school shooting happens. The mom Amy (Watts) has taken a personal day and is out running in the woods when she gets a phone alert about the shooting....

The post The Desperate Hour Trailer: Negotiating with a School Shooter appeared first on /Film.

While it’s not a sub-genre, there’s been a handful of “active shooter” films made in the post-Columbine era. Some of them, like Gus Van Sant‘s 2003 film “Elephant,” or Brady Corbet‘s “Vox Lux,” from 2018, offer an arthouse take on these incidents. Others, like 2020’s “Run Hide Fight,” adopt a pulpy, more exploitative approach.

Read More: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2022

“The Desperate Hour,” the latest film from Australian director Phillip Noyce, places his premise squarely in one of Hollywood’s favorite thematic conflicts, the nuclear family in crisis, with a real-time twist. Naomi Watts stars as a mother in a race against time after her son gets caught up in an active shooter situation in their rural hometown.

Continue reading ‘The Desperate Hour’ Trailer: Naomi Watts Stars As A Mother In A Race Against Time On February 25 at The Playlist.

"Do something about it!!" Vertical Ent. + Roadside Attractions have revealed the first official trailer for The Desperate Hour, an intense "real time" thriller starring Naomi Watts as a mother. This one originally premiered at the 2021 Toronto Film Festival last year under the title Lakewood (a reference to the location where this film takes place in), but because it received so many mid to bad reviews, they decided to give it a different name. A mother on a jog in the woods desperately races against time to return and save her child as authorities place her small town on lockdown following a school shooting. In addition to Watts, the cast features Colton Gobbo and Sierra Maltby. The screenplay is written by the same writer as the thriller films Buried, Atm, Mercy, and Greenland. This definitely looks very suspenseful, but the big twist partway through this trailer is a bit strange. So...

Beanie Feldstein, Regina Hall, and Naomi Watts will serve as the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards announcers, Variety has exclusively learned. The three acclaimed actors will announce the best of independent cinema on Tuesday, Dec. 14 at 7:00 am Pt on Film Independent’s YouTube channel.

The three actors will announce the nominees in the categories of best feature, first feature, director, screenplay, first screenplay, male lead, female lead, supporting male, supporting female, cinematography, editing, international film, documentary and John Cassavetes Award. In addition, they’ll also announce the recipients of the Robert Altman Award, which is given to a film’s cast.

The nominees for five television categories will also be announced, which include best new scripted series, new non-scripted or documentary series, male performance in a scripted series, female performance in a scripted series and ensemble cast in a scripted series.

Film Independent will continue to honor emerging filmmakers...

Exclusive: Roadside Attractions, the Oscar winning distributor of such movies as Judy and Manchester by the Sea, saw a shake-up today with two of its longtime executives, Marketing Boss Dennis O’Connor and SVP of Publicity, David Pollick departing the company, in addition to other cuts in their departments.

Also departing is Head of Field Publicity Ronit Vanderlinden and David Hawkins in Distribution, we hear.

Roadside Attractions Co-Presidents and Co-Founders Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff tell Deadline, “As we emerge from Covid and assemble a new slate of films for the changing theatrical marketplace, we have decided to restructure Roadside’s marketing and distribution organization for the near-term future.”

Lionsgate continues to maintain a 40% stake in Roadside Attractions, and the distributor remains one committed to theatrical with their releases seeing subsequent PVOD, DVD and streaming windows.

“A number of veteran team members at Roadside will be taking on additional responsibilities:...

Production begins this month in Atlanta, Georgia.

UK sales outfit Mister Smith Entertainment has boarded worldwide sales on Rachel Feldman’s Lilly, set to star Patricia Clarkson.

Shooting will begin this month in the US state of Georgia on the film which is based on the real-life Lilly Ledbetter, a family woman from a small Alabama town who fought for equal pay for equal work in the American courts. Her activism led to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act of 2009, the first piece of legislation signed by President Obama.

The cast also includes Josh Lucas and Thomas Sadoski. Veteran...

Exclusive: One of the few titles up for sale at TIFF this year was Phillip Noyce’s thriller Lakewood starring Naomi Watts, and Vertical Entertainment and Roadside Attractions have landed North American rights to the the female-driven thriller.

The movie, which was co-financed by Boies Schiller Entertainment and Limelight, deals with the sensitive subject of a high school lockdown, but from a mother’s p.o.v. from a distance. In the feature, written by Buried and Greenland‘s Chris Sparling, Amy Carr (Watts) is desperately racing against time to save her child Noah (Colton Gobbo) as authorities place her small town on lockdown due to an active shooter incident.

Lakewood is scheduled for release during the first quarter of 2022. The movie was shot on location in the North Bay of Ontario, Canada and made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival two weeks ago.

Vertical’s Peter Jarowey...

If we have learned anything from movies of recent years, it is that moving into one’s dream house will surely lead to terror and death. That improbable yet familiar arc is traced again in “Intrusion,” wherein the domesticity under threat belongs to a wide-eyed Freida Pinto. Director Adam Salky and writer Christopher Sparling’s thriller will provide uninspired if serviceable fodder for subscribers when it launches on that platform Sept. 22.

The Parsons have just moved from Boston into a luxe, secluded New Mexico home that Henry (Logan Marshall-Green) designed, in part to provide him and Meera (Pinto) a fresh start after her difficult recovery from breast cancer. After dining out one night, they return to discover the place has been ransacked, though the intruders took nothing apart from a laptop and two cellphones. An alarm system is hastily installed — yet there’s another break-in, this one while the couple are asleep in bed.

Shooting the thriller “Lakewood” had Naomi Watts really working on her cardio, as director Philip Noyce says that the actress had to run as much as 2 miles in a single take as part of her role in the one-woman thriller.

Shot in rural northern Ontario during the pandemic, “Lakewood” follows Watts as a mother who risks her life to save her child after her small town is placed on lockdown over a school shooting. Much of the film shows Watts running through forest roads to get to the school, which Noyce says became very physically grueling for her.

“There were 11-minute takes where we are all in cars or getting pushed or pulled in front of her but she had to keep going,” Noyce told TheWrap’s Toronto International Film Festival studio. “Another actress might not have been able to turn that negative, the absolute exhaustion, the fear of injuring herself,...

Life is precious, but it's also unpredictable. We may have a plan when we wake up in the morning, but something shifts, and it changes in the blink of an eye. In Lakewood, Phillip Noyce and Chris Sparling demonstrate the unpredictability of life, and Naomi Watts gives an anxiety-ridden, intense performance as a fierce mother attempting to get to her son.

Amy Carr (Naomi Watts) had no intention of taking a personal day. However, on the anniversary of her husband's death, the woman decides to take the day off and go for a run. As she jogs, she makes numerous phone calls to parents, friends, and boss. However, everything quickly turns to dust as the code red alert flashes on her phone's screen: there is an active shooter inside her son's high school. The race against time begins when Amy desperately tries to reach her son, Noah (Colton Gobbo), and save him.

That most horrible -- and American -- of institutions, the school shooting, is the impetus behind "Lakewood," Phillip Noyce's frantic, overblown blend of drama and thriller. The basic concept behind the film -- a mother racing against the clock to get to her child during a shooting -- could yield something potentially great, devastating, and timely in the right hands. But Noyce and screenwriter Chris Sparling are uninterested in that. They merely want to use the shooting as a device and an excuse to have Naomi Watts run around out of breath for an hour and a half. Watts, for her part, does...

The post Lakewood Review: Naomi Watts Races Against the Clock in This Overblown School Shooting Drama [TIFF 2021] appeared first on /Film.

Ben Foster gives a committed performance as a Polish Jew who survived a Nazi death camp and became a boxer in a derivative yet confident film

Director Barry Levinson brings the confidence of a professional lifetime to this heartfelt true story of Herschel “Harry” Haft, a tough Polish Jew who boxed as a light heavyweight in the postwar United States, even taking on Rocky Marciano. But he was trained in boxing in the Nazi concentration camp of Jaworzno in Nazi-occupied Poland, part of a grotesque gladiatorial entertainment devised by the SS to entertain the bored, cruel officers. The losers died and the winners got to survive.

Related: Lakewood review – Naomi Watts school shooting thriller falls short...

It was an acting challenge that Naomi Watts couldn’t pass up.

In “Lakewood,” the Oscar-nominated star of such grueling exercises in cinematic heroics as “The Impossible” and “King Kong,” spends the bulk of the movie running through the forest, struggling with spotty cellphone reception while trying to make her way to her teenage son’s school, which is under lockdown with an active shooter. It’s Watts and Watts alone on-screen for much of the film’s 84-minute run time. Not since Tom Hardy had a psychological meltdown via speakerphone in “Locke” has an actor been so isolated and exposed.

“It scared the shit out of me, and that’s always an interesting thing,” Watts tells Variety the morning after “Lakewood” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. “I feed off other actors. You rely on your cast. As an actor, you don’t want to be out there on your own.

In “Lakewood,” Naomi Watts plays Amy Carr, who starts out in the late afternoon jogging through an upscale wooded suburb, mourning her husband’s death in a car crash the year before. The film tells the story of a woman and her partner, her significant other, the second self she can’t live without. The husband, named Peter, was friendly and bearded; we see him in a photo and hear him on a voicemail message, and he sounds like an ideal middle-class protector and mensch. She’s distraught without him.

But that’s not the partner I’m talking about. “Lakewood,” you see, tells the story of a woman and her trusty cell phone. In a way, it’s their love story.

In the last 25 years or so, there has been a species of movie — not quite a genre, more of an occasional blip — in which a brand of digital...

There’s been no better time to craft a single-person thriller, especially with the pandemic forcing creators to limit how many people are on set. It also posits a challenge: How does someone maintain suspense with one person for a feature-length amount of time? This question has been answered with features like “Locke” or the Ryan Reynolds-starring “Buried,” another solo thriller written by “Lakewood” screenwriter Chris Sparling.

The elements to make something good are there. Sparling worked with material like this before — much of his filmography is focused on high-concept thrillers with a limited cast. Naomi Watts is usually able to deliver a quality performance. And director Phillip Noyce perfected material like this in the ’90s with “Dead Calm.” Unfortunately, to deliver a “message” that we don’t need to be spelled out for us.

We meet Amy Carr (Watts) as she’s waking up her teenage son, Noah...