LastChanceHarvey Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Overture's latest smart rom-com move was to purchase Celeste and Jesse Forever, a script written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, who will also star as Celeste. Celeste and Jesse Forever is the tale of a divorcing couple that is struggling to keep their friendship together while also seeing other people. Suzanne and Jennifer Todd will produce under their Team Todd shingle. This is the first screenplay credit for both actors; Rashida Jones was, of course, the adorable (and three-dimensional!) fiancé Zooey in this spring's I Love You, Man, and she is currently on the TV show Parks and Recreation. McCormack has been on TV shows like In Plain Sight and Brothers & Sisters, as well as in films like Syriana and Team Todd-produced Prime and Must Love Dogs. As previously reported on Cinematical, the spec script was initially picked up by Fox Atomic.

Overture is also behind another upcoming cool romantic comedy written by and starring a talented and very funny woman, Charlyne Yi's Paper Heart. And while their other non-traditional rom-com, Last Chance Harvey, didn't do all that well, it seemed to be fairly popular with its target audience and garnered Dustin Hoffman a Golden Globes nom. And it was also behind Sunshine Cleaning, which, while it obviously wasn't a romantic comedy (or even that funny, despite what the trailers led you to believe), was an interesting and entertaining movie with women behind and in front of the camera. Amy Adams and Emily Blunt were strong leading ladies, and director Christine Jeffs and first-time screenwriter Megan Holley were behind the scenes.

Is it possible that there is a studio out there willing to take a chance on unique stories and fresh talent, and fresh female talent, at that? I'm rooting for them -- and for Rashida!

No skipping this week! Bump a couple of these up to "buy" if your budget allows.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story of a man who ages backwards becomes a staggering, three-hour demonstration of superb make-up and seamless computer effects under the direction of David Fincher. Despite the length, only one note is played -- everyone else's pity for "poor Benjamin" -- while the man himself (Brad Pitt) remains a frustrating cipher. With Cate Blanchett and Taraji P. Henson. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

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Last Chance Harvey
While in London for his daughter's wedding, New York jingle-writer Dustin Hoffman romances Emma Thompson. "A movie for grown-ups, but not in that clammy, Oscar-craving way that would make it untenable; it's a movie about people that takes place in the real world," said James Rocchi in his review for Cinematical. Directed by Joel Hopkins. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Wendy and Lucy
Michelle Williams stars as "a down-on-her-luck girl who's hoping to turn things around for herself with a summer job at a fishing cannery in Alaska," wrote Kim Voynar in her Cinematical review. When her car breaks down and her beloved dog goes missing in a small town in Oregon, she is "forced to make a series of increasingly difficult choices, and to rely upon the kindness (or not) of strangers to resolve her plight." Directed by Kelly Reichardt (the superb Old Joy), who "excels at capturing these small, very human moments in the overall stories of her characters' lives." Rent it.

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After the jump: Indies on DVD, Blu-ray, and Collector's Corner!

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the online game that totally supports an actual hotel for dogs ... except we don't want to work there. Last week we asked you to churn out your best for a photo from the new flick Last Chance Harvey, and with only one winner to take home the prize, we searched hard and long for the caption that turned us off the most. (Or something like that). Congrats go out to Mark P.


1. "Dustin turned, and suddenly it struck him: "Jesus! From this angle, she looks like me with long hair..." -- Mark P.

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This week we're checking in to Hotel for Dogs (in theaters January 16th), and checking out all your witty captions for a photo from this film about two kids who secretly take care of nine stray dogs in a vacant house ... and hilarity ensues. Once again we're looking for only one winner this week, which means you really have to be on your caption-ing game. But the prize is totally worth it -- the person behind our favorite caption will run away with one Hotel for Dogs Nintendo DS and one Hotel for Dogs Nintendo DS game. So bark out those fine captions and sound off below ...



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Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game that gives our loyal readers more than one last chance to win fabulous movie-related prizes. Due to the holidays and all, we took a week off -- but now we're back to congratulate the three talented folks who said 'yes' to our Yes Man caption contest and walked away winners.

1. "And with rare audition footage, the general public sees why Jim Carrey was not selected to play Johnny Cash in Walk the Line." -- Kathi F.

2. "My career has left the building. Thank you and goodnight!" -- Adi B.

3. "Jim later realized that playing Rob Zombie's "Living Dead Girl" was probably not the wisest choice for little Terry's five year birthday party." -- James H.

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You didn't think we'd return from our little holiday vacation empty-handed, did you? Because we have gifts -- some very cool gifts -- and we're totally willing to give them away to the one lucky person behind our favorite caption for a photo from the new film Last Chance Harvey, starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. You heard me, there's only one winner this week (because the prize is pretty sweet), and that person will receive one Last Chance Harvey Travel Kit including three Last Chance Harvey Tumi travel bags and one Last Chance Harvey Burberry Umbrella. Nice! Just in time for that winter vacation, right? Sound off below ...



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On Christmas Day, Last Chance Harvey will go into limited release and give us a Christmas treat. The film stars Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, and it's almost like seeing what would've happened if Stranger Than Fiction's Professor Jules Hilbert met and romanced Karen Eiffel. I always wonder what sort of romance could have blossomed between Jules and Karen, and since this is the holiday season, it got me thinking about characters who should reunite and deal with the holidays on the big screen.

The first that came to mind was Jesse and Celine -- our beloved Before Sunrise and Before Sunset characters. After Richard Linklater created a billowing, world-wide sigh with the ending of the second film, audiences have been itching to find out what happens next, so why not a thoughtful piece that takes place over the course of the holidays? It wouldn't work to add a million people into the mix, but I'm sure the pair would find a lot to say about Christmas, and maybe we could finally see how the pair survive in the real (albeit Santa-laced) world.

Beyond the realm of indie romance, can you imagine a certain Miles and Jack taking a New Years Eve trip back to wine country? Pineapple Express getting hidden in a Christmas gift? The Wonder Boys going on a new snow-filled adventure?

Are there any characters you would love to see in the holiday setting? Are any just perfect for dealing with a Winter Wonderland?

Well my friends are gone
And my hair is gray
And I ache in the places where I used to play
And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on
I'm just paying my rent every day In the tower of song
-- Tower of Song, Leonard Cohen

Harvey Shines (Dustin Hoffman) is a New York jingle-writer who doesn't quite toil in the tower of song; maybe in a small office in a nearby strip mall. But the rest of it applies; he's older, tired, headed to London for his daughter's wedding and obsessing about getting back fast in time for a job-related meeting. Harvey's dreading the trip before he even takes it, which guarantees it will be dreadful, but then he meets Kate Walker (Emma Thompson), another single, singular person unwilling to confront the terrifying possibility of happiness. ...

Written and directed by Joel Hopkins (who previously gave us the younger-skewed Jump Tomorrow), Last Chance Harvey may be easily -- in fact, too easily -- dismissed as "Before Sunrise for the sunset years," as Harvey and Kate meet accidentally, mesh immediately, dare to hope, get brought together by chance and separated by accident. Younger audiences will ignore Last Chance Harvey like a an overdue bill notice in the post, but if you've been around the block of life a few times -- on the bus or under it -- you'll find that it wins you over, bit by bit, in no small part thanks to the mix of effortless charm and contemplated sincerity Hoffman and Thompson bring to their work; the whole film has an air of lightweight gravity to it, and Hopkins may not be swinging for the fences, but he knows just how to swing and hit for a solid double.

Cinematical has just received these exclusive images from the upcoming film Last Chance Harvey, starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. You can view all three images in the gallery below. Last Chance Harvey follows a down-on-his-luck jingle writer (Hoffman) who, after missing a flight, losing his job and getting dissed by his daughter at her wedding, bumps into an over-worked mama's gal (Thompson) at the airport bar and finds himself energized by her presence.

You wouldn't necessarily think Hoffman and Thompson as an on-screen pair in a light romantic comedy, but I kinda dig it. Perhaps what this genre needs is some better acting to revitalize the same old stories, so I'd give it a chance. Written and directed by Joel Hopkins, Last Chance Harvey opens in limited release (NY and LA) on December 26th, and goes wide on January 23rd. For more, check out the website here, and feel free to hop into our exclusive gallery below.

We've got a pack of new trailers this week, and this being the Halloween season it's not surprising that quite a few are for horror flicks. We've also got super heroes, introspective middle aged men and angsty teens (as pictured above). Let's dive in, shall we?

Friday the 13th
The first trailer for the new Friday the 13th remake arrived online during the week before Halloween. Kids. Screaming. You get it. Just as modern audiences seem to prefer the fast zombies of Zach Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, Jason is much more nimble here than I remember him being.

Notorious
The first trailer for the much-hyped Notorious B.I.G. biopic introduced itself to to us the other day. The film tells the life (and eventual death) story of the famous rapper from Brooklyn. Jamal Woolard stars as B.I.G. and Derek Luke does his best P. Diddy. This one is set for January 19.

Trick r Treat
Scott first posted about a trailer for this cool looking horror anthology back in July of 2007. This looks great and word from a recent press screening is extremely positive, but unfortunately Warner Bros. doesn't know what the hell to do with it. Hopefully the new hype will convince them to chuck it out in a few theaters and give it to us on DVD sooner rather than later.

It took a little longer than expected, since production schedules almost never start on time, but principal photography is now gearing up on Last Chance Harvey. With the cameras about to roll, The Hollywood Reporter has posted the rest of the cast, plus a little more about the plot. Back in June, I shared news of the film, which was written for stars Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson by screenwriter Joel Hopkins. It's about an unlucky man who meets an "unlikely female companion" when he goes to his daughter's wedding in London.

Hoffman and Thompson are being joined by an impressive supporting cast that boasts: Kathy Baker (The Jane Austen Book Club), James Brolin (The Hunting Party), Eileen Atkins (Gosford Park), Richard Schiff (Ray), and Liane Balaban (New Waterford Girl). Hoffman's character is described as "a down-on-his-luck New York jungle writer," who has a tough boss played by Schiff. Balaban plays his daughter, who is getting married in London, and Baker is her mother and Hoffman's ex-wife -- who is also now married to Brolin. Rounding things off is Atkins, who will play Thompson's overbearing mother. It all seems like pretty spot-on casting to me, and they've come up with some great pairings -- such as Baker being the ex-wife who has moved past Hoffman's unlucky life, and Thompson having to deal with the snark of Atkins. Shooting starts today in London.

I loved Will Ferrell's Stranger Than Fiction. When I saw it, the only thing that bummed me out was the lack of air time between Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman) and writer Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson). There's just something about a man who entertains the notion of being realistically stuck in a novel, and a woman who sits in the rain imagining her character's death, while obsessively puffing away at her smoke, that makes the pair seem like romantic kismet. If you agree, you'll probably be happy to hear that they're pairing up for an upcoming dramatic romance called Last Chance Harvey -- and no, this isn't a big rabbit Harvey sequel.

According to Variety, the project is the creation of Joel Hopkins, who won a BAFTA award with producer Nicola Usborne for the 2001 indie film, Jump Tomorrow. Hopkins penned the script with both actors in mind and will direct them in the world where an unlucky man attends his daughter's wedding in London and "finds an unlikely female companion." I can only hope that within that drama, some of the quirk and humor that both actors are so perfect at shines through. So, I'm banking on that "unlikely" bit being something cinematically tasty. The movie will begin filming this September in London, as the latest project for the recently-launched Overture -- who is also cooking up Ferris Wheel with Charlize Theron, 105 Degrees and Rising and Mad Money, which stars Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes.