TheMessenger Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The Messenger opened the 12th Savannah Film Festival with a bang: a sellout crowd, international press, and Hollywood stars Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster in attendance to rub elbows all night. Even without the glitz, though, Savannah was a smart place to screen the Iraq drama. Oren Moverman's film is a character study about a soldier (Foster) dealing with the aftermath of war, but like Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq film The Hurt Locker, it's about the personal toll Iraq leaves on soldiers who survive and the families of those who don't; the politics of war are hardly an issue. And so, in a city that supports two military bases and the men and women who serve them, The Messenger played like gangbusters.

Foster stars as William Montgomery, a recent Iraq returnee dealing with serious leftover issues and a new assignment to play out his final three months of service: informing families that their loved ones have been killed on duty. As Montgomery's partner, Harrelson provides moments of levity, but there were plenty of sniffles throughout the film just the same.

While it was pretty easy to figure out what the general consensus was, there were three figures in particular I was watching for a reaction – the only three uniformed soldiers in attendance, who may or may not have been connected to the production. (The film has been screened for military personnel, and Harrelson and Foster personally met soldiers at Hunter Army Airfield prior to the night's screening.) When asked what military folk have thought of his film in the post-screening Q&A, director Moverman deferred to one of the officers in the audience to share his reaction with the crowd. What follows is the unnamed soldier's impromptu review of The Messenger.

I'm in Savannah, Georgia to spend a week as a guest blogger for the Savannah Film Festival, an eight-day fest hosted in the historic Southern town by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). [Read my entries in the "Voices from the Fest" section on the festival website.] As the town prepares to kick off the 12th annual festivities with the Iraq film, or rather post-Iraq film, The Messenger, I'm wondering how SFF's growing success might reflect or even influence the rise of film festivals that similarly fall somewhere in between the biggies (Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Venice) and the little guys.

For starters, a brief look at SFF's line-up and star-studded guest list. The festival begins today, October 31, with The Messenger, a Sundance entry that has Oscar possibilities but more likely will make a run at the Indie Spirit Awards. Stars Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster will be in attendance. (I will be attempting to run into them at the local Starbucks or wherever it is that Hollywood actors hang out when they visit other cities.) Another Oscar hopeful, the Emily Blunt-starring period biopic The Young Victoria, is screening the following day.

And then there are the almost certain Oscar pictures: George Clooney in The Men Who Stare At Goats; Lone Scherfig's An Education; Michael Haneke's Cannes winner The White Ribbon; Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, with star Jeremy Renner in attendance; and Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, which will bring both director Lee Daniels and his star Gabourey Sidibe to town.

Read on for more about this year's Savannah Film Festival.

The CMJ Festival ended Friday night with a whimper -- well, maybe that was me whimpering after I left a special screening of the spooky ooky alien thriller, The Fourth Kind. In case you haven't checked out the trailers and featurettes on the official site, I'll give you a quick breakdown -- the movie switches between "real" footage of director Olatunde Osunsanmi interviewing Dr. Abigail Tyler, a psychiatrist in Nome, Alaska, an area with an allegedly high rate of reported alien abductions, and Milla Jovovich playing Tyler as she struggles with the mysterious death of her husband and her patients' nightmares and mental breakdowns. Interestingly enough, the movie also sometimes intersperses Tyler's "real" footage of her sessions with clients with Jovovich acting them out using split screens. In any case, despite any questions as to the validity of the Tyler story and problems with the last third of the movie, I found it pretty damn scary. The Fourth Kind will be begin probing theatergoers on November 6th. (Note: It's unclear whether this was the final cut or not.)

CMJ, the multi-pronged music network that offers both online and print info for fans, industry insiders, and professionals, is also famous for its music and film festival that has NYC hipsters, journalists, and reps looking for the Next Big Thing raring to go. The CMJ Festival starts today and ends Saturday, so expect dispatches on what I'm checking out on the film front. From super small docs on techo music, Elliott Smith, and Leonard Cohen to star-studden films like The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Messenger, and The Fourth Kind, CMJ has a cool mix of music-related films and more general fare. The festival also offers panels on everything from how to break into film scoring to what the film industry can learn from the music industry on the digital piracy front.

While some of the films offer walk-up ticketing, you can also register for all-you-can-eat badges, and students get a discount. Visit CMJ's official festival website for the full film schedule.

Cinematical's big daddy Moviefone will also be covering the festival, so be sure to check in there too!

Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Terry Gilliam directs this tale about a wager with the devil. Like many I'm curious to see how the film holds together with the last minute change of having Heath Ledger's character played by Ledger and three other actors (Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell) but I think Gilliam has what it takes to pull this off. This one starts its limited release on Christmas day.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Werner Herzog directs this sort of remake of Abel Ferrara's 1992 masterpiece of excess Bad Lieutentant. This time it's Nicolas Cage who tarnishes the badge in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I haven't been thrilled with Cage's choices of projects lately, but this one has my attention. The film goes into limited release on November 20.

2012
This newest trailer has dampened my enthusiasm for this movie. Sure the disaster effects look great, but the car and plane dodging unscathed between collapsing freeways and crumbling buildings breaches credibility. If you're still interested you can witness the end of everything on November 13.

Click image below to view full poster

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for The Messenger -- scribe Oren Moverman's directorial debut starring Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, and Jena Malone. What a jolt, eh? The dark and stern look in Harrelson's eyes is a far cry from all the zombie fighting we've been watching him tackle lately, and this is also a decidedly more adult role for Foster (who you might remember from 30 Days of Night and X3).

Yes, this is a new Iraq War drama, but between the talent involved and the fact that this comes from the pen behind Jesus' Son and I'm Not There, this should make for a bold, brave journey -- one said to be quite the emotional rollercoaster ride. Jessica Barnes first posted about the film back in February of 2008 when Foster signed on, and Morton and Harrelson signed on soon after. The Messenger premiered at Sundance earlier this year to some very positive buzz (especially for Harrelson and Foster), and is slated for release on November 13.

Check out the poster by clicking the image below and the synopsis after the jump.

Oren Moverman's upcoming directorial debut, The Messenger, already seemed pretty tasty when Jessica posted that the super-talented Ben Foster had signed on to star. Then Jena Malone and Eamonn Walker signed on. Now, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton have also joined the cast. Unfortunately, there's no word on who they'll all be playing, beyond Foster starring.

Foster will play an army dude who is assigned to one of the crappiest jobs out there, aside from cannon fodder. He gets teamed up with someone he doesn't like and has to inform families when their loved ones have died in combat. Somehow, he ends up falling for a soldier's widow, which I imagine complicates matters. THR goes on to state that this is being billed as "a poignant, life-affirming road movie." As a "road movie," it could be that Foster drives around to tell these families. However, he needs enough time to fall for a widow, so maybe we're going to get some military Three for the Road type action? Whatever the case, the film starts production on May 20, so maybe we'll hear more soon.

Who would you rather be on the road with: Ben Foster or Woody Harrelson?

If you had to pick one of the break-out stars in 2007, chances are Ben Foster would be one of the names at the top of the list. Between his performances in 3:10 To Yuma and 30 Days of Night there is no question that this young actor has earned the right to get his own starring roles. Besides, anyone that can make me laugh or scare the crap out of me in equal amounts deserves a little respect. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Foster has signed to star in the military drama, The Messenger.

The story centers on an army man (Foster) who has been given the unpleasant assignment of informing families that a loved one has died in combat (talk about being the bearer of bad news). Forced to work with a partner he can't stand, things become even more complicated when he begins to fall in love with a soldier's widow. So far, only Foster has been officially attached to the film, so there is still plenty of time to fill out the rest of the cast.

The film marks the directorial debut of Oren Moverman, who is probably most famous for co-writing Todd Haynes' Dylan 'biopic' I'm Not There. Alessandro Camon co-wrote the script for The Messenger and is already hard at work on the Leonardo DiCaprio thriller, The Chancellor Manuscript. Foster has also lined up a role in the dysfunctional family comedy Birds of America, but for that role it looks like it's going to be another ensemble piece. Luckily for Foster, he's not the type of actor who fades into the background. The Messenger is scheduled to start shooting in April.

A whole swarm of Daniel Silva spy novels are heading to the big screen. Universal has forked over a seven-figure sum to get the rights to the author's award-winning spy series that focus on a Mossad agent-turned art restorer Gabriel Allon. So far, they're not too interested in chronology, and won't be focusing on the first, The Kill Artist, which details the guy getting pulled out of retirement to stop the assassination of Yasir Arafat. Instead, they're looking to start with The Messenger. While not a story about Joan of Arc, the religion is right on cue -- Allon has to help stop planned attacks against the Vatican -- namely Pope Paul VII and Monsignor Luigi Donati.

So, we've got the story, which could be good, but what else? There's no screenwriter attached yet, but there is a director -- Pierre Morel. Now, the man has worked as a cinematographer on films like The Transporter and as a camera operator for The Dreamers, Before Sunset and funny enough -- The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc. But forget all that -- he's also the guy who directed the uber-awesome Banlieue 13, otherwise known as District 13. I'm a big fan of David Belle and Parkour, so I'm really, really hoping he somehow slips it into the film. It's about spies, so it could happen...right?