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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.

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.

Really good sci-fi horror flicks don't come along too often. Pandorum may be burdened with the unfair stigma of "not screened in advance for the press" (at least in my area), but it proves to be a superior picture, expertly establishing and maintaining a charged atmosphere of unhinged ferocity.

Director Christian Alvart displays an assured grasp of visual storytelling and provides a solid framework for Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid to let loose with intense, uninhibited performances. Four years ago, Alvart made the powerful Antibodies, a haunting serial killer movie that neatly subverted expectations, and he has delivered another impressive genre-buster. He even made me sit on the edge of my seat a few times, an inclination which I nearly always resist.

Foster and Quaid are apparently the first two members of their mission team to awaken from hyper-sleep on the spaceship Elysium. They're both badly disoriented; hyper-sleep is supposed to induce brief memory loss, but they look like they've journeyed through all nine circles of suffering in Dante's Inferno, which might feel like a picnic in the park compared to their situation.

The ship appears abandoned; no one is present to greet them, the power has been shut down, and they're locked in a chamber with impregnable metal doors. They can barely remember their names, much less their mission or even their own qualifications. Just wait until they find out they're not alone. And whatever is out there is very fast, very ugly, and very hungry.

The tricky thing about both trailers and sci-fi flicks is that you might feel that you've already gotten the gist of either in under two minutes. After watching this here teaser for September's Pandorum, I feel torn between a look that reminds me of Event Horizon (could be worse in my book) and a story that is rumored to be more akin to I Am Legend (yeah, now Horizon sounds good, huh?), but we'll know in a couple of months whether or not amnesiac astronauts Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster are in as much danger as this trailer from Film School Rejects suggests.

I didn't see director Christian Alvert's first film, Antibodies, and nearly no one has seen his still-shuffled follow-up, Case 39, though there's no writing credit on that one to haunt him. Hopefully, this thing will be more atmospheric than derivative -- if it's even either; this isn't even two minutes here! -- but again, we'll find out in due time. Pandorum opens on September 4.

There's a really neat-sounding small-scale sci-fi project in development at Overture Films called Pandorum. But for the news that Paul W.S. Anderson is involved, I'd be really excited. Pandorum will be about two spaceship crewmen who wake up on their ship with no idea who they are or what they're supposed to be doing. Soon, they "make a discovery that threatens the survival of mankind."

Anderson didn't write and won't be directing the film -- those tasks both fall to relative unknowns -- but he is reteaming with his Resident Evil cohorts to produce it. He's not exactly on my must list these days, since the Resident Evil franchise has pretty much died under his supervision and AvP isn't exactly a venerable addition to the list of ongoing big-name series. Pandorum's premise sounds cool, but then so did Event Horizon's until you actually learned what was going on. In any case, Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster (in a possible rare non-psychopathic role?) have signed on to star as our heroes, which is good news. I guess the big question is what exactly the two of them "discover" on that spaceship.

Pandorum is supposed to start production in August in Berlin, according to the Variety piece; no word on a release date. Sci-fi fans, make a note of it.

I know that Ben Foster is a really talented actor and I'm quite sure that he will go really, really far in his career. I wouldn't even be surprised if he becomes a Robert Redford type -- hugely popular and long-lasting. But still ... whether he's got wings as a mutant, or helps some creepy vampires attack a small Alaskan town, to me he's always the cute, goofy kid from Disney's Flash Forward.

Although the show was after my time, I would always stop to watch it when flipping through the channels. It was tres cute and starred Foster as Tucker and Firefly's Jewel Staite as Becca -- two best friends and neighbors who have been close since birth and are now in middle school. Above you get to check out their nervous kiss and final moment of the show. Man, they were cute kidlets.

This one is even better to check out Foster as Tucker, but embedding was disabled.

Last Rewind Answer: Kadeem Hardison played Theo's friend on The Cosby Show.

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.

We might not know exactly what Sylvester Stallone is doing next, but we do know he's apparently got a thing for remaking old Charles Bronson films. Not long ago, Stallone expressed interest in remaking Death Wish, and now Dark Horizons tells us the aging action star will star in a remake of the 1972 Bronson flick, The Mechanic (and though they say nothing of the man also directing, other sites are jumping to that conclusion). DH also claims the film's budget clocks in at around $40 million, and that MGM is looking at folks like Ryan Gosling, Ben Foster, Cillian Murphy and Elijah Wood to co-star.

The original film revolved around an aging hitman (played by Bronson, and now Stallone) who befriends a young man that wants to become a professional killer. Over at IMDb, however, they claim the film will be totally re-imagined as a thriller in a post 9/11 world. A few days ago, Stallone struck a deal to star and produce two new action films, though there was no further info on what those two films would be. Perhaps Sly is off the Death Wish train and now setting his sights on The Mechanic? Could one of these (or both) eventually become the film(s) included in that deal? Which would you rather see Sly remake: Death Wish or The Mechanic?