Cinematical has just received this exclusive clip from the period drama The Duchess (click image above or head after the jump to view), directed by Saul Dibb and based on Amanda Foreman's best-selling novel. Starring Keira Knightley as Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, the film chronicles the life of a vibrant beauty and celebrity of her time; a woman held prisoner in an unhappy marriage, but one who'd risk it all for the love of a young politician. (Been there, done that -- right ladies?) Also starring Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper and Hayley Atwell, the following clip takes us inside a pretty intense confrontation between Georgiana and the Duke of Devonshire (Fiennes) as they battle one another for the respect each feels they deserve.

The Duchess (which is currently enjoying a limited release) expands to theaters across the country on October 10.

If you're like me, stuck at home, reading about all the great films playing in Toronto, and wondering, "When can I actually get to see the darn things?," I have some good news. Two "big buzz" titles have been acquired for distribution: Steven Soderbergh's Che, starring Benecio del Toro in the title role, has been nabbed by IFC Films (not Mark Cuban) for North America, and Summit Entertainment has secured US rights to Katheryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, featuring Guy Pearce and Ralph Fiennes.

IFC will release Che for a one-week awards qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles in December, according to an official statement received by Cinematical. It will then open in January via the company's "IFC in Theaters" platform, which means it will be available in select theaters and "on demand" through cable and satellite systems the same day. Ever since Che's world premiere at Cannes in May (where James Rocchi reviewed it), there has been speculation about how the film would be presented. Che is comprised of two stand alone parts -- The Argentine and Guerilla -- and the total running time is more than four hours. Now we know we'll some of us will be able to see the whole thing at one time. *

A sweeping period drama about Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, The Duchess is a bland, largely flavorless story that takes one of the more interesting women in British history and reduces her largely to her relationships with the men in her life. From a purely technical standpoint, there's nothing bad to say about the filmmaking: The extravagant period costumes are resplendent with detail, the cinematography is gorgeous, the music is soaring, and the acting's solid but not great, but overall the film left me with the feeling of biting into a cream puff and finding that someone forgot the custard filling, leaving nothing but a hollow pastry and empty air.

Part of what hurts the film is the script, which is based on the autobiography of the same name by Amanda T. Foreman. There are three screenwriters credited to the film (which may be part of the problem): Jeffrey Hatcher, Anders Thomas Jensen, and Saul Dibb, the film's director. Their script takes the life story of a vibrant woman who was politically active and influential a century before the women's suffrage movement, and dilutes it to little more than a romantic drama of love triangles and oppression. Which is fine, I suppose, if that's all you want or expect of a period piece, but I was left with the feeling that there was so much more that was important and interesting about Georgiana's life that got lost in the focus on making a tragically romantic tale.

A new poster of The Duchess has appeared online, exclusive to ComingSoon.net.There's a snip of it to the right, and if you click on the lovely Keira Knightley, you'll be taken to the blindingly enormous version.

It's a stunning poster, although I think they could have lightened up on the airbrushing, as Knightley looks appallingly plastic. The dress, however, excuses all sorts of Photoshop sins. You know how I love my lush costumes, and The Duchess promises to have loads of gorgeous, frothy items. (One of my favorite sites, The Costumer's Guide to Movie Costumes, has a whole page devoted to it already. I want that fox hunting outfit for my own, but I'm not sure what to do with it since I don't hunt foxes. Or ride horses.)

But that's the big question about the film, isn't it? Will the movie actually say something relevant about Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire? She was quite the figure in her own time; as the official press release notes, she was a leader of the progressive Whig Party, and an active political campaigner in an era when women couldn't even vote. The comparisons to her descendant, Princess Diana, are apt -- but both women would probably agree that such remarks are a bit glib. The movie marketing, however, is trading on that fact very heavily. I remain excited, but historical dramas can only go one of two ways: wonderful or awful. There's no in-between.

The Duchess opens September 19th, 2008.

This morning I got an email from Snitchseeker.com, a Harry Potter fansite, pointing me to some pics they have up of young Hero Fiennes-Tiffin (nephew of Ralph Fiennes, who plays the evil Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise). Fiennes-Tiffin is playing Young Tom Riddle (aka the Future Dark Lord, Voldemort) in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Nice call on the part of the casting director to have a relative of Fiennes play the younger character.

You can see all the pics over on Snitchseeker; they're apparently from another film the young actor is in, Bigga than Ben. Fiennes-Tiffin looks oh-so-sweet-and-innocent -- he hardly looks like the sort who'd grow up to wreak havoc on the wizarding world, tossing around Imperius curses at his enemies and plotting to rid the world of good guys like Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter. But then again, it's always the innocent looking ones who sneak up on you and turn out to be evil dark lords trying to take over the world, isn't it?

It's been a long time since we saw the first trailer for The Duchess, an historical period piece starring Keira Knightley as the real-life 18th century Georgina Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. But the film opens in September, so it's time to start the onslaught of more trailers and clips. First, we have one from the UK (via Empire), which is a little longer than that first U.S. version. One thing that's added in is a nice shot of Knightley's bum.

Another addition is a strange title card connecting Georgina to Princess Diana. It's true that the two ladies were related, though somewhat distantly (Diana was descended from Georgina's brother, George, who doesn't seem to be portrayed in the film), and I guess they were both celebrated as fashion icons. But I have to agree with Empire that pushing the connection "might be considered more than a little crass."

Also, I'm not sure I understand the title card that says "History Repeats Itself." Does it mean that portraying historical events on film is a repeat of those events? Because, to me, it seems more a confirmation of my feeling that we've already seen this movie a million times before.

The Duchess also stars Ralph Fiennes and Charlotte Rampling and will open in the States on September 19.

Focus Features has sent Cinematical a fourth and final exclusive clip from In Bruges (check out the first clip, titled Hideout, over here, the second clip, titled Review, over here, and the third clip, titled Uzi, over here), which will enjoy its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival next month. Here's a bit from the film's official synopsis: "Bruges (pronounced "broozh"), the most well-preserved medieval city in the whole of Belgium, is a welcoming destination for travelers from all over the world. But for hit men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), it could be their final destination; a difficult job has resulted in the pair being ordered right before Christmas by their London boss Harry (two-time Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes) to go and cool their heels in the storybook Flemish city for a couple of weeks." For more, be sure to check out the film's official website, www.filminfocus.com/inbruges. In Bruges is due out in theaters (in limited release) on February 8, 2008.

Who says that only superhero flicks and fanboy movies should get months of advance hype? Paramount Vantage has taken the unusual move of releasing a trailer for The Duchess, a period costume drama that won't be released until the fall of 2008. You can check out the trailer exclusively at Moviefone, or feel free to watch it above.

Back in September 2006, Danish director Susanne Bier was set to take on the adaptation of Amanda Foreman's novel, Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire. Plans changed, though. As Cinematical's Monika Bartyzel told us this past July, Saul Dibb was brought on to direct and Keira Knightley signed on to play Georgina, duchess of Devonshire, a controversial real-life figure from the 18th century. She lived "an extravagant, profligate and promiscuous life of political and romantic intrigue, becoming an important powerbroker amid Blighty's ruling elite, but also running up catastrophic gambling debts." Monika passed on more news in September: Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper and Hayley Atwell were added to the cast. Filming began on September 23.

The trailer is restrained and buttoned up -- a horse-drawn carriage, a palace, a ballroom -- and Keira looks prim and proper until she exclaims: "You can't ask me to battle nature and my own heart!" and kisses a man that's probably not her husband; then we see some carefully shot bare flesh and a roaring fire; cue music swelling to a crescendo in the background. In other words: not much to set it apart from other period pictures or set tongues a-wagging.

Personally, I prefer Ms. Knightley in more contemporary fare, but I'm evidently in the minority on that opinion. Still, The Duchess has pretty pictures and all that, and Keira-fanatics should be happy to see her laced up in a corset again. Maybe the next trailer will be more distinctive.

Focus Features has sent Cinematical a third exclusive clip from In Bruges (check out the first clip, titled Hideout, over here, and the second clip, titled Review, over here), which will enjoy its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival next month. Here's a bit from the film's official synopsis: "Bruges (pronounced "broozh"), the most well-preserved medieval city in the whole of Belgium, is a welcoming destination for travelers from all over the world. But for hit men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), it could be their final destination; a difficult job has resulted in the pair being ordered right before Christmas by their London boss Harry (two-time Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes) to go and cool their heels in the storybook Flemish city for a couple of weeks." For more, be sure to check out the film's official website, www.filminfocus.com/inbruges. In Bruges is due out in theaters (in limited release) on February 8, 2008.

I have to be honest, I have always had a soft-spot for Colin Farrell and was convinced he could be great in the right role. After watching the trailer for In Bruges, I think this could be the one. Just last week, Peter gave us the heads up that the black comedy had been chosen as the opening night selection for Sundance 2008. Now, a trailer has surfaced and unless you have some headphones at your desk there's no way you're going to be able to watch this one at work ... sorry. Bruges stars Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two hit-men who are awaiting their contact in a hotel room in Bruges, Belgium. Also starring is Ralph Fiennes, playing very against type as a gangster, and Elizabeth Barrington.

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, the film is a black comedy with a capital B. Original reports had our two hapless hit-men knocking off a kiddie by mistake and then having to go on the run. By the looks of the trailer though, it seems like there might have been some minor changes. Now, there is no mention of a kid and it looks like the target is a man of the cloth -- which I guess is funnier depending on your sense of humor. So even with my aforementioned bias, I still think this looks like a pretty funny flick. I don't even know all that much about Bruges, but there is one joke that had me almost snorting coffee on the keyboard. Not to mention there are some pretty creative uses of the "F-word" -- and that's just for the trailer. In Bruges will premier at Sundance this January and then a limited release will follow in February. Hopefully the movie will get a wide release sometime in '08.

[via The Movie Blog]

*Update: You can now catch the trailer at the Alliance Films website.