The latest issue of EW has a few first looks and new photos that we thought we’d parse. The most notable is probably the first look at “The Hungry Rabbit Jumps” starring Nicolas Cage and “Mad Men” actress GQ cover girl January Jones.
Directed by “Species” filmmaker Roger Donaldson it centers on a man whose life is turned upside down when his wife (Jones) is assaulted and he makes a deal with a mysterious group offering vigilante justice. It doesn’t really sound like our thing and the director/lead combo doesn’t sound that exciting (Cage is great when he has auteurs around him). It also stars Guy Pearce so presumably he’s either a vigilante or “the villain.” No date yet and it’s set for release likely in 2011 sometime. The producer says it’s like “The Game” or “Strangers on a Train,” which sounds great, but dunno. We’ll have to wait til it’s in theaters we suppose.
The next pic is of the Miramax turned Disney picture, “The Debt,” starring Sam Worthington. It was shot before he became a huge star. It’s set in 1965, and centers on three young Israeli Mossad agents on a secret mission to capture and kill a notorious Nazi war criminal. The film is directed by John Madden (“Shakespeare In Love,” “Killshot”) and also stars Helen Mirren, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Wilkinson and Jessica Chastain. It’s now set for a December 29 release date and that’s obviously in the heart of Oscar season but this one has sat around on the shelf for a while now so it could smell of damaged goods. More photos below.
Lastly we have two new shots of Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” the trailer of which we saw last week and it’s pretty great. It’s Affleck’s directorial follow-up to “Gone Baby Gone” and stars himself, plus Rebbeca Hall, “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm, “The Hurt Locker” lead Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Pete Postlethwaite and Chris Cooper. It’s got a September 17 release date and hopefully hits TIFF a few days before that.
Last, but not least Will Gluck’s enjoyable-looking “Easy A” starring the always charming Emma Stone. A loose adaptation of the “The Scarlet Letter” the film focuses on a a clean-cut high school student (Stone) who relies on the school’s rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing. But of course that quickly backfires.
Co-starring Amanda Bynes, Cam Gigandet and Stanley Tucci among others, it looks like a John Hughes-ian teen flick for girls that doesn’t condescend or patronize it’s audience. It might be the first watchable/tolerable female-lead teen flick since the very excellent 2004 picture “Mean Girls.” Let’s hope so. The flick also lands September 17 and hey, the teen films “Whip It!” and “Youth In Revolt” debuted at TIFF last year, so it’s possible this one could surface too.
