The plot fits into the common genre that would include a kick-ass highly trained protagonist, black ops missions, and some variation of a frame job. The difference is that your typical male bad ass is replaced with a sexy, super talented Gina Carano who plays Malory. This is Gina Carano’s first major showcase on the big screen after her career as a dominating Mixed Martial Arts fighter, and she leaves a solid impression. One could easily say that she did not deliver the best acting performance, but Gina easily overcompensates with wonderfully choreographed fight scenes. I might even go as far as saying that a particular fight scene portrays the pacing, passion, and climax of good sex.

Speaking of good chemistry, Soderbergh has managed to put together a great cast as usual. With Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender, Bill Paxton, and a fair amount of other recognizable faces, it would be hard to make a really bad movie.

In terms of familiarity, the first thing that strikes the senses is the original music by David Holmes. Once the up-beat jazzy drum and bass kicks in, you find yourself wishing the camera might pan across a casual Brad Pitt leaning against a wall and eating a taco, as Matt Damon goes up an escalator somewhere.

It wasn’t a perfect movie, however. There were some dry moments, especially during an exceptionally long chase scene. And there are moments when the dialogue comes through a little awkwardly. This is a movie that could easily lead to sequels. There would definitely have to be some recasting thanks to Gina’s natural tendency to subdue her foes, but it would be fun to see where writers might take the remaining characters.

Haywire isn’t awesome, but it doesn’t suck either. It’s not the serious, adrenaline rush of Bourne Ultimatum and its not the fantastical world of Mission Impossible, but it is something subtle, and fun that leaves you wanting to see a few more leg-locking choke holds with Gina Carano. Many people may find it a bit dry, but if your looking for a good movie to help kick off the 2012 releases, then Haywire is worth your ticket.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The good people at Relativity Media were nice enough to hook us up with a killer Haywire giveaway! One lucky winner is going to win  1. Haywire T-shirt, 1 rubber bracelet, and 1 mini poster. All you have to do to win is be the first to email me at donny at KillerFilm.com with “Haywire!” in the subject. So, check out the official synopsis and trailer below, then shoot me an email for your chance to win.

This dynamic action-thriller directed by Oscar® winner Steven Soderbergh (Contagion) boasts a talented cast that includes Channing Tatum (GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra),  Ewan McGregor (The Ghost Writer),  Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class),  Antonio Banderas (The Legend of Zorro),  Bill Paxton (“Big Love”),  Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps),  Michael Angarano (Almost Famous); and introduces mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar Gina Carano as Mallory Kane,  in a demanding lead role that has her performing her own high-adrenaline stunts.

Mallory Kane is a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in the dirtiest, most dangerous corners of the world. After successfully freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency. Suddenly the target of skilled assassins who know her every move, Mallory must find the truth in order to stay alive.

Using her black-ops military training, she devises an ingenious—and dangerous—trap. But when things go haywire, Mallory realizes she’ll be killed in the blink of an eye unless she finds a way to turn the tables on her ruthless adversary.

The world’s future is in their tiny plastic hands.

World War II: What if Nazis seized London and all of England had to band together? When scarily campy Nazi leaders invade by drilling under the English Channel and up through the cobblestones on Whitehall, Churchill leaves his quiet retirement with a cat that looks like Hitler to issue a call to arms from his bunker under Downing Street. Chris, a young farm worker with large hands, rallies the village to fight the good fight — including an alcoholic Vicar, the oldest man in the town, several idiots, a random Frenchman and Bobby Fiske, a swearing American who believes he’s battling Russia.

This comedic feature film debut from Scottish brothers Edward and Rory McHenry, has an all-star cast of voices including Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting/Star Wars Trilogy), Alan Cumming (X2/The Good Wife), Stephen Merchant (The Office), Dominic West (The Wire/300), Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day/An Education), Tom Wilkinson (The Green Hornet/Michael Clayton), Timothy Spall (The King’s Speech/Harry Potter), and Richard E. Grant (Prêt à Porter/Gosford Park), among others.

DVD features include Behind-the-Scenes footage; Interviews with the Creators; Featurettes: The Swastikas, Bad Day to be a Nazi, Hitler’s Rat Pack, The Nazi Hotties, Explosions, Voiceovers; Theatrical Trailer.

If you loved Team America: World Police, then you’ll love this. Find out more at its official site here and “Like” the film on Facebook.

The role McGregor is in talks for is that of the leader of the king’s elite guard, a fighter of the giants. Filming is scheduled to begin at the end of March, next stop will be casting the princess.

Source: THR

The Film:

If you missed it in the theaters, you will want to be sure to catch Roman Polanski’s latest oeuvre The Ghost Writer, a taunt political thriller. The memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) suffer from an inauspicious beginning: the first writer met with a quick demise, either accident or suicide. When the new, never-named Ghost (Ewan McGregor) arrives in the middle of winter to work on the book at a post-modern oceanfront house along the Atlantic, almost immediately the political landscape shifts as a former cabinet member indicts the PM of illegal terrorist seizure and torture. While closeted from the invading press outside, the writer must sail between the Scylla of Lang’s wife Ruth, who has the clever cunning and ambition of Lady McBeth (Olivia Williams), and the Charybdis of Lang’s controlling assistant and mistress Amelia (Kim Cattrall). When the writer stumbles upon a clue linking Lang to the CIA, the mystery accelerates as the protagonist encounters deception at every turn, treachery political, romantic and literary.

The story, based on the novel Robert Harris’ novel Ghost (who with Polanski authored the screenplay), carries the day. The acting is standout and against type. McGregor played a magical poet in Moulin Rouge; here is straightforward functionary, like an everyman in Hitchcock’s 1950′s Paramount world who finds himself battling larger, unknown forces. Neither Bond nor nutty ABBA crooner, Brosnan is believable, fighting for his political life. Kim Cattrall, Urcougar as Samantha Jones from Sex and the City, radiates intelligence and icy chill. The manuscript itself plays a central character as it is inspected, locked away and stolen. The film is one of Polanski’s best, the equal of Knife in Water and perhaps only second to Chinatown, one of my top five films of all time.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: The DVD version from Summit Entertainment, looks and sounds incredible. A very sharp copy indeed, which is important for many of the scenes occur in darkness or along the blustery beach.

Extras: The extras are three and run a little more than a half-hour:

Ghost Writer – Fiction or Reality: In the most interesting of the three segments, author Robert Harris narrates his involvement with the film. Originally Polanski was interested in another Harris novel “Pompeii,” only to fall for “The Ghost” while still in the galleys. Harris contends he and Polanski watched Sunset Boulevard in order to better understand narration for the tale. And no, the film is not about former PM Tony Blair, so quit asking. About fifteen worthy minutes.

Ghost Writer – The Cast: Here the principal players wax sonorous about working with each other and the acclaimed director. Nice shout out to some of the bit-part players here like Jim Belushi, Tim Hutton, Tom Wilkinson, and the 94 year-old acting legend Eli Wallach. About ten skipable minutes.

An Interview with Roman Polanski: Too bad R.P. Productions was not able to have Polanski sit down with the film for a scene-by scene critique (though one understands that his legal troubles probably put the kibosh on that). Instead, we learn in cursory fashion his feelings about the story, the cast, the setting and the ending–about a minute on each. The other four minutes are interspersed with photomontages from the film without dialogue. The poor sound quality from the interview can best be described as “tinny” or according to my daughter Claudia, “hollow.” Polanski deserves better.

The Film: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The DVD: Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

California strikes again, further showing that they can’t all swallow any form of same sex love as a District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction preventing the U.S. release, reports Yahoo (via Collider). What exactly does that mean? Well the film, once again, is pushed back all the way to October. There’s a bunch of legal entanglements going on at the moment between companies EuropaCorp and Consolidated Pictures Group, but will we ever see this film in theaters?

I Love You Phillip Morris is written and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, based on the true story. It stars Jim Carrey as Steven Russell, who’s happily married to Debbie (Leslie Mann), and a member of the local police force when a car accident provokes a dramatic reassessment of his life. Steven realizes he’s gay and decides to live life to the fullest – even if it means breaking the law. Steven’s new, extravagant lifestyle involves cons and fraud and, eventually, a stay in the State Penitentiary where he meets sensitive, soft-spoken Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts Steven to attempt and often succeed at one impossible con after another.

Is anybody looking forward to seeing this film in theaters, and more so do you think it’ll even reach the big screen at this point with these constant road blocks?

McGregor will play, if the current version remains faithful to the original attempt, a 21st century advertising executive who travels back in time to 17th century Spain, where he meets Don Quixote (Robert Duvall) and becomes involved in adventures with him (Empire).  Principal photography is set for September with no release date set at the moment.

McGregor recently appeared in Roman Polanski’s mystery thriller The Ghost Writer and will pop up on the big screen once more this August 20th in the family friendly sequel Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang.

This is the second film within the past week that Naomi Watts is a part of that ends up making it’s way to Summit. The first of the two is Doug Liman feature Fair Game that has her co-starring with Sean Penn. McGregor was last seen in Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer and will next appear along with Jim Carrey in I Love You Phillip Morris.

Steven Russell (Carrey) is happily married to Debbie (Mann), and a member of the local police force when a car accident provokes a dramatic reassessment of his life. Steven realizes he’s gay and decides to live life to the fullest – even if it means breaking the law. Steven’s new, extravagant lifestyle involves cons and fraud and, eventually, a stay in the State Penitentiary where he meets sensitive, soft-spoken Phillip Morris (McGregor). His devotion to freeing Phillip from jail and building the perfect life together prompts Steven to attempt and often succeed at one impossible con after another.

The LA Times got the flat out confirmation of the indefinite status that has befallen this Sundance Film Festival movie right below.:

Now a spokeswoman for the film confirms that the movie has been delayed again and in fact won’t be coming out at the end of the month. She adds that there is no release date scheduled at this time.

This is a real disappointment, mainly because the film looks pretty interesting to say the least (unless your heavily homophobic). Want to see for yourself? Then watch the trailer attached and let us know what you think of this sudden delay.

UPDATE: Variety reports that I Love You Phillip Morris will be released on July 30th.:

One of the strongest things about the entire film is the script, written by both Polanski and Robert Harris. Though the picture is predictable to an extent, it still draws your attention a majority of the time with the solid dialogue and development. The pacing is a little off beat at times. At one point you could be in the smooth flow of the movie, and then suddenly an invisible speed bump will hit and then it drops to a snail’s pace. Despite that, most of the acting does save the day.

McGregor is easily the most enjoyable character to watch as The Ghost. Everyone else practically takes a back seat to McGregor, not because the script calls for it, but because his screen presence and likable character captures your attention. Brosnan is under used but strong whenever he appears. Unfortunately the most annoying of the bunch goes to Kim Cattrall with one of the worst accents heard on screen by these ears in awhile.

Polanski’s direction within the extent of the feature is subtle yet strong enough to carry the plot of the novel adaptation from start to finish. The famed director has not been behind the camera for a thriller of this caliber in decades, but it does not show. However, this is not one of Polanski’s strongest films, a majority of it purely riding of McGregor and the script.

Overall The Ghost Writer flows on as a satisfying thriller that sheds a bit more hope for the dull early months, that quality features can still flow out of the theaters no matter what time of the year it is.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Film:

Amelia Earhart is one of the most legendary American pioneers to this day. Among the many accomplishments, aviation records she set, and barriers she broke down for future female pilots; the most notable is her solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Her career achievements have been studied many times, but the 2009 release of the movie “Amelia” explores a more detailed side of Earhart’s life. Hilary Swank (Amelia Earhart) plays a dominant role along with Richard Gere who plays a very charismatic and infatuated George Putnam.

There are’t many movies based on legendary figures that catch the personal side of life as well as the professional side. Swank delivered an almost perfect performance with Earhart’s desire for freedom and adventure as well as her loving but dominant personality within her relationships. The chemistry that Gere and Swank shared on the screen as business partners and spouses were one to be remembered. Even though these types of films are typically not my first choice when I’m at the movies, I was generally interested throughout the majority of the film. The only thing that I would have liked to see in more detail were the interactions the Earhart had with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor). To be more critical, the movie could have featured a few more details of how deeply Putnam was suffering as a result of his relationship with Earhart. Those are still relatively minor details even though they could’ve added to the plot.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video

The audio is crisp and clear and the video was beautiful.

Special Features:

Deleted Scenes

A behind the scenes look at the making of Amelia.

There is also a special on Earhart’s influence on society back then as well as today.

A detailed feature on the work to get an actual plane that Earhart used on her last flight, Elektra to be in the film.

A look at the production design and locations of the movie.

Also there are actual pieces of footage from different events and points in Amelia’s career.

Throughout, I was entertained despite a lack of true detail into her private life.

The Film: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Ghost (Ewan McGregor) flies out to work on the project, in the middle of winter, to an oceanfront house on an island off the U.S. Eastern seaboard. But the day after he arrives, a former British cabinet minister accuses Lang (Pierce Brosnan) of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA—a war crime. The controversy brings reporters and protesters swarming to the island mansion where Lang is staying with his wife, Ruth (Olivia Williams), and his personal assistant (and mistress), Amelia (Kim Cattrall). As The Ghost works, he begins to uncover clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA—and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind. Was Lang in the service of the American intelligence agency while he was prime minister? And was The Ghost’s predecessor murdered because of the appalling truth he uncovered?

The Ghost Writer comes out in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on February 19th with an expanded release on February 26th.: