About 15 minutes in I decided I wanted some popcorn, and upon looking at my phone, it appeared that an hour and a half had passed. From what I understand, that hasn’t been the standard reaction across the Internet, but for me at least, Django was incredibly easy to watch, and not for a moment did I want it to end.

The structure is right in tune with many Spaghetti Westerns (itself being one more in a long series of unofficial sequels to Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 film Django): the compacted serial with each episode lasting a half hour or so. There’s an overarching plot, but just as much does it like to get sidetracked in subplots.

The main story centers around Django (Jamie Foxx), a runaway slave many times over who only wants to be reunited with his wife. He has the good fortune of meeting up with Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a German dentist turned bounty hunter, hot on the trail of the notorious Brittle Brothers. Django, a former acquaintance of the Brittles, is the only man alive who knows what they look like, and Schultz, gleefully operating within the laws and well versed in all the loopholes, buys Django to help him hunt down the bounty.

My first reaction to Paul Thomas Anderson’s films is generally mild — I thought Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love were all okay, but they didn’t blow my skirt up until I rewatched them. I haven’t seen Hard 8, and I really liked There Will Be Blood the first time I saw it. The Master, despite having more in common with There Will Be Blood, nevertheless left me with a “meh” feeling. I wouldn’t recommend it, but if someone had already seen it, I’d tell them to rewatch it, as I plan to. Rating-wise I’m not sure where that places it.

Still, after mulling it over for the 45 minutes it’s been since I left the theater, I’m starting to like it more, and any film that makes me think has done some sort of job.

The story follows Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a WWII vet whose wants teeter between drinking and screwing, and once one has been satisfied, he rigorously pursues the next. This doesn’t do much for his career as a photographer and later as a field hand, but he does end up as a stowaway on a ship captained by self-described “writer, doctor, nuclear physicist, theoretical philosopher, and, above all, human being” Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

I am not a PTA fan, so much so that I feel the need to state that at the top of this news item about the new one-sheet for his latest movie, The Master. I feel it is important for you to understand that context when I tell you how much I really love this poster.

The modern movie poster is a very specific beast. There is a pattern that these designers seem to fall into that can come across as lazy or uninspired. So when some one breaks the mold and delivers a legitimately interesting one sheet, you take notice.

This is not the first time PTA has inspired a rather brilliant poster, There Will Be Blood also had a pretty stellar one sheet design that was both classic and fresh all at once. And again, this is coming from the guy grumpy dude he thinks PTA is just a poor man’s Robert Altman, so I hope you can sense the real appreciation I am heaping on over here.

You can check out the full poster after the jump, and The Master when it hits cinema’s this fall.

Quentin Tarantino is a filmmaker most cinephiles adore. He is a film fan a heart, so his films are a celebration of the many cinematic influences inside of him, which usually makes for a fun time at the cinema. His newest film, Django Unchained, is filming right now, but the first official poster has found it’s way online for us all to ogle at.

The poster has an incredibly simplistic design that is a throw back to the Saul Bass posters of yesteryear. This subtle, retro design is a perfect way to sell this slavery era exploitation film to us Tarantino fans, but we can’t help but shake the notion that Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio will figure heavy in the main marketing push of the film.

A star like Brad Pitt was able to help Inglorious Basterds become one of Tarantino’s most successful films.  So the studio must be licking their chops to see what star power of this film can add to the bottom line.

Speaking of the stars of the movie, a little casting tidbit for Django also came in today. The great Walton Goggins, currently of Justified fame, has joined the cast as one of DiCaprio’s slave wranglers. That is one of the best sentences I have ever had the pleasure of writing.

Check out the full new poster after the jump.

The legal battle between The Weinstein Company and Relativity is over, and The Crow reboot is looking like a foregone conclusion.

Director F. Javier Gutierrez and writer Jesse Wigutow have signed on to once again adapt the James O’Barr graphic novel about a slain musician resurrected for vengeance.

Gutierrez’s sci-fi debut Before the Fall has garnered him awards from bodies as diverse as the Cinema Writers Circle and Screamfest. He is currently in pre-production on an adaptation of The Monkey’s Paw.

Wigutow wrote the 2003 dramedy It Runs in the Family and the upcoming Irreparable Harm. He has also worked on the adaptations of Eragon and The Ruins.

Casting announcements are expected over the next few days.

I think George Lucas deserves some credit where it’s due, and say what you will about the prequels, the opening to Revenge of the Sith, with the dogfight over the planet was pretty awe-inspiring. So when the trailer for Red Tails came out, I was excited to see a Lucasfilm production that focused mainly on one of the strengths he still had.

And I’m pleased to say that he’s still got it. The dogfights in Red Tails look good, give a good sense of whose plane is whose (with the exception of the opening battle), further the plot, and build on each other. You can see the Lucas touch of following one plane during its flight then latching on to another.

In one sequence, a group (squadron?) take down a train, with one pilot taking it head on. Another shows how the under-equipped planes of the heroes are able to fight with lightning-fast German jets.

Mel Brooks may have knocked it out of the park by being tongue-in-cheek back when he made Silent Movie, but there is no way today’s audience could possibly accept a full, silent, black & white film. Right? Well, that’s exactly what director Michel Hazanavicius has done.

His film, The Artist, is done like a classic black & white film. Movie stars, dames in trouble, tons of indoor smoking, and more dancing than you could shake a stick at. Here’s the premise:

Hollywood 1927. George Valentin is a very successful silent movie star. The arrival of talking pictures will mark the end of his career. Peppy Miller, a young woman extra, becomes a major movie star.

With films about zombies and The Help making waves in the box office, why couldn’t a simple silent movie about Hollywood in the 1920s take off? They’ve already got us hooked with the trailer, which you can check out after the jump.

Catch Weinstein Company’s The Artist in theaters on November 23rd.

You have to hand it to Quentin Tarantino. Besides being a very talented director who tells interesting stories well he’s also got the ability to put together some great ensemble casts. From his fist film Reservoir Dogs, through his most recent Inglorious Basterds, the director never ceases to lock in some great actors for his films.

He’s continuing that trend with his upcoming Sergio Leone-inspired western Django Unchained. He’s already got Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Now, according to Deadline, we can add Oscar-winner Kevin Costner to the mix as well.

According to the report, Costner would play Ace Woody, “the sadistic trainer of the male fighting slaves who entertain the white patrons of Candyland as well as the female slaves who are forced to be prostitutes. The club and ranch are owned by Calvin Candie (DiCaprio) and Ace Woody is the one who pits the “mandingo” fighters against one another.” Sounds like a nice guy. Mmm, not.

Once Coster is set for the role he and DiCaprio should make an interesting pair of bad guys. I’m sure it will be very interesting to see how it all turns out. The film is set to go into production in the Fall with an eye to a late 2012 release.

We’ll bring you more on this film as we get it.

Far too long has Paul Rudd been cast as the “good lucking cutesy guy with a sense of humor.” It’s about time he dirties up and tries out the look that put Zach Galifiniakis on the map, and that’s just what he’s doing in his newest film, Our Idiot Brother.

The role actually plays very different to what Rudd is normally cast as, and not just in appearance. He’s finally taking on the idiotic comic relief, instead of the constant straight man that we love him for. Here’s the official synopsis.

Every family has one: the sibling who is always just a little bit behind the curve when it comes to getting his life together. For sisters Liz (Emily Mortimer), Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) and Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), that person is their perennially upbeat brother Ned (Paul Rudd), an erstwhile organic farmer whose willingness to rely on the honesty of mankind is a less-than-optimum strategy for a tidy, trouble-free existence.

Ned may be utterly lacking in common sense, but he is their brother and so, after his girlfriend dumps him and boots him off the farm, his sisters once again come to his rescue. As Liz, Emily and Natalie each take a turn at housing Ned, their brother’s unfailing commitment to honesty creates more than a few messes in their comfortable routines.

Check out the first trailer for the comedy after the jump, and catch Rudd, Deschanel,Banks, Coogan, Mortimer, and plenty more in Our Idiot Brother on August 23rd.

In a world where Hollywood is ruled by animated animals, teenage vampires, and movies about driving fast, it’s nice to see a fun classic science fiction story make it through the gate and get into the hands of a legitimate production company.

That’s exactly what’s happening with a new spec script The Greys by writer Adam Cohen. THR has the details on the flick.

Dimension Films has preemptively purchased the spec script The Greys, a sci-fi thriller from writer Adam Cohen and producing partners Sean and Bryan Furst.

F. Javier Gutierrez, the Spanish director of 2008’s Before the Fall, is set to direct.

The Fursts will produce in partnership with Radar Pictures’ Ted Field and Mike Weber. Overseeing for Dimension are svp of production Matthew Stein and vp of production and creative affairs Matthew Signer.

The true meaning of that quote is fully realized in this haunting anti-love story. Blue Valentine is a stark, quiet film that packs an emotional punch you won’t soon forget. Featuring terrific performances by Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, the film examines the demise of a once promising relationship.

As the movie starts out, it is obvious that Cindy (Williams) and Dean (Gosling) have seen happier days.  Cindy seems to be quietly simmering with hatred when she interacts with Dean.  She’s utterly defeated, and when Dean tries to use his boyish charm to engage her, she won’t succumb.

Cindy mentally checked out of the marriage long, long ago. By the time Dean actually realizes that, we see him make some feeble attempts to salvage what they once had.

Some people may find that The Company Men hits a little too close to home. The movie follows a handful of employees at a large shipping company at the height of the recent economic downturn. It takes an unflinching look at what happens to their jobs, their marriages, their friends, and their honor. An excellent cast including Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner, Ben Affleck, Maria Bello, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Chris Cooper make this film riveting and believable.

The film takes a unique approach by focusing on these men who, by most people’s standards, are fairly well off.  By humanizing their plight(s) without vilifying the men, we are able to relate to their universal struggles. After all, it doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, losing a marriage or one’s dignity is going to hurt no matter what. That’s what I loved so much about the film. You want to hate the characters, but through the course of the film, you come to realize these guys are just like you and I.

Ben Affleck plays Bobby, a hotshot sales director with the company.  He’s got a giant house (mortgaged to the hilt), a hot wife, and a fancy car. He’s living the dream.  When corporate downsizing begins, his head is one of the first on the chopping block.  He’s shell shocked and embarrassed, but he is confident he’ll find another job in no time.