After months and months of teasing, Summit Entertainment has finally released the full length theatrical trailer for one of the most anticipated films of 2011: Breaking Dawn Part 1. And check out the new still below too!

With the new two-minute-and-thirty-second trailer out there, audiences can fully grasp the scope of new-to-the-franchise director Bill Condon’s vision and how the Oscar winner takes the Twilight franchise to a new level while also wrapping it up in a nice bow.

One of the most, honestly, horrifying aspects of the Breaking Dawn book was the birth of Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward’s (Robert Pattinson) baby. This trailer gives a quick insight into the horror of that scene and what audiences can expect to witness on screen that appears to be faithful to Stephenie Meyer’s book.

“It’s crushing you from the inside out,” Edward says in the trailer. See! Prepare to squirm when witnessing the entire scene in the theater.

On a lighter note, the new trailer gives fans another glimpse into Edward and Bella’s beautiful wedding day. Twilight fanatics do know that this is the smallest of sunshine rays in an otherwise dark and driven conclusion to the Twilight series.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Full TrailerVIDEO

Straw Dogs heads into theaters September 16 and fans of the 1971 original, directed by legend Sam Peckinpah and starring Dustin Hoffman, have to be encouraged that the feel, at least, of the first ultra-violent film is congruent.

In the 2011 remake, directed by Rod Lurie and starring James Marsden, Kate Bosworth and Alexander Skarsgard, Marsden plays a Hollywood screenwriter who returns to the deep South hometown of his wife (Bosworth) to get her family home ready to be sold. Her father has just passed away and Bosworth’s character sees it as the last time she ever wants to go home.

The only problem is after some run-ins with the locals, will they even make it out of the area alive?

Bosworth’s Amy has history there, including an ex-boyfriend Charlie (Skarsgard) who is integral into the trouble that follows the young couple, slowly building to a simmering and violent conclusion.

Straw Dogs Trailer

Ryan Gosling is in the proverbial driver’s seat when it comes to his career. To say he is hot right now is an understatement. After charming in Crazy Stupid Love, Gosling has two films that will heat up the fall: George Clooney’s The Ides of March and Drive. Drive is an astounding piece of filmmaking and firmly establishes Gosling as a Hollywood superstar. Gosling sat down with Movie Fanatic in Los Angeles right before heading to Toronto to promote Drive and Ides of March (don’t miss our Gosling in Toronto Ides interview coming soon!).


Gosling first caught audiences’ attention in, of all things, The Mickey Mouse Club opposite none other than Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. The Canadian-born actor is now an Oscar nominee and a certified movie star after his turn in the unforgettable The Notebook.

In Drive, audiences get to see Gosling in a whole new light. The film from director Nicolas Winding Refn is unabashedly one of the best of the year and that is in large part due to Gosling’s stunning performance as a movie stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver for hire. Gosling stars opposite Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman in a movie that not only looks like nothing you have ever seen before, but sounds and feels as unique a cinematic experience as Movie Fanatic has enjoyed in some time.

Movie Fanatic: Did they give you any kind of training to do the driving you did?

Ryan Gosling: I spent two weeks going to this church parking lot with Darren Prescott and every time we got there, there’d be a new Camaro or new Mustang and we would ride it to the rims. And when it was on fire or smoking or just wouldn’t move, some guy would come and take it away and fix it and we’d go home. It was the best two weeks of prep I’ve ever had [laughs].

Movie Fanatic: Did you do your own stunt driving and how much did they let you do?

Ryan Gosling: Some of it. The really cool stuff I didn’t do but the cool stuff I did. The really, really cool stuff was Jay Frye who’s about as good as it gets.

Movie Fanatic: Did you, before this movie, have a real appreciation for cars or was that something that grew during filming Drive... or at all?

Ryan Gosling: I never really cared about cars, I still don’t. I worked on this car that I drive in the movie so I have an affection for it, but just for it. And even it kind of rubs me the wrong way. I worked with this guy Pedro who’s a great guy -- talks about himself in the first person and steals fruit from people’s lawns and puts it in the top shelf of his tool chest and then every morning feels them to see which one’s ripe, which ones he’s gonna eat that day -- and he’s just a lovely guy but he changed my transmission and it really stings. Because I did everything with the car except for that and he knew it. On the last day when I was going to finish the car I came in and he changed my transmission. He thought it was really funny. It cut me because now I can’t say I did everything on the car.

Movie Fanatic: Did you get to keep those bad-ass driving gloves and scorpion jacket?

Ryan Gosling: Yeah, I made those so I have many versions of them.

Movie Fanatic: You seem to have a real passion for film as evidenced by your role in making Drive -- not simply acting. Where did that arise from? 

Ryan Gosling: When I was a kid and I first saw First Blood, it put a spell on me and I thought I was Rambo. I went to school the next day with my Fisher Price Houdini kit filled with steak knives and I threw it at all the kids at recess, threw knives at them [laughs]. I got suspended which I should have been and I learned my lesson and I’m sorry. But my parents then put a leash on me and said, “This kid can’t watch movies because they put a spell on him.” So I could only watch Bible movies and National Geographic movies and Abbott and Costello movies. Meanwhile all of those movies are kind of violent so it didn’t really work but I see what they were going for.

Movie Fanatic: How did you come to get this fascinating role and how did you approach this character?

Ryan Gosling: Marc Platt (producer) gave me this script and said, “Do you want to produce it with me?” and then any director I wanted, he would support. So, I had to find the right director. My personal feelings about the script were two things. One is that I’ve always wanted to see a violent John Hughes movie and I always thought that if Pretty in Pink had a head smashing it’d be perfect [laughs]. When I read this script and I was looking at this character’s behavior -- he was going around acting like a maniac -- I thought this is somebody who has seen too many movies. And because he was a stuntman, it seemed we could go deeper into that idea -- he had basically become the hero of the movie of his life. I thought that could be implemented into this script but I needed a director who could help me achieve that. I’ve seen Nicolas’ (Winding Refn) Valhalla Rising and his films are deeply rooted in mythology and they feel like fairy tales. I felt like Drive should have a fairy tale quality because it’s set in Los Angeles -- which is a fairy tale land based on fantasy. That driver is more like a knight in his mind anyway. Irene (Carey Mulligan) is the damsel in distress, Ron Perlman’s a dragon, and Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks) is the evil wizard. I’m watching his films and I see that his films are like Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales and they’re also very personal. They don’t try and please anyone but him. I wanted this movie to be something that had personality, an identity, and also that you wanted to be in the movie theater to see it. When I saw Valhalla Rising and the guy cuts open the stomach of his friend and starts showing him his own guts, everybody in the movie theater starts hitting each other and laughing and freaking out. Whether you liked it or not, I know that you were happy to see it in the theater. It’s not the kind of thing you want to see at home. I wanted to make a movie that you wanted to go to the movie theater to see.

Movie Fanatic: You have explosive scenes in Drive with Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman, how was working with the two of them and developing these climactic scenes?

Ryan Gosling: Ron Perlman is just an endless well of great lines. For instance, I’m trying to drown him in the ocean and every time I push him into the water, the tide goes out and I’m just pushing his face into the mud. Then, the ocean comes back, it knocks us both over and we have to start again. We do it all night until the sun comes up and he tears his ACL. When we finally get the one shot that we need where I put him under for long enough, he stands up and he says to Nicolas, “Yo, Nicky, that was the one. And if you don’t like that, you don’t like ice cream, mother (expletive).” [Laughs] And he does this snap, and then he limps back to his trailer and doesn’t come out. That’s what it’s like working with him all the time.

Movie Fanatic: Albert Brooks was scary!

Ryan Gosling: He’s the only person we wanted to play this role. He had to do it or we didn’t know what we were going to do if he didn’t. He came on and I think anyone who’s seen the film singles him out as one of the most memorable parts of it. He not only plays that character but he owns that character to the point that he possesses it and you can’t see any one else playing that part.

Movie Fanatic: At the end of the day, could you leave this character behind or did you take it with you -- as in the case of the fight you broke up in New York recently?

Ryan Gosling: No, that (the fight) was stupid [laughs]. I’m not a good enough actor to become a character and be that person for the duration of shooting. What I can do is turn up the parts of myself that are like that character and turn down the parts that aren’t. What I have in common with the character is amplified while I’m shooting. In this case, making this film, it was very peaceful because the character was very introverted, a watcher. I gave myself permission to do that while we were shooting. I wanted to be in character.

Movie Fanatic: The style of Drive is so specific and different, down to the title treatment and the music -- did you know that’s how the final product would be?

Ryan Gosling: This movie wouldn’t have happened if REO Speedwagon hadn’t come on the radio when I was driving Nicolas home from our first terrible meeting. The movie wasn’t happening. It was a bad meeting. It was a bad date -- no one was getting any action. So it was just get out of the car, go home. He wanted to get out and suddenly REO Speedwagon comes on the radio and he starts crying and singing at the top of his lungs, the song to me. He said, “This is it. This movie is about a guy who can’t feel anything unless he’s driving around listening to pop music.” The movie was conceived in my car. He and I creatively mated and created this movie baby. Then we had to raise it together. We would shoot all day, cut out all the dialogue, then go home and edit it, then drive around all night -- going to the 101 diner talking about life and music and movies. That would influence what we shot the next day. So, it had this dream-like quality while we were shooting it and I think that’s what the movie feels like. It feels like we didn’t have a plan going into it. Something happened in the car when REO Speedwagon came on and we were chasing that the whole time. We were trying to figure out what happened, why we both felt that same way. I felt the same way. It should be about this guy who drives around listening to music. He’s from Copenhagen, I’m from Canada. How did that happen? Why are we both having the same idea? Why did REO Speedwagon’s I Can’t Fight This Feeling come on the radio? Are we supposed to make this movie or are we crazy? Have we seen too many movies?

Who you going to call this Halloween? Ghostbusters, who else? In the shadow of Dan Aykroyd’s announcement that Ghostbusters 3 will begin shooting in spring 2012 comes news that the original Ghostbusters will get a digital update and hit theaters in time for Halloween 2011.

The 1984 classic comedy-horror flick is heading back to the big screen, much to the delight of its millions of fans. The question is: Will they watch a movie that they own on home video on the big screen, shelling out bucks to see it? Movie Fanatic is thinking yes because there is something about the big screen experience -- the collective oohs and ahs of watching a movie with a crowd -- that will bring fans to the Cineplex this October 31.

Let us know… would you see Ghostbusters back on the big screen in time for All Hallow’s Eve?

Contagion has struck fear in movie goers as it toppled The Help to win the box office this weekend. So, the film’s tagline appears to have worked: Nothing spreads like fear.

The film stars a slew of A-listers including Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne and Jude Law. The acting is top notch and the writing by Scott Z. Burns churns out some memorable lines we seek to revisit with the best Contagion quotes.

Dr. Ellis Cheever: Someone doesn’t have to weaponize the bird flu. The birds are doing that. | permalink

Thomas Emhoff: [Yelling] What are you talking about? What happened to her? What happened to her?! | permalink

Dr. Ian Sussman: Blogging isn’t writing. It’s graffiti with punctuation. | permalink

Dr. Erin Mears: The average person touches their face three to five times every waking minute. In between that we’re touching door knobs, water fountains, and each other. | permalink

Dr. Ellis Cheever: So, we have a virus with no treatment protocol, and no vaccine at this time. | permalink

After paying tribute to Pearl Jam in his documentary Pearl Jam 20, Cameron Crowe is set to return to pure cinematic storytelling with We Bought a Zoo. Crowe’s latest has debuted its trailer and poster. One thing is for sure after witnessing the preview: We’d visit Matt Damon’s zoo!

20th Century Fox has unveiled the first look trailer for the film that is based on the memoir by Benjamin Mee.

Damon plays a man who is struggling to make sense of the world after the death of his wife. Now a single father, he is lost and empty until the opportunity arises to buy the local zoo.

With Crowe’s gift of filmmaking (Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire, Say Anything), Movie Fanatic cannot wait to see his latest film that also stars Scarlett Johansson, Elle Fanning and Patrick Fugit (Crowe must adore the actor, who essentially played Crowe in Almost Famous).

The We Bought a Zoo trailer gives audiences a peek into how Damon and his family will pick up the pieces and take a rundown zoo and return it to prestige while simultaneously giving his family hope.

The film debuts December 23.

We Bought a Zoo Trailer

In a case of art imitating life, Sarah Jessica Parker is starring in I Don’t Know How She Does It as a woman balancing her career and small kids while trying to maintain a blissful marriage. Parker sat down recently to chat about the film and how her passion for the character Kate was so strong, she thought “she would be an excellent friend to have.”

 

In I Don’t Know How She Does It, SJP is married to Richard (Greg Kinnear) as the couple raises children while Parker’s Kate becomes increasingly more successful in her career. Parker knows all too well how to do the balancing act of her professional and personal life and she tells us, in many ways, that is what most drew her to the part.

Her insight into the role and the script based on the popular book by Allison Pearson is priceless, and don’t miss what she has to say about her co-star Pierce Brosnan. Parker is equally reflective, optimistic and all delightful as she dishes her latest movie project.

Movie Fanatic: What resonated with you about the script of I Don't Know How She Does It?

Sarah Jessica Parker: There was a lot that was resonant with me. I think specifically, there’s a few themes in the movie. The fact they were very grown up in a way because they were about people who are really in the thick of their lives. They’re not superheroes. They’re not heroic in any way. They’re not terrifically wealthy. They’re not on the margins. So, they’re telling a sort of everyman’s story to see what it is to be a working parent outside the home in this particular time. I think we are parents in a very specific way to our generation and there are a lot of complications that come with the choices that we are making. The story conveyed those complexities very, very well -- and did it in an amusing way. It brought in all sorts of opinions, I understood it. I related to the chaos. I related to the desire to manage the chaos. I related to the feeling of being a great failure. I related to the secret triumphs. All of it is very familiar to me and it will be too to a lot, a lot, a lot of women.

Movie Fanatic: Our parents’ generation had to make a choice between work and being at home. Do you think women today can have it all, or is it not so much of a choice anymore as much as it is a demand?

Sarah Jessica Parker: That is what our mothers told us, they wanted us to believe that we could have it all. I think it’s a worthwhile endeavor. You have to have reasonable expectations. That’s what Kate discovers over the course of the movie is that you have to reconcile that it will still be a mess. You can attempt. We should all have high expectations for ourselves and our children, but we should also be somewhat forgiving of our shortcomings.

Movie Fanatic: How familiar with the story from the book were you before delving into this production?

Sarah Jessica Parker: I actually hadn’t read the book. I think I’m one of the few who hadn’t [laughs]. Then, I was familiar with the book. I knew of the book and its great success in the UK and in this country as well. Then, I read the screenplay and I thought it was really beautiful. I knew that Aline (Brosh McKenna) had done a yeomen’s job of adapting the source material so [laughs], I have yet to read the book.


Movie Fanatic: But for you that’s understandable, you want to make the character your own based on the words on the page of the script, no?

Sarah Jessica Parker: I was a little afraid to read the book because books have this wonderful opportunity – there’s this luxury of time in books. Cinema doesn’t allow for that, we have a limited time to tell a story. I knew that there would be details that I couldn’t apply to my experience. I didn’t want to fall in love with things that we couldn’t put into the screenplay. Maybe that’s a foolish decision. I don’t know. [Laughs] That’s yet to be determined. But, I felt I was cleaner and more pure having solely the experience of the screenplay. I just loved the script.

Movie Fanatic: What most appealed to you about Kate?

Sarah Jessica Parker: She’s a great and admirable person. I love playing her. I feel deeply honored to have been chosen to portray her. I like her very much. She is a really good and decent person. There’s a sort of innocence to her approach to life. She’s a sophisticated working person in a competitive and intimidating field. But, there is a sort of innocence about her that is very appealing, meaning she’s really not cynical about life. She’s desperately hungry for big great experiences and challenges. I like that she’s kind to other women, even if her inner monologue is secretly cutting.

Movie Fanatic: So, how was working with one of our best James Bonds? How was Pierce Brosnan?

Sarah Jessica Parker: Great -- an absolute surprise. One could project a lot onto him prior to actually meeting him. I had worked with him before on Mars Attacks, but we didn’t get to have this kind of working experience then. It was much more brief. He was James Bond! He walks in the room with all this stuff you endow him with, the truth is he is, of course, very elegant and suave and debonair -- but he is a very sweet, kind, wanting to be a good man. There’s a vulnerability to him, which was a total surprise.

Johnny Depp is donning bleach-white makeup once again for director Tim Burton. After turns in Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, putting on the white face powder for Burton should be old hat for Depp (pun intended given his chapeau in the photo below!).

Movie Fanatic has obtained a photo from the U.K. set of Dark Shadows, and is it us or does he look a little bit like Michael Jackson late in life? But seriously, Depp in white makeup has had stellar results for Burton and judging by the built-in fan base of Dark Shadows, this go-around with Depp should be no different.

Dark Shadows is based on the wildly successful British soap series about Barnabas Collins, a vampire with a knack for battling various creatures of the supernatural. From ghosts to werewolves and witches, Collins battles them all.

The film is expected to be released in time for summer 2012. Filmmakers are eying the May 11 weekend specifically. Dark Shadows sports an excellent cast (when does a Burton film not?) including Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley, Burton’s longtime partner Helena Bonham Carter, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jonny Lee Miller.

Kudos to technology for taking what could be run of the mill movie posters and springing them to life as we’ve never seen. The latest The Darkest Hour one-sheet has done just that. Check out the motion poster for the Emile Hirsch alien invasion film below and let us know if it is not the coolest thing!


The Darkest Hour takes the alien invasion story and broadens the parameters. Instead of the United States being the subject of attack, the five young stars are in Moscow and it is Russia that earns the ire of aliens.

Hirsch stars in the Summit Entertainment film with Max Minghella (don’t miss our upcoming exclusive interview with him from Toronto for The Ides of March), Rachel Taylor, Joel Kinnaman and Olivia Thirlby in the film that arrives in theaters on Christmas Day. Merry Christmas indeed.

The Darkest Hour Motion Poster

As we hit the end of the summer movie season 2011, let’s look at who’s in the running for achieving the title of best film of the year. Thus far, it is been an interesting year on screen with inspiration and film fortitude coming from some surprising places. Now, as Movie Fanatic is in Toronto, home of the Toronto Film Festival (also known as the place that produces Oscar winners), we look back at the best that is the best before the films of fall take over and dominate the top ten of the year charts.

Thus, this list will likely contain few if any films that land on our best of 2011 list come year’s end as fall's films enthrall -- but you never know.

Best movies of 2011 (so far):

10. Super 8
Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams combine forces and they had us at hello. But, Super 8 actually delivers on so many levels. Abrams manages to pay tribute to Spielberg’s early work such as Close Encounters and E.T. while still crafting one of the most original stories of the summer.

9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
It is a rarity in film that a series as long as Harry Potter could reach a pleasing and satisfying end. David Yates did just that and more as Harry and his friends’ final battle against he who shall not be named was exhilarating and epic.

8. The Debt
The Debt possesses both tense action and is a politically important film. Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain are mirrors of each other as both exude an intense power as they play the same character, Rachel, thirty years apart. Chastain’s Rachel is a Mossad agent and part of a team who ventures into East Berlin to capture a Nazi war criminal. Mirren’s Rachel is still dealing with the ramifications of that mission as the truth could not only alter Rachel’s life, but Israeli history. 

7. Tie: African Cats and Born to be Wild
Nature films had two triumphs so far in 2011: African Cats arrived from Disney while Born to be Wild was one of Warner Bros’ most heartfelt films of the year. Each took audiences where no cameras have gone before -- inside the world of two women on opposite sides of the world who live to help orangutans and elephants in Born to be Wild and literally into the lion’s den in African Cats.

6. Midnight in Paris
Woody Allen didn’t have his highest grossing film of his illustrious career without it being an utter gem. Midnight in Paris is his best film in decades. If you had asked the legion of Woody Allen fans a year ago if Owen Wilson could embody an Allen film hero (most of his are modeled after his neurotic self), they would have scoffed. But in Midnight in Paris, Wilson channels his inner Allen perfectly. And Rachel McAdams plays against type and scores her best performance since The Notebook. The film is part love letter to Paris, part adoring tribute to the artists that inhabited the City of Lights in the 1920s and all Allen classic.

5. Jane Eyre
Starting with the casting, Jane Eyre scores. Mia Wasikowska is Jane Eyre and Michael Fassbender could not be a better choice to capture Charlotte Bronte’s literary legend of Mr. Rochester. Both Wasikowska and Fassbender deserve Oscar nominations for their portrayal of 19th century lovers whose journey to love is seriously complicated while incredibly emotionally compelling.

4. Bridesmaids
Seriously, I have not laughed so hard in a per minute manner over 90-plus minutes as in Bridesmaids. Judd Apatow has always killed in the laughs department, but he has yet to score with a cast solely made up of those of the female persuasion bringing the funny. Score one for him and the entire team that brought Bridesmaids to life, especially star and writer Kristen Wiig and her co-writer Annie Mumolo.

3. The Help
Sugar-coated history treatment of the American South of the early 1960s… maybe, but all a powerful time at the movies just the same. The Help was something of an anomaly in that it scored with both critics and audiences and should easily score a coveted Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

2. Beginners
Beginners is one of the most touching and endearing family relation films of the year. It is probably the best role Christopher Plummer has played in years as a man who, at 75, mourns the loss of his wife and comes out of the closet. Ewan McGregor is his son, someone possessing his own issues that arise from the loss of his mother. The pair make an impeccable father-son combination and will go down in our books as one of the greats.

1. Hanna
A Grimm fairy tale is not only featured as one of the locales in the film Hanna, it also serves as the film’s raison d’etre. Saoirse Ronan rivets as a child raised by Eric Bana for one thing: Freedom through revenge. The soundtrack by the Chemical Brothers is one of the year’s best and audiences, up until this point, will not have seen anything like it visually, sonically or performance wise all year.

So, we want to know: What are your favorite movies of the year so far?

Brett Ratner’s Tower Heist features an all-star cast and Universal has released the film’s first TV spot in anticipation of the film’s November 4 opening.

In Tower Heist, the staff of a luxury residence has been swindled by one of the richest men in the world, who also has been one of the building's most treasured residents (Alan Alda). Ben Stiller decides to connect with an old friend from his youth, played by Eddie Murphy, to set up a plan to rip off the swindler in his own home where he is rumored to keep his fortune.

Tower Heist’s cast includes Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, Tea Leoni, Michael Pena and Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe.

One can see why the Heist crew wants to steal from Alda’s Arthur Shaw. The building’s workers have invested their entire retirement and savings with his financier. Under house arrest for doing the same to hundreds of others, they swing into action to take back what is rightfully theirs.

Tower Heist TV Spot

The fourth Underworld film, Underworld: Awakening, has a release date and it cannot come soon enough. Kate Beckinsale and Len Wiseman’s latest collaboration will hit theaters in IMAX January 20, 2012.

The first Underworld film thrilled upon arrival in 2003 and took audiences inside the world of the battle of vampires against werewolves. Two more films rocked audiences, the last without Beckinsale. Now, the actress is back in her leather suit kicking butt and taking names.

Rory Bruer, Sony Pictures Releasing President of Worldwide Distribution, told The Hollywood Reporter why his company that owns the film’s studio Screen Gems was so thrilled about the Underworld world going so large. “Underworld is one of Screen Gems' most important franchises, so it's important to us to present the movie as its fans want to see it: on the IMAX screen,” Bruer said.

Underworld: Awakening follows Selene (Beckinsale) as she joins forces with her daughter to destroy a bio company before they can weaponize the enemies of vampires -- the Lycans.

Ryan Gosling commands the camera the second Drive begins. Although he says very little in the film’s first 20 minutes, Gosling’s impact is immense.

Gosling is Driver, a movie stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver for anyone who will hire him. The film commences with a scene featuring Gosling as the latter as he patiently awaits two people he is charged with driving away from a robbery of some sort. The clock ticks, the police sirens get ever closer and yet Gosling never flinches. Sure as the first man arrives out of the building, he sits in the backseat and becomes increasingly more anxious as seconds go by looking for his partner to emerge. It is clear in this first of the film’s many outstanding moments that Gosling not only commands this film, he owns it.

That fact is not a surprise since -- as Gosling told Movie Fanatic in our interview -- the actor was integral in the film’s development. With director Nicolas Winding Refn on board, the duo crafted a moment in cinema for 2011 that is one of the best. It crackles with excitement, but what makes Drive so delicious is how its quieter moments only enhance the action.

Gosling’s Driver lives in an apartment down the hall from Irene (Carey Mulligan). They run into each other in the building a few times, but it is underplayed and the pair don’t truly meet until Irene’s car needs work which lands her at the mechanic shop where Gosling works. His boss, played with usual panache by Bryan Cranston, offers his employee's services in driving Irene home since it’s clear the two know each other. The spark of romance is hinted at, but immediately hindered by the fact that Irene has a husband, and he will be out of jail soon.

What happens next is a barrage of emotional power, sizzling action sequences and acting performances that blew us away. Cranston is fabulous, but stealing scenes left and right is funny man Albert Brooks. His gangster is so frightening that audiences suddenly feel threatened merely by the sight of the actor in any scene. Also up for the fight is the always awesome Ron Perlman.

As Refn weaves his tale, the crescendo of the film comes through an impending triangle of confrontation with Gosling, Perlman and Brooks -- where the result will leave audiences breathless.

Drive is unlike anything audiences have seen in a very long time. In many ways, it feels like a 1980s film with its title treatment and score. Yet it is also timeless in its ability to create a story that is compelling in its own right, regardless of the date stamp. The film is powerful and yes, violent. But the violence on screen perpetrated by the film’s characters is ingrained in their DNA and therefore, never over the top given who these characters are.

What also rocked in Drive was how the filmmakers made the city of Los Angeles a character. It is established early that Gosling’s character knows the over 100,000 streets of the city -- something priceless in a getaway driver. Some may think that Drive is another Transporter type film. It is not even in the same field of vision.

Drive is driven by character, cinematography and yes, drive that makes it so much more than a movie centered on a man who must always drive away. In fact, viewers are drawn into Gosling’s world and held there by a well edited, astoundingly acted and impressively put together piece of enduring cinema. 

The Thing has a special place in our mind’s eye as it was one of our first truly terrifying experiences at the cinema. John Carpenter took the simplest of concepts -- an alien force slowly taking over a crew of individuals at an Arctic outpost -- and made it drip with uncanny horror. Fast forward to 2011 and audiences are set to return to the frozen tundra for a new batch of The Thing terror.

Universal has released a new TV spot for their Thing remake-prequel. The clip certainly shows quite a bit, in fact some have said it gives away too much. But in the context of this spot, this is nothing new in the horror genre. For decades they have shown everything but the kitchen sink in their trailers, yet the horror is still crisp when the film is screened. For that, we can thank context. Searing images put together out of a timeline do not take away too much from the experience. But, when those images are seen within the confines of the story with characters we are now attached to as they go through their horror, that is a different story.

The Thing has come a long way since the 1981 Carpenter version. For one thing, the special effects are now CGI. You can debate whether that is a good thing or not, but for now… simply sit back and enjoy The Thing 2011. And yes, the dog is still in the picture!

The Thing TV Spot

Writer-director Rod Lurie made politics thrilling in The Contender. For his latest project to write and direct, Lurie chose to revisit a Sam Peckinpah classic -- Straw Dogs -- with James Marsden stepping into the shoes of Dustin Hoffman from the 1971 original.

Lurie’s Straw Dogs mirrors the original’s premise where a well-to-do couple moves to a rural town in the Deep South. Where Hoffman was a New York intellectual in Peckinpah’s film, Marsden is a Hollywood screenwriter while his wife -- as embodied by Kate Bosworth -- is a local who moved to Tinseltown and became a big TV star. They have arrived in a Mississippi that is clearly still reeling from Katrina.

The community still hangs onto a pecking order that emanates from what happens each Friday night on the high school football field. To say that Marsden’s David Sumner and Bosworth's Amy Sumner are met instantly with Southern hospitality misses the undercurrent completely onscreen. The two arrive in town in their classic convertible Jaguar. In the film's first moments, we learn that this is where Amy grew up and she is only returning to get her father’s house in order as he has just passed away.

Although Alexander Skarsgard’s Charlie Venner is soft spoken, accommodating and established as an ex-boyfriend of Amy, his character is welcoming -- yet slightly passive aggressive.

Skarsgard gives simmering glares that give the audience credence to believe he is not as good as his charming drawl and demeanor. The yin to Skarsgard’s yang is Marsden. He is equally as awkward as he is assertive. Not necessarily a successful combination when traversing through rural Mississippi.

Lurie is bold for even attempting to remake a Sam Peckinpah film. The controversy in 1971 that followed the director’s work centered on his film’s violence, specifically towards women. Lurie alters the scene a bit -- just a bit.

When redoing a classic film, especially one that stoked fires of debate, it is hardly ever a triumphant endeavor. That is like capturing lightning in a bottle twice. But Lurie is not trying to achieve that milestone with his Straw Dogs. His is a Straw Dogs of 2011 and as such it is deeply visual in its power. There is plenty wrong with the film, not the least of which is, when is someone from the South going to stand up and proclaim these hillbilly horror movies do not reflect the fine people of that area? Also, the surliness of the villains is seen a mile away. With the landscape crafted by Straw Dogs, the enemy should be more subtle in his or her approach.

The climactic conclusion to Straw Dogs sears with its images and suspense, yet fails to argue why a certain character has made a life-defining decision that seems out of left field.

Credit to Marsden and Skarsgard for their performances, both actors deserve their time in the spotlight. That is what Straw Dogs has going for it most, two actors in a duel to the death that alone is worth the price of admission.

Did the Peckinpah classic need to be remade? As his film showcased Hoffman’s gifts, so too does Lurie’s for Marsden and Skarsgard. For that alone, like a good stage play produced dozens of times, the audience receives a gift that is actors at their best, bringing a compelling story to life.

With the re-release of The Lion King in theaters September 16, Disney has taken one of their classics and put it through the 3D conversion process. The question immediately arises: Will audiences line up once again like they did when the film first debuted and became an instant iconic story? We’re betting yes.

The Lion King first arrived in 1994 and immediately charmed audiences with its story of Simba, who heads into exile with immense guilt after the death of his father.

The soundtrack was incredible, led by a score by Hans Zimmer. The cast was divine, led by Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Jim Cummings, Nathan Lane and Jeremy Irons. The production value, impeccable -- for instance, the stampede sequence took over five years to film.

Movie Fanatic believes whether audiences return to the cinema to see a film most have on Blu-Ray or DVD has little to do with the 3D conversion. Prior to the home video format, Disney had long taken films from their vaults and released them in theaters. This is textbook Walt Disney, the 3D conversion is simply a bonus -- a new way to see an old classic.

The question still remains and we want to know: Will you go see it?

Chris Pratt is visiting with Movie Fanatic in Toronto at the city’s film fest and he could not be more pleased with his career-making role in the Brad Pitt starring Moneyball. Pratt hits the perception of his acting talents out of the park as Scott Hatteberg, a member of the surprising Oakland A’s that General Manager Billy Beane (Pitt) put together after losing Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon to free agency (the Yankees and Red Sox, respectively).

Pratt has been stealing scenes from episode one on NBC’s hit Parks and Recreation, opposite Amy Poehler. And now he is set to make a name of himself in Moneyball, starring with Jonah Hill and Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman.

As Movie Fanatic is as well, Pratt is beyond thrilled to be at the Toronto Film Festival. In our exclusive video interview, he talks about working across Brad Pitt, putting on the Major League Baseball uniform and having a jaw-dropping moment as well as having the chance to, on screen, live out every little boy’s dream.

Pratt is innately gifted in comedy, as he has shown in Parks and Rec, but also films such as Take Me Home Tonight and the upcoming What’s Your Number, both starring opposite his real life wife, Anna Faris. Upcoming, besides the new season of Parks and Rec, Pratt has scored a part on the highly anticipated comedy The Five-Year Engagement with Jason Segel, Community’s Alison Brie and The Office’s Mindy Kaling.

Moneyball: Chris Pratt Exclusive Video Q&A

Sarah Jessica Parker leaves her usual cinematic confines of New York City for I Don’t Know How She Does It, set in Boston. Parker portrays Kate, a wife and mother of small children with a flourishing career that leads to the title question. Audiences' question will be: Is How She Does It an entertaining visit to the theater?

If you feel as if this movie has been done before, it is probably because it has in various incarnations with diverse stars and situations. But in many ways, this is a situational comedy done differently.

The film is based on the book by Allison Pearson that was a runaway success. Like Confessions of a Shopaholic and Something Borrowed before it, the film will unfortunately disappoint those looking for an onscreen explosion worthy of the big screen treatment of a book they adore. But, that is not to say that I Don’t Know How She Does It the movie is without merit.

Parker is her usual affable self. We can think of no other actress that would have been perfect for the part. She is Kate in every way. The supporting cast around her is also up for the challenge of bringing a popular book to the big screen. Greg Kinnear turns in one of his best performances of his career as Parker’s husband, who too is struggling with how to do it all while still finding peace and happiness in life. Pierce Brosnan brings his stellar swagger to the role of a business associate of Parker’s and seems to delight with his time on screen. Brosnan is fantastic in a supporting role and kudos for him for not seeking the limelight -- as he easily could -- in each scene he inhabits.

The supporting cast beyond Kinnear and Brosnan also delight. Busy Philipps (Cougartown) and Christina Hendricks (Mad Men, and much better used in Drive) both add layers to the film that are much needed. Less utilized is Olivia Munn as the overworked assistant to Parker.

Although used for story movement, the use of Parker’s voice-over in the film recalls her narration on Sex and the City, with a lot less effect. Oftentimes filmmakers will use such devices to move the plot when the storyline is established by a book. On film, it is difficult to get inside characters' heads and narration is an easy fix. That’s exactly the problem. I Don’t Know How She Does It doesn’t need easy solutions. The book it’s based on is a phenomenon and there had to be enough exposition throughout the novel to not have to rely on Parker's voice-over that feels like a crutch.

The plus points in I Don’t Know How She Does It are the performers. Parker, Kinnear, Brosnan and the supporting cast are a joy to watch. The script they have to work with, unfortunately, fails them and makes the film a passable comedy that could have been so much more.

How perfect, or purrfect, was Antonio Banderas to play Puss in Boots in the Shrek series? And now, we could not be more thrilled to have the sword-wielding kitty have his own film, appropriately titled Puss in Boots. The little cat that could has released a new poster that also introduces a few of his sidekicks.

Banderas is Puss in Boots in a new adventure that takes audiences back in time, long before Puss met Shrek.

The fiery feline gets into action with the frailest of co-horts in Puss in Boots, Humpty Dumpty, as well as a take no prisoners kitty to fight for justice.

Humpty is voiced by Zach Galifianakis with the new feline companion to Puss portrayed by the always awesome Salma Hayek.

Puss in Boots arrives in theaters November 4.

Relativity is releasing a fascinating upcoming film that has Movie Fanatic’s attention peaked. We adore anything Edgar Allen Poe and to hear that John Cusack (one of our favorite actors) is playing the iconic writer in The Raven, color us excited. The studio has given us a photo from the upcoming film of Alice Eve in her period costume best. Read on for more riveting details from the upcoming film.

The Raven stars Luke Evans, inhabiting a Baltimore detective hot on the trail of a serial killer who is using the author’s writings as inspiration for his murder spree. Feeling somewhat responsible, Cusack’s Poe joins the investigation hoping to use his knowledge of his work to stop the killer before he strikes again.

The title of the film of course arises from one of Poe’s most famous works and if the film is half as gripping as Poe’s prose, audiences are in for one incredible thrill ride.

The Raven arrives in theaters March 9, 2012 with Brendan Gleeson also starring.