This is it, with The Messenger in theaters, the time for possible Oscar films has begun! First time director and co-writer Oren Moverman shows us how to make a movie with his debut film, which is as subtle and beautiful as it is poignant and dramatic. From an amazing script, to beautiful performances he has unknowingly made himself Oscar-bait.

Check out our interview below…

The Players

• Director: Oren Moverman
• Writer: Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon
• Cast: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone

The Plot

“You always shoot the messenger.” When someone dies fighting in combat today they no longer send a message but a messenger to deliver the news. In the film one solider (Foster), who was recently been pulled from battle, is paired up with seasoned officer (Harrelson) to do possibly the hardest job in the army, inform people that their loved have been killed. The young solider gets in trouble when he becomes involved with a widow of a fallen officer (Morton).

The Good

• The Script: One of the best scripts I’ve seen all year. Every moment has a reason, each scene pushes another plot point in the story, and they never rely on cliches to get where they’re going. Every moment feels organic and makes for a series of dramatic and yet nuanced performances
• Simple Shots: As the director told us in our interview with him, often it would just be him and a cameraman in the room recording the performance. As a result, nothing felt staged, it felt like you were a part of the drama taking place. His choice to have all the message delivery scenes done in one shot again make you feel like what you’re watching is honest and real, and adds to the emotions of the scene.
• Ben Foster: Finally he gets the chance to lead a great film. His portrayal of his characters is the perfect mix of intensity and yet vulnerability. You understand where he’s been and the pain of trying to adapt to his new laugh without him ever trying to show it.
• Whole Cast: Woody Harrelson gave a serious and heartfelt performance that we’ve never truly seen from him before. He was even quoted saying that this first film where he truly cried on camera. Samantha Morton was gracious and beautiful, gave the story heart with what looked like no effort at all.
• The Music: Completely understated, as it needed to be to match the performances and the style of filmmaking.
• Directing: Honestly, everything that I’ve mentioned comes down to good directing. There are a million things that can go wrong with a movie, but this is one of the few times when everything went right.

The Bad:

• I got nothing.

Overall

From start to finish this is a great film and I can only hope it receives the recognition it deserves come Oscar time. I highly recommend it for the holiday season, it has enough humor to keep you from feeling like it’s a “downer” and leaves you appreciating what you have in front of you.

Rating: 9.7/10

Photo Gallery

The Messenger will be released in a limited amount of theaters on November 13

Watch the trailer below…

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The first official trailer for the Sundance hit, The Messenger has been released by Oscilloscope Laboratories. The film stars Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster, Samantha Morton, and Jena Malone as a group of people dealing with the after effects of the Iraq war. A couple of weeks ago we brought you the first poster for the film, which was just as depressing as its subject matter, and the following trailer magnifies that tenfold.

Take a look at the first trailer for The Messenger…

Here are some of the plot details…

In his most powerful performance to date, Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband’s death, Will’s emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival.

The Messenger marks the directorial debut of Oren Moverman, and will be released on November 13th.

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The sci-fi epic John Carter of Mars just infused three more talented actors into it’s casting pool. Today must be a good day for HBO alumni because Dominic West, Polly Walker, and Samantha Morton have all signed on to star in John Carter. The film will be produced by Disney, and directed by Wall-E’s Andrew Stanton. More on the actors and their roles below.

John Carter of Mars is based off of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books of the same name. Carter is an injured Civil War vet who mysteriously finds himself transported to the planet Mars. Taylor Kitsch has been cast as the title character, his love interest will be played by Lynn Collins, and Willem Defoe will star as his right hand man.

According Empire, “Morton will be playing Dafoe’s daughter Sola, West will play the villainous Sab Than of the Zodangans, who believes he ought to be ruling Mars. And Walker will star as Sarkoja, an aggressive Thark. In the books, the Tharks are green and have four arms.”

Today’s HBO connection is out of control. Stephen Moyer from the series True Blood just joined the film Priest, now stars from The Wire (West) and Rome (Walker) also got movie deals. Both actors were featured on shows that never got the credit they deserved. At least their talented casts are making strides in feature films. Production on John Carter of Mars will start early next year in Utah.

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