ScreenCrave.com » the messenger

Call To Action: Get Ben Foster Nominated

Mali Elfman — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:39:11 +0000

I mean no disrespect for the incredible actors who have recently been nominated for Best Actor in all of the critics choice awards, SAG awards, and Golden Globes. But I do feel like someone has been left out… As always, there seems to be a million different awards to win, and yet the same people keep getting nominated over and over again. For the most part I agree with everyone who has been selected and re-selected for Best Actor except for one person… Ben Foster.

He gave one of the most subtle and yet strong performances of the year in The Messenger and has received no love for it. His co-star Woody Harrelson, got nominated for both a SAG award, a Golden Globe and others, and although his performance was great, it was Foster who lead the movie and made it what it was.

Ben Foster is not a house-hold name, and perhaps that’s what is standing in his way. To me it seems insane that Woody could get nominated and not Ben for the same film. As the army would say “all for one.” If you take one great performance, you have to take the other.

So I am starting a petition for everyone who thinks Ben Foster deserves to be nominated alongside his co-star Woody Harrelson, for his outstanding performance in Oren Moverman’s film The Messenger.

All those who are with me, vote for him below and leave a comment below saying that you think Foster should be nominated!

Everything you send will be give to the movie’s publicists and they will send it out and begin the movement to get Foster nominated! You can make a difference! Do so now!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

For more on The Messenger read our review of the film, our interview with Ben Foster himself, watch our interview with the director Oren Moverman, and check out the trailer below…

Movie Releases: 2012, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Pirate Radio…

Kara Stanford-Jones — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:36:19 +0000

We have quite the coverage this week. We literally have interviews and reviews for every movie coming out from Roland Emmerich’s 2012 to Women in Trouble. Then there is the more family friendly, but still fun for the adults, Fantastic Mr. Fox by Wes Anderson. Pirate Radio is the a comedy with an all-star cast about the radio stations in the 60′s that set up shop off the British coast. There are quite a couple of indie movies coming out this week, but they’re definitely worth checking to see if they are playing near you.

Check out all the movies hitting theaters this week with reviews and interviews…

2012 | ScreenCrave Review | Press Conference | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
Fantastic Mr. Fox [Limited] | ScreenCrave Review | Reviews | Tickets an Showtimes
Pirate Radio | ScreenCrave Review | Nick Frost Interview | Talulah Riley Interview | Tom Sturridge Interview | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
The Messenger [Limited] | ScreenCrave Review | Oren Moverman Interview | Ben Foster Interview | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
Dare [Limited] | Adam Salky and David Brind Interview | ScreenCrave Review | Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes
Women in Trouble [Limited] | ScreenCrave Review| Reviews | Tickets and Showtimes

Watch the trailers below…

2012

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Pirate Radio

The Messenger

Dare

Women in Trouble

VOTD: Woody Harrelson Goes Bald for The Troops

Krystal Clark — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:39:24 +0000

Woody Harrelson is taking his role as a soldier in this week’s The Messenger very seriously. The actor recently appeared on the hit Comedy Central show, The Colbert Report to promote the movie and support the troops. To show his patriotism, he allowed host Stephen Colbert to shave his head, while they both performed a unique rendition of the National Anthem.

Check out the video below…

There are a few things that can be said about this video. One of them is the surprising harmony that these two have going on. Stephen carries the higher notes quite well, which is very unexpected. Secondly, Harrelson has been known to have short hair, or a shaved head in the past so is this really a stretch? He’s not treading any unknown territory with this “new” do.

To be fair, the fact that he willingly got in a chair with Colbert and some clippers shows his dedication to a good cause. The actor appears in the indie drama The Messenger, about two soldiers who are the bearer’s of bad news to countless families by informing them of a loved one’s death. The film’s directed by Oren Moverman and is scheduled to hit theaters today.

Check out Woody and Colbert in action:

What do you think about about Woody’s patriotic gesture?

The Messenger: Movie Review

Kara Stanford-Jones — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:34:18 +0000

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…

Video Interview: Oren Moverman for The Messenger

Mali Elfman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:57:18 +0000

First time director and co-writer Oren Moverman shows us how to make a movie with his debut film The Messenger. With one of the best scripts I’ve seen all year laying the groundwork, by the time I start talking about the performances they are like a cherry on top of a perfect sundae.

Moverman tells a touching and poignant story about war without using any manipulation or cliches. His choice to have Ben Foster lead the film was dead on, and as he says in the interview below, he knew from the first moment he first saw him that we was the man for the job. Foster proves him right and manages to give one of his most powerful performance of the year in the film. Fellow actors Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton also only add to the magic.

Watch our interview with Oren about making the film below…

Warning: He is a soft talker, so be prepared to turn those speaks up to the max.

The Messenger is in theaters November 13th, be sure to check it out!

Further Reading:

Interview: Ben Foster for The Messenger

Mali Elfman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:08:36 +0000

A while ago, Ben Foster strutted his stuff in 3:10 to Yuma, stealing moments from both Christian Bale and Russel Crowe and I’ve been waiting for him to lead a film ever since. In writer/director Oren Moverman’s film The Messenger, he finally gets his chance and he in no way disappoints.

Talking to him, you realize that he’s an old school actor who relies on preparation and acting techniques to get him where he’s going. There’s no doubt that he will be seeing some Oscar love in the coming months for his performance in this film. Not only is the script and the overall story amazing, but there is something about Fosters intensity and yet innocence that has you entranced from the opening shot until the credits role.

But enough gushing, lets find let Foster speak for himself…

This character is quite intense, how did you get into character and inhabit such a difficult role?

Ben Foster: It was a very dense experience. Certainly that allowed the most time for research and sinking into something that the resource is endless. We went to Walter Reid. We met on a train going to Walter Reid and spent time in the amputee ward. That was a very harrowing experience. It was the first time at least for myself that I had seen the results of war in a very visceral way. The place is a remarkable facility but it was the first time that I saw the face of warfare outside of magazines, the statistics, the chilling numbers. You see these boys and girls, children with missing legs and burned up pretty bad and their attitude was so positive. When they would ask, ‘What are we doing here? Why are you saying hi?’ Sheepishly we were saying that we were making a film about casualty notification officers. They would say, ‘Oh, man. I would rather go back into combat than do that.’ You take that with you into filming, a sense of service to these men and women rather than yourself. Even what you might call a dramatic scene, a big scene within the structure of the film, say I wanted to nail it, it was more I want to serve you guys and get out of my own way.

Why do you play such broken people so well?

BF: I think we all feel like that at some point, right? A little lost, got a lot of feelings, don’t know where to put ‘em. There’s not a strategy behind it. It’s just when you read something and there’s a physical reaction to it and there are questions within that physical reaction and pictures start coming and those pictures frighten you, that always feels like it’s something that needs to be pursued. Getting the opportunity to ask questions about things that scare you is something that is exciting. I suppose drama is conflict. We’ve all felt wounded and I don’t know. I don‘t really know why but I don’t really think about it in those terms. I’m certainly reading all types of scripts and would love to do something frothy.

How much backstory do you fill in on these characters?

BF: If I can’t see it, I can’t feel it. So a lot of prep time is based around gathering information, research, spending time with people that maybe have lived similar experiences and walking, and letting these pictures and these experiences be it books, documentaries, stories and letting it bleed into your own ‘What if it was me?’ Walking for whatever reason has always been a great tool for taking it out of the intellectual, getting it into the body, getting it into an unconscious place and it begins to realize itself. It develops. Keeping journal entries has been a useful tool. I’ll give you an example of what was it like when Will got hit? And filling in details that are not in the script allow these pictures to be more realized in my head.

It’s not “oh, this would be cool if…” it’s this is an image and you can find these images anywhere, or songs. This is a song that reminds me of a feeling, it feels like something, and start gathering. It creates an inner life that can be drawn from and is drawn from when I feel most lost. Drawing from these images takes me out of my head of trying to construct something that isn’t there. It gives it permission to be with the other actors and not force it.

There’s a ground that’s been laid. It’s like well, that’s what – - and when we lose ourselves and we draw on these pictures, we just have to become more specific. Well, if it was this, this, this, this, what do the senses tell you? What does smoke smell like? What does the earth feel like. Did you hear a creaking sound? What does that sound remind you of? You just build this mental tapestry. It’s a place that you can kind of go to. That makes – - there are many doors to go about it but unless that landscape is created, particularly for something like this which is so specific, I can’t really operate.

In your research, had the procedure for contacting next of kin changed over the years?

BF: Over the past eight years it’s changed a bit I think. They go with a chaplain now. I think so. I’m pretty sure that that’s where we fudged. It’s developed over the past eight years, casualty notifications, because there have been so many notifications made in the past eight years. And the army is intending to refine an impossible task.

And there’s another step after the notification?

BF: There will be someone who comes after the notification that handles the organization of the funeral. There’s a follow-up following that and I guess you could call it also its own theater. There’s a script that the soldiers follow which is a strange metaphor to the theater of war. There are spooky parallels.

Which got tougher and tougher for your character to follow.

BF: Well, it’s all about connecting. The film hopefully is about connecting. His character, there’s a lot of name and form in the film. It’s not particularly, not all of it planned. Captain Stone has a hard of stone. O-LIVE-ia. And Will was taken from Walter Reid after meeting a soldier there who left a print on all of us.

Have any servicemen seen the film and have you spoken to them?

BF: There was a fantastic thing that happened the other night in Savannah which was really surprising. We all went to Hunter, the war base, and that was remarkable meeting the families, pregnant wives asking for Woody to sign a f***ing Twinkie and it meant the world to them. You start seeing these values and saying, ‘I’m going to send it to my husband who left this morning at 2:30 in the morning. He’s going to love it.’

There was one soldier that came in full fatigues. I can’t repeat what he said but it just went online the other day. It’s the only thing in the article where a single soldier stood up who had been in combat and spoke. It’s about a page and a half long and this seems to be the consistent reaction is that they’re grateful in a way that we’re not sugar coating. We’re not giving an easy answer. We’re not giving a political agenda. We’re just saying, ‘Okay, these are human beings. This is what they do. Yes, they’re brave but they’re also human beings’ and dealing with the difficult circumstance. But they are still looking to connect and they don’t have a language, a vocabulary with their family who didn’t go and see it so they’re very isolated. So to see people who lovingly, but show it warts and all, that we’re all trying to figure it out and make relationships, love, make friendships, connect again, is difficult but possible. The gratitude has been overwhelming.

Check out The Messenger in theaters November 13th.

The Messenger Official Trailer

Krystal Clark — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:09:04 +0000

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.

What do you think of the trailer for The Messenger?

Woody Harrelson in The Messenger Poster

Krystal Clark — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:32:16 +0000

A new poster has been released for the Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster film, The Messenger. The film is the directorial debut of screenwriter Oren Moverman, and co-stars Samantha Morton and Jena Malone. The Messenger is an Iraq-based war drama that centers on the men who have the unbearable task of telling families that their relatives have died in war.

Take a look at the grim poster for The Messenger…

Another interesting twist in the storyline has to do with the partnership of Harrelson and Foster. According to Cinematical, their characters can’t stand each other. When you take this type of job, and compound it with an annoying co-worker, the drama will ensue. On his journey from house to house, Foster’s character also falls in love with one of the widows of a fallen soldier. The Messenger has made its rounds on various festival circuits, including Sundance, and has received many positive reviews.

The Messenger hits theaters on November 13th.

What do you think of the poster for The Messenger?

Source: Cinematical

Comic-Con 2009 Video: Woody Harrelson Talks The Messenger

Mali Elfman — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:52:11 +0000

During the press conference for Zombieland (watch videos) Woody Harrleson answered a question about his upcoming film The Messenger by up and coming director Oren Moverman. So far, there are whispers that Harrelson’s performance could earn him an Oscar nod by the end of the year. The film itself has already won two awards at the Berlin Film Festival and anyone who has seen, raves about it.

The story is about “an American soldier struggles with an ethical dilemma when he becomes involved with a widow of a fallen officer.”

Check out what he had to say about the film below…

ScreenCrave.com » the messenger

Call To Action: Get Ben Foster Nominated

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The Messenger: Movie Review

The Players

The Plot

The Good

The Bad:

Overall

Rating: 9.7/10

Photo Gallery

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