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As that classic media intro says, “return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear”, for this new release is set in the old West. This was a classic backdrop for so many films, going back over one hundred years to The Great Train Robbery, but the Western has become a rarity in the last decade or so. Recent attempts at big budget revivals like Cowboys & Aliens and last Summer’s reboot of The Lone Ranger were box office sinkholes. But happily, more modestly budgeted independent films have taken up the reins. One of the stars that seems quite at ease on horseback is Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones, so it was no great surprise that his feature film directing debut nine years ago was a modern-day Western, The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada. For his film making return Jones has gone back, nearly a century and a half, to...

Chicago – In Tommy Lee Jones’ passion project “The Homesman,” the wild west provides a vivid setting for a battle in man’s endless war against women, as the film firmly occupying a genre strictly known for cowboys and pioneer machismo. It’s a sorrowful western from actor/writer/director Jones that often shines in its twilight, hoping to slightly reconcile the maltreatment unleashed on half of the world’s most powerful species.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Living outside standard domestic criteria of a developing America in the mid 1800s is Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank), a woman without a spouse or a child, who only takes care of herself and her giant farm. When three extremely psychologically-disturbed women are in need of transport to a hospital up north where they can receive help, Mary Bee volunteers to take on the journey, despite the town initially requiring that a man lead the expedition.

Meanwhile,...

The Homesman

Written for the screen by Tommy Lee Jones, Kieran Fitzgerald, and Wesley A. Oliver

Directed by Tommy Lee Jones

France/USA, 2014

“That’s all there is, there ain’t no more.”

Set during the pioneer era, The Homesman subverts the usual trajectory of westerns set in this time by instead focusing on a journey from what will eventually become Nebraska territory in the West to more Eastern Iowa, wherein defeat via the frontier is a primary concern, whether it be a defeat of the mind, body, soul, or all together. Director Tommy Lee Jones’s last theatrically released film was The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005), a contemporary neo-western with shades of Sam Peckinpah in its flavour. The Homesman may have the set dressing of a more traditional, old-school genre entry, but this film, adapted from Glendon Swarthout’s 1988 novel, is much more offbeat than one might expect.

This weekend’s onslaught of smaller new films will have awards contenders and big names to jostle with at the box office. Awards hopefuls Foxcatcher and The Homesman begin their theatrical runs in limited New York and L.A. rollouts, with the former a likely winner in the first weekend when the numbers come in Sunday. The films from Sony Pictures Classics and Roadside Attractions, respectively, tell particularly American stories, though from very different eras. The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart took time off in 2013 to work on his directorial debut. Open Road’s Rosewater, starring Gael García Bernal, will begin its theatrical rollout this weekend. It will be the biggest opener of this weekend’s cadre of specialty newcomers, playing in several hundred locations in the U.S. and Canada. Actor Chris Lowell also makes his filmmaking launch with Beside Still Waters. The project had smooth sailing until it came time for distribution,...

Jumping Claims: Jones’ Attempt at Revisionist Western Withers Under its Own Intentions

Try as it might, The Homesman, Tommy Lee Jones’ first directorial effort since his 2005 film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, fails to deliver an accurate rendering of the miserable plight of women in the Old West. While some are sure to embrace the superficial revisionist attempt at providing us with a feminist subtext, Jones actually manages to accomplish the opposite with a film that only highlights a male perspective’s well-meaning but misguided interpretation of a story about women. As it completely sells out on its main female protagonist, it’s clear that the project is merely a vanity piece where a multitude of characters are only utilized to compliment his presence, as well as a moment of convenient (and false pathos).

A thirty one year old spinster, Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank) is a rare example...

The Homesman Roadside Attractions and Saban Films Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes. Grade: B+ Director: Tommy Lee Jones Screenwriter: Tommy Lee Jones, Kieran Fitzgerald, Wesley A. Oliver, based on Glendon Swarthout’s novel Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, Grace Gummer, Mirando Otto, Sonja Richter, Hailee Steinfeld, James Spader, Meryl Streep Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 11/4/14 Opens: November 14, 2014 Say what you will about the problems of American aviation—miserable leg room, terrible food (if food is even served), cancellations, bad scheduling, delays—if you were around in 1854 you’d say “Where is Jet Blue now that we need it (and we’ll accept it with all [ Read More ]

The post The Homesman Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Having received a warm reception at Cannes 2014 in May, The Homesman will be hitting theaters stateside in a prime awards season spot - November 14th.

In his Variety’s review, critic Peter Debruge wrote, the film is a “sturdy cross-country Western.”

The Homesman stars Academy Award-winners Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank, with a supporting cast featuring Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Sonja Richter, Tim Blake Nelson, Academy Award-nominees John Lithgow and Hailee Steinfeld, James Spader and Academy Award-winner Meryl Streep.

When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank). Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones), to join her.

The unlikely pair and the three women (Grace Gummer,...

Haim Saban announced today that after launching Saban Films last week the company has acquired North American distribution rights to Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones’ The Homesman, starring Jones and Academy Award winner Hilary Swank, with a supporting cast featuring Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Sonja Richter, Academy Award nominee Hailee Steinfeld, James Spader and Academy Award winner Meryl Streep.

The story centers around a claim jumper and a pioneer woman who team up to escort three insane women from Nebraska to Iowa.

In his Cannes review, Todd McCarthy’s (THR) writes: “In what’s probably her best big screen role since Million Dollar Baby, Swank is obliged to keep Mary Bee’s emotions in tight check, but the pain her valiant character bottles up emerges in piercing flashes to lasting effect. Jones’ scalawag is a man on the run from everything he’s ever done in his life, and...

Cannes -- Looking ahead to awards season, the newly launched Saban Films has snapped up North American rights to Tommy Lee Jones' The Homesman, which had its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18. Producer Brian Kennedy and CAA brokered the deal, which was upwards of $3 million, according to insiders. Several other suitors circled the film, including Sony Pictures Classics. A key element was a commitment to mount an awards campaign. Photos: The Party Scene at Cannes 2014 Directed by and starring Jones -- who also wrote the screenplay with Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley A. Oliver --

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Welcome back to Cannes Check, In Contention's annual preview of the films in Competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 14. Taking on different selections every day, we'll be examining what they're about, who's involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Jane Campion's jury. Next up, one of the starrier entries in the lineup: Tommy Lee Jones' "The Homesman." The director: Tommy Lee Jones (American, 67 years old). Well, you know -- it's Tommy Lee Jones. The Texas-born, Harvard-educated actor began his acting career on Broadway, and landed his first film role in the 1970 smash "Love Story" before beginning a five-year stint on the soap opera "One Life to Live." His big-screen breakthrough came in the 1980 Oscar winner "Coal Miner's Daughter"; he picked up an Emmy for one of several TV movies he made in the decade, and his first Oscar nod in 1992 for "JFK.

The first trailer for writer/director Tommy Lee Jones' sophomore theatrical feature "The Homesman," an all-American Western starring Hilary Swank, Meryl Streep and Jones himself, has landed. Watch below. Adapted from the Glendon Swarthout's 1988 novel about a man-of-the-land and a pioneer woman who team up to escort three troubled women from Nebraska to Iowa, this is Jones' directorial followup to "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" (2005) and it costars James Spader, Hailee Steinfeld, Tim Blake Nelson, William Fichtner and Jesse Plemons. Written by Jones, Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley Oliver, "The Homesman"'s stateside release date is forthcoming.

Over the course of a career spanning over 40 years, Tommy Lee Jones has garnered critical and commercial acclaim for performances in films such as Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Fugitive, Black Moon Rising, and No Country For Old Men. Many fans of the actor were excited to learn that he was stepping behind the camera once again, following his directorial debut in 2005. Titled The Homesman, Jones takes on co-writing duties along with directing duties, penning the script with Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley A. Oliver. Jones also stars in the film alongside Hilary Swank, Hailee Steinfeld, John Lithgow, James Spader, and Meryl Streep. The first trailer for the film has now been released, and can be seen below.

(Source: Collider)

The post ‘The Homesman’, the newest directorial effort from Tommy Lee Jones, releases its first trailer appeared first on Sound On Sight.

The first trailer for Tommy Lee Jones' latest, The Homesman , is now online and viewable in the player below. The international trailer arrives courtesy of EuropaCorp . Writing alongside Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley A. Oliver, Jones brings to the screen the novel by Glendon Swarthout with an ensemble cast that also includes Hilary Swank, Meryl Streep, James Spader, John Lithgow, Tim Blake Nelson, David Dencik, Hailee Steinfeld and Jesse Plemons. The Homesman , which is currently without a domestic release date, sees an untrustworthy man and a spinster school teacher team up to transport three women deemed crazy via ox-drawn wagon across the Western plains.

The Homesman

Director: Tommy Lee Jones

Writers: Kieran Fitzgerald, Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley A. Oliver

Producers: Luc Besson, Peter Brant, Michael Fitzgerald, Tommy Lee Jones

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Sonja Richter, David Dencik, John Lithgow, Tim Blake Nelson, James Spader, William Fichtner

If we technically don’t include his two made for television films, this would be Tommy Lee Jones’ second, much anticipated outing — almost a decade since he delivered the exquisite The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, a thinking man’s slow-burner Western where hardened faces (both genders) converge with justice served piping hot. Jones takes on multiple duties once again for The Homesman and his cinemtagrpaher happens to be the great Rodrigo Prieto.

Gist: Based on Glendon Swarthout’s novel, this is about a claim jumper and a pioneer woman team up to escort three insane women from Nebraska to Iowa.

The Young and the Restless tallied 23 nominations as honors were announced this morning for the 40th annual Daytime Emmy Awards. Restless’ impressive take helped CBS lead all networks with 50 overall nominations. PBS and ABC followed, with 44 and 38 nods, respectively.

General Hospital, which earned 19 nominations, joined Restless in the race for Outstanding Drama Series, and Sesame Street received 17 nods, including three for Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo who faces allegations of sexual misconduct.

Good Morning America and Today will bring their ratings rivalry to the Emmys, where they’ll be joined by CBS Sunday Morning in the Outstanding Morning Program category.

The nominations are in! Ellen DeGeneres, The View and General Hospital lead the pack in the 2013 Daytime Emmy nominations.

Sam Champion read the 2013 Daytime Emmy Nominations on Good Morning America on May 1, and it’s a great list! General Hospital and The Young & The Restless were some of the many shows nominated, while Ellen DeGeneres, Katie Couric and the lovely ladies of The View are some of the hosts nominated. Read on for the full list.

Daytime Emmys 2013 — Full List Of Nominations

Outstanding Drama Series

The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS

Bradley P. Bell, Executive Producer

Rhonda Friedman, Edward J. Scott, SupervisingProducers

Ronald W. Weaver, Senior Producer

Mark Pinciotti, Coordinating Producer

Cynthia J. Popp, Colleen Bell, Casey Kasprzyk, Producers

Days of Our Lives, NBC

Ken Corday, Executive Producer

Lisa de Cazotte, Greg Meng, Co-Executive Producers

Janet Drucker, Tim Stevens, Coordinating Producers

Albert Alarr, Producer

General Hospital , ABC

Frank Valentini, Executive Producer

Mary-Kelly Weir,...

Actress Hailee Steinfeld got her big breakthrough role in a western, earning an Academy Award nomination starring alongside Jeff Bridges in the Coen brothers' True Grit, and now she's set to make her return to the genre with a role in Tommy Lee Jones' new directorial effort The Homesman. Based on an original screenplay co-written by Jones, Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley Oliver, the film tells the story of a man and a woman who work together to bring three women driven insane by the frontier life back to Iowa. The young actress will be completely surrounded by incredible acting talent, as Jones and Hilary Swank are set to play the the two leaders of the group while Meryl Streep, John Lithgow, Tim Blake Nelson and James Spader are also on-board. According to Deadline, which first reported the casting news, Steinfeld will be playing "a poor, simple, and barefooted teenager...

James Spader and David Dencik join Tommy Lee Jones‘ movie set in mid-1800s America, The Homesman. Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank, John Lithgow, Tim Blake Nelson are all set to star in Jones’ The Homesman, who is also directing and co-wrote the script with Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley A. Oliver. The story sees an untrustworthy man (Jones) and a spinster school teacher (Swank) team up to transport three women driven insane by the harsh world of the frontier eastward to Iowa and back to the civilized world. So, at this moment we know that Spader will play a swindler, but we expect more details of his...

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Related posts: Hilary Swank, Meryl Streep And Tommy Lee Jones To Star In The Homesman! Tim Blake Nelson Joins Bukowski And The Homesman James Spader, Ryan Phillippe, Carla Gugino Join...

David Dencik is set to join the growing cast of The Homesman, Tommy Lee Jones’ frontier movie. Dencik joins Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank, James Spader, John Lithgow, Tim Blake Nelson and Jones, who is also directing and co-wrote the script with Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley A. Oliver. The story sees an untrustworthy man (Jones) and a spinster school teacher (Swank) team up to transport three women driven insane by the harsh world of the frontier eastward to Iowa and back to the civilized world. Dencik will play the sexually brutish husband of one of the women. Video: Tommy Lee

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Tim Blake Nelson has nabbed two roles in the ambitious directorial efforts of his fellow peers, playing in James Franco’s biopic of Charles Bukowski and in Tommy Lee Jones’ next directorial outing, The Homesman.

‘Hey it’s that guy’-type actor has scored the role of Charles Bukowski’s father Henry, as well as he plays a shady character who covets one of the women and tries to steal her in pioneer-era western The Homesman.

Franco wrote the script and is directing Bukowski that chronicle his early years, as a shy young man frequently beaten by his abusive father, who eventually defended himself and channeled the emotional trauma into his later works.

Jones co-wrote the script with Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley A. Oliver and will star in and produce the movie which will center on a claim jumper (Jones) and a pioneer woman (Meryl Streep) who are tasked with...

He’s one of those 27 percenters, an actor who makes movies better even when he just crops up for a couple of scenes. Now Tim Blake Nelson has nabbed two new acting gigs, playing Henry Bukowski in James Franco’s biopic of Charles Bukowski and a womanising type in Tommy Lee Jones’ next directorial outing, The Homesman.Franco wrote the script and is directing Bukowski, another cinema adaptation of the life of the German-born American writer most famous for works such as Pulp, Factotum and Post Office. The film will chronicle his early years, as a shy young man frequently beaten by his father, who eventually defended himself and channelled the emotional trauma into his later works.He’ll then work on The Homesman for Jones, who co-wrote that script with Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley A. Oliver. He’ll be calling the shots for a story about a claim jumper...