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Memorize this face as you'll be seeing a lot of it.

This is Pilou Asbaek, who appears to be the love child of Michael Shannon and Leonardo DiCaprio, but whose acting is surprisingly subtle given that visual prompt. Now picture him shaggier and with a sword as he'll be joining Game of Thrones for Season 6 to play Euron Greyjoy. GoT has become to Scandinavian and Northern European stars what Law & Order once was to NYC stage actors or Harry Potter was to older British thespians; the place they all end up in some capacity large or small! You'll also soon see him as Pontious Pilate in the Ben-Hur remake and then reunited with Scarlett Johansson (he played her cowboy hat wearing boyfriend in the first scenes of Lucy) for Ghost in the Shell  a couple of years from now. In other words, he's suddenly in demand.

But for now he's...

Arguably the ultimate end result of war is…love. This is of course true after factoring in tremendous amount of destruction. Film Movement have picked up For a Woman, a melodrama via Diane Kurys who pilfered through some of her own family tree history to pick up an unlikely WWII tale contextually resembles the dynamic found in Susanne Bier’s Brødre. A box office hit in France, the pic will receive a spring release in ’14.

Gist: This is a semi-biographical take on Kurys’s own family history. On the death of her mother, Anne makes an unsettling discovery: an old photo will cast doubt on her very origins, as she uncovers a mysterious uncle her parents welcomed into their lives after World War II. In revealing a family secret, Anne ultimately unravels the story of her mother’s great love.

Worth Noting: Kurys directed Magimel (alongside Juliette Binoche) in 1999′s The Children of the Century.

Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to worthwhile titles currently available on Netflix Instant Watch. This week we offer alternatives to The Lucky One, Chimpanzee & Marley.

Zac Efron fronts this Nicholas Sparks’ drama about a Marine who, upon returning from his tour of duty in Iraq, goes in search of the unknown woman he believes was his lucky charm. Taylor Schilling co-stars; Scott Hicks directs.

Craving more veteran-centered dramas:

A Marine Story (2010) Dreya Weber stars as a Marine forced to make sense of civilian life after being abruptly discharged. Initially lost, she finds new purpose mentoring a troubled teen girl with aims to enlist. Paris P. Pickard co-stars; Ned Farr directs.

The Messenger (2009) In this acclaimed indie drama Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster play a pair of vets assigned the emotionally devastating duty of informing military family’s of a soldier’s death.

Relativity Media and Canadian Alliance Films have renewed their output deal through 2015. Alliance Films president Charles Layton says Relativity "consists of great guys, partners and entrepreneurs. We look forward to helping them build Relativity in the coming years.” Each of Relativity's single-picture productions and acquisitions will be handled by Alliance in Canada and Momentum Pictures in the UK. Relativity and Alliance's 2008 three-year deal yielded The Fighter, Season of the Witch, Dear John and Brothers (the remake of Susanne Bier's Danish Brødre). Upcoming are the films Limitless, which stars Bradley Copper, Abbie Cornish and Robert De Niro, Steven Soderbergh's Haywire, and Immortals (starring new Superman Henry Cavill) .

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up North American distribution rights to "In a Better World." Director Susanne Bier co-wrote the film which focuses on two Danish families alongside Anders Thomas Jensen. Bier's 2004 drama "Brødre" was adapted into last year's English-language "Brothers" starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman. As of yet, there's no set release date. Film is produced by Sisse Graum Jorgensen of Zentropa Entertainments as well as Memfis Film International, Dr, Svt, Film i Vast and Trollhattan Film, with support from the Danish Film Institute, Film Fyn, Nordic Film and TV Fond, the Swedish Film Institute and the Media program of the EU. Bier is also the director of the critically acclaimed 2007 film "Things We Lost in the Fire" starring Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro.

Danish director Susanne Bier ("Brødre," "Things We Lost In the Fire") will direct a four-part mini about the life of Swedish wirter/director/actor Ingmar Bergman for Sveriges Television (SvT) and the series will also be made into a feature film for theatrical release. Shooting starts in fall of 2011. SvT will produce. Gunnar Carlsson will serve as an executive producer and Christian Wikander as producer. Pic is budgeted at $12 million and is one of the most expensive projects SvT has ever taken part in. According to Variety, the mini is written by Swedish author Henning Mankell (married to Bergman's daughter Eva) and the first completed the first two episodes. The first is "Frenzy" and the second "Sawdust and Tinsel" - named after Bergman films.

The Hollywood remake of the Danish love triangle psychodrama has its moments, but is too mainstream by half

When Susanne Bier's Danish film Brødre, or Brothers, came out in 2004 (starring Ulrich Thomsen from the Dogme incest movie Festen) it looked like painful arthouse drama with a weird dollop of mainstream Hollywood. Now it's been remade by Jim Sheridan, and looks like mainstream Hollywood with a weird dollop of painful arthouse drama. The plot is broadly the same. A career army officer gets captured in Afghanistan, and while he's ­missing ­presumed killed, the black-sheep brother back home feels psychologically liberated. Released from his sibling's shadow, he begins to blossom into the reliable one and gets rather too close to the presumed widow. Transposed now to a classic American setting, the film certainly does look intriguingly ­different from the usual template. The very idea of a Us marine committing atrocities while imprisoned,...

This week's podcast goes to the heart of the family, talking to director Jim Sheridan about his Iraq-war sibling drama Brothers, reviewing the Clive Owen Dad-under-pressure movie The Boys Are Back (as well as Jacques Audiard's Cannes-impressing A Prophet), and discovers how a band of musical brothers landed their dream job of documenting Blur's reunion last year.

Jim Sheridan, who made his name with the Christy Brown biopic My Left Foot, tells Jason Solomons why he decided to remake Danish director Susanne Bier's critically acclaimed 2004 drama Brødre as a war-torn love triangle with a gold-plated Hollywood cast of Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman.

Next, Xan Brooks joins in to review the week's key releases: Brothers (which both critics liked), The Boys Are Back (which they're split on) and the hotly anticipated A Prophet, which took the top prize at this year's London film festival and was...

Cologne, Germany -- The directorial debuts of Danish star Ulrich Thomsen ("Brothers," "Celebration") and Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass ("The Visitor," "Lemon Tree,") are among the projects picked for the seventh Berlinale co-production market, which runs Feb.14-16 during the Berlin International Film Festival (Feb. 11-21).

Thomsen's "In Embryo" is being set up as a German production between Berlin-based cine plus -- whose credits include Matthias Glasner's "This Is Love" starring fellow Dane Jens Albinus -- and Munich's Royal Pony Film.

Hiam Abbass' directorial debut, titled "The Inheritance," will be pitched as an Israeli/French co-pro between Alma and Mozer Films of Israel and France's Agat Films.

The two projects are among 37 picked for this year's market. All will be in Berlin looking for financing and production partners to go from paper to screen.

Other high-profile titles shilling at the 2010 co-production market include "Elena" from Russia's Non-Stop Production,...

We're doing this a little different than we did the male and female performances... but we're still skipping the 2009 films -- we'll get to those soon

the list #100-76, #75-51, #50-31, #30-16 and #15-1.

Awards for 2009 begin tomorrow or thereabouts.

***

***

*****

***

**

Here we go again...

75 The Fountain dir. Darren Aronofsky (2006)

Who needs drugs when you can snort Aronofsky movies?

74 thirteen dir Catherine Hardwicke (2003)

I still maintain that this was a stunning debut, deeply felt and ferociously performed. I'm still confused about what followed with Hardwicke.

73 Monsoon Wedding dir. Mira Nair (2001, released 2002)

For its color, energy and beauty and for one of my all-time favorite portraits of extended family love. Naseeruddin Shah and Shefali Shetty jerk my tears every time. Plus a great soundtrack.

72 Kings and Queen (Kings and Queen) dir. Arnaud Desplechin (2004, released in 2005)

Anchored by two of the most important French actors of the decade (Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Devos...

2009 is almost over and so many magazines and websites have already offered up their best of the year And decade that I'm afraid y'all will get sick of the retrospectives before The Film Experience has chimed on. Remember: the tortoise wins! 2005's top ten list (in its original form) follows. New comments in red.

Public Favorites (Box Office): Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, War of the Worlds, King Kong, Wedding Crashers, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Batman Begins, Madagascar and Mr & Mrs Smith

Oscar Favorites: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, Good Night and Good Luck and Munich

My Vote For UnderAppreciated: In Her Shoes, Happy Endings and The White Countess

Top Ten Runners Up (11-15): The Squid and the Whale, Match Point, The New World, Junebug and The Beat That My Heart Skipped.

Fun fact: Five years separate Susanne Bier’s Danish film Brødre and the English-language remake, yet the defining trauma of both melodramas remains the war in Afghanistan. (And should the Danish want to remake the remake again in a few years, the script likely won’t need a rewrite.) Scripted by 25th Hour writer David Benioff and helmed by In The Name Of The Father director Jim Sheridan, the new Brothers more or less transcribes Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen’s love triangle between a military professional, his wife, and his screw-up brother—a dynamic that shifts radically before ...

This week's slate gathers together so many big name stars in one place you'd think it was Oscar night already.

Download this in audio form (MP3: 15:48 minutes, 14.5 Mb)

Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]

"Across The Hall"

A stripped-down neo-noir with a twist, this feature debut for filmmaker Alex Merkin began as a 2005 short (starring Adrian Grenier, which can be found online here). Grenier didn't return, but Mike Vogel takes his place as Julian, a young man who races to a seedy hotel where his best friend's wayward fiancée (Brittany Murphy) and another man have aroused the suspicions of his pal, who's holed up "across the hall" with a bottle of whiskey and a gun.

Opens in New York and Los Angeles.

"Armored"

Having garnered a great deal of attention with his grungy murder mystery debut "Kontroll," American-born Hungarian helmer Nimród Antal first made his mark in Hollywood...

Beware the cross-cultural remake. David Benioff is a gifted writer (The 25th Hour). Jim Sheridan is a gifted director (In America). Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman are gifted actors. So what went wrong on the road to Relativity and Lionsgate’s American adaptation of Danish writer-director Susanne Bier’s extraordinary 2004 movie Brothers? It’s the risk you take when you try to transplant something that was organic to one culture to another. The original Danish script (by Bier and frequent collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen) dug into the dynamics of two brothers. When the upbeat, upstanding family man, a career soldier (Ulrich Thomsen), is lost in a …...

We have new clips in from the Jim Sheridan-directed "Brothers" which Lionsgate is sending to theatres on December 4th. The Relativity Media, Palomar Pictures and Michael De Luca Productions film is written by David Benioff based on the story by Susanne Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen (motion picture "Brødre"). There are a total of 24 videos available including interviews with Jim Sheridan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman, Bailee Madison, Mare Winningham, Sam Shepard, Taylor Geare as well as screenwriter David Benioff, production designer Tony Fanning, cinematographer Frederick Elmes.

Lionsgate will release Brothers, a new thriller about a returning war veteran starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey MaGuire, and Natalie Portman nationwide in the United States on December 4, 2009.

But did you know it is a remake of a Danish film, Brødre, from 2004 written and directed by Susanne Bier?

“In our part of the world, we’re dealing with an abstract war, a war we can’t see that we’re in, which is a very strange thing,” Bier told journalist Jessica Winter in 2004 when the film was released during the London Film Festival, not long before Bush started pulling out all the stops in Fallujah. “It’s not tangible, but it’s there, and that must be really terrifying for most people...”

Bier's film was terrifying and emotionally devastating. Hopefully the remake will have as much of an impact and not skimp on the violence or consequences of war and mental instability.

He'll soon be the Prince of Persia, play brother to Tobey Maguire and lover to Natalie Portman, and then be a Viagra salesman. If you think about it, Jake Gyllenhaal, who was once considered for the role of Spiderman, must be quite happy with his luck! While he's not Spidey, he's playing the brother of the guy playing the Marvel superhero and he's also playing superhero, who also happens to be a Prince! - - -

- - - The first movie will once again test his Box office attraction, while the next - Brothers - will give him another shot for possible noms come awards season. The Jim Sheridan film (a remake of Susanne Bier's "Brødre") has Jake playing Tommy, the black sheep of the family. Expects sparks to fly!

A third project, Love and Other Drugs with have him share the big screen with Anne Hathaway. This...

He'll soon be the Prince of Persia, play brother to Tobey Maguire and lover to Natalie Portman, and then be a Viagra salesman. If you think about it, Jake Gyllenhaal, who was once considered for the role of Spiderman, must be quite happy with his luck! While he's not Spidey, he's playing the brother of the guy playing the Marvel superhero and he's also playing superhero, who also happens to be a Prince! - - -

- - - The first movie will once again test his Box office attraction, while the next - Brothers - will give him another shot for possible noms come awards season. The Jim Sheridan film (a remake of Susanne Bier's "Brødre") has Jake playing Tommy, the black sheep of the family. Expects sparks to fly!

A third project, Love and Other Drugs with have him share the big screen with Anne Hathaway. This...

He'll soon be the Prince of Persia, play brother to Tobey Maguire and lover to Natalie Portman, and then be a Viagra salesman. If you think about it, Jake Gyllenhaal, who was once considered for the role of Spiderman, must be quite happy with his luck! While he's not Spidey, he's playing the brother of the guy playing the Marvel superhero and he's also playing superhero, who also happens to be a Prince! - - -

- - - The first movie will once again test his Box office attraction, while the next - Brothers - will give him another shot for possible noms come awards season. The Jim Sheridan film (a remake of Susanne Bier's "Brødre") has Jake playing Tommy, the black sheep of the family. Expects sparks to fly!

A third project, Love and Other Drugs with have him share the big screen with Anne Hathaway. This...

He'll soon be the Prince of Persia, play brother to Tobey Maguire and lover to Natalie Portman, and then be a Viagra salesman. If you think about it, Jake Gyllenhaal, who was once considered for the role of Spiderman, must be quite happy with his luck! While he's not Spidey, he's playing the brother of the guy playing the Marvel superhero and he's also playing superhero, who also happens to be a Prince! - - -

- - - The first movie will once again test his Box office attraction, while the next - Brothers - will give him another shot for possible noms come awards season. The Jim Sheridan film (a remake of Susanne Bier's "Brødre") has Jake playing Tommy, the black sheep of the family. Expects sparks to fly!

A third project, Love and Other Drugs with have him share the big screen with Anne Hathaway. This...

He'll soon be the Prince of Persia, play brother to Tobey Maguire and lover to Natalie Portman, and then be a Viagra salesman. If you think about it, Jake Gyllenhaal, who was once considered for the role of Spiderman, must be quite happy with his luck! While he's not Spidey, he's playing the brother of the guy playing the Marvel superhero and he's also playing superhero, who also happens to be a Prince! - - -

- - - The first movie will once again test his Box office attraction, while the next - Brothers - will give him another shot for possible noms come awards season. The Jim Sheridan film (a remake of Susanne Bier's "Brødre") has Jake playing Tommy, the black sheep of the family. Expects sparks to fly!

A third project, Love and Other Drugs with have him share the big screen with Anne Hathaway. This...

It's almost time for an update of the Top 50 Hottest Young Actors list! Before our rundown featuring the actors below, let's have a look at some hitlists from across the web - Moviefone has a 25 under 25 and Fandango a 10 Young Actors to Watch list. ScreenDaily publishes Stars of Tomorrow and there is the annual European Shooting Stars celebrated as part of the Berlinale. The first 2 only consider Hollywood movies and cast, while ScreenDaily is exclusively for UK-based filmmakers and actors. The 'shooting star' programme is, of course, for Europeans.

- - -

- - - These hitlists are more than point of references to our own - they are inspiration to keep us on our feet and come up with a listing that consider all angles. I don't think anyone is naïve enough to list down and rank 50 young actors ( and 50 young actresses) and expect everyone to agree and be happy,...

It's almost time for an update of the Top 50 Hottest Young Actors list! Before our rundown featuring the actors below, let's have a look at some hitlists from across the web - Moviefone has a 25 under 25 and Fandango a 10 Young Actors to Watch list. ScreenDaily publishes Stars of Tomorrow and there is the annual European Shooting Stars celebrated as part of the Berlinale. The first 2 only consider Hollywood movies and cast, while ScreenDaily is exclusively for UK-based filmmakers and actors. The 'shooting star' programme is, of course, for Europeans.

- - -

- - - These hitlists are more than point of references to our own - they are inspiration to keep us on our feet and come up with a listing that consider all angles. I don't think anyone is naïve enough to list down and rank 50 young actors ( and 50 young actresses) and expect everyone to agree and be happy,...

It's almost time for an update of the Top 50 Hottest Young Actors list! Before our rundown featuring the actors below, let's have a look at some hitlists from across the web - Moviefone has a 25 under 25 and Fandango a 10 Young Actors to Watch list. ScreenDaily publishes Stars of Tomorrow and there is the annual European Shooting Stars celebrated as part of the Berlinale. The first 2 only consider Hollywood movies and cast, while ScreenDaily is exclusively for UK-based filmmakers and actors. The 'shooting star' programme is, of course, for Europeans.

- - -

- - - These hitlists are more than point of references to our own - they are inspiration to keep us on our feet and come up with a listing that consider all angles. I don't think anyone is naïve enough to list down and rank 50 young actors ( and 50 young actresses) and expect everyone to agree and be happy,...

It's almost time for an update of the Top 50 Hottest Young Actors list! Before our rundown featuring the actors below, let's have a look at some hitlists from across the web - Moviefone has a 25 under 25 and Fandango a 10 Young Actors to Watch list. ScreenDaily publishes Stars of Tomorrow and there is the annual European Shooting Stars celebrated as part of the Berlinale. The first 2 only consider Hollywood movies and cast, while ScreenDaily is exclusively for UK-based filmmakers and actors. The 'shooting star' programme is, of course, for Europeans.

- - -

- - - These hitlists are more than point of references to our own - they are inspiration to keep us on our feet and come up with a listing that consider all angles. I don't think anyone is naïve enough to list down and rank 50 young actors ( and 50 young actresses) and expect everyone to agree and be happy,...

It's almost time for an update of the Top 50 Hottest Young Actors list! Before our rundown featuring the actors below, let's have a look at some hitlists from across the web - Moviefone has a 25 under 25 and Fandango a 10 Young Actors to Watch list. ScreenDaily publishes Stars of Tomorrow and there is the annual European Shooting Stars celebrated as part of the Berlinale. The first 2 only consider Hollywood movies and cast, while ScreenDaily is exclusively for UK-based filmmakers and actors. The 'shooting star' programme is, of course, for Europeans.

- - -

- - - These hitlists are more than point of references to our own - they are inspiration to keep us on our feet and come up with a listing that consider all angles. I don't think anyone is naïve enough to list down and rank 50 young actors ( and 50 young actresses) and expect everyone to agree and be happy,...

Brothers, featuring Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire, is one very highly-anticipated movie. Based on Susanne Bier's "Brødre", a young man (Gyllenhaal) comforts his older brother's wife (Portman) and children after he goes missing in Afghanistan. I'm pretty sure the lead actors will try to get a shot at the Oscars come nomination time...

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In the meantime, the buzz on Portman continues... the latest of which is a feature at Interview magazine:

Gyllenhaal: Your affection for dirty rap is something that people really don’t know about you, which I think is fascinating. You do incredible things for the world, and then you listen to just completely obscene hip-hop music.

Portman: Really, really obscene hip-hop. I love it so much. It makes me laugh and then it makes me want to dance. Those are like my two favorite things, so combined . . . I...

Brothers, featuring Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire, is one very highly-anticipated movie. Based on Susanne Bier's "Brødre", a young man (Gyllenhaal) comforts his older brother's wife (Portman) and children after he goes missing in Afghanistan. I'm pretty sure the lead actors will try to get a shot at the Oscars come nomination time...

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In the meantime, the buzz on Portman continues... the latest of which is a feature at Interview magazine:

Gyllenhaal: Your affection for dirty rap is something that people really don’t know about you, which I think is fascinating. You do incredible things for the world, and then you listen to just completely obscene hip-hop music.

Portman: Really, really obscene hip-hop. I love it so much. It makes me laugh and then it makes me want to dance. Those are like my two favorite things, so combined . . . I...

Brothers, featuring Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire, is one very highly-anticipated movie. Based on Susanne Bier's "Brødre", a young man (Gyllenhaal) comforts his older brother's wife (Portman) and children after he goes missing in Afghanistan. I'm pretty sure the lead actors will try to get a shot at the Oscars come nomination time...

- - -

- - -

In the meantime, the buzz on Portman continues... the latest of which is a feature at Interview magazine:

Gyllenhaal: Your affection for dirty rap is something that people really don’t know about you, which I think is fascinating. You do incredible things for the world, and then you listen to just completely obscene hip-hop music.

Portman: Really, really obscene hip-hop. I love it so much. It makes me laugh and then it makes me want to dance. Those are like my two favorite things, so combined . . . I...

Brothers, featuring Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire, is one very highly-anticipated movie. Based on Susanne Bier's "Brødre", a young man (Gyllenhaal) comforts his older brother's wife (Portman) and children after he goes missing in Afghanistan. I'm pretty sure the lead actors will try to get a shot at the Oscars come nomination time...

- - -

- - -

In the meantime, the buzz on Portman continues... the latest of which is a feature at Interview magazine:

Gyllenhaal: Your affection for dirty rap is something that people really don’t know about you, which I think is fascinating. You do incredible things for the world, and then you listen to just completely obscene hip-hop music.

Portman: Really, really obscene hip-hop. I love it so much. It makes me laugh and then it makes me want to dance. Those are like my two favorite things, so combined . . . I...

We know better than to expect standard melodrama from Jim Sheridan, the director behind In America, In the Name of the Father, and My Left Foot. Known for making films that feature gut-wrenching performances, he’s got one heck of a vehicle for eliciting powerful emotions in Brothers, a tale of family, love and loyalty set against the backdrop of military operations in Afghanistan.

The film is a remake of Susanne Bier's Danish war film Brødre (Brothers), and you can check out the trailer using the below player.

Brothers revolves around siblings and polar opposites Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) and Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal). When Sam goes missing and is presumed dead, Tommy, who is an ex-con and drifter, tries to fill the void left behind by taking responsibility for his brother’s wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and two young daughters. As Tommy tries to turn his life around,...

The trailer for the Us remake of the Danish film “Brødre”, simply called “Brothers”, has popped up online. There is no shortage of big stars in this one, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman (yes please) and Tobey Maguire and the thing is being directed by Jim Sheridan of My Left Foot and Get Rich or Die Trying fame. The story is revolves around when a woman finds out that her husband (Maguire) has apparently died in Iraq and his brother (Gyllenhaal) comes over to help her out, seeing that she has two kids to take care of and all. Time passes and the two start falling in love but then they find out that the dead husband and brother isn’t really dead after all (oops). This clearly puts a damper on the relationship between them but the “dead” brother is a changed man when he returns and seems to be craving human blood and flesh.

Finally, the trailer for the new Jim Sheridan film, Brothers. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman, this movie is certainly one of tMF's most anticipated for 2009. I saw Filmonic.com's twitter post (the original post is here) and rushed to youtube to watch it.

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I'm not a big fan of Tobey Maguire, but from just watching the trailer, I was simply surprised (and amazed) at the intensity of his acting. There is no Spiderman hype or anything 'artificial' here. Tobey is an angry man who just discovered that his wife is sleeping with his brother, and he explodes!

But Jake and Natalie also gave awesome performances.

If Closer was not 'close' enough for Natalie to grab an Oscar, then perhaps this movie might give her another shot - whether she can deliver a consistent performance throughout the film, we still need to find out,...

Finally, the trailer for the new Jim Sheridan film, Brothers. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman, this movie is certainly one of tMF's most anticipated for 2009. I saw Filmonic.com's twitter post (the original post is here) and rushed to youtube to watch it.

- - -

- - -

I'm not a big fan of Tobey Maguire, but from just watching the trailer, I was simply surprised (and amazed) at the intensity of his acting. There is no Spiderman hype or anything 'artificial' here. Tobey is an angry man who just discovered that his wife is sleeping with his brother, and he explodes!

But Jake and Natalie also gave awesome performances.

If Closer was not 'close' enough for Natalie to grab an Oscar, then perhaps this movie might give her another shot - whether she can deliver a consistent performance throughout the film, we still need to find out,...

Finally, the trailer for the new Jim Sheridan film, Brothers. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman, this movie is certainly one of tMF's most anticipated for 2009. I saw Filmonic.com's twitter post (the original post is here) and rushed to youtube to watch it.

- - -

- - -

I'm not a big fan of Tobey Maguire, but from just watching the trailer, I was simply surprised (and amazed) at the intensity of his acting. There is no Spiderman hype or anything 'artificial' here. Tobey is an angry man who just discovered that his wife is sleeping with his brother, and he explodes!

But Jake and Natalie also gave awesome performances.

If Closer was not 'close' enough for Natalie to grab an Oscar, then perhaps this movie might give her another shot - whether she can deliver a consistent performance throughout the film, we still need to find out,...

• Add another shell shocked/war drama to the batch, the English language remake of Susanne Bier's Brødre is getting the big screen big name treatment - and Variety reports that the Kirsten Dunst dreamteam of Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal are in negotiations to star in the pic. Based on the Susanne Bier-directed original, Brothers (remake) centers on a man (Tobey Maguire) who is sent to fight in Afghanistan while his black-sheep brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) cares for his wife and child. I particularly liked the Dane version - only because Bier tends to go into places where many do not care to visit - it may be interesting to see how lighter or darker director Jim Sheridan goes with this version. An important role to cast is the Connie Nielsen character - who is perhaps more shell shocked than the two siblings, but casting wise Jake and

...

Jim Sheridan is in talks to direct a remake of Susanne Bier's wartime drama "Brothers" for Relativity Media.

Sony Pictures will distribute the film in North America. Magnetik Media is handling foreign sales and will be repping the title at May's Festival de Cannes.

David Benioff is penning the remake. The story involves two brothers -- one an officer in the Army, the other an ex-convict -- whose lives are irrevocably changed while one tries to cope with the scars of war while his troubled younger brother, becomes increasingly drawn to the first brother's wife.

Bier's film, which was released in 2004, stars Connie Nielsen, Ulrich Thomsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas and revolves around two brothers, one of whom is sent to war in Afghanistan.

Sources close to the project say that Sheridan's involvement is expected to attract three A-list actors to the cast in the upcoming weeks.

Relativity's Ryan Kavanaugh is producing alongside Michael De Luca and Joni Sighvatsson.

MADRID -- Michael Haneke's Cannes favorite Cache (Hidden) and Susanne Bier's family drama Brodre (Brothers) led the pack in nominations for the European Film Awards 2005 when the candidates were announced Sunday at the Seville International Film Festival. Haneke's French/Austrian/German/Italian thriller -- which landed Haneke the top directing honors at this year's Cannes International Film Festival -- was nominated for seven categories for the European Film Awards, including film and director, as well as actress (Juliette Binoche), actor (Daniel Auteuil), script (Michael Haneke), photography (Christian Berger) and the newly created category of editing (Michael Hudecek and Nadine Muse). Bier's much applauded Danish/British/Swedish/Norweigan film, which won the Audience Award at Sundance in the World Cinema category, took nods in all the same categories, with the exception of photography.

SYDNEY -- Kriv Stenders' unlikely suburban romance Blacktown proved the maxim that films don't need to big budgets to connect with audiences as the 52nd Sydney Film Festival came to a close Saturday night. The micro-budget Australian Blacktown took home the prize for best feature film from the Sidebar Program as part of the inaugural Urban Cinefile Audience Awards, while Danish director Susanne Bier's family drama Brothers was voted best feature from the Contemporary World Cinema program. Awards were handed out after a screening of the closing night film in its Australian premiere, Hayao Miyazake's Japanese animated hit Hauru no ugoku shiro (Howl's Moving Castle). Mad Hot Ballroom, a crowd pleaser about kids from different schools competing for a ballroom dancing prize and directed by Marylin Agrelo from the United States, won the award for best documentary across both sections. Chris Landreth's Ryan (Canada) won best short from the World Cinema selection and Juan Pablo Zaramella's Journey To Mars (Argentina) took home best short in the Sidebar program.

SYDNEY -- Kriv Stenders' unlikely suburban romance Blacktown proved the maxim that films don't need to big budgets to connect with audiences as the 52nd Sydney Film Festival came to a close Saturday night. The micro-budget Australian Blacktown took home the prize for best feature film from the Sidebar Program as part of the inaugural Urban Cinefile Audience Awards, while Danish director Susanne Bier's family drama Brothers was voted best feature from the Contemporary World Cinema program. Awards were handed out after a screening of the closing night film in its Australian premiere, Hayao Miyazake's Japanese animated hit Hauru no ugoku shiro (Howl's Moving Castle). Mad Hot Ballroom, a crowd pleaser about kids from different schools competing for a ballroom dancing prize and directed by Marylin Agrelo from the United States, won the award for best documentary across both sections. Chris Landreth's Ryan (Canada) won best short from the World Cinema selection and Juan Pablo Zaramella's Journey To Mars (Argentina) took home best short in the Sidebar program.

IFC Films has acquired two films out of Cannes, IFC president of entertainment Jonathan Sehring said Monday. IFC picked up the U.S. distribution rights to Lars von Trier's controversial Festival de Cannes Competition entry Manderlay as well as fellow Dane Susanne Bier's still-filming After the Wedding. (IFC is releasing Bier's Sundance award-winning Brothers.) IFC began negotiations at Cannes on both projects with seller Trust Films. The two films will be released during the fourth quarter, Sehring said. Manderlay is the second installment of von Trier's planned USA trilogy; Lions Gate Releasing acquired the first installment, Dogville, out of Cannes two years ago for $1 million.

Steal Me, a family drama directed by Melissa Painter, will open the seventh annual Method Fest independent film festival April 1 at Edwards Grand Palace Stadium 6 Cinemas in Calabasas, Calif. The festival, which runs through April 8, will screen 25 films, including nine world premieres, plus 47 selected shorts. Screenings will take place at the Grand Palace Stadium 6 and the Louis B. Mayer Theatre on the Motion Picture and Television Fund's Wasserman Campus in Woodland Hills. Jim Wilson's coming-of-age drama Whirlygirl will serve as the fest's centerpiece film, and its star Monet Mazur will receive the Rising Star Award. Susanne Bier's Brothers, which took home the World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in January, will serve as the closing-night film. Other awards to be presented during the course of the fest include the Indie Hero Award to Jena Malone, the Maverick Award to Crispin Glover and the Family Legacy Award to the Bridges family: Jeff, Beau and their late father, Lloyd. Sean Astin and Fritz Coleman will host the closing-night awards ceremony.

BERLIN -- German independent distributor Solo Film has filed for insolvency protection, Solo managing director Peter Heinzemann said Thursday. Insolvency administrators will arrive at Solo's Munich offices next week to assess the survival chances of the arthouse group. Solo's latest high-profile release in Germany was Kevin Spacey's Bobby Darin biopic Beyond The Sea. Susanne Bier's upcoming Brothers, which Solo had initially planned to release in Germany, will now go out through Central Film.

IFC and Focus Features have acquired Danish helmer Susanne Bier's Brothers for joint U.S. distribution. It's the first time the two companies have teamed on a release. IFC will handle the theatrical launch and subsequent television sales, while home entertainment rights to the Danish-language film are going to Focus, which will distribute through Universal Studios Home Video. Written by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen from a story by Jensen and Bier, the Zentropa Entertainment project was produced by Sisse Graum Jorgensen and Peter A. Jensen. Peter Garde executive produced the feature.

TORONTO -- Although the Toronto International Film Festival has begun to wind down, several deals were announced Thursday: Fine Line inked a pact to pick up world rights to the basketball documentary The Year of the Yao, a portrait of NBA player Yao Ming, and Palm Pictures took on Johnnie To's Breaking News. At press time, further theatrical pacts were in the process of being hammered out for the Real to Reel selection Three of Hearts, the Midnight Madness horror features Creep and Dead Birds and Susanne Bier's Danish import Brothers. In other dealings, attorney Andrew Hurwitz and the William Morris Independent unit wrapped up $3 million in international sales on the TIFF pick Saint Ralph. Meanwhile, all eyes turned to the high-profile feature The Libertine, which was slotted for a gala screening Thursday night. The film stars Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton and John Malkovich, and even while many top execs were heading out of town, Miramax Films honcho Harvey Weinstein was said to be landing in Toronto to screen Libertine. Besides checking out the film, Weinstein was likely on hand to support Depp, who plays the lead in Miramax's Oscar hopeful Finding Neverland.

TORONTO -- Although the Toronto International Film Festival has begun to wind down, several deals were announced Thursday: Fine Line inked a pact to pick up world rights to the basketball documentary The Year of the Yao, a portrait of NBA player Yao Ming, and Palm Pictures took on Johnnie To's Breaking News. At press time, further theatrical pacts were in the process of being hammered out for the Real to Reel selection Three of Hearts, the Midnight Madness horror features Creep and Dead Birds and Susanne Bier's Danish import Brothers. In other dealings, attorney Andrew Hurwitz and the William Morris Independent unit wrapped up $3 million in international sales on the TIFF pick Saint Ralph. Meanwhile, all eyes turned to the high-profile feature The Libertine, which was slotted for a gala screening Thursday night. The film stars Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton and John Malkovich, and even while many top execs were heading out of town, Miramax Films honcho Harvey Weinstein was said to be landing in Toronto to screen Libertine. Besides checking out the film, Weinstein was likely on hand to support Depp, who plays the lead in Miramax's Oscar hopeful Finding Neverland.

TORONTO -- Although the Toronto International Film Festival has begun to wind down, several deals were announced Thursday: Fine Line inked a pact to pick up world rights to the basketball documentary The Year of the Yao, a portrait of NBA player Yao Ming, and Palm Pictures took on Johnnie To's Breaking News. At press time, further theatrical pacts were in the process of being hammered out for the Real to Reel selection Three of Hearts, the Midnight Madness horror features Creep and Dead Birds and Susanne Bier's Danish import Brothers. In other dealings, attorney Andrew Hurwitz and the William Morris Independent unit wrapped up $3 million in international sales on the TIFF pick Saint Ralph. Meanwhile, all eyes turned to the high-profile feature The Libertine, which was slotted for a gala screening Thursday night. The film stars Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton and John Malkovich, and even while many top execs were heading out of town, Miramax Films honcho Harvey Weinstein was said to be landing in Toronto to screen Libertine. Besides checking out the film, Weinstein was likely on hand to support Depp, who plays the lead in Miramax's Oscar hopeful Finding Neverland.