Opening tomorrow in New York City, and next week in Los Angeles, is writer/director Owen Moverman’s first movie  The Messenger.  The film is about two U.S. Army officers (Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson) who are responsible for notifying families when someone has died while serving our country.  Foster plays an officer who has just returned from Iraq and he’s assigned to Harrelson to learn how to do the job.  Through these two soldiers, we learn how military families get notified after losing a loved one in war.  While the film deals with strong subject matter, I cannot recommend the movie enough.  The performances are incredible across the board and it almost feels like a documentary, rather than something scripted.

One of the reasons it feels this way is director Owen Moverman didn’t rehearse the notification scenes.  While the actors knew their lines and how the scene would play out, they didn’t practice how to deal with people’s reactions after hearing the news.  They had to play each scene in the moment.  It’s truly powerful stuff.   So to help promote the film, I recently spoke to Ben Foster/Woody Harrelson as well as Samantha Morton and Director Owen Moverman.  Both sets of interviews are after the jump:

When you walk into Natural Born Killers, you wonder what drugs the makers were taking. And maybe for a little bit you might want to partake as well, but it’s probably best to not. Regardless of one’s sobriety whilst watching Natural Born Killers, there is no denying that is both a trip and a ride, which is fair enough as much of it is a road picture. My review after the jump.

It would be an understatement to call “Zombieland” the breakout hit of 2009.  The film has racked up critical acclaim and box office numbers to match.  It’s already made almost three times its budget and at a time when zombie films have become a little tiresome, it’s nice to see there’s still some life left in the genre.

Four international posters for the film landed online today and I hate them.  Not because they look cool or they’re funny but because they’re inaccurate.  Rules #8 and #21 are never mentioned in the film so they’re spurious claims at best.  Also, “Don’t Be a Hero” is Rule #14.  Sure, I don’t know how to visualize the “double-tap” but that doesn’t mean you just make up the rules.  I seriously doubt that the person who made these would survive a zombie apocalypse.  You can see these posters after the jump but make sure you see “Zombieland” so you understand the rules and survive the zombpocalypse.

Yahoo Movies has released a new featurette from Roland Emmerich’s “2012″ called “How They Made the Giant Waves”. As you can guess from the title, it focuses on the special effects and how they created the huge wave that’s featured in the trailer. While the video is cool if you’re into visual effects, my favorite part is when the various people involved start talking about the script and being serious. Because, clearly, the script is the most important part of a Roland Emmerich movie. While people are clearly mixed on “2012″, I’m looking forward to shutting my brain off at the door, grabbing a popcorn, and having some fun watching the world explode. Check out the clip after the jump.

Sometimes dreams really do come true and the amazing Ben Foster, one of the best actors not headline movies, is finally headlining movies.  He was the only draw for me to see “Pandorum” and if the response to that movie wasn’t so overwhelmingly negative (with Foster getting a pass of “OK”), I would’ve seen it.  But I’ll definitely be in line to see “The Messenger” where he plays a soldier who informs the next of kin when their loved one is killed in action.  I don’t want to categorize this as an “Iraq War” movie because these soldiers have always been around but simply as a war movie which is one of the reasons I think this year’s critically acclaimed “The Hurt Locker” was so effective.  With talented actors like Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, and Jena Malone backing him up, I hope that “The Messenger” lets studios and audiences know that Foster deserves to be on the A-list.

Zombie business isn’t booming like it was a few years ago now that vampires have moved in and taken over their cinematic turf but zombies are in no way dead (which is kind of their thing) as they’ve migrated successfully to video games where we finally have the technology to kill them as brutally and as gleefully as possible.  “Zombieland” is that video game back to the big screen and it leaves tense, existential survival behind in favor of joyous, violent survival.

Opening this Friday is director Ruben Fleischer’s feature debut “Zombieland”. Since I’ve been covering the film extensively, you should be very familiar with the movie. But if you missed our previous coverage…here’s my video blog about being on the set in Atlanta, and here’s some on set interviews with director Ruben Fleischer, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson.

Anyway, a few days ago they held a press day on the Santa Monica pier and I was able to talk with Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg. During the interview they talked about their reaction to first reading the script, Twinkies, the way Woody would change the way he delivered his lines on every take, and Jesse Eisenberg talked about David Fincher’s next movie “The Social Network”. Watch the interview after the jump:

Opening on October 2^nd is director Ruben Fleischer’s feature debut “Zombieland”. Since I’ve been covering the film extensively here on Collider, you should be very familiar with the movie. But if you missed our previous coverage…here’s my video blog about being on the set in Atlanta and here’s on set interviews with director Ruben Fleischer, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson.

Now that I’ve finally seen the finished film, I’m happy to report I laughed my ass off in the theater and I can definitely recommend the movie. Also, the film has one of the best cameos I’ve seen and if you see “Zombieland” with an audience, you’re in for a great time. Anyway, to get you ready for the movie, we’ve been given 5 clips and 7 TV spots. Check them out after the jump:

MTV aired a program tonight called “Behind the Screen” and they showed off new clips from “Jennifer’s Body”, “Ninja Assassin”, “2012″ and some behind the scenes footage from “Clash of the Titans”. Thanks to the magic of embedding, you can see the clips after the jump. Take a look:

One of the many films premiering at this year’s Toronto Film Festival is writer-director Peter Stebbings “Defendor”. The film stars Woody Harrelson as a wanna be superhero named Defendor and it co-stars Kat Dennings, Sandra Oh and Elias Koteas. The key to the film is Defendor has no real superpowers, so we are going to see Woody try and fight crime using everyday supplies. Anyway, the first trailer has hit the web and while I was nervous about the film, the footage looks a lot better than I was expecting. It’s definitely worth checking out after the jump:

Just a few hours ago I was at Sony Studios in Culver City catching a screening. What’s great about watching movies on a studio lot is you never know what you’ll see. I’ve walked by numerous actors walking to set in costume, and I’ve also seen director’s talking to executives about upcoming projects. It’s always an interesting place to be.

The other cool thing about being on a studio lot is they sometimes have promotional posters and theatrical displays before they’ve been seen in a movie theater or online. So when I was checking into tonight’s screening, I noticed two huge “2012″ posters that I’d never seen anywhere. And sure enough, after I got home and looked around the web, they weren’t online. So after the jump take a look at some new posters via my camera phone.

Sony International has released a new “2012″ trailer in Japan and I’ve put it after the jump. If you went to this year’s Comic-Con, you’ll notice a lot of what we were shown in the trailer. But if you didn’t go, you’re going to see what millions of dollars money buys you in special effects, as this film is loaded with destruction.

While many people give director Roland Emmerich a lot of shit for the movies he makes (myself included), for some reason I’m looking forward to “2012″. Since this is his third time blowing up our planet, I’d like to think he’s finally figured out how to do it right. Watch the trailer after the jump:

As I wrote when I posted the new images from “Mr. Nobody” and “The White Ribbon”, the Toronto Film Festival starts in a few weeks and like every year, the Festival is loaded with plenty of world premieres. While I had planned on attending this year’s festival as a member of the working press, due to my deciding to attend too late, I missed the cut for getting a press badge. However, I’m still going, and hope to be able to report on the films and interview a lot of the people attending.

Anyway, with the festival gearing up to start, I’ve been provided with a lot of new images from the films  premiering. So after the jump take a look at images from Jane Campion’s “Bright Star”, “Creation”, “Defendor”, and “Solitary Man”.

Sony Pictures has released a new international trailer for “Zombieland,” the Ruben Fleischer directed comedy/horror that hits theaters this October. This one’s a little longer than the original theatrical trailer, so you’ll get to see a few more zombies gored and a little more of the side characters played by Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin. And more importantly, this one’s narrated by star Jesse Eisenberg himself, so it feels a little less like an excerpt from “Pushing Daisies.” Catch the new trailer after the jump.

Sony just released what I’m assuming is the teaser poster for their upcoming horror-comedy flick “Zombieland”.  I’m assuming it’s the teaser since it doesn’t feature stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin.  Of course, I would love it if this is the only poster we got because it looks great and we don’t have to worry about floating heads whether they be human or zombie.  But we don’t live in that world and unless you’re showcasing a major franchise or it’s an animated film, you got to have the stars on the one-sheet.  So just enjoy this delightful poster for now and be sure to check out Steve’s video blog about his visit to the set.

Hit the jump to see the poster.  “Zombieland” hits theatres on October 9th.

If the chemistry between Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg in director Ruben Fleischer’s “Zombieland” is anything like what I witnessed on set back in March, the movie is going to be very funny. That’s because unlike some sets where everything is serious between takes, Woody and Jesse were laughing and improvising almost the entire time we were there. I don’t think Woody said the same line of dialogue on any two takes as he was constantly one upping himself and making people laugh. It was a lot of fun to watch.

So you may be asking what’s “Zombieland”. It’s a horror/comedy by director Ruben Fleischer and it takes place in a world overrun by zombies. The film stars Jesse and Woody and they play a big wuss and an AK-toting, zombie-slaying’ bad ass whose single determination is to get the last Twinkie on earth. I think you know who plays which part.

Anyway, after the jump is the interview I participated in with the two stars on set. They talked about improvising, filming, the amusement park sequence, zombie killing, and a lot more. Take a look: