Bone Tomahawk casting news

So I know some people find it hard to get excited about independent films, but after I heard who's in this movie and what its about, I got excited immediately.

Bone Tomahawk comes from writer/director S. Craig Zahler. This is his first at directing after having been the cinematographer on a few other films. The film is a western about four men who attempt to rescue a group of captives who have been kidnapped by cannibals.

As if that story couldn't sound better, the main cast consists of some of my favourite actors. Matthew Fox, Patrick Wilson (both pictured above), Kurt Russell and Richard Jenkins will play the men. This seems to be a perfect storm of story and casting.

I personally am a huge fan of Westerns, so I think this will be an amazing film. What do you guys think about this casting? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook.

Originally on Variety

The Company You Keep

This movie is kind of like The Expendables, but instead of washed up action heroes of the 80s, all the actors are classic 70s stars, some of whom you'll recognise and some of whom you won't, and instead of brutal action, it is a complex thriller storyline.

The story focuses on young hotshot reporter for the Albany Sun-Times Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf), who after seeing the capture and arrest of a fugitive wanted for a bank robbery in the 70s, Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon), follows the story of trying to find the others involved. One of these suspects is James Grant (Robert Redford). Grant, after seeing the capture of Solarz, decides to track down the other person involved in the robbery, so that he can clear his own name.

This leads Grant on a journey through a web of people from his past, all involved in anti-war and anti-government groups in the 70s. Shepard is figuring out some of these connections himself, but hot on Grant's tail is the FBI, led by Agent Cornelius (Terrence Howard). These three people all have their own motivation for finding the third person involved.

I personally have never been a huge fan of Robert Redford. I've seen a few of his films from the 1970s and his last film that he directed as well (2007s Lions For Lambs) and none of his work has ever resonated for me. I found that this film was just motivation for a lot of actors of his generation to come out and play.

There are some good performances in the cameos. Susan Sarandon is haunted by her past actions and needs closure. Julie Christie plays a still psychotic terrorist. The performances from Chris Cooper (American Beauty) and Richard Jenkins (Cabin In The Woods, still one of my favourites that I will get around to reviewing) are stunning. However brief these performances are, there is a resonance that comes through.

The younger generation get a good representation in this film. LaBeouf has come very far from his Transformers days (until another one comes out). His Shepard is a driven reporter who just wants to know the truth, rather than anything else. Brit Marling, who is a relative newcomer, portrays the daughter of one of the officers who initially investigated the robbery. She is only in a few scenes, but she plays them with conviction.

Verdict: Robert Redford has weaved a complex thriller about the past that is decent enough, but could do better.

Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher. My first movie of the new year. At the moment all I can say about it is that it was interesting. Having never read any of the books that the character is from, I didn't really have any frame of reference. I saw this movie with my uncle who is the total opposite and has read every one of the titular character's books.

I guess the first thing I should talk about is Tom Cruise. I myself have never been opposed to the man, in fact I find him to be an excellent actor. I know it's going back a few years, but his turn in Rain Man was really good and very emotionally driven. In many of his film roles since, I've found him to be quite adventurous in the roles that he picks. So in this film, I went in expecting a usual Tom Cruise experience and I wasn't disappointed.

Before I go on to the other cast members, I guess I should talk a little about the plot. The film opens to a   sniper opening fire on a street full of civilians in Pittsburgh, which I recognised from the "amazing" Taylor Lautner action flick Abduction, which is great if you want a snooze. I found this scene to be quite emotionally jarring, as you see the people running from the gunfire to no avail. The gunman then gets caught and instead of confessing his crime he asks the DA and leading detective to get Jack Reacher, who we find out is a ghost who doesn't want to be found (but at the same time comes out of hiding as this happens). As a result of the negligence of the DA, played by the masterful Richard Jenkins, the gunman ends up in a coma. Now it's up to Jack Reacher to seemingly solve the crime and keep the gunman of death row.

Now on to the casting. As I said, Tom Cruise is a great actor and when he is on screen he can do no wrong in my eyes, but I remember prior to this movie coming out, fans were up in arms about this casting. Now it's no secret that Tom Cruise is the tallest guy in Hollywood, but he isn't the shortest (that honour goes to Danny DeVito) and apparently the character is 6'7". But by using movie magic, you wouldn't be able to tell otherwise. Techniques such as not having anyone else in the frame with your actor work, as well as shooting from a low angle or having him sit down also work as well. There is only one scene where he stands in the middle of a group of people, in which the apple box would have been used.

The rest of the cast is also superb. Richard Jenkins as the DA was an excellent choice. The only other movie I have seen with him in was the Cabin in the Woods, which we all know was a horror masterpiece. Rosamund Pike, who plays the defence attorney of the gunman and Richard Jenkins' daughter, was spectacular. She was gracefully subtle, but I do find that she always has a look of surprise on her face.

David Oyelowo was captivating as the detective who is trying to chase down Reacher, as is Aussie Jai Courtney, who plays the sniper trying to get rid of Reacher for the bad guys. A couple of cameos by Robert Duvall and Werner Herzog were also surprising.

The action set pieces in this film are good, but not the best for a film of this genre. The one piece that I did like was a car chase through the streets of Pittsburgh. I've always had the utmost respect for stunt drivers and I know how difficult their job can be at times. This one had a lot of crashes because apparently Reacher is the best driver in the world.

The cinematography in this film was stunning and there was an angle in the aforementioned chase sequence where a camera was on the hood of the car shooting the reaction of the driver as well as the vehicles behind. There was some issues with the sound mix that I picked up on, but nothing to noticeable. I also found the second act to drag on just a bit too long.

Verdict: The action set pieces are amazing and it had an intriguing story. Visually it was amazing and it had some good casting choices.