If the early cast for the Pokemon movie Detective Pikachu didn’t catch you off guard at first, then this next new cast member will be even more of a shocker. Following the casting of Ryan Reynolds as the title character comes Ken Watanabe.

That’s right, the live-action Pokemon movie is very much real, and it is adding actors and actresses that will make up a pretty eclectic cast. More on the story below.

It’s the time of the season, and what better way to celebrate that time than to have images promoting a Christmas movie. Of course, there are many remakes and reboots of classic Christmas movies. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that Disney has released the first images for a new vision of The Nutcracker. Disney’s take will be called The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Directed by Lasse Hallström, the film will be based on an adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1816 German fairy tale, which was turned into a ballet by Tchaikovsky.

Now we are getting a first look at the film, which is due to hit theaters late next year. Check out the first two images here below.

Every once in a while Adam Sandler steps away from his usual movies, the lighthearted rom-coms and goofy stuff, and does something more dramatic such as Punch Drunk Love, Reign Over Me, and so on.

When it comes to one of his latest projects, titled The Cobbler, things are a little bit different. The movie’s premise sounds like something you’d expect to see Sandler in (a cobbler discovers he can put on the shoes of others and become them!), but the thing here is that, while still clearly a comedy, it’s delivered a little more seriously, with Sandler seemingly using his more serious actor side for at least a chunk of it. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen, but you can see the trailer for yourself below.

Win Win
Directed by Tom McCarthy
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young, Melanie Lynskey, Alex Shaffer
Release: March 18, 2011

Reciprocity is what we find in all of director Tom McCarthy‘s films and very rarely found in others’ films. He is a filmmaker who recognizes and spotlights individuals who are of two molds: caretakers and people who need taken care of. What defines a film by McCarthy, though, is his ability to make a character both caretaker and one who needs to be taken care of. His two previous films, The Station Agent and The Visitor, displayed individuals who were emotionally destroyed and in shameful situations. But yet there still remained in them a spark of life that has the ability to make the necessary preparations for getting themselves and others whose lives have been stifling out of a grievous situation. Win Win is no different. The film doesn’t see the human spirit as triumphant, and while that may sound bleak it is the foundation in which McCarthy constructs his films on. He evaluates his characters in a burdensome state only to find in them qualities that may allow them to rise against adversity.

Win Win, a comedy-drama that takes into consideration the fragility of the human spirit, is a small film with, sad to say, small ambitions. It plays it safe with the material it has while room for expansion is evident and much encouraged. McCarthy doesn’t magnify his material but rather keeps it subdued while we want more emotion, especially when we have actors capable of exploiting their internal and external frustrations.