A couple weeks ago, word came out that Elijah Wood is starring in an independent thriller called Grand Piano, which has been described as “Speed at a piano.” It’s such a ridiculous idea, and I was baffled that someone like Wood would sign on in the first place. But now Variety reports that John Cusack is also joining the cast, and though we’re not sure what character he’s playing, Cusack might have just the right amount of crazy in him to pull off the villain role here. More below.

Here’s the premise:

The story concerns a once-great concert pianist who suffers from stage fright and comes back to perform after a five-year hiatus. Just when he’s about to play the first bar, he notices somebody has written a threatening note on his music sheet. He’s now forced to play his best concert ever to save his life as well as his wife’s.

I wrote earlier that I couldn’t wait to see what sort of insane villain would put together such an elaborate set-up, and I’ll be really pleased if Cusack turns out to be that guy. Rodrigo Cortes (Buried) is producing, and Eugenio Mira is directing from Damien Chazelle’s script. Filming starts this summer, so we’ll keep you posted on the progress if anything interesting develops.

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There’s a certain level of similarity that permeates a lot of Hollywood films. A book adaptation here, a comic book movie there. But here’s a project that, despite its surface appearances, at least sounds like it has some originality to it. Heat Vision reports that Elijah Wood will star in Grand Piano, a movie being compared to “Speed at a piano.” There have been all kinds of Die Hard-related movies – hell, Speed itself is basically Die Hard on a bus – but there’s something kind of awesome and ridiculous about that concept being applied to a musical instrument. More after the jump.

Here’s the plot description:

The story concerns a once-great concert pianist who suffers from stage fright and comes back to perform after a five-year hiatus. Just when he’s about to play the first bar, he notices somebody has written a threatening note on his music sheet. He’s now forced to play his best concert ever to save his life as well as his wife’s.

I REALLY want to see this movie just to find out what kind of insane villain would set up such an elaborate plot. “Play the best concert of your life, or you and your wife die!” I love it already. It’s totally nuts.

Rodrigo Cortes, the director of the “one-man-trapped-in-a-coffin” movie Buried, is producing, so it makes sense that there’s a connection to the feeling of isolation and claustrophobia in both. Wood will play the lead, and Eugenio Mira will direct from Damien Chazelle’s script. It’s an indie project, so here’s hoping this comes out in theaters and we can watch all take in the suspense of Grand Piano on the big screen.

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Elijah Wood, well known by fantasy fans for his role in The Lord of the Rings, is aiming to please yet another niche. Wood is adapting Elliott Chaze’s 1953 crime novel Black Wings Has My Angel, and he has some intriguing talent attached. Screen Daily confirms that Anna Paquin, most notable for her role in True Blood, will co-star opposite the antagonist of Thor and The Avengers, Tom Hiddleston.

The thriller centers around a thief and a call girl whose lives are changed by an armored car heist, which in a way sounds like a historical noir version of The Town. That alone makes it a must-watch in my book, but it is a bit more complicated than that. Paquin will play the call girl Virginia, who follows a deadly but charming ex-con by the name of Tim Sunblade (most likely played by Hiddleston) to Colorado for a robbery, after meeting in a Mississippi motel.

The film is being written by both Barry Gifford and Christopher Peditto, who spent over a decade trying to secure the rights to the novel that’s been out of print for 50 years, with Alfonso Pineda Ulloa being attached as director. Wood, who is also producing, is slated to co-star in the film but his role remains a mystery, but with both Paquin and Hiddleston in the mix, Black Wings Has My Angel, which is expected to shoot in September, will be a welcomed revival of the often overlooked crime noir genre.

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Days after releasing the first trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Jackson has given fans another Christmas gift by uploading the fifth video blog on to his Facebook page. This video follows the cast and crew as they move from shooting in a studio to shooting on location, and we get to see Elijah Wood, Martin Freeman and the team filming at the Hobbiton set.

Watch below:

The Hobbit follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild (Richard Armitage). Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set to open December 14, 2012 and will be followed a year later by The Hobbit: There and Back Again on December 13, 2013.

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A few weeks ago Andy Serkis said the first trailer for The Hobbit was “just around the corner”, leading to speculation Warner Bros. could attach it to their Sherlock Holmes sequel opening on December 16th, or Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin which is produced by Peter Jackson and stars Serkis himself.

Now Elijah Wood, who will be reprising his role of Frodo Baggins in the films, has said we can expect to get our first look at The Hobbit when Tintin opens in the US on December 21.

From Digital Spy:

“I have not seen it. I have spoken to people about the trailer, I have a sense of what’s going to be in it, he told Digital Spy. “I think it’s going to be in front of Tintin when it’s released in the States.”

Wood admitted that returning to New Zealand to work on the JRR Tolkien adaptation was like “a family reunion”.

“So many of the crew and some of the cast who were working on Lord of the Rings are working on The Hobbit as well,” he commented. “In a way it feels like stepping back in time, some of the same people are there on set. It was kind of emotional, I didn’t really anticipate that.”

The first trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows featured footage from both parts, so Warner Bros. may follow a similar tactic with The Hobbit. In fact, New Line released a ‘trilogy teaser’ for The Lord of the Rings 10 years ago so the inclusion of footage from both An Unexpected Journey and There and Back Again seems likely.

Here’s The Lord of the Rings teaser for old time’s sake.

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Talk about a versatile director. George Miller, who years ago was at the helm for all the gritty and violent Mad Max films, dials up some of the most tender and heartfelt moments depicted on screen this year with Happy Feet Two.  As of today, the front-runner for Best Animated Film for 2011 has arrived.  And for someone (me) who historically pans the 3D gimmick, it’s actually put to good use in this 105 minute presentation.

We pick up with the dancing penguin, Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood), who is trying to get his young son, Erik (cutely voiced by the young Ava Acres), to embrace their dancing culture that is now practiced all over their glacier territory.  Erik is flustered and believes that this environment just isn’t for him; so he ventures off with the always animated (no pun) Ramon (voiced by Robin Williams) – who knows a thing or two about being different – and they end up hanging with another set of penguins on the other side of the glacier.  This particular group worships, Sven (voiced by Hank Azaria), a presumed flying penguin.  Erik becomes instantly enamored with Sven and gets inspired to adopt his philosophy.

Meanwhile, Mumble is hastily tracking down Erik, but comes across problem that affects everyone who lives on the glacial ice as it threatens the lively hood of Mumble’s people; leading to an assortment of ice-dwelling animals to come to the rescue.

One of the cleverest elements about this story – aside from the underlying environmental stance – is that it feels like an adventure, yet only takes place in 2-3 places.  Besides the two penguin nations that reside on the ice caps, the story introduces a separate story line – ushering in the third location – featuring two Krill in Will (voiced by Brad Pitt) and Bill (voiced by Matt Damon).  Will is anxious to break away from the normal Krill life and become a predator.  His goal: shake-up the food chain and “eat something with a face.”  Bill, his loyal and nervous friend, constantly tries to talk him out of this new lifestyle as they roam around in the depths of the arctic sea.  But Will is determined and constantly puts his vulnerable self in harm’s way, as he attacks creatures a million times larger than him.

The Krill adventures brings in the perfect amount of comedy to balance out the cuteness and warming story going on with the penguins.  If you can recall the moment in The Lion King when Mufasa saved Simba by giving his own life, that emotional discharge you had (or should have had, unless your Satan)  is beautifully executed and projected in numerous sequences throughout this screenplay that encompasses a modest dramatic tone to it.  Not only is the direction of each scene crafted with care, the dialogue really brings in a substantial moments that is often missing with animations lately.  A lot of them are just show-and-go, with the goal of cheap entertainment.  And that’s fine for some.  However, when an animated flick can bring in every emotion and induce a wide-spectrum of reactions from the audience (there’s even a brief scare where you may jump a little), it’s a rarity to behold.

Plus, the 3D provides a nice scope for the fluid animated landscape.  It almost feels like you’re on a visual ride at a theme park, as you’ll have the urge to continually explore the surroundings.  And when factoring in the delivery method of the screenplay; which is filled with musical numbers, this feels like a major Broadway production in some respects that manages to keep every tone balanced and entertaining.

Overall, Happy Feet Two finds it rhythm early on and never misses a beat.  The splendid animation along with thoughtful dialogue will have all audiences fully engaged in all the emotions this flick is conjuring up.  Kids will learn something; adults will feel something; and everybody has a delightful movie going experience thanks to the flawless mechanics and intelligent storytelling.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5

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The fourth Peter Jackson video blog from the set of The Hobbit focuses on the 3D, specifically the way they use the RED cameras, shooting in 5k, how much of a difference the 48 frames per second will make for the viewers and probably for the first time in the making of a movie, 3D artwork. So grab your red-cyan glasses and watch this awesome video blog right after the break.

This 10 minutes and 46 second video blog goes very in depth on the 3D and shows probably the most we’ve seen from The Hobbit yet. Peter Jackson talks about the original Lord of the Rings and how he would have filmed it in 3D if he had the possibility back then. Instead he made a lot of 3D pictures on the set of the trilogy so look forward to those in some fancy The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey 3D Blu-ray.

Because they use such big lens, getting the right separation with the RED cameras was definitely a challenge and we see how they solved that with special rigs that can actually adjust the convergence point of the 3D on the fly. We also see how challenging working in 3D is for the makeup and wardrobe team and how the sets had to be painted in very bright colors so that it looks right when shown in the darkening 3D.

48 RED cameras and 17 3D rigs are used to shoot The Hobbit and instead of giving the cameras numbers, they named them after family members or friends. At the end of the video they show how they made 3D artwork by having two artists, one working in red, the other in blue, side by side. To really appreciate their work you need a pair of red-cyan glasses.

The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey is directed by Peter Jackson and stars Martin Freeman, Luke Evans, Hugo Weaving, Evangeline Lily, Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis, Christopher Lee, Ian McKellen, Stephen Fry and Ian Holm among others. The film follows the story of Bilbo Baggins and his journey to the Lonely Mountain accompanied by 13 dwarfs, to reclaim a treasure stolen from them by the dragon Smaug. It is set to open December 14th 2012 and will be followed a year later by The Hobbit: There and Back Again on December 13th 2013.

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Warner Bros. Pictures has released a new full length trailer for Happy Feet 2. While the first trailer was just a tease, this one covers the story for the sequel and we are introduced to a pair of krill voiced by Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.

Watch below:

The sequel to the Academy Award(R) winning animated smash hit, “Happy Feet Two” returns audiences to the magnificent landscape of Antarctica in superb 3D. Mumble, The Master of Tap, has a problem because his tiny son Erik is choreo-phobic. Reluctant to dance, Erik runs away and encounters The Mighty Sven – a penguin who can fly!! Mumble has no hope of competing with this charismatic new role model. But things get worse when the world is shaken by powerful forces. Erik learns of his father’s ‘guts and grit’ as Mumble brings together the penguin nations and all manner of fabulous creatures – from tiny Krill to giant Elephant Seals – to put things right.

As well as Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria, Alecia Moore (Pink), and Sofia Vergara round out the voice cast, and Happy Feet 2 will be released November 18, 2011 in the US and December 2, 2011 in the UK.

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Earlier this year we got a teaser trailer for Happy Feet 2 which featured the penguins shuffling to the music of Justin Timberlake. Now Warner Bros. have released a second trailer which is more of the same, just with some extra footage.

The trailer is embedded below:

The sequel to the Academy Award(R) winning animated smash hit, “Happy Feet Two” returns audiences to the magnificent landscape of Antarctica in superb 3D. Mumble, The Master of Tap, has a problem because his tiny son Erik is choreo-phobic. Reluctant to dance, Erik runs away and encounters The Mighty Sven – a penguin who can fly!! Mumble has no hope of competing with this charismatic new role model. But things get worse when the world is shaken by powerful forces. Erik learns of his father’s ‘guts and grit’ as Mumble brings together the penguin nations and all manner of fabulous creatures – from tiny Krill to giant Elephant Seals – to put things right.

Among the voice cast this time round are Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria, Alecia Moore (Pink), Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Sofia Vergara. Happy Feet 2 will be released November 18, 2011 in the US and December 2, 2011 in the UK.

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We’ve known for a while that Elijah Wood is reprising his role of Frodo in The Hobbit, despite Frodo not actually appearing in the book itself. Peter Jackson and the team have obviously come up with a way to feature Frodo (and older Bilbo played by Ian Holm) in the films, and in a recent interview with OTRC (via TheOneRing) Wood gave a few hints as to how it would work.

Possible spoilers:

Having not read the book i’m not as protective, so the fact Peter Jackson has found a way to feature Frodo, Old Biblo, Legolas and other characters from the trilogy into The Hobbit is quite exciting.

The first film, titled The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will be released on December 14, 2012 and the second film, titled The Hobbit: There and Back Again, is slated for release the following year on December 13, 2013.

The Hobbit follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild (Richard Armitage). Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.

Read similar posts to Elijah Wood heading to New Zealand in October to shoot The Hobbit on Filmonic