Having an accomplished cast is always a good idea if one plans on following the typical storytelling pattern seen in others depicting similar themes. Rabbit Hole is just that. The 91 minute feature follows a married couple who is struggling to cope with tragedy. So although the flick mimics others, it still has a legit shot in standing out if the performances can enhance script.

Becca (Nicole Kidman) and her husband Howie (Aaron Eckhart) seemingly had the perfect life. Promising careers, a gorgeous house in a wealthy suburban neighborhood, great family and friends surrounding them; All in all, what more could they ask for these days. They even had a four-year-old son. Had, being the keyword. The above mentioned tragedy stems from the loss of their son. A random event prematurely ends the young boy’s life. Nearly a year has passed and despite all the group therapy, Becca and Howie are still very much lost on how to move forward as a couple and individually.

Howie forms a bond with fellow group member Gaby (Sandra Oh). Meanwhile, Becca can’t stand being at group anymore and takes a random interest in high school senior Jason (Miles Teller). Becca also keeps a running dialogue with her mother (Dianne West) and her newly pregnant sister Izzy (Tammy Blanchard). Both Howie and Becca realize that getting back to the norm is just not happening. They constantly disagree on what direction to take in coping with the memory of their lost child.

To avoid spoilers, that is all the plot points that can be revealed. A few subtle surprises will hit the audience as the Becca and Howie characters open up to others. Stated above, was the relation between having a solid cast in a formulaic story. One of the storylines will keep the viewer guessing while the other is fairly predictable. That said, the bold performances of Kidman and Eckhart casually bring in enough power to keep one engrossed for a good portion of this flick. However, eventually this ends up losing momentum about two-thirds of the way through and you will be looking around for something a bit more interesting.

Some may point out that Kidman and Eckhart lack the chemistry in many of their scenes. Newsflash people, that’s the point. They’re supposed to be jaded and awkward. These moments, whether it is both of them or Kidman having a breakdown in public, is what keeps this emotional for the viewer. Placing yourself in the characters position is one of two main reasons this should be sought out. The other is the interaction between Kidman and Miles Teller. Chances are you will not want their conversations to ever stop.

The supporting players try to provide another layer and/or an alternate view of the story. In the end though, they’re placement in the story just doesn’t add much at all. Well acted, but fail to provide anymore substance on what is a straight-forward story. One prop that spoke volumes though is the final page of the comic book introduced toward the end. That picture, working in concert with the main theme, really sums up the purpose of this flick nicely.

Overall, Rabbit Hole is brought to life by the performers. An introduction to a few subplots keeps the viewer involved. The realistic approach is welcomed, but eventually drags and really doesn’t lead to anywhere. It is what it is.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Today the nominations for the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards were announced, and as well as the usual suspects such as The King’s Speech, Black Swan, and The Social Network there were also nominations for Alice in Wonderland, Red and The Tourist.

Read the full list of nominations below:

BEST PICTURE: DRAMA
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

BEST PICTURE: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Alice in Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are Alright
Red
The Tourist

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronosfsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter

BEST ACTOR: DRAMA
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

BEST ACTRESS: DRAMA
Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

BEST ACTRESS: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Anette Benning, The Kids Are Alright
Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie, The Tourist
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are Alright
Emma Stone, Easy A

BEST ACTOR: COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland
Johnny Depp, The Tourist
Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version
Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs
Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Michael Douglas, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Biutiful
The Concert
The Edge
I Am Love
In a Better World

BEST SCREENPLAY
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat, The King’s Speech
Danny Elfman, Alice in Wonderland
A.R. Rahman, 127 Hours
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network
Hans Zimmer, Inception

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Despicable Me
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Tangled
Toy Story 3

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Bound To You” (Burlesque)
“Coming Home” (Country Strong)
“I See The Light” (Tangled)
“There’s a Place For Us” (The Chronicles of Narnia)
“You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me” (Burlesque)

The Golden Globe Awards will be handed out on Sunday, January 16, in a ceremony hosted by Ricky Gervais.

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The Weinstein Company provided ComingSoon with three new poster for Rob Marshall’s Nine, one of which can be seen below.

Notice the use of the young, good looking actresses and the absence of the talented Dame Judi Dench and Sophie Loren. I guess that’s marketing for you.

You can see the other two posters by clicking here!

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Yahoo! have a new video which shows the cast of Nine rehearsing their musical numbers for the film. It’s not one of those a behind the scenes shaky cams, it’s a bit more professional and shows footage for the film alongside the rehearsal footage.

Who would have guessed Penelope Cruz was that flexible? Even though it’s a musical I will probably see as there’s quite a lot of talent in the film. And Kate Hudson.

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Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren and…Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas are all in an upcoming musical called Nine (not to be confused with the upcoming animated movie 9). The trailer can be seen below. I’m not a musical type of person but they have put together a heck of a cast and anything with Daniel Day-Lewis in deserves to be seen whether it has musical numbers or not.

Nine is directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago) and tells the story of world famous film director Guido Contini as he prepares his latest picture and balances the numerous women in his life

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Yep, you read that right. According to THR Nicole Kidman will be playing the world’s first post-op transsexual alongside Charlize Theron in The Danish Girl.

Kidman will star in and produce “The Danish Girl,” based on the true story of Danish artists Einar and Greta Wegener. Their marriage took a sharp left turn after Einar (Kidman) stood in for an female model that Greta (Theron) was set to paint.

When their portraits become wildly popular in 1920s Copenhagen, Greta encouraged her husband to adopt the female guise. What began as a harmless game led Einer to a metamorphosis and landmark 1931 operation that shocked the world and threatened their love.

Kidman and Charlize Theron are quite familiar with lesbian love, having won Oscars for their roles as lesbians in The Hours and Monster. No doubt this film will cause quite a stir and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was being treated as Oscar bait.

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The Weinstein Company have released an image of Rob Marshall’s musical Nine, which started filming recently.

From left to right: Judi Dench smoking, Penelope Cruz with a weird leg position, this years Best Actress Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, Fergie with her legs open as usual, Nicole Kidman and Kate Hudson. Oh, and Daniel Day-Lewis is the dude with his back to us.

Nine tells the story of world famous film director Guido Contini, who faces a personal and professional crisis as he struggles to prepare his latest picture, while balancing the numerous women in his life — his wife, his mistress, his movie star muse, his costume designer, a fashion journalist, a whore from his childhood, and his mother.

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The ‘epicness’ that is Australia continues with the final trailer that has Youtubed it’s way online.

“Australia” is an epic and romantic action adventure, set in that country on the explosive brink of World War II. In it, an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) travels to the faraway continent, where she meets a rough-hewn local (Hugh Jackman) and reluctantly agrees to join forces with him to save the land she inherited. Together, they embark upon a transforming journey across hundreds of miles of the world’s most beautiful yet unforgiving terrain, only to still face the bombing of the city of Darwin by the Japanese forces that attacked Pearl Harbor. With his new film, Luhrmann is painting on a vast canvas, creating a cinematic experience that brings together romance, drama, adventure and spectacle.

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Latino Review uncovered a new poster for Baz Luhrmann’s Australia.

“Australia” is an epic and romantic action adventure, set in that country on the explosive brink of World War II. In it, an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) travels to the faraway continent, where she meets a rough-hewn local (Hugh Jackman) and reluctantly agrees to join forces with him to save the land she inherited. Together, they embark upon a transforming journey across hundreds of miles of the world’s most beautiful yet unforgiving terrain, only to still face the bombing of the city of Darwin by the Japanese forces that attacked Pearl Harbor. With his new film, Luhrmann is painting on a vast canvas, creating a cinematic experience that brings together romance, drama, adventure and spectacle.

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I’m not really into that romantic mumbo jumbo, however I am actually quite looking forward to Baz Luhrmann Australia. The previous trailers and imagery we have seen have been quite something, but this latest trailer has confirmed that I will be seeing this when it is released. The trailer starts off casually, exploring the predictable relationship between Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, and then BAM! The trailer switches. The epic music kicks in and then it gets exciting.

Watch it below!

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