With one darkly comic Irish film already receiving rave reviews, Brendan Gleeson is starring in a lightly comic Canadian one, which, by the looks of the trailer, will have exactly the same effect. Taylor Kitsch also stars in ‘The Grand Seduction’, which has a brand new trailer below.
The film sees Murray French (Gleeson) rally the troops of Tickle Cove, a picturesque harbour town, to convince a visiting doctor to stay permanently so the local factor can keep its business contract alive and provide the locals with work. But with such a motley and lazy crew, he’s got his work cut out.
Kitsch plays the exotic doctor; a Canadian visiting the small Irish town. French’s efforts to convince Kathleen (Liane Balaban) that a little flirtation (not intercourse, mind) could go a long way don’t really work, but romance blossoms anyway.
Of course, the comedic core of this charming story, which is based on based on the 2003 film Seducing Doctor Lewis (original French title La grande séduction), is the juxtaposition between the aged, haggard locals of the working class town and the youthful exuberance of the doctor.
THE STAR.COM
By: Peter Howell Movie Critic, Published on Wed Sep 11 2013
Brendan Gleeson, left, seen here with Taylor Kitsch and Gordon Pinsent in a scene from "The Grand Seduction," gave an eloquent description of what the "Canadian voice" is during a Q-and-A session following a Tuesday morning screening of the film at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Irish actor Brendan Gleeson came to the rescue Tuesday when The Grand Seduction director Don McKellar was having trouble defining Canadians.
McKellar was puzzling over an audience member’s question about “the Canadian voice” in his comic film, during a Q-and-A session following the 9 a.m. screening at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Gleeson, the film’s main star, was standing near McKellar on the stage. He jumped in to offer his own interpretation of what it means to be Canadian, something he sounds like he’d really like to be.
“I think we have to do an Ontarian remake now, because you have two provinces with vastly different cultures, and we tell the same story from both places. And they’re each separate, but it is part of what is the Canadian voice,” Gleeson said.
“I think it’s an extraordinarily rich thing and what’s important about making films of this nature is that you express and share something that’s unique culturally. And that’s really where universality comes into play most, when you know what you’re talking about.
Brendan Gleeson, seen at the 2012 Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles, will star in the Newfoundland-shot film. (Chris Pizzello/Associated Press)
Young Canadian star Taylor Kitsch and accomplished Irish actor Brendan Gleeson will take the leads in The Grand Seduction, the upcoming English-language remake of the Quebec hit.
Produced announced casting news for the Don McKellar-helmed production from Los Angeles Monday afternoon.
Taylor Kitsch, seen in Los Angeles in May, will play the lead role in the upcoming English remake The Grand Seduction. (Chris Pizzello/Associated Press)
Based on the 2003 film La Grande Séduction (also called Seducing Dr. Lewis) penned by Ken Scott and directed by Jean-François Pouliot, the comedy follows a big-city physician who turns up in a harbour town that's in desperate need of a doctor.
There, a village leader (Gleeson) spurs the inhabitants into a campaign to seduce the young doctor (Kitsch) to settle permanently in the community, so the town can secure a factory to save it from financial ruin.
Rihanna, Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch and a whole host of "Friday Night Lights" actors laugh it up on the red carpet and at the L.A. Live afterparty for Battleship; Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani hold hands on the red carpet for the Heart Foundation Gala, which includes a special performance from Michael Bublé; Katy Perry and Lionel Richie are the big winners at the music business association NARM's annual Awards Gala and dinner party in Century City; SOL Republic launches their new "indestructible" headphone line at Fred Segal Santa Monica with a little help from a plethora of buzzworthy musicians like AC Slater, LA Riots, Epic Twelve and DWNTWN. That's a whole lot for a Thursday night, and we've got all the details for you in this edition of Last Night's Parties!
Rihanna may have sold more than 60 million records but she admitted to Sky News that working on her first feature film was "scary" and "nerve-wracking".
The singer makes her acting debut in sci-fi adventure Battleship which also stars Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch and Brooklyn Decker.
It's about an alien invasion - with the Navy as the last line of defence.
The chart-topping star said she was nervous in the months leading up to the shoot and that only got worse when she arrived on set on the first day.
Thu., Mar. 15, 2012 5:23 PM PDT
by Leslie Gornstein
All of the biggest male movie stars used to be from the good ol’ USA. Now American kids are swooning over Liam Hemsworth and Tom Hardy. Where have all the American idols gone? —Sigh, via the inbox
Oh, knock it off. If you look at the top 10 or so male stars of the moment, you'll see that Taylor Kitsch comes from...oh, wait. He comes from Canada. Well, there’s Ryan Gosling! He's...oh, scratch that. He's Canadian, too. So what is going on here?
I dug deep, and I found the one person you can blame for all this...
Take a look at IMDB’s top 20 stars of right this very second. Then narrow it down to just the men. The list includes the aforementioned Kitsch, Hemsworth, Hardy and Gosling, plus Josh Hutcherson, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Armie Hammer, Channing Tatum, Leonardo DiCaprio and Liam Neeson.
Of those 11 criminally beautiful souls, five come from outside these United States—the U.K. or Canada, to be precise. The other six salute the Stars and Stripes.
Why so many foreigners? And why specifically from the U.K. and its historically linked offshoot, Canada?
Synopsis: Peter Berg (Hancock) produces and directs Battleship, an epic-scaled action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force. Inspired by Hasbro’s classic naval combat game, Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam Shane, a physical therapist and Hopper’s fiancée; Alexander Skarsgård as Hopper’s older brother, Stone, Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson; Rihanna as Petty Officer Raikes, Hopper’s crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and international superstar Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone’s superior (and Sam’s father), Admiral Shane.
Look Out Luke Skywalker. There's A New Galactic Savior In Town.
John Carter opens with a brief overview of Barsoom (aka Mars) and the civil war that has raged between the righteous city of Helium and the tyrants of Zodanga. The scales are tipped in Zodanga's favor when “Zodangan” Prince Sab Than (Dominic West) is given a powerful weapon by a mysterious figure named Matai Shang (Mark Strong). With new technology and Matai Shang's remarkable resources Sab Than's conquest of Barsoom looks promising.
We then head back to Earth, circa 1800's, where John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) has passed away and left his fortune to his nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs (Daryl Sabara). Edgar begins to read John's memoir that explains how John managed to get to Mars and his adventures there upon his arrival.
I'm not an Edgar Rice Burroughs expert so I don't know how faithful this film adaptation was to the original series of novels. I watched the film as a total virgin to the John Carter saga so my view is of someone who likes Disney films, special effects extravaganzas, and science fiction adventures.
I found John Carter to be interesting. It's easy to say the plot is familiar because there have been plenty of flicks that featured a human being as the unlikely savior of an alien race. Then I have to put into perspective that the source material for this film was written in the early 1900s. So it's probably a more fitting claim that films like Avatar (2009), The Last Starfighter (1984) and Green Lantern (2011) were actually inspired (unintentionally or not) by Mr. Burroughs' works.
Nevertheless, the theme has been done before so John Carter is the same kitchen sink but with a different polish; new guy lands on foreign soil through extraordinary circumstances, quickly learns the customs and then becomes the unlikely hero that rallies the troops into a victorious frenzy.
Despite the familiarity of the basic plot I enjoyed John Carter's adventures both off and on Mars. John's efforts to escape from his military duties leads to some thrilling yet amusing episodes with Colonel Powell (Bryan Cranston) and his troops.
Then comes the trip to Barsoom where John gets a crash course on Martian etiquette from a tribal race known as the Tharks. The green skinned, four-armed peoples are pretty brutal and aggressive but have a strong sense of honor when it comes to religion and customs. Thankfully, the Tharks are much closer in concept to the Navi in Avatar (2010) than the Gungans in Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace (1999). The Tharks are presented in a mostly serious tone. They are a tough, rugged people and the combination of CG and voice acting is done well enough to make the Thark people a very natural part of the cast rather than just a dazzling gimmick.
“John Carter” is one wacky movie. It features an unwieldy plot that throws in elements of “Flash Gordon,” “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones,” “Avatar” and “Conan the Barbarian” for good measure.
And even though it clocks in at well over two hours, the film feels over-stuffed and rushed because of all the disparate story lines.
Still, in spite of its crazed plot and at-times bloated running time, it’s mostly entertaining.
This is a movie aimed at the 13-year-old boy with a healthy imagination and a thirst for action. “John Carter” features visits to other worlds, sword fights, gun battles, 12-foot-tall, four-armed green creatures with a propensity for violence and a scantily clad princess whose outfit would make even Princess Leia via “Return of the Jedi” blush.
The movie, directed by Andrew Stanton of Pixar “Finding Nemo” and “Wall-E” fame, is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “John Carter of Mars” series, which was first published starting in 1912. The novels obviously influenced a wide swath of future sci-fi series, including the aforementioned “Flash Gordon” and “Star Wars.”
To describe the plot is almost a losing proposition. It revolves around a Civil War veteran transported to Mars, which is the middle of a civil war between the kingdom of Helium and the mobile city of Zodanga. Turns out the civil war in manipulated by malevolent spirit forces led by Matai Shang (Mark Strong).
To stop the civil war, Helium’s leader (Ciaran Hinds) agrees to marry his lovely daughter Princess Dejah (the scantily clad Lynne Collins) to the evil Zodanga warlord Sab Than (Dominic West).
(12A, 132 mins) Action/Sci-Fi/Romance. Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Mark Strong, Dominic West, Ciaran Hinds, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Willem Dafoe, Samantha Morton, Thomas Haden Church, Polly Walker. Director Andrew Stanton.
INTENDED as the first instalment of an action-packed trilogy, John Carter is a fantastical and fantastically dull battle beyond the stars based on the novel A Princess Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Oscar-winning director Andrew Stanton, who collected golden statuettes for Finding Nemo and WALL-E, makes a lacklustre live action debut with this sprawling epic.
The miasma of digital effects, which hopes to emulate Avatar by immersing us in an eye-popping alien world, feel flat in 3D and the quality of the computer trickery doesn't match the ambition of Stanton's own script, co-written by Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon.
