The Woman In Black

The Woman In Black, a 2012 supernatural thriller based on the novel by the same title written by Susan Hill,  features world-renowned actor Daniel Radcliffe, the young wizard from the Harry Potter series.  Radcliffe has begun to shed his image of the young Hogarts-student as he takes on more serious roles and shows the world his new, grown-up attitude.

Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) must leave London and his son on business to address legal matters in a small, dreary town outside of the bustling capital of England.  Alice Drablow, a recent death in the town, has an eerie story as her death rehashes a harsh reality the town would rather keep quiet about.  When Kipps begins to discover the oddities of this death, he questions what the cause could be.

Parents in the village have locked their children indoors for many years now, much to the bewilderment of Kipps.  As Arthur stays the night at the Drablow’s spooky house, he begins to see grave images of a rotting woman and hears sounds of dying children.  As he begins to put the pieces together, he starts to see that children are dying left and right and it’s all connected to the dark images of this hellish ghost.

Directed by James Watkins, The Woman in Black features two of Harry Potter’s most recognizable stars, Radcliffe and Ciarán Hinds, who plays Albus Dumbledore.  Radcliffe openly stated his excitement for the film, calling the script both “tender and terrifying” in essence.  A classic English horror story revived from a best-selling novel, The Woman In Black seems to a be a much-anticipated film in the coming year.

Rebecca Wang – Producer
Rebecca Wang Entertainment

The Deep Blue Sea

The Deep Blue Sea, a British drama filmed based off of the 1952 Terrence Rattigan play The Deep Blue, has captured English critics’ hearts as the old-time play has been revived on the silver screen.  Funded by the UK Film Council and Film4, the plot focuses on the desperate wife of a judge who begins a tempestuous affair with an RAF pilot.

Set in the 1950’s, Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz) has been forced to bear a life without passion as her husband, High Court judge Sir William Collyer (Simon Russell Beal), cannot give his beloved the love she needs and desires.  As the film recounts her attempted suicide, we take a look  back at the shattered pieces of her life that led to his deadly decision.

Living a life of luxury with her husband, the sexual tensions between them exponentially mount as Sir Collyer can no longer satisfy his wife, but only be a companion to her.  But Hester’s sexual bearings are drastically increased with she meets a handsome, young RAF pilot Freddie Page (Tom Middleston).  Although when she realizes his unstable life can only bring her sexual pleasure, she questions her life choices.

Directed by Terence Davis, The Deep Blue Sea tells a passionate tale of lust and unrequited love.  The release of the movie was released in 2011, the year of Terrence Rattigan’s centenary.  Bringing back to life a play our grandparents so fondly remember, this movie offers a tantalizing story for both young and old.

Rebecca Wang – Producer
Rebecca Wang Entertainment

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Few stories have spurred an entire revolution of pop culture, but this movie’s franchise has done just that and more.  Joining the ranks of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, Stephanie Meyer’s best-selling novels have led us to the ultimate conclusion that has made vampires and werewolves the new “it” thing again – Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1.

Bella (Kristen Stewart) has struggled with the downsides of becoming a vampire for a long time coming now.  Despite Edward (Robert Pattinson) and his blatant disapproval, she decides that she is almost ready to make the next step in cementing her love for Edward.  The first step; marry her lover in a ceremony only a vampire could throw.

Once Bell and Edward have said their “I do’s”, things become sticky when Jacob (Taylor Lautner) comes to give his congratulations only to learn of Bella’s grave choice.  After an ugly falling-out, Bella and Edward make their way to a deserted island in Brazil and although facing many challenges in the interpersonal relationship of human vampires, consummate their love.  But when Bella realizes something in her body has changed already, a dreadful outcome awaits as the entire world is watching.

Directed by Bill Condon, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 has shattered box-offices around the world as the greatly anticipated trilogy begins to come to an end.  For fans of the franchise, the movie’s last curtain call is everything they hoped for and more and as Twilight has taken the world on by storm, so will its lasting ripple effect in the mainstream culture.

Rebecca Wang – Producer
Rebecca Wang Entertainment

Rango

Rango, an American computer-animated western comedy, has attained box-office stardom as Johnny Depp and an all-star cast lead this movie to raving reviews. With music by the famous Hans Zimmer and a hilariously twisted plot, Rango reels in the reviews.

When the local pet chameleon Rango (Johnny Depp) is lost after his cage is falls from his masters’ car, he is left to fend for himself in the kill-or-be-killed world of the Mojave Desert. Just narrowly avoiding death by predator, he finds his way into a small, quaint town known as Dirt, who is in desperate need of a new sheriff.

After he meets the residents, who are all but happy about their new visitor, Rango learns that the town is need of something much more important than a new sheriff, but actually supply of water to continue living. As he starts the gain the trust of the occupants of small town of Dirt, Rango feels empathy and drive to help save his new home, despite the odds or dangers.

Directed and produced by Gore Verbinski, Rango takes on a whole new level of animated comedies through its dark, mysterious humor and adventure. Few movies have achieved such widespread success without adhering to typical animated-movie mold of light-heartedness and squeaky-clean fun, but Rango takes another spin on animated movies and does it flawlessly.

Rebecca Wang – Producer
Rebecca Wang Entertainment

Cars 2 – A Pixar Production

Cars 2, an American animated film, is the latest masterpiece to come off the famous Pixar Animation Studio’s impressive resume of movies.  Made as a sequel to record-breaking film Cars, Lighting McQueen makes his feature film return as he joins his pals Mater and Sally Carrera along with throngs of other cars as he continues on his adventures.

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is an accomplished, four-time Pistol Cup Champion.  But when his friends Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt) reunite with their best friend,  he is thrown into a whole new world of racing when he decides to enter the World Grand Prix in Tokyo and Italy respectively.

Touting the use of a new alternative fuel, oil baron Professor Zündapp (Thomas Kretschmann) and his notorious group of “lemons” decide that their fortune cannot be put to waste.  They infiltrate the games and plot a deadly outcome for the racers, all in an attempt to destroy the name of the new fuel.  But when a group of British spies come to help, McQueen and the gang are in for a wild ride.

Directed by John Lasseter, Cars 2 joins the legendary ranks among the Pixar films and attained huge success in its opening weekend, amassing a staggering 66 million.  In a time where light-hearted comedy’s appropriate for the entire family are rare to come by, Cars 2 is that long-awaited breath of fresh air that is sure to entice the entire family.

Rebecca Wang – Producer
Rebecca Wang Entertainment

Beginners

Beginners, a 2010 American romantic-comedy-drama, tells the story of a man living life in the 21^st century, facing problems that could only arise in today’s world.  With a star studded cast featuring Ewan McGregor, Academy-Award nominee Christopher Plummer and Mélanie Laurent, Beginners crazy plot just begs for attention.

Oliver (Ewan McGregor) has lived a life of mediocrity and happiness.  But when he beloved mother dies, his bereaved father Hal (Christopher Plummer) has some shocking news that he could have never expected.  Hal explains that despite loving her mother dearly, he is in fact gay. Shaking things up, Oliver helps his father to understand a new side of his life that he never had the opportunity to experience.

Introducing him to clubs, clothes and even men, Oliver helps his dad better understand a side of him he’s hide all his life. But when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Oliver must expedite his father’s newfound life.  In the process, Oliver meets Anna, a French actress, who indeed has baggage of her own.  When she helps him understand the death of his father, things are put into perspective as he begins to see a future with her.

Directed by Mike Mills, the film was party inspired by his own experience with his father – at age 75, he told Millls he was gay and died five years later.  Mills give his own personal touch to the film and develops it wonderfully as he shows us how a man in the 21^st century deals with life and the many curveballs it throws at us.

Rebecca Wang – Producer
Rebecca Wang Entertainment

The Guard

The Guard, an independent Irish black comedy film, recently became the most successful independent Irish film of all time, overtaking the ranks of The Wind That Shakes the Barley.  Written by the director himself, the plot focuses on the comedic tensions between two very different men in law enforcement as they struggle to work together to solve an international crime.

Big city FBI Agent Everett (Don Cheadle) has set his sights for Ireland when an international crime syndicate starts using the quaint country as a medium to import and export half a billion dollars of cocaine.  But when he is paired up with a local Irish cop that knows the area, problems arise and the lackluster native would rather do, well, just about anything else.

After a series of murders of a suspected occult killer, Everett and the local garda (Irish policeman) Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) start to form an unlikely friendship, where Boyle’s uninvolved nature is of little help in the beginning.  But as the plot thickens, Boyle’s interest in other things waver as he starts to see the gravity of the crime and helps Everett as best he can – which sometimes isn’t any help at all.

Directed by John Michael McDonagh, The Guard has proved itself in Ireland and as well as around the world.  With raging reviews from magazines such as Vanity Fair, Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, The Guard has successfully stepped out of the shadow of Hollywood to show that Ireland can produce quality films, too.

Rebecca Wang – Producer
Rebecca Wang Entertainment

Bridesmaid

Bridesmaid is one of 2011’s most acclaimed movies for its female-driven, raunchy story and brilliant cast, featuring the comedic talents of Saturday Night Live’s Kristen Wigg, Maya Rudolph as well as Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne and Wendi McLendon-Covey.  Following the story of a down-on-her-luck bridesmaid, this movie’s wit and classic humor is unsurpassed in 2011.

The worst nightmare of all girls, and the one that they will never admit to their gal-pals; being that perpetual bridesmaid, year after year after year.  Unfortunately for Annie (Kristen Wigg), that’s exactly her case.  But this time, it’s her best friend’s wedding that helps her see her sad state of loneliness and underachievement.

But when the bride, Lillian (Maya Rudolph) gets together her cast of over-the-top, conflicting personalities for her bridesmaids, things start to crumble for everybody as Annie has to compete with “perfect” woman, Helen (Rose Byrne).  Her life beginning to crumble, Annie begins ruining one event after another, first their trip to Vegas, then the bridal shower.  After some heavy soul-searching, Annie reenters the picture in an unforgettably hilarious fashion.

Directed by Paul Feig, Bridesmaid has been hailed as one of the best R-rated, female-driven comedies of all time by Jeff Bayer.  With the outrageous nature of the film, Bridesmaid is up there in that top echelon of comedy-movies, making a great female partner for another male-driven classic, The Hangover.  Bridesmaid makes it on our list of the funniest movies of 2011.

Rebecca Wang – Producer
Rebecca Wang Entertainment

Crazy Stupid Love

Crazy, Stupid, Love is the 2011 romantic-comedy that has everybody talking.  With “Sexiest Man of the Year” candidate Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Julianne Moore and Emma Stone, Crazy, Stupid, Love is crazy packed with laughs, fun and a set of actors that make not loving them just seem…stupid.

Cal and Emily Weaver have had their tough times, but this time, no therapy will be able to save them; Emily wants a divorce.  Cal, totally blind sighted by his sweethearts desire to separate, goes into a comma of self-loathing and despair, plaguing everybody at the bar with his dejected attitude.  But when stud Jacob Palmer see’s Cal down on his luck, he decides to lend a helping hand.

While Jacob is helping Cal, he finds a challenge of his own; wow Hannah, the new Law School grad, into coming home with him.  When she says no, he becomes motivated that much more.  Finally coercing her to come home with him after her breakup with her boyfriend, he soon finds that she’s much different than the girls he’s been known to be attracted to.  When Jacob finds out something no one could have expected, his interest in Hannah is stunted as Cal’s new bad boy imagine is shattered at the stunning news.

Directed by Gleen Ficarra and John Requa, Crazy, Stupid, Love brings that light-hearted ambiance that most rom-com’s lack while still delivering killer punchlines.  Crazy, Stupid, Love is able to do both; entertain us with witty comebacks while still keeping the mood real and upbeat.  It’s realistic nature coupled with real-to-life situations make this movie a must-see.

Rebecca Wang – Producer
Rebecca Wang Entertainment

Dream House

Dream House, a 2011 psychological horror thriller featuring Casino Royale star Brit Daniel Craig, is one of the latest movies of its genre to be released this year.  With a backwards plot that leads you guessing what’s true and what’ not, the story has the potential to transfix the minds of viewers on a journey to find out the real story behind this ideal household.

Peter Ward (Daniel Craig) has a fantasy a little more outlandish than what most might conjure up.  In his head, reality is what he wants it to be.  Living in a beautiful house with his wife, Libby (Rachel Weisz), and two little girls, he is a best-selling author that couldn’t ask for a better life.  But when neighbors start to hint at something, Peter looks deeper into why he’s been getting those worried looks from everyone.

What he finds out could not be worse.  Five years earlier, his wife and two children were violently murdered. In addition, he maintained a bullet wound to head and remembers absolutely nothing.  He has spent the last five years in a psychiatric hospital and is stunned to learn that his ornately-decorated home is actually boarded up and abandoned.  When he must confront his living-dead wife about her death, the floor begins to cave in as the truth about the murders starts to surface.

Directed by Jim Sheridan, Dream House was designed to perplex the mind of the audience while delivering unexpected twists, turns and scares.  Although the well-designed framework of the story is there, the psychological supersedes the scary, as the plot is very bulky, enough to allow the creative minds to be interested but too much to allow lots of horror into the picture.  If you’re looking for a interesting flick made to get those cogs in your brain turning, Dream House is just the film for you.

Rebecca Wang – Producer
Rebecca Wang Entertainment