Also, check out the release copied below, and let us know if you’re excited to see this new take on the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ story.

“Burbank, CA  (June 19, 2012) – The Walt Disney Studios announced today that production began Wednesday, June 13th, on “Maleficent,” starring Academy Award®–winning actress Angelina Jolie.

Directed by two-time Oscar®-winning production designer Robert Stromberg (“Avatar,” “Alice in Wonderland”), in his directorial debut, and produced by Joe Roth, “Maleficent” is written by Linda Woolverton (“The Lion King,” “Beauty and the Beast”) and executive produced by Angelina Jolie, Don Hahn, Matt Smith and Palak Patel.

Co-starring in the film are Sharlto Copley (“District 9”), Elle Fanning (“Super 8”), Sam Riley (“On the Road”), Imelda Staunton (“Vera Drake”), Miranda Richardson (“The Hours”), Juno Temple (“Atonement”) and Lesley Manville (“Secrets & Lies”).
This is the untold story of Disney’s most beloved villain, Maleficent, from the 1959 classic “Sleeping Beauty.” The film reveals the events that hardened her heart and drove her to curse the baby, Aurora.

Behind-the-scenes talent includes Academy Award®–winning cinematographer Dean Semler (“Dances with Wolves,” “In the Land of Blood and Honey”), production designer Gary Freeman (“Saving Private Ryan,” “The Bourne Supremacy”), two-time Oscar® nominated costume designer Anna B. Sheppard (“Schindler’s List,” “The Pianist”) and seven-time Academy Award–winning makeup artist Rick Baker (“Planet of the Apes,” “Men in Black”).

“Maleficent” is scheduled for a March 14, 2014 release in 3D.”

Tom Cruise as Stacey Jaxx in ‘Rock of Ages’

I was “lucky” enough to catch a screening of Rock of Ages last night, and felt compelled to jot some of my thoughts down in a mini-review. Word of warning: they are not kind thoughts.

Check out the photo review here, and let us know if you’re looking forward to seeing Rock of Ages this weekend.

Anne Cosigny at the wet red carpet at Cannes

I sadly had to leave Abbas Kiarostami‘s Like Someone in Love to attend a meeting. Others have claimed that this was the film that drove their impatience over the edge, though some put that on Cristian Mungui‘s Beyond the Hills. At nearly three hours many claim it’s as great as his previous work, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, & 2 Days, but they do so with a rather weary sigh.

Talked with William Hurt on the street with his daughter and they looked almost exactly like this. He is scary smart and inordinately articulate. Ironically we discussed how the Internet is possibly affecting short-term, residential memory…and maybe even our collective patience. Guess I’ll try to slow down.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

A handful of summer’s favorite theatrical releases head up this week’s list of titles now available to own on DVD and Blu-ray – take a look and see which of these titles you’ll be adding to your home movie library:

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – Johnny dons the braided wig and sets out on the high seas once again.

Bad Teacher – Cameron Diaz, Jason Segal and Justin Timberlake headline this comedy that makes you wonder what exactly *your* teachers did in their free time.

Red State – Kevin Smith’s self-distributes his horror flick centering on small-town fundamentalists.

Check out our DVD & Blu-ray section for a more detailed look at all the films being released to for purchase this week.

Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth from 'The Avengers' at D23

The most-anticipated event was clearly The Avengers presentation, which was not-surprisingly held until the very end of the event. Things kicked off with a montage of clips from the first five Avengers movies, then Marvel producer Kevin Feige came out on stage to introduce the brand-new Avengers footage. It opened with a lengthy scene featuring Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) speaking to Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who appeared to have been captured and quarantined by The Avengers. During this clip we got a glance at most of the other Avengers, including a good look at Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and the first shot of Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill.

The montage of action shots that followed the initial clip was lengthier and much different than the teaser trailer currently being shown after Captain America: The First Avenger. There are a handful of distinct battles, including one on a bridge with Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and one that appeared to pit Captain America (Chris Evans) against Thor (Chris Hemsworth). The end of the clip features Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) giving his assessment of the team (assassins, a demigod, and a living legend, he says) to Loki, who responds “I have an army.” Not missing a beat, Stark replies “We have a Hulk.” That’s immediately followed by a shot of the Hulk roaring, and then the now-familiar Avengers logo.

After the clip, Feige brought Hiddleston, Smulders, Renner, Johansson, Hemsworth and Downey to the stage (the rest of the cast and crew are shooting in Cleveland). Downey said some brief words, then let them play the clip again. From the footage that was shown, it looks like The Avengers is shaping up quite nicely, and should have no problem kicking off next Summer in a big way.

While The Avengers was the centerpiece of Disney’s presentation, there was tons of other interesting footage on display. The event actually got kicked off with an hour-long Disney Animation segment MCed by chief creative officer John Lasseter (wearing a Cars 2 Hawaiian shirt). A brief teaser from Cars spin-off Planes was shown first. Jon Cryer voices the main character, a cropduster aptly named Dusty, and he briefly came out on stage to discuss his involvement with the project. Planes is headed straight-to-video in Spring 2013.

Wreck-It Ralph, about a video game bad guy who yearns to be good, was up next. The first four-and-a-half minutes of the movie was shown in a mix of storyboards and pre-visualization animation, and included John C. Reilly voicing the title character and Jack McBrayer as his nemesis Fix-It Felix. The highlight was a final clip that showed Ralph at an Alcoholics Anonymous-style meeting called BAD-ANON (Bad Guys Anonymous) that amusingly featured the ghost from Pacman along with some less immediately recognizable villains. There was also a clip of Jane Lynch recording for her character, who is a military officer in a Halo-like game, and McBrayer and Sarah Silverman (also in the cast) made in-person appearances.

Merida (voice by Kelly Macdonald) in Disney-Pixar's 'Brave'

Wreck-It Ralph was followed by the Pixar portion of the presentation, which began with next Summer’s Brave. A behind-the-scenes video with some clips and story details was shown, and cast members Kelly Macdonald and Kevin McKidd came out on stage. The presentation wrapped up by showing an entire scene set at an archery contest. While the animation wasn’t complete, the clip gave off the impression that Brave is at least a step in the right direction for Pixar following Cars 2 (which even Lasseter doesn’t seem too excited about anymore).

The next presentation was for Monsters University, a prequel showing how Monsters, Inc.’s Mike and Sully became friends in college. Tons of initial artwork indicate that the animators are going to have a great time “monsterizing” the college experience, and it’s nice to know that Billy Crystal, John Goodman, and Steve Buscemi are all returning. Speaking of Crystal and Goodman, after a brief video introduction Crystal literally stepped out of the video and on to the stage in what appeared to be a surprise visit to D23. The crowd went crazy, and Crystal said a few words about why he believes Monsters University will be a worthwhile follow-up.

Finally, Lasseter brought out the directors of Pixar’s next two movies, which are arriving in Fall 2013 and Summer 2014, to reveal what exactly their projects are about. The first, directed by Bob Peterson (co-director of Up) is about what would happen if the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs missed Earth, and is currently titled The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs. The second, directed by Pete Docter (Monsters Inc., Up) is called The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside the Mind, and its setting is, you guessed it, inside the mind. That project in particular feels like the sort of creatively innovative material that you’d expect from Pixar. Here’s hoping it doesn’t share too many qualities with fellow inside-the-body animated movie Osmosis Jones.

Pixar 25th Anniversary cupcake!

Lasseter had the whole Pixar team come back out on stage, then Toy Story‘s Woody and Buzz wheeled out a cake to celebrate Pixar’s 25th Anniversary. Not wanting to leave the crowd out, convention employees handed out cupcakes (I heard it was at least 4,000 of them). As people tore in to these cupcakes, a clip reel from Pixar’s first 12 movies played.

After the Disney Animation presentation was over, it was time for John Carter. Director Andrew Stanton and cast members Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins and Willem Dafoe brought a handful of work-in-progress footage, though the majority of the effects looked like they were nearly finished. The best clips showed Carter (Kitsch) meeting the Tharks for the first time, and then Carter and Tars Tarkas (Dafoe) fending off a giant beast in a Thark arena. That final clip was oddly reminiscent of the arena battle in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones; hopefully the movie doesn’t err too close to this comparison.

Tim Burton’s black-and-white stop-motion animated Frankenweenie was up next. The fact that an animated movie was presented outside of the animation segment was probably confusing to the majority of the audience, but the inside baseball explanation wouldn’t have made for a very exciting event. Burton wasn’t on hand, but there was a lengthy behind-the-scenes video at least. Producer Don Hahn then brought out a model of one of the main characters and described it as “four inches tall and made of silicon, kind of like that girl from ‘Jersey Shore‘.” Well done, Mr. Hahn, well done.

A brief presentation for The Odd Life of Timothy Green followed, and a very enthusiastic Jennifer Garner introduced the teaser trailer that debuted online a few weeks ago. Wizard of Oz prequel Oz: The Great and Powerful was up next, though unfortunately the cast and crew were busy filming in Detroit and were therefore unable to attend D23. A behind-the-scenes video showcased plenty of interesting art along with James Franco and Zach Braff in costume on set. It’s hard to tell so far if this is going to be a worthwhile addition to the Oz universe, but with director Sam Raimi and the art director and producer from Alice in Wonderland, it should at least be a visually impressive movie.

Jason Segel with Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy in 'The Muppets'

Kermit the Frog and Jason Segel came on stage next to present some footage from The Muppets. Miss Piggy arrived late in the sidecar of a motorcycle, and was quite upset when she found out that she wasn’t included in either of the clips. The first scene showed Segel, Amy Adams and their puppet friend Walter trying to get in to Kermit’s Bel Air home. After an unfortunate encounter with an electric fence, they meet Kermit and go inside his house, where they discover he has a robot that hasn’t moved on from the 80s. The second clip is a hilarious montage of the Muppets cleaning up the Muppet Theater, all set to Starship’s “We Built This City.”

Finally, prior to The Avengers they showed the first trailer for Disneynature’s next movie called Chimpanzee. It looks cute enough, and is set for release on Earth Day 2012.

Ray Subers, editor at Box Office Mojo, covered the D23 presentations for IMDb.

Casino Royale: Discovering the Lost Script from Telegraph.co.uk

Remembering John Candy, 17 Years Later from Visually Hidden (Suggested by neddihyllausiv)

The Farrelly Brothers, Kingpins of Dirty Comedy from Independent.co.uk

Watching Fast Times at Ridgemont High For the First Time from Splitsider.com

How to Make a Great Documentary from EmpireOnline.com (Suggested by amar)

Why Do We Care About Celebrities? from Slate.com

Judd Apatow Tells the Legend of The Cable Guy, the Bomb That Wasn’t from Vulture

Building the Ultimate Frankenfighter for Big-Screen Brawling from Wired.com

Have an item you’d like to see featured on Hit List? Submit it here.

One of the best films on the 2011 Sundance roster is winding down its festival run and gearing up for the Best Foreign Language Oscar competition. Incendies, Denis Villeneuve‘s drama (adapted from Wajdi Mouawad’s play) brings a young woman’s past hell into the present day, while a sister and brother are compelled to learn their recently deceased mother’s personal history.

As twins Jeanne and Simon Marwan (Mélissa Désormeaux Poulin and Maxim Gaudette) learn the specifics of the will prepared by their mother, Nawal (Lubna Azabal), they are handed two envelopes by Lebel (Rémy Girard), a notary, family friend, and Nawal’s long-time employer. One envelope is for the father they presumed to be dead, the other is to be handed to the brother they didn’t know existed. Once delivered, Nawal can have a proper burial; until then, she is to be interred naked, face down, away from the sun. Jeanne drafts herself into the mystery, soon landing in an unnamed Middle Eastern country — though the play is inspired by a woman’s experiences during the Lebanese Civil War.

From here, the story is broken into chapters and Nawal’s past alternates with her daughter’s series of discoveries at her mother’s village (from which Nawal was banished by her grandmother for disgracing the family name) and at the university where she began to involve herself in the war. Jeanne learns that Nawal’s activism intensified; she became a French tutor in a political leader’s house, then assassinated him in his backyard. She was sent to a notorious prison where her ability to endure physical and psychological torment became one of the war’s best-known legends.

Lubna Azabal as Nawal Marwan

As Nawal’s history is being re-threaded, both Simon and Lebel travel to be with Jeanne. It’s the brother’s turn to puzzle together the true family history. One day he’s sulking at home in Canada; the next, he’s hoping for an audience with a warlord – the man who hands him the final piece. It’s a devastating revelation for the children and for Lebel. It connects to the present, where Nawal fell into a catatonic state while at a public pool with her children. Soon she was gone, the will was read, Jeanne was on a plane, et cetera. Jeanne and Simon’s existence is tied to incredible examples of fate and valor.

Incendies is not as easy sit because of its realistic depiction of violence in war and against women. The indecencies committed against Nawal are formidable. Children are not just caught in the crossfire; they’re targeted for death. There’s a scene aboard a bus that is quite difficult to endure. While Nawal is imprisoned, mostly the sounds of torture and mental deterioration are heard, and it’s plenty brutal. Then perhaps Villeneuve’s most welcome skill as a filmmaker is the fact that his work is remarkably entertaining; there is a girl-detective sensibility in Jeanne’s passages and dark comedy bits salted throughout. It’s a demonstration of assuredness that I haven’t seen in many war films, and I do love the genre unequivocally.

I’ve seen a handful of films at Sundance this year that are indelicate and thematically over-worked; Incendies is a gracious nod to Wajdi Mouawad and the woman who inspired his play. It is a fine example of filmmaking on a global scale, a story that looks at a region’s horror and finds human perseverance.

Becoming Chaz: I sense that Chaz Bono has been a cool guy all of his life; he just needed to survive his spotlighted childhood and then, like everyone else, figure out who he is and work from there to be a happy person. Yes, Chaz was born female, but he acknowledges, in the solid documentary that bares his name, that he felt alien in his body since he was little. As an adult transitioning from one gender to another, Chaz lets cameras into his home, and they also follow him to the various clinics, hospitals, and agencies that aid in his process. I feel as though Chaz enabled the documentary not to further his fame, but to create a document that might help people who feel they too were born in the wrong body — a specialized companion piece to the It Gets Better project, if you will. Grounded, humble, and kind of a dink when shot up with testosterone, Chaz undergoes top surgery (breast removal) and begins to acclimate to his new life as a boyfriend to his steadfast companion (he loves her because she is a bit crazy) and mentor to gender-questioning youth. And by youth I mean: under 10 years old. This is perhaps the doc’s most eye-opening aspect – the fact that there are now places that help families with young children struggling with their gender identity. I feel like on-camera Chaz was happiest when he was in the role of friend and mentor to these kids, and I hope it’s one of many things that helps him find peace.

Take Shelter: Michael Shannon — prophet or schizophrenic? Director Jeff Nichols (Shotgun Stories) angles toward the former idea in his reunion with Shannon for a story centered on blue-collar family man Curtis LaForche, whose increasingly unnerving visions might not be as delusional as everyone — including Curtis himself — thinks.

Like a typical real-world family, the LaForches must contend with acute financial stresses, but Curtis’ work is steady and caring wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) pitches in by working local craft bazaars. Curtis’ insurance is generous, too — so much so that a cochlear implant implant surgery for their deaf daughter will be covered. There’s even a beach vacation on the proverbial horizon, but what Curtis begins to see from his backyard are storm clouds, tornadoes, and oil falling from the sky. Elsewhere, his visions find his daughter abducted, and his wife, his best friend — even his dog — turning against him. The narrative expands to reveal a history of schizophrenia in Curtis’ family and, in a welcome bit of characterization, he works to understand and take control of his situation. But why is it that the therapy and medication don’t seem to rid him of these nightmares?

You can sense the coming dramas. Problems at home lead to his feeling increasingly isolated. Underperforming at work threatens the security of the entire family, as well as hope for his daughter’s surgery. While Curtis slips deeper into a state that might require institutionalization, he takes out a risky loan on their home to build out the tornado shelter in the backyard. He borrows equipment from work for the project — a huge liability and no-no that … you can guess what happens to him next. And it keeps coming until Curtis is broken, suffering, and spending most of his time in his subterranean refuge.

Shannon imbues his character many shifts in mood, and fans of his will appreciate the inevitable Shannon Freakout Moment. Nichols’s aesthetic (aided by visual effects from the Strause Brothers) is on par with better known directors, but for me his screenplay tackles too many issues with a capital I. Though I admire him for making a drama with science fiction elements, I was just getting interested in the fate of the family when the film came to an end. Now I can’t rid my head of the vision of a clairvoyant Michael Shannon leading his family to safety in the wake of a supernatural disaster. I’m still thinking about Take Shelter, but mostly as a preamble to a potentially better film.

All Your Dead Ones: Just shy of 90 minutes in length, Carlos Moreno’s allegory of Colombia’s ongoing civil war is murderously paced but quite handsomely photographed. The story opens and closes with scenes of farmer Salvador (Alvaro Rodriguez), his wife (Martha Marquez), and their morning-sex ritual. In between, there’s a tense mystery involving Salvador’s discovery of a pile of dead bodies arranged in the middle of his cornfield. Initially unable to get anyone take interest (it’s election day, and Salvador is somewhat of a second-class citizen) he brings a town official and two soldiers to the scene, where a lax investigation begins. Salvador’s wife and son are implicated and made to stand and wait within arm’s reach of the bodies while the politico tries to figure out whom he can blame for the crime and what to do with the corpses. The sun burns down, everyone grows agitated, and the dead seem to flicker back to life now and then.

The family fears for their lives, but I didn’t get the sense the story would take that turn; it suggests the event is more of an annoying problem than a tragic occurrence. When Salvador’s wife recognizes one of the bodies as a local guy, she thinks that his body should be returned to his mother. Here, she’s more principled than emotional, and I think that’s the point of the film: even in a desensitized society, one should know basic rights from wrongs. And when you’ve seen so many disappear or die, your emotional side hardens.

The film’s final scene is harsh but predictable, though the violence is always implied and never shown (in particular, the pile of bodies is spotless). Bizarrely, the entire cast (yes, including the corpses) and crew assemble for a collective bow — one of the most whatever endings in recent memory.

Pariah: Vibrant, raw and alive opening night film from new discovery writer/director Dee Rees

Little Birds: Writer/director Elgin James brings this tale of a very troubled girl (an excellent performance by Juno Temple) and her sweet-natured best friend (an excellent performance by Kay Pannabaker) as they leave their dreary home in the Salton Sea and head to L.A. Strains of realism, sympathy and humor are strung together

Good:
The Guard: Writer/director John Michael McDonagh starts out unsure but eventually provides a crackerjack spaghetti Western set in Ireland and starring Brendan Gleeson, as a unconventional cop.

Le Vendeur (The Salesman): A heartbreaking, beautiful, measured film by writer/director Sebastien Pilote, with a standout performance by Gilbert Sicotte, as a successful car salesman living in a depressed town.

Terri: John C. Reilly has a great supporting role in this outcast coming-of-age film which has nice ladles of truth poured over it. I heartily disliked Azael Jacobs last film, Momma’s Man, so this was an unexpected surprise.

Perfect Sense: That’s a less than perfect title for this intense but ultimately meaningful film. Eva Green is a scientist who meets a chef, played by Ewan McGregor, on the eve of a plague that prompts paroxysms of emotions followed by the deadening of one of the five senses. Director David Mackenzie continues to make difficult films that stick with you.

Shut Up, Little Man: Doc. about two roommates in the late ’80s whose epic verbal assaults on one another were recorded by their neighbors whereupon the tapes became an underground sensation.

Being Elmo: About Kevin Clash, the puppeteer behind the popular Muppet

Reagan: Eugene Jareki said he “came at [this subject] with an axe, expecting to do a hatchet job” and mostly provides a balanced account of the great strengths and great flaws of the popular 40th President

The Troll Hunter: Trolls do exist in this half-Blair Witch, half Scooby-Doo flick but it’s generally entertaining

Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel: The famous, avuncular maker of cheesy, low-budget films gets his due.

These Amazing Shadows: Enjoyable but flat doc. about the National Film Registry and the films that comprise it.

Meh:

Homework: Freddie Highmore has grown up quite nicely and Emma Roberts is going to continue to just get bigger but this film by newcomer Gavin Wiesen provides nothing new. Highmore’s character describes himself as “obnoxious,” which he is, but everyone else in the film seems to think he’s just peachy.

Martha Marcy May Marlene: Elizabeth Olsen in an impressive debut by writer/director Sean Durkin in a depressing, but well-crafted film.

Salvation Boulevard: A fine cast and some interesting twists can’t save Salvation from being a cliche-ridden comedy about the pastor of a mega-church, played by Pierce Brosnan, who has a fateful meeting with a Richard Dawkins/Christopher Hitchens-like character (Ed Harris) and one of his saved parishioners, played by the always reliable Greg Kinnear, leading to a shooting, a cover-up and a scapegoat; let’s see from this brief synopsis if you can figure out who does what to whom and what happens. The contempt for Christianity fairly seethes off of the screen until a final hypocritical ending further shows this feeble effort doesn’t even have the courage of its own convictions.

The Ledge: Screed against personal faith (not just organized religion) starring Charlie Hunnam, Terrence Howard, and Liv Tyler made by well-meaning writer/director Matthew Chapman

Pass: I Melt with You: Migraine-inducing suicide pact movie with two remarkable things. 1) A few nice moments with Thomas Jane and Jeremy Piven and 2) the most walk-outs I’ve seen at this festival!

Letters From the Big Man: Interminable movie about a hydrologist and Bigfoot.That angle was what intrigued me but Christopher Munch’s movie, though it catches the beauty of the Northwest, is inert and silly.

Red State: Reported but widely reported