I am super excited that Screenhead is hosting a giveaway to help promote SundanceNOW’s exclusive online debut of IFC Film’s new movie The Ledge. By hosting an online giveaway, you have the opportunity to win (1) code that is good for you and your friends to watch the film for free movie on SundanceNOW. You will see it before it hits pre-theatrical video-on-demand and the movie theaters!

You can see the movie now because it is available on SundanceNOW prior to its pre-theatrical video-on-demand launch on May 25, 2011. The film’s theatrical release is on Friday, July 8, 2011.

Once the winner is picked the code will be emailed directly to the winner, so no time will be wasted, instant satisfaction. Since the film will only be available until May 25, 2011, this will be a quick giveaway. You will see the movie right away!

So, I hope you can participate in the giveaway. The details to enter are below.

The Ledge concerns one step that can change a life forever, in the sexy and suspenseful thriller, starring Charlie Hunnam, Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson and Terrence Howard.

After embarking on a passionate affair with his evangelical neighbor’s wife (Tyler), Gavin (Hunnam) soon finds himself in a battle of wills that will have life or death consequences. As a non-believing atheist, Gavin is lured by her lover’s husband (Wilson) to the ledge of a high rise and told he has one hour to make a choice between his life and the one he loves. Without faith in an afterlife, will he be able to make a decision? It’s up to police officer Hollis (Howard) to save both their lives, but the clock is ticking in this edge-of-your-seat film that will leave you gasping until the final frame.

To enter the giveaway, post your name and we will pick the winner May 19, 2011.

So we’ve got something interesting from the folks out at Anchor Bay, who sent over a copy of Daydream Nation for us to review. And we’ve seen a whole lot of great stuff come out of Anchor Bay, and while this one is certainly one of the weirdest, it’s also

Daydream Nation is a strange sort of tale that follows Caroline Wexler, a seventeen year old girl who’s staring down the barrel of most every seventeen year old’s horror coming to life: to move from the city to a rural school in the middle of nowhere. And while things could be worse–turns out most of the kids at Caroline’s new school are perpetually stoned, and the world around her is somewhat preposterous. There’s an industrial fire burning almost perpetually outside of town, there’s a serial killer roaming around, and Caroline’s in the middle of a love triangle between a stoner and a teacher. Freaky? You bet. But Caroline’s first year is going to be a doozy.

Daydream Nation is a strange sort of movie; there isn’t much of an actual plot here so much as there is a series of interspersed concepts (almost daydreams, really) connecting to each other in something of a vague fashion. But at the same time, the stories are interesting, especially if you’ve been in high school recently, or know someone who has. The overmastering plotline featuring the love triangle only occasionally crops up, while the rest of the various proto-plotlines show up to fill in the holes.

It’s weird, but it’s different, and frankly, different is good, especially in an environment where More Of The Same so often rules the day. And the performances here are great–Kat Dennings is an absolute showstopper here, and she’s backed up more than ably.

This is not for people who like clear narratives, unless you’re willing to basically just sit back and have a story told to you, a story that you may only occasionally get, and a story that will wildly meander from point to point.

Daydream Nation is fun, but not any kind of really well-structured fun. This is Calvinball, if I can borrow a metaphor, not baseball. There will be times when this gets dark, and there will be times when this gets downright hilarious, and all of these things will mix together, and be not only strange, but very, very watchable.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Daydream Nation an eight out of ten for being strange, but for being so endearingly strange that it’s just as watchable as it is bizarre to watch. You probably haven’t seen a movie like Daydream Nation lately, and while that’s a good thing, it’s also a bad thing. We need more movies like this, and as such, you need to see this, if for no other reason than to support this kind of bizarre and entertaining experience with the greatest measure there is for a movie: dollars.

So today, we’re checking out a little something for the ladies and settling in to the presentation of Bridesmaids, a two hour presentation featuring a whole lot more bizarre humor than you expected from a group of women working together.

Bridesmaids follows Annie, whose dear friend Lillian is getting married. Annie’s Lillian’s maid of honor, and she’s therefore in charge of herding a bunch of marginally psychotic personalities in a dash to the altar on her friend’s behalf. But there’s a problem here–Annie’s life is itself a disaster, and considering that she’s both broke and lonely (her current “boyfriend”s idea of a pet name made me want to punch him myself, and I’m a guy), the last thing she really wants is to be reminded of same by watching her friend get married. But she’s got to get the whole thing together, and in the process, maybe even improve her own situation a bit.

For those of you who’ve seen the trailers and end up thinking that this is precious little more than a live-action version of South Park’s Eat, Pray, Queef episode, you can be forgiven for thinking so. Watching women engage in gross-out humor is more than a little disconcerting, especially after decades of being told that guys’ efforts at gross-out humor were childish, annoying and definitely not scoring them any points with the ladies. And there will be indeed job lots of that sort of humor in here; what happens to the Bridesmaids after their encounter with Brazilian food cannot be easily described or even thought of in decent company. What Maya Rudolph ends up doing in an admittedly impressive wedding gown in the middle of a busy street is beyond description.

But there’s not just epic piles of gross-out humor here. There’s also a lot of humor here that’s geared almost exclusively toward the ladies. Guys watching all this from the outside looking in will likely be as baffled as the guys who are actually in the movie all, to a man, seem to be. It’s an interesting perspective on those mysterious ladies, guys, and seeing this for yourself may prove more educational than you’d think. Also it’s hilarious to watch a chick who’s a dead ringer for Camryn Mannheim–a surprisingly awesome Melissa McCarthy–relentlessly hit on a man she thinks is an air marshal by describing in no uncertain detail how she can hide an Apple iPod Nano on her person.

This is fun stuff. A surprising amount of it is awkward, especially for the straight guys in the audience (more than once I wished they’d move on with a joke as they’d not only scored the point, but also spiked the ball and were in the process of violating the mascot), but it’s still sufficient fun for just about anyone.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Bridesmaids an eight out of ten–it doesn’t always succeed, but when it does, it does well. And sometimes it even succeeds too well. Guys, go ahead and see this one–your girlfriend probably wants to anyway, and you may as well take advantage on a movie that’s also funny.

Real Steel is directed by Shawn Levy. Levy directed two movies that I adore, Night at the Museum franchise and Date Night. Real Steel is an action drama about a former boxer (Hugh Jackman) who, against all odds, gets one last shot at a comeback when he teams up with his estranged son (Dakota Goyo) to build and train the perfect contender for the new high-tech sport of robot boxing.

No offense, but It appears that the story is The Champ gone robot. The Champ was produced twice. The first one was directed by King Vidor, starring Wallace Berry and Jackie Cooper. Decades later, Jon Voight and Rick Schroder starred in Franco Zeffirelli’s movie.

Screenplay by John Gatins, Reel Steel is a gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future where the sport of boxing has gone high-tech, Real Steel follows Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback. Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie and Kevin Durand also star in Reel Steel.

The movie opens in theaters October 7, 2011.

DreamWorks sent me an update on Steven Spielberg’s War Horse. I am very excited about this movie, which is based on the book by Michael Morpurgo and a recent stage play by Nick Stafford. The movie script was co-written by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis. The cast includes Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch and Toby Kebbell.

War Horse is set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War. The movie begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. The story is an epic adventure for audiences of all ages. My daughter will love it.

When they are forcefully separated, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land.

I look forward to more images from the movie like the poster and trailer, which I will post here.

The movie opens December 28, 2011.

Brendan Fraser will take on the title role in the historical family action adventure William Tell: 3D, to be shot this fall in Europe. Nick Hurran (The Prisoner and Doctor Who) is slated to direct from a script by Scott Reynolds. The principal photography is expected to begin October 1st at Castel Studios in Romania and on location in Switzerland.

William Tell is a legend in North America for shooting an apple from the top of his son’s head with a bow and arrow (it was really a crossbow). What Americans don’t know is that he’s a revered historical figure in Europe. That’s right. I am an American and did not know he was so well thought of in Europe.

In the legend, Tell just can’t leave well enough alone. The local royal leader of the Hapsburg monarch, Hermann Gessler forces Tell to shoot the apple because he refused to bow before Gessler’s hat, erected in a town square.

Tell succeeds in cleanly (and safely) cleaving the fruit and wins his and his son’s freedom. But Gessler asks Tell why he had two arrows is his quiver, and Tell replies he was going to shoot Gessler with the second if he’d missed. Tell’s defiance of Gessler ignited an uprising against the Austrian government, which led to the formation of Switzerland.   Not yet confirmed, Anna Paquin will play Zora, Tell’s wife and Til Schweiger will play Gessler.

Screenhead is hosting an online giveaway for the release of The Hit List. We are giving away (1) DVD copy of The Hit List.

The DVD will be released on May 10, 2011.

The movie looks like a story I would never want to live. Ever wish you had the chance to get back at the boss who undermined you…the spouse who cheated on you…or the friend who deceived you? One night, a down-on-his-luck businessman, Allan Campbell (Cole Hauser), meets a mysterious stranger, Jonas Arbor (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who claims to be a professional hit man.

Jonas offers to take out five targets, free of charge. Thinking it’s a bad joke, Allan jots down his private hit list. The next day, the people he named start turning up dead, and all the evidence points to Allan. Hunted by the police and haunted by guilt, Allan races against time to stop the murders he set in motion. In this world, vengeance always has a price.

To enter the giveaway, post your name and we will pick the winner May 23, 2011.

US residents only

Screenhead is hosting a giveaway for the DVD and Blu-Ray release of The Illusionist. We have (1) copy of the DVD/Blu Ray Combo pack to give away to (1) of our readers.

From the Director of the Oscar-nominated classic The Triplets of Belleville, a down-on-his-luck magician meets a young girl who is convinced his magic is real in this 2010 Academy Award nominated film.

The Illusionist will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray on Tuesday, May 10, 2011.

The movie is a heartwarming story of a magician while touring concert halls, theaters and pubs encounters a young girl at the start of her life’s journey. Alice is a teenage girl with all her capacity for childish wonder still intact. She plays at being a woman without realizing the day to stop pretending is fast approaching. She doesn’t know yet that she loves The Illusionist like she would a father; he already knows that he loves her as he would a daughter. Their destinies will collide, but nothing – not even magic or the power of illusion– can stop the voyage of discovery.

The animation is realistic and characterized perfectly for the film, pure artistic splendor.

To enter the giveaway, post your name and we will pick the winner May 21, 2011.

An epic true story set against the backdrop of one of the wildest places on Earth, “African Cats” captures the real-life love, humor and determination of the majestic kings of the Savanna.  Narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Samuel L. Jackson, the story features Mara, an endearing lion cub who strives to grow up with her mother’s strength, spirit and wisdom; Sita, a fearless cheetah and single mother of five mischievous newborns; and Fang, a proud leader of the pride who must defend his family from a rival lion and his sons.

I spoke with the co-director of African Cats, Keith Scholey about the movie before it was release. Scholey and I talked about how the movie was filmed, which still resonates in my mind. He told me that the movie took two years to produce. The crew had no idea where the story was going to go. They just followed the cats all day. If you have seen the movie, you know that how fantastic the experience is watching the story of the two cat families.

With that said, we did pick a winner for the giveaway! Our winner is Dave L. He says, “We love nature films and have been looking forward to this one. Thank you for the fun giveaway.”

You are welcome and congratulations! I hope you and your family enjoy the two African cats books – Sita the Cheetah and A Lion’s Pride.

One more thing, which I think is awesome, Disneynature announced that its “See ‘African Cats,’ Save the Savanna” campaign will help protect more than 50,000 acres of land in Kenya’s Amboseli Wildlife Corridor on behalf of the moviegoers who came out to see Disneynature’s motion picture “African Cats” during its opening week (April 22-28, 2011). A portion of the proceeds from the opening-week ticket sales will be donated to the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) through the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund to ensure the future of lions, cheetahs, elephants, zebras, giraffes and a host of other animals in the vibrant African savanna.

The area to be protected equates to 100 Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Parks or more than twice the size of Manhattan. The AWF will be working to establish the Amboseli Wildlife Corridor, a passage between the Amboseli, Tsavo West and Chyulu Hills National Parks that is frequently used by a variety of wildlife.

Attention movie buffs! Lindsay is the winner of Peter Weir’s The Way Back starring Colin Farrell, Ed Harris and Jim Sturgess. Linday says, “Colin Farrell is a hottie!”  I am inclined to agree with her and he is very good in this film. He plays a criminal among political prisioners.

If you didn’t win The Way Back, no problem because the movie is available at your neighborhood redbox kiosk for only $1 a night.

Weir is a phenomenal director of such films as Master and Commander, Witness, The Year of Living Dangerously and The Truman Show.

Inspired by real events, join seven prisoners in their attempt to escape from a brutal Siberian gulag and make a 4,500-mile trek to freedom across the world’s most merciless terrain.  See what happens when supplies are scarce and they have to work as a team to gain their freedom. To celebrate this film, Screenhead is hosting a giveaway of The Way Back DVD.

To enter the giveaway, post your name and we will pick the winner May 2, 2011.