James McAvoy is a bit on an action roll these days. He’s starring in two British crime thrillers out in the same month in the UK. One is Welcome to the Punch, and the other is TRANCE, directed by Danny Boyle. This is Boyle’s first film since the Oscar-nominated 127 Hours in 2010. As you know, he was busy directing the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony last year.
If you live in the Twin Cities area, register below to get your advanced screening tickets!
An art auctioneer, who has become mixed up with a group of criminals, partners with a hypnotherapist in order to recover a lost painting.
ADVANCE SCREENING TICKETS for Twin Cities Moviegoers!
Advance screening on:
Wednesday, April 10 – 7:30pm @ Landmark Lagoon Cinema
Download a pair of screening tickets on gofobo.com
Seats are first come, first served and the theater is overbooked to ensure a full house – so arrive early!
Boyle worked with Glasgow-born screenwriter John Hodge once again, their fifth collaboration after Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary and The Beach (interestingly, three of them starred Ewan McGregor). This time, Boyle chose another talented Scot, with Vincent Cassel and Rosario Dawson as McAvoy’s co-star.
Check out the trailer:
Looks like a pretty bloody crime noir judging from the trailer! McAvoy is quoted by DigitalSpy.com about the torture scenes “[It did affect me] a little bit. The torture stuff got to me, actually. It never usually does… I’m usually fine with all that stuff, and love being covered in blood and having my face bashed in, but I felt quite bad about myself for a couple of days on this one.” He added: “It starts as an art heist like ‘Thomas Crown Affair,’ but it’s not really about that. It’s noir-ish at times. There’s an essential idea of crime, but it’s not really about money.”
Thompson on Hollywood also noted that this marks the first time Boyle’s put a woman at the center of one of his movies, which the director himself admitted that they tend to be “boyish.” The article says he likes the film noir femme fatale premise: “Wouldn’t it be scary if a woman behaved even worse than the men?”
Hmmm, I’m certainly intrigued, especially with the talents involved! I just hope it won’t be too violent as much of Boyle’s movies tend to be.
TRANCE opens in limited release in the US on April 5 (Minneapolis release date is April 12).
Well, what are your thoughts on this film? Will you be seeing it?
FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
Looking forward to this. Also, on a completely unrelated note, Deborah Ann Woll retweeted me…pretty happy about that 🙂
Day made! Right?
Hey that’s cool Julian! What was the tweet about btw?
Ruby Sparks,or to be more specific how excited i got when it was her scene http://sadpanda.us/images/1491269-JTOPG6W.jpg
And Cas it was the highlight of my day 🙂
Awesome!! She’s quite memorable in that scene in Ruby Sparks!
If Boyle’s doing it, I’m interested. Although I have to say Welcome to the Punch has me even more intrigued. Has a favorite of mine Mark Strong in it!
Oh yeah, that one looks pretty good too. I like Mark Strong, but hopefully he doesn’t play a villain again.
The film looks interesting so I might rent it. I haven’t seen a Danny Boyle’s film since Slumdog Millionaire. I didn’t want to see James Franco cut off his own arm in 127 Hours.
Yeah, I didn’t see 127 Hours either, but I like a lot of Boyle’s films. I still need to rent Shallow Grave, been meaning to see that in a while.
I actually didn’t care for Shallow Grave, maybe because it’s first film but I thought the whole premise was pretty stupid and all the characters did a lot of stupid things.
I’ll definitely be checking out Trance. Danny Boyle rarely hits a bum note for me so I’m quite looking forward to it.
Yeah, he’s a talented director who can tackle various genres. Glad to see him back doing crime thrillers though.
I like Danny Boyle’s older films more than his recent ones and this sounds like a call back. I’m excited to see this one.
Yeah, looks very good indeed and a great cast to boot!
This sounds really intriguing to me. As of now, I’m planning on seeing it.
Glad to hear! Are you in the US or UK?
The Trailer looks pretty good, wasn’t a huge fan of 127 Hours but I thought the opening ceremonies for the 2012 London Olympics were excellent! I will have a look-see for sure.
I don’t even want to see 127 Hours as I heard it’s too graphic, but yeah I LOVE the opening ceremonies. It was such a blast!
Looking Forward to this 🙂
Glad to hear, Nov! I know you like Boyle 😀
Even so…I still haven’t seen Slumdog. My feeling toward Indian movie is like yours toward Samurai movies 😉
Ahah, well Slumdog is not exactly a Bollywood movie, Nov. I’d say give it a watch, you might be pleasantly surprised 😀
So far Boyle has had good results with screenwriter John hodge an I’m hoping for more of the same here Ruth. They might also be back onboard together for the Trainspotting sequel in two years time. I’m excited as hell about that one. In the meantime Trance will do nicely. I have high expections.
Yeah, it’s good to see two people who’ve done amazing work together collaborating again. I know you’d be thrilled about the Trainspotting sequel, so is Ewan back on board again then?
As far as I’m aware, Boyle has secured the services of McGregor. He hasnt denied it and says the film should be starting in 2014. Can’t wait! 🙂
Really looking forward to this one as I’m a fan of Boyle and McAvoy. Have fun at the advanced screening. I’m jealous!
I wish I could take you along Fernando. You gotta visit MN sometime 😀
I’d love to!
Can’t wait for this one. I’m a fan of Boyle, McAvoy, Cassel, and Dawson, so I hope this turned out great. 🙂
Wow, all four? Then I think you’d like this one indeed Josh. I can’t believe Boyle hasn’t done a film since 2010, he must be aching for it, ahah.
So…are you going?
Oh yes indeed! I’ve RSVP-ed 😀
Haha, when I hear the word ‘trance’, I just hear a repetitive bass drum in my head. This kind of trance looks and sounds a lot more interesting 🙂
Ahah, well I sure hope so Bonjour 😀 I quite like that title actually, I wonder if it’s been used before.
I’m always interested in what Boyle’s doing so I’ll definitely check Trance out. I’m a big fan of Cassel’s actually. Although the films he’s been in are a little too rough to actually recommend to you. LOL. Irreversible, Dobermann, La Haine, The Crimson Rivers, etc. In fact I first remember seeing him in the little French indie La Haine which was written and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz of Amelie fame. Jodie Foster was so impressed with the film after seeing it at Cannes that she distributed in the US through her newly formed production company Egg Pictures.
And to think he gets to go home to Monica Bellucci every night. Jeez.
Ahahaha, your last line had me in stitches, Dave! Jealous much? 😉 Yeah, I like Cassel too, he’s got a unique look about him that’s very suitable for bad guy roles. Even he said recently he doesn’t like playing good guys, ahah.
The comments made by McAvoy and Danny Boyle make me want to watch this more than the trailer. It’s interesting to notice that all of his films have been decidedly male-oriented, most of the time I don’t think about that (though I should).
More meaty roles for women in film!!
I agree Niels, I’m more intrigued by their quotes too. Yeah, that’s cool that Boyle followed Pixar’s footsteps and give women more prominent roles 😀
I can’t decide. It looks a little too violent for me, but it could be interesting.