FOLLOWING FILMS

Academy Award®–winning director Ron Howard is returning to the thriller genre with Eden, a harrowing tale of survival, idealism, and human fragility. The film, penned by Noah Pink (Tetris), is based on a shocking true story that asks a chilling question: what happens when people try to escape society, only to discover they can’t escape themselves? The star-studded ensemble includes Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Brühl, and Sydney Sweeney—an eclectic cast that brings depth to the story of outsiders who abandon the modern world in pursuit of a fresh start. Their dream of building a utopia takes them to a remote, uninhabited island, where they hope to create a self-sufficient paradise untouched by the trappings of civilization. But isolation has a way of magnifying human flaws. As Howard’s film unfolds, the dangers of the brutal climate and unforgiving wildlife pale in comparison to the corrosive dynamics within the group. What begins as an experiment in freedom and purity ...

On this episode we attempt to survive in space with Hadas from the Common Room podcast, and thankfully we have a couple of movies on the subject to entertain us. In APOLLO 13, Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon rely on each other and the crew back on Earth to put together a plan to return home after a failed trip to the moon, whereas in GRAVITY it’s Sandra Bullock in a solo quest to return to our home planet, although George Clooney does provide a brief pep talk. But before all that grim business, we express a little bit of joy with Jess and Non of the Joy Sandwich podcast, as we admire the humor with which Matt Damon approaches being stranded on Mars in new release THE MARTIAN.

A new international trailer for director  Ron Howard ’s adaptation of the  Nathaniel Philbrick  non-fiction book  In the Heart of the Sea  has landed online.  The film tells the story of the whaling ship Essex, which in 1819 was rammed by an angry whale in the South Pacific.  The surviving crew drifted for 90 days in three tiny whaleboats and encountered disease, hunger, and eventually cannibalism, and the harrowing true story served as the basis for  Herman Melville ’s  Moby Dick .  I was a big fan of what Howard put together for his previous film,  Rush , and it looks like he’s on a roll with this follow-up.  Once again reuniting with cinematographer  Anthony Dod Mantle , they appear to capture the terrifying nature of this sea expedition in visceral fashion, putting the audience right in the middle of the drama that ensues. Check out the new  In the Heart of the Sea  trailer after the jump.  The fi...