HQ Kristen and Dakota!

New Small The Runaways poster ! really small!

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Vanity Fair's Welcome to the Rileys Q&A!

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Daemon's WTTR Review

WELCOME TO THE RILEYS is a film that I really loved at this year's Sundance. It is directed by Jake Scott and stars James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart, and Melissa Leo.
Welcome to the Rileys follows the story of Doug Riley, a married man, who while taking a business trip in New Orleans, starts an unlikely friendship with an underage stripper, Mallory (Kristen Stewart). He tells his wife, Lois (Melissa Leo) that he won't come home for a while and she decides to take a trip to New Orleans to reclaim her marriage. Now this might seem like an ok story, but add on top of that the fact Doug and Lois lost their teenage daughter, that Lois hasn't left the house ever since, and the fact that Mallory reminds Doug of his daughter, and you have Welcome to the Rileys.

I thought the story was very beautiful and had such a great character study and dynamic. It really is about how three strangers can change each other, and even though Doug and Lois are technically married, it is clear that they have been strangers to each other for years.
The film is very raw and doesn't always go where you expect it to. The performances are really incredible and only help you get immersed in the universe of these three individuals.
James Gandolfini shows a softer side of himself in Welcome to the Rileys, which we don't often see him portray. I thought it suited him so well and made the character really likeable. This is probably one of my favorite parts he has played so far.
Melissa Leo is amazing as Lois, she just captured that character so perfectly and created some really funny moments, such as her not being able to figure out how to move the automatic seat in the car before leaving for New Orleans (one of the funniest scenes). But even more impressive, she goes through such an interesting transformation as a character, it's hard not to enjoy watching her on screen.

As for Kristen Stewart, she proves without a doubt that she can hold her own in any movie, and is not tied in any way to her character of Bella in the Twilight Saga, which not every actor would be able to do with such a franchise. If you're a fan of hers, you'll find her pretty unrecognizable in Welcome to the Rileys.

Mallory is also a very interesting character because of not only the relationship she has with Doug, but also the journey she goes on after she meets him.
Overall, I found the film really great. The story is so beautiful and well played out, you won't always know what's coming next. It has humor and heartbreaking moments. The performances are impeccable and give you a realistic look at the lives of these characters. The movie will take you on a trip with these broken people and it's an amazing trip to take.


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Kristen Stewart Learned Stripping From The Pros

I talked to a couple of girls who worked in a strip club that
we actually used for the set. One of them was really dynamic, really interesting
and charismatic. The other girl was less willing to talk about stuff, which
means she's probably more in touch with it than the girl that was willing to
talk about it. She's in the middle.

Actress Kristen Stewart, talking about the research for her role as a stripper and prostitute in the new film "Welcome to the Rileys," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this week. The film also stars James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo as a couple who recently lost their teenage daughter who take in the wayward Stewart. It'll be one of three high-profile films that the young actress appears in this year, as she'll not only open "Welcome to the Rileys" but also "The Runaways" (a biopic in which she stars as legendary rocker Joan Jett) and, of course, "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" (which involves monsters of some sort).

Speaking of "The Runaways," Stewart impressed at least one person in her portrayal of Jett: Original Runaways Jett and Cherie Currie. "It was too much for me to handle, to be honest with you," Currie told MTV News. "For the first time, I got to see what it was like to be in an audience and look at the Runaways. It was that right-on. This all is so surreal! I went to sleep, woke up in this amazing dream, and I can't wake up. I don't want to wake up. And guess what? I don't have to!"

"The Runaways" opens in theaters on March 19, while "Welcome to the Rileys" should hit some time later this year.
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Team 411 reviews Kristen Stewart's 'The Runaways'

So, #411 got the chance to check out Kristen Stewart's rock-heavy The Runaways this week, and Team 411 is bringing their review to you!

Do be warned, though, there are a few spoilers!

I was very fortunate this week and got to attend a screening of The Runaways, the much-anticipated rock biopic of the 1970’s all-girl punk band of the same name. Dakota Fanning stars as lead singer Cherie Currie and Kristen Stewart stars as Joan Jett. As big a fan of Kristen as I am, Joan Jett is my original girlcrush. I love her, I love The Runaways, so of COURSE, I was beyond stoked to see the movie now, instead of in March. So how did I like it? It was a better movie than even I expected--I was extremely nervous of first time writer-director Floria Sigismondi--but it wasn’t flawless. I did have a few issues with it, mostly revolving around pacing problems through the middle of the film. Let’s get on with the review. Please note, this will be spoiler heavy.

The acting makes this movie. Too often in a music movie the soundtrack takes first precedence, but here the acting is the center of the movie. The three central performances--Kristen as Jett, Dakota as Currie, and Michael Shannon as sleazy record producer Kim Fowley--are the lynch pin for the whole film. Shannon walks away with the entire film. He stomps all over everyone else, stealing scenes and chewing up scenery. Crazy costumes, over the top soliloquies--Fowley is THE role in the movie and Shannon makes the most of it.

Kristen gives a ferocious, fearless performance as Jett. Her Jett is no naïve waif. When their sound check is shut down by the headlining band, Rush, Jett retaliates by urinating on their guitars. She does drugs (at one point she snorts so much coke that her face is covered in powder), makes out with chicks, and thrashes her guitar with wild abandon. Her best scenes are with Shannon as their Jett and Fowley play off each other. Whether it’s writing songs like “Cherry Bomb” on the fly or engaging in screaming matches, Stewart and Shannon are perfect foils who bring most of the snap to the movie.

As for Dakota, her performance is the best I’ve seen from her in years. In turns a sweet-faced Valley Girl and Glamazon rocker in towering platforms, Currie is by this much [ ] the lead role in the movie. We see more of Currie’s home life than Jett’s, as Currie leaves her twin sister, Marie (played by Riley Keough), to deal with their alcoholic father. We also see Currie’s mother (Tatum O’Neal) abandoning her daughters to raise themselves as she moves to Indonesia. Currie soon bails for life on the road with The Runaways. Dakota goes for a vulnerable, “little girl lost” vibe that mostly works for Currie, especially as she is overwhelmed by a combination of drugs, exhaustion, and exploitation.

It’s been the big hype of the film--the kissing scene between KStew and DFann. But in context of the movie it comes and goes, another moment in a complicated relationship. They make out, the off-camera suggestion is that they have a night together, and then Dakota is standing on a table in Currie’s iconic corset and fishnets, saying, “I’m going to wear this,” daring Jett to tell her no. Their chemistry sparks most when they’re fighting, as when Jett snarls, “Sell the music, not your crotch,” at Currie as Jett throws a magazine full of soft-core photos of Currie at her. The Runaways works best when it’s splitting time evenly between the two.

As for the rest of the cast, Keough and O’Neal stand out the most. Scout Taylor-Compton and Stella Maeve don’t have much to do as Lita Ford and Sandy West, respectively, but Compton nails the physicality of Ford playing a guitar. Alia Shawkat is totally wasted as Robin Robins, the generic bassist. (The producers couldn’t secure the life rights for The Runaways’ first bassist, Jackie Fox, so they created a composite called Robin.) Shawkat had no lines and was little more than background scenery. Ford and West were also underrepresented, although Compton gets a nice scene toward the end, having a blow out with Jett in the recording studio.

Though it is her first feature film, writer-director Floria Sigismondi has had a lengthy career as a music video director, helming videos for Marilyn Manson, The White Stripes, and The Cure. She brings a highly developed visual style to The Runaways which is especially suited to a ’70’s era look. There’s a grainy quality to the film and her trademark zoom-in, zoom-out cuts echo the sort of filmmaking that was considered so raw and edgy in the ’70’s. The concert footage is especially strong, looking as though it came from the actual shows The Runaways performed over thirty years ago. The production/artistic design are incredible. 1970’s Los Angeles is represented in all its punky, grimy glory without ever crossing into kitsch or dewy-eyed nostalgia.

Where Sigismondi stumbles a bit is with pacing and editing problems. Some scenes linger a bit too long, others are redundant. For instance, while on tour in Japan there’s a shot of Currie standing, exhausted, in her shower. It cuts immediately to Currie standing, exhausted, in an elevator. The shower scene accomplishes nothing, especially since the elevator scene climaxes with Currie collapsing once the doors open. Also, the camera tends to linger too long on Dakota’s face. Her performance is somewhat hindered by this, giving it a vacuity that I don’t think is really there. It’s just a wee bit too much staring off into space. That’s a problem throughout the film that could easily be fixed with some minor re-tooling. Things slow down and get draggy in the middle as the story focuses in on Currie, but then it picks back up at the end when Sigismondi goes back to cutting between Currie and Jett dealing with the band’s breakup.

The soundtrack is awesome. Sigismondi has confirmed the tracks the actresses recorded for the movie will be included, as well as original recordings by The Runaways. The only song we see performed fully in the movie is “Cherry Bomb,” but there are also clips of “Queens of Noise,” “Dead End Justice”, and Kristen singing “Playing with Fire.” Though she doesn’t sing the track, Kristen delivers chills when she picks up a guitar and begins jamming on “I Love Rock ’n Roll.” There are nods to Runaways influences Suzi Quatro and David Bowie, there’s a smidge of the Sex Pistols, but The Ramones are oddly absent.

Overall this is a solid, if predictable, rock biopic that benefits from three fantastic performances. Kristen and Michael Shannon are the standouts, and with a little bit of cleaning up in the editing room, Dakota’s performance would lose that maybe-accidental-vapidity that’s flattening it right now. It’s a little disappointing in its failure to maintain the wild energy of the first thirty minutes (please cut out Currie constantly staring off into space!), but The Runaways is an entertaining love letter to ’70’s punk and a band that broke the gender barrier for future generations.

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Pictures from "The Runaways" Q&A Sundance

Thanks @larry411

Welcome To The Rileys Sundance Premiere

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"Welcome to the Riley's" Advanced Tickets

Giovanni has posted on Welcome to the Riley's twitter (@Welcome2Rileys) that they are compiling a list of fans who want to buy advanced tickets to the movie when it hits theatres. Go and sign up if you want to be on the list! :) You can add people to your party too, as well as invite others and post about it on Facebook and Twitter. Spread the word if you can!

http://www.pingg.com/rsvp/ryq4534rxxp5wi8tr

Right now you don't need anything--no credit card or any form of payment. Gio just wants to show distributors that there IS interest in the movie and that if the movie came out, people WOULD see it. 4000 is the magic number right now so sign up if you'd want to see it! :)

source: www.twitter.com/welcome2rileys

132 HQ Untagged New Moon Press Conference Pics!

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