Is Anybody There?

Sir Michael Caine gives one of the finest performances of his career as a retired magician who reluctantly enters a family-run old age home in John Crowley's IS ANYBODY THERE?

Set in a seaside English town circa 1987, IS ANYBODY THERE? charts the unlikely friendship that develops between Caine' s proud, acerbic old performer and the death-obsessed young son (played by SON OF RAMBOW'S Bill Milner) of the home's overwhelmed owners.

Written by Peter Harness, who draws from his own experience growing up in a retirement home, IS ANYBODY THERE? brings a rich humor as well as a rigorous honesty to its portrait of different lives colliding under one roof.

With a supporting cast that includes Anne-Marie Duff (THE MAGDALENE SISTERS), David Morrissey (THE DEAL), Rosemary Harris (SPIDER-MAN) and Leslie Phillips (VENUS), IS ANYBODY THERE? tells a charming story about growing up and growing old, and the unpredictable adventures that happen along the way.

In theaters: April 17, 2009.

See the trailer here.

Wired Magazine: J.J. Abrams on the Magic of Mystery

Have you picked up the May issue of Wired magazine yet? You should, as guest-editor J.J. Abrams ("Alias," "Lost," "Fringe" and the upcoming Star Trek movie) has created a whole new experience in print. In addition to a puzzle buried inside, Abrams wrote an article on the magic of mystery - an article that talks about the immediacy of this Age and the ever-present spoiler.

The Mystery Box on the cover is no other than Tannen's Magic Mystery Box also featured in a recent blog "J.J. Abrams: The Mystery Box".

Here's a clip:

"People often ask me how Lost is going to end. I usually tell them to ask Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, who run that series. But I always wonder, do they really want to know? And what if I did tell them? They might have an aha moment, but without context. Especially since the final episode is a year away. That is to say, the experience—the setup for a joke's punch line, the buildup to a magic trick's big flourish—is as much of a thrill as the result. There's discovery to be made and wonder to be had on the journey that not only enrich the ending but in many ways define it."

You can read the full article here! You can read some of the other articles from the issue here as well.

J.J. Abrams, creative director Scott Dadich, deputy editor Thomas Goetz, and senior editor Chris Baker discuss the evolution of Wired's May issue.