The Screening Room

Brace yourself is right. Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen's latest entry in guerilla filmmaking, arrives in theaters July 10. As I have written about before (in this story), Baron Cohen came here a year ago and filmed scenes at an office park in Carrollton. He lured in the unsuspecting by having his production team recruit audience members for a new TV talk show on family values. What ensued was pretty wild. You can read more about it on Sunday, when I offer my latest on Bruno's escapades (and how he offended a whole bunch of local people). I just got back from Baron Cohen's native London, where he is wildly popular. Mention his name at a pub and they start telling their favorite stories from Da Ali G Show, especially the one where he duped soccer star David Beckham and his wife, ex-Spice Girl Victoria Beckham. As Mike Bell, the colorful owner of Portobello Gold in Notting Hill, London's best pub-hotel, told me, he thinks Baron Cohen is "brilliant." My own favorites were his Da Ali G Show interviews with former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Bruno is apparently so wild that in England, it got an 18 rating, meaning that no one under 18 can get in to see it. Period. You can read about that in this story.

Photo: The one and only Sacha Baron Cohen

Iron Man 2 won't be out until May 2010, but that doesn't stop fangirls (and boys) from salivating over every scrap we get out of Marvel and anywhere else.

Jon Favreau is back as director, and Robert Downey Jr. (perfect casting, right?) is back as Tony Stark. This time, though, we get Mickey Rourke joining in on the fun.

What'll he look like as Whiplash? Well, I got you. Always. Look up.

(Photo from Marvel.com)

Well, I don't think founder Dan Florio meant his Web site to be an aid for all of us trying to avoid a recurrence of kidney stones, but it's sure going to help.

Florio's Web site, wonderfully titled Runpee.com, tells you when it's OK to leave during a film because you have to, well, you know ... He came up with it while watching Peter Jackson's King Kong (at least it was an inspiration for something besides my S.O. yelling at the screen, "Leave the monkey alone!").

I sure could have used it when I saw every film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy in one sitting. No matter; it's here now, with the tagline of "Helping your bladder enjoy going to the movies as much as you do." With even comedies heading into the three-hour ring, now every moviegoer's bladder (bless your heart, pregnant women; the Web site even has a maternity T-shirt) can breathe a sigh of relief.

Community activist Jason Roberts is doing some cool things at the storied Texas Theatre, and Saturday night promises to be one of the coolest. At 7 p.m. Saturday, he and the Oak Cliff Foundation are showing the legendary movie Bonnie and Clyde at the Jefferson Boulevard theater, where, of course, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in 1963. The Oak Cliff Foundation has renovated the Texas Theatre and is trying to do more. They have shown the movies Oswald's Ghost and JFK, and the Dallas Summer Musicals would eventually love to use it as one of its venues. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker hailed from West Dallas and undoubtedly spent plenty of time in Oak Cliff, maybe even at the Texas Theatre, which opened in 1931. Saturday marks the 75th anniversary of the ambush that killed the lawbreaking pair, whose exploits are chronicled in the 1967 movie, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. (Please click below to read on.)

Photo: Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde

The final film starring Heath Ledger, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, had its premiere at Cannes.

Director Terry Gilliam, if you remember, thought of canceling the production when his star was found dead from an accidental prescription pill overdose. But three other A-list stars stepped in to play Ledger's character in three different incarnations during the fantastical sequences in the film: Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell. The actors played for peanuts, as the money they would have been making was set aside for Ledger's daughter with actress Michelle Williams (Wendy and Lucy), Matilda.

Awwww. Right? Well, reviews have been circulating and they're killing the movie softly.

One would have hoped for better as an epitaph for Heath Ledger, one of Hollywood's rising stars but it's early yet. We'll see.

(Photo of Terry Gilliam by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP/Getty Images)

Exclusive interview by the Los Angeles Times:

For more than 2 1/2 years, Farrah Fawcett's battle with cancer has sparked a flurry of headlines for celebrity tabloids. But it has also stripped the actress of her ability to seek treatment while maintaining her privacy, she said in an interview.

In a three-hour conversation with The Times in August -- her only media interview after being diagnosed with anal cancer in September 2006 -- Fawcett denounced the National Enquirer for publishing leaked details about her illness, including some that she said were false. And she criticized UCLA Medical Center for failing to protect her medical records from snooping employees.

The former "Charlie's Angels" star, 62, said she set up a real-life sting operation to prove to UCLA that one of its employees was leaking her medical data to the Enquirer. She also talked about the pressure she felt from the hospital to donate money to set up a foundation in her name.

(Read the rest of the story, and see video of Fawcett's interview.)

A two-hour documentary, Farrah's Story, about the actress's struggle with cancer, will air Friday on NBC.

Photo: Farrah Fawcett arrives for the MTV Video Music Awards in this August 2004 file photo. (AP file)

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal have made it official.

Amanda Silverman, Gyllenhaal's publicist, says the couple were married Saturday. She didn't provide any details.

Gyllenhaal and Sarsgaard have a daughter, Ramona, who was born in October 2006. They announced their engagement earlier that year.

Gyllenhaal's film roles include "The Dark Knight" and "World Trade Center." Sarsgaard has appeared in the films "Jarhead," "Boys Don't Cry" and "Kinsey."

The couple recently co-starred in an off-Broadway revival of the classic play "Uncle Vanya."

Well, we've got your first look at the Wolf Pack right here.

Alex Meraz (Paul), Chaske Spencer (Sam Uley), Bronson Pelletier (Jared), and Kiowa Gordon (Embry) star in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, in theaters Nov. 20.

(Photo courtesy of Timothy White)

That crazy Sacha Baron Cohen came to North Texas last June and punked dozens of unsuspecting citizens at a Carrollton office park by inducing them to show up as the audience for a "new television talk show." I wrote a column about it (click here to read it) because my son was among those who showed up for the $50 cash they were giving out. It turns out Cohen was using this local audience as comic fodder for his next movie, which features the gay Austrian fashionista Bruno. We have seen Bruno before, in the Da Ali G series on HBO, but apparently, few of the folks who showed up at the office park had ever heard of him. Well, now the London Times has an "exclusive" trailer of the Bruno movie on its Web site. Click here to view it. Bruno is scheduled for a July release.

Photo: Sacha Baron Cohen invades the catwalk in Milan, Italy, to film a scene for his forthcoming Bruno movie

For those of us in the newspaper business, two new movies have taken on special resonance. I went to Studio Movie Grill last night to see State of Play and was frankly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Sure, it's a Hollywood movie but a decent thriller and although some of its references to print journalism are ludicrous (who does the editing at that paper?), much of it rang true. Russell Crowe plays a reporter dedicated to the best of print journalism, a guy who's sniffing out not just a big story but a HUGE story and realizing he needs time, most of all, to give it justice. One of his newsroom colleagues is a blogger who thrice daily feeds the on-line beast, even if the information is not quite ready for prime time. And Helen Mirren plays the editor trying to satisfy a new owner who likes celebrity gossip most of all. Friday marks the release of The Soloist, which apparently deals, in part, with layoffs and buyouts at the Los Angeles Times, whose columnist, Steve Lopez, discovered the schizophrenic homeless guy who plays a mean cello -- the guy at the heart of the story (played by Jamie Foxx). Check out this blog post about The Soloist.

Photo: Russell Crowe in State of Play.

Twilight junkies, here's the latest. Michael Sheen, who wowed as Tony Blair in The Queen and Frost in Frost/Nixon, is going (bad) vampire on us for New Moon according to eonline.com. So, does this bring a class to the project? Or does it bring Sheen down to earth? Do you like the choice?

The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Grammy winners Gladys Knight and Marvin Winans have joined the cast of Tyler Perry's next film, I Can Do Bad By Myself. (Every time I see that title, I think of the song by Jesse James and finish the lyrics, "and I don't need no help to starve to death.")

Already attached to the film are Mary J. Blige, Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Adam Rodriguez (CSI: Miami).

There's obviously going to be a lot of singing going on, with Knight playing a choir-singing matriarch in the film about teens sent to live with their hard-living, nightclub-singing aunt (Henson). Knight, Blige and Winans will sing in the film. And, yes, Madea will be in attendance.

This just in: Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke (right) will be ringside for Wrestlemania XXIV, this Sunday at Houston's Reliant Stadium.

Rourke received several awards nominations for his role as Randy "The Ram" Robinson in The Wrestler, putting the actor back in the limelight decades after he first came onto the scene in Hollywood. Never one these days to turn up his nose at a good thing, Rourke will continue his feud with WWE Superstar Chris Jericho during the event celebrating Wrestlemania's 25th anniversary. Rourke called Jericho out from the red carpet at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in January, challenging him to a fight. Jericho rose to the challenge, confronting Rourke on Larry King Live.

Who knows? Maybe Rourke will channel "Randy" and climb into the ring. For now, though, he'll be ringside in support of some of my favorites, including Ric "Nature Boy" Flair, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (remember the cartoon Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling with Roddy, Junkyard Dog, Iron Sheik, etc.?) and Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat, all Hall of Famers. The legends will all fight Jericho, and according to a press release, "Jericho will not only be looking to defeat the Legends, but also to show Rourke the difference between being a movie actor and a real WWE Superstar."

You can watch the whole thing live on pay-per-view. Or you can wait for the inevitable blog report.

(Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP)

Patience is a virtue, fanboys. You couldn't wait until this summer?

From CNN.com:

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Someone stole an "incomplete and early version" of the next installment in the blockbuster X-Men movie series and posted it on the Internet this week, according to the studio that owns the billion-dollar film franchise.

Twentieth Century Fox said the FBI was investigating who leaked "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," which is set for release in U.S. theaters May 1.

"The source of the initial leak and any subsequent postings will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law; the courts have handed down significant criminal sentences for such acts in the past," the studio's statement said.

Removing the pirated files from the Internet may prove an impossible challenge, an industry source said. This source did not want to be named because of the sensitive nature of the matter.

Although the studio said it was removed from the Web site that first hosted it, the digital file has probably been downloaded tens of thousands of times, the source said.

"It's not removed from the Internet," the industry source said. "It's still there."

Continue reading on CNN.com.

Photo: Hugh Jackman stars in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Courtesy: 20th Century Fox

So, people are now getting off their sofas and headed to the places depicted in movies. Case in point: The family who lives in the house depicted in The Haunting in Connecticut is complaining of obtrusive, and sometimes scary, visitors.

I get it. You've done the research, or you've watched the special on the Discovery Channel. You figure, "What harm can it do if I just drive by the house? Maybe I'll see a curtain move and get a chilly thrill?" Um, no. Real people trying to carry on real lives now live in the house.

So, if you must, ride by. But don't knock on the door and frighten the children that now live there.

(Photo by Jessica Hill/The Associated Press)

The Hollywood Reporter reports that MacGyver is in the works to become a feature film for New Line Cinema. Maybe this is another sign of the apocalypse, or maybe it's just a sign that Hollywood is only betting on bankable projects.

Richard Dean Anderson, lately of Stargate SG-1, starred as a jack-of-all-trades secret agent that you wouldn't want to leave tied up next to some peanut butter, a paper clip and a headache powder - you'd be in for one big bomb.

(1994 Photo by Peter Kernot)

It's been buzzed about for a while now, but Dakota Fanning has signed on to The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the fast-tracked sequel to Twilight.

The Hollywood Reporter, People.com, MTV.com and various other sources says it's now official that she'll play the vampire Jane, who is "sweet but sneaky" and "sinister." Really, are there any other kind of vampires?

Back in January, when the scuttlebutt was at full scuttle, Fanning told MTV News that "I'm glad that people are excited about me possibly being in it. That's so nice! We're both pale. ... I don't think they'd have to put a lot of makeup on me if it works out. I'm pretty pale as it is."

It'll be interesting to see Dakota take on a character such as this one. Her acting chops are undeniable. But are her fans ready to see her vamp out?

(Photo by MARIO ANZUONI/Reuters)

There's no rest for those Jonas Brothers. It seems that after they visited with local fans outside the Main Event in Grapevine in the wee hours of Sunday morning (watch our video and read about it here), they went on to the home of Jayla Cooper, a nine-year-old from Grapevine who is battling leukemia. Jayla came to national attention as a "child bride" when she married 7-year-old Jose Griggs, who is also battling cancer.

Watch the "Early Show" video of the Jonas Brothers visiting Jayla.

It wasn't quite Waiting for Godot, but it sure felt that way as 10:30 p.m., the announced arrival time, morphed into 1:16 a.m., and the temperature kept dropping into the low 30s. But there we were, on the red carpet, in front of the sprawling Main Event entertainment center near the Cinemark Grapevine, waiting for the Jonas Brothers to jet in from Atlanta Saturday night (er, Sunday morning) and talk to the news media and, of course, a horde of screaming fans about their new movie, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. (Please click below to read on!)

Photo: Fans in Atlanta scream for the Jonas Brothers, who then flew to Dallas, where they would not arrive until after 1 a.m. Sunday

The final pieces are falling into place for the Harry Potter saga. Fans know that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is coming out July 17 and that part one of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is due out Nov. 19, 2010. Now People reports that the date for part two is fixed: July 15, 2011. Which is not to say that dates can't change. But it does bring an air of finality to the end of the Potter era. An era I will sorely miss.

Now we know the Jonas Brothers are getting a lot of love lately, but this item from Common Sense Media really caught our attention. Not only have they given the Jonas Brothers a 2008 Common Sense Media "Onnie" Award for serving as "strong positive role models for kids and teens," they're working on a 25 Things We love About the Jonas Brothers list. (They've got five reasons posted, they're looking for 20 more).

So, what say you Jonas fans, big and small? Can you tell us 25 things you love about the Jonas Brothers before the Common Sense list is complete?

Oh, no, say it ain't so. It's bad enough when you mess with supposed classics like The Stepford Wives or Friday the 13th. But Clue? CLUE!? That 1980s greatness of Leslie Ann Warren, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, etc etc etc? You, Mr. Gore Verbinski, want to mess with the comic brilliance that is CLUE?

You, sir, are dead to me.

But since this is apparently a foregone conclusion, I leave it to you, gentle readers: Who would be your dream re-make cast? What's your favorite scene/quote from the original?

Here's mine:

(Props to EW's Popwatch for bringing this to our attention.)

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Howard Zieff, a film and television commercial director whose works included "Private Benjamin" and "My Girl," has died. He was 81.

Zieff died Sunday of Parkinson's disease in Los Angeles, said his wife Ronda Gomez-Quinones.

From The Associated Press:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Mickey Rourke is headed to the Academy Awards both as a nominee and a grieving pet owner after the death of his 17-year-old Chihuahua, Loki.

A representative for Rourke, Judy Woloshen, said the actor's beloved dog died Monday night.

Says Rourke: "Loki is deeply missed but with me in spirit. I feel very blessed that she fell asleep peacefully in my arms."

Rourke, who's having a career comeback with his acclaimed performance in The Wrestler, was especially close to Loki and is a longtime owner of chihuahuas.

He thanked all his dogs -- living and dead -- after winning the Golden Globe for best actor last month, saying "sometimes when a man's alone, all you got is your dog."

Photo: Mickey Rourke and Loki with director Darren Aronofsky on Sept. 6, just before the awards presentation at the Venice Film Festival in Italy. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Among the Hollywood bold-face names of this year's Academy Award nominations is one that deserves special mention: Megan Mylan.

South Oak Cliff High School's varsity cheerleading squad has a shot at fame -- and $5,000 -- in a promotional contest for Sony Pictures' new film Fired Up, which opens Feb. 20. To win, though, the girls need your help.
The team already earned $300 in the first phase of the contest, when it performed a one-minute routine incorporating the phrase "Fired up!" on Jan. 31 at Kidd Springs Park Rec Center. Now the Bears' cheerleaders have advanced to the online phase, where the winner will be chosen by Internet voters.
Two dozen teams nationwide made the cut, and videos of their routines have been posted at www.firedup.mtv.com. Go online to watch and cast your ballot (you can vote once a day). The contest ends Monday, so check it out soon. The winning squad will get a cool 5 grand.

Kate Winslet, Mickey Rourke (right) and Slumdog Millionaire continued their gallops toward the Oscars as each won big at the British Academy Film Awards. Slumdog won seven awards, including best picture and best director for Danny Boyle, who thanked the folks who helped get his father's cable back on. Winslet (The Reader) and Rourke (The Wrestler) took home best-acting honors.

Heath Ledger won the award for best supporting actor for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

(Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)

Friends and relatives have been telling me for months how much they like the on-demand feature on their cable outlets. Well, I'm a DirecTV (satellite television) subscriber, and it too offers an on-demand feature. I hadn't really explored it until recently and was amazed at what it offers. We watched Witness for the Prosecution, the 1957 film starring Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich and directed by Billy Wilder, who was nominated for an Oscar. (Laughton was nominated for Best Actor, and his wife, Lanchester, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.) We also watched The Fortune Cookie, the 1966 film starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. I was amazed to learn that Wilder directed both. Both great movies, and I wasn't charged a penny for either one. There's so much out there nowadays, when it comes to computer-related downloads of movies, it's amazing. And Apple TV, which allows you to watch what's on your iPod or iTunes in high-def, is also amazing -- the envy of every teenager, I've come to find out.

Photo: Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau

Really!? I'm a fan of the women and the shoes and the whatnot, but c'mon! As much as I enjoyed this summer's flick, it felt very much like a much delayed (and much needed) swan song. This just strikes me as last desperate guests who just won't leave the party.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- There's still sex to be had in the city, even though Carrie Bradshaw has settled down with one man.

New Line Cinema spokeswoman Candice McDonough confirms that "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker, her three co-stars and writer-director Michael Patrick King are signed for a sequel to last year's hit movie.

The film will reunite Parker and gal pals Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon.

In a statement, King says: "I'm very excited to work with these amazing actresses again and would love to give everyone more information about the sequel ... but I'm busy with my 'Sex' life."

New Line parent Warner Bros. plans to have the sequel out in summer 2010.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The film isn't even in theaters yet, but "Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire" has already spawned dueling lawsuits.

Lionsgate Films and The Weinstein Co. on Wednesday filed lawsuits in Los Angeles and New York, both claiming they had an agreement with producers to distribute the film.

"Push," based on the 1996 novel by the poet Sapphire and directed by Lee Daniels, was a darling at the recent Sundance Film Festival, picking up grand jury and audience awards.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Dakota Fanning will star as Jane in the Twilight sequel, New Moon.

Dakota Fanning's reps confirmed [Thursday] that the child actress has in fact been offered the role of Jane, a member of Italy's evil Volturi, for the Twilight sequel New Moon. The news was first reported by E! Online. No deal has yet been made. In fact, Fanning and her reps have not met New Moon director Chris Weitz nor Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the franchise. Rumors of the offer were swirling before Fanning's camp even received the official one. They will now meet with Weitz and company next week. New Moon is scheduled to begin shooting in March in Toronto and Italy.

Read the whole scoop here.

So what do you think, Twilight fans? Personally, I find Dakota Fanning just creepy enough to pull it off. Not as creepy as young-Christina-Ricci, but definitely more creepy than young-Kirsten-Dunst and in the same sort of "Oh, isn't she pretty? OH MY GOD!" as she rips out your throat sort of way.

If you ever wonder how Mickey Rourke went from sexy leading man in weird '80s films to weird leading man in '00 films, blame none other than the man himself:

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Mickey Rourke says there is only one person he blames for the spectacular implosion of his career the first time round -- himself.

"You lose your house, your wife, your career, your everything at one time," he says, "You've got to look in the mirror and go 'It's your fault.'"

For a long time it looked like Rourke was destined for obscurity. But, amazingly, he has battled his way back to the top.

It has taken him 15 years, but his critically-acclaimed role in Darren Aronofsky's latest film, "The Wrestler" might finally allow the actor to shake off the notoriety and grab on to the career that should have been his all along.

Continue reading.

Everybody loves a successful comeback, so I for one am cheering Rourke along. I mean, if Britney gets a second chance... Of course, here's hoping there's no Angel Heart sequel in the making.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Indiana Jones and "The Mummy" slayer are teaming up on the big screen - to battle not ancient, otherworldly baddies, but a big medical dilemma.

Brendan Fraser will join Harrison Ford for a medical drama set to begin filming in April, CBS Films announced Wednesday. The untitled movie will be the first production for CBS Films, a feature film division established in 2007.

Fraser will play a father who recruits the help of a medical researcher portrayed by Ford. CBS Films said the film's screenplay is inspired by "The Cure," a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Geeta Anand about John F. Crowley, a former Bristol Myers Squibb executive who started his own biotech company to save his two children from a rare muscular disorder

AFI Dallas announced that its third film festival will go from March 26-April 2 and announced a new presenting sponsor, NorthPark Center.

NorthPark Center has hosted several central films in the first two years of the festival. Now, as a presenting sponsor, they will hold more screenings and it's also where you will find the the AFI DALLAS box office, a film festival lounge, galas. NorthPark will also host some red-carpet and other events.

Victory Park will again serve as the "epicenter" of the festival, with some screenings shown on its big screens.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Days after checking himself into a Los Angeles hospital for pneumonia, Patrick Swayze says his condition is improving. The 56-year-old actor, who is battling pancreatic cancer, tells People magazine: "I am alive and plan on continuing to stay that way. ... I am almost in the clear."

Swayze says he checked into the hospital Jan. 9 because of a cough that he suspected was the result of an infection.

Swayze says: "I wanted to jump on it before it turned into a problem. As soon as I got home, I called my doctor and then went straight to the hospital and was immediately put on antibiotics."

Swayze's representatives did not respond to messages seeking comment on his health.

Last week, Swayze told ABC's Barbara Walters that his yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer put him "through hell" while he pushed ahead on his new TV series on A&E, "The Beast," which premieres Thursday.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Jackie Chan soon could be mentoring a karate kid.
The martial arts star is in negotiations to star in Columbia's remake of "The Karate Kid." He would take on the role of mentor Mr. Miyagi, made famous by Pat Morita in the original.
The studio also has signed Harald Zwart to helm the picture, which could begin shooting this year in Beijing.
Jaden Smith is set to star as the boy to be mentored by Chan's character. Like the original, which starred Morita and Ralph Macchio, the movie will examine the relationship between a martial arts expert and a boy who is picked on by bullies.
The setting will be relocated from the U.S. to China. Chris Murphy has been attached to pen the screenplay.
Chan next appears in Relativity's action-comedy "The Spy Next Door."
Zwart directed the hit "Agent Cody Banks" and Columbia's upcoming "The Pink Panther 2."

Twilight fans, rejoice! Your favorite werewolf is definitely back for the sequel:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Taylor Lautner will be back to morph into the monstrous Jacob Black in the Twilight sequel New Moon.

There had been talk that a bigger, buffer, more menacing actor might play the role when the second of Stephenie Meyer's hugely successful vampire novels hits movie screens come Nov. 20. Lautner, by comparison, appears lean and sweet-faced in part one. But distributor Summit Entertainment and director Chris Weitz confirmed Wednesday that Lautner would be returning.

Stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson will also be returning as the saga's doomed young lovers, high schooler Bella Swan and brooding vampire Edward Cullen.

Catherine Hardwicke's Twilight opened at No. 1 with a whopping $69.6 million at the box office in November, the biggest opening ever for a female director. It has since grossed about $177 million domestically.

Fresh on the heels of its nomination for Best Picture from the Producers Guild, The Dark Knight received a nomination for best adapted screenplay from the Writers Guild of America.

The film was snubbed by the Golden Globes for any type of non-actor nomination, though Heath Ledger received a well-deserved supporting nod. And the movie did receive a nod for the stunts from the Screen Actors Guild. A note to the Academy: Just because a film has ears, a cape and a Joker doesn't mean it's not worthy of flying high.

(Photo by Stephen Vaughan/Warner Bros. Pictures)

From The Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- One of the digital wizards behind such cartoon smashes as WALL-E, Ratatouille" and Finding Nemo is getting an Academy Award.

Pixar Animation co-founder Ed Catmull is receiving the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, an honorary Oscar statuette, for lifetime achievement in computer graphics for filmmaking.

Catmull is receiving the prize at the academy's Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony Feb. 7, which precedes the Feb. 22 Oscars.

It's the second honorary Oscar for Catmull. He's a previous recipient in 2000 for developing Pixar's RenderMan software, which has been used in digital imagery for 45 of the last 50 films nominated for the visual-effects Oscar.

Catmull also has three past scientific and technical awards from the academy.

OK, so I'm watching the David Letterman show on Monday night, when the guest is Dustin Hoffman, who's appearing in the new movie Last Chance Harvey. He tells a great story about the time he played a woman for the movie Tootsie (best comedy ever), for which he won the Oscar as Best Actor. He was dressed up in drag and found himself on an elevator near the Russian Tea Room in New York City. Legendary actor Jose Ferrer happened to be on the same elevator. Mr. Hoffman, who decided to remain in character, started a conversation with Mr. Ferrer, leading up to an obscene remark, which was of course bleeped from the Letterman show. But before then, he, or rather she, kept telling Mr. Ferrer how she had learned to act while doing shows in Dallas. Don't you love these local connections?

Photo: Dustin Hoffman

In my business, we're always looking for the local connection. So, it was quite a kick to come across it twice in recent days (see entry above as well). I got a chance to see the fabulous new movie The Wrestler, in which Mickey Rourke plays a broken-down professional wrestler. For my money, Mr. Rourke deserves to win an Oscar for Best Actor. It's an incredible performance. At one point, the wrestler is working in a butcher shop, which bores him to tears. A guy comes in to buy some meat. The wrestler pretends he's a quarterback and asks the customer to go out for a pass. He hurls the wrapped-up meat, which makes a perfect landing in the guy's shopping cart. "How 'bout them Cowboys!" the wrestler shouts. See, I told you there was a local connection.

Photo: Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Planning is already under way for the next Batman film -- with Eddie Murphy as the Riddler. Which leaves the question of whether Murphy, who has been more miss than hit for quite some time, can reinvent himself with this role.

Certainly Heath Ledger proved that a remarkable actor can plumb unexpected depths in what had been traditionally been the cartoon villain. Meantime, here's hoping that Ledger gets his much deserved Oscar for his Batman turn. Still can't get over the loss of so much talent when he just kept getting better and better.

First a new director, now a new release date. Will the same weekend in November be the charm again for the Twilight sequel, New Moon? The movie, which has not yet started filming, is already set to premiere Nov. 20.

Let's just hope director Chris Weitz is up to speed -- and yes, we mean that literally. Maybe a little vampire bite would help him the way it did the vampires in their Twilight baseball game -- still one of my fave scenes from the first flick.

Well, the die has been cast, undead fans. Variety reports that Chris Weitz, the director of About a Boy and The Golden Compass, has been tapped to direct the Twilight sequels in lieu of the the ignominiously dumped Catherine Hardwicke.

Word has it that he has the support of author Stephenie Meyer, too.

So what say you, Twilight fans? Does he have your confidence?

(Click below to read the story from Hollywood Reporter.)

Rotten Tomatoes has the trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. All I can say is: Is it May 1 yet?

From The Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- It's another boy for Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber.

A representative for Watts tells People magazine the couple welcomed their second son on Saturday.

The Australian actress and her actor boyfriend are also parents to Alexander Pete Schreiber, born in July 2007.

They have been dating three years and co-starred in the 2006 drama The Painted Veil.

Representatives for Watts and Schreiber did not immediately return phone and e-mail messages seeking further details.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Batman epic "The Dark Knight," the political biopic "Milk" and the gritty drama "The Wrestler" were among critical favorites that landed on the American Film Institute's list of the year's 10 best movies.

Also on AFI's list, released Sunday, were the animated "Wall-E," Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino," the superhero blockbuster "Iron Man," the indie dramas "Frozen River" and "Wendy and Lucy," the adapted play "Frost/Nixon," and the Brad Pitt epic "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

Unlike other film honors, the institute does not rank films or pick one as the year's best. The filmmakers behind the top 10 choices will be honored at a luncheon Jan. 9.

Many of the films on the list picked up Golden Globe nominations last week and are expected to compete for Academy Awards. Oscar nominations are to be announced Jan. 22.

Among Globe best-drama nominees were "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," David Fincher's drama about a man who ages backward, starring Pitt and Cate Blanchett; and Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon," based on the Peter Morgan play about the famous TV interview of Richard Nixon by David Frost, starring Frank Langella and Michael Sheen.

The AFI also released a top 10 list of TV shows for 2008, featuring "Breaking Bad," "In Treatment," "John Adams," "Life," "Lost," "Mad Men," "The Office," "Recount," "The Shield" and "The Wire."

The top 10 lists were chosen by two 13-member panels, one each for movies and television. Members included writer Mark Harris, filmmaker Robert Towne, and critics Leonard Maltin, Elvis Mitchell and Richard Schickel.

Once a year, Americans pay close attention to what a small group of foreigners have to say. That time is upon us again with the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations. Treated as the Thanksgiving before the Oscars Christmas, the Golden Globe nominations are treated as the opening bell of the Awards season and have acquired a reputation for being a harbinger of what the Academy Awards may bring. Let's take a look and see what their sooth-saying says about the coming trophy season.

They'll never do it, but the Golden Globe skit I'd most like to see is Meryl Streep in her nun habit from Doubt forgetting in the midst of a quietly intense tirade with Philip Seymour Hoffman what movie she's in and breaking into a song from Mamma Mia!, preferably "Mamma Mia, here I go again..."

I mean, if you're trying to save time in the telecast, wouldn't that be a fun way to combine mention of her nominations for Doubt and Mamma Mia!?

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Screen Actors Guild says it will send strike authorization ballots to its 120,000 members on Jan. 2.

The votes will be counted on Jan. 23, which will not be in time to potentially disrupt the Golden Globe Awards like the writers' strike did last year.

Approval by 75 percent of members is required to pass the measure. If approved, the SAG national board can call a strike.

Read more.

From the Associated Press:

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- The brother of actor Mark Ruffalo has died a week after he was shot in the head, police said Tuesday.

Scott Ruffalo, 39, died late Monday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills Police Sgt. Renato Moreno said.

A phone message left early Tuesday for a Mark Ruffalo publicist wasn't immediately returned.

Two people wanted for questioning about the shooting had surrendered themselves to police earlier Monday.

Shaha Mishaal Adham was suspected of shooting Scott Ruffalo, and authorities had issued an attempted murder arrest warrant for the 26-year-old. Brian Scofield was being held on a misdemeanor traffic warrant.

Jail records didn't indicate whether the pair have hired attorneys, but showed that a court date for Adham had been tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.

Scott Ruffalo, a hairstylist, was found with a gunshot wound to the head in Beverly Hills on Dec. 1. Police haven't discussed a motive.

Mark Ruffalo, 41, has appeared in the films "Zodiac," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "You Can Count on Me" and "Blindness."

You would think the Twilight folks would all be glad-handing and high-fiving each other after the movie's big debut. But no...according to Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily blog, director Catherine Hardwicke has already been canned from the sequels. The next one is New Moon and evidently the studio is considering making it back to back with Eclipse to cut costs.

Nikki speculates that this could be bad for Summit (by upsetting the show's female fans?) if they choose a male director instead -- what do you think? I was not enamored with the direction, but you would think that a $160 million on a low budget flick would generate a little more love or, at least, a gentler letdown.

Story.

From the Associated Press:

The National Board of Review has picked Slumdog Millionaire as the year's best film.

The board's picks, announced Thursday, are considered the first major harbinger of the Academy Awards. The win boosts the awards hopes for Slumdog, which is viewed as the independent film most likely to follow Juno and Little Miss Sunshine in Oscar contention.

Read more.

So what do you think: Have you seen Slumdog Millionaire? Does it earn the designation? What you you have picked?

Steven Soderbergh calls it 'Viva Las Vegas Meets Tommy.'

Read the story on MTV.com's movies blog.

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Fans of the holiday classic "A Christmas Story" are celebrating the film's 25th anniversary with a convention and trips to the house where the movie was made.

The 1983 film, an adaptation of Jean Shepard's memoir of a boy in the 1940s, was set in Indiana but largely filmed in Ohio. The movie starred Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker, a young boy determined to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.

The film was a modest theatrical success, but critics loved it. It eventually joined "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street" as a Christmas cult classic.

According to Yahoo! News:

Los Angeles (E! Online) - What fanggirls want, fanggirls get.

While there's still a week to go before Twilight opens in theaters, producer Summit Entertainment is already sinking its teeth into more installments of the vampire romance, acquiring the rights to the next three novels in Stephanie Meyer's series.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the studio has also secured the services of Twilight screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg to pen New Moon and Eclipse, the second and third installments of the would-be blockbuster franchise.

Further ensuring squeals from the masses: Lead bloodsucker Robert Pattinson is also on board for the first three films.

The principals have not yet signed for the fourth installment, Breaking Dawn (SPOILER ALERT--the one where regular teen Bella and her vampire love, Edward, finally tie the knot), but presumably that fact is still a significant number of years away from being a worry.

Twilight opens--as if you needed reminding--Nov. 21.

One of the finest documentaries I've seen in years is Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, which had an enthusiastic reception last March at the South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin. The filmmaker is Kurt Kuenne, whom local audiences may remember as the director of the heavily Texas-flavored Drive-In Movie Memories, produced by Don and Susan Sanders of Grapevine. Mr. Kuenne informs me in an e-mail that Dear Zachary, now being shown theatrically in various cities (thus making it eligible for consideration in the upcoming Academy Awards), will make its national television debut on MSNBC on Dec. 7. No dates yet for any theatrical showings in Dallas, so don't miss the showing on MSNBC. The story is nothing short of amazing.

Photo: The late Andrew Bagby, left, with filmmaker Kurt Kuenne

To watch a trailer of Dear Zachary, click the play button below:

File this under: Skeptical:

From Yahoo! movie news:

Joaquin Phoenix, who turned 34 years old just yesterday, stunned E! Online reporter Jason Kennedy with the announcement that he would be retiring from acting. The two-time Oscar nominee stated this on the red carpet at a Monday benefit for the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps, a charity founded by Paul Newman. Phoenix said that Two Lovers, his upcoming romantic drama with Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw, will be his final on-screen role. "This will be my last performance as an actor. I'm not doing films anymore... I've been through that. I've done it... I'm dead serious."

Read the complete story

High School Musical 3: Senior Year doesn't even open until midnight tonight, but word is already buzzing about the talent that can keep the franchise going now that stars Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Corbin Bleu have officially "graduated."

Keep an eye on the high school "juniors" introduced in the film, Matt Prokop, 18, and Justin Martin and Jemma McKenzie-Brown, both 14, especially as the Wall Street Journal reports that the Disney Channel has ordered a fourth movie ( the decision has not been made whether it will be released on T.V. or in theaters).

So, what do you think? Tell us if you would see a High School Musical 4 with these teens as the new leads?

I'm also wondering if they're holding out the possibility of Ashley Tisdale's Sharpay returning. The drama teacher does say that Sharpay may be coming back to help her in the drama department...Good idea -- or not?

Check our our review and more HSM 3 coverage here. And don't forget to stick around for some funny outtakes during the credits.

I'm conflicted.

The new Star Trek movie is basically the Trekkie version of Batman Begins, where we get to watch Kirk and Spock and the rest in their youth.

Paramount recently released some new images from the film, and this ensemble shot of the fashionable, hunky crew leaves me with a sinking feeling. Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not an underwear model for The Gap!

On the other hand, there are some actors I very much like in that shot. You've got Simon Pegg from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz scowling in the background as Scotty, while Karl Urban (Eomer from The Lord of the Rings) is almost unrecognizable in his blue shirt and puffy hair as Bones.

And Leonard Nimoy will apparently have a cameo as "Old Spock."

I'm still expecting this to stink, but there's a glimmer of hope.

See all the new shots at TrekMovie.com

From ETonline.com:

The Iron Man will soon have a new best friend! Don Cheadle will replace Terrence Howard as the superhero's best friend, Jim Rhodes, in 'Iron Man 2,' says The Hollywood Reporter.

Read more.

From the Associated Press:

Hospital officials say 37-year-old French actor Guillaume Depardieu has died from complications linked to a sudden case of pneumonia.

The son of French movie star Gerard Depardieu had been hospitalized since Sunday night, said officials at the Raymond-Poincare de Garches hospital in the western suburbs of Paris.

Depardieu acted in more than 40 films, including The Duchess of Langeais, which opened in Dallas in June.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- A cable channel is working on a television movie about a teenager from Alabama who went missing in Aruba in 2005 when she was on a graduation trip.

"The Natalee Holloway Story" is going to be based on a book by her mother, Beth Holloway. The Lifetime Movie Network has started preproduction. The movie will focus on the mother's efforts to find out what happened to her daughter.

The 18-year-old girl from Mountain Brook, Ala., was last seen leaving a bar in Aruba with a Dutch college student and two Surinamese brothers. Extensive searches have found no trace of her.

Tanya Lopez, Lifetime's senior vice president for original movies, says in a news release the movie will raise awareness about how to keep children safe.

On the surface, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is about young love, about Michael Cera's Nick and Kat Dennings' Norah realizing, over the course of a crazy night, that they belong together.
But behind, under and all around that love story, the movie is about a lot of things and one of them is the transcendant power and importance of music and the singular manifestation of that power and importance in the homemade mix. As the movie's title reflects, that manifestation has gone through technology-driven re-formatting -- what used to be a mix tape is now a mix disc or even a digital playlist. But while the packaging has changed, the songs, as an intimate expression of self, remain the same.

Our good friends Victor Godinez and Andrew Smith have some movies-related news over on the tech blog:

Iron Man director says Blu-ray version has already outsold all previous Blu-ray movies

Netflix video streaming to Macs by year's end

Reuters reports:

Film director Spike Lee has set off a storm in Italy with a movie about black American soldiers fighting alongside Italian partisans in World War Two.

Surviving members of the resistance to the Nazi occupation of Italy have taken issue with Miracle at St. Anna ahead of the film's Italian release on Friday, distributing protest flyers and accusing Lee of distorting history.

Lee has said he wanted to set the record straight about the role played by black U.S. soldiers in the war. The film is based on a novel by James McBride and focuses on the all-black 92nd Buffalo Division which helped liberate Italy in 1944-45.

At the heart of the dispute is the film's depiction of an infamous 1944 massacre in the Tuscan town of Sant'Anna di Stazzema, where Nazi troops rounded up and killed 560 civilians.

Read the rest of the story

Miracle at St. Anna opened in Dallas on Sept. 26.

From the Associated Press:

Heath Ledger's 2-year-old daughter Matilda Rose will inherit all of her father's estate, Ledger's father says.

The Australian actor, who died from an accidental prescription drug overdose in January, signed a will before his daughter was born leaving everything to his parents and three sisters. Some had speculated his former partner Michelle Williams would lodge a claim for the money.

I was stunned when I heard about Paul Newman's death today. I know he was dying of lung cancer, but still...He lived his life with so much dignity and loyalty and generosity. He was the antithesis of all those moths circling around the light desperately seeking their 15 minutes of fame.

I am thinking of his Newman's Own food line. My son, David, is crazy about his tomato sauce. It goes down real easy, too, when you know it's made with healthy ingredients and all the profits go to a good cause -- more than $200 million to charity and still going under his daughter's supervision.

And I am thinking of my favorite Paul Newman movies. Yes, I know, there were so many good ones! Exodus is one of my sentimental faves. But I can watch The Verdict and Nobody's Fool over and over. And I love the way he voiced the old race car in Cars.

What are your favorite Paul Newman movies and memories?

Can't imagine what Oprah Winfrey could have left on her bucket list. Become a world-famous talk show host? Check. Become one of the richest women in the world? Check. See your face on the cover of your very own magazine every month? Check. Well, now she can check off one more thing. She's going to voice a role in an upcoming Disney/Pixar animated film. She's playing Endora, the mother of the princess in The Princess and the Frog. It's scheduled to release in late 2009.

From Associated Press:

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- Stargazers seeking an up-close glimpse of Hollywood's royalty can win seats on Oscar night along the red carpet.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday that 300 bleacher seats will be up for grabs in an online lottery.

Beginning at 9 a.m. PDT Monday, movie buffs can enter for a chance to win a seat in front of the Kodak Theater for the Oscars scheduled for Feb. 22. The lottery runs through 9 p.m. Sept. 28.

Applicants can register for up to four seats at http://www.oscars.org/bleachers .

In previous years, as many as 20,000 fans have applied online for the bleacher seats.

From CNN.com:

Elizabeth Banks has what it takes to be a porn star or first lady. And she'll be strutting her stuff as both on the big-screen within a two-week span.

On October 17, Banks' take on Laura Bush arrives with "W.," Oliver Stone's film biography of President Bush, played by Josh Brolin. On October 31, Banks co-stars with Seth Rogen in "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," Kevin Smith's comedy about two best pals and platonic roommates who shoot their own skin flick to cover their mounting debts.

Farewell to a maestro:

Don LaFontaine, the voiceover king whose "In a world ..." phrase on movie trailers was much copied -- and much parodied -- has died, according to media reports. He was 68.

LaFontaine died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, according to ETOnline, "Entertainment Tonight's" Web site. He died from complications from pneumothorax, a collapsed lung that causes air to build in the pleural cavity, his agent, Vanessa Gilbert, told "ET."

LaFontaine, who was born in Duluth, Minnesota, began as a voice actor in the mid-1960s while working as a recording engineer, according to his Web site. His strong, slightly gravelly voice was featured on trailers for thousands of films, including "The Godfather," "Fatal Attraction" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." For a time in the late '70s, LaFontaine was the official voice of Paramount Pictures.

Surely this guy should get some kind of posthumous award at the Oscars this year.

UPDATE: You might know Don from this recent Geico ad:

If you were planning on seeing Vin Diesel's big summer movie this week, you might want to rethink your movie choice. At least, that's what the director thinks:

French director Mathieu Kassovitz, who cradled and loved his Babylon AD project for 5 years, is mad as hell at Fox. Citing terrible management, budget shenanigans, bad producers and partners, Kassovitz says making the futuristic tale starring Vin Diesel was a hideous ordeal. What went so wrong with Babylon AD that its own director and star call it "terrible"?

In the film, Vin Diesel plays Toorop, an ex-mercenary who is getting paid to transport an important girl from one end of the globe to another, while dodging enemy fire and hiding from the oppressive government. But according to Kassovitz, it should have been so much more. He worked on a project whose main point was to focus on refugee trafficking in a gritty tomorrow, as well as political issues like censorship and a declining educational system.

Read the rest of the post here.

So: Another case of an evil studio sucking the life and creativity out of a project to make it more marketable? Or a director with auteur visions for his Hollywood popcorn flick? Does this whole thing make you more or less likely to see the movie?

It doesn't sway me from my "maybe I'll catch it someday on Showtime" plan. If anything, it provides a little vindication for my belief that if the studio thought it was a great blockbuster, it would have come out earlier in the summer. And if it was a big think piece, it would find a home this fall. But the end-of-summer dead zone? Not a good sign.

Via io9

Oh, Christopher Nolan, say it ain't so! Admittedly, movie rumors (particularly casting rumors) are a dime a dozen on the Internet, where tales spread like wildfire -- or like a high school grapevine:

The 62-year-old singer and actress is reported to be in talks to play Catwoman opposite Christian Bale in the third Batman film from British director Christopher Nolan.

The Oscar-winner will join a cast that includes Johnny Depp as The Riddler as she plays the whip-carrying burglar. The character has also been played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry.

Continue reading at Telegraph.co.uk.

Time will tell whether to believe this or not. Personally, I think anyone -- or anything -- is a step up from Halle Berry's turn as the iconic figure. But I'm having a hard time seeing how this choice fits in with Christopher Nolan's Batman-verse.

Finding it hard to resist belting out "The Winner Takes It All" or dancing to "Dancing Queen" with Meryl Streep at Mamma Mia!? Resistance is futile and actually detrimental at a new sing-along version of the hit movie opening Aug. 29 at AMC NorthPark and Cinemark Legacy in Plano.

It's part of a limited national release for this cleverly plotted cornucopia of ABBA songs, boisterously performed on a lush Greek island and which despite the scoffing remarks of some (mostly males, ahem!), has already scored more than $320 million worldwide.

Cool thing is, with the words on the screen, you don't have even brush up on the lyrics (as if you didn't know them all). Well, that takes care of our plans for Labor Day weekend...

And if you will be away for Labor Day weekend, look here to find out your closest sing-along location.

I.O.U.S.A., a documentary that inspects the financial troubles facing the country, officially opens on Friday, but a special presentation of the film will be shown Thursday. After the screening, a panel discussion featuring Warren Buffett and other financial leaders will be shown via satellite. All screenings will be held at 7 p.m.; for a list of participating theaters, go to www.fathomevents.com.

As you've no doubt heard by now, the 6th Harry Potter movie has been pushed from its original date of Nov. 21 to July 17, 2009. Apparently, that memo didn't get passed on to Entertainment Weekly, who features the wizard on the cover of its fall movie preview.
Now, working on a publication with deadlines, I understand how these things can happen -- you expect one thing and then someone pulls the rug out from under you after your deadline.
But you don't expect it to happen when you share a parent company with the cover story. Time Warner Inc. owns both Entertainment Weekly and Warner Bros., the studio behind the Potter franchise. Seems like an inter-office memo might have been appropriate in this case. Anyway, just passing that along so you don't feel like your company is the only one that doesn't get the word out to you on important news.

Less than 24 hours after Warner Bros. pushed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from this fall to July 17, 2009, Disney swooped in with a replacement to fill the void. Nov. 21 is a coveted date this year as it is the Friday before Thanksgiving -- a primo release date. With that day's big family film out of the picture, Disney announced today that Bolt, about a TV-star dog voiced by John Travolta, would fill the gap.

Change your plans, fangirls and boys. The Associated Press reports that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been moved from Nov. 21, 2008 until next summer, July 17, 2009. According to the story, Studio President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn says the studio has had success with past summer Harry Potter releases, including the fifth movie.

So that's another eight months until Lord Voldemort's dark past gets to the big screen. What do you think? Will this keep you from seeing the movie? Is it all a ploy? Were you all set to get your Harry Potter fix just before the holiday season kicked off?

You know, appeasement never works.

We keep throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at George Lucas, hoping each successive windfall will be enough to convince the man to finally retire from butchering his own youthful successes.

And every time, Lucas just gets a little chubbier and comes back for more, adding a Jar-Jar Binks here and an embarrassing crystal skull over there, counting his fortune and looking more and more like a Caucasian Wookiee with each passing year.

Now all we're left with is a collection of defiled memories and surplus McDonald's commemorative cups.

I say enough.

This latest act of naked aggression must not be allowed to stand:

Lucas sat down with AP Television at his Big Rock Ranch outside San Francisco, where he said he didn't pay much attention to the reception from critics and fans to "Crystal Skull," a sci-fi adventure set in the 1950s. But he definitely sees a future for Dr. Jones. A fifth movie is certainly a possibility.

"The franchise really depends on me coming up with a good idea," Lucas said. "And that series is very research-intensive. So we're doing research now to see if we can't come up with another object for him to chase ... hopefully we'll come up with something."

I don't care what it takes. We shall fight Lucas at the multiplex, we shall fight at Netflix and Blockbuster, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength on pay-per-view, we shall defend our sacred childhood films, whatever the cost may be.

We shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, Indiana Jones 5 is released, then in God's good time, Harrison Ford will simply be too old to make Indiana Jones 6.

An organization of disabilities groups is planning a full-scale boycott of Tropic Thunder ahead of its Wednesday release, according to The New York Times. The offending portion of the movie concerns a mentally challenged character that Ben Stiller's character played in a previous movie (still with me?) in an attempt to land an Oscar.
Do the groups actually have a bone to pick? I saw the movie at a screening last week, and I can see why someone would be offended. Any time you play a disability for a laugh, you run that risk. That being said, the butt of the joke is not the mentally challenged but the actors who take these parts in an attempt to show what range they have.
The question then, becomes: Is the joke worth the tangential harm caused to these groups? If the movie makes a ton of cash, I have a feeling DreamWorks will feel it was worth it. If the boycott leads to Tropic Thunder's early demise, then DreamWorks may wish it would have been a little more sensitive.
With the hunger out there these days for comedy to push the boundaries with each successive film, I would bet on option A.

He may now be one of the biggest brands in Hollywood, but Judd Apatow is still thinking small. In a recent phone interview, the creator of the TV cult classic Freaks and Geeks said that little, 18-episode, one-season show is never far from his thoughts.

According to CNN.com:

Robert Redford did it, so has Robert De Niro; now the latest actor to start a film festival is Tilda Swinton.

The Oscar winner's extravagantly titled "The Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams" will be held in a rented ballroom in her home town of Nairn in northern Scotland at the end of August.

Swinton decided to create (and pay for) a festival that would, "run 8 1/2 days, that would be a six out of 10 on the grunge scale, that would serve home-made cakes and fish finger sandwiches, whose tickets would be £3/£2," according to the Ballerina Ballroom website.

Unlike the market-driven mania of, say, Cannes, the festival will not centre on premieres; rather a selection of Tilda and her friends' favorite films from throughout cinema history.

Continuing reading here.

Kevin Smith won an R rating from the MPAA appeals board today for his movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno. The film, which comes out Oct. 31, centers on two friends (Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) who decide to make a homemade sex tape to sell in an effort to dig themselves out of debt.
Had the film been saddled with the kiss-of-death NC-17, as it was originally rated, it would have to have been edited, because it's doubtful distributor The Weinstein Co. would want to lower the film's potential earnings with the rating. Most major movie chains won't even bother with NC-17 movies.
And while we're on the subject of Zack and Miri, it seems worth pointing out that Elizabeth Banks will play both an amateur porn star and First Lady Laura Bush in the same month as Oliver Stone's W. will also be released in October. Now THAT's range.

The Angelika Dallas and the Video Association of Dallas are pairing up Thursday night for a special screening of The Puffy Chair, the feature debut from writer-director duo Mark and Jay Duplass. The comedy, which screens at 7:30, centers on a a man's cross-country mission to deliver his father's birthday present, the title chair.
Before the film, the Duplass Brothers' short This is John will screen. The 8 minute film, about a man trying to record the perfect outgoing message on his answering machine, put the filmmaking brothers on the map when it earned a place in the Sundance Film Festival
I talked to Video Association of Dallas head honcho Bart Weiss this afternoon, and he had high praise for the short, saying it goes to show that you don't need high-tech production value to make a good film -- sometimes simple is best.
So why all the hubub about the Duplass Brothers? Their latest film, Baghead, hits the Angelika on Aug. 8. To get ready for its arrival, the Angelika is holding a baghead contest, looking for the most creative baghead. The winner gets $100 worth of Angelika Cinemoney. Entries must be submitted to angelikasubmissions@gmail.com by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, August 7.

Though the movie's release is still a good three-and-a-half months away (Nov. 21, to be exact), the first teaser trailer for Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince was released tonight -- and it will soon be seen in theaters, when The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor opens this weekend.

Check the trailer out in HD here.

The new Potter film has a couple of acting-dynasty casting notes. Young Tom Riddle, who later becomes evil Lord Voldemort, is played first at age 11 by Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, the nephew of Ralph Fiennes, who plays the snakelike Dark Lord in his present-day form. Later, Tom as a teenager is played by Frank Dillane, son of British actor Stephen Dillane, who recently was seen as Thomas Jefferson in HBO's much-lauded John Adams miniseries. Coincidentally, the elder Dillane also has experience in playing a powerful wizard: He portrayed Merlin in the 2004 film King Arthur.

Alicia Keys and Jack White will team up to perform the theme for Quantum of Solace, this November's next entry into the James Bond franchise. The song was originally slated to go to Amy Winehouse, but, um, she's been kinda busy lately. The pairing of White and Keys marks the first time that a Bond theme has been performed as a duet.

The first trailer for Oliver Stone's W. has made it to the Internet. (If you click here and scroll down the page just a bit you can watch it.)
From the 30-seconds of film we get to see, the movie looks like it will focus on what drove the president to seek the White House. We also get a look at the supporting players in the film, and though we don't hear them speak, Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney and Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell look to be spot on.
It should come as a surprise to no one, however, that at least these 30 seconds aren't particularly flattering of No. 43 -- Stone has been one of the president's harshest critics. So why would he make the film before Bush's term is up? The guess here is that Stone hopes it will have some kind of influence on the upcoming election. Michael Moore tried that by releasing Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004 and that didn't seem to have any impact. We'll see about W.

UPDATE: An alert Screening Room reader alerted me that the above link was forced to take down the trailer, but it seems to be working fine on the E! Network's site here.

I had a nice phone conversation today with Javier Bardem, he of the crazy hair cut and best supporting actor statue for No Country for Old Men. He called from Madrid to promote his new movie, Woody Allen's Vicky Christina Barcelona.
We talked about working with the Wood Man, shooting in his native Spain, all stuff I will get to in a future story for the print edition. But one bit of news came up when I asked him about what imdb.com lists as his next project, the Joe Carnahan-directed Killing Pablo. The Web site lists Bardem as playing Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar in the film, with Christian Bale co-starring.
Bunk, says Bardem.
"IMDB is full of movies I'm going to make that I haven't heard of," he said. "I know Joe Carnahan, who is a great guy, and we were talking about doing the movie, but due to different situations I'm not going to do that movie next. I don't know if he's going to do it or not."
So where does the hamburger phone play into all of this, you may ask?
When I went to plug in my tape recorder to my phone today, I realized that all of my phones at home are cordless and won't work with the adapter for the recorder. So I frantically looked to see if I had a corded phone anywhere in the house.
Salvation came in the form of my hamburger phone, a replica of the one that Juno uses in the movie that the studio sent out as a promo item.
I've received enough swag items in my days in this job to fill a museum, but this is the first time I can ever remember one saving the day.

Though George W. Bush will beat him to the punch when Oliver Stone releases W this fall, a movie centering on Bill Clinton seems on the way as well. Patrick Goldstein, who covers the movies beat for the Los Angeles Times, interviewed Peter Morgan recently, who confirms that indeed a movie focusing on Clinton's relationship with Tony Blair is in the works. Morgan envisions it as the capper on his political trilogy that started with The Deal, which focuses on Blair's rise to power (and out on DVD Tuesday) and continued with 2006's The Queen, which earned Helen Mirren an Oscar.
Morgan is hopeful that Stephen Frears, who directed both films, and Michael Sheen, who portrayed Blair in each, will return for part three.
Now the only question is: Who will play Bill? No doubt Darrell Hammond's agent is awaiting a call. For more on Goldestein's interview with Morgan, check out the Times' Big Picture blog.

As we passed along in a post yesterday, Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper have called it quits on At the Movies, blaming contractual and philosophical differences with the show's owner, Disney. And today, we find out that their replacements will be Ben Lyons of E! News and Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies.
I can't say that i am too familiar with either of these guys, but I think it is telling that they chose to go with non-newspaper critics. Seems to me like it sends one of two messages (or possibly both).
1. Disney doesn't believe in the infuence of the newspaper critic, chosing to go with people already associated with television.
2. The new direction of the show, rumored to be focusing more on Hollywood in general rather than straight movie reviewing, wouldn't work for newspaper critics who often perfer to focus on the actual movies.
Either way, it's hard for this newspaper person to get too excited about this announcement.

The Associated Press reports:

Batman star Christian Bale was arrested Tuesday over allegations of assaulting his mother and sister, police and British media said. British media had reported that Bale's mother and sister complained they were assaulted by the 34-year-old actor at the Dorchester Hotel in London on Sunday night, a day before the European premiere of his latest film, The Dark Knight.

Continue reading the story.

What do you think? Share your thoughts.

In the past two days, both Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper have said they are calling it quits on At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper and both have more or less said that they disagree with the direction that Disney wants to take the show. A Chicago Tribune story says that the Mouse House wanted to move the show in more of an Entertainment Tonight direction with more of a focus on Hollywood.
To which I ask: Don't we already have a ton of shows like that?
What made Ebert & Roeper (and Siskel & Ebert before it) special was that it was a simple show featuring two guys talking about the movies -- and none of the peripheral stuff surrounding them. If Disney wants to change the show's focus, that's their decision. But they should know going into it that they'll just be entering another show into an already crowded field.

The Dark Knight earned an estimated $155 million this weekend, breaking the 14-month old record of Spider-Man 3 by about $4 million. Putting Batman just over the top were likely all of those midnight screenings on Friday, as The Dark Knight earned $18 million on them alone, breaking the record for biggest midnight opening previously held by 2005's Revenge of the Sith. And that figure doesn't include the cash it earned from numerous 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. screenings.
So why all the fuss? My guess is that the Heath Ledger curiosity played an even larger role than we like to give it credit for. Once word came out that his performance actually lived up to the hype surrounding it, The Dark Knight became a movie that you HAD to see this weekend if you wanted to be part of any conversation on Monday.
Judging by these numbers, it sounds like you all will be able to share in the chit-chat.

The Dark Knight can already lay claim to one record: biggest midnight opening. In earning $18.4 million on its early Friday showings, the film surpassed 2005's Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith to take the crown.
Several theaters also showed the film at 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. Friday, so this one may have a chance to take down Spider-Man 3's all-time opening weekend of $151.1 million. It was thought that Dark Knight's 152-minute running time would hamper its cause, but if theaters are adding screenings at crazy hours, that can help make up for its fewer waking-hour showings.

From Hollywood Reporter:

Christopher Guest is joining Fox's sequel to Night at the Museum.

The Spinal Tap star will play Ivan the Terrible for the comedy adventure, officially titled Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

Also joining the cast are Jon Bernthal (Al Capone), Bill Hader (Gen. George Armstrong Custer) and French actor Alain Chabat (Napoleon).

The film, directed by Shawn Levy, reunites lead Ben Stiller with castmates Robin Williams, Ricky Gervais and Owen Wilson.

Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, who penned both "Museum" films, will make a cameo in the sequel, playing the Wright brothers.

Museum was a box office success for Fox, grossing $574 million worldwide. With the Smithsonian as the centerpiece, the studio and Levy kicked the current production up a notch by getting the rare chance to film portions of the movie in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington.

According to Hollywood Reporter (via MSNBC.com), everyone's favorite period heroine and Tim Burton-muse may take a turn in one of 2009's Hollywood blockbusters:

NEW YORK - Helena Bonham Carter could soon be joining the battle between man and cyborg. The British actress is in talks to board Terminator Salvation, the fourth installment in the franchise kicked off by James Cameron in 1984. Roles in the new film have been kept under wraps, but insiders described the Bonham Carter role as small but pivotal.

Read the rest of the article here.

This would not be her first foray into Hollywood territory -- she starred in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

The early reviews of The Dark Knight are trickling in, and word is that Heath Ledger's final performance is one to remember him by. Los Angeles area critics got an early press screening Thursday night (luckies) and the best-supporting-actor campaign has already begun.
David Germain of the Associated Press writes, "With his final full film role, Ledger delivers what may be remembered as the finest performance of his career ... At times sounding like a cross between tough guy James Cagney in a gangster flick and Philip Seymour Hoffman's fastidious Truman Capote, Ledger elevates Batman's No. 1 nemesis to a place even Jack Nicholson did not take him in 1989's Batman.
The Dark Knight comes out July 18, aka, not soon enough.

According to Billboard.com:

NASHVILLE -- Country super group Rascal Flatts will appear and perform in the upcoming Hannah Montana movie, which is currently filming in Tennessee.

Meanwhile, Bucky Covington, an "American Idol" alum, and new artist Marcel, both labelmates with Rascal Flatts on Disney-owned Lyric Street Records, will also appear in the movie.

Disney's "Hannah Montana: The Movie" is scheduled for release in 2009 and stars Miley Cyrus and her father, Billy Ray Cyrus.