New Year One Trailer Up

If you haven't seen the trailer for the new Jack Black and Michael Cera movie, Year One, yet you should do yourself a favor and check it out here. When I first heard about the movie, I thought it was an odd pairing, but after watching the trailer, the two actors seem to play well off of each other. The movie also stars Olivia Wilde, who if I had to choose only one person to look at the rest of my life, it would probably be her. Year One comes out June 19th, 2009.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Trailer

Earlier, I blogged about a number of children's books being translated to the big screen. The book I was most eager to see as a movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, now has a trailer! It is awesome, but you can check it out for yourself here. Now, to find a kid to take as an excuse to go see it myself...

Seth MacFarlane hints at a possible Family Guy movie

Seth MacFarlane was recently on the Adam Carolla Podcast and mentioned that there will be a Family Guy movie within the next few years. There aren't too many details about the movie since I get the impression nothing has even been written yet, but you can read more about it here.

The Simpsons had great success with their transition onto the big screen, but the question is whether or not Family Guy can reproduce the same results. If you haven't seen an episode, I can tell you that the show is all for random tangents (Peter's ongoing fight with a chicken who gave him expired coupons, anyone?), so it'll be a long hour and a half if that's what we have to look forward to.

Frieda Pinto considered for next Bond girl

There has been growing buzz around Freida Pinto, the 24-year old actress of Slumdog Millionaire, being cast as the next Bond girl. I'm not sure how I feel about this possible casting. While I enjoyed her in Slumdog Millionaire, I have to consider the fact that she didn't have that many lines.

I'll give her this: she's not horrible to look at.

Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson cast in Iron Man 2

In a bit of casting news, recent Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke has just signed on for Iron Man 2. Rourke has been cast as one of the villains in the upcoming sequel. Rourke as a villain in a superhero movie? Look at that mug. It was written in the stars.

More casting news on the Iron Man front isn't as promising. Scarlett Johansson has been cast as Black Widow, a Russian spy. I fall into the camp of people who watches Scarlett Johansson in a movie and am astounded because there are probably hundreds of other women out there waiting tables in Hollywood who can act circles around her.

Scarlett Johansson trying to maintain a Russian accent throughout a movie while "acting" has train meets man head-on written all over it. If you can't wait for the carnage, you can check out the musical stylings of Ms. Johansson here:

Release date for Spider-man 4 set

All the talk regarding Spider-man 3 being the last film in the superhero series turns out to be just that...talk. Sony recently announced that latest film in the web-slinging saga will be set to be released on May 6, 2011.

I'm not sure who, if anyone, is surprised by this news. Spider-man 3 grossed nearly $900 million dollars worldwide. Movie studios generally don't let cash cows like that moo silently into the night, especially since this is a classic case of "if you build it, they will come". Not much is known about casting yet, but it looks like leads, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, have signed on for the fourth installment.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Images

Can't wait until July for the latest Harry Potter movie? Me neither! You can tide yourself over with the thirty images from the film that are up on Film.com.

Villagers upset Mulan filming

Variety reported that villagers in China disrupted the shooting of a remake of Mulan as revenge for an earlier movie production that also filmed in the area, but left without paying their bills.

So, this is an interesting story sure, but the part that caught me is, there's going to be a Mulan remake!? I enjoy all my watered down Disney fairytale/folklore stories, but Mulan is one of my favorites. The film is being helmed by Jingle Ma, which as far as I can tell is a Chinese production company and according to IMDB will be in English and will star Chen Kun and Zhao Wei. What I want to know is who will be playing Mushu.

Heath Ledger's Last Film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, runs into road blocks

If you didn't know, Heath Ledger was in the middle of filming a Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus when he died of an accidental overdose on January 22, 2008. To complete the film after Ledger's death, Jude Law, Colin Farrell, and Johnny Depp, volunteered to step in to take on different incarnations of Ledger's character.

Even with the buzz of Ledger's recent posthumus Oscar win, Entertainment Weekly is reporting that the film is running into some issues finding a domestic distributor as some have described the movie as "too unusual to find a wide audience."

So, I know next to nothing about the film so far, but "too unusual" and "Johnny Depp" do sound right up my alley! You can read more about this developing story on the EW website.

Children's books that will be movies

I love children's books and some of my fondest memories as a kid was story time during elementary school when all the kids in the class would gather around our teacher on the floor as she read to us. Variety recently put up a slideshow of popular children's books that have been purchased by movie studios.

My personal favorite on the list has to be Judi Barrett's, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The movie rights for the book have been picked up by Sony Pictures Animation with Bill Hader and Anna Farris signing on to voice the lead characters.

Drew Barrymore considered to direct third Twilight Film

The mystery of stars falling to their knees to be involved in the Twilight movie series continues. The latest victim? Drew Barrymore. ABC is reporting that Barrymore would like to lend her directorial talents (she directs movies?) to the third installment of the vampire tale. News of Barrymore's interest comes on the heels of news that Dakota Fanning has confirmed a starring role in the sequel, New Moon.

Any bets on who the next star to express their interest in the franchise? Meryl Streep? Steven Spielberg?

Pixar

I'm a huge fan of Pixar and love all the innovative movies that they've produced, but I've never realized that generally speaking, they've never featured a strong female lead character. Erin Nolan over at Film.com discusses this gender problem which you can read more about here. Something to think over while you wait for Pixar's latest film, UP, to be released.

Ophelia

Ben Barnes (best known for his role in Prince Caspian) has recently been cast as Hamlet in the latest remake titled Ophelia. While Hamlet is the titular character in the original play, Barnes actually doesn't have the biggest role in the film as the movie will be told from the perspective of Ophelia. If you need a refresher on your British Literature, Ophelia was Hamlet's "girlfriend" who spirals into madness and eventually (SPOILER ALERT) drowns in a river.

Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare play, and I believe this is the first time I've heard of a movie remake being centered on a character other than Hamlet himself. It's a fresh take on something that has been retold many times over which deserves a pat on the back in itself.

If you're hesitant about the movie because the thought of Shakespeare invokes horrible memories of high school English and pouring over Cliff Notes the night before your 5 page paper was due, rest easy, the dialogue isn't in iambic pentameter.

Jog your memory by watching the Simpsons' version of Hamlet here or clicking below:

Ralph Wiggum as Laertes and Chief Wiggum as Polonius

The Green Hornet

One of my favorite movies of all time is Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. It's thought-provoking, completely absurd at times yet never unbelievable, heart breaking, and it features one of my favorite actresses of all time, Kate Winslet, in one of her best roles. Even Jim Carrey is amazing in it! Excuse the gushing, but this lovefest has a point. Recently, there has been news that Michel Gondry, director of Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, will helm the new action hero film, The Green Hornet.

Really?

While Michel Gondry's directorial style doesn't immediately come to mind when considering your average superhero flick, his films are much more than visual style and often deep, complex evaluations on the human condition. I hope this tradition continues in The Green Hornet under Gondry's direction. It'd be a breathe of fresh air in a normally cliched superhero genre.

If you haven't seen Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, check out the trailer here (and go Netflix it!):