April 2008 News Archive (Page 10)

A trio of critically-acclaimed, Oscar-nominated movies hit the shelves today on DVD. Here's a brief rundown of them:

Lars and the Real Girl
Stars: Ryan Gosling
Why you should rent it: Ryan Gosling was nominated Best Actor for the role. And he's dating a doll!

Juno
Stars: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman
Why you should rent it: Ellen Page was nominated Best Actress for the role. And aren't you curious to see what all the buzz is about?

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei
Why you should rent it: Hoffman and Hawke give masterful performances. And, well, Tomei gets naked.

Veteran British actress Emma Thompson turns 49 today.

An underrated, versatile star, Thompson has actually won a pair of Academy Awards, including the 1992 Best Actress honor for her role in Howard's End. Other movies we've loved this birthday lady in include:

• The Harry Potter franchise (as Hogawarts professor Sybil Trelawney, pictured below)
• Love Actually
• Stranger Than Fiction
• Sense and Sensibility
  

Sorry, Rush Hour fans: Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are rumored to be reuniting, but it won't be for a fourth installment of that surprisingly popular franchise.

"It's like two days ago when Chris Tucker called me. We sat down and decided we want to do another movie. Not a Rush Hour - something new," Chan told MTV.

It's unclear what the new film will entail, but Chan said he and Tucker "shook hands" on a deal and were will looking for a "middle man" to force them to get together.

Chan will next be appearing oppositie Jet Li in martial arts movie The Forbidden Kingdom.

We're still not sure if there will be an Arrested Development movie (although we pray for it every night before bed), but three of the sitcom's main characters will be coming together for a different film.

Mitch Hurwitz has recruited Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Henry Winkler to voice roles in his animated Fox comedy Sit Down, Shut Up, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The movie centers on staff members at a high school who are preoccupied with their own needs and agendas, which means the students come second.

Cheri Oteri, Will Forte, Regina King, Nick Kroll, Tom Kenny and Maria Bamford will also voice characters in the flick.

Our thanks to Screen Rant for the following Star Trek spoilers.

We still don't know the full name of J.J. Abrams' remake of this classic franchise, but we do know the following details on the film:

• The film will be rated PG-13.

• The release date was pushed back to summer 2009 because Paramount wants it to be a summer blockbuster.

• The intent was to re-invent the Star Trek franchise; hence, the return to the beginning of the adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise crew

• The Enterprise will be assembled in space, although parts of it will be assembled on Earth.

• Originally, Steven Spielberg read the script and talked to J.J. Abrams about directing it. Abrams mentioned it this pep talk his wife, who helped talk Abrams into the final decision to take on the major project.

No, former star of The OC Benjamin McKenzie did not speak with Movies Online for the random duration of one hour and twenty-eight minutes.

But the actor that portrayed Ryan Atwood in the former FOX series does star in the latest Al Pacino vehicle, 88 Minutes (as Mike Stemp, an angry college student who Pacino's character suspects may be involved with the killings).

Here are a few highlights from an interview McKenzie:

MoviesOnline: Matthew Fox has said that after Party of Five he had to spend a lot of time out of the spotlight so that people would forget about his character. What do you make of that reasoning? And do you feel similarly?
Benjamin McKenzie: I think there is a lot of truth to that. Television is a very powerful medium, which permeates the pop culture zeitgeist. As a result people associate you with that character. In choosing projects since The OC, I've made an effort to choose things that are quite different, rather than teen film versions of the show. Junebug and 88 Minutes are examples of that.

I have and continue to try to do things outside of the norm, but you only have so much power in these choices. A lot of it has to do with how people view you. As far as spending time out of the spotlight, maybe I'll hole up in a cabin somewhere for a few years and practice horseback riding (chuckles).

MoviesOnline: What attracted you to this role?
Benjamin McKenzie: My agent called me and said that I had a role in a new Al Pacino movie and would get to have scenes with him. It was that simple. Anytime you have a chance to work with a screen legend like that, you have to jump at the chance. Now I can say that I have worked with Al, and I take some pleasure in that.

I'd met (director) Jon Avnet socially a year prior, so we knew each other a bit, which helped as well. The main question was whether or not it would fit my schedule, as it was filming concurrent to The OC. Thankfully it did, and I was able to do this film.

Think Zombie Strippers is nothing more than a cheesy, faux porn meant to lure in viewers that just wanna see Jenna Jameson's name attached to a movie also stars the guy who played Freddy Krueger?

Well, what's wrong with that?

Here's a clip from the fun-loving film now:

In just a couple weeks, our two favorite stoners will try to do the impossible. No, not find a White Castle in the middle of the night.

Been there. Made us laugh at that.

Instead, in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Harold and Kumar... try to escape from Guantanamo Bay. Take a look at a few images from the film now:

One of our favorite dance-off movies, How She Move, is coming to DVD on April 29. Here's what you can look forward to along with it:

Special Features
- Featurette: The Characters of How She Move
- Featurette: How She Move: From Rehearsal to Film
- Featurette: How She Move: Telling Her Story
- Trailers: Theatrical Trailer #1

Shia LaBeouf has signed on to star in the techno thriller Dark Fields.

Variety reports that Neil Burger (The Illusionist) will direct the film, which is based on Alan Glynn's 2002 novel "The Dark Fields."

The story centers on a young man who comes into possession of the ultimate smart pill, as events ensue from there.

LaBeouf will next be seen in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Eagle Eye. He starts filming Transformers 2 this summer.