Great news for Team Jacki has just cleared the wires at Movieline HQ -- or at least potentially great news, or very likely great news: Two of Australia's most prominent film figures are moving ahead with Sydney, I Love You, the latest shorts compilation to round up an all-star cast in the service of vast urban appreciation. The goal is, in their words, "a love letter from Australia's top film talent to one of the great cities of the world" -- much in the spirit of the 2006 omnibus Paris Je Taime and its 2009 companion piece New York, I Love You.
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Reflecting on all my years (one) of reviewing Bad Movies We Love, I think the most epically bad is the '76 version of A Star is Born. Towering chestnut afros, Kneivel-like motorcycle accidents, the appearance of Gary Busey -- it's huge bad. But the newest update on Beyonce's planned remake could be a step towards an even worse production: Leonardo DiCaprio is rumored to be discussing the Kris Kristofferson role with new director Clint Eastwood. Is this a good or groan-inducing idea?
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Shia LaBeouf's new interview with the Los Angeles Times contains only a sly reference to what (I'm assuming) everyone's been thinking about the 25-year-old actor for awhile now: He's described as "lean, shaggy-haired and smart alecky sometimes to the point of self-destruction." Yes, "smart alecky" is on the right track, but it's really more like, "glibly cocky" and "arrogant." Point is, it's hard to reconcile the vision of LaBeouf at age 20, when he was the august Disney Channel alum on the rise, with LaBeouf now: the overtly hotheaded, shabbily hirsute blockbuster star. Still, he gives memorable and inspired quotes, and that makes him an interview worth reading every single time. Here are our five, er, "favorite"* soundbites from LaBeouf's latest sitdown.
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Good on U.K. publication Empire magazine for offering up the -- drumroll, please -- world's first Hobbit cover photo. (Never mind that EW had a full spread on The Hobbit in its most recent issue; no cover, no service!) Sir Ian McKellen and his ratty-looking robes get the honor -- with Martin Freeman relegated to a "Meet Bilbo!" bubble on the left side of the mag -- and, as Empire reveals, there are some slight physical differences between his appearance in The Hobbit, and what fans remember from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Fun! Let's investigate, Photo Hunt-style.
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Upstart distributor Open Road has set a date for Andrew Niccol's big screen adaptation of The Host, Twilight author Stephenie Meyer's best-selling sci-fi tale of a young woman (Saoirse Ronan) and the body-snatching alien "soul" who takes over her human form. The pic will open on March 29, 2013 -- Easter weekend -- and begins shooting next February. [Deadline]
· As the latest trailer for Captain America: First Avenger helpfully reminds everyone, heroes are made in America. And if you're a hero living under Ol' Glory, there's only one thing you need to vanquish evil: Dunkin' Donuts! Er. Click ahead to check out some Dunkin-enhanced Captain America promo art, then stick around for more Buzz Break.
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This is a fiery matchup for the ages: Mark Wahlberg (who once sparred with Eminem on Total Request Live), and director/producer Allen Hughes (who once sued Tupac Shakur for attacking him on the set of a music video), may join forces on Broken City, "a noir-style drama about an ex-cop turned private detective who is hired by the mayor to see if his wife is cheating on him." Ooh. Vertigo meets Chinatown meets even more shadows. For novelty's sake, I hope they throw in a fight with a rapper. [Deadline]
In a BBC interview for his Larry Crowne press tour, Tom Hanks responded to a question about the possibility of a Toy Story 4 with the following mumblecore prose: "I think there will be, yeah. Yeah, yeah, they're working on it now. There you go." Nervous yet? Toy Story 3 concluded perfectly; a third sequel feels like a recipe for disaster, a sure way to turn the whole series into a Punchline. Stand clear, Sally Field. [AICN]
If you're still coming down from the excitement of watching a confused Barbra Streisand announcing Arcade Fire's The Suburbs as Grammy's Album of the Year in February, you'll be equally thrilled by this news: Spike Jonze's short film Scenes from the Suburbs, a collaboration with Arcade Fire, is now online. More details follow -- including our list of other albums we'd like to see turned into movies.
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Titans! Will! Scream! Loudly. Noted film aficionado Ryan Seacrest debuted the brand-new trailer for Immortals on Monday morning, and the latest bit of marketing for the 300-like film does not disappoint -- especially if you're into seeing new Superman Henry Cavill yell shouts of encouragement to shirtless hordes at the top of his lungs.
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With another weekend of disappointing 3-D grosses in the books -- Cars 2 was a hit, but mostly just in two dimensions -- the pressure on Transformers: Dark of the Moon is mounting. Not that Michael Bay minds. The director is so sure of his work on Dark of the Moon that he's telling fans to see it on the biggest screen possible. Really, he wrote a letter and everything.
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Also in this Monday edition of The Broadsheet: Ben Barnes is the next big thing... Warner Bros. really wants you to like Green Lantern... Michael Jackson's "Thriller" jacket sells for plenty of money... and more ahead.
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What you may have missed this weekend: The L.A. Film Fest came to a close, Cars 2 zoomed to the top of the box office, and, oh yeah -- Rachel Weisz married Daniel Craig in a super quiet ceremony last week in New York, according to reports. The pair play a married couple in September's Dream House, but what's really sounding great now is the idea of casting Weisz opposite her new hubby in the next Bond film. Whaddya think -- could Drachel give Brangelina a run for their money? [Daily Mail]
Two upcoming Sony releases scored their first honors Sunday at the 2011 L.A. Film Fest, where Michael Rapaport's Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest (Sony Classics) and Joe Cornish's Attack the Block (Screen Gems) won audience awards. Also in the winners' circle: Stephane Lafleur's Canadian comedy Familiar Ground and Wish Me Away, a documentary about country singer Chely Wright's decision to come out of the closet.
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"Move, b****, get out the way!" said Cars 2 to Green Lantern as the Pixar sequel burned rubber over all over the competition this weekend. Hey, if Mater and Lightning McQueen can eat sushi and have car doors and live in a world with sidewalks but no humans with no discernable method of procreation in place, Cars 2 can speak in the parlance of Ludacris in my head. Especially when it defies everyone - skeptics, haters, that 34 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating -- to rake in $68M in its opening weekend. Let's review the weekend receipts!
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