Prince, who just wrapped up an amazing 21-night concert stint in L.A., turns 53 today! That means Movieline is honoring His Royal Badness's purple reign with clips from his fiercest and sometimes most insane films. We're even throwing in "Batdance" because we love you.
· The newly reopened Star Tours ride at Disneyland is apparently so much fun that even Blake Lively and Leonardo DiCaprio allegedly went there on a date this weekend. As such, it comes as little surprise to see even Darth Vader attempting to enjoy the festivities. When Tours doesn't work out, however, Vader and his Stormtrooper buddies do the next best thing: party, Disney-style. Click through to watch, then stick around for more Buzz Break.
It's official, film fans: character posters are a thing. Not to be outdone by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or Captain America, the marketing team behind Conan the Barbarian has released five character posters, highlighting the swords, blood and bustiers the August film has to offer. Initial thought: Stephen Lang looks pissed. Check out the posters ahead.
"Hey mom, this acting thing is going great! I actually just got cast in the sequel to Human Centipede!" is a voicemail message that probably doesn't exist. Yet for the 12 newly cast stars of Human Centipede Part 2: Full Sequence, some measure of recognition is in order. After all, it's not every day that a film gets banned from an entire country because of "the sexual arousal of the central character at both the idea and the spectacle of the total degradation, humiliation, mutilation, torture, and murder of his naked victims." Let's meet those naked victims!
Things just keep getting worse for failed Twitterer Anthony Weiner. The New York congressman was supposed to have a fundraiser held for him by Matt Damon on June 20, but following Weiner's embarrassing sex scandal, it has been tabled. "It's going to be postponed now because of all this," Damon told Daily Intel. Not that Damon won't try to do something for Weiner in the future: "Anybody who fights for the working class and the middle class, I'll help in any way I can." Perhaps lessons on how to use the Internet would be a way to start. [Daily Intel]
The Undefeated, a/k/a the Sarah Palin-boosting pre-presidential campaign documentary, has begun making the rounds among select critics and conservative bloggers. And while one of the latter has praised the film as a stirring portrait of "the real-life woman who shook up business as usual through policies grounded in free-market principles and putting government back on the side of the people," it's the professional reviewers -- even the ones on the right -- who are smothering the movie in its crib.
Also in this Tuesday edition of The Broadsheet: Al Pacino could play an aging rock star... Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson confirms some big casting news on Twitter... Naomie Harris rumored to be in the running for James Bond... and more ahead.
In other Sony sequel news today, the Angelina Jolie thriller Salt is getting a second installment. Hooray! I think! Jolie was appealing in the original, and if any runaround spy-related actioner deserves another chapter, it's this one. But what shall we call it?
Doug Liman's Ocean's Eleven-like moon heist film has a title, financing, and new list of possible male stars. Variety reports that Paramount will co-finance Liman's Luna with David Ellison's Skydance Pictures and New Regency. The film -- about "renegade scientists who build a spaceship from spare parts to steal an energy source from the moon" -- has yet to cast up, but Liman has met with Bradley Cooper, Chris Evans and Andrew Garfield, among others, for roles. Sorry, Jeremy Renner and Joel Edgerton; you guys can't be in everything. [Variety]
Harvey Weinstein is not ready to put his dreams of a Rounders reunion to bed according to reports from this weekend's Producer's Guild of America conference, during which the Miramax founder reasoned why a sequel to the 1998 high-stakes poker film would be a profitable gamble.
Jason Sudeikis hosted a mostly smooth MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, marking a big step up from the past few lukewarm ceremonies. His successful emceeing (and the pitiful award handout) made us think about the show's fascinating 20-year history. Click ahead for a review of bizarre Best Kiss nominees, unfortunate snubs of funny ladies, and the single funniest forgotten category.
Cameron Crowe's terrific rock-doc The Union -- chronicling the creative partnership of Elton John and Leon Russell that resulted in the 2010 album of the same name -- was nabbed by HBO today for a broadcast premiere in January 2012. The movie, which opened this year's Tribeca Film Festival, may yet come to a theater new you; at the very least, HBO will likely attempt to qualify The Union for the Oscars with one-week NYC and L.A. runs. Stay tuned! [HBO]
Monday is slowly turning into Viral Voicemail Day at Movieline, where one (fake) series of answering machine messages for the stars now gives way to a single voicemail for the managers at Austin's venerable cinema institution Alamo Drafthouse. According to Drafthouse boss Tim League, this is legit fury from a customer ejected from a screening for texting during a movie -- a big no-no for the venue. Click through to listen and decide for yourself.
The 2007 Japanese mockumentary feature Big Man Japan, which became something of a cult hit in the U.S. in 2009, is getting a remake for American audiences who are allergic to subtitles. The movie concerns the titular hero (played in the original by the movie's writer/director Hitoshi Matsumoto) who heads up the Department of Monster Prevention, and typically causes as much damage as he prevents. He's sort of like the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers in this way. How many times can Megazord stomp on Angel Falls before residents realize he's as much of a problem as Rita Repulsa? [Deadline]
Bad news for Kellan Lutz, Mandy Moore and first-time director Dermot Mulroney, whose romantic-comedy collaboration debuted in limited release Friday to a rare, dreaded 0% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Box office stats had not yet been disclosed as of this writing, but the critical feedback implies a rather dismal turnout on two screens. Read on for a taste.
FILM NEWS 
