Hey kids! Wanna have some fun? Then head on over to Twitter for #nicerfilmtitles, the trending topic that's all about turning up the happy on your favorite movie names. There's a surprising amount of LOL-worthiness going on over there.
A sampling just from the past few minutes:
@appleinthetree: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Kittens
@MarkFortin: Bake/Off
@amiemoo: Find Bill And Explain To Him That What He Did Was Wrong
@ericspiegelman Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Hot
@marklisanti: Tyler Perry Goes To Jail
@tamji: I Put Flowers On Your Grave
@daveed70: Alien hearts Predator
OK I guess we have to throw one in...So much pressure!
A History of Violins.
BAM! Your turn!
Michael Ausiello is reporting that T.R. Knight has officially left Grey's Anatomy, which I think we all sort of had an inkling about when, y'know, his character died. But now it's confirmed! Still up in the air is the fate of Katherine Heigl, though Ausiello drops what feels to me like a clue.
more »
The new cover of Entertainment Weekly can boast at least three things I historically like: gratuitous beefcake, Ryan Reynolds, and water wings. However, the sum of all these parts is not working for me (and it's not just because the photo looks kind of cheap, or because Reynolds is caught in that odd waystation between "chest hair" and "just shaved to show off my abs, brah").
No, it's something else entirely. And I know this question is awfully strange and kind of double standard-y, but you were thinking it, too, so I'll just ask it: Is Ryan Reynolds a little too built to be a comic actor?
more »
The speculation surrounding David Carradine's death has cooled considerably in the last week and a half since he was found tied up in Bangkok. Yet while suicide has essentially been ruled out pending the results of the actor's autopsy some time later this month, new suspicions point to just the kind of ultra-dangerous secret society implicated the day after his death. Ninjas they are not, however.
more »
Everyone is talking about whether Sacha Baron Cohen's Brüno is bad for the gays today, and it's all thanks to one mystery source who's determined to advance an agenda against the film. Of this Brüno-bashing Deep Throat, Nikki Finke says, "This insider provides me with some not before now known behind-the-scenes details for me about why the film has had, and probably should have, problems with the gay community."
Yes, "not before now known" except that The Wrap ran the exact same quotes -- apparently from the same person -- in an article that went up late last night (and was well-nigh unreadable then; it's since been cleaned up). Here's the whole email that seems to have gone to both outlets:
more »
· Chace Crawford has been named People's Hottest Bachelor. It was very kind of Sean Penn to take his name off the ballot.
· Anna Paquin had never owned a pair of shorts before she was cast on True Blood, a show that seeks to remove her from them in every episode.
· Truth be told, I never really "got" the whole Keyboard Cat thing until someone added a little Helen Hunt (and Hall & Oates) to it.
· Ellen Page would like you to listen to her cover of "Don't Stop Believing." You turned down Drag Me to Hell for this, Ellen?
· Sarah Palin did not put in a sympathetic call to Jon Gosselin, says her rep. Too bad, as in the wake of her escapades with Carrie Prejean and David Letterman, I love the idea that Sarah Palin has basically marshaled the entirety of her post-election political influence to talk to people she randomly sees on the tee-vee.
Robert Pattinson is currently in New York shooting the film Remember Me, photos of which have trickled out this week during production. But Tuesday offered one of the most provocative batches yet, featuring the smoldering young star with a smacked-up face and a few of the more puzzling expressions he's yet committed to film. (And, of course, not a tousled hair out of place.) There must be something deeper I'm not quite reading in the photos after the jump, but as always, your enlightening suggestions are encouraged.
more »
Without a Bond film to call its own this year (and with a disappointing Pink Panther sequel in its rear view mirror), MGM is pinning most of its 2009 theatrical hopes on its redo of Fame. Certainly, there's an audience for it: younger moviegoers could huff American Idol vibes off the film during that show's off-season, while adults who love to Twitter about the Glee pilot (it's High School Musical for people too old to watch the Disney channel!) could find themselves sucked in. So how's the new trailer?
more »
It's good to see exiled New Line bosses Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne back in the trade mix today, spoon-feeding Variety the scoop on the bundle of films in development at their new Unique Features shingle. Better than good, actually, with their fistful of titles wielding the kind of promise that will make Warner Bros. sorry it ever showed them the door. Like Elf: The Musical? Or an adaptation of Paul McCartney's rodent opus High in the Clouds? And there's more where that came from. For what it's worth.
more »
· Universal and Imagine have thrown 1000 volts into a remake of Bride of Frankenstein, unconcerned that today's audiences might be slightly too young to remember the 75-year-old original. Neil Burger (The Illusionist) is in talks to write and direct the update, whose central concept is being kept under wraps. I hope he makes some attempt to adhere to the James Whale-directed original, and doesn't relent to the studio's insistence that he bridge "audience gender quadrants" with the "ultimate horror romcom," Bride of Frankenstein Vs. Bridezilla. [THR]
Coming up in Hollywood Ink: The ax falls on MySpace. A demon in Rhode Island. Jason Sudeikis one step closer to movie stardom.
more »
· It's Big Brother meets your whole damn block, as CBS has walled-off a community for their groundbreaking reality show "social experiment." (You know, I think someone actually got to this one already. It was called The Warsaw Ghetto, and it didn't end well.) Anyway, we couldn't be more thrilled that CBS is letting the contestants under 24-hour surveillance roam around a bit more, and not be confined to a single kitchen island and backyard kiddie pool for their endless conversations about which family is going to become Head of Neighborhood.
more »
That's why she's going to stay right where she is, in a genuine marriage with her heterosexual spouse, Will Smith! A tip of the hat to Bert of Atlanta's Q100 The Bert Show (not sure if Bert is the bear, the hair piece, or either of the two bleach blondes) for having the berts to address rumors that the two stars are trapped in a union of convenience arranged by an anonymous yenta overseeing the lemonade-and-cookies table at a Scientology singles mixer.
more »
Of all this summer's hotly anticipated studio releases, only one arrives buck naked, waxed, and astride a winged pony named Controversy: Sacha Baron Cohen's Brüno. (Pictured here, gracing the cover of the latest GQ that virtually no human being is going to buy. Presuming people still buy magazines.) Its timing could be a brilliant coup for its prank comedian star: an effective yet entertaining illustration of the bigotry facing millions of gay Americans. Alternately, it could turn out to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back -- a final humiliation after a year of disgraces for a minority whose relationships may or may not have recently been compared to incestuous pairings in a document released by the Obama administration. Universal doesn't really care either way; Cohen could be dragged to the Abbey by an angry mob for an old-fashioned Bastille Day guillotining as far as they're concerned, so long as their $42 million gamble's performance at the box office doesn't earn it the unofficial subtitle "Land of the Lost 2."
more »
A potentially fascinating bit of casting madness now may never come to pass: Sean Penn has dropped out of the Farrelly brothers' The Three Stooges, where he was to play Larry opposite Jim Carrey as Curly and Benicio del Toro as Moe. His reason? He's taking a leave of absence from Hollywood to focus on his family (in the wake of a dismissed decision to divorce wife Robin Wright Penn). So what does this portend for the project?
more »
The story that Shia LaBeouf may be down for another Indiana Jones sequel got me thinking: Are today's stars too franchised out? LaBeouf already has a three-film commitment to Transformers, while Christian Bale was all too willing to add several Terminator movies to his already hefty Batman obligations. We decided to take a look at twenty of today's current top stars (as ranked this year by Forbes) to find out whether it's possible to remain an A-lister without ever undertaking a megabudget franchise. So who's stayed sequel-immune? The answers may surprise you.
more »
