I was traveling all day as Movieline's report from the Savannah Film Festival picked up steam around the blogosphere, but early on it was clear that two polar-opposite reactions were building in response to Universal Studios chief Ron Meyer's comments about his studio's well-publicized (at least, outside of the studio) recent flops. Either you love his blazing moment of candor -- because we've all thought the same about most, if not all, of the woeful Universal films mentioned -- or you despise what he stands for. But Meyer is a businessman, the President and COO of one of the largest movie studios and theme park conglomerates in the business. Should more filmmakers and studio heads follow suit?
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The crowded backdrops of Star Wars movies aren't just populated by Frank Oz puppets, interns, and robots in Rick Baker makeup: There are genuine stars (and famous directors) running around there! We've pinpointed nine folks who made cameos in Star Wars films, and I'm willing to bet you couldn't catch most of these players upon first viewing. Sofia Coppola is practically hiding.
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After auditioning "five or six times" for the role of Steve Rogers, a/k/a Captain America, 27 year-old Sebastian Stan didn't get the gig. But he did get a call to discuss a different iconic character in the WWII-set Marvel comics blockbuster: James "Bucky" Barnes, Cap's best friend, sidekick, and, in Joe Johnston's big screen adaptation (in theaters Friday), a soldier who could potentially undergo big changes in future Captain America sequels.
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High above the ground, he hovers in the air, with the aid of futuristic technology! Is that Cliff Secord, the Rocketeer himself? Or... is it San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, tooling around with a jet pack while on a watery jaunt in St. Tropez?
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If you weren't sold on the Chris Evans-starring Captain America: The First Avenger yet, let the newly released theatrical trailer assuage your fears that it'll turn out to be another tame, Thor-level Marvel meh-fest. Instead, the trailer tells us, literally, what Edith Zimmerman learned the drunken way: Evans, and Captain America, is "gonna get so many girls." And boys. And anyone with a lingering fetish for the retro-futuristic stylings of Raiders of the Lost Ark and director Joe Johnston's underappreciated 1991 adventure The Rocketeer.
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