Charlie's Angels 3 "Percolating"

Drew Barrymore has been talking to E Online! about a potential 3rd Charlie's Angels movie, while promoting her new comedy 'He's just not that into you'.

The actress said:

"I'm so into it, I'm so into it—Charlie's Angels III!, They're hard movies to make, but they're fun."

Her Flower Films producing partner Nancy Juvonen added: "It's percolating up, It's rising to the surface."

I wonder if her two co-stars are as enthusiastic, cetainly Lucy Lui will be I'd imagine as she has never had more exposure than with the prior 2 movies.

 
Another big question is will McG be back ? I highly doubt it, 'Terminator Salvation' is his ticket to ascend as a director, I don't see him going back to his much maligned cinematic roots if he comes out the other side of 'Terminator Salvation' with a renewed reputation.

Personally I agreed with McG's philosophy that the movies were "Pop a wheelie" films, yes they were lightweight and brash, but the TV show they were based off was also cheesy and more about pop culture than anything, the movies were simply a modern take using the same template, a third movie isn't exactly something I care about as the second was overkill on the approach, however a third that is closer to the first could be good fun and there is nothing wrong with that.

Wolverine Reshoots: More Deadpool ?

IESB is reporting that the reshoots that recently took place in Vancouver for the troubled 'Wolverine' movie mostly involved Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, as new scenes were filmed featuring their respective characters. What these scenes entailed, whether they were dialogue or action based, or indeed both, is not known.

Deadpool was one of the big disappointments for many when footage first appeared online, the fact he was without his trademark suit and mask was a big downer for fans, basically it was Ryan Reynolds in a red tank top and red combat pants.

Harry Knowles has said he has heard that the success of TDK has influenced these reshoots, perhaps letting Gaivng Hood realize his original vision. However I am still very unsure on this movie, I get the feeling we will get a really jumbled mess that will show frustrating potential that suffered from early neutering and "too little too late" fixes.

Wolverine opens on May 1st.

Oscar Nomimations Announced

The Nominations for for the 81st Academy Awards were made today and the biggest snubs went to 'The Wrestler' and 'The Dark Knight'. Arnofosky's gritty but brilliant movie was obviously too edgy for the Academy much like his Requiem for a Dream, and he was denied a best director nom and the film a best picture nom.

As I suspected all along, TDK was snubbed due to it's genre, the film has vastly greater review scores than 'The Reader' yet somehow it is overlooked ? in fact it has a better review score than anything else nominated, the truth is by nominating a poorly reviewed arthouse film like 'The Reader' the Academy are saying loudly "We are better than you", it's an act of cowardice and regression in my opinion. This year was a chance for the Acadmey to change the pereception the mainstream has of it being redundent.

However even the Academy could not deny Heath Ledger a best supproting actor nomination, or Mickey Rourke a best actor nomination, so there is some measure of satisifaction, the only question now is if the Academy will actually follow through and award them on the big night.

Kate Winslet must be having mixed emotions right now, she was nominated for best actress for her role in 'The Reader' NOT as suspected for her role in 'Revolutionary Road', general consensus is that the latter was the strong performance, the same thing happened to Leonardo DiCaprio when he was nominated for the 'Blood Diamond' instead of his role in 'The Departed'.

Most of the other nominations were as expected although Clint Eastwood, who is an Academy favourite, failed to slip into the best actor category at the last minute for Gran Torino, as some had predicted.

The Full list is below:

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:

Richard Jenkins - THE VISITOR
Frank Langella - FROST/NIXON
Sean Penn - MILK
Brad Pitt - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Mickey Rourke - THE WRESTLER

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

Josh Brolin - MILK
Robert Downey Jr. - TROPIC THUNDER
Philip Seymour Hoffman - DOUBT
Heath Ledger - THE DARK KNIGHT
Michael Shannon - REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:

Anne Hathaway - RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
Angelina Jolie - CHANGELING
Melissa Leo - FROZEN RIVER
Meryl Streep - DOUBT
Kate Winslet - THE READER

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

Amy Adams - DOUBT
Penélope Cruz - VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Viola Davis - DOUBT
Taraji P. Henson - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Marisa Tomei - THE WRESTLER

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR

BOLT
KUNG FU PANDA
WALL-E

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION:

CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
THE DUCHESS
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY:

CHANGELING
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN:

AUSTRALIA
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DUCHESS
MILK
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON)
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
THE GARDEN
MAN ON WIRE
TROUBLE THE WATER

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT:

THE CONSCIENCE OF NHEM EN
THE FINAL INCH
SMILE PINKI
THE WITNESS - FROM THE BALCONY OF ROOM 306

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
FROST/NIXON
MILK
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR:

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX
THE CLASS
DEPARTURES
REVANCHE
WALTZ WITH BASHIRWALTZ WITH BASHIR

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE):

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
DEFIANCE
MILK
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-EWALL-E

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG):

WALL-E - "Down to Earth"
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - "Jai Ho"
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - "O Saya"

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM:

LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES
LAVATORY - LOVESTORY
OKTAPODI
PRESTO
THIS WAY UP

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM:

AUF DER STRECKE (ON THE LINE)
MANON ON THE ASPHALT
NEW BOY
THE PIG
SPIELZEUGLAND (TOYLAND)

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING:

THE DARK KNIGHT
IRON MAN
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E
WANTED

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
WALL-E
WANTED

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
THE DARK KNIGHT
IRON MAN

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
DOUBT
FROST/NIXON
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRES

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

FROZEN RIVER
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
IN BRUGES
MILK
WALL-E

Update on Thu, January 22, 2009 by Peter Georgiou

Some surprises, some of the nominations we all expected, but I am going to have to disagree with Rob on The Dark Knight being snubbed. The Dark Knight received eight Oscar nominations, sure it might not be in what some consider the "bigger categories", but eight nominations is eight nominations.

I personally loved The Dark Knight, it really did blow me away and lived up to the hype, but I don't think it deserves a nomination for "Best Picture". I could see Nolan possibly getting a "Best Director" nod, but the competition was heavy this year with directors like Boyle and Fincher. Also a "Best Adapted Screenplay nod would have made sense, but it is what it is.

I think that Academy did what was right and what was deserved by nominating Heath Ledger, he was The Dark Knight, and he will win the award for "Best Supporting Actor". The fans, crew and executives involved with The Dark Knight should be proud of their 8 nominations. It is certainly a big score for WB, Legendary, and the comic book film industry as a whole.

Update on Thu, January 22, 2009 by Jamie Williams

My guess is many in the nerd community are wearing diapers right now after The Dark Knight snub(s).

But I disagree with Peter about Ledger. I've never been 100% sold that it's automatically his win. I mean, everyone thought TDK getting "Best Picture" and "Best Director" nominations was a "sure thing!" - except for Peter to be fair which he called months ago!

Was it a great film? Absolutely - easily one of the best from last year. But I'm "Meh!" towards what happened there.

The only thing I'm disappointed about was Wall-E (which I personally thought was the best film of 2008) missing out on the "Best Picture" race. But we all knew that was never going to happen anyway. So no harm, no foul.

Even with the God-knows-how-many Critics Awards it's won, I could never see Slumdog Millionaire nabbing the "Best Picture" Oscar, and I still don't to be honest.

There hasn't been a 100% Grade-A "Oscar-friendly" film to win (at least in my opinion) since Chicago back in 2003. And looking at how the Academy chose in terms of their nominations, my money's on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Tom & Jerry Movie On The Way!

After the success of Alvin and the Chipmunks I guess Warner Brothers figured it was worth a shot. Variety reports Plans are underway to make a Tom & Jerry movie in which the titular characters will be CGI interacting in a live action setting.

The script is being written by Eric Gravning, the movie is being produced by Dan Lin who is currently producing the Guy Ritchie directed 'Sherlock Holmes' revamp, and is an executive producer on the highly anticipated 'Terminator Salvation'.

The odd tidbit in the news article is that it is set to be an origin movie, is that rally necessary ? I mean the basics of Tom & Jerry are pretty simple and I am not sure it needs to establish "character motivation", Tom is a cat, Jerry is a mouse, cat's kill mice, it seems pretty straightforward to me, the success of the toon is in how much fun the battles between the clumsy Tom and shrewd Jerry are.

WB's output over the last few years has been very good though so I reckon this has a chance of at least being an entertaining update of the classic cartoon, as long as Jerry doesn't become an anti hero or whoever directs doesn't attmept a war allegory out of their battle for house supremecy.

The Horsemen Trailer

This movie was first announced back in February 2007, the fact it has taken this long to get a trailer probably does not bode well, but we shall see, I personally was interested in the concept behind the tried and test serial killer formula, and the pairing of Quaid and Ziyi guaranteed I'd see it.

Here is a plot synopsis:

Aidan Breslin (Quaid) is a bitter detective emotionally distanced from his two young sons following the untimely death of his devoted wife. While investigating a series of murders of rare violence, he discovers a terrifying link between himself and the suspects in a chain of murders that seem to be based on the Biblical prophecies concerning the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death.

Now I actually think it looks pretty intense and exciting from the trailer, the cold wintry setting appeals to me and I really didn't see the part coming where Ziyi turns out to be one of the killers, it seems her role will be in the vein of Hannibal Lecter and that just makes it all the more interesting than I figured it would be, the kind of role not often afforded women in this type of film, add to that the ever reliable Quaid as the veteran detective and i have hopes it will at least be entertaining, the Saw'ish stuff at the end is not my type of thing but hopefully that will only be a brief part of the film.

'The Horsemen' opens on limited release on March 13th in the US and is slated for a Summer release over seas, check the trailer out below.

Hugh Jackman On Wolverine Reshoots + New Photo

We all saw the news the other day that Gavin Hood and Hugh Jackman were doing some reshoots for the upcoming Fox blockbuster 'Wolverine'. There were mixed views on this news, some thought it was the final nail in the coffin of the troubled film, others hoped that maybe it was Hood adding in some character work that Fox had initially vetoed. Anyway Hugh Jackman has contacted Harry Knowles at AICN with this E Mail and the pic above. (UHQ version at AICN)

Hey everyone -

It’s Hugh Jackman, sending this note from freezing Vancouver. I have read a lot of your online comments regarding the footage that we are currently shooting and I share your passion for the Wolverine character and the movie - I owe it all to you guys!

I wanted to reach out and let you know that due to scheduling conflicts with certain cast members and location/weather considerations, we had to wait until now to shoot a couple of scenes. Please rest assured that WOLVERINE will be badass and hopefully meet all of your expectations. I am stoked by the positive response to the teaser, which clearly reflects the tone and scope of the film. If you like that, we’ve got much more in store!

In the meantime, here’s an exclusive shot of some characters you may recognize…

Cheers,

Hugh

I think Hugh comes across as a very nice guy and I am a big Wolverine fan, however it is hard to have any faith in a movie in this genre at Fox these days. My hope is that 'Tsoti' director Hood can make this as dark as he'd envisioned, If The Dark Knight showed one thing it is that a dark and serious comic book movie can be a huge hit with the summer audience, and I am not one of those that believes every CBM should now be trying to emulate TDK but in Wolverine's case the logic applies.

Wolverine is set for release on May 1st.

500 Days of Summer Teaser Trailer

Every year an indie film catches my eye, in 2007 it was 'Juno', last year it was 'The Wrestler', and this year it is '500 Days of Summer' starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.

The other day /film debuted a couple of clips online, you can see them here, today the teaser trailer has found it's way onto the interwebs and really doesn't convey the film's selling point nearly as well. In the clips we get to see the kinda of sparky and fun dialogue exchanges between Levitt and Deschanel that look to make for one of the most entertaining central pairings for some time

However, in this teaser trailer we get to see that the film will also look stunning, BUT there is no dialogue, instead we get a cheesy voice over guy and some "dreamy" song playing in the background, I think they may be aiming for ironic but It doesn't really work.

Still I am looking forward to this, Levitt is a massive talent and Fox Searchlight have delivered with their recent indie offerings.

'500 Days of Night' is out July 24th, you can check out the trailer below.

Fuqua Eyeing Penn For Scarpa Biopic

Training Day director Antoine Fuqua has been chatting with our friends at Comingsoon about his new movie 'Brooklyn's Finest', during the interview he revealed his plans for his next project.

"It's called 'Scarpa' with Morgan Creek, and it's New York again, Brooklyn, FBI, Italian gangsters, it takes place from the '60s to the '90s, and we're talking to Sean Penn."

According to Wiki:

Gregory Scarpa Sr., (May 8, 1928 – June 4, 1994) also known as "The Grim Reaper", was a soldier for the Colombo crime family and an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was the brother of Colombo crime family mobster Salvatore Scarpa and father of Gregory Scarpa Jr.. During the 1970s and 1980s, Scarpa was the chief enforcer to the fierce Colombo leader Carmine "Junior" Persico.

Sounds like a pretty frightening individual and certainly the kind of intense and conflicted role that would attract Penn. Fuqua has had a rough road since his huge success with 'Training Day' but I think he is a good director (his 2007 action/thriller 'Shooter is criminally underappreciated by the CGI generation) with his best movies ahead of him.

Zemmicks 'A Christmas Carol' Concept Art

We have just left Christmas behind us but /film have gotten hold of two new concept art images from Disney's new annual report, for Robert Zemmeckis mo cap version of Dickens classic 'A Christmas Carol'.

I actually really liked 'The Polar Express' and feel mo cap is an exciuting new way to tell one the greatest and most timeless stories ever written. The images below are lush and rich with detail and atmosphere.

Jim Carrey is playing Scrooge as well as the 3 ghosts and Gary Oldman is playing Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and Marley in this version, due out November 6th 2009.

Roland Emmerich Adapting Asimov's 'Foundation' Trilogy

In news that is sure to depress hardcore Sci Fi fans, Variety have revealed that Columbia have won the rights to the legendary sci fi authors Foundation trilogy and have set German helmer Emmerich to direct. Columbia beat out Warner Brothers and Fox for the rights to the sci fi tale. Had Warners won Alexy Proyas would have been directing.

Here is the Wiki run down on the plot:

The premise of the series is that mathematician Hari Seldon spent his life developing a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory, a concept devised by Asimov and his editor John W. Campbell. Using the law of mass action, it can predict the future, but only on a large scale; it is error-prone on a small scale. It works on the principle that the behaviour of a mass of people is predictable if the quantity of this mass is very large (equal to the population of the galaxy which has a population of around a quadrillion). The larger the mass, the more predictable is the future.

Using these techniques, Seldon foresees the fall of the Galactic Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way, and a dark age lasting thirty thousand years before a second great empire arises. To shorten the period of barbarism, he creates two Foundations, small, secluded havens of all human knowledge, on opposite ends of the galaxy. The focus of the trilogy is on the Foundation of the planet Terminus. The people living there are working on an all-encompassing Encyclopedia, and are unaware of Seldon's real intentions (for if they were, the variables would become too uncontrolled). The Encyclopedia serves to preserve knowledge of the physical sciences after the collapse. The Foundation's location is chosen so that it acts as the focal point for the next empire in another thousand years (rather than the projected thirty thousand).

Personally I don't think it sounds particularly interesting anyway but hardcore fans will no doubt be in dismay at this work landing in the hands of a director not known for subtlety or depth, Emmerich's credits don't suggest the guile required to pull off complex sci fi and while I am not sure Asimov fans have ever truly been happy with any of the adaptions of his work, Blade Runner included, this is by far their darkest day.