Wednesday, November 25

• Woody Allen Hires the First Lady of France, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

  Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has accepted Woody Allen's offer of a role in his next movie, The singer, songwriter, and former model is the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and has been the at the center of all sorts of controversies. This will be her first acting job, though, she confesses in an interview with Bloomberg.

  He offered me a role in his next movie.... I don't know for what character, but I said yes. I'm not an actress at all.... Maybe I will be terrible. But, in my life, I cannot let such a chance go.

  The part is not for Allen's next project, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, which is currently in post-production, but for the one after that. Not much is known about that movie yet, other than that it is to be a romantic drama set in Paris.

  Although Bruni-Sarkozy has not appeared in any movies, she did make one recent foray onto television: She was lampooned as a sex-mad femme fatale in a recent episode of The Simpsons called "The Devil Wears Nada." Unlike many celebrities mocked on the show, she did not lend her own voice to the segment, which has become something of an Internet sensation, especially in France. You can see the full episode on Hulu.

  
  

  Posted 11/25/2009 by Bill

  Related: Woody Allen

• Old Dogs Reviews

  It's confirmed. Director Walt Becker's Old Dogs, starring John Travolta and Robin Williams, is as bad as it looks from the trailer. (And that's really bad.)

  "...stupefying dimwitted."

  — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

  "Wild Hogs, Old Dogs — what's next, Bumps on Logs? Truly, I would rather watch John Travolta and Robin Williams sitting on a tree trunk, doing nothing, than endure their best efforts to energize this ol' hound."

  — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

  "Old Dogs does to the screen what old dogs do to the carpet. It's unfortunate that only the latter can be taken out and shot."

  — Kyle Smith, New York Post

  "So wretched that it should be unceremoniously put down, Old Dogs is a series of sub-sitcom sequences designed to destroy any affection once felt for John Travolta and Robin Williams."

  — Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

  "Six-year-old boys may laugh at the bowwow of a comedy Old Dogs. But then, 6-year-old boys laugh at the word poop — and the word poop plays a big steaming part in this stinky endeavor."

  — Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

  
  
  

  Old Dogs Trailer

  Robin Williams and John Travolta star - Releasing Nov. 25, 2009

  Posted 11/25/2009 by reelz

  Related: Old Dogs

• Richard Linklater Talks Me and Orson Welles and "Spiritual" Sequel to Dazed and Confused

  To call Richard Linklater an eclectic director would be an understatement. Starting with the low-budget indie Slacker, Linklater moved on to the stoner comedy Dazed and Confused before hitting it big with School of Rock and Bad News Bears.

  Up next for the director is another independently financed project, Me and Orson Welles, based on the novel by Robert Kaplow about a teenager who lands a role in Orson Welles' production of Julius Ceasar. The movie stars teen heartthrob Zac Efron as the young actor and newcomer Christian McKay as Welles. The movie may seem a strange fit for someone like Linklater to direct, but in an interview with ComingSoon, Linklater says he doesn't find his resume odd at all.

  I think if there's a commonality [between movies] maybe it's sort of the tone or the acting or something, but I dunno. I'm lucky I get to work on different genres, that I'm not too pigeonholed. Maybe no one cares, but I think that I've earned a certain latitude.

  Despite Linklater's success working with movie studios, and the presence of Efron, Me and Orson Welles was produced and will be distributed independently, a move Linklater says is sign of the current climate in Hollywood these days.

  The industry, they really don't do films like this anymore. They really weren't interested. Even once Zac was aboard they were just, "No, we're not interested." I make films now and not so long ago this would've been a studioish kinda film, but they put all their chips on these big, big, big movies that seems to be working for them.

  Linklater says he usually only works on a project when he feels he's the only who can.

  I've turned down numerous things that ended up being huge films, but every time I do a film I gotta think I'm the only guy who would not only be the best guy for it, but would even want to make a film like this. Because of my baseball background, I was the best guy for Bad News Bears. Because of my rock and roll, you know, whatever it was, having a daughter that age, that I was the right guy for School of Rock I feel like I'm the right guy. I mean, I have to be cast carefully. I have to feel I'm well-cast in that situation, but I turn down most things just because I've got other things I'm usually working on, but I'm always up for the kismet of a nice little marriage of personality and project.

  With his upcoming Liars killed by Disney's dissolution of Miramax, Linklater has nothing specific lined up next, though one of Linklater's "kismet" projects could be his "spiritual" sequel to Dazed and Confused.

  I have a script I wrote, and it's kind of a college comedy and I called it my sequel to Dazed and Confused. It's none of the same characters. It's just my own spiritual sequel like, "Oh, these are my college years, the way Dazed was my high school, this is my college." So that's all, but it's not about revisiting those exact same characters. But I do have this kinda fun college comedy about the first weekend of college.

  Me and Orson Welles opens on November 25 in limited release, and opens in more cities in December.

  
  
  

  Me and Orson Welles - Trailer

  Claire Danes, Zac Efron, and Christian McKay star

  Posted 11/25/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Richard Linklater | Me and Orson Welles

• The Princess and the Frog Reviews

  Disney looks to have a hit on its hands with a combination of old-school animation and a new-school princess.

  "Funny, inspiring and gorgeously rendered, The Princess and the Frog is an instant classic."

  — Dezhda Gaubert, E! Online

  "...an old-fashioned charmer..."

  — Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

  "...the film positively overflows with color and life, and movement and characters and slapstick and music, too..."

  — Jesse Hassenger, filmcritic.com

  "...there's more than enough magic in The Princess and the Frog to enchant an entirely new generation of Disney fans and their parents. Tiana is a worthy addition to the Princess Hall of Fame."

  — Lou Lumenick, New York Post

  "...what a pleasure, after a season of bland computer-generated tales, to be swept up in the visual magic of The Princess and the Frog, the two-dimensional, handsomely hand-drawn feature that is classic, whimsical Disney."

  — Claudia Puig, USA Today

  
  
  

  The Princess and the Frog Trailer

  An updated version of the animated classic

  Posted 11/25/2009 by reelz

  Related: The Princess and the Frog

• Tom Hardy's "Staggering" Year Brings Inception and Mad Max

  British actor Tom Hardy has had a few glimpses at stardom, rising from obscurity to a role in Band of Brothers that led to playing the villain in Star Trek: Nemesis and supporting roles in movies like Layer Cake and RocknRolla.

  Hardy is now experiencing another brush with possible fame. He's been cast in both Christopher Nolan's Inception and as Mad Max in Mad Max: Fury Road. Hardy told MTV that no one is more surprised by his recent success than he is.

  I didn't expect to get Mad Max. I really didn't. I didn't ever expect to get the lead in a Hollywood movie, for Chris Nolan off the bat to offer me [Inception] without an audition and then to go sit with [director] George Miller [on Fury Road] and work with him and not really audition in the orthodox way of auditioning — this year's been crazy. I've been working as an actor for a long time now, and I've been waiting for an independent film to come along because it was very hard to get cast as a character actor, as a lead — being credible but bankable. It's very hard to break in when there are plenty of people who can be cast, who can green-light, who can put bums in the seats. So this whole year has been staggering.

  Inception opens July 16, 2010, while Mad Max: Fury Road is scheduled to open sometime in 2011.

  
  

  Posted 11/25/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Tom Hardy | Inception | Mad Max 4

• The Road Reviews

  General consensus seems to be that The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron, doesn't quite have the same punch as Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning and awesome novel.

  "...it'll leave you exhausted, emotionally spent and with much to ponder."

  — Peter Paras, E! Online

  "The Road evokes the images and the characters of Cormac McCarthy's novel. It is powerful, but for me lacks the same core of emotional feeling."

  — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

  "...a faithful but pale imitation of a film adaptation..."

  — Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

  "...The Road, for all its vivid desolation, remains a curiously unmoving experience..."

  — Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

  "The Road honors McCarthy's book with haunting pictures of the future's end ... but they tend to overwhelm the drama in the fore."

  — Scott Tobias, Onion AV Club

  "The only purpose I can detect in the smoldering wreckage is simple masochism; some people like to take a beating and others like to spend two hours cloaked in the most piteous distress. File The Road under apocalypse porn. Unlike Wall-E and Children of Men, though, this one offers no hope of renewal, no exit from the hell it so persuasively depicts."

  — Kyle Smith, New York Post

  
  
  

  The Road Trailer

  Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, and Charlize Theron star

  Posted 11/25/2009 by reelz

  Related: The Road

Tuesday, November 24

• Kevin Spacey Would Be "Delighted" to Play Lex Luthor Again

  Even though Bryan Singer's Superman Returns grossed $390 million worldwide, it is still considered a failure by many. Critics often compare it to Warner's other top superhero property, The Dark Knight, which grossed more than $1 billion and had a smaller production budget.

  Still, Superman topped the list of a recent MTV poll that asked which DC Comics character should be fast-tracked to the big screen next. In a recent interview with MTV, Kevin Spacey said that he would be "delighted" to reprise the role of Lex Luthor in a sequel to Superman Returns.

  If I ran Warner Brothers I could tell you definitively we'd be making that movie. But I don't, and they haven't called me to tell me. Literally, all I know is what I've heard from press reports. I can't even confirm whether those are true or not because I haven't spoken to Bryan.

  Recently, director James McTeigue's (Ninja Assassin) name has been popping up as the man who will possibly direct the next installment of the franchise. However, his take on "The Big Blue Boy Scout," would likely leave little room for Spacey, since he said the franchise is "ripe for a retooling."

  
  
  

  Superman Returns - Trailer

  Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth stars - June 26, 2006

  Posted 11/24/2009 by BrentJS

  Related: Bryan Singer | James McTeigue | Kevin Spacey | Superman Returns | The Dark Knight

• Season of the Witch Trailer and TV Spot Online

  Spring will be a busy time for Nicolas Cage. His reunion with Gone in 60 Seconds director Dominic Sena, Season of the Witch, opens just a month before Cage stars as Big Daddy in the comic book adaptation Kick-Ass.

  Season of the Witch is a departure for both the actor and director. Cage plays an American-accented crusader in the Black Plague-affected 14th century who is tasked with transporting a suspected witch to a monastery, along with Ron Perlman. Lionsgate has just released the trailer and a TV spot for Season of the Witch, both of which have Cage proclaiming, "cut off the head." Cleary they're trying to give Witch a horror edge, but considering Sena's resume, the movie will likely be more action than horror. Check out both below.

  
  

  
  
  Next Showing: Season of the Witch opens March 19, 2010

  Posted 11/24/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Nicolas Cage | Ron Perlman | Dominic Sena | Season of the Witch