Movies36

We Are Movie Geeks is reporting that Assassination of a High School President is to be released on September 12th.  This indie film stars Mischa Barton, Bruce Willis and Reece Thompson and is receiving rave reviews.  The director is feature film newbie Brett Simon and South Park writers Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski penned the screenplay.  While most of the staff is new Bob Yari, the producer, has done some pretty good films like Crash, The Illusionist, Kickin It Old Skool and Hostage.

The story line goes like this: The school president’s girlfriend joins forces with the school’s newspaper reporter to look into the theft of SAT exams and uncover something much worse.   MTV Movies Blog is saying that it is like Rushmore meets the Usual Suspects. And the word is that the soundtrack is awesome as well.  This is definitely on my To Watch list for the fall.

In her latest film, Sarah plays the part of a woman named Veronika who attempts suicide.  She awakens in a mental institue and finds that she only has a few days left due to a heart condition.  Then she falls in love and decides she wants to live.  Isn’t that always the way?

I’m having trouble building any enthusiasm for this movie.  Larry Gross who wrote the script for the television version of Rear Window starring Christopher Reeve is adapting a book by Paulo Coelho into the screenplay for this film.  The book outlines Paulo’s personal experiences in various mental institutions.  The director is Emily Young whose last film, Kiss of Life, was released five years ago.

The film is slated to be in theaters sometime next year so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what they come up with.

Hayden stars in the latest Christopher Columbus film I Love You Beth Cooper along with relative newbie Paul Rust.  If you don’t know Paul don’t worry because it actually suits his role in the movie.  Paul plays the part of Denis Cooverman, complete nerd, valedictorian and  movie geek who announces in his graduation address that he loves Beth Cooper. 

The film is meant to be in the tone of the 80’s romance movies such as Sixteen Candles but set in modern times.  It’s based on a novel by Simpsons writer Larry Doyle.  It’s all about putting yourself out there in spite of the fear of rejection and taking what comes in stride.

The novel received excellent reviews and is supposed to be wildly funny.  This film is definitely on my To Watch list.  It’ll be in theaters sometime next year.

How many Cary Grant movies can you name?  He has 73 movie credits in all so you’ll probably be able to list at least a dozen off the top of your head even if you’re in the under 35 crowd.

A few fun facts about Cary:

• His real name was Archibald Alec Leach.
• He was a British actor who was best know for the films he made in America.
• Cary was voted as the 2nd Greatest Male Star of all Time.  Humphrey Bogart took first place.
• He believed his mother to be dead until he was in his 30’s.
• Some of his female costars included Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, Katherine Hepburn, Rosalind Russell, Ginger Rogers and Irene Dunne.

 Some of the Cary Grant films that I enjoy are Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, To Catch a Theif and Notorious, and also That Touch of Mink with Doris Day.  But the spot for an absolute favorite is a tie between Houseboat with Sophia Loren and An Affair to Remember with Deborah Kerr.  It all depends on whether I’m in the mood to laugh or in the mood to cry.

Any way you look at it he set a high standard for the actors of today to live up to.

Edward Norton turned down the starring role in Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk movie but decided to take the lead when it was offered by Marvel this time around.  During a promo interview in August he revealed that he had rewritten the entire script which was originally done by Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand).  The studio announced that Norton was hired to rewrite and Tim Roth confirmed that Norton worked on the script every day on the set.

Earlier this year we learned that Norton was arguing about the length of the film.  Marvel wanted it shorter, Norton wanted it longer.  Marvel won however Norton is now refusing to do any interviews to promo the film.  Now we’re being told that Zak Penn will receive sole credit for writing the script.  This was confirmed with Penn’s reps and the WGA.

The Incredible Hulk hits theaters June 13th.

When Heath died he was working on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.  It was thought that the project might be abandoned after his death but producers have now confirmed that the project is still a go.  Furthermore they’ve promised that they will include his perfomance intact and not digitally modify it in any way.  Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell will be taking on different aspects of his character in order to complete the film which will release next year.

The movie tells the story of Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) and his travelling show.  Dr. Parnassus has the ability to guide the imagination of his subjects because of a bet he made with the devil.  In order to win the soul of his daughter he is in a race with the devil to win five souls.  In order to do this Dr. Parnassus promises her hand in marriage to whomever helps him reach his goal.

PR-Inside is reporting that Scarlett’s latest film, Mary Queen of Scots, has been postponed by the Irish production, Element Pictures.  A representative of Element said that “With strike action involving the Screen Actors Guild looming we are waiting to see what happens.  We are hoping that things get resoved in the next few weeks.”

The union is in negotiations regarding pay and working conditions among other things.  If a strike occurs it’s expected to happen at the end of June.

Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games, The Saint, The Bone Collector) is slated to direct this film which focuses on the relationship between Mary I of Scotland and Queen Elizabeth I of England.

I can only wonder if the actors go out on strike if we’ll be subjected to reality movies the the way we were reality television when the writers went out on strike last year.

Here’s a quick shot of Alan Rickman on the set of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  He’s looking very Snapeish indeed in this shot.  HBP is due out November 21, 2008.  I think it’s been my second favorite intallment of Harry Potter so far (Goblet of Fire being the first) and I’m hoping that it translates well to the big screen.

Rickman may not have hit the radar of some of the younger movie goers out there until he became the character Severus Snape.  But he’s actually a prolific actor both in film and on the stage and he directs as well. 

He is however often cast as the villian and why not when he’s so good at it.  You may recognize him as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, Elliot Marston in Quigley Down Under, Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, or more recently as Judge Turpin in Sweeny Todd.

He also starred in the movie Bottle Shock with Chris Pine (Just My Luck, Smokin’ Aces) and Bill Pullman (Independence Day, Lake Placid),  The indy film will be released on August 8th and tells the story of the Napa wine industry.

I ran across the new Got Milk? poster and just had to share. 

Johnny may have a clean cut look for this film but he’s still a bad boy.  Depp plays the part of John Dillinger in the upcoming movie Public Enemies.  He’s joined by Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis and Channing Tatum as Pretty Boy Floyd.  If they gave nominations for the film with the most eye candy this would definitely be a contender.

If you’d like to be part of the movie there’s still time.  A prison scene will be filmed in Joliet, Illinois and there is a casting call out for slim built men 6″1′ or under to play police officers.

For more information check out this article from the Daily Journal.