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The Latest Casting Oohs, Aahs and Huh?s

While Locke already talked about the most controversial casting announcement of the past week -- the possibility of Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Jim Carrey playing Larry, Moe and Curly in a big-screen version of The Three Stooges -- there's still a ton of recent casting news to discuss.  So without further ado...

- File this one under "Seriously? What is he thinking?!?"  Chace Crawford (The Haunting of Molly Hartley, Gossip Girl) -- who is already often mistaken for Zac Efron (High School Musical 3) -- is apparently auditioning for the lead role in the Footloose remake.  You know, the one I've been cursing for months, and which Efron finally got the sense to drop from his list of upcoming projects?   Don't do it, Chace! 

- Emma Stone, who I loved in Superbad, The House Bunny and The Rocker, is finally ready for her first leading role in Easy A.  She'll play a high school student in this modern take on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.  Mega-early prediction based on nothing but my love for Stone and the overall concept for the film: this will be a hit.

- The cast of Ridley Scott's still-untitled Robin Hood flick has expanded... Russell Crowe has been set as the lead for a while, and Cate Blanchett took over for Sienna Miller as Maid Marian not too long ago. Now Vanessa Redgrave, Kevin Durand (Lost), Scott Grimes (ER), Mark Strong (Body of Lies) and Alan Doyle (um, a musician friend of Crowe's) have been added to the mix as well.  I've always loved the Robin Hood story, so I sincerely hope Scott doesn't screw this up.  I fear there will be no in between: it will either be awesome or awful. 

- Vanilla Sky costars Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise may be reuniting for a romantic comedy.  I think this sounds like the worst idea I've heard in a while (what can I say -- I can't stand Cruise... and I find Diaz annoying 80% of the time).  Let's hope this project never sees the light of day.

- And you KNOW it's been way too long since I've talked about New Moon, right?  So I better mention that members of Jacob's wolf pack have been cast... as has scary temptress Heidi.  Oh, and this dude is going to be Caius, leader of the Volturi.  I can deal with that -- he looks the part.

Darn... I thought by the time I was done writing this post I would have forgotten about the "Nate Archibald as Ren McCormack" rumor.  This remake is going to be the end of me, I tell you!

Your Tuesday Threes

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Is it Tuesday already? Where has the week gone?

Okay campers, I give you three actors, you tell me what single film all three appeared in!

Post your guesses in the comments below--first to post the correct answer will win a Brand New, Super Shiny, Double-Fantastico homemade construction-paper medal. Made in your very own home. By you.

I won't post any of the guesses until tomorrow when I put up the correct answer.

So in what film did these three actors appear?

Kristen Stewart

Jena Malone

Vince Vaughn

This Shouldn't Come as a Surprise...

... but it was announced last night that a sequel for Star Trek -- you know, the J.J. Abrams-directed movie that doesn't hit theaters until May 8th -- is in the works. 

Pretty much the entire creative team behind the first reboot is on board for the second installment, although some of the players are in slightly different roles.  J.J. Abrams will be producing again, but so far it hasn't been announced whether he'll still be in the director's seat next time around.  

Damon Lindelof (executive producer of Lost and co-producer of Star Trek) will be hanging on to his producer title but will also be joining Roberto Orci  and Alex Kurtzman (a duo who've worked together on everything from Mission Impossible III to Transformers to Fringe) at the writing table.  At least Lindelof is aware of how the public may perceive the Star Trek sequel news; he was quoted as saying, "There's obviously a lot of hubris involved in signing on to write a sequel of a movie that hasn't even come out yet.  But we're so excited about the first one that we wanted to proceed."

If audiences flock to Star Trek as Paramount Pictures is obviously assuming they will, then we could see the next chapter of Kirk and Spock's adventures by summer 2011.

In the meantime, the (supposedly) final poster for the film was released on Friday (see above), and this new TV spot hit the airwaves last week:

If you just can't get enough of the hype, then you can go back and watch the trailer released in November (and get Locke's fanboy take on it) here, and then see  another full-length preview (and get my I-Have-No-Idea-What's-Going-On perspective on it) here.  And then you just need to be patient and wait 5 1/2 more weeks... although something tells me we'll be barraged with even more clips, sneak peeks and promotional tie-ins before May 8th arrives.

Marley & Me

I didn't think too much about Marley & Me when it was out on the big screen; I missed the press screenings before it opened, didn't take the time to see it in theaters over the holidays, but I kept hearing a background rumble about how surprisingly good it was, even though it looked like a movie about a dog. It's not like I let that make up my mind for me before I saw it -- a bad thing for a film critic to do -- but it did make me curious: Could a film about a dog -- not a killer St. Bernard, not a district attorney who turns into a dog, just a regular dog -- actually be good?

But then I watched Marley & Me and noticed the names of the writers who had adapted John Grogan's book: Scott Frank and Don Roos. Frank has written scripts like the smart, tricky Out of Sight and the wild, weird Minority Report; Roos has written caustic, clever indie comedies like Happy Endings and The Opposite of Sex. I rubbed my eyes; it was as if I'd walked into a local hamburger shack and found superstar chef Tom Collichio working the grill, or went to the mini-golf place out by the highway and found Tiger Woods handing me my short putter and score card. So while Marley & Me is just the story of a family and their dog -- and no dog owner will accept there's any such thing at 'just' a story of a family and their dog -- it's surprisingly well-written, funny and smart and tough and moving and sincere and clever. Sure, it's about a dog. But Marley & Me is also about the things life gives us, and the things life takes away, and how one can help with the other.

A Gigantic Hit... or Flop?

Out of the handful of independent films opening in limited release this weekend, Gigantic looks the strangest to me.  It's about a mattress salesman (Paul Dano, There Will Be Blood) who's already in the process of adopting a baby from China when he starts dating a happy-go-lucky rich chick (Zooey Deschanel, Yes Man). Their relationship -- and rich chick's overbearing father (John Goodman) -- may or may not throw a wrench into mattress guy's adoption plans. 

I haven't heard any buzz about this film, which leads me to believe that it might be one of those comedies that is trying too hard to be quirky and ends up annoying everyone in the process. Then again, I had that same fear about Little Miss Sunshine (in which Dano also starred, as vow-of-silence-taking Dwayne) and somehow that story, full of each-one-odder-than-the-next characters, managed to be both funny and heartbreaking at the same time. 

If you want to see how everything in Gigantic plays out, take a look at its release calendar here to see when it will debut in a city near you.  I'm not totally convinced that it's worth my ten dollars, but what I am sure of is that all this talk about mattresses has made me very sleepy.  That's probably not the effect that first-time feature film writer-director Matt Aselton was going for, huh?

Bolt

Despite all of the great things I'd heard and read about Bolt (James was certainly a fan), I couldn't help but be a little bit skeptical as I sat down to watch it a few nights ago. After all, the main character -- super-powered (or so he thinks) doggy Bolt -- is voiced by John Travolta, and Miley Cyrus lends her pipes to the character of Penny, Bolt's owner. Travolta and Cyrus just so happen to be two of my least favorite celebrities on this planet. Could Bolt's animation, action and story outweigh my bias against Mr. Wild Hog and Ms. Hannah Montana?

Thankfully, the answer is "yes."

Perhaps I was able to enjoy the movie because Penny/Cyrus wasn't in it that much, or because Bolt didn't sound overly Travolta-ish.  In fact, if I wasn't aware of whose voice was behind the courageous canine, I'm not sure I could've guessed correctly.  (Which makes me wonder why studios shell out big bucks for celebrities to be involved in their animated films... but I digress.)  Instead of grumbling about the characters' voices, I found myself laughing at how much I could relate to the story of a puppy who -- having spent the majority of his life within the confines of a TV studio -- isn't aware that he doesn't actually have the special abilities he appears to have on the set.  It's kind of like how my black lab has no idea that he's not King of the Universe and all of our lives aren't revolving around his every move. 

I can keep the charade up for my dog, but when Bolt escapes from his trailer and ends up on the east coast, he has to learn the hard way that he might be a little more ordinary than he'd previously assumed.  He hooks up with a streetwise stray cat, Mittens (Susie Essman) and an overzealous hamster, Rhino (Mark Walton), and begins his journey back to Hollywood.

Role Models

James already handily reviewed Role Models last fall on its theatrical release. And Erika provided a great blow-by-blow of a Paul Rudd screening Q&A.

I fully agree with James and Erika about Role Models's big funniness and that between it on DVD this month and I Love You, Man in theaters, we are on the cusp of the Glorious Rudd-olution. (Sadly, in Hollywood terms that can only mean that a year from now he'll have Lilo-ed out and we'll all be fiercely sick of him.)

But in case you needed even more impetus to see Role Models for the first time, or revisit it for the second or third, here's why it rules:

-- KISS!!!! Rudd's explanation of why he can only party part of the day: "I can rock and roll from like one to three."

-- Rudd's "Venti" rant at the Faux-Starbucks: "Congratulations, you're stupid in three languages."

-- Elizabeth Banks, appearing in half the films released last winter. She needs to be in all of them next winter.

-- The now-famous arm-swinging Rudd Dance as they're towing the Mino-truck (later demonstrated on The Daily Show).

-- Every thing that comes out of (and goes into) the great Jane Lynch's mouth as the head of Sturdy Wings. Including the bagel dog. The end of the deleted scenes add even more disgusting Lynch wonders.

-- A.D. Miles as Sturdy Wings devotee Martin Gary. Be sure to catch Martin's video profile in the Bonus Materials.

-- Sean William Scott, not just for the explanation of the "Love Gun" lyrics, or the naked campfire, but because his last two films were this and the painfully unfunny Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach. Thems some comedic ups and downs. (And yeah, I actually watched Balls Out. My bad.)

-- Not so much Bobb'e J. Thompson's foul mouth (it's not as funny the second time) but his running Ben Affleck joke with Rudd. "What's up, Reindeer Games?"

-- KISS!!! "Detroit Rock City"!!! The battle gear!!! The Mino-Truck!!!

-- Christpher Mintz-Plasse, of course, but especially his Marvin Hamlisch shout-out.

-- KISS!!! "Beth"!!!! Again, be sure to check the deleted scenes for some great reactions to Peter Criss's sappy love song.

-- Playing over the credits: "Love Take Me (Down to the Streets)," the Wings song that never was.

-- And even more deleted scenes! Some are hit and miss, but be sure to stick around for the Sturdy Hands "getting to know you" circle. And Ken Jeong gets a lot more opportunity to shine as King Argotron in the outtakes. Also, check out the video profiles, especially Joe Lo Truglio as Kuzzik demonstrating his wench spanking technique.

Nyuk Nyuk Wha?

As you may have heard, the Farrelly Brothers are producing a new Three Stooges movie. Sean Penn will play Larry, and MGM is talking to Jim Carrey about playing Curly. Benicio Del Toro might take on Moe.

Okay, let's just take a second to let that all soak in.

Ready? First, this is not a biopic like Mel Gibson (long-time Stooges fan) produced for TV in 2000. ("That Guys" Evan Handler and Paul Ben-Victor played Larry and Moe, while a pre-Shield Michael Chiklis was Curly.) This is being pitched as a Three Stooges comedy set in the modern era.

Now, the natural reaction here is to either scratch, slap, and poke your head in befuddlement or recoil in horror. Or, if you're a female, to once again raise that age-old question, why in the hell do guys like the Three Stooges so much?

But I'm not utterly repulsed by this idea. The Farrellys are a bit past their prime these days, but they were once madcap comedy masters. Dumb and Dumber; Kingpin; Something About Mary; Me, Myself & Irene--all top notch dumb, crude humor. And I even think Fever Pitch is kinda sweet.

And yes, it's easy to forget that Sean Penn was once--oh, so many, many years ago--very funny in a little film about accelerated happenings at a local secondary education institution. Mr. Carrey's resume speaks for itself, and Benicio Del Toro could be the perfect straight man, having done the "barely repressed madman" bit in films like The Usual Suspects and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. (Okay, completely un-repressed in the latter...)

So I'm willing to sort of step back and wait and see how this works out. However, I have to admit it conjures up a similar endeavor back in 1992, when the Zucker Brothers (Airplane, Naked Gun) tried to recreate the Marx Brothers magic for a new generation with a movie called Brain Donors. Like the Farrelly's Stooges reboot it was set in the present day--John Tutturo was the Groucho character.

The fact that most of you have forgotten or never heard of Brain Donors is a testimony to how well that turned out. I have a sneaking suspicion the Farrellys are also tempting the fates, only on what will be a much larger, higher-profile level.

And if it does defy the odds and actually works, well then we can start casting Shemp for the sequel.

Monsters Save the Film Industry... Sorta...

The news isn't that DreamWork Animation's Monsters vs. Aliens topped the box office this weekend--that was a done deal the day the schedule was set.

What's important is that more than 55% of it's $58 million box-office bucks came from 3-D screenings (that just happen to charge a few extra bucks per ticket). MvA was in over 4,000 theaters, on around 7,000 screens, and at least 1,500 of those were special 3-D screens. Thanks to promotions like MvA's Super Bowl 3-D ad, moviegoers are finally getting over their aversion to wearing those little polarized plastic glasses, and 3-D feature films are starting to shake their cheesy, gimmicky stigma.

Which is great news for the film industry. The number of 3-D screens across the country has doubled since last summer, and a boost like this from Monsters vs. Aliens should convince more theater owners to spend the cash on even more 3-D screens. All of which means that films in theaters once again have a thrilling advantage over watching movies at home on DVD or your computer.

The Haunting in Connecticut came in second at the box office with $23 million, a very solid debut for a fairly low-rent, low-hype horror flick. (I have a very large beef with The Haunting and its relative success, which I will hop up on my soapbox about later this week.)

Knowing hung in tight at third, losing only 40% of its box office from last week--an impressive feat at a time when many flash-on-the-screen event films drop 60% of their take in their second week. The rest of the top five was filled out by last weekend's other two releases, I Love You, Man (which dropped less than 30%, signaling good word of mouth and long, sturdy box-office legs) and Duplicity.

The weekend's only other wide release, Renny Harlin's WWE-produced action thriller 12 Rounds, was much further down the chart, debuting in seventh place with just over $5 million.

Saturday Night Drive-in: Twilight Theater

Believe it or not, there are a few people out there who are not teenage girls. These people may have heard tell of the Twilight Phenomenon, but are not familiar with the books or the film.

Now, if you want to read positive reviews of Twilight, check out Erika's here, or James's here.

But for the rest of you, I present Saturday Night Drive-in's Twilight Theater:

PALE GIRL: Hi, I’m new here.

PALE BOY: I hate you. I love you. I want to eat you.

PALE GIRL: Let us go yearn for one another in the woods.

PALE GIRL: Did you just stop that van with your bare hands?

PALE BOY: No.

PALE GIRL: Yes you did.

PALE BOY: No I didn’t.

PALE GIRL: I saw you.

PALE BOY: You are clearly a crazy person.

PALE GIRL: I’m not.

PALE BOY: Look at me over here in the sunlight.

PALE GIRL: Ooooooh, sparkly.

PALE BOY: I am your darkest desire and your worst nightmare.

PALE GIRL: You’re a chocolate pony filled with algebra?

PALE GIRL: How old are you?

PALE BOY: I’m a 21-year old actor, playing a 90-year-old vampire, pretending to be a 17-year old teenager.

PALE GIRL: So you can buy beer?

PALE BOY: I’m dangerous.

PALE GIRL: I’m not afraid.

PALE BOY: I watch you while you sleep.

PALE GIRL: That’s disturbingly hot.

PALE BOY: I've killed people.

PALE GIRL: I love you unconditionally.

PALE BOY: I drive a Volvo.

PALE GIRL: I just remembered I have a thing I have to go to…