Cameron Diaz Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I'm not ashamed to say that I cry at the movies. Not frequently, but occasionally a story and its characters will grab hold of me to the extent that I'm completely caught up in the emotions and feelings being expressed. Films as disparate as John Ford's The Searchers and Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express have caused me to weep with joy, relief, and sorrow.

Despite a relentless barrage of scenes evidently designed with the sole goal of jerking tears, Nick Cassavetes' My Sister's Keeper did not make me cry. It is, however, one of the most glorious-looking terminal cancer pictures I've ever seen. Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Black Stallion, The Natural) paints the oft-mundane proceedings in an otherworldly glow, as though the transition to the next life had already begun. That's the guiding principle of the movie as a whole; even though an inflammatory and emotionally wrenching issue serves as the linchpin for the plot, great pains are taken to soften the blows so as not to inflict lasting damage upon the viewer.

Frankly, that latter point, much more than whether I personally shed tears, is what prevents My Sister's Keeper from escaping middlebrow territory. Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric are splendidly noble as Brian and Sara Fitzgerald, whose daughter Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) is diagnosed at a young age with leukemia. Brian and Sara conceive another child with genetic modifications so she can serve as a donor to her sister. Anna (Abigail Breslin) (*) seems fine with all the body part donations until Kate's condition worsens to the point that she needs a kidney transplant. Then 11-year-old Anna marches into the office of well-known lawyer Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin) and demands medical emancipation from her parents.

Our good friends (and partners) over at Moviefone have just debuted the first trailer for Richard Kelly's (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales) much-anticipated freaky little sci-fi thriller The Box, starring Cameron Diaz, James Marsden and Frank Langella. Due in theaters on October 30th (just in time for Halloween), the film follows the story of a couple who receive a mysterious box that grants them one million dollars, but with one catch: once they open the box, a person who they do not know will die. Pretty catchy premise and based on the trailer alone, the movie definitely looks to bring the thriller-ish vibes. I've always loved the look of Kelly's films, and The Box is no exception (something about it -- the cold, stark wintry chill, perhaps -- reminded me of The Shining). Perhaps a more commercial tale will help heal Kelly's former box office woes. He's a darn good filmmaker, and so I hope that's the case here.

Check out the trailer after the jump (or in HD over on Moviefone) and let us know what you think.

Don't hold your breath, but Tommy Boy may have chosen his next project. Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz "are in advanced negotiations" to star in an action comedy currently titled Wichita, according to Variety. Cruise is notoriously indecisive cautious, though, so it's not a go until the cameras start rolling.

If all goes well for 20th Century Fox, the idea is to throw the movie into the summer 2010 maelstrom. Fox already has The A-Team, Gulliver's Travels, and Predator set for the season. The bigger question is how Cruise would handle the role. The character he would play is described as "a secret agent who pops in and out of the life of a single woman." The movie is described as having "several action scenes," so it sounds like it would lean more on comedy and romance. The sole time Cruise has tried to be funny and romantic was his Academy Award-nominated performance 13 years ago in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire. Cruise looks very good when he's running, and can play stoic and stiff in his sleep, but comedy is basically an undiscovered country for him.

The secondary question is James Mangold, who is set to direct. He has mad skills with actors (Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line), but his only previous romantic comedy was Kate & Leopold with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman in 2001, which, alas, I haven't seen. Cameron Diaz is a definite asset as a comedic actress. Still, I'm wondering: is this a recipe for disaster?

OK, I don't necessarily consider myself the biggest Cameron Diaz fan around; seriously, I never really got why everyone found her so funny and lovable on screen (and yes I have seen There's Something About Mary, and yeah; still don't get it). But, comedy seems to be where audiences like her, so why not give them what they want? Variety reports that Diaz might be headed back to the world of comedy for the battle of the sexes flick, Bobbie Sue.

According to Variety, the story will center on "a hard-charging female ambulance chaser whose mindset makes her the ideal candidate to be the face of a prestigious law firm when a powerful client is sued in a sexual discrimination case." Dana Fox (What Happens in Vegas) has already been hired to start polishing the screenplay for Warner Bros, but let's just say I'm not holding my breath that Fox is hard at work turning this script into a scathing comedy about gender politics. In fact, my guess is that we will probably end up with something a little more along the lines of The Proposal.

If you are a regular reader around these parts, then it is no secret that I've got a few problems with 'Chick Flicks' and unfortunately those are usually the only roles that Diaz can score. Now, I might be in the minority, but I have always thought that Diaz's best performances were the ones that finally let her be something other than just a hot chick. Say what you want about Vanilla Sky, but Diaz's turn as a woman who thinks she is immune to the emotional pitfalls of casual sex is probably one of the best things she has ever done. Hopefully when Richard Kelly's The Box hits theaters this fall, it will remind those casting agents out there that Diaz is capable of much more than just dancing around in her underwear.

'Tear-jerker' is a loaded term; I'll admit as much. Like any number of other labels, it's largely used in a dismissive regard, but I could either tell you that My Sister's Keeper is about a precocious girl (Abigail Breslin, clearly changing things up) who decides to sue her parents (Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric) for having been grown in the name of organ transplants for their ailing oldest daughter (Sofia Vassilieva), or I could tell you that My Sister's Keeper is the latest tear-jerker from the director of The Notebook. You get the idea.

Either way, the trailer is up at Yahoo! Movies (or watch it below), and it sells exactly the type of weepie that I predicted in a piece last February regarding some of Warners' upcoming releases. The film is still scheduled to contend with indie drama Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and while it makes sense on paper as ideal counter-programming, I'd still argue that if the star-packed Evening couldn't rake in much at all against that film's predecessor, what chance does something like this stand?

As I admitted in another piece from late last year, I'm not completely immune to the occasional tear, and I honestly won't be above watching this when it does come out in late June, but am I the only one put off by the sheer treacle on display here? On the flip side, can any of you vouch for the Jodi Picoult novel of the same name?

First up, there's Ms. Cameron Diaz. After getting hitched to Ashton Kutcher in What Happens in Vegas, The Hollywood Reporter posts that the actress has grabbed her next romcom. The picture in question is called Swingles (picked up by Paramount in 2006), and it centers on a man and woman whose respective best friends fall in love and leave them without their beloved wingman and wingwoman. "Despite their antagonism, the two remaining singles decide to join forces to help each other find romantic partners." ...and oh, perhaps fall madly in love like romcom fools often do?

Meanwhile, Liv Tyler is getting her own slice of romantic comedy. Variety reports that she's going to star in an upcoming indie called The Romantics. The project seems to be a bit of a passion project -- Galt Niederhoffer (Prozac Nation adapter and a principal at Plum Pictures) is adapting her own novel, and planning to direct it as well.

The film will follow a group of college friends who reunite after 6 years for the wedding of Lila and Tom, which brings up a long rivaly for the soon-to-be groom between the bride-to-be and her maid of honor, Laura (Tyler). While the basic premise might knock into films like The Big Chill, the review over at Amazon doesn't make it sound promising. Publisher's Weekly says: "Neither the characters nor the story convince as Niederhoffer repeats thin stereotypes in a vain attempt to strengthen the plot." It's really too bad. Tyler can do better, and we already have enough thin stereotypes in romcom land. But get ready, two more typical romances on the way.

Tempted though I may be to do so, I won't take credit for Warners' moving up the release of Richard Kelly's hopefully good The Box after I blathered on about it for too long and then some last month. According to BOM, the thriller is now scheduled to open on October 30th and just opposite Saw VI -- and between us, if it was between either the fifth Saw sequel or a title with both Richard Kelly and Richard Matheson's names on it, my moviegoing dollar would surely find its way to the latter.

Going instead into the newly vacated 11/25 slot is the Wachowski-produced Ninja Assassin, helmed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta, the third act of The Invasion) and starring that guy Stephen Colbert hates so much. Not much has come of that film beyond a "we're making it!" press conference -- no trailer, no poster, no nuthin' -- but the film has been formally rated R for "strong bloody stylized violence throughout, and language," which suggests that the film is completed.

And when you have a completed film on your hands, you generally release it. (And then this'll be the part where the "More You Know" star will shoot overhead...)

Last month, I weighed aloud the notion of relocating oft-delayed con man crime caper The Brothers Bloom just one more time, to somewhere out from under the shadows of many May blockbusters. Summit's reaction to that piece was prompt yet delicate -- they merely blackmailed Universal into moving Bruno away from Bloom's NY/LA bow.

This time around, my latest open letter to futility is being CC'ed to Warner Bros., as my concern now lies with the latest move of Richard Kelly's bumped-and-then-some thriller, The Box, starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as a couple forced to weigh the cost of one life against a chance at considerable wealth. (In other words, they get to slip into the shoes of Hollywood executives.)

Well, now I just feel silly -- thanks a lot, Win Butler. Back in May, rumors began to circulate that Arcade Fire members Butler, Regine Chassagne and Owen Pallet were working on the score for Richard Kelly's The Box, but Butler had insisted there was nothing to those rumors. Now it's eight months later, and as it turns out he was just messing with us. In an interview with Pitchfork, Butler finally fessed up that he had been working with Kelly on the orchestral score for the Twilight Zone-inspired drama. He says, "We didn't really think we were going to do the whole thing, and then it just kind of was easier once we got in. It was like, 'Oh well, we'll just keep going.' It has so much to do with the editing, and your job is just to help the director. It's a very different experience."

Kelly's follow-up to Southland Tales is based on Richard Matheson's short story, Button, Button, and centers on a couple who come into possession of a mysterious box that can make all their financial dreams come true. But there's a catch: if they use the box, an innocent person will die (I can almost hear Rod Serling in the background telling me to "Picture a couple..."). The film stars Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as the husband and wife with financial woes, and Frank Langella as the box's strange 'delivery man'. It's a pretty creepy premise that would appear to be a perfect fit for the music of Arcade Fire ... and Kelly's own twisted sensibilities.

Back in November, Will brought us the news that the film had been pushed back for a second time from March to November 6, 2009. Hopefully the delays aren't signs of another troubled production for Kelly.