Although he has produced, acted in, and written projects, Cedric the Entertainer is finally jumping behind the camera for his directorial debut. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Cedric will helm the indie comedy Chicago Pulaski Jones, which was written by Kel Mitchell (who has appeared in everything from Clifford flicks to Honeydripper) and Janis Woody (a production manager of Cedric's).

The film stars Mitchell, Cedric, Tommy Davidson, and Gary Sturgis, and it focuses on Jones, a young championship dancer. Like any person with talent who doesn't live in the big city, he heads there to become famous. "On the day he arrives, his uncle is murdered, leaving Jones to avenge his uncle's death vigilante style and alone." Yeah, that wasn't quite the twist you were expecting, was it? At the very least, it sounds more interesting than the glamorized superstardom stories, or the depressing homeless drug addict ones.

Production began this week in LA.

Goodbye, Matt Dillon! Hellloooo Adrien Brody! I don't know what happened since October, when Matt Dillon was in final negotiations to star, but Cadillac Records has found itself a new leading man. Variety reports that The Pianist, Adrien Brody, has signed on to star along with Jeffrey Wright, the insanely wonderful actor from Basquiat, in the upcoming film. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind Matt Dillon, but this project just went from good to great in my books. Brody would've been enough, but with Wright? No one could keep me away.

Adrien has taken on the role of Leonard Chess, and Wright will be Muddy Waters in the feature, which starts filming in March. They will be joined by Columbus Short (Stomp the Yard), Emmanuelle Chriqui (Entourage), Cedric the Entertainer (Code Name: The Cleaner), and Tammy Blanchard (Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows). I'm neither here nor there on the supporting cast, but I'm sort of hoping Joe Morton pops up in a role. Should he, I think I will pass out from movie fan heaven. But anyway...

Coming from writer/director Darnell Martin, Cadillac Records dips into the Chicago music scene of the 1950s -- "charting the colorful lives of American musical legends like Waters, Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, and Elvis Presley." There's no word on who will play the rest of the greats yet, but we should find out soon, before production begins in New Jersey and Mississippi this spring.

So you probably had to read that headline a few times before it sunk in. That's right, the man behind Code Name: The Cleaner has apparently joined the cast of the gritty crime thriller Night Watch (no relation to the Russian film of the same name) written by James Ellroy. Cedric (The Entertainer) Kyles told Blackfilm.com that he had joined the cast which already includes; Keanu Reeves, Hugh Laurie (TVs Dr. House, or as he will always be known to me, Lieutenant George in The Blackadder) Forrest Whitaker, Chris Evans, and Naomie Harris. Kyles seemed happy at the prospect of doing something other than comedy -- although calling Code Name: The Cleaner a comedy is still up for debate -- saying, "I play an informant named Scribbles. There are all these corrupt cops and they getting information from this modern day "Huggy Bear", but it's not comedic. I'm a street guy and I'm on some drugs a little bit. The director said that this would be a great serious role for me."

The story is set in LA and focuses on an alcoholic cop who is framed for the murder of his mentor and considering it's a James Ellroy story, it will be packed with the usual array of corrupt cops and double crosses. David Ayer is on board to direct and is working from a script he co-wrote with Ellroy. Since the film has already taken some leaps in casting in hiring Reeves as an embittered career detective, should it really be that much of a surprise that Cedric The Entertainer is now along for the ride?

[via Moviehole.net]

I'll admit that the only Don Cheadle project I had been keeping track of was the Miles Davis biopic; so it was no surprise that Cheadle's Talk To Me had flown completely under my radar. That is until I noticed the new trailer up on Yahoo! Movies. Also starring is Martin Sheen, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Inside Man) and Cedric The Entertainer -- who might be looking to redeem himself with audiences after the reception Code Name: The Cleaner received.

Directed by Kasi Lemmons, the film is the biography of Ralph "Petey" Greene, an ex-con who became an Emmy winning broadcaster and social activist. Greene passed away in 1984 at the age of 53. The movie looks to be dripping with nostalgia and even manages to work in a shot of a burning flag in case you think this period comedy doesn't have a serious point to make. Luckily, Cheadle has the uncanny ability of walking away with his dignity intact no matter what the rest of the movie is like; if you don't believe me, watch Swordfish and tell me he doesn't save himself from total embarrassment, if only John Travolta had managed to do the same. Talk To Me opens July of this year.

Q: What do Code Name: The Cleaner and Cars have in common?

A: The "outtakes" in the closing credits were the funniest parts of the movie.

My expectations for Code Name: The Cleaner were not high -- certainly not as high as they were for Cars, or even for Flushed Away. I expected to see a silly, predictable comedy with wacky hijinks provided by Cedric the Entertainer, vampy allure provided by Nicollette Sheridan, and -- Lucy Liu? I wasn't sure how Liu got involved with this movie but I always enjoy watching her in action. Even with low expectations, however, I was disappointed in this movie.

Code Name: The Cleaner hangs its comedy on a stale action-adventure storyline. Jake (Cedric) wakes up one morning in a strange bed, unsure how he got there, his head hurting as if in the throes of a hangover. He realizes someone's next to him, and immediately starts ass-grabbing. Okay, raise your hands -- who thinks that the unseen stranger in bed is going to be a guy? Yep. Gotta get that first laugh in there. But at least there's a twist: it's a dead guy, who turns out to be an FBI agent. Jake can't remember how he got there or even who he is -- his head is hurting due to an injury that inflicted Hollywood Amnesia upon him.

Wowzers. I knew 'Pirates of the Caribbean' was insanely popular -- the movie did make a whopping $423 million at the box office and some of you are still pretty heated at us for ranking 'Dead Man's Chest' #41 on our list our top 50 favorite movies of 2006 -- but didn't expect nearly 2,000 of you to chime in with a caption for a photo we posted from the upcoming third installment, 'At World's End.' (Some visitors were directed here by a rumor that the winning caption-writer would receive a first look at the film's teaser trailer. Yeah, not sure how whoever got that idea got that idea. Sorry.)

There were some overriding themes to the constituency's captions: rum, eunuchism, krakens, monkeys, hiding the rum, nudity, foul odors, the rum being gone, 'Bulletproof Monk,' and rum. And though we typically only appoint a single winner, with so many entries, it's only right we recognize three of you. So congrats to the winners: your captions were topical, comical and alcohol-free. See them below and then take a stab at this week's contest, with a pic of Cedric the Entertainer and Lucy Liu in 'Code Name: The Cleaner.' Who knows, the comedy might just be this year's 'Dead Man's Chest.' You know what they say about Cedric: The man's an entertainer.

3. "Who hired Mel Gibson to direct?!?" -- Dave

2. "Oh no ... here comes Tom Cruise ... he must still want to be a samurai!" -- Darek Kowal

1. "And then they saw Britney get out of the car..."
-- Mariah

See full image and all captions


This week's contest:

POST: Write your own caption (UPDATE: WINNER ANNOUNCED! Click Here)

GET IT: Get more on 'Code Name: The Cleaner'

In the grand pantheon of Buddy Cop Comedies, we've had some pretty great pairings: Eddie Murphy & Nick Nolte, Mel Gibson & Danny Glover, heck I'll even give you Jackie Chan & Chris Tucker because I know a lot of folks really dig those stunningly generic Rush Hour flicks. But when things go pear-shaped in this particular sub-genre ... goofy-ass things can happen. (Anyone out there see the one with Samuel L. Jackson & Eugene Levy? Holy sheesh.)

Hot on the heels of such non-brilliant pairings as Queen Latifah & Jimmy Fallon, Eddie Murphy & Robert De Niro and Owen Wilson & {anyone} comes ... ready for it? Cedric the Entertainer and Lucy Liu. Yeah. She's a super-spy and he's a janitor ... posing as a super-spy, I think. Frankly I shouldn't have to put this much mental effort into a movie directed by the man who gave us Encino Man, Flubber, Blue Streak and (yes, that's right) The Man.

One small and potentially silver lining is that Code Name: The Cleaner was co-written by George Gallo, who (long ago) penned the underrated Wise Guys and the brilliantly cool Midnight Run. Then again, he also wrote Double Take, See Spot Run and The Whole Ten Yards, so perhaps he's already used up his Get Out of Jail Free cards. Ah, and Nicolette Sheridan is also in CN:TC, which should definitely bring in the movie fans who love Johnson Family Vacation, Charlie's Angels and Desperate Housewives in equal measure.

Anyway, Code Name: The Cleaner opens on January 5. Check out the theatrical trailer and a clip from the flick over at Yahoo! Movies. (And then feel free to completely forget about the movie until it shows up on cable one boring Tuesday night.)

We had Charlotte's Web on tonight (one of my fave childhood movies - although I must admit that Wilbur's whining does grate on my nerves after the third viewing or so in a 24-hour period) - and I got to wondering what's up with the remake of the film. I went to IMDB to check it out and, sure enough, a veritable bevy of hot stars are in the film: Julia Roberts as Charlotte, Dakota Fanning (shocking casting call there, I know) as Fern, Steve Buscemi as Templeton the Rat (okay, I can buy that), Oprah as Gussy the Goose, and John Cleese, Robert Redford, Jennifer Garner,  Kathy Bates, Thomas Haden Church, Reba McEntire, Andre 3000 from Outkast (!?!) and Cedric the Entertainer (playing Golly, the henpecked gander bossed around by Oprah's Gussy) -- holy arachnophobia, is there anyone who isn't in this film?

And then I noticed something odd. No Wilbur. Huh?!?

Johnson Family Vacation, a road-trip flick starring Cedric the Entertainer as the leader of a reunion-bound clan, got uniformly bad reviews - 6% of them were positive, according to Rotten Tomatoes, and the movie's rating at the IMDb is a paltry 3.7. But there are two facts about it that render today's announcement that a sequel is on that way, distressing though it may be, incredibly unsurprising.

First, Cedric is sort of a genius. Even the harshest of the reviews found a way to praise him, if not for his performance then for what he can do with the right material. I mean, the guy is just awesome - he's funny, intelligent, and has surprising range, able to convincingly switch from sexually suggestive bits to family fare in the blink of an eye. So yeah, he seems able to carry even a crappy road movie franchise. Second, of course, is the money: the original cost $12 million. It made over $30 million. Case closed.