I'm slightly mistrustful of titles that include exclamation points. They always remind me of the musical version of The Elephant Man, Elephant!, in The Tall Guy ("... there's an angel with big eeears..."). But in the case of Mamma Mia!, I'm actually surprised the title only included one exclamation point -- you can imagine the filmmakers or the creators of the stage version embracing even more emphatic punctuation, just to let you know that This! Is a Musical! And also Wacky!! As if chorus lines of men in flippers, Meryl Streep waving a feather boa, and enough ABBA music to sate the leads of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert wouldn't have clued you in.

The movie, like the stage musical it's adapted from, is essentially and unabashedly an extended gimmick -- an excuse to sing and perform songs that originated from the Swedish musical group ABBA. Characters spontaneously burst into song not because they're aspiring performers (Chicago), or because their singing is meant as a melodious soliloquy (Sweeney Todd), but because the situation or their emotional state reminds them of an ABBA song (sometimes more tangentially than others), and they decide to share it with everyone. I've had friends like this in real life, although that seems to have been a college-age thing.

Oh Jessica Biel. Where would we be in life without her. Since talks to star in 8th Heaven broke down, The Hollywood Reporter tells us Biel has just signed on to star in a new romantic comedy called Easy Virtue, based on the play by Noel Coward. It's an indie, which I'd like to think is a step up from the last romantic comedy she was in (Chuck and Larry), and here she'll be starring opposite Ben Barnes. The plot revolves around an American divorcee (Biel) who travels to France and marries a Brit (Barnes) all spur of the moment like. Once married, she must return home with him to England and meet his disapproving family, with parents played by Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas.

Stephan Elliott will direct, while Endgame Entertainment is financing. The Endgame CEO had this to say about the flick: "It's a funny, lovely movie with a point." Really? What's the point? That you shouldn't fly to Europe and marry some Brit on a whim because his family will probably hate you? Is there ever a "point" when it comes to romantic comedies? Alfred Hitchcock first adapted Easy Virtue wayyy back in 1928 as a silent film, of which I would love to see one day. That was a drama, though, and this version will play up the laughs more. Next up for Biel is Powder Blue, in which she'll be playing a stripper, and Nailed, in which she'll be playing a woman who gets hit in the head, thereby unleashing a slew of sexual urges. I smell a pattern developing ...

The first official trailer for Mamma Mia! has been released online, in addition to an international trailer over at YahooUK. You can either watch the trailer above, or head on over to Moviefone to see it in glorious HD. Ah, that music. I'm sorry, but this little gem holds a special place in my heart. After seeing it a whopping four times on Broadway, my parents finally dragged my sister and I to see it one Mother's Day. Long story short; I've seen it twice now, and wouldn't mind seeing it again. But will all that magic translate to the big screen? I hope so. The trailer looks like a lot of fun; we have huge dance numbers, lots of singing and plenty of pretty blue ocean. Starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfried and Christine Baranski, Mamma Mia! was written by Catherine Johnson and directed by Phyllida Lloyd (both of whom brought us the staged version). Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson serve as executive producers. Cinematical brought you the first official photos from the film yesterday; Mamma Mia! looks to entertain moviegoers (as Hairspray did last summer) when it arrives in theaters on July 18.

For those who never got around to seeing Mamma Mia! when it hit the stage, or for those who are dying to see it again (I saw it twice, just so you know ...), the widely popular Broadway musical is now heading to the big screen -- and Cinematical has your exclusive first look at images from the film. Starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfried and Christine Baranski, Mamma Mia! was written by Catherine Johnson and directed by Phyllida Lloyd (both of whom brought us the staged version). Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson serve as executive producers. Of course, and I shouldn't have to tell you this, the film also comes with more than a few awesome ABBA tunes. Here's a taste of what you're in store for (from the film's official synopsis):

An independent, single mother who owns a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island, Donna (Streep) is about to let go of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), the spirited daughter she's raised alone. For Sophie's wedding, Donna has invited her two lifelong best girlfriends-practical and no-nonsense Rosie (Julie Walters) and wealthy, multi-divorcee Tanya (Christine Baranski)-from her one-time backing band, Donna and the Dynamos. But Sophie has secretly invited three guests of her own. On a quest to find the identity of her father to walk her down the aisle, she brings back three men from Donna's past to the Mediterranean paradise they visited 20 years earlier. Over 24 chaotic, magical hours, new love will bloom and old romances will be rekindled on this lush island full of possibilities.

Inspired by the storytelling magic of ABBA's songs from "Dancing Queen" and "S.O.S." to "Money, Money, Money" and "Take a Chance on Me," Mamma Mia! is a celebration of mothers and daughters, old friends and new family found. Mamma Mia! will dance its way into theaters on July 18, 2008. Additionally, Moviefone will debut the first Mamma Mia! trailer tomorrow -- so watch for it! Check out our gallery of exclusive pics below (click on the images to head to our gallery) ...

Just over a decade ago, Uma Thurman was the sexy face masquerading as radio show host Abby (Janeane Garofalo) to get the guy in The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Now she's getting her own time behind the mic in the upcoming romcom The Accidental Husband. As the story goes, Thurman plays Emma, a relationship-themed radio talk show host who has a loving, conventional fiance (Colin Firth), and a book deal on the way. However, when a fireman's (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) upcoming marriage is derailed by her advice, he schemes up revenge to throw her off-guard -- making them legally married through the wonders of the Internet. While pretending that he doesn't know how this marriage happened, the two begin to fall for each other, which is complicated by Emma's other man.

With the romcom's release being only a few months away, Moviefone now has the HD trailer up for you to enjoy (or you can check out the non-HD version above). It's looking like your typical romantic comedy -- girl finds out what she's missing in life with the guy who oozes charisma -- first she hates him, then she can't help but fall for him. Uma has that same strange, caffeine-high sort of presence she had on Cats and Dogs, Firth is his usual caring British self, and Morgan, well... He's got some sweet romantic charisma, and it just makes me wish that I had better animal mojo the day I was fortunate enough to meet his dog. (Aren't canines the way to sweet, wonderful romance?) You'll also notice Justina Machado (Vanessa Diaz from Six Feet Under) as the fireman's advice-seeking fiance, and Isabella Rossellini's name in the final credits page, although she's sadly missing from the trailer. This could be good, and this could be bad, but here's to hoping that it's better than My Super Ex-Girlfriend.

When you look at the resume of noted actor Ben Kingsley, you notice that for every good role he has done, there is something a little less "dignified" right beside it (even earning him a spot on Jeffrey's list of the Seven Most Overrated Actors). Luckily, it doesn't look like his latest role will fall into that latter category. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Kingsley has signed on to play William Shakespeare in the literary adaptation, Will. The film is based on the novel by Christopher Rush, and is a fictional account of the playwright on his deathbed as he prepares his final will and testament. The book was only just released, but managed to garner a six-figure deal between the publisher and SBK Pictures (Kingsley's own production company) for the film rights. The book is part biography and part fiction, and Kingsley was quoted as saying, "Christopher wrote the most amazing, literate and entertaining novel I've read in years, and I'm both honored and excited to be part of bringing 'Will' to life".

If you are not a fan of the bard, Kingsley still has his share of projects lined up for the coming year. He has just wrapped production on The Wackness with Mary Kate Olsen (which has the dubious distinction of featuring an on-screen kiss between the two). Then it's off to the Hitchcock-inspired mystery Number 13 with Ewan McGregor and Dan Fogler (Fanboys) as Alfred Hitchcock and The Love Guru with Mike Myers. Last but not least, it has been announced that Kingsley will be joining the the Coen's comedy caper Gambit, with Colin Firth. Will is expected to begin shooting in the UK sometime next year.

The directing debut of Helen Hunt gets a passing grade, barely -- the story she's telling is as old as the hills, but Then She Found Me is still executed with style. Sometimes charming, occasionally funny, it never draws attention to itself as the work of a director with training wheels on. The film follows the journey of April Epner (Helen Hunt) a 39 year-old woman who is inexplicably marrying a man named Ben (Matthew Broderick) who is so inconsiderate and self-absorbed that no woman could find him to be primo marriage material. Just as they begin to realize their mistake, April gets the shock of a lifetime: her birth mother shows up and informs her that her real father was Steve McQueen. I kind of liked that premise and hoped the movie would go with it, but it turns out to be just a gag. April's mother, played well by Bette Midler, has a couple of screws loose. More to the point, she has a couple of screws loose when it's convenient, and provides sage and sound advice at other times.

Colin Firth co-stars as April's love interest, an emotionally volatile man with a kid who happens to be in the same school where April teaches, which leads to the kind of scene where the teacher is red-faced by having the kid notice that she is having a 'sleep over' with the father. Firth's character, Frank, tries hard to start up a relationship with April and aggressively pushes her onto his kids, but naturally he isn't very understanding of the fact that she's still seeing her almost-husband on the side, here and there. Usually, a romantic comedy of this type would set up the love triangle but make it more or less clear from the start who is going to win out and who isn't, so Then She Found Me deserves some credit for going a more complicated route and portraying all of these characters as seriously flawed. Frank, for instance, is prone to yelling and storming around in an absolute rage, which is never a good sign. Ben is worse, having nothing whatsoever going on in his life.

We've already told you about the first couple of deals to come out of the Toronto International Film Festival, but here's the first one with enough money changing hands for the trade publications to cite the figures.

ThinkFilm has bought U.S. rights to Then She Found Me, starring Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth, and Matthew Broderick, with Equinoxe Films taking Canadian rights. The total price tag, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is between $2.5 and $3 million.

Hunt directed the romantic comedy-drama, her first time in that capacity except for a few Mad About You episodes. Based on a novel by Elinor Lipman, Then She Found Me is about a woman (Hunt) who is contacted by her birth mother (Midler) just as her adoptive mother has died, her husband (Broderick) has left her, and she's met a new man (Firth).

After Mad About You ended in 1999, Hunt did a quick series of movies -- four in 2000 alone -- before taking a break. Since then, she's appeared only in Woody Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001), A Good Woman (2004), HBO movie Empire Falls (2005), and last year's Bobby. And it's too bad, because I really like her. I mean, who doesn't? Who doesn't like Helen Hunt?!

For that matter, we haven't seen much of Bette Midler in movies lately, either. Apart from The Stepford Wives in 2004, she hasn't been on film since 2000. That, I'm not complaining so much about.

Anyway, of course we'll keep you posted on release dates and other news as it becomes available.

The latest on the Trainspotting sequel is that it all depends on when John Hodge's screenplay is ready. At least, that's what novelist Irvine Welsh has told an audience in Edinburgh, according to Empire magazine. Welsh wrote the book of Trainspotting and of its sequel, titled Porno, and this week he's at the Edinburgh Film Festival promoting his directorial debut, a short film called Nuts. When asked about the status of the Porno adaptation during a Q&A, Welsh claimed it's all about the status of the script. Of course, Hodge, who earned an Oscar nomination for the first Trainspotting, turned in a draft at least as early as March of this year. Sure, it's probably being tweaked and whatnot before director Danny Boyle goes into production with it, but we've already been given the real reason for the delay.

No, it doesn't have anything to do with Boyle's falling out with Ewan McGregor, who starred in the original film, and maybe has actually agreed to do the sequel. The main reason Trainspotting 2 hasn't been made yet is because Boyle wants the cast to be at least 20 years older than they were in Trainspotting 1. That would put the shoot at least nine more years down the line. If the filmmakers want authenticity, anyway. As recent as Boyle's promotion of his latest film, Sunshine, the director insisted that Renton, Spud, Sick Boy, Begbie and whoever else returns be middle-aged. The point of the sequel is that they're at a time in their life where they're too old to keep pushing the limits of their bodies. Unless Welsh knows something completely new, he's simply out of the loop and spouting incorrect info.

The novelist, and now film director, also told the Edinburgh audience about The Meat Trade, a feature film he's scripted, which will be directed by Antonia Bird (Ravenous) and will star Colin Firth and Robert Carlyle as a duo who murders people in order to steal and then sell their body organs. Welsh is also currently adapting Alan Warner's novel The Man Who Walks, which is about a one-eyed man who robs his local pub of its World Cup lottery. His latest book, a collection of short stories, titled If You Liked School, You'll Love Work, hits U.S. bookstores September 4.

"Old-fashioned" would be a good way to describe the tastily vanilla-flavored The Last Legion. Packed as it is (to the rafters) with equal parts cliché, convention, stereotype and plain old predictability, the movie could also be described as campy, corny, goofy, and all sorts of painfully familiar. "Boring," however, it is not. Hearkening back to the days in which a new sword-swingin' matinee was available every weekend, the international co-production certainly doesn't tread any new ground -- and it's even quite silly in some spots -- but that doesn't stop it from delivering some good fun. (Who cares if some of that fun is of the "unintentional" variety? That makes it even more fun!)

Sort of a loose prequel to the King Arthur legend, The Last Legion focuses on a young Roman emperor who is kidnapped by an evil warlord and sent to an island fortress with his wizened old teacher, only to be rescued by a super-heroic warrior and a gang of colorful sidekicks -- one of whom is a stunningly beautiful (and amazingly deadly) woman. Toss in a few obvious-yet-kinetic action scenes, a whole bunch of floridly storybook-ish tendencies, and just enough colorful characters to keep the thing afloat, and you've got a perfectly watchable time-waster ... once it shows up on cable / DVD, that is.