I don't know about you, but when I'm faced with a heap of laundry, I throw on some weaponry and become The Laundry Warrior. Okay, not at all. I actually throw loads into the machine, and distract myself with video games. Regardless, I'm fairly intrigued about any flick that pops up with a name like Sngmoo Lee's fantasy film, The Laundry Warrior. Variety reports that it's an English-language hero film currently getting ready to film in New Zealand on November 12.

But it isn't some totally obscure flick with a cast you wouldn't know. Under Lord of the Rings producer Barrie Osborne, the picture has collected a cast that includes Geoffrey Rush, Kate Bosworth, and Jang Dong-gun. With a $45 million budget, Laundry follows a fugitive Asian warrior played by Jang, who hides "in the American badlands, where he encounters the town drunk (Rush) and a beautiful, but troubled woman." Now, Variety doesn't have a nice, helpful paranthetical note for Bosworth, but I imagine she's the troubled gal that they mention.

After teaching at the New York Film School for a handful of years, this will be Lee's directorial debut. Producer Michael Peyser says: "We draw on two great milieux, the Samurai movie and the Western. We will deliver a stylized, partly anime feel, with the techniques of 300, but a look that is brighter." So, a Western Samurai movie shot like a bright 300 -- yay or nay?

This summer has brought us a string of what are being called "threequels:" Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: Is This Movie Seriously Still Going On? One would expect those big special effect-laden movies to spawn franchises, but now a highly unlikely candidate may be headed for trilogy status -- Elizabeth. Director Shekhar Kapur tells Entertainment Weekly in this week's issue that he always envisioned the series as a threesome. Kapur and his Queen, Cate Blanchett, have already completed work on Part 2 -- Elizabeth: The Golden Age -- and it will be in theaters on October 12th. The new film (which Monika told you is already being blasted for its historical accuracy) will focus on the Queen and her adviser (played by Geoffrey Rush) during the time leading up to the Spanish Armada. Clive Owen will play Walter Raleigh, Samantha Morton plays Mary, Queen of Scots, and up-and-comer Abbie Cornish plays Elizabeth Throckmorton.

Blanchett apparently needed a bit of coaxing to return to her Oscar-nominated role for The Golden Age. Kapur says, "It's sometimes difficult for an actor when you're so appreciated for a part, you're just afraid that you may not find the same passion the second time. But as I assured Cate: I've never seen her do anything without passion." Will he have to twist her arm for the third chapter? Depends on if it happens. The Golden Age is being released by Working Title Films, and the studio won't greenlight a third installment until they find out how Age performs at the box office. "Talk to me in November," says Working Title co-chair Tim Bevan. The original Elizabeth grossed a very respectable $30 million, and was a critical smash, nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture (It won only one, for Best Makeup). Kapur feels confident he'll get his chance to bring his saga to a close. In fact, he's already hammering out the story. Says Kapur, "I want to make a film about the absolute loneliness of power. She (Elizabeth) was left with no one at the end. She outlasted everybody." Sounds pretty interesting, but if he really wants to make some cash, he should have Venom and The Sandman swing by 16th century England.

We haven't made any kind of official announcement, but Cinematical will be in full force at this year's Toronto Film Festival. We're sending a team to cover every film, event, hockey game, or whatever else there is to do up there, and I'll be bringing you a more detailed rundown on our activities as soon as it's available. Yesterday, when I got my press rubberstamp for this year's fest, I immediately started checking back to see what big films were expected to premiere this year. So far there really hasn't been much in the way of announcements, but this morning we got a big one -- Elizabeth 2. Or as it's officially known, The Golden Age. Cate Blanchett of course reprises her role as Queen Elizabeth and Geoffrey Rush is also back as Sir Walsingham, the Queen's trusted advisor whose main job is to sniff out plots and perform the role of spymaster.

The director of the first film, Shekhar Kapur, is also back for the sequel. Kapur directed Blanchett to an Oscar nomination for the first Elizabeth, back in 1998, so it's certainly possible that lightning could strike again on that front -- the Academy loves that kind of thing, and so far, Angelina Jolie is the only high-profile Best Actress candidate, for A Mighty Heart. Clive Owen also stars in the The Golden Age, as Sir Walter Raleigh; the film is expected to arrive in theaters on October 12. Other films screening this year at Toronto will include No Country for Old Men, Carlos Reygadas' Silent Light, Alexandra, The Flight of the Red Balloon and The Man from London.

About seven hours into Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, someone stuffs a monkey into a cannon, lights the fuse and sends it shooting across the deck to crash into another character. That monkey is like us, the audience -- bruised, confused and unsure what it did to deserve this punishment. We have to endure a hurricane of hooey, a hydra-headed story with more subplots and pointless reversals than a Raymond Chandler tale and more doodad MacGuffins -- a compass that points to this, a key that unlocks that -- than even a parody could endure, all of which leads to a sort of white noise of confusion where a plot should be. Even if that monkey-cannon were pointed at my head, I couldn't explain to you why, for example, the key pirates from the previous two films are now introduced to us as 'pirate lords' -- leaders of some kind of pirate's union, which, judging by Captain Jack (Johnny Depp) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) does not offer dental. It's their lordship, and what that means for pirates everywhere, that this trilogy capper is supposedly about.

You'll remember that at the end of the last film, Dead Man's Chest, Depp's swishy swashbuckler was betrayed by Keira Knightley's colonial babe Elizabeth Swann, left manacled to the deck of his ship as it was being eaten by a steroid-squid, in the hopes that a sticky pirate curse would drown with him and his ship. The audience wasn't fooled -- even the most casual moviegoer knew Depp would be returning for part three -- but films that include an easy-breezy transition between life and afterlife often find themselves having to paddle twice as hard to get dramatic tension going, which is one of the problems that most plagues At World's End. After all, if no one can really die, what's the worst thing that can happen? (One of the reasons I've never bothered to read a comic book in my life, by the way) Somewhere around the thirty-minute mark of this one, we're re-introduced to Captain Jack, who is stuck in some kind of Looney Tunes purgatory, commanding a ship sitting in the middle of a desert, and crewed only by multiple Jack Sparrows.

It's not like there has been any shortage of promotional material coming from Disney for Pirates of The Caribbean 3: At World's End. Already there have been numerous promotional stills, sneak peek video clips, trailers, and a video game. But if you still can't wait, then you now have four new clips on Moviefone to tide you over. We get another look at Johnny Depp doing his best Keith Richards and setting off canons, Chow Yun-Fat in a double cross, a suitably salty Geoffrey Rush, and we even check in on the voodoo priestess Tia Dalma -- there is even a monkey, truly something for everyone. The one thing there is very little of is either Keira Knightley or Orlando Bloom, whose parts seem to be shrinking as the franchise goes on. In these four clips, they don't seem to have all that much to do other than stand around and pout.

While the story and plot seemed to elude even the people who worked on the film, with the sheer amount of clips and trailers, I can't help but think that by the time the movie has hit theaters there are going to be very few surprises left. Since producer Jerry Bruckheimer stated that despite all the talk to the contrary, this is probably going to be the film that wraps up this incarnation of the Pirates franchise, Disney seems to be sparing no expense to make sure that the franchise goes out with a bang, not to mention giving that web-flinger a run for his money at the summer box-office.

Did you have trouble following the plot of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest? Well, get ready to be more confused by the next installment, which arrives in theaters May 25. Entertainment Weekly has a cover story about the movie in its latest issue, hitting newstands (and my mailbox) today, which includes quotes from stars Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski. All three seem to be in agreement that audiences and critics are going to have just as tough a time with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Bloom goes so far as to joke that writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio can't even explain what's going on in the new movie. Verbinski claims he doesn't mind if people are confused, though. He says the Pirates movies are made to be watched multiple times in order to be fully clear to the viewer. Of course, he seems to think that having a convoluted story means having a deep and intelligent story, because he goes on to tell the magazine that he doesn't want to dumb the movies down to where they are "processed cheese". He wants us to think about Pirates of the Caribbean afterward. Funny, I am one of the few critics who was able to enjoy Dead Man's Chest, but I never once thought about it afterward. Except maybe to tell someone how cool the Davy Jones character looks.

As for the critics, who universally panned the second movie (I didn't review it, unfortunately), Depp says they are going to attack At World's End just as much if not more. He understands the reasons why critics took "a dump" on the previous film, predicts that they'll "go below the belt" with the new film, and he says it's all "cool". The villains from the movies had a bit to say on the subject, too. Geoffrey Rush says that when you're doing such complex stunts and action sequences, you can't be thinking of the critics. Bill Nighy adds that the grosses point to the idea that the movies are doing something right, implying that the minority opinions of film reviewers don't seem to matter. Of course, Nighy will never have to worry about what critics say about him, as he's one of the most enjoyable actors working today. And Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End will likewise not have to worry about negative reviews, because it will make a bundle regardless -- that is, as long as enough people don't care about being confused again.

England's fascination with the monarchy, Queen Elizabeth and epic stories of danger, suspense, action and romance continues with the film Elizabeth: The Golden Age. The film, directed by Shekhar Kapur and featuring the great Geoffrey Rush, the cool Clive Owen and the exceptional Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth, is of course a sequel to Kapur's previous foray into Elizabethan storytelling, the aptly titled: Elizabeth. When we first heard of this new film, we had few details except it was going forward but Blanchett's participation was not a sure-thing.

Obviously, she eventually agreed to participate because cut to a few months later and here we are with the film's shiny new trailer for for your viewing pleasure. The trailer features all the action, intrigue, romance, desperate gambles and rousing speeches you could want from a film like this. Elizabeth is attacked, questioned, bullied, sullen, emotional and finally, angry, decisive and triumphant. Watching the trailer and realizing all the problems England has faced over the years, its amazing the country is still around.

As I am a big fan of these types of movies, and having enjoyed Kapur's prior Elizabeth film a great deal, I'm looking forward to seeing this new one very much. Plus, the trailer looks great. I tend to think of the first Elizabeth as a little like The Godfather of Elizabeth movies. Watch both films again if you don't get the similarities right away. So, if that comparison holds up, the sequel should hopefully end up as The Godfather II of Elizabeth movies. Really, if its even close, it'll still be pretty good. We'll know for sure, of course, when its released in October. Until then, enjoy the trailer.

A handful of high-resolution pics from the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End have been slipped to Ain't It Cool News. They all seem like promotional photographs, as opposed to something an amateur grabbed during the production, so I expect to see them pop up everywhere on the web today. The first one shows a dirtied-up Keira Knightley, with long and ragged hair, holding onto a rope while presumably standing on the deck of a ship. Then there's one of Geoffrey Rush and Tia Dalma also standing on a deck, looking in different directions.

There's also another of Keira, wearing a hat and rowing some kind of canoe through the smokey waters of a harbor, possibly on some kind of stealth mission. A couple of others are included, too. Based on these photographs and the promotional pictures released a while back, which included one of Keira swinging a sword, it seems like one of the big themes of the upcoming film will be transforming Elizabeth Swann from a damsel in distress to a warrior of some kind. The film, which you can't possibly believe will be the last one in the series, is scheduled to arrive in theaters on May 25.

I was never very big on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney. There were way too many ARR! exclamations, rum refrences and drunk, hairy men for my tastes. However, the film was one of those times where I was entirely sucked into a movie, loving its life, its actors and its disregard for reality. While the second instalment was also mind-bogglingly successful, it was filler -- the chance to enter all the little bits of story in before the big wrap-up, without the cohesive structure ... although it did have one hell of a fun, rolling fight scene and the best taunting that I've seen in years.

Although pictures have been lurking on the web in recent weeks, Disney has finally released official stills for Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End that comes out five months from Christmas Day. If the pictures are any indication of the larger work, I think fans will be squealing in their seats. You've got Keira Knightley's Elizabeth Swann looking swanky and seeming perfectly comfortable at Captain Jack's right hand, and she's also the perfect inner strength for a Barbossa-Sparrow sandwich. And then, finally, Chow Yun-Fat looks right at home with Geoffrey Rush's stoic look and Johnny Depp's furrowed brows. Now the fangirl in me takes over, and I hope for Will Turner's swift demise, and for Ms. Swann to taunt the pants off Sparrow until she can't resist him any longer. ...

On the heels of the largely unexpected success of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Dan Fogler's life has been pretty darn awesome. Not only does he have a Tony statuette to keep on his coffee table, but he's also scored starring roles in a bunch of major(ish) films, including Balls of Fury, School for Scoundrels and Good Luck Chuck -- not bad for a guy whose movie career had previously consisted of a handful of supporting parts in indie projects.

According to this morning's Variety, Fogler has just accepted his biggest (at least in terms of girth and the stature of his character) part yet: He'll star as Alfred Hitchcock in Number Thirteen, an indie drama about "Hitchcock's lost and unfinished first film Number 13." Chase Palmer wrote and will direct the film, the story of which finds Hitch "caught up in a Hitchcockian dilemma when he ends up in a love triangle with two crew members while making the film. When the lead actor turns up dead, the editor suspects the director and tries to uncover the truth." Based on the summary alone, I'd say this one could turn out to be both very odd and very entertaining; throw in the news that Ewan McGregor and Geoffrey Rush are rumored to be in talks to join the cast and you've got something with serious potential. Production is expected to begin in January.