HaleyBennett Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I can't vouch for John Grogan's 2005 best-selling memoir, Marley & Me, in which owning a yellow lab helped the journalist (Owen Wilson) and his wife (Jennifer Aniston) tolerate any number of trials and tribulations that came their way -- many of which could be chalked up to the carnage-prone canine himself. I suspect that, unlike their on-screen counterparts, the Grogans actually showed some indications of aging after thirteen years and three kids. I doubt that John had a perpetual bachelor of a best bud (Eric Dane) who lingered around to both knock and envy his marriage with convenient doses of sarcasm and handsomeness. I question that the couple could own a picturesque Pennsylvania estate on just one reporter's salary. But I'm fairly sure that both the book and the film shared a common goal -- to make its audience sit, stay, laugh, cry, and then get on with their lives -- and at those modest aspirations, the movie version pretty much succeeds.

The Haunting of Molly Hartley isn't bad as far as movie titles go, though it would be a lot better if the movie contained any actual haunting. The girl is plagued by voices that say "Molly!" and "I know what you are!," but is that really a "haunting"? It's more like The Annoying of Molly Hartley or The Messing Around with Molly Hartley's Mind.

At any rate, this lame, tame psychological thriller stars Haley Bennett as Molly, who has just moved with her father (Jake Weber) to a new house and new school after an unsettling incident in which Molly's mother tried to kill her. (Oops!) Mom (Marin Hinkle) is now in the loony bin, which at least reduces the awkwardness around the house, but Molly fears she might be starting to suffer from the same craziness that made her mother go all stabby. She's been having hallucinations both visual and auditory (or "aditory," according to the book she reads; nice work, props department!), and that's cause for concern.

Molly's new school is a fancy prep academy for rich kids, notably Joseph Young (Chace Crawford), who is dreamy and friendly, and Alexis (Shanna Collins), who is friendly and poor. She's there on scholarship and is a pariah for being un-rich, and also for being a devout Christian. (Like most movie Christians, Alexis is portrayed as being humorless, strident, and irrational.) Molly is also befriended by Leah (Shannon Marie Woodward), the Bad Girl who wears fishnet stockings and smokes cigarettes in the bathroom. Joseph's ex-girlfriend, Suzie (AnnaLynne McCord), is the requisite blond Mean Girl. If it weren't for time constraints, I'm sure we'd have been introduced to the Nerd, the Jock, and the Drama Queen, too. You get the idea.

As insane as it would be to see a movie where Nick Nolte chats with God, that's not quite the Arcadia he's getting involved in. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Nolte, Haley Bennett, and Carter Jenkins have signed on for a coming-of-age indie called Arcadia Lost. Bennett and Jenkins star as pretty unlucky step-siblings -- mom and dad die in a car crash on their first family trip, and while on their own "the stunned teens roam the Greek countryside and befriend an expatriate vagabond (Nolte) who leads them to a mysterious spiritual ceremony." So it's kinda god-like, but in a style more fitting to Nolte. If this is your cup of tea, check out THR for info on tracking the film through Facebook.

And then there's the sleek and tough Maggie Q. Variety tells us she's going to star in a new historical action pic directed by Tian ZhuangZhuang called The Warrior and the Wolf. Tang Wei was originally linked to the film, but since Lust, Caution got her in trouble with China, methinks they looked elsewhere. Warrior will tell the story of two warriors in ancient China, and is currently in production in the Xinjiang province.

What probably won't be going into production any time soon, if ever, is a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada. In a discussion with MTV, Anne Hathaway said: "I'm really, really proud of Fox's decision not to pursue a sequel. When I did Bride Wars with them I asked what happened, and they said we can't make a story, and it's not worth it to damage the original film." That being said, she has wished for a decent story for a sequel, and would continue the franchise if it was right. If Fox hasn't come up with something worthwhile yet, they probably won't (kudos to the studio for not forcing the issue) ... but maybe thoughts of more Andy will lead Hathaway to a similar role elsewhere.

One last little bit: George Clooney might be the Lone Ranger? Really? Could you see Clooney and Depp together? Check AICN for more.

Although she made a name for herself on the short film circuit with Pee Shy, Deb Hagan wasn't too shy to score herself her directorial feature debut for College, as Erik shared in December. The simply-titled film is about a group of seniors who have a wild adventure while touring a prospective college -- in other words, PCU x 3. What their crazy experience is, we'll have to wait and see. In the interim, the cast is now coming together, and the cast is insinuating a lot about what this film is going to be about.

On the top of the list from The Hollywood Reporter is Drake Bell. You might recognize him as the "Drake" of the Nickelodeon show, Drake & Josh. However, you probably remember him as the 14-year-old Rob Gordon from John Cusack's High Fidelity -- the one who kissed Alison Ashmore before she moved on to Kevin Bannister. Bell is a musician, so I think there's a good chance his character will be linked to music in some way. The chances are upped by the fact that the next young man on the list is Kevin Covais -- who was on the fifth season of American Idol. Then we've got Andrew Caldwell (Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny) and Haley Bennett, surprise, surprise -- another singer who was just in Music and Lyrics with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. Safe assumption of the day: the three visiting teens love music, and maybe they're even in a band together. IMDb has further cast listed, which seem to be the college students, like Alona Tal who was the doomed Meg Manning on Veronica Mars, Nick Zano, Camille Mana and Nathalie Walker.