When people talk about killer vehicle movies (and they do), John Carpenter's 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's Christine usually heads the list, with Maximum Overdrive and maybe even Killdozer making their way into the discussion at some point. Plus I've always suspected there was some kind of demonic motivation behind Herbie in The Love Bug. Personally, I remember seeing The Car before any of these. The TV spots tantalized me during the film's 1977 release, and I eventually caught the movie on television in the early '80s. Now we've got a brand new DVD from Universal to fill the void left by the out of print version from Anchor Bay.

James Brolin stars as Wade Parent, a single father who works as a cop in a small southwestern town where the only type of criminal you usually find is a jay walker. He's been romancing a local school teacher named Lauren (Kathleen Lloyd), and he's just about got his two cute-as-a-button daughters (one of whom is played by Kyle Richards, who played Lindsey Wallace in the original Halloween) convinced that it's about time Dad got hitched again. Now, however, we've got bodies piling up, thanks to a mysterious black car of indeterminate design (although one poster over at IMDB reports that it's a modified 1971 Lincoln) with no license plates and opaque windows. The first victims are a pair of bicyclists and a hippie with a French horn who's so annoying that, despite being run over four times, could easily have done with a few more swipes.

I have absolutely no idea why, but I'm kind of into Eddie Murphy's new family comedy called NowhereLand. I should be having flashbacks to the disappointing roles he's taken on over the last decade. I could go on and on about how much of a bummer it was that they could make Pirates of the Caribbean into a great series, and then flounder so pitifully with my favorite ride -- The Haunted Mansion. But forget Disney. NowhereLand is about a man named Evan who solves his work problems by exploring the fantasy world of his six-year-old daughter. It's the sort of flick that could be really good if it has some smarts, and I'm hoping that producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura is right when he says this is a role Murphy hasn't played before. I think Eddie not becoming five million different characters would be a good first step. However, I'm probably putting too many positive expectations on this project.

But on to the new castmates that The Hollywood Reporter just announced. Murphy and Thomas Haden Church (who will play his ruthless co-worker) are being joined by Brown Sugar's Nicole Ari Parker, DeRay Davis from License to Wed and ol' Beverly Hills Cop alum Ronny Cox. Parker will play Evan's estranged wife, who can't understand his preoccupation with their daughter's imaginary world, Davis plays his best friend -- "a therapist who calls himself the Man Whisperer and believes that all Evan needs to overcome his troubles is a good cry," and finally Cox plays the boss of a capital fund group who thinks Evan is doing some insider trading, but doesn't care as long as it works. Now all we need is the young tyke and we'll be set.