I have a soft spot for nearly everything Danny DeVito's directed. Death to Smoochy was a waste of a cast and a concept, but most everything else -- The War of the Roses, Matilda, and yes, even the underrated Duplex (I haven't seen Throw Momma from the Train in forever, but toss that one in too) -- has a dark, unforgiving sensibility that I really appreciate. For one thing, I'm pretty sure that DeVito is the only filmmaker to truly get what Roald Dahl was all about.

DeVito's next directing project, and his first for the big screen since Duplex flopped in 2003, will be an adaptation of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, a young adult book by a dude named Avi (yes, just Avi). It's about a 13 year-old girl who's crossing the Atlantic on her own in 1832 and gets caught in the middle of a mutiny. Saoirse Ronan, Morgan Freeman and Pierce Brosnan are attached to star.

The funny thing is, I read The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle at some point while traversing the middle school netherworld back in the mid-to-late 90's, but I'll be damned if I remember a single thing about it. (The plot does sound vaguely familiar. I think there might be a parrot involved, but I'm not sure.) To Kill a Mockingbird it ain't. But if DeVito (who also wrote the screenplay) can give it some character, I'm down.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Death Defying Acts, starring Guy Pearce, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Saoirse Ronan and Timothy Spall. The film follows famed magician Harry Houdini (Pearce), who, while on a tour of Britain in 1926, enters into a passionate affair with a Scottish psychic (Zeta-Jones). Ah, but this psychic has plans of her own, and, along with her daughter (Ronan), attempt to con the magician by using the one event that's plagued him for many years: the death of his mother. Back when Death Defying Acts premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, our own Scott Weinberg said it was "lovely to look at and packed with some solid doses of charm and wit ... this is full-bore Hollywood fantasy all the way."

Death Defying Acts arrives in theaters in NY and LA on July 11.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive teaser poster for City of Ember (click to enlarge), due out this October 10th courtesy of 20th Century Fox and Walden Media. Based on the best-selling novel from Jeanne Duprau, City of Ember was written by Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands) and directed by the very talented Gil Kenan (Monster House). Oh, but the talent doesn't stop there -- check out this cast: Bill Murray, Saoirse Ronan, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Toby Jones and Harry Treadaway. And did I mention it was produced by Tom Hanks?

And here's a synopsis for ya: "For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights - underground. But Ember's once powerful generator is failing . . . and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. Now, two teenagers in a race against time, must search Ember for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of the city's existence, and help the citizens escape before the lights go out forever."

Early buzz tells us the film looks gorgeous, so that's definitely a good sign. We've also been told that the first trailer for City of Ember will debut in front of Prince Caspian this weekend. (Chalk up another reason to hang with those peeps over in Narnia.) Once again, City of Ember arrives in theaters on October 10th.

So who's excited for this one?

I was assigned to review I Could Never Be Your Woman last year about this time, but the theatrical release date was pushed back at the eleventh hour. The movie then had a fall release date ... which also vanished. Now this romantic comedy starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd and written/directed by Amy Heckerling has gone direct to DVD with no U.S. theatrical release at all. You'd think this must mean the movie is a real stinker, but that's not the case. (Entertainment Weekly has an interview with Heckerling that tells the story behind the release problems, which seem to be grounded in financial and distribution snafus.)

I Could Never Be Your Woman is almost an entertaining, lightweight comedy, except for one flaw: its message is about as subtle as those in a Disney sports movie. Rosie (Pfeiffer) is a 40-year-old TV writer/producer who fears she is growing too old for her job, and too old and ugly for romance. When she falls for Adam (Rudd, who was in Heckerling's Clueless back in 1995), who auditions for a bit part on her show, she continually tries to halt the relationship because the age gap worries her so much. The young people all seem to be jeering at her; the old guys get to be fat and jerky and have no trouble finding work or attractive partners. Meanwhile, her teenage daughter Izzie (Saoirse Ronan) has just started being interested in boys, and she is suffering from body issues too.

Best Supporting Actress

Nominees:

Cate Blanchett -- I'm Not There

Julia Roberts -- Charlie Wilson's War

Saoirse Ronan -- Atonement

Amy Ryan -- Gone Baby Gone

Tilda Swinton -- Michael Clayton

Predicted Winner: Amy Ryan

Gone Baby Gone had surprise written all over it. The first surprise was that Ben Affleck could direct. The second surprise is that Ryan's edgy, emotional performance as a morally mushy mom actually got noticed at the end of the year. The third surprise is that she could actually win. But it's no surprise that Ryan ("The Wire," Before the Devil Knows You're Dead) has been a rising star for some time.

Now it's your turn to vote ...

Chalk up another stunning achievement for Joe Wright, who must now be recognized as an auteur with few equals of his age and experience in world cinema. With Atonement, an exacting and relentlessly faithful adaptation of Ian McEwan's 2002 novel about the seismic repercussions of a betrayal in a WWII-era English family, Wright has shaped and refined that uniquely blended style -- at once as calculating as Kubrick and yet receptive and attentive to intimacy and raw feeling -- that made his debut film, 2005's Pride & Prejudice, such an unexpected and welcome surprise. Much like Anthony Minghella, his more senior contemporary who has a bold acting cameo in this film, Wright is an artist who staunchly refuses to run away from the artificiality of cinema. Instead, he co-opts and embraces it. He does so in big ways, such as in a splurgy and acrobatic tracking shot that occurs halfway through Atonement and takes about six minutes to complete, and in smaller, throwaway moments, such as an aggressively painted three-shot on a boat, with Keira Knightley posed exactly in the center.

The year is 1935 and Knightley is Cecilia, a chain-smoking waif who, despite the advantages of her upper class existence, seems on the verge of expiring through sheer boredom. Her only noticeable activity is her flirtation with Robbie (James McAvoy) who is, he tells us, "not a toff." In other words, his situation is closer to that of Elizabeth Bennett in Pride & Prejudice -- he knows how to move in high society, but has not yet found a means to anchor himself to it. When we first see Cecilia and Robbie together, it's through the spying eyes of Cecilia's little sister Briony (Saoirse Ronan), a young teen whose natural tendency is toward fantasy and make-believe -- a passion that's only partly diverted into useful pursuits, like writing. As the movie opens, we see Briony finishing one of her childish plays and recruiting the household members to put it on. Later, she watches from afar as Cecilia and Robbie flirt by an outdoor fountain -- he accidentally breaks a vase, and she sinks into the water to fetch a piece of it, before stepping out again in a mostly transparent dress.

Susan Sarandon is about to play a grandmother in one of the best novels of 2002, but I was taken aback when I first read that last week -- is she really grandmother-age already? Anyway, I tend to trust Peter Jackson's decision-making (as long as an oversized ape is not involved.) He'll of course be directing an adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel, The Lovely Bones. It's an incredible story about a young woman who is abducted, raped and murdered; we follow the aftermath from her point of view as she rests in heaven, looking over the lives of her family and her killer. She (and we) watch as some family members try to get on with their lives, the sister grows into adulthood and the killer continues on his own journey. The book is a tragic, compelling story that could really benefit from a big-budget, big-screen push, and the fantastical but true-to-the-source world of Lord of the Rings that Jackson created is proof enough that he can balance his own creativity with honoring an author's vision.

The film has not only nabbed Sarandon, but another favorite of mine, Stanley Tucci, to play the murderer. Playing the kid watching everything from above will be newcomer Saoirse Ronan. And, of course, the cast also includes Rachel Weisz and Ryan Gosling. Production begins this fall and the pic will probably be ready for release by fall of 2008.

It has been a while since we got the first trailer for Keira Knightley's upcoming film, Atonement. In April, there was the first, haunting trailer. Using a collection of images and scenes with little dialogue, it covered all of the important plot points if you knew the story, and just looked intriguing if you didn't. Although we're still a bit away from the December 7 limited release date, a new trailer has been released. While it uses a lot of the same images and scenes from the first trailer, it fleshes out the basis of the story.

Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) is a 13-year-old girl who misconstrues a flirtation between a young man named Robbie (James McAvoy), and her older sister, Cecilia (Knightley). She falsely accuses him of a crime, and the ramifications of that follow them all through the second World War. The trailer details a lot of this mistake, covering the flirtation, Briony's spying and meddling and her staunch claim that Robbie is responsible for the crime: "Yes, I saw him. I saw him with my own eyes." The film is still looking pretty good, and it is nice to see some solid trailers supporting it. This is only the first of three period films that Knightley has wrapped. After dipping into WWII, we'll get to see her opposite Michael Pitt in the 19th century Silk, and then in the Dylan Thomas romance triangle The Edge of Love.

I've been stoked about Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones being made into a movie since development was first announced, although admittedly, it took me a while to jump on the "Peter Jackson is the perfect director for this film" bandwagon. Don't get me wrong, I like Jackson, and I think he did one hell of a job with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I just wasn't sure he was the right guy to direct this tale of a murdered 14-year-old girl who watches the aftermath of her disappearance on her family -- and the guy who killed her -- from heaven.

I warmed up to Jackson when he cast Ryan Gosling and Rachel Weisz as Jack and Abigail Salmon, the parents of Susie Salmon, the murdered girl; then just a few days ago news came that Jackson had finally cast the all-important role of Susie (much speculation had floated around the internet on that, with Dakota Fanning being the name I most frequently heard bantered about) with Irish actress Saoirse Ronan. There's been no announcement yet on who will play Susie's sister, who is also an important character in the book, but we do at last have a name associated with one of the most pivotal roles -- the murderer.

The Hollywood Reporter has a story up today that Stanley Tucci is in negotiations to play the part of child molester/murderer George Harvey. Tucci shone on screen in The Devil Wears Prada and he's a great character actor, but he's not the first person that would have come to mind for the role of this type of bad guy -- which makes him perfect for the part. That's the thing about sexual predators -- they don't usually look like the bogeyman, they look just like the nice guy next door, the guy who tends to his garden, waves at the neighbors all friendly-like but never invites anyone in, keeps to himself while blending into the scenery. Tucci has the ability to play that to a tee; casting someone who actually looks evil would be way too obvious; the normal-looking guy who harbors the dirty little secret that he lures little girls to an early grave is far more sinister.

Between the casting news and the early excerpt of Jackson's script, I can't wait to see this movie now. What do you think of how the casting is shaping up? And are you excited about seeing Jackson bring The Lovely Bones to life on the big screen?

It definitely seemed that Peter Jackson was taking his time with casting his big screen version of Alice Sebold's bestseller, The Lovely Bones, but we're now one step closer with Variety reporting that Irish actress Saoirse Ronan has been cast as Susie Salmon, the victim of a brutal crime at the hands of a local serial killer. The story revolves around the 'ghost' of the young murdered girl who watches her family and friends grieve from her spot in a 'personalized afterlife'. Ronan only has a handful of credits, and most of them are in television, but she has been busy this year with the film adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel Atonement with Keira Knightley, where she plays a vindictive girl who falsely accuses a man of a crime. Ronan is also set to star in the Fox Walden fantasy film City of Ember, based on the novel by Jean DuPrau.

Last month, James had news of an excerpt from Jackson's script, and based on that, it sounds like Jackson has been putting his time to good use since the collapse of the live action Halo film last year. In May, he began shopping the project around before he finally settled on Dreamworks; the studio had been trying for years to secure the film rights to the novel, so the deal seemed to work out for everyone. Already signed to play Ronan's parents are Ryan Gosling and Rachel Weisz, so, the only missing piece of the puzzle seems to be the role of the young girl's murderer. Bones is set to start shooting this October, so I would expect to hear at least one more casting announcement soon, so stay tuned.