I know I'm not the first person to come to this conclusion, but Matthew McConaughey really does seem to have a charmed existence. Sure, he makes some crappy movies, but they keep paying him to star and we keep paying to see them in theaters. Coming Soon reports that the perpetually shirtless actor (I'm not complaining, mind you) has struck a deal with Anchor Bay Entertainment to release Surfer Dude, a comedy that he produced.

McConaughey stars as Steve Addington, a surf bum who returns home to Malibu after a world tour. The good times don't last long, and when the waves disappear for the whole season, Addington starts to go off the rails. In true stoner fashion, producer Mark Gustawes was quoted as saying, "Matthew plays a character who's a throwback to the '70s: Peace, love, and a righteous wave is what 'Surfer, Dude' is all about. Anchor Bay dug it -- and we decided to surf it, together." Classic, brah. McConaughey scored some (kinda) big names for the film including Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson -- I can only imagine the dust clouds of smoke coming out of those trailers.

Anchor Bay will release the film in theaters this summer, but they're also planning to release the film onto DVD shortly after. Back in the old days, when a studio jumped on the home video release it meant the movie was no good. Luckily, these days a studio can spin it into a bright shining example of the new face of film distribution.

Surfer Dude will coast into theaters in late summer.

Oren Moverman's upcoming directorial debut, The Messenger, already seemed pretty tasty when Jessica posted that the super-talented Ben Foster had signed on to star. Then Jena Malone and Eamonn Walker signed on. Now, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton have also joined the cast. Unfortunately, there's no word on who they'll all be playing, beyond Foster starring.

Foster will play an army dude who is assigned to one of the crappiest jobs out there, aside from cannon fodder. He gets teamed up with someone he doesn't like and has to inform families when their loved ones have died in combat. Somehow, he ends up falling for a soldier's widow, which I imagine complicates matters. THR goes on to state that this is being billed as "a poignant, life-affirming road movie." As a "road movie," it could be that Foster drives around to tell these families. However, he needs enough time to fall for a widow, so maybe we're going to get some military Three for the Road type action? Whatever the case, the film starts production on May 20, so maybe we'll hear more soon.

Who would you rather be on the road with: Ben Foster or Woody Harrelson?

Upon first hearing Josh Hartnett mention his starring role in the fantasy action flick Bunraku, I had a hard time believing the film was ever going to happen. It's not every day a movie has paper mache puppets, origami, comic books, video games AND German expressionism. Plus, Hartnett was comparing the look of the film to everything from Hitchcock to Michel Gondry. To be honest, the whole thing sounded like a mess. But, I guess it was all sorted out because The Hollywood Reporter announced that Demi Moore has just signed to star in the role of a captive courtesan to an evil warlord.

Guy Moshe (who also wrote the script) will direct the story of a lone drifter (Hartnett) who blows into town with revenge on his mind, but is soon faced with even bigger problems than he started with. Woody Harrelson also signed to play 'The Bartender' (in a bar where everyone knows your name?) and Japanese actor Shun Sugata (Kill Bill) has been cast in the role of 'Uncle'.

With the news that Battle in Seattle will open the Seattle International Film Festival, and coverage of the recent Olympic protests on every channel, it couldn't be a better time to release the trailer for the protest drama. Movieset is currently hosting the full trailer for the film set during the infamous World Trade Organization riots in Seattle in 1999.

In 1999, the World Trade Organization (WTO) convened in Seattle, Washington for a global trade negotiation conference. Before anyone knew what had happened, over 40,000 protesters had amassed outside the conference buildings and the anti-globalization group, Direct Action Network, had total control over downtown intersections. Unfortunately, the protests erupted into violence and a state of emergency pitted demonstrators against the National Guard and local police.

Stuart Townsend's directorial debut has a huge cast including Ray Liotta, Charlize Theron, Michelle Rodriguez, Martin Henderson, Channing Tatum, André Benjamin, and Woody Harrelson. Judging by Eric's SXSW review it doesn't look like all that star power has helped the film all that much. Battle was originally scheduled to be released in March, but has been moved back to September. It makes much more sense to release this kind of 'earnest' political drama when everyone is finished with summer popcorn flicks and are ready for something with just a little substance, however heavy-handed it might be.

[via Coming Soon]

It's been almost a year since I saw Zak Penn's poker mockumentary The Grand when it first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and I seriously cannot wait to see it again. You won't hear much about it because it's a smaller flick, but it packs one heckuva cast and it seriously rivals the films of Christopher Guest -- in fact, I'd go as far as saying The Grand is better than anything Guest has put out in awhile. I will admit, though, that The Grand is not for everyone.

It's tough to sell a mock, since some people just don't get the humor in it. Put it this way: If you dig shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm or Seinfeld, you'll certainly enjoy The Grand. It stars Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, David Cross (who's hysterical), Ray Romano (in his greatest role ever), Dennis Farina, Werner Herzog ... and so many more. This flick boasts an all-star team of funny folks -- and the entire story is set in the world of high-stakes poker.

I haven't seen one commercial or advertisement for The Grand, so since it was one of my favorite comedies last year (since that's when I saw it), I felt a post like this was necessary. I really want this film to get some love, because it's seriously a real comedic gem. Wanna laugh this weekend? Go see The Grand. Odds are you'll love it.

Check out a clip from the film after the jump ...

(For more, here's my review of The Grand from last year's Tribeca fest, as well as my interview with director Zak Penn.)

The complete line-up for the second edition of the AFI Dallas International Film Festival has been announced, and beyond the galas and the glitter, the programming team has assembled an intriguing schedule. Robert Wilonsky of Unfair Park was the first to post the news and highlighted several of his recommendations.

First, though, the stars: Helen Hunt will appear in support of her directorial debut Then She Found Me, which will serve as the Opening Night Gala on March 27, and Charlize Theron and Woody Harrelson will walk the red carpet for the closing night presentation, Battle in Seattle. Sometime in between, Robert De Niro and Barry Levinson will come out hustling for their latest, What Just Happened? Special awards will be given to Hunt, Theron, Jack Lemmon (in care of the late actor's widow, Felicia Farr), Mickey Rooney (?!), and Todd Wagner.

AFI Dallas established itself on the local social calendar last year as a premium civic-boosting event. That's good for the city, but as a film buff, I'm glad to see more international films in the narrative competition, more docs, an expanded and ace-looking section devoted to music docs ("Deep Ellum Sounds"), an entirely recommended six-film "Mavericks" section (featuring the French Chrysalis and the Japanese Vexille), and a ton of shorts. There's a fair share of titles that are dragging around lukewarm notices (see What Just Happaned? above), but I'm glad that local audiences will have a chance to decide for themselves. Cinematical will be covering the festival, which begins on March 27 and runs through April 6.

Despite an intense marketing push, Will Ferrell's latest sports comedy just couldn't hold up to his previous two efforts. Semi-Pro did take the number one spot at the box office this weekend, but it did so with a measly $15 million. Compared to last year's Blades of Glory (opened with $33 million) and Talladega Nights (opened with $47 million), that $15 million doesn't look so great -- and it's certainly not the way New Line wanted to go out (even though they are, technically, going out on top).

So why didn't anyone go see this film? Granted, people did go see it (enough for $15 million), but it played in over 3,000 theaters. Did the R rating actually hurt the film? Keep in mind, both Blades and Talladega Nights were PG-13 -- so did a raunchy, foul-mouthed Ferrell keep audiences away? Or was it the supporting cast? Woody Harrelson and Andre Benjamin aren't Jon 'Napoleon Dynamite" Heder and Sacha "Borat" Baron Cohen. Did Ferrell need a little more juice around him in order to score bigger buckets? Maybe the whole '70s basketball thing wasn't so appealing? I guess the bigger question should be: Does this $15 million opening signal the beginning of the end of Ferrell's reign over the box office?

Why did you stay away from Semi-Pro, which I heard was actually pretty damn funny?

Part of me is really itching to see the upcoming film, Transsiberian, which I blogged about all the way back in December of 2006, while the other part of me is trying to prepare myself for disappointment. You hear about a murder mystery -- one that involves traveling couples on a train, whose trip becomes a murderous adventure with a foreign man hot on their trails -- there's one thing that should come to mind.

If it doesn't, you need to brush up on both your classic murder mystery reading and Agatha Christie* films. This project just screams Agatha Christie and Murder on the Orient Express, although I imagine that Ben Kingsley's Russian police officer won't be as quirky as Hercule Poirot.

The film has wrapped, and Variety reports that First Look Studios has picked it up, with plans to release it late this summer. (Finally!) To recap -- the movie is about an American couple played by Emily Mortimer and Woody Harrelson who find themselves "in a chase of deception and murder on the Siberian train journey from China to Moscow." Kate Mara and Eduardo Noriega co-star as a younger couple on the train, and as I noted above, Kingsley is an officer hot on their trail. In the meantime, you can check out an early review for the film here.

*And I should make sure I'm not confusing Orient with Appointment with Death when I write that! Thanks, Saavik.

I'm excited about this, and I really want you to get excited about this too. The Grand was one of my favorite comedies from last year, and I've been dying to watch it again ever since. The Grand? What's that? Well, the film premiered at the Tribeca Fest last May (where I reviewed it and interviewed writer-director Zak Penn), and it's a poker-themed mockumentary chock-full of some awesome character actors. Penn wrote and directed this gem, which stars folks like Woody Harrelson, David Cross, Ray Romano, Cheryl Hines, Werner Herzog, Richard Kind, Dennis Farina ... I seriously could go on and on.

But I don't have to, because the first trailer for The Grand has finally popped up on Yahoo. I stress, though, that this is a film where the best parts come in small packages. However, this trailer is pretty damn good. It establishes most of the main players, but the bits may not seem as funny until you're watching the actual film. Ray Romano, for example, is out of his mind here -- and I'm not a big Romano fan, yet I loved him in The Grand. Cross, as always, kills, and everyone else (from the main cast to the cameos) are all a riot. Seriously, go see this film when it comes out in March. You'll laugh your friggin' ass off, especially if you're a fan of shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld. The Grand hits theaters this March.

For more, check out the film's official website, where you can visit Larry's (David Cross' character) hysterical poker-themed website, http://icantbelieveigettoplaypokerdotcom777.net/.

Finally Josh Brolin received an award for his excellent performance in No Country for Old Men. He and the rest of the film's actors won the Screen Actors Guild Award for best ensemble cast Sunday night, giving No Country its second big win of the weekend (Joel and Ethan Coen received the top Directors Guild of America award Saturday). Along with Brolin, trophies went to cast-mates Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Garret Dilahunt, Tess Harper and Javier Bardem, who also won the SAG award for best supporting actor. While I'm not sure how many of No Country's performers actually received their own trophy, I'm hoping that both Kelly Macdonald and Barry Corbin were also included. No Country is one of those movies that wouldn't be the same without all of its main and supporting actors, and it is certainly fitting for it to have picked up this honor.

Other film winners from Sunday night include Daniel Day-Lewis, who surprised no one by being honored with the leading actor trophy. Even I'm getting a little bored with all of his awards, despite my agreement that his is the best performance of the year. I didn't even notice if any of the other nominees (George, Emile, Viggo and Ryan) showed up to the ceremony, which was one of the first red carpet awards events of the season. Picking up the award for leading actress was Julie Christie, further cementing the fact that I really need to see Away From Her already. The supporting actress honor went to Ruby Dee, who deserves it just for being the cutest old lady on screen last year, let alone for going up strong against both Denzel and Brolin in American Gangster. Finally, The Bourne Ultimatum won the new SAG award for best stunt ensemble and Charles Durning -- one of Cinematical's favorite character actors ever -- received a lifetime achievement award. Be sure to check out Moviefone's coverage of the awards for plenty of red carpet and ceremony photos.