carrie-anne moss Tagged Articles at Cinematical

We often tie our Tuesday Cinematical Seven picks with DVD releases, and this time, I was torn. On the one side, there was the out-to-lunch Hollywood science that allowed there to be identical cousins in The Patty Duke Show. But aside from the wonder of creating a girl with a crappy computer, a barbie, and some David Lee Roth personality, there wasn't much I felt could battle with cousins who look exactly alike. But then there's also the DVD release of the first two seasons of Felicia Day's famous web series, The Guild. Sold -- The Best Big-Screen Geek Girls.

Elisabeth's Geek Beat recently discussed what it means to be geek, and for the purposes of this list: It's on-screen characters who have smarts and delight in things that usual characters don't. They might love learnin', comics, computers, geek flicks, or even following around freaky people and collecting warped memorabilia. They're a little bit different, all sorts of kickass, and all sorts of worthy for the Best Big Screen Geek Girls. Check out the rundown after the jump and weigh in with your own picks!

About 35 years ago, writer/director Barra Grant was an actress and one of the Daughters of Satan (who got to be married to Tom Selleck). But the on-screen days ended in the 70s, and now she is gearing up for her latest film, a new romantic comedy that has a pretty solid ensemble cast. Variety reports that the new feature, which is called HangingOutHookingUpFallingInLove, stars the likes of Richard E. Grant, Carrie-Anne Moss, Janeane Garofalo, Rita Rudner, Camryn Manheim, Caroline Aaron, and Johnny Pacar.

The film will focus on "a newly separated father having to learn how to date again with help from his teenage son who himself dreams of conquering one girl's heart." How... full of love. There's really nothing about the description that sets it apart from other romcom fare, or that makes it sound anything less than super-sappy, but I'm wondering if that spice will be left up to the cast. There's some snarky talent in the mix, which could make things considerably more interesting, or just be another romcom derailment (think The MatchMaker).

But that aside ... While I understand how some misspelled words or noticeably bad grammar can help make a film's name memorable, is that really the best way to go? Why have a 7-word title all smushed together as one?

I never thought it would happen, but it looks like Tim Allen has finally gotten sick of his kid flicks and goofy entertainment, and is looking for a little variety. First came the half-family, half-adult Wild Hogs. Now he's got some older fare on the horizon that's being topped off with his feature directorial debut. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Allen will helm and star in Crazy on the Outside, an indie adult comedy that's looking to cast Ray Liotta, Carrie-Anne Moss, Julie Bowen (Boston Legal), and Kelsey Grammer in co-starring roles (they're all in negotiations).

Written by Judd Pillot and John Peaslee, the indie will focus on an "ex-con who finds his life outside of prison to be much crazier, especially once he enters his sister's world." There's no word on who will play who, but if Allen has the con role, he'll get to tap back into his bad-boy early days. Whatever the case, it'll be nice to see him without the Santa suit, and doing something indie with a fun cast. This could be his jump to more work behind the camera, but considering that his only other directorial credit is an episode of Home Improvement in 1999, I don't think this will be a career shift.

Carrie-Anne Moss has never made even the slightest impact on me in a film. She's a competent enough actress, but I can't point to a single performance she's given that I remember a thing about. She's an attractive enough woman, but I don't think I'd give her a second look on the street. She keeps getting good parts, though, and it sounds like she's just snagged another. She'll be joining Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie and Cameron Bright for Normal, a drama about the aftermath of a deadly car accident. I know what you're saying, "Who, who, and who?" Zegers played Felicity Huffman's son in Transamerica, Cameron Bright is the spooky kid who did great work in Birth, and Rennie plays Leoben Conoy on Battlestar Galactica.

In Normal, Moss will play "a mother filled with rage and unable to recover from the death of her teenage son in a car crash." Bright plays her twelve year-old son. Rennie plays "a literature professor trying to overcome his guilt from the accidental killing." Zegers plays "a young thief involved in a taboo love affair with his stepmother whose life becomes intertwined with the other characters." Normal is written by Travis McDonald and Carl Bessai, and directed by Bessai. If you're eager to be underwhelmed by Moss, she can be seen on the big screen right now in Disturbia -- reviewed by Scott here, this summer in the buzzed about zombie comedy Fido - reviewed by Kim here, and some time soon in Guy Ritchie's ABC crime series Suspect, which Monika told you about here.

Chewy movie morsels for Tuesday:

• Nick Films has decided to go back to one of the oldies but goodies of classic children's entertainment: the unicorn. With producer John Jacobs, the company has nabbed rights to Joe Aucoin's fantasy comedy spec, which is simply named ... Unicorn. The tale is about a single, over-worked father in Manhattan whose 5-year-old daughter really wants one of those fantastical creatures of her own. That's great and all, but are unicorns really the way to reach the kids these days? Let's just hope they don't widen appeal by placing pictures of them on the seat of sweatpants.
• Recently, Scott Weinberg brought us word that David Cronenberg, Howard Shore and Placido Domingo were going to adapt The Fly into an opera. Now, we've got rumors by way of Film-Ick that the non-Cronenberg movie remake is gearing up. According to the Canadian director, Nicolas Cage is itching to be in it. He reportedly told E!: "From what I hear, Nic Cage wants the part." Sure, the Jeff Goldblum hit was a remake itself, but do we really need to re-visit the topic every 20-30 years?
• After his crappy, crappy love-collaboration, Swept Away, Guy Ritchie has not only directed Revolver, but is gearing up for an ABC crime series, Suspect. Yes, another one, but to be extra-super different, this one looks at all of the suspects in a crime. Variety has now reported that Carrie-Anne Moss will play a "smart, plain-speaking cop" in the drama, joining Charles S. Dutton, Michael Ealy and Kathleen Munroe. Is Moss taking this role for some extra cash? Her career is still going strong, although I'm sure that her recent roles don't bring in half the money that The Matrix brought her.

Well... The Genies for 2007 have come and gone. Unsurprisingly, the French films remained supreme, although I'm sure there will be much discussion on which films were most worthy. The big victor was the Quebec biopic -- The Rocket. Based on Maurice Richard, a hockey legend from the Montreal Canadiens, the film nabbed 9 of the 13 categories it was nominated for -- including Direction, Actress, Actor, Editing and Cinematography -- basically most of the big ones.

But the biopic didn't nab best movie. You might think that it was because a superior, stunning cinematic achievement took the prize, but no. The honor went to, surprisingly, Bon Cop, Bad Cop. Sure, it's the top-grossing Canadian film of all time, which is great and all, but that honor used to be held by Porky's, and would you consider that award-winning fare? The Colm Feore feature beat out the likes of The Rocket, Guide de la Petite Vengeance and those Trailer Park Boys for the top spot. I'm glad to see a Feore film getting recognized, but it's just not award-winning material.

Tideland, Terry Gilliam's quirky tale, suffered a complete shut-out. Granted, it's a quirky, strange and sometimes slammed piece of cinema, but there is some art to it. No Best Actress win for the young and talented Jodelle Ferland, as I had hoped. She lost to honor to Rocket star Julie LeBreton. On the English-speaking side of things, Carrie-Anne Moss won the Supporting Actress Genie for her role in Snow Cake, and Jennifer Baichwal's Manufactured Landscapes won for Best Documentary. I guess every year can't be a C.R.A.Z.Y. year.

There's no more retirement for Julia Roberts. In fact, after lending her voice to both The Ant Bully and Charlotte's Web, she is starting to pile up the live-action film roles. Her political drama, Charlie Wilson's War is in post-production, and she's going to be knitting up a storm in The Friday Night Knitting Club. Apparently hungry for more, she has also signed on to star with Fido's Carrie-Anne Moss, ex-Alanis beau Ryan Reynolds and British actress Emily Watson in the upcoming family drama, Fireflies in the Garden.

The film will be directed by Dennis Lee. Not to be confused with the popular Canadian children's book author, Lee is a screenwriter and director who made his debut with student Academy Award-winning short film, Jesus Henry Christ, in 2003. Fireflies is Lee's partially-autobiographical story -- dealing with the struggle of commitment and love when a family is challenged by an unexpected tragedy. It sounds like the usual fare for Roberts -- love, mounting challenges and two-hankie drama, but I'm curious about Reynolds' involvement. The rest of the cast are no stranger to drama, but the Double-R is the kid from Fifteen who made it big in goofy comedies like Van Wilder. Will this be his Truman Show? It worked for one Canadian. Maybe it can work for another!

All is well in the peaceful town of Willard, where life seems permanently stuck in the 1950s. The sun is always shining, the flowers are always blooming -- and zombies handle most of the more mundane tasks, thus freeing up the good citizens of Willard to enjoy their lives. You see, several years back, space dust fell on the earth, causing the dead to rise and become flesh-eating legions of the undead. There were the terrible Zombie Wars, when mankind fought not to be cannibalized by the rotting corpses of friends and family, and then came ZomCon. ZomCon invented a security collar that, when attached around a zombie's neck and activated, it turns a vicious, flesh-devouring monster into a productive member of the community. Thanks to ZomCon, zombies deliver mail, take care of the trash, and do countless other menial tasks, and the living citizens of the community are safe -- so long as the collars work.

The Berlinale is underway with lots of exciting films to hear about. Here's what's been going down in Berlin, where all the falling snow has people thinking they're still at Sundance:

Golden Bear awards: Sir Ian McKellan (pictured) was awarded an Honorary Golden Bear, the Berlinale's top prize, at a ceremony following a special screening of his 1995 film Richard III, shown in tribute to McKellan. Polish director Andrzej Wajda is also to receive an Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement during the fest.