Is there anyone out there who doesn't, in some way, love Rudy? The 1993 football film was a feel-good tale of a kid with the pressure of life on his shoulders, whose dream of playing football trumped his athletic skills, struggling grades, and the fact that he was much smaller than the other players. It was also Sean Astin during his early-90s film collection -- a Sgt in Memphis Belle, fiesty Billy Tepper in Toy Soldiers, and harborer of an Encino Man. Le sigh... Anyway, Rudy director David Anspaugh is dipping into the sports once again, with the sport that brought him lots of cred when he helmed Hoosiers.

Variety reports that Screen Gems has tapped him to direct the Charles Murray and Chris Parker-penned Phenom, the basketball movie I briefly mentioned in March when Stomp the Yard actor Chris Brown sign on to star. (The young actor had been trying to get Antoine Fuqua to direct the film, but who can argue with this choice?!) The film focuses on Brown, "a standout high school basketball player who goes pro after the media discovers he's the illegitimate son of the NBA's best player. Father and son are on a collision course as their teams meet on the road to the playoffs." It sounds like it could be a comedy, but this, like Rudy, is a listed as a drama. The production also stars Henry Simmons (Dad?)and Vanessa Williams (Mom?), and will cook up next year after Brown finishes his current concert tour. Are you ready to see Anspaugh's world of sports again?

Maybe it's because I just sat through the lazy, depressing Fred Claus. Maybe it's because I was expecting Tyler Perry in drag. Maybe it's because my holiday spirit is at an all-time low. Whatever the reason, This Christmas came as a complete surprise. I kinda loved the thing.

Loretta Devine plays Ma Dear, the matriarch of a sprawling Los Angeles-based family with a whole lot of secrets. A whole lot. There's Quentin (Idris Elba, Stringer Bell on The Wire -- the best show on television), a musician who owes big money to some bookies. There's Lisa (Regina King), trapped in an emotionally abusive marriage with the hissable Malcome (Laz Alonso). There's Kelli (Sharon Leal), a sexually frustrated businesswoman. There's Claude (Columbus Short), in love with a woman (Jessica Stroup) he's scared to introduce to his family. Ma Dear has a secret of her own regarding Joe (Delroy Lindo), something of a surrogate father to the Whitfield clan. Oh, and Baby (R&B sensation Chris Brown)? He wants to sing, damn it!

That's a lot of stories to keep afloat, and writer/director Preston A. Whitmore II handles that list and many more mini-dramas with ease. It's quite the balancing act. Whitmore has written and/or directed several smaller projects since 1995's Vietnam drama The Walking Dead, but Christmas will put him on the map in a big way.

Casting bites for the day:

• We've got one more person to add to the cast of Topher Grace's Kids in America, the flick about the guy who has that one last chance to get with the girl of his dreams during a party in the 80's. Ice Princess Michelle Trachtenberg began filming in Phoenix last week. Her part: a Cure and New Order-loving goth girl who clashes against "the Flock of Seagulls mentality surrounding her." It might seem like a big jump for the actress, but she was half-way there with Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin, so I bet she'll do just fine. Since MTV News says that the film is hoping to be the Dazed and Confused of the 80's, let's hope it does better than That '80s Show.
• There's yet another movie on the pike for Stomp the Yard actor Chris Brown, who has both After School and This Christmas coming later this year. This one is a basketball drama called Phenom. The 17-year-old is the only person cast so far, and there is no director, but he seems to be pretty active in the process: "I'm trying to get Antoine Fuqua, but there are so many different people we're trying to pitch it to as far as the actors and director is concerned." First step: Grammy nom, second step: stomping, third step: the world!
• Lastly, we've got the rest of the main cast set for Sci Fi Channel's upcoming Wizard of Oz re-imagining, Tin Man. Deschanel, Cumming and Dreyfus are being joined by Neal McDonough (The Hitcher) as the Tin Man former cop, Raoul Trujillo (Apocalypto) as Raw, the Wolverine-like creature and Kathleen Robertson (Splendor) as Azkadellia -- the wicked witch. It's not a bad cast to take on the weird project. My interest is up just to see Robertson as the "scintillatingly wicked sorceress." Do you think she'll don the famous tights?