james caviezel Tagged Articles at Cinematical

If you could somehow remove all of the powerful, heart-wrenching moments from Memento, The Usual Suspects, Saw and Reservoir Dogs, and replace them with a slew of flashbacks, a lazy script and an assortment of unnecessary twist endings, you'd wind up with Unknown -- a psychological thriller that loses its edge soon after exposing a flashy and intriguing premise.

On the surface, it's a fantastic set-up: Five guys wake up in a warehouse, bloody and beaten with no idea who they are or how they got there; the only thing that's certain is whoever placed them in this situation does not want them to leave anytime soon. Two of the men are tied up, one of which is suffering from a gun shot wound. While the first of the men, Jean Jacket (James Caviezel), regains consciousness, a phone is ringing somewhere off-screen. As he stumbles into a side office to pick up the receiver, for a brief second we expect the person on the other end to ask, "So James, which scary movie do you feel like ripping off?" Instead, it's a strange voice -- a voice that seems to know who its speaking to, even though Jean Jacket is clueless ... except for that loaded handgun sitting in front of him.

By now, everyone on planet Earth has seen the new video campaign ad featuring Michael J. Fox, shaking uncontrollably from Parkinson's tremors as he endorses Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill of Missouri. Fox, like McCaskill, is a vocal supporter of embryonic stem cell research and in the ad he lays into incumbent Republican Jim Talent for not wanting to cough up the dough for more funding. Now get ready for the "answer ad" that's been thrown up as a rebuttal, featuring none other than the Light of the World himself, James Caviezel. This ad begins with Caviezel directly addressing the viewer in unsubtitled Aramaic before handing off to some sports notables and television personalities, each of whom lay out reasons why the viewer must not to be fooled into supporting the measure.

Caviezel returns to close the show, gazing at us like the filthy sinners we are and warning us "don't do it." Whether you support the stem cell measure or not, you have to wonder if this kind of thing represents a taste of what's in store for us in the future -- candidates coming up with a message and then shopping for a celebrity who will endorse it on television. One day politicians will wake up and realize that our votes can't be bought so easily, right? Yeah, I know -- don't be so gullible, McFly.

So anyway, who do you think would win in a street-brawl-for-it-all between The Savior of Man and The Man Who Will Not Be Called Chicken? On the one hand, Jesus can probably time travel without having to get up to 88mph, but on the other hand, Marty can walk on water if he has the hoverboard with power.

Here's a quick casting round up from the past few days:

• Tilda Swinton is close to watching Brad Pitt age backwards, as she's in negotiations to star alongside the Hot One in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Based on a story from F. Scott Fitzgerald and directed by David Fincher (who we're hoping learned a lesson from the dismal Panic Room and will get himself back on track), pic also stars Cate Blanchett and revolves around a man who, at age 50, suddenly begins to get younger and younger.
• Kristin Scott Thomas will play Lady Elizabeth, the mother of Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman in The Other Boleyn Girl, based on the novel by Philippa Gregory. Eric Bana is set to become the envy of every male in the world, as he will play the role of King Henry VIII, the man with whom Johansson and Portman both fight over. Bastard!
• James Caviezel (aka Jesus Christ Superstar) is in talks for the lead role in Outlander, The Weinstein Co.'s epic sci-fi flick. Directed by Howard McCain (off a script he co-wrote with Dirk Blackman), pic tells of a human-like alien who accidentally winds up on Earth in 509 AD and sets loose some horrific creature that he subsequently must destroy. The one question on his mind: What would Jesus do?
• Comedian Carlos Mencia has hopped on the Farrelly Brothers bandwagon, taking a part in their upcoming comedy, Seven Day Itch. Mencia will join Ben Stiller. who plays a man that, while on his honeymoon, accidentally falls in love with another woman. Co-starring in the flick are Michelle Monaghan and Malin Akerman. I'd expect Mencia to play some wacky guy Stiller meets (and subsequently looks for advice from) while on his trip.