I've been hankering for a good crime flick with a women in the lead for a long time (I can't be the only one who thinks that Catherine Zeta Jones' pregnant drug runner deserved way more screen time in Traffic). But, in the grand tradition of most crime movies, women are relegated to the sidelines as either 'the downfall of the anti-hero', or, 'sexy punching bag' -- neither of which is very flattering, but hopefully that will change with Queen of the South. Variety reports that Eva Mendes has signed to star in the big screen adaptation of Arturo Perez Reverte's crime novel, La reina del sur (Queen of the South).

The story is being touted as a "female Scarface," and centers on a woman who flees to Spain when her drug-dealing boyfriend is murdered. Once she arrives, she starts her own narcotics operation to finance revenge against her lover's murderers -- and quickly becomes top dog. Joining Mendes in the cast are Josh Hartnett and Ben Kingsley in as-yet unnamed roles.

News of the flick first surfaced last year, with Mendes, Jennifer Lopez, and Penelope Cruz on the short list for the role, but in the end Mendes won out. Personally I would have liked to see Lopez take on the role (it's been too long since we had the chance to see her be a bad ass), but I guess in a pinch Mendes will do.

Do you think Warners made the right choice with Mendes? Or is there anyone else out there who would have liked to watch Lopez 'tussle' just one more time?

I admit it, I have never, ever liked Jennifer Lopez. Part of this stems from that old Movieline interview where she rags on everyone with a shocking amount of overcharged ego. But the rest stems from the fact that I haven't liked her in anything I have seen her in. At least if I could appreciate the performances, the ego would have had some merit.

And I'm not the only anti-J-Lo moviegoer out there. You know you've got to reexamine your career when you get killed off in Jersey Girl and everyone applauds (a move reminiscent of Segal's clap-inducing demise in Executive Decision). But she still trucks on with movie roles, trying to make her cred meet her big tabloid name. But now Lopez, Marc Anthony, and her kids are heading for reality television, in a move I can only see as desperate.

Almost one year ago, I fell head over heels for Annie Leibovitz's photographic recreations of famous, animated Disney scenes. She shot Scarlett Johansson as the running Cinderella, Beyonce Knowles as Alice in Wonderland, spinning around in teacups that came from Disney World, and David Beckham as the Prince who fights off Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty. Now the next set of images have hit the net. They are housed over at The Disney Blog, and I'm still swooning.

I think that what I like most about these images is that they're awesome even if I don't particularly care for the people in them. Leibovitz knows how to capture the essence of each scene, and it makes me wonder just how stunning a carefully-plotted, full-length feature would look. (D*mn good, but long to do, and expensive to boot!) This time around, we've got the above, which features Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan with Gisele Bundchen as Wendy Darling and a teeny Tina Fey as Tinker Bell. But there's also images with Jessica Biel as Pocahontas, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony taking a magic carpet ride in Aladdin, and one more from that film, which looks split from the first, that has Whoopi Goldberg as the Genie.

As an added bonus, TDB also has a bunch of behind-the-scenes pics, which help you see how these great images came to be.

You would have thought that by now 20th Century Fox would have given up on the idea of a Dallas movie. What with casting changes and script overhauls -- not to mention a mediocre fan reaction to the whole idea in the first place. Now it looks like yet another snafu has hit the production. Page Six (the Mecca of gossip) is reporting that John Travolta has been dropped from the cast and replaced by Ben Stiller in the role of J.R. Ewing. According to Page Six's sources, Travolta was "let go about two weeks ago. He had the role of J.R. Ewing taken from him" -- ouch! But don't feel too bad for Travolta; the same sources went on to say that, "John was given a nice seven-figure 'gift' to go away quietly".

So if you are still keeping track, Travolta is officially the last remaining element of the original Dallas film that Fox had planned back in 2006. Originally the film was going to be a big-budget drama with an all star cast including Jennifer Lopez and Shirley Maclaine. Cut to one year later and the budget shrunk from $65 million to what is now described as "much less" and the cast has been scrapped. Also, instead of a drama, Fox changed directors to hire Betty Thomas to make a comedic 'behind-the scenes' version of the series. This would probably explain how Stiller got involved in the film, since he's almost as an unlikely a choice for the role as Travolta was in the first place. Stiller's reps have yet to comment on his involvement, so stay tuned to Cinematical for updates.

It's funny, for a movie that probably only ten people are looking forward to seeing in the theater, there's certainly a lot of gossip surrounding it. Cinema Blend is reporting that their sources are telling them James Brolin, Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights), Diane Ladd, and Julie Bentz are in negotiations to star in the update of the classic 80's soap, Dallas. Brolin would star as Jock Ewing, Ladd would play Ms. Ellie, and Kelly would take over from Victoria Principal in the part of Pamela Ewing.

Last April, word spread that the production had stalled, and I think most of us thought this would be the last anyone would hear about the film. But, this August, Scott brought us the news that the film was not only back on track, but this time it would be made as a comedy with Betty Thomas at the helm. There was was no more talk of Jennifer Lopez and Luke Wilson, but John Travolta is supposedly still on board to play the big kahuna himself; J.R. Ewing.

If Blend's sources can be trusted, then the film has gone back to being a drama and the comedy script has been tossed -- yeesh, can't these people make up their minds? But I would be inclined to believe that the film will be a comedy after all since Thomas has signed on to direct. Dallas is expected to go into production this summer, that is if they can ever make up their minds about what movie they are going to make. Oh, and there's also a little strike that might happen too.

Let's start with the strongest point about El Cantante, the joint effort of real-life married couple Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony to bring to life the story of salsa legend Héctor Lavoe: JLo turns in a decent performance as Lavoe's wife. There, I said it -- and I know without even looking at any other reviews that a lot of critics will either outright disagree or gloss over her contribution to the film, but this is the closest I've seen her come to fulfilling the promise she showed way back in Out of Sight in 1998, and it's nice to see her in good form. Unfortunately, El Cantante -- at least as the title implies -- is about Lavoe, not his wife, but the movie focuses at least as much on the wife of the King of Salsa as it does on the man after whom it's titled, and that's one of the film's weaknesses.

El Cantante takes the life of a fascinating and complex man and waters it down into a decidedly uninspiring and vanilla biopic that does nothing to push the boundaries of the genre or make us want to see further efforts to bring the tales of famous, troubled singers to life. Part of the problem is that, while Lavoe's story is historically significant to fans of salsa music, and he undoubtedly influenced the genre and contributed to it greatly, there's just not much in his personal life -- at least as it's presented in this film -- that's unique among famous musicians. Troubled relationships with family and friends, drama in his relationship with his wife, Puchi, the inevitable drug addiction (seriously, are there any famous musicians out there who haven't struggled with drug addiction?), and the inevitable trajectory of rise and fall of fame and fortune, just aren't that compelling in and of themselves anymore.

The slide of Jennifer Lopez into complete irrelevance seems to be continuing unabated, based on the trailer for her next film, El Cantante. Even after watching it, I can barely make out any semblance of a story, except that it seems to center on Marc Anthony as a singer who is trying to conquer the Latin music scene and Lopez is his woman. According to CinemaBlend, where we first saw the poster for the film, it's a "dramatic biography of Puerto Rican salsa pioneer Hector Lavoe. The film follows Lavoe's (Anthony) passionate relationship with Puchi (Lopez) and his skyrocket to international fame. In the mix are a lot of drugs and angst."

I know Out of Sight was a long time ago, but has Hollywood so completely forgotten Lopez's good performance in that movie that they are offering her nothing but dreck like this? A quick glance at her IMDB page reveals one project on the sked for 2008 called The Governess, but she is the only name beside it so far and I've never heard of it, so it looks like the kind of project that stars say they know nothing about at press junkets. And this Marc Anthony character? I know one thing about him: he gave such a bad performance in Tony Scott's Man on Fire that it's stuck in my mind ever since. Seriously, Tony's red ballcap must have gone spinning every time this guy uttered a line. Marc Anthony, you need to stick to your day job, whatever that may be. For those who still plan to see El Cantante after seeing the trailer, it's scheduled to arrive in theaters on August 1.

If there is such a thing as a "Hollywood martyr" then Marilyn Monroe is probably the patron saint. She was the ultimate in cautionary tales about the destructive side of fame, but it doesn't always have to end so tragically. Ben Affleck's engagement to Jennifer Lopez and the gossip whirlwind that was "Bennifer" was an example of what happens when the gossip machine looks for fresh meat, and the results weren't pretty -- although, they might have been asking for it after that video. Now, that was brutal.

Affleck has begun to pull himself from the wreckage and is building credibility as an actor again for his work in Hollywoodland and Smokin' Aces. He'll also be making his directing debut with Gone, Baby, Gone. Affleck is steering clear of the high profile celebrity life and seems happier because of it. A profile from The New York Times Syndicate has Affleck musing on his brush with A-list fame: "Nothing is inside doing those things. It doesn't matter. I had to learn that by having my family that's what really matters. I'm lucky I was able to see the hollowness of fame, but I got pretty dinged up over the years." It looks like Affleck might have learned his lesson about keeping his private life out of his professional life, but Lopez certainly hasn't; since she stars opposite husband Marc Anthony in the upcoming biopic of singer Hector Lavoe (El Cantante) -- some people never learn.

Odds and ends from Thursday:

• According to a story in Star magazine, Jennifer Lopez has abruptly dropped out of the big-screen remake of Dallas, based off the classic TV show. In the film, Lopez was set to star as J.R. Ewing's alcoholic wife Sue Ellen, opposite John Travolta. No word yet on why she bailed, but it's certainly not the first time someone has left the production. Earlier this year, director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) quit after he was upset over casting choices. Hmm, I wonder if Lopez was one of the choices he was upset about. Shirley MacLaine and Luke Wilson are currently in negotiations to round out the cast. Personally, why not throw Sharon Stone in the Sue Ellen role -- she'd make a great alcoholic. Casino, anyone?
• Universal has snatched up rights to the comic book, The Leading Man, with Marc Platt Prods. and Closed on Mondays Entertainment set to produce. Comic, which is written by B. Clay Moore and illustrated by Jeremy Haun, revolves around the adventures of the world's biggest movie star, Nick Walter. Story follows Walter as he "uses his celebrity, access, lifestyle and his films' international location shoots as a cover for his real job, that of an international spy." Pic sounds fun, but I would imagine they would need a huge A-list celebrity to make this believable. Brad Pitt, maybe? George Clooney would also be fun to watch in a role like this. Thoughts? Opinions?
• The last thing I expected to come out of this whole Mel Gibson debacle was a movie rumor, but that's exactly what Moviehole reported on Thursday. Word around Warner Bros. is they've been down with shelling out another Lethal Weapon sequel for a couple years now, except Mel Gibson refused to be involved. Seeing as the franchise depended on Gibson reprising his role as Sergeant Martin Riggs, the sequel lost steam. However, with projects disappearing faster than Gibson's career, some folks are saying the actor may now jump onboard a Lethal Weapon 5, if only because it would be a good film to help win back some of his fanbase. Makes sense, no?

Remember that movie Flashdance or, as it's known in Mexico, Electodanza? Oh what a feeling! Well, it was based on the life of a real live construction worker-turned-dancer named Maureen Marder, who sold her story to Paramount for a measly $2,300. The woman has been trying to sue the studio over copyright interests for years, including damages sought for the re-creation of scenes from the movie in Jennifer Lopez' I'm Glad music video. She just lost her most recent attempt at the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, but the panel of judges there weren't completely unmoved by her pight. They agreed that Marder's original deal was unfair, but added: "There is simply no evidence that her consent was obtained by fraud, deception, misrepresentation, duress or undue influence."

Basically, what the judges wanted to say is, "we see that you got royally screwed, but the fault was in your own stupidity." Hopefully this case will teach others to get smart or get a good lawyer before deciding to sell their life story to a producer. I hope to make at least six figures for my account of being a blogger-turned-International-Male-catalog-model. Once the story -- and my dream -- come true, that is.