Another new (and improved, in my opinion) image of Samuel L. Jackson as The Octopus in The Spirit has been revealed, courtesy of Comic Con Magazine (click image to enlarge). Directed by Frank Miller (Sin City, 300), and based on the graphic novel by Will Eisner, The Spirit follows rookie cop Denny Colt (Gabriel Macht) who returns from the dead to fight crime in Central City. Jackson plays The Octopus, The Spirit's main nemesis -- a villain who plans to wipe out all of Central City and kills anyone unlucky enough to see his face. (That said, I guess we're all doomed -- damn you Comic Con magazine for showing us this dude's face!)

Also starring in the flick are Scarlett Johansson (as the Octopus' secretary, Silken Floss), Eva Mendes (as Sand Saref), Jaime King (as Lorelei Rox) and Paz Vega (as Plaster of Paris). Gotta love the names in this one. If I may recommend myself for the sequel; I could play Dynamo Clorox III. Sweet! The first trailer for The Spirit was released during New York Comic Con, and I'm sure the cast and crew will have plenty of goodies for the folks attending San Diego Comic Con in July.

The Spirit arrives in theaters on December 25 (Happy Birthday Jesus, indeed!). Check out our gallery below.



[via Coming Soon]

After her karaoke stint in Lost in Translation, it was surprising to hear that Scarlett Johansson was going to put out her own CD, "Anywhere I Lay My Head." Now it's heading for shelves on May 20, and the first video has been released on Yahoo, which you can check out above. Many of you are not all that thrilled with Johansson's acting, but what do you think of her singing?

It sounds like they toned down her voice and put a lot of effects on it to try to make her sound like Sinead O'Connor. I don't think it helps much. I have a lot of varied musical tastes, digging everything from John Frusciante's more avant-garde work, to the twang of Victoria Williams, to the melody of Lamb, but "Falling Down" just sounds bad. And it looks like I'm not the only one who thinks so. Variety has the clip up and included a poll that has, so far, 75% of the readers saying she should stick with acting.

What do you think? Do you like it? Is this another professional swing and a miss? No matter what complaints pop up about her acting, she's still moving full steam ahead, so will this be popular either way?

Remember that Mary, Queen of Scots flick in the works starring Scarlett Johansson? No, I'm not talking about The Other Boleyn Girl, but rather the other old look at UK royalty. The actress has been attached to the project for a while now, and after some cash and distribution deals at Cannes last year, the film is heading into production in the very-Scottish land of Ireland.

The Guardian reports that just like Braveheart, the production is not only filming in Ireland, but it will also use Irish army reservists again as extras on the battlefield. As it stands, the film will shoot for 6-7 weeks in Ireland (possibly including Cahir Castle), followed by 3 in Scotland -- I would assume the latter is for any particular and distinct locales that need to be used. The piece notes that this should be good for tourism spin-offs, but I hope that also includes the wonderful land of Scotland in that, since it seems to be either too expensive, or not Scottish enough. I'm still dreaming about a day when I get my butt to Robbie Burns land (although I don't know if I have the guts yet to eat the haggis).

Side note: Did you know that Ridley Scott was once attached to produce and direct the film right after Matchstick Men? I wonder what it would have been like, and who would've starred...

Yup, I'm totally serious. This one exploded late last night; it was all over my RSS Feeds, plus I've received, like, 7 emails about it. I'm sure you already know what I'm going to say, but in case you don't -- check this out: Megan Fox is hot. OH, and sexy. Fo shizzle my Cinezzle! Yes, Megan Fox (who you might remember as Sydney from Hope & Faith) was just named the sexiest woman in the world by FHM Magazine. (Voting for sexiest girl in the universe begins next month.) Fox, of course, became a household name after starring in I'm Totally Hot: The Movie (aka Transformers) last summer. (And on a side note: I wonder what her boyfriend did this morning? Do you think he woke up, locked the bathroom door, and high-fived his reflection in the mirror? Because I would totally do that if I was dating the hottest girl in the world.)

Last year's "champion," Jessica Alba, got knocked up and fell down to third place, while Jessica Biel (2), Elisha Cuthbert (4) and Scarlett Johansson (5) rounded out the top five. Biel? Really? I still don't see the appeal. Same goes for Cuthbert -- have you seen her in person? Girl is like four inches tall. Anyway, this came via a reader poll and FHM says 9 million votes were cast. For those wondering (and I know there's a lot of you), Paris Hilton landed at number 77 and Britney Spears placed at the very bottom ... number 100. Hey, God bless the gal for even making it, right?

And now, of course, our obligatory "Megan Fox is hot" photo gallery. Enjoy!

It's been a busy week for Emma Watson. Not only did she turn 18 (a landmark which caused no small amount of cheering among the guys I know -- you pervs!), and not only did she inherit her Harry Potter fortune, but now she's landed her first real non-Potter role. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she is going to star in Napoleon and Betsy, a historical romance written and directed by Benjamin Ross. It is set to begin shooting in the fall to work around the scheduled 2009 start of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Watson will play Betsy, a young and headstrong noblewoman who is trapped on the island of St. Helena. There, she meets and falls in love with the exiled Napoleon. It's based loosely on a true story -- the real Betsy was all of thirteen, and wrote a book recalling how Napoleon enjoyed playing childish games with her and her siblings. Not quite Harlequin material. I can't help but think that a movie about a playful Napoleon might be more interesting than a bodice ripper. (Possibly, bodices will not be ripped.) The role originally belonged to Scarlett Johannson, who gave it up when the film headed in a younger direction. She is still set to produce the film.

As Napoleon was 46-years-old when exiled to St. Helena, they must really be aiming for the "creepy" level. Perhaps Hollywood will re-imagine him as a handsome twenty-something. I'm envisioning James McAvoy, at least for Watson's sake.

UPDATE: Images have been removed at the request of the studio.

While she doesn't look all too excited, I'd gladly take this version of Scarlett Johansson as my nurse any day of the week. According to Egotastic!, the above image is part of three test shots of her character Silk N. Floss in Frank Miller's adaptation of Will Eisner's classic comic, The Spirit. In the film, Johansson will play a super sexy femme fatale; secretary and accomplice to the Octopus (played by Samuel L. Jackson). The Octopus is a villain who kills anyone unlucky enough to see his face. The Spirit also stars Gabriel Macht as Denny Colt (aka The Spirit); a rookie cop who returns from the dead to fight crime in Central City. Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Jamie King and Paz Vega round out the cast. Check out more pics of Johansson in the gallery below.

The Spirit is scheduled to arrive in theaters on January 16, 2009.

After Paris, je t'aime, it was only a matter of time before the cinematic spotlight turned to New York. Last May, word popped up that New York, I Love You was in the works, with a roster including Zach Braff, Mira Nair, Park Chan-Wood, and Fatih Akin. In January, Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen signed on to the project as well. The big surprise, however, was that Scarlett would be helming her own short, rather than appearing in Woody's.

According to the Daily Mail, she just shot hers the other day in Brooklyn, and they've got a bunch of pictures of her doing her thang. It must've been cold out there, seeing that she looks like a fashionable Eskimo in the one pic. While nothing about the plot was revealed, her short is said to be 5 minutes long, and features the '80s dance master Kevin Bacon. That's not a bad gig, and even more impressive that it's for a feature film, rather than a fashion magazine's short film series (not to knock the shorts that have come from it!).

The piece also talks about her burgeoning singing career, and how David Bowie just about loves her. He's quoted as saying: "Scarlett's performances are mystical and cool. She creates a mood that could have been summoned by someone like the novelists Margery Latimer or Jeanette Winterson." That's some mighty praise. I'm not sure I completely agree with the comparison, but how about you?

The Other Boleyn Girl, based on Philippa Gregory's novel about the relationship between Henry VIII (Eric Bana) and Anne (Natalie Portman) and Mary (Scarlett Johansson) Boleyn, gives you everything you've come to expect from a modern historical drama. The costumes are gorgeous; the lighting's suitably muted. The drawing-room scenes are like something out of Rembrandt; the kitchen scenes like something out of Bosch. There are a great number of shots of people striding purposefully out of dark rooms, or of horses racing across the landscape, their speed unimpeded by the gravity of the news their riders bring. Personal squabbles turn into political struggles; moments of passion are contemplated as possible foundations for 100-year dynasties. There are fights and tights, gowns and frowns, tears and blood and sweat.

But, at the same time, The Other Boleyn Girl fails to give you anything other than what you've come to expect from the modern costume drama; it doesn't have that little something extra that could make it truly exceptional. The film lacks the baroque lunacy of Elizabeth, or the moral weight of A Man for All Seasons, the silken sexual gamesmanship of Dangerous Liaisons or the rich metaphors of Girl with a Pearl Earring. The Other Boleyn Girl, to quote another great costume drama, has no spur to prick the sides of its intent; it just sort of goes from happy days at the family estate to grim ones at the chopping block, drifting like a lazy sailboat whose sails are occasionally filled with enough shouting to nudge the plot from one scene to the next.

I wouldn't consider Henry VIII to be tasty Valentine's fare, but that's just because I don't find anything sexy in a gluttonous, pissy decapitator. However, well before he became that jerk, Henry was quite the ladies man, and just in time for the day of love, Empire has thrown up an exclusive clip from The Other Boleyn Girl. The film stars Eric Bana as Henry, Scarlett Johansson as Mary, and Natalie Portman as the classic Anne. The tale -- that's simple. The two ambitious sisters fight for the love of King Henry VIII.

Man, Mary got the better deal there. Sure, she was later banished for marrying beneath her station, but it's better than the guillotine. Anyway, in this scene, Mary is getting the royal press from Bana's Henry. He brings her to his room, flatters her, plays the understanding 2nd-child bit, and goes in for the kiss.

For some reason, Scarlett always distracts me in period pieces. It never happens in her present-day work, but when she gets that long hair and old clothing, it seems more dress-up than a look back in time. Still, I really like how she lightly shakes her head for a moment before he leans in -- subtle and nice. The film hits theaters on the 29th.

Chemistry. It's a word tossed around in plenty of movie reviews, generally to diagnose whether two actors have it or not. Chemistry can be in the eye of the beholder: some critics may disagree, but if the chemistry is really there, it will show in the way the film catches on. No one can deny that Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan had it in When Harry Met Sally, or that William Powell and Myrna Loy, or Woody Allen and Diane Keaton had it in their many films. But for every hit, there are many, many failed experiments. Here are seven of the most (or least) memorable.

1. Fred Astaire and Joan Fontaine in A Damsel in Distress (1937)
For whatever reason, Astaire decided to break up his hit formula with Ginger Rogers and make this movie without her. His new partner? Joan Fontaine, best known for playing mousy, quietly pretty types (Rebecca, Letter from an Unknown Woman, etc.) and definitely not a song-and-dance woman. Poor Joan was taken to the mat for her lack of singing and hoofing, although the film actually isn't that bad. The ultra-witty P.G. Wodehouse adapted his own novel, it won an Oscar for its dance choreography, and it features another great team: George Burns and Gracie Allen.

2. Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock in Two Weeks Notice (2002)
Every so often some Hollywood executive gets the idea to team up two big stars, hoping that their massive appeal will translate into screen chemistry; it mostly doesn't. These two romantic comedy masters, who have been wonderful in other films with other people, came together like a dull, wet flint, unable to strike even the most meager spark. Another infamous example of this type of casting came in 1986: recent Oscar winners Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep came together for Mike Nichols' Heartburn. Before it opened, it had lots of buzz. After it opened, it had more of a stench.

Some enterprising journalist at today's Manhattan junket for The Other Boleyn Girl decided to pull Natalie Portman's chain on issues of women in film, and well ... she has a lot to say on that subject. I'll let her take over. "I've recently been getting frustrated. [turns to Scarlett Johansson] I don't know if you've had this experience, but we're probably seeing a lot of the same variety of what's out there, but I mean the number of roles for strippers or prostitutes -- or the opposite -- which, is like, 'She's the moral center of the film! She's the pure one. She's the one that makes the man realize who he should be', you know? That sort of dichotomy exists so strongly, it's like the virgin/whore thing evident to the greatest extent. So that's really been bothering me. Sort of finding a character who is complicated, like the women in this film, is very, very exciting. Also, I love comedies so much, but any kind of comedy the girl's like 'in fashion' or she's really into clothes, or like, she just wants to get married. Those are not values that I care to jump on the bandwagon of. I'd love to do a comedy. I'd love to do a romantic comedy, but you don't find something where the woman has, like, a real job.... so yeah, it is frustrating, but I also don't want to bitch about it."

Portman was much more circumspect when asked what we could see from her next on the big screen. She did say that she's already completed her work on the heavy romance-triangle drama Brothers -- wow, that was fast -- but said nothing about any future projects, like the Francis Lawrence martial arts fantasy she had been linked with a while back, or anything else. And I was nice enough to spare her the question about when she'll do a sequel to The Professional -- she gets that one at every junket.

Pictured: Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. re-create a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief (click on the image for a larger version).

There's been lots of talk surrounding Vanity Fair's 2008 Hollywood Portfolio edition (March issue), which features several notable celebrities re-creating memorable scenes from Alfred Hitchcock films. VF loves to do stuff like this, but I have to say this one is my favorite so far. Among the celebs who took part are Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr. (seen above), Jodie Foster, Seth Rogen, Naomi Watts, Keira Knightley, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Marion Cotillard, James McAvoy, Emile Hirsch, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Charlize Theron and many more. You can scope out Johansson and Bardem re-creating a scene from Rear Window (one of my personal Hitchcock favs) below, then head after the jump to see more (and click on all photos for larger versions).

[via Oh No They Didn't, Slashfilm]

Pictured: Scarlett Johansson in a scene from Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

While it's still too early to say which scenes we'll all be talking about at the end of the year, I'm putting my money on a couple scenes from Woody Allen's upcoming Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Not long ago, word got out that, among other things, the film would feature an all-out threesome between Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem. Okay. Woody's getting a little nutty in his old age ... but we dig it. Now, according to Page Six, that so-called threesome was just the beginning -- they say the film also includes a "steamy lesbian sex scene" between Johansson and Cruz. Here's my question: Are both these scenes really warranted, or did Woody simply want to see how far he could push his muse sexually?

A source told Page Six, "It is also extremely erotic. People will be blown away and even shocked. Penelope and Scarlett go at it in a red-tinted photography dark room, and it will leave the audience gasping." Personally, I think it will leave the audience feeling a lot of different emotions -- some of which may be explored further in the theater bathroom following the film. (Note to self: Don't sit next to the guy who's placed an empty bucket of popcorn on his ....) The film, which marks Allen's first feature shot in Spain, follows two American tourists who become romantically entangled with a painter. Rebecca Hall, Chris Messina and Patricia Clarkson also star. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is due out later this year, though I imagine it might premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this May if a cut is ready.

A Guide to Lesbian Sex Scenes

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[via Slashfilm]

Growing up in a family full of neurotic Jews, I always ever heard three names when it came to entertainment: Woody Allen, Jackie Mason and Seinfeld. My earliest memories of film revolve around Annie Hall, because my parents were literally addicted to it. During my teen years, their addiction moved over to the TV show Seinfeld ... where it still remains till this day (I guarantee you my parents have watched more Seinfeld than anyone on this planet). Needless to say, if Woody Allen and Seinfeld were somehow able to merge, I imagine my parents would explode. Too ... much ... Jewish ... shtick. Well, Mom, Dad, Entertainment Weekly reports that none other than Seinfeld co-creator and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David will head up Woody Allen's next film, which shall mark the writer-directors return home to New York City following a brief stint romancing Scarlett Johansson overseas.

Additionally, Evan Rachel Wood (who's kind of like a mini Johansson if you think about it) will co-star opposite David. The title and plot are still unknown, but the film will apparently begin production this spring. Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood? Now there's an on-screen duo I never thought we'd see. What do you think the plot for this one will be? Older neurotic Jewish man falls for hot, young sexy girl? I can't even begin to imagine how strange it will sound to hear Woody Allen's dialogue coming from Larry David. I can't even wrap my head around it -- you?