Despite having one of the worst reputations in Hollywood, it would appear that things are starting to look up for M. Night Shyamalan. You can check out the latest trailer Shyamalan's The Happening above, and it already has me sold on the apocalyptic thriller. Even though I was relatively impressed with the first trailer, this one has definitely amped up the creep factor (caused some serious heebie-jeebies when I saw it in front of Iron Man last weekend).

Mark Wahlberg stars as a meek and mild high school science teacher who lands smack dab in the middle of an end of days scenario. And might I add that it will be nice to see Wahlberg play something other than his usual tough guy role -- I mean, it's been too long since he's really had to act. Zooey Deschanel co-stars as his estranged wife and the criminally underused John Leguizamo, Spencer Breslin (brother to Abigail) and Ashlyn Sanchez play fellow survivors.

The Happening is scheduled for release on Friday June 13th, which will put the thriller in direct competition with The Incredible Hulk for opening weekend supremacy. Between the critics who call Shyamalan a one-trick pony, and the bad buzz for the big green guy, it's going to be a tough call for audiences. I know which film I'm going to see first -- how about you?

What I'm about to say might shock you ... ready? I still think M. Night Shyamalan is a pretty good director. Okay, so he may have gone off the rails with Lady in the Water, but everyone is allowed a few stinkers, right? Hopefully things will start to turn around for him with The Happening. JoBlo now has new stills from his M. Night's 'end of the world' drama, and for those of you who like to be surprised, don't worry, they're spoiler-free. In fact, most of them look like they came straight from the trailer.

Most of the details have been kept under lock and key, but we did get some spoilers back in August (read at your own risk). What we do know for sure is that the story centers on an estranged couple (Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel) who band together to save their family during an environmental crisis (remember the news story about the disappearing bees?). That old chestnut even makes an appearance in the narrative. Joining Wahlberg and Deschanel in the cast are John Leguizamo and Spencer Breslin (star of The Shaggy Dog and brother to Abigail) as fellow survivors.

Oh man, this one is like an indie hipster's dream come true. According to EW, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and my future wife (in an alternate universe) Zooey Deschanel have signed on to star opposite one another in 500 Days of Summer, for Fox Searchlight. The film, which is said to be going into production this spring, tells the story of a woman who doesn't believe in love and the man who falls hopelessly in love with her. Sounds kinda like the opposite of every relationship I've ever seen. Kidding! I kid. We all love everything.

Music video director Marc Webb will direct the indie, which means a cool, hip soundtrack is all but certain. I love both these kids, so I'm sure we'll get some adorable moments out of this one. Only possible downside: It was written by the guys behind The Pink Panther 2, which may or may not be a bad thing seeing as the Panther sequel hasn't come out yet. Zooey can next be seen opposite Mark Wahlberg in M. Night's upcoming end-of-the-world flick, The Happening. Meanwhile, you can catch Gordon-Levitt in that new Iraq drama Stop-Loss.

(But seriously now -- how can you not love a girl named Zooey?)

To be perfectly honest, the premise of Gigantic didn't grab me at first. The plot seemed a little too self-aware and contrived.

Paul Dano (who is also executive producer) will be playing a depressed mattress salesman, who is on a quest to adopt a Chinese baby. But he's sidetracked by falling in love with a girl named Happy, played by Zooey Deschanel. (That's the second reason this film didn't grab me. You're depressed and you meet someone named Happy? How lucky! When I was depressed, I just made good friends with a cold Russian named Stolichnaya.)

But it's starting to win me over now, particularly with these latest cast members. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Ed Asner, John Goodman, and Jane Alexander have signed on.

Asner will be playing Dano's father, who loves pot and gangsta-rap, and Alexander will be playing his long-suffering mother. Goodman will be playing Happy's brilliant and domineering father. The parental combo overcomes my misgivings about the film -- although a stoned Asner could fall incredibly and painfully flat. But they inexplicably have me at "gangsta-rap loving father."

After spending 2006 having the crap scared out of him by Daniel Day Lewis, Paul Dano could probably stand to work on something just a little more light-hearted. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Dano has signed to star in the independent romantic comedy, Gigantic. Dano will star alongside Zooey Deschanel, and plays a mattress salesman who falls in love with a young woman at the store where he works. I can only assume that Deschanel, fresh off of M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, will play that young woman.

So far, no other cast has been named other than Frank Harts (Miracle at St. Anna). The relatively tiny cast leads me to believe that the film is going to be a pretty small affair. Although now that Dano still has some of that post-Oscar buzz surrounding him (despite being snubbed for a nomination), it could raise the profile of the film ever so slightly.

Gigantic will be directed by first-timer Matt Aselton, who also helped to write the script alongside Adam Nagata (also making his feature debut). Production is set to begin this March in New York, but a date has yet to be confirmed. After Dano finishes up work on Gigantic, he's off to work on another indie film, The Good Heart. Heart will reunite Dano with Brian Cox (the two worked together on L.I.E. back in 2001) in a story about an older man who befriends a young homeless man and makes him is protégé. Well, so much for Dano making more happy-go-lucky flicks. Gigantic is expected to be released later this year.

A new trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening has arrived online, and it's much longer than the earlier teaser we got not too long ago (which has since been taken down by the studio). Here, there's less "bodies falling from the sky" and a lot more mystery; why are all the bees dying, what's going on, where did everyone go, is Mark Wahlberg really our only hope -- that sort of thing. Kinda digging Wahlberg so far from what I've seen -- this doesn't appear to be his typical character; he seems a tad wimpy, geeky. We've all seen these "end of the world" scenarios in films before, so here's hoping M. Night adds a different spin to it.

Like Wahlberg says in the trailer: "There are forces at work here that are beyond our understanding." Whenever that line shows up in a trailer, I'm immediately terrified that M. Night will use it as a way of saying, "I don't have to explain this whole 'end of days scenario' to the audience because the characters don't understand it, so lets just watch people run and jump to their deaths and call it a day." I'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt though; this film does seem to have potential (though there wasn't enough Zooey in the trailer), and I'll certainly head into it with an open mind. This one hits theaters on June 13.

Thoughts on the new trailer?

UPDATE: The video has been removed from the Tube, but you can still see the trailer over here.

The first trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening is now online (watch it above), and, well, what the hell is happening in this one? From the looks of it, some sort of disease hits the city in which everyone begins killing themselves. It's the strangest thing, but that's what I took away from the trailer. So far, all we've been told about the movie was that a national crisis hits and one family must go on the run. So what's this disease, and why -- out of the blue -- does it appear as if people are stabbing themselves in the neck and jumping off buildings? Odd as all hell, but that's M. Night for ya -- and, while the film definitely looks like a step up from his previous two films, will The Happening fall curse to that late-inning surprise twist that not only made M. Night, but also helped mangle the guy's career?

The Happening stars Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo and Spencer Breslin. Word has it this trailer will be attached to Jumper, when it hits theaters later this month. What will happen when M. Night arrives in theaters with another film on June 13? I guess we'll see ...

Warner Bros. has released the first photos (click on each to view a larger version) from Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey as a guy who signs up for a self-help program in which the idea is to say 'yes' to everything and anything. At first, things are just peachy for our little 'yes man' until he realizes how much of a chore the whole thing really is. I imagine the film will bring Carrey back to his comedic roots, as it definitely evokes a sort of Liar Liar flavor. God knows Carrey is desperate for a hit; his last comedy, Fun with Dick and Jane, was okay at best. And let us not even go near his dramatic efforts (except for the awe-inspiring Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), because we won't find much gold under that rainbow.

Peyton Reed (The Break-Up) directs off a script from a couple of newbies, and Yes Man also stars the delicious Zooey Deschanel (who shall play my wife when and if anyone ever wants to make a biopic on my life), Bradley Cooper, Rhys Darby, John Michael Higgins, Danny Masterson, Terrence Stamp, Molly Sims and Rocky Carroll. Yes Man is due out in theaters on December 19.

Student films must be graded on a curve, and Flakes is basically a student film. If you overlooked the fact that the three leads are all moderately high-profile actors, I'd estimate the budget to be less than twenty thousand dollars. Most of the action takes place in or around the titular establishment, a cereal bar in which slackers and stoners assemble on a daily basis to eat their favorite cereals -- everything from standard fare like Cheerios to rare delicacies like Fruit Brute -- and make of themselves a quirky movie character. The two leads are a boyfriend-girlfriend, Neal Downs (Aaron Stanford) and the improbably named Miss Pussy Katz. (Zooey Deschanel) Their boss at Flakes is a 60-ish hippie played by Christopher Lloyd, and his performance is the biggest thing hindering my plan to give Flakes a better review than it deserves. Lloyd comes from some long forgotten school of acting where naturalism is never as a good a choice as creating a character with such a forced way of speaking that no one could ever mistake them for a human being.

With a movie like this, they base their plot on whatever is on sale at the 'cliched plot device' factory, and it appears that what was on sale that week was 'business is threatened by newer, flashier rival across the street.' A nerdy businessman comes walking into Flakes one day and is impressed by the concept but dispirited by the stoner attitude -- he doesn't get what Flakes is all about, man! -- and determines to open an upscale cereal bar directly across the way which will put Flakes out of business. This causes much tension. Miss Pussy Katz -- I can't believe I keep having to type that -- and her boyfriend have a number of rows over how Flakes should respond to the crisis at hand and the loyal customers alternately declare their loyalty or decamp to the new establishment across the street. As bad as this all sounds, there are a couple of things about Flakes that I really liked, and I'm more than happy to point them out and to remind everyone that this is from the director of Heathers.

The first poster for M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening has been released online, courtesy of Coming Soon (click on the image for a larger version). The tagline really cracks me up: "We've sensed it ... We've seen the signs ... Now it's happening." Get it? His other films? How fun. Basically, The Happening seems to have all the makings of War of the Worlds 2, except without an aliens. Mark Wahlberg stars as a family man who must flee alongside his loved ones when a natural disaster threatens to extinguish all humanity. Here's my question though: If you're all gonna die, where is it that you're fleeing to? Seeing all those cars empty also brings back memories of War of the Worlds; remember the aliens in that film made it so you couldn't drive any cars. Except for the car Tom Cruise was in; he was special.

Personally, I really hope M. Night does something different with this film. For one thing, the cast is solid: Alongside Wahlberg, you have my favorite actress in the whole entire universe, Zooey Deschanel, as well as John Leguizamo and the male version of Abigail Breslin; her brother Spencer Breslin. M. Night needs to get this one right. The man was crucified following Lady in the Water; he's been hopping from studio to studio, trying to find someone to finance his bizarre tales. And how he's with Fox. Will he succeed? Will he fail? Will Wahlberg whip out his junk and fight storm clouds for 90 minutes? The Happening arrives in theaters on June 13th (that's a Friday people!), 2008.

I don't think I have to remind you that we here at Cinematical are big Zooey Deschanel fans. I'd say 'yes' to watching anything she's in, and that includes the brand new role announced this morning. The Hollywood Reporter tells us Zooey will be starring alongside Jim Carrey as his romantic interest in the new comedy Yes Man, for Warners Bros. and Village Roadshow. There's a bit of an age difference there, as Zooey is 27 and Carrey is 45, but who's really paying attention? Bradley Cooper has already signed on to play Carrey's best friend in the movie, which will begin shooting (I assume) within the next couple months.

Based on the memoir of a guy who actually did this (his name was Danny Wallace), Carrey will play a dude who decides he wants to change his life, and in doing so commits himself to saying 'yes' to everything. Of course, hilarity shall ensue. Zooey's stock is slowly starting to rise; she just wrapped shooting M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, where she stars opposite Mark Wahlberg (playing his wife). Apart from also doing a relatively short stint on the TV show Weeds, Zooey will return to the small screen for the Sci Fi channel miniseries Tin Man. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing her in everything. Is that possible? To just give her a small role in every movie that comes out? Directed by Peyton Reed (The Break-Up), I'd expect Yes Man to arrive in theaters at some point this summer.

Last month, we told you how it was being rumored (via AICN) that Jason Bateman was going to co-star alongside someone who was not Rosario Dawson in Kevin Smith's next flick, Zack and Miri Make a Porno. While I absolutely adore Bateman, and love how he's turned his career around in the last few years, part of me couldn't see him in the role of a late 20's slacker who, along with his female friend, decide to jump into the amateur porn business. One reason for this was that Bateman is 38 years-old, and not someone I'd expect in the lead. Whether or not Smith had other plans for him -- we do not know -- but what we do know is that Bateman has officially squashed the rumor.

While out promoting his latest film, Juno, at the Toronto International Film Festival, Slashfilm caught up with Bateman and asked about his participation in Zack and Miri. Bateman's response: "No, I read that, but no, Not at all. I met him [Smith] at a coffee bean and tea leaf in LA about three months ago, and that's about as close to the accuracy of it." So that's what Bateman is saying, but we all know how these things work -- he may have been told to deny deny deny until contracts are official or what have you; as of now, there's been no word from Smith (who's usually pretty vocal about his films) either way. IMDb still lists the actor as being "in talks" for the role of Zack, although I wouldn't go by what they say. Personally, I'm not sure who I'd want to play Zack. Jason Lee is always fantastic when he collaborates with Smith, but he's also a tad old for the role. I'll tell you who I'd like to see play Miri though -- either Christina Ricci or Zooey Deschanel, with the latter higher up on my list. Zooey tends to be a bit dark, but if you've seen her on Weeds, you know she can handle Smith's dialogue with ease. Kev, if you're reading this, please look at Zooey. Please. With production starting this winter, I expect casting announcements to hit rather soon.

I was somewhat surprised by Surf's Up, which is better than you might think from the trailers. It's very much a movie for children, without much to capture the interest of adults, but there are so many subpar movies for kids these days that it's refreshing to see one that entertains in an almost classic fashion. The filmmakers behind Surf's Up were obviously aiming for a timeless family movie, something kids 10 years in the future could watch and still enjoy, although by then the animation might be considered dated in some way.

The structure of the narrative is the only real pop-culture reference -- it's shot in faux-documentary style, like The Office, and the beginning is obviously meant to recall March of the Penguins in a few ways. (In fact, the film is funnier than the few minutes I lasted through Farce of the Penguins.) The offscreen filmmakers interviewing the penguins are voiced by Surf's Up's directors, Ash Brannon and Chris Buck. The pre-credit sequence, which features "vintage" footage of penguin surfing legend Big Z and home movies of the main character, is done beautifully with some clever graphics and was my favorite part of the film.

Have I ever told you how much Cinematical loves Zooey Deschanel? Okay, maybe not everyone at the site adores Ms. I Swear I'm Not On Heroin, I Just Naturally Look Stoned, but there's a decent amount of us who partake in a little happy dance each and every time the gal lands a new role. That said, Variety just announced that Zooey (how can you not love a girl named Zooey?) will star alongside Mark Wahlberg in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening. Oh, it's happening all right; regardless of how many studios he's pissed off and/or disappointed, folks at 20th Century Fox are eager to give him another shot at bringing in those box office dollars. And, with Wahlberg and Deschanel onboard, I'm certainly willing to remain optimistic.

Pic, which has a very Day After Tomorrow/War of the Worlds vibe to it, revolves around a man who takes his family on the run when an "apocalyptical natural crisis threatens to end civilization." No, it isn't set in the Warner Bros. offices on the weekend Lady in the Water hit theaters; this flick is set in Philly and begins shooting in August. Currently, there's no word on who Zooey will be playing; although they're nine years apart, I assume she'll be taking the role of Wahlberg's wife. Unless they decide to age her down so that she can pass as his dysfunctional teenage daughter. His sister? His niece? A stoner girl he runs into along the way? Don't know, don't care -- if Zooey is in it, I'm game. The Happening will land in theaters (and most likely dictate the uncertain future of Shyamalan's career) on June 13, 2008.

The centerpiece of Express Stops Only, a short film program playing at Tribeca, is Raving, from first-time writer/director Julia Stiles. Starring Zooey Deschanel and Bill Irwin, the film centers around two possibly dangerous Manhattan misfits who try to figure each other out and end up engaging in an uneasy friendship, of sorts. Zooey is a street scammer, hustling people for drinking money with a song and dance about how she got hooked up with bad people and was left behind all alone, in the big bad city. Irwin's character is a straight-laced man who shows up at an office every morning, swipes a card at a security station and acts outraged when it doesn't work. We never learn whether he worked there or if he's just a complete lunatic who likes to show up at office buildings and cause a scene. Stiles shows a sure hand for offbeat comedy her first time around, keeping us engaged in the interplay between the two weirdos without ever tipping her hand as to where this thing is going. There's a nice musical finale.

Say Can You See is a creepy animation short that imagines 9/11 and its aftermath through the eyes of the those high-powered binocular stations on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. With the eye-holes already in place, it's an easy transition to anthropomorphize them as sad, contemplative watchmen who have a clear line of sight to see what's going on downtown but can do nothing about it. This isn't a talky short or something aimed at children, but a music-laden art piece that transitions from rain and sadness to a milieu of rebirth as birds and sunshine begin to return to the area. I wonder if the timing is off, however -- this seems like exactly the kind of thing that could have played three or four years ago at Tribeca and been very powerful, but the intervening years drain it of some of its power to inspire emotions through such a simple presentation. Still, its an intriguing little piece that puts one in mind of why the Tribeca film festival was created in the first place.