Cinematical

City of Ember was the surprise closing-night film at Fantastic Fest, but I found out about the surprise a little early (which is always fun). I was able to see the film earlier in the week so I could interview director Gil Kenan, who showed up in Austin with surprise guest (to me, too!) Bill Murray for the closing-night festivities. Kenan has directed a pair of entertaining and visually stunning family-friendly features, the Oscar-nominated animated film Monster House and now the City of Ember adaptation, which opens in theaters on Friday. Not only that, but Kenan landed both of these projects right after he graduated from UCLA, where his short film The Lark won him a lot of attention. We talked about what he's done to make City of Ember as beautiful a film as it is, and how he found such compelling lead actors. He's currently linked to a new Robert Zemeckis production, Airman, and we took a minute to discuss that too. Check it out after the jump.

She may have been Lost, but it looks like the redheaded Rebecca Mader has found a path and a sexy on-screen husband. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Mader is in final negotiations to play the lead female role in the super-wacky sounding Men Who Stare at Goats. That means she gets to play wife to Ewan McGregor's Bob Wilton -- a reporter in Iraq who meets a man (George Clooney) who says he's a "former secret U.S. military psychic soldier who was reactivated after 9/11." The plot is so very strange, and most likely destined to be awesome. But that's not all -- the film is also getting Stephen Lang, fresh off Avatar and Public Enemies.

In the what-if area of cinematic news: With a Ghostbusters sequel on the way, Bill Murray told MTV that he thinks a woman should be in on the action. That's not a bad idea at all, so the big question is: What funny woman out there can bring on the laughs AND kick ghostly ass? (Editor's interjection: Jenna Fischer.)

Meanwhile, the Fame cast has now come together, according to THR. Unlike star Thomas Dekker, who has made a name for himself through Terminators and Heroes, this is a big cast of unknowns -- Kristy Flores, Paul Iacono, Paul McGill, Naturi Naughton, Kay Panabaker, Kherington Payne, Collins Pennie, Walter Perez and Anna Maria Perez de Tagle. You can hit the link to find out who they're going to play, and in the meantime, wonder who Debbie Allen will be this time around. Rumor has it that she'll pop up in the film, but not as Lydia.

And Danny Glover is getting rusty. THR posts that he's headed to the future and lending his voice to Agent Crush, which you can learn all about at the film's website. He'll be Major Rusty Gibbons. And finally, a last bit of little fluff: Jude Law is growing his 'stache in preparation for Sherlock Holmes!

It's football season, which means it's also the season for at least one heartwarming and inspiring movie about the sport. This year the film comes from Universal -- The Express, a biopic of Ernie "The Elmira Express" Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman trophy, back in 1963. However, the movie divides its time between Davis and his coach at Syracuse University, Ben Schwartzwalder, and shows the ways in which the two characters changed one another (for the better, natch).

The movie opens during the notorious Cotton Bowl game of 1960, when Davis (Rob Brown) was a running back on the Syracuse University team that played The University of Texas, which had not yet allowed black varsity team members. It's a rough game, but Davis is handling himself until all hell breaks loose ... and then we flash back to Davis's childhood in the 1940s and see how he learned to handle nasty racist situations even at an early age. He's stubborn and he's speedy, and eventually decides to use those assets to strive for his goal of playing professional football. His idol, Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown, advises Davis to play for his alma mater Syracuse because Schwartzwalder (Dennis Quaid) is such an excellent head coach. But Davis encounters difficulties in the ways Schwartzwalder handles the black team members. The coach's primary goal is to avoid "trouble," so they're warned away from the white female students, and worse yet, at certain Southern games they're not allowed to score touchdowns. The real action culminates when the film returns to the Cotton Bowl game in Dallas.

A few weeks back I received an early copy of the Iron Man SE DVD, and although we all griped a little bit about the lack of an audio commentary -- I'm pretty sure the fans are still happy with that purchase. So now let's try it again, only instead of Iron Man, we'll be picking through the 3-disc Special Edition of Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk. And while it's definitely a good package (provided you dig the film), here's one simple warning right out of the gate: The third disc is nothing more than a "digital copy" platter. Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't see the big appeal of "digital copies." Why the hell would I want to overstuff my hard drive -- when I have the DVD sitting right here??

Anyway, the Special Edition has lots to recommend it, and the main feature is certainly something to see -- doubly so if you happen to have Blu-Ray. (I do not.) Even better the second time around, The Incredible Hulk is a simple yet very well-made action adventure flick in which a fugitive scientist must avoid the military while trying to get a powerfully monstrous alter-ego out of his system. Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, William Hurt, and Tim Roth bring an excellent air of professionalism to "yet another" superhero movie, and while it might not have been the Action Event that Iron Man was, I think it's safe to assume that Marvel and the fans were pleased with the big green semi-sequel as well.

So on disc one we get an audio commentary with Leterrier and actor Tim Roth, as well as six deleted scenes that run about 14 minutes total. The deleted footage is mostly early (Brazil) stuff and a few villainous rants between Hurt and Roth. (All good cuts if you ask me.) As far as the commentary goes, it sounds a lot like a cool Brit and an enthusiastic Frenchman talking about their action movie. I'm only about fifteen minutes into the chat-track, but it's pretty amusing stuff...

Read on for the Disc Two delights.

Welcome back to another installment of Insert Caption -- the game President Bush would love to play ... if only he knew how to find the internet. Zing! Last week we asked you to "go long" for a photo from the new movie The Express, and score you did. Congrats to the three sports who managed to cross into our funny zone. (Get it -- instead of end zone, I said funny zone? Heh ... wait, why aren't you laughing?)

1. "Staring Contest? This is no Staring Contest....This is FOOTBALL!" -- Darren C.

2. 'Coach: Why aren't you playing up to your obvious potential yet?
Player: Because we haven't had the requisite training montage yet!" -- Matt B.

3. "Damn ... Did you hear about O.J.?" -- Chaz K.

See full image and all captions


I'm a little afraid of the captions we'll be receiving this week, in honor of the new Oliver Stone flick W. (in theaters October 17), though I'm sure our readers will show a little {cough} respect with their captions. Based on the life and times of our current president (who'll be leaving office in just a few months), W. stars Josh Brolin (as W.) and a whole slew of all stars as some of our most favorite political heroes. The candidates behind our three favorite captions will spin away with one W. poster, one W. t-shirt and a set of six W. shot glasses. Sound off below ...



Read the official rules for this contest

A long time passed since 10 Things I Hate About You hit the big screen. Julia Stiles got Bourne, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has become a powerhouse on the indie scene, and Heath Ledger ... we know what became of him. I'm guessing that his death and reminiscing moments about his work is what inspired this next piece of news: Ace Showbiz reports that ABC Family is going to make the Shakespeare-inspired film into a television series, with the film's director, Gil Junger, signed on to helm the pilot. In it, Kate and Bianca Stratford will face "their new high school environment." I don't know if that means freshman hitting the big leagues, or the girls moving to a new zip code, but I can only hope that they come up with a new love interest for Kate. There's only one Patrick Verona.

Hater has been on a long road to production, but it looks like the time is finally here. Almost a year ago, Guillermo del Toro had signed on to direct the adaptation of David Moody's novel. But then the Hobbit swept him away and left Hater director-less. Have no fear, Moody fans, the pic is back on track. Variety reports that the director of The Orphanage, Juan Antonio Bayona, will helm the feature when it kicks into gear next year. So, if you liked the one-two producer-director punch of del Toro and Bayona, this should be a treat!

Hit the jump for a few exhibition news bits for the next few months.

When fan passions get turned onto food, what we usually end up with is sugar-filled creations that are wildly inspiring and awesome to look at, but not exactly healthy. They're tasty treats meant for those special moments, rather than nibbles we can chow down on any day.

But not anymore! Did you hear that Evil Mad Scientist has has created a melon Death Star? Not only does it not have that huge exhaust port flaw, but it's something you can make yourself in 5 minutes. Unfortunately, I can't tell you exactly how -- the Evil Mad Scientist is a bit sneaky about his design. All we know: it takes one cantaloupe, a knife, and five minutes, and there's a few extra hints to get you started.

Just make sure that you eat it the right way when you do dig in. It would be a shame to slice it when it should end up looking like this.

[via The Kitchn]

I predict that the news you are about to read will result in many people shocked, shocked! that someone would make a comedy about cancer. Even The Hollywood Reporter sounds a little uncertain about the news. But once you read the film's plot, I think you're going to see exactly what kind of movie this is.

Mandate Pictures has bought I'm With Cancer, an autobiographical comedy by Will Reiser. Seth Rogen, the busiest man in Hollywood, is set to costar and produce the film alongside his writing-producing partner Evan Goldberg and The Daily Show's Ben Karlin.

Reiser's script is based on his own battle with cancer, and is centered around an up-and-coming 25-year-old who discovers he has the disease. I think you know where this is going. This isn't going to be some spoof of serious illness, or run with the idea that coming down with cancer is funny. Cancer is going to be about a young man trying to deal with something that could kill him, finding the humor in hospital situations, and using it to stay sane. Laughter is the best medicine, and all that. Given that Reiser obviously conquered his disease to co-produce this movie, I bet it will even have a happy ending. You know what I'm also willing to bet on? Medicinal marijuana jokes. If there isn't at least one, I will eat this post.

(Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky" opens in limited release this weekend, and so we're reprinting our Telluride review from this past August.)

By: Kim Voynar

With his latest effort, Happy-Go-Lucky, director Mike Leigh takes a departure from the dark mood evoked by most of his films with a charming little tale about an eternally optimistic school teacher, Poppy (Sally Hawkins, previously seen in smaller roles in Leigh's films Vera Drake and All or Nothing), who breezes through life, always seeing the glass half full. Poppy is one of those people who never seems to get down about anything. She smiles at surly strangers, strikes up conversations with people who'd clearly prefer to be left alone, and puts a positive spin on everything.

When her bike is stolen, Poppy shrugs it off and decides to take driving lessons; her driving instructor, Scott (Eddie Marsan, also a Leigh alum from Vera Drake) is Poppy's polar opposite. Some of the film's best moments are when she's interacting with Scott and we have the dramatic tension of his simmering anger to contrast with Poppy's perkiness. Scott is intensely uptight, seems to hate everyone and everything, and adheres firmly to the belief that if only everyone would follow a strict set of rules (his rules, of course), all would be well. Naturally, the two clash.