October preview

September had no good films save one or two. Hopefully October brings a sense of renewal as the film industry begins their shift into Oscar territory. There's quite a few interesting films this month, but even more as the Fall season progresses.

1. Where the Wild Things Are-Who honestly doesn't want to see it? It's an adaptation of everyone's favorite picture book and has a soundtrack by Karen O & The Kids. It's for adults and children. The trailer alone brought me to tears. I can't wait to see this movie.

2. Zombieland-Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg do a zombie movie. What!? Yep, you heard right. This film is going to be hilarious and I promise you, it will be worth the money. The reviews from Fantastic Fest were great. Plus, it's got the trailer for the new Nightmare on Elm Street attached. That's just an added bonus.

3. Michael Jackson's This Is It-It's an obvious money making scheme by Sony, but it's got a solid fan base and is definitely going to make some money. The film didn't appear to be that intersting, but after the trailer, I got suckered in.

4. Antichrist-Want to know what all the buzz was about? Now you finally can as Antichrist storms into theaters this October. It's going to be slightly edited from the version seen in Cannes, but you can still get a gist of the hardcore sex and violence. Fans of Lars von Trier are sure to be delighted. If you weren't interested after all the controversy, you must be inhuman.

5. Saw VI-I'm a sucker for the Saw series. I can't lie. I love them all. Obviously, the first is the best, but the rest aren't too bad either. I don't expect this to be an exception. Most people hate this series, but I still remain faithful.

6. Whip It-Ellen Page, my new favorite actress, gets the role she deserves as a derby girl. What could be more perfect? The reviews from TIFF were very positive, especially for Drew Barrymore's directing job. I can't say I'm not interested.

7. A Serious Man-The Coen Brothers return with a Jewish comedy. Yes! What a good idea on their part. Finally, they get to make a movie without a big budget and with a pretty unknown cast. I'm in love with this movie after the trailer and I'll definitely see it in theaters.

8. An Education-Carey Mulligan is the new girl on the block. She will win Best Actress. I can just tell. Witness her beautiful performance in An Education, the first good movie of the season you probably haven't heard of.

9. Amelia-Another film vying for the Best Actress Oscar. Hilary Swank got the perfect role as Amelia Earheart and I expect her to fill the part very well. Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) directs which therefore means it's good.

10. Toy Story Double Feature-What could be more perfect. A double feature of the first two Toy Storys. And get this: it's in 3D! Plus, there's even a ten minute intermission. I'm totally loving the old style movie feeling. I'm so there. Also, there's a full trailer for Toy Story 3. Awesome!

Roman Polanski finally gets arrested

Roman Polanski finally got arrested for the statuatory rape of 13 year old girl...from 31 years ago. Gee, you think they would have done something sooner! The famous director movies such as Chinatown, The Pianist, and The Tenant was brought into custody in Zurich. Polanski was supposed be receiving a lifetime acheivment award, but on his arrival, was arrested. Switzerland is still debating whether or not to extradite him to the U.S.

The question that has come up as a result of this arrest is what will become of his newest film The Ghost? I wonder this to myself as well. According to IMDB, the film is already in post-production, but will the show still go on? Probably, but not for a while.

Box Office Report: Week of 9/25

Surrogates, Fame, and Pandorum all have sour weekends while Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs prevailed again.

1. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (in 3D is some locations)-$24.6M

2. Surrogates-$15.0M

3. Fame-$10.0M

4. The Informant!-$6.9M

5. I Can Do Bad All By Myself-$4.8M

6. Pandorum-$4.4M

7. Love Happens-$4.3M

8. Jennifer's Body-$3.5M

9. 9-$2.8M

10. Inglourious Basterds-$2.7M

Diablo Cody to write Playboy movie?

Supposedly, Hugh Hefner had a meeting with Diablo cody to talk about the Brian Grazer movie about Playboy. It doesn't seem to fit quite right, but I don't think people give Diablo Cody enough credit and I think she could do a good job if she steps outside her usual writing style. Diablo Cody, who tweets her life away on Twitter, hasn't said a thing yet about this meeting. I suspect nothing happened, but we'll see.

MGM is bankrupt?

Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood has reported that MGM is "teetering on bankruptcy". Oh God. The movie business really is ending. The 85 year old studio is a landmark in cinematic history and it would be really sad to see it go. Supposedly, it is $3.5 billion dollars in debt and the bondholders are ready to let it fail.

Trailer News: A Nightmare on Elm Street

Okay, I lied. I thought the teaser would be with Jennifer's Body, but apparently that wasn't true. Now, this is fact and Brad Fuller, the producer, has confirmed it. The teaser for the new A Nightmare on Elm Street will be attached to Zombieland! Yes, just another awesome reason to see it. While I'm not fond of Fuller's movies, this could be an exception. To me, this actually has potential. It may well eventually be crappy, but we'll see after the teaser which comes out next week. I'm excited!

Kurtzmann and Orci to produce Xombie

Alex Kurtzmann and Robert Orci, the producers of "Fringe" and Star Trek, are now set to produce a movie of the popular comic Xombie. While the plot of the movie has not been released to the public yet, the comic book followed a zombie cop named Dirge who saves the last of humanity from other zombies. The plot is a little weird, but I'm sure that anything that Kurtzmann and Orci write is good. I really love "Fringe" and Star Trek was one of my favorite films of the year so far. Dreamworks is currently in negotiations with the two writers.

WTF: Barbie is now a movie

No, I'm serious. Barbie is going to have her own feature film as released by Universal. No casting, directing, writing, or plot details were given out, but we can all figure out what it's going to be about.

While I am not intersted in it, many people will be. Barbie just celebrated her 50th birthday. Is she too old for the movies? This surely is a gamble for Universal, a studio that's pretty close to failing. We'll see how it plays out when more details are eventually released.

Dimension and The Weinstein Co. Reboot Movies

But when I say movies, I mean A LOT of movies. The Weinstein Company and Dimension have decided to reboot Scream and Spy Kids and remake An American Werewolf in London, Short Circuit, and Hellraiser. Scream 4 has already been announced, but Dimension confirmed and said it would go into production in 2010. Robert Rodriguez announced that he will return for (the unnecessary) Spy Kids 4 as a writer.

Scanners is going to be remade in 3D as well as a sequel to Hellraiser that will also be in 3D. Short Circuit will not be in 3D, but still is not interesting.

Do these companies understand that they are ruining Hollywood? The Weinstein Company had success with Inglourious Basterds, but sort of took one step forward, two steps back with this one. They're grubbing for cash now and it's very obvious. If you want to see any of these movies, have fun. I surely won't.

Lebanon, Get Low, Creation get distributors

Lebanon and Get Low, two Toronto Film Festival favorites, got picked up by Sony Picture Classics. Lebanon, the claustrophobic movie that takes place strictly in a tank, won at the Venice Film Festival and Get Low, the depression era flick starring Robert Duvall, garnered lots of praise. While Get Low was supposed to be a big hit, it unfortunately just got delayed to 2010 today. It doesn't really matter. Between The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Broken Embraces, An Education, and The White Ribbon, Sony Picture Classics should fare pretty well at the Oscars.

But Sony Picture Classics isn't the only studio vying for Oscars. Newmarket, a small independent studio, has bought the rights to Creation. Creation is a drama about Charles Darwin, played by Paul Bettany, and his girlfriend who is played by Jennifer Connelly. It should generate some controversy, especially with a December release, but nevertheless, the film has been gathering buzz for months now and Newmarket made the right decision.

Movie Ratings: 9/23

These ratings seemed very obvious, but here were the important ones:
The Men Who Stare at Goats-R for language, some drug content, and brief nudity
A Christmas Carol-PG for scary sequences and images
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel-PG for some mild rude humor
Fantastic Mr. Fox-PG for action, smoking, and slang humor

The Social Network confirms rumors

It's confirmed. The Social Network has cast Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake as the two creators of Facebook for the movie. I'm not sure about the casting of Timberlake, but Eisenberg is spot on. The screenplay, written by Aaron Sorkin, has gotten mixed reviews, but I know I want to see the movie. David Fincher is set to direct. The movie is supposedly based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. It's sitting in my TBR (To Be Read) pile, so I'll tell you what I think. Eisenberg is one of my favorite new stars so look out for him in Zombieland.

David Mamet's Anne Frank gets scrapped

Something wasn't sitting quite right. Back in August, when cinephiles learned that David Mamet and Disney had teamed up to make The Diary of Anne Frank, people were in awe. How could Disney make such a serious movie? Well, they couldn't. Disney has scrapped Anne Frank on the basis of its dark material. Of course, it's dark. It's The Diary of Anne Frank! Anybody who knows what the book is could tell you that. I'll bet that somebody will eventually pick the movie back up. Nobody does that to David Mamet.

Paul Dano joins Wichita

Paul Dano of Little Miss Sunshine fame has joined the cast of the movie Wichita. Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz have already been cast. The movie is about an agent (Tom Cruise) who teams up with an energetic Midwesterner (Cameron Diaz). Paul Dano will play some sort of a mysterious scientist. Wichita seems to be snowballing in terms of buzz and is looking to have some good returns in the box office next year. James Mangold, whose resume ranges from Girl, Interrupted to Kate & Leopold, is set to direct. Wichita will come out on July 2, 2010.

This week in theaters: 9/25

It's hard to pick a choice this weekend when nothing really that great is coming out. If you're in one of 13 towns across the nation, you may be in luck, but if you're not, then you may just not go to the movies this week.

Fame-Students at an arts school work their butts off to be better than each other. It's a remake and a musical. To me, it has nothing going for it other than Bebe Neuwirth who doesn't even have a main part. High School Musical and its two sequels have already been there. Plus, Glee is on every Wednesday. Won't be seeing this one.

Surrogates-Bruce Willis plays tough cop again, but this time in a fantasy. Based on a graphic novel, the movie follows a similar plot to the failure Gamer in which a murder occurs in an alternate gaming world where people play and do what they want. Neither the box office winner nor my recommendation.

Pandorum-An alien lurks on a space ship, but this time it's directed by Paul W.S. Anderson of the Resident Evil failures, (cough, cough) I mean series. Sounds too much like Alien, but the trailer had enough cliches to pique my interest. Plus, the posters were creepy. Still, I won't be seeing this in theaters.

Capitalism: A Love Story-Michael Moore returns with a timely documentary on the ruined economy. If the title wasn't good enough for you, check out the teaser trailer for the movie on YouTube. It's amazing. This would be my choice for the weekend, but it's not playing near me. Damn.

Paranormal Activity-The highly buzzed "shaky cam" film revolving around a couple being haunted by ghosts finally releases...in 13 places. If you're lucky enough to see it, please tell me what you thought. I can't wait to see this. Please release it in New York! By the way, if you want to see it as well, they have a feature on their website where you can Demand It!, meaning that you can ask for it to be in a theater near you.

Glee Gets Picked Up for a Full Season

And thank God too. Glee is quite possibly one of the best shows on air right now and it doesn't at all surprise me that it just got picked up for a full season. Apparently, the first few episodes fared well enough in the ratings that Fox decided to keep it. It really makes me happy that they did this. If you don't already watch it, try it. You'll be hooked after one musical number

Precious Wins People's Choice Award at Toronto

Precious, Lee Daniel's critcally acclaimed new film, is already on its way to the Oscars. The film just won the People's Choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival. This is surprising considering other acclaimed films entered the competition including An Education, A Serious Man, and Up in the Air. To win over those is quite a feat, but it also managed to break a record.

Precious also just became the first film to win both the People's Choice at the TIFF and the Audience Award at Sundance. No other film has done that in the history of the two festivals. The film is going to screen at the New York Film Festival. I already got my ticket and am totally excited to see it. I'll review it after I see it on October 5th. Can't wait!

Steven Spielberg sees Paranormal Activity, Gets Spooked

As you may already know, Paranormal Activity, first time director Oren Peli's new indie horror movie, is sweeping the internet. Fans of the movie were recently overjoyed when the film finally got a limited release for September 25th and since that announcment, the film blogs have not stopped following it.

The most recent story is about Steven Spielberg. Since he created the studio Dreamworks, he was allowed to have an advance screening copy that Paramount, the major studio that owns Dreamworks, gave him. Steven Spielberg watched the movie, but after he was done, he found that his door had been locked from the inside. He couldn't get the door open so he eventually got a locksmith to open it for him. He gave it back to Paramount in a garbage bag and claimed the DVD was "haunted". Spoooooky!

On a sidenote, Dreamworks apparently asked Oren Peli to remake the film with a bigger budget under their ownership. Peli was smart and told them that this was never going to happen. You show 'em, Oren!

Paranormal Activity is coming out this week. It is about a couple who believes there is paranormal activity going on in their own household at night. To prove it to themselves that this is not true, they set up a camera system to record everything. What they saw was recorded and edited into this movie. Oren Peli directed the movie in a style a la The Blair Witch Project using "shaky cam".

Box Office Report: Week of 9/18

This week at the box office, love wasn't happening, Jennifer's Body proved that sex really doesn't sell, America's obesity and obsession with food shone through, and audiences suprisingly had good taste. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs came at number one. It wasn't a surprise, but the amount of money it made was. The fact that it was in 3D is definitely a reason why it made a lot of money. The Informant! suprisingly came at number two. I guess movie goers still do have good taste. Tyler Perry enjoyed another good weekend with his newest one entitled I Can Do Bad All By Myself. Love Happens and Jennifer's Body both bombed. This wasn't surprising for Love Happens, but I guess this just shows advertisers that in the future, Megan Fox shouldn't be the sole reason to attract people. And let's face it, the little amount of money that Jennifer's Body did make was just from underage, horny teenage boys.

1. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (in 3D in some locations)-$30.1M

2. The Informant!-$10.5M

3. I Can Do Bad All By Myself-$10.1M

4. Love Happens-$8.5M

5. Jennifer's Body-$6.8M

6. 9-$5.5M

7. Inglourious Basterds-$3.6M

8. All About Steve-$3.4M

9. Sorority Row-$2.5M

10. The Final Destination-$2.4M

This week in theaters: 9/18

It's a tough decision for what to see in theaters this week. The only thing you don't want see is Love Happens.

Jennifer's Body: Jennifer (Megan Fox), a queen bee in her high school, is your regular teenage girl. That is, assuming your regular teenage girl eats boys. I'm totally serious. Her friend, Needy played by Amanda Seyfried, finds out about it and tries to stop her. Adam Brody is also in the film as a goth. I've read the script and loved it. It's really a comedy and not that much of a horror movie. The second film from Diablo Cody.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: The newest 3-D movie excursion is based on a children's book where it starts raining food. I used to love the book as a kid so I'm definitely seeing this over the weekend. Plus, it's got great reviews already. Anna Faris and Bill Hader star among other excellent voice actors.

Love Happens: Love surely isn't happening between me and this film. Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart star in a contrived romantic drama. Do you really need a plot?

Bright Star: This may seem a little Masterworks Theater, but supposedly Bright Star is quite nice. It's the story about John Keats and Franny Brawne. So what? It's directed by Jane Campion and stars Abby Cornish in a breakout role. If you haven't seen the trailer, check it out beforehand. It's really beautiful and definitely worth a look.

The Informant!: Matt Damon stars as an idiot who uncovers a major plot for money that his company is involved in. He talks to the CIA who start using him to spy on the company. Supposedly, it's based on a true story however I don't believe it. Still, if you've seen the trailer, it just looks hilarious. I actually laughed out loud at the trailer which is something I don't usually do. It was very well received at film festivals so if this at a theater near you, you're in luck. Make use of that theater and go see this.

Newslets: MPAA Ratings, Nicole Kidman, Star Trek 2

With a surprising lack of news this week, I thought I'd just briefly cover a few semi-important stories.

Ratings:
The MPAA has rated Capitalism: A Love Story, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Nine, and This Is It. Capitalism was given an R rating for some language. Sounds like a joke to me, but what kid really wants to see Michael Moore rant on and on about the desolate economy. New Moon was give a PG-13 (duh) for some violence and action. In some unrelated Twilight news, they plan for the third one to be aimed at guys also. HAHAHAHA, no guy would ever see the third film unless they were dragged by their girlfriend. Nine was rated PG-13 as well for sexual content and smoking. Yes, you can bring your kiddies to the future Oscar winner. The oddest rating this week belongs to This Is It for suggestive choreography and scary images. WTF!? I know Michael Jackson was scary, but what the hell? By the way, Couples Retreat was rerated with a PG-13 without making any cuts.

Nicole Kidman:
Nicole Kidman has been chosen to star in The Danish Girl, an adaptation of the book by David Ebershoff. Tomas Alfredson will direct. He directed the unbelievably underrated Let the Right One In. If you haven't seen it, you must.

Star Trek 2:
Apparently, Star Trek 2 is a politically fused science fiction movie. Ummm, okay?

Silent Hill 2:
An unnecessary sequel is being made to Silent Hill. The first was enjoyable to an extent, but it was more that the special effects were awesome. They can probably do a good job again, but please, no more scenes where barbed wire rapes a woman.

Defendor Distributor:
Sony Pictures has picked up the hyped Woody Harrelson film Defendor. Judging by the trailer, this will be a sleeper hit. I fell in love with the movie when I saw the trailer and now I've got to see it. No release date has been given out by Sony.

Youth in Revolt Delay:
I'm not sure why, but Fox Searchlight has made a stupid decision to delay Youth in Revolt until January 2010. The reviews from TIFF were good, so I'm not sure what caused the delay.

Trailer Alert!: Paranormal Activity

The trailer has finally released for Paranormal Activity which has continually gather buzz film festival by film festival. It met with amazing reception at TIFF and I'm really excited to see it. Unfortunately, it's not going to playing nearly since its release is extremely limited. It's about a couple who experiences a ghost that is haunting them and documents it on camera. It uses the "shaky cam" gimmick which to be honest, has been effective for me everytime. I can't think of a bad movie that uses "shaky cam". Plus, I'm a sucker for a good horror movie which is rare these days.

Spiderman 4 Release Date

There's not much to say other than that the fourth movie in the Spiderman series will hit IMAX and regular screens on May 5, 2011. It's a really long wait and we can only hope it's not as bad as Spiderman 3 which I didn't even finish. Can the recover from that? Maybe when we see plot details and way in the distant future, a trailer.

True Blood: Finale Thoughts

Since the finale aired on Sunday to about 6 million viewers, I thought it might actually be worth sharing a few thoughts. First, this season was pretty damn good. The finale may have been a so-so end to a really great season, but I had a blast watching this season.

The finale itself was pretty good, but not as good as it should've been. I think we can all agree that the writing has progressively devolved in terms of smart and witty dialogue. I also think the fact that the show's popularity has risen dramatically in the last few months attributed to Alan Ball stupifying the plot. I am little dissappointed in this mainly because I watched it when it was still a diamond in the rough and not the hottest thing on TV.

The cliffhanger where Bill was kidnapped was good, but I wasn't exactly thinking about how I wanted to see the next season. Still, I'm going to watch the next season. I'm just afraid that the third season may be the one where it loses some steam.

True Blood's second season was not better than the first season, but it came pretty close. This season was a little too over the top filled to the brim with orgies and the disturbing hunter's soufflee scene where Maryanne cuts a human heart up and feeds it to Tara and Eggs in the form of hunter's pie. That being said, the episode "I Will Rise Up" was AMAZING. My favorite episode of the show to date. Finale: B+ Season: A

Battleship Movie Gets Director, Release Date

As previously announced a few months ago in a truly WTF moment, a movie of Battleship will be made. Variety announced that Peter Berg (Hancock, The Kingdom) will direct the film. He has stated that the film will be about a five-ship fleet that is under attack and is under an intense battle. Who or what is attacking is still in question, but this does not matter because the obvious thing is terrorism. Berg called it a "badass take on the game". Somehow, I think something like this can't be described as badass. I sink your battleship, Peter Berg! The film will be released on July 1, 2011.

Patrick Swayze Dead at 57

Unfortunately, heartthrob Patrick Swayze has lost his battle with pancreatic cancer at age 57. He was famouse for his roles in Dirty Dancing and Ghost. R.I.P. Patrick Swayze.

Review: 9

In 2005, Shane Acker made a short called 9. It went on to be nominated for an Oscar. If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend seeing the short. But would I recommend the movie? Absolutely. The movie is grim, but the imagery is great and the action scenes are riveting.

9 is the story of a stitchpunk, a small doll that is made of fabric and a zipper, named 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood) wakes up in an post-apocalyptic world. He walks around and confronts a big machine called The Beast, but is rescued by another stichpunk called 2. The Beast takes 2 and runs off with him. 9 eventually meets a few other stitchpunks who eventually realize that the must save humanity.

Though you maybe thinking 9 may not be a good feature film, you are incredibly wrong. Yes, the short film may have a sort of intrigue that the movie doesn't, but the movie's plot reveals itself slowly, at a very measured pace. It also helps that the movie is short, sweet, and to the point with a run time of 79 miuntes. Action scenes are dotted around the movie and they are quite nice. Timur Bekmambetov, the director of Wanted, was one of the four executive producers of this and it's very evident in the way the action scenes are done.

The visuals are very nice in this film are nice as well. Tim Burton was another one of the executive producers and it seems obvious through the mood of the film as well as the way it was shot. Though Shane Acker probably had most of the input on the beautiful color spectrums of green and black, Tim Burton definitely had a lot of influence on this film. The visuals are unexpectedly easy on the eyes, however, they're meant only for adults. Parents need to know that this film is intense and definitely not for their children. Kids over the age of ten will be able to handle it, but don't be fooled by the fact that Tim Burton executively produced it.

Basically, 9 is a visually fantastic, unsettling action movie. While it isn't for the young ones, it's a thrill for the adults who will understand its message moreso than the children. The ending leaves a bit to be desired, but the rest of the movie is great and fun. It's a very short movie so you should definitely be able to find time to see it. 9 is now, in my opinion, in contention for the Best Animation Oscar.

79 min., PG-13, Directed by Shane Acker, Starring the voices of Elijah Wood, Cripsin Glover, Jennifer Conelly, John C. Reilly

Distributor News: Brookyln's Finest and Knockout

Two movies got distributors today. The first was Brooklyn's Finest. A new production company called Senator had originally planned on releasing it for $2 million, however, they were financially suffering and couldn't release it. Variety reported that Overture is now set to release it. As of this writing, a release date is unknown, but I think you can expect a 2009 release date if France is getting it on December 9, 2009. Brookyln's Finest is the story of three cops in Brookyln whose careers are widely different, yet they are all currently in the same deadly position in life. The film screened in January at Sundance and it had a great reception. It currently occupies 9.2/10 on the basis of 275 votes on IMDB.

Steven Soderbergh's Knockout also got a distributor today. Lionsgate is officially going to release the new film from the director of this year's hailed and hated The Girlfriend Experience. Unlike The Girlfriend Experience, Knockout plans to appeal to a wide stream audience. Based on the show, Knockout is about a homless girl, played by martial arts fighter Gina Carano, who is mistaken for a killer by a confidential version of 24's CTU. They decide to train her as a spy for their missions.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is Cast in Red Dawn

Back in March, you may have seen Watchmen. Fans of the graphic novel were split over the film. I love the graphic novel and admit that I love the film version though the end in the film needs some work. If you saw the movie, you may remember the character of The Comedian as played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Morgan is back making another film called Red Dawn, an adaptation of the comic book. Morgan has also indicated his interest in having a part in Guy Ritchie's adaptation of Lobo according to Super Hero Hype.

Christopher Waltz Cast as Villain in The Green Hornet

I haven't seen Inglourious Basterds, but I really think I need to. Fans of it are rejoicing right now because Christopher Waltz, now famous for playing the evil Hans Landa, has joined the cast of The Green Hornet as reported by Deadline Hollywood. Supposedly, Nicholas Cage was close to signing and thank God he didn't. Has Nicholas Cage ruined enough movies, namely Knowing (even though he wasn't the only thing that ruined it)?

Not much has been said about Waltz's character other than that he will play the shady villain. The Green Hornet stars Seth Rogen and is directed by Michael Gondry. It is set to release on December 17, 2010.

(Teaser) Trailer Alert: How To Train Your Dragon

This teaser for How to Train Your Dragon is really just a teaser. We really don't get to see very much other than a dragon flying and its eye. I can't really criticize too much because we didn't see very much, but still, I think this will be good. We'll see how the full trailer plays out.

Trailer Alert!: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Alright, fan girls, it's here! If you were one of the only twihards who wasn't watching the VMAs last night, you can watch the trailer right here. Personally, this is of no interest to me, but I'm sure that all the Twilight fans will love this one. I have to say, even though I don't care about New Moon at all, the special effects are quite good. The actors look to be giving their usual stale performances and Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner grant every girl's wish: a look at their body. Have a look, but my guess is that if you want to see it, your still going to want to see it. If you don't want to see it, your still probably won't want see it.

Box Office Report: Week of 9/11

Let's just say that as predicted, I Can Do Bad All By Myself's title was ironic. It came in at number one in the box office this weekend. The unlikely winner was 9. 9 came in at second even though it was at under 2,000 theaters. 9 also managed to beat Sorority Row and Whiteout who both had sucky weekends. Gamer also continued to suck at the box office, while District 9, Julie and Julia, Inglourious Basterds, and surprisingly All About Steve held strong.
1. I Can Do Bad All By Myself-$24M
2. 9-$10.9M (15.3 five day)
3. Inglourious Basterds-$6.5M
4. All About Steve-$5.8M
5. The Final Destination-$5.5M
6. Sorority Row-$5.3M
7. Whiteout-$5.1M
8. District 9-$3.6M
9. Julie and Julia-$3.3M
10. Gamer-$3.1M

Trailer Alert!: A Christmas Carol

The trailer for Robert Zemeckis's newest 3D adventure, A Christmas Carol has appeared online. Right now, you're probably thinking "Another one?". That's kind of the same thing that went through my mind, but this one looks suprisingly good. I'm Jewish and I want to see it, so that's probably a good sign. Jim Carrey seems to be suprisingly good as Ebenezer Scrooge and the animation is elaborate and pretty. The 3D aspect of the movie should be quite nice because, judging by the trailer, the movie doesn't rely on things jumping out at you. The comedt seems to be directed at children, however, some the imagery seems a bit scary for the youngest ones. Nevertheless, this looks like a nice suprise. I still don't really get why it doesn't release closer to Christmas, but whatever, it looks like fun.

P.S.-You guys may have to look somewhere else tonight for the New Moon and This Is It trailers premiering at the VMAs. "True Blood" takes a million times more priority for me over watching the VMAs which are usually dumb anyway.

Trailer News: Week of 9/11

Coming up next week are the trailers for A Nightmare on Elm Street, Valentine's Day, This Is It, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and A Christmas Carol. A Nightmare on Elm Street's trailer or teaser (it's unclear which) will appear on some prints of Jennifer's Body. It not a remake, but rather a reboot of Wes Craven's horror series. Jackie Earle Jones (Little Children, the upcoming "Human Target") plays Freddy Krueger. Nightmare releases on April 30, 2010. Valentine's Day will appear on prints of Love Happens. Valentine's Day is a collection of vignettes of couples breaking up, getting together, and finding the meaning of love on Valentine's Day in Los Angeles. It releases on Valentine's Day, 2010 (obviously). A Christmas Carol's trailer has already debuted in theaters, but had its grand debut at the D23 Expo. Yahoo! Movies has announced that they will put it online on Sunday morning (in Pacific time). A Christmas Carol is Robert Zemeckis' 3D retelling of Charles Dickens' classic story. Jim Carrey stars as the voice of Ebenezer Scrooge. It releases on November 6th. This Is It and New Moon's trailers will appear during the MTV Video Music Awards. MTV has a widget that is a countdown until the trailer which then morphs into the trailer when it debuts online. New Moon releases November 20, 2009. This Is It, the Michael Jackson documentary, releases in October for a two week limited release.

D23 Expo: Movie Announcements

First off is Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. What?! Another Pirates of the Caribbean? You've got to be kidding me. I thought we were done! They're entertaining, but Disney just doesn't know when to stop. Nothing was announced other than the title, Johnny Depp will reprise his role as Jack Sparrow, and that filming starts in April or May of 2010. The tentative release date is Summer of 2011.

Here's some really bad news. Disney has acquired the rights to sixteen Beatles songs for a 3D remake of the Yellow Submarine. EEW! Robert Zemeckis is set to direct. Hollywood must learn the following: it's okay to make a film in 3D for fun, but it's not okay to do a remake of a good film as a money making scheme. 3D is fun, but when is it too much? Disney is bringing the term stoner flick to a new dimension, literally.

Disney has announced Double Dare You Films, horror movies for the young audience. Sounds like a nice idea to me. Even better is that Guillermo del Toro is making the first film entitled Trollhunters. He'll also be producing anything else under this label as well as directing others, but this is the only one he has announced so far. Trollhunters is based on an original story that del Toro wrote. Anything that Guillermo del Toro is involved with is good, this will be no exception.

The final film that Disney announced was The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made. This obviously an ironic title considering Disney is loaded with money. No plot was announced, but Jason Segel who unforgettably went fully nude in Forgetting Sarah Marshall will be writing the script.

This week in theaters: 9/11

Here's what's coming out this week. There's a mix of everything. If you like horror, there's two movies for you--Sorority Row or Whiteout. For comedies, look no further than Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself. My personal choice this week would be the animated action film 9. Also, The September Issue widens its release this week.

9: When a scientist realizes that then end of humans is approaching, he splits his personality into pieces and embeds the pieces in stitchpunks, what look to be some kind of a doll. The stitchpunk numbered 9 wakes up to an apocalyptic world where the other eight live in fear. He riles them up to save society. Anyone who has seen Shane Acker's award winning short knows how beautiful the shades of green and black are, but can the story be carried out for a feature film? Even with a short run time of 79 minutes, I'm still a little unsure. Still, this is the movie I'm seeing this weekend. Parents: this is rated PG-13; it's not for your children.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself: Tyler Perry revisits the Madea franchise, but this one involves a disco and Taraji P. Henson as a singer. Anything that has Taraji P. Henson couldn't be too bad. Personally, I'm not a fan of Madea or Tyler Perry, but I give him credit for producing so much material that the public seems to love.

The September Issue: Widening its release this weekend is the independent documentary on how Vogue made their 2007 September issue. What sounds like an easily drab movie that could only be for women and fashionistas is actually quite different. I am a straight male who is not into fashion at all, yet I highly recommend this film. R.J. Cutler has an unusual way of filmmaking that really works.

Sorority Row: Theta Pi, a sorority, finds out that one of its sisters is being cheated on by her boyfriend. They decide to play a mean trick on him by pretending she is dead. There's only one problem--she actually dies. They bury her and pretend like nothing happened. Years later, the sisters graduate, but the girl they buried comes back for a vengeance. A movie sporting the tagline "Theta Pi must die" could possibly good. If this is your cup of tea, go for it, but I would only watch it if it was on TV and I didn't have to pay money.

Whiteout: Antarctica experiences its first murder and Kate Beckinsale stars as a U.S. Marshal who's there to solve it before the sun sets for six months. Sounds to me like a rip off of 30 Days of Night. Definitely won't be seeing this one. Fans of the graphic novel may be dissapointed. Actually, correction, they will be dissapointed.