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Diaz: 'I'd love to do new Angels film'

Cameron Diaz has admitted that she would like to work on another Charlie's Angels movie.

The star of upcoming film Green Hornet claimed that it's just a matter of when she, co-stars Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu can get together to discuss the follow-up, Ace Showbiz reports.

She said: "I would love to do it. It's just a matter of us getting off our butts and doing it. Totally lazy! Our work ethic sucks, all of us."

She added: "I mean I would love to do, but again [I] have no idea. It's not anything real. There's no tangible evidence in my life."

In January, the film's producer Nancy Juvonen hinted that a possible sequel may feature Rihanna as a new Angel, while director McG has said that he will not helm any future pictures for the franchise.

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Tarantino 'unsurprised by movie response'

Quentin Tarantino has said that he was unsurprised by the mixed critical response to his new movie Inglourious Basterds at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

The director told ShortList that while he would enjoy a uniformly positive reaction to his films, the importance of his work means that it is not likely.

Tarantino said: "I'm never surprised. While it'd be nice if everybody was tripping over themselves with praise, all my movies have received a mixed reaction, even Pulp Fiction; that's the way it is when you're doing what I'm doing.

"If you're an important artist, people may not like you, but they have to deal with you. I am a filmmaker that critics have to deal with, and how they think about me will help define who they are and what they are about."

He added: "So whether you accept me or reject me, I define you to some degree. Would it be nice if everybody just all got in line and drank the Kool-Aid? Yeah, that would be really great, but nice isn't always best."

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Columbia 'buys $60m Jackson film rights'

Columbia Pictures has reportedly signed a deal with AEG Live to make a film based on footage of the final rehearsals of Michael Jackson's cancelled 'This Is It' tour.

Court documents filed in Los Angeles show that the firm has bought the rights for $60 million (£35 million), but the deal must be approved by a US judge at an August 10 hearing.

The contract was negotiated by lawyer John Branca and music executive John McClain, the men who are administering Jackson's estate, the BBC reports.

Under the terms of the deal, Jackson's estate will receive 90% of the profits from the concert film, with AEG Live taking the remainder.

The contract adds that footage showing the star in a negative light will not be permitted, while the movie must also be suitable for a PG rating and no longer than 150 minutes in length.

Jackson died on June 25, weeks before he was due to begin his 50-date live residency at London's O2 venue.

It has been suggested that his live choreographer and High School Musical director Kenny Ortega will make the planned film.

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Amy Adams: 'I'm on an up'

Amy Adams has said that she intends to make the most of her current happiness and acting success.

The Julie and Julia star told Parade that she had struggled to make a living earlier in her career.

Adams said: "There were times when I didn't work. There were times when I was flat broke, just like anyone else.

"You go through ups and downs in life. And, right now, I'm on an up. I'm going to enjoy it and have fun and make the most of it."

She added: "Julie and Julia is really about reinventing yourself and what that takes. I've gone through that process of re-evaluating things.

"For a while, I was seriously considering giving up acting. My life lacked balance because I was too focused on a result as opposed to enjoying the process. I just had to get back into enjoying myself."

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'True Blood' actress joins 'Mother's Day'

True Blood actress Deborah Ann Woll has joined the cast of Darren Lynn Bousman's latest horror film Mother's Day.

The project, a remake of the 1980 cult favourite, is about three female friends who encounter two brothers trying to impress their unhinged mother by going on a murderous rampage.

The new version expands the psychotic family to include a daughter (Woll). The story finds them returning to their old home to terrorise new residents, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Twisted Pictures (the Saw series), Brett Ratner's Rat Entertainment and LightTower Entertainment are steering the remake, which is being eyed for release next Mother's Day.

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Hanks turns down Spielberg's 'Harvey'?

Tom Hanks has reportedly turned down the lead role in Steven Spielberg's remake of Harvey.

The director announced the modern-day update of the Mary Chase play, about a man who has a six-foot tall rabbit for an imaginary friend, as his next film earlier this week.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning work was previously adapted into a 1950 Jimmy Stewart vehicle and it has been suggested that Hanks was the frontrunner to take on the role for the remake, Variety says.

Insiders on the Fox-DreamWorks production have reportedly said that Spielberg and Hanks have already discussed the possiblity of Hanks's participation in the project. He is thought to have rejected the role of Elwood P. Dowd because he is already considered to be a modern-day Stewart and the part would only solidify the perception.

However, a rep for Fox said that speculation about Hanks and his supposed refusal to commit to the project has "been inaccurate".

Harvey made its Broadway debut in 1944 and enjoyed a five-year run before it was adapted for the cinema.

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Wayans: 'I was hired to play Robin'

Marlon Wayans has revealed that he signed up to portray Robin in 1992's Batman Returns.

The GI Joe: Rise Of The Cobra star said that he was brought on board the project by director Tim Burton - however, his part was cut.

"I was actually supposed to play Robin in Batman Returns about 15 years ago," he told i09. "But there was too many characters. I was cast, I was paid and everything. I still get residual cheques."

When director Joel Schumacher took over helming duties for the 1995 movie Batman Forever, the filmmaker opted to cast Chris O'Donnell as The Boy Wonder.

Wayans added: "Joel Schumacher did it and he had a different vision for who Robin was. So he hired Chris O'Donnell. I get why they picked Chris O'Donnell, because it would be messed up to have Batman and you've got Robin, and his bulge is somewhat bigger than Batman's.

"Batman would have a serious problem with that."

Wayans recently told DS what it was like to be turned into a GI Joe action figure.

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Lohan, De Niro 'join Machete cast'

Lindsay Lohan and Robert De Niro have reportedly joined the cast of upcoming movie Machete.

The Mean Girls star was previously rumoured to be considering a role in Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse follow-up, while De Niro was reportedly in talks to play crooked political figure Senator McLaughlin.

The pair have now officially joined Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, Steven Seagal, Jeff Fahey and Don Johnson on the project, which began filming this week, Variety reports.

Danny Trejo will reprise his role from the 2007 mock movie trailer, playing a machete-wielding Mexican ex-federate who works as a day labourer while he hides out from a corrupt politician who double-crossed him.

Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis will co-direct the movie.

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Whedon: 'Angel could beat Edward Cullen'

Angel creator Joss Whedon has claimed that the brooding vampire would come out on top in a fight with Twilight's Edward Cullen.

The TV producer suggested that David Boreanaz's character would have the edge in a battle of the undead thanks to his past experiences as sadistic alter ego Angelus.

Speaking to MTV News, Whedon commented: "I think Robert Pattinson's really cool, [but] Angel would kick the s**t out of him.

"Okay, he's Angelus. There's no Edward Cullenus, okay. He just gets shiny in the sun… Boreanaz would have him down in a heartbeat. No offence, 'cause he's hot."

Whedon, who paired Angel for a romance with vampire slayer Buffy, added that he is a fan of the relationship between Edward and teenager Bella Swan in the Twilight series.

He commented: "There's something primal about that story. You can't get away from it, and it just works like gangbusters. I love it."

Whedon's new TV project Dollhouse was renewed for a second season earlier this year.

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Hudgens "freaked out" by co-star Pettyfer

Vanessa Hudgens has admitted that she was "freaked out" by co-star Alex Pettyfer's appearance in their new movie Beastly.

The High School Musical star appears alongside Pettyfer in the Manhattan-based high school retelling of classic fairytale Beauty And The Beast.

Speaking to MTV News, she said: "It was crazy, I saw the picture [of his 'Beast' make-up] for like a millisecond and then I was like, 'Oh no, I can't look!'

"I waited until I got to see him in person and it moved me in a really weird and peculiar way. It's so mind blowing the prosthetics they've done on him. He changes as a complete person. I was freaked out, honestly."

Beastly tells the story of a transfer student (Mary-Kate Olsen) who curses a handsome boy (Pettyfer) so that his appearance becomes hideously disfigured. Hudgens plays a beautiful girl who is sent to live with his family.

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Co-star "freaked out" over Hudgens kiss

Bandslam star Gaelan Connell has admitted that he was "really nervous" about his kissing scene with co-star Vanessa Hudgens.

The actor and musician plays a music-loving nerd who falls for Hudgens's quirky misfit in the upcoming battle of the bands comedy.

Speaking to E! Online, he said: "Vanessa's kiss was like day five of the shooting, and I had just met her. I'm like real nervous. I'm kind of like freaking out.

"When I get nervous, the blood leaves my hands, so they get that weird tingly feeling. So, I'm sitting there, trying to shake them. She kind of looks at me like, 'Gaelan, why are you freaking out?' And I'm looking at her like, 'Oh, come on - like you're really into this?'"

He added: "Thank you Shia LaBeouf and Michael Cera for paving the way for someone like me to be the leading guy in a movie - revenge of the nerds!"

Bandslam, which also stars Alyson Michalka and Lisa Kudrow, is released next week.

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Williamson 'confirms new Scream trilogy'

Kevin Williamson has announced that upcoming movie Scream 4 will be the first instalment of a new trilogy for the franchise.

Series director Wes Craven had previously told DS that the screenwriter had informed him that the sequel could lead to subsequent parts.

"It's a new trilogy, it's ten years later," he told iF magazine. "[But then I thought] a trilogy – now I'd be interested! Could we do that and develop a trilogy? And then I started thinking about the story. I created three different chapters, broke it up and I got really excited."

David Arquette recently revealed that he and wife Courteney Cox would be on board the project to reprise their original roles.

However, Neve Campbell is reportedly not partaking in the new films, with the Dawson's Creek scribe hinting that he may kill off her Sidney Prescott character.

He explained: "[It's] Sheriff Dewey, I mean Deputy Dewey, oops. It's Dewey and Gale and that's it."

Williamson also said that he expects to finish the script in a few months' time and hopes to bring Craven back to helm the series, adding: "Wes wants to read the script before we sign on, which makes sense. We've sort of chatted about it. We're a Scream family, so not having dad sitting at the head of the table wouldn't make sense."

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spratt89

Writers hired for Cruise and Abrams' Mission: Impossible 4

Paramount Pictures and producers Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams are developing a fourth Mission: Impossible movie and have set TV writers Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec to write the screenplay, Variety reported.

The writers worked for Abrams on Alias and will write M:I 4 based on a story Abrams wrote with them, the trade paper reported:

While the only other commitments so far are for Cruise and Abrams to produce the film together, sources said that Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt, will certainly be involved in an onscreen capacity. Pic is aimed for a 2011 release.

Applebaum and Nemec are the creators of the new ABC series Happy Town and previously created October Road and the U.S. version of Life on Mars for ABC.

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rickman

Friday, Aug. 9, 2009



Hosoda steps out of Miyazaki's shadow with dazzling new film


By MARK SCHILLING
"Revenge," George Orwell once wrote, "is bitter," but it can also be sweet, can't it?


Summer Wars  Rating: (5 out of 5)  
      

Astounding anime: Director Mamoru Hosoda and his team mold a story involving the digital world with the real world with brilliant skill. © 2009 SUMMER WARS FILM PARTNERS  

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Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Running time: 114 minutes
Language: Japanese  
Now showing (Aug. 7, 2009)  
[See Japan Times movie listing]  



When Studio Ghibli asked Mamoru Hosoda, an up-and-coming animator at Toei Animation, to direct a new feature, "Howl no Ugoku Shiro" ("Howl's Moving Castle," 2004), it was as if the Imperial family had allowed a commoner to marry one of its members. Then, when Hayao Miyazaki — Ghibli's emperor — decided to take over the film, Hosoda was cast outside of the palace gates.

Rather than cry in his futon over the injustice of it all, Hosoda directed the SF anime "Toki o Kakeru Shojo" ("The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," 2006) for the Madhouse studio. Featuring a sensitive teenage heroine and a time-traveling storyline, with animation that vividly expressed both emotional nuances and imaginative flights, "Toki" was a surprise hit, as well as a winner of many prizes and festival invitations. Meanwhile, its Ghibli box-office rival, "Gedo Senki" ("Tales from Earthsea," 2006), directed by Miyazaki's son Goro, was bashed by critics (including this one, who found it a compendium of cliches) and did, for a Ghibli film, mediocre business.

Hosoda's new followup is "Summer Wars," an animation again made with Madhouse and scriptwriter Satoko Okudera, but with a bigger budget and wider distribution by Warner Japan. Focusing on an epic computer game battle, "Summer Wars" is an ambitious step forward for Hosoda — and a marvelously sure-footed one it is.

It also points out the conservatism of so much feature anime, which either endlessly repurpose popular manga, TV anime and game franchises (e.g., the products of Hosoda's old boss Toei Animation) or rework familiar tropes (e.g., Ghibli's spunky underage heroines and evergreen theme of environmental destruction) over and over. "Summer Wars" may contain familiar elements, beginning with its bashful, moonstruck young hero, but it combines them in ways fresh, contemporary and dazzlingly imaginative.

Unlike most mass audience anime that look back nostalgically to a historical or folkloric past or ahead to various futuristic fantasies, dark and otherwise, "Summer Wars" is totally of the current, postmillennium moment. Watching it, I felt quite the print-and-ink dinosaur, but also more hopeful about the digital culture that has connected nearly everyone in the country. Instead of surrendering their souls to the Internet data stream — the theme of several postapocalyptic anime — the folks fighting the online "wars" of the title retain their individuality and humanity, in every variation from the cute to the obnoxious.

The aforementioned hero is Kenji (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a teenage math prodigy who, together with his equally nerdy best friend, lives almost completely in an online world called Oz. Then, one fine summer day, a pretty sempai (senior), Natsuki (Nanami Sakuraba), asks him if he would like to help her with the big birthday celebration being planned for her soon-to-be 90-year-old grandmother (Sumiko Fuji).

rickman

By KAORI SHOJI
Brave, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Bolt is the canine equivalent of Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) of "The Truman Show" fame — he lives his whole life in a TV show but doesn't know it. And because he's a dog, the Kafka-esque/metaphysical angst that assailed Truman (once he discovered that his life is all about fabricated fragments of a ratings-grabbing action series) touch Bolt's heart only briefly. He has other things to worry about, like why his superpowers (turning freeways into concrete rubble at a single bark) can't work outside the studio, and whether Penny (his human costar on the show) really loved him or her sweet winsomeness was just acting.


Bolt  Rating: (3.5 out of 5)  
      

Barking mad: It's a lock when you do it the Pixar way. © DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  

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Director: Byron Howard and Chris Williams
Running time: 96 minutes
Language: English  
Opens Aug. 1  
[See Japan Times movie listing]  



Directed by Byron Howard and Chris Williams, "Bolt" is the thinking kids-and-parents' Disney animation, one that actually invites semideep discussions concerning reality and identity and job commitment, over postmovie burgers.

Having said so however, it's still heavily customized entertainment, rigged to manipulate the senses (the much-advertised 3-D effect is top-notch, if a little wearing), open tear ducts and extract giggles with Hollywood commercialism vengeance.

"Bolt" heralds a new era in Disney films: It's the first production supervised by Pixar's guru director John Lasseter, and his handiwork shows in the intricate quality of the visuals, combined with a sincerity in the overall tone that speak of a genuine, unslick smartness (read: more action, more meaty dialogue, less wisecracks).

And much to the director duo's credit, Bolt (voiceover by John Travolta) never exchanges his dog identity for a human personality: His logic and behavior patterns remain strictly canine from start to finish.

Bolt's stand-out trait is loyalty, and having been trained from birth to protect Penny (Miley Cyrus) from the clutches of cat-loving evildoer Dr. Calico (Malcolm MacDowell), he can't stop doing that just because the show's come to an end. On the set or out on the nitty gritty streets of Manhattan, where Bolt is mistakenly shipped to after a series of accidents.

Bolt's priorities remain the same: First, find Penny and make sure she's OK. Second, save the world. What a guy!

It's no wonder Penny — teenager that she is — has no interest in human males her own age and is suspicious of the director (James Lipton), whom she suspects is exploiting Bolt's nice-guy qualities in order to increase ratings (duh!).

In New York, Bolt meets the cynical, urbane cat Mittens (Susie Essman) and is taught the ropes of street survival, though he had long considered felines to be "degenerate creatures of darkness," and an overweight TV-obsessed hamster named Rhino (Mark Walton), who turns out to worship both Bolt and his show, decides to tag along. Rhino (who himself is a little vague between what's happening in the real world and the stuff he sees on TV) understands that Bolt needs to return to Penny minus the use of the superpowers he had once wielded so easily. Mittens, on the other hand, tells him to wake up and smell the unpalatable truth: "People can't be depended on. Penny was only pretending to love you, it was her job!"

True to its Pixar influences, "Bolt" draws a lot from "Toy Story," which also featured a pivotal relationship between a human boy and his favorite toys. Only one of them understood he was a mere ah, plaything. The other couldn't understand why, once taken out of his box and deposited in the boy's room with all the other toys, his almighty invincible powers disappeared.

Bolt has a similar dilemma, but it doesn't take long before his concerns for Penny override his concerns for strutting his stuff and having the title role.

In some possibly "dark and degenerate" way, there's a theme in this film about stars and ratings and megalomania. Or maybe it's a more straightforward message about dogs being better actors. Bolt certainly has some moments of method acting that would floor Dustin Hoffman.

spratt89

Langella is LaBeouf's 'Wall Street' mentor

Frank Langella has been added to the cast of Oliver Stone's Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.

20th Century Fox's financial drama will see the Frost/Nixon actor play Lewis Zabel, a mentor to Shia LaBeouf's young broker, reports Variety.

Michael Douglas is to reprise his role as Gordon Gekko, while Stone's W. star Josh Brolin is eyeing the part recently vacated by Javier Bardem.

21's Allan Loeb penned the Wall Street 2 script, which finds Gekko finishing his prison term and attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Carey Mulligan), who is dating LaBeouf's character.

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A-listers 'take recession paycuts'

Hollywood stars such as Denzel Washington, Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts have apparently taken paycuts due to the global recession.

US film studios are reportedly forcing actors, directors and writers to reduce their usually large fees, while TV networks are showing reluctance to sign up actors for long runs on series.

Los Angeles Times columnist Patrick Goldstein quotes one studio executive as saying: "Everyone has been going through all the stages, from denial to anger to rationalisation to acceptance. But the world has really changed. I think most of the talent is in the acceptance stage now."

Rob Marsala, a talent manager at One Management agency, added: "They don't seem to recognise quotes anymore. They budget what they budget and don't budge from that. It has become so competitive that people will take what they can get."

The industry is said to be reflecting a 25% drop in DVD revenues and the collapse of funding for movies. Last year's screenwriters' strike also contributed to the tightened belts, while movies such as The Hangover demonstrated that success does not only come from big-budget films.

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Olmos, Chou join 'Green Hornet' cast

Edward James Olmos has revealed that he will star in upcoming superhero movie The Green Hornet.

The Battlestar Galactica actor told Hollywood Snitch that he will soon start work on Michel Gondry's Seth Rogen-led blockbuster.

"I'm on my way to do The Green Hornet," Olmos said. "It'll be a lot of fun with Seth, Nicolas Cage and Cameron Diaz."

Taiwanese actor Jay Chou has also been cast as the titular hero's sidekick Kato, replacing Stephen Chow in the Columbia Pictures movie.

The Green Hornet will arrive in cinemas on July 9, 2010.

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Hurt Locker' pair to make 'Triple Frontier'

Kathryn Bigelow will reunite with her Hurt Locker writer Mark Boal for action-adventure movie Triple Frontier, says Variety.

Story details are being kept under wraps, but events will take place in the border zone between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Difficulty in policing the area makes it a target for the criminal underworld.

Charles Roven, Alex Gartner and Steve Alexander will produce the project via their Atlas Entertainment company. Bigelow and Boal are executive producing.

The Hurt Locker, which centres on a bomb disposal squad in Iraq, opens in the UK on August 28.

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Teen Choice Awards 2009: Movie Winners

Digital Spy presents the full list of movie winners from the Teen Choice Awards 2009, held last night in Los Angeles.

Drama:
Twilight

Comedy:
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Action/Adventure:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Horror/Thriller:
Friday the 13th

Bromantic Comedy:
Marley & Me

Chick Flick:
27 Dresses

Music/Dance:
High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Summer Movie, Drama:
My Sister's Keeper

Summer Movie, Comedy:
Up

Summer Movie, Romance:
The Proposal

Summer Movie, Action/Adventure:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Actor, Drama:
Robert Pattinson, Twilight

Actress, Drama:
Kristen Stewart, Twilight

Actor, Action/Adventure:
Hugh Jackman, X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Actress, Action/Adventure:
Jordana Brewster, Fast & Furious

Actor, Comedy:
Zac Efron, 17 Again

Actress, Comedy:
Anne Hathaway, Bride Wars

Actress, Music/Dance:
Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana: The Movie

Actor, Music/Dance:
Zac Efron, High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Summer Movie Star Male:
Shia LaBeouf, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Summer Movie Star Female:
Megan Fox, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Villain:
Cam Gigandet, Twilight

Fresh Face, Male:
Taylor Lautner, Twilight

Fresh Face, Female:
Ashley Greene, Twilight

Hissy Fit:
Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana: The Movie

Liplock:
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, Twilight

Rumble:
Robert Pattinson vs. Cam Gigandet, Twilight

Rockstar Moment:
Zac Efron, 17 Again

Male Hottie:
Robert Pattinson

Female Hottie:
Megan Fox

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