Amazon has some awesome deals on some select three Blu-Ray movie packs. Each of the listed packs below is only $24.99 each, and also comes with $5 credit towards select Amazon on-demand TV-Shows. That’s basically $8.33 for each Blu-ray disc.

• Action Collection: Jumper, Transporter, Transports 2
• Action Hero Collection: The Day After Tomorrow, I, Robot, The Terminator
• Hard Action Collection: Hitman, Street Kings, Man on Fire
• War Hero Collection: Behind Enemy Lines, Patton, Rescue Dawn
• Funny Guy Collection: Napoleon Dynamite, Office Space, Young Frankenstein
• Jock Collection: Dodgeball, Hoosiers, Rocky

I always find it amusing how these three packs are grouped. They usually contain one or two good movies and a film you’d never ever buy. But at the price, it’s probably still worth it for the two movies you do like. The Funny Guy Collection is probably the one exception, unless you’re one of those people that hated Napoleon.

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George and AJ is a short film-cum-animatic that, until today, was only officially available as an extra with the iTunes release of Up. Now, though, the clip is online and you can see it after the break.

Like Burn-E or Jack Jack Attack before it, this is a side story to the main narrative of the associated feature film, in this case featuring Shady Oaks caretakers George and AJ dealing with the aftermatch of Carl’s big escape. George and AJ was written and directed by Josh Cooley

You’ll have to tell me what you think about the style used here. I found it quite sweet and more than a little reminescent of the old LucasArts SCUMM game, Day of the Tentacle.

I would speculate that this was one of two pitched shorts for the Up disc, with Dug’s Special Mission getting the nod for full production and George and AJ left as a presentation piece. It was definitely too good to just toss aside, though, so I’m glad we’re now all getting to see it.

When it was announced that this short would only be available as an iTunes extra I was quite dismayed. I’d like to think there’s at least one format of every film that will include all available supporting material particularly interesting supporting material like this. I think Disney Pixar have done the right thing by releasing the short to YouTube,  and I hope any fans who purchased the iTunes version of Up just to get this film don’t feel too hard done by. Don’t do it again, please, Disney.

You may have noticed that Carl’s voice was not performed by Ed Asner in this short, with Steve Purcell instead doing the honours. Purcell is a story man at Pixar, since Cars, but in a former life was the creator of the rather superb Sam and Max and worked as an animator on several LucasArts video games.

I think I’ve just written myself around in a big circle and need a sit down. One more watch of George and AJ while I’m at it…

• The Up Subplot That Didn’t Make The Cut
• First Look At The Villain From Pixar’s Up
• NYCC: The First 45 Minutes of Pixar’s Up
• Next Pixar Short Film - Partly Cloudy
• New Up Clip From Sony Keynote
• Up For Best Picture and a Look Back at Steve Jobs’ 1997 Goal to Establish Pixar as the Third Brand in Movies

The above image can’t possibly be called exploitation in the name of hit hunting. Why? Because sex and nudity don’t lure us into the cinema, or at least it says so here a new report discussed at Miller McCune (via Cinematical). So why would it work with blog posts? Ahem.

Page 3 is the eccentric little brother of Page 2 and compiles even more stories which, for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. There’s a whole heap of different items after the break.

Variety have charted the success so far of Princess and the Frog merchandise. 45,000 Tiana dolls sold to date, 17,000 in just the last week. Is that a lot? I thought they shifted a lot more Lightning McQueens than that.

You can stream four tracks from the Dr. Parnassus soundtrack by Jeff and Mychael Danna at The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus Support Site.

…and when you’re done listening to those, Mark Romanek has provided an online version of a great, recent radio interview he gave in Dublin. He discusses his upcoming sci-fi tragedy Never Let Me Go, a film which Spike Jonze recently wrote about saying:

I don’t know what I can and cant say about it but I love the story. Even just a few scenes he showed me on their own were really moving. The combination of a science fiction film handled very subtly and naturalistically that also made me cry and is beautifully photographed (Adam Kimmel) is a trifecta.

Romanek has allowed the public the below tiny glimpse into the editing room too.

Some of Audrey Hepburn’s clothes are going under the hammer, including a number of her famous Givenchy outfits. Yahoo tell us that the proceeds will be going to charity. Incidentally, Kelly Brook has posed from some pictures to promote the Sky Movies Xmas lineup here in the UK, including these snaps of her as Hepburn’s Holly Golightly and a gender bent Indiana Jones.

Eva Mendes tells Movieline that closeups are overrated during a Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans promo chat. She says:

I happen to believe that a close-up is so overrated. I think if the camera can just sit for a while before it goes in on your face, and you can see body language and behavior, that says so much more than the camera just being up in your face. Especially with a lot of American filmmakers, they love close-ups. I think keeping the camera far away is far more powerful

Yeah, take that, Edwin S. Porter.

A Single Man director Tom Ford has played 16 Questions with Anne Thompson. The final answer:

Well, I’ve written something else from scratch, but I can’t say whether or not it’s what I’m going to do next or not, I need some distance. My head is spinning.

Below you can see Dan Abnett discuss the Warhammer 40k movie that he’s scripting, courtesy of Quiet Earth. The film’s director is to be Martyn Pick, an animator who contributed to The Age of Stupid.

Faran Tahir faces inevitable Iron Man 3 questions in a new Moviefone intererview. It sounds like he expects Jon Favreau and team to align their future plans to audience expectation, which is used to suggest an appearance by The Mandarin.

Meanwhile, Paul Bettany tells IGN that he has yet to receive his call to record his voice for Iron Man 2. If you recall, he provided the voice for Jarvis, the computer in part one and, so far, we assume

Christmas With Walt Disney starts next Friday at the Walt Disney Family Museum. Curated by Don Hahn, “this special holiday screening includes The Nutcracker Suite from Fantasia (1940), Pluto’s Christmas Tree (1952), scenes from the television Christmas specials, and rarely seen home movies of Walt and his family.”

The Pixar Blog have a report on a presentation held by Pixar Canada, the studio’s short-film satellite set to launch next year. Dylan Brown visited Vancouver Film School, and a picture record has been posted to Flickr.

Let’s stay in Canada for a moment. Tarsem’s Dawn of War, formerly War of Gods, has set up production offices ahead of a March shoot. As with pretty much every news story featuring the words “production offices”, this comes from Production Weekly’s Twitter.

Shock Till You Drop have confirmed with screenwriter Cory Goodman that the remake of The Brood is still in the works. I hope it’s even a half as good as Cronenberg’s original.

The BBC have reported on You Tube’s auto-subtitling feature. Spot any funny malfunctions, do let me know.

Morgan O’Neill’s The Factory, a serial killer thriller with John Cusack, has been missing in action for almost a couple of years now, and isn’t scheduled for release until January 2011. Shock Till You Drop set out to find out quite what has happened to it from producer Don Carmody:

The main thing is the ending and the beginning, which is a flashback sequence that needed to be shot in different weather so it was always on the back burner until we could do it. After [producer] Joel [Silver] saw the movie, he wasn’t so crazy about the flashbacks. They tweaked the ending and shot it a couple of months ago. So they’re mixing. The picture’s basically finished.

Quiet Earth unearthed the following trailer for Australian chase picture Road Train, a film they compared to Blood Car, a real recent favourite of mine and Duel, a film I don’t care for. Way to whet my appetite before serving me a plate of slugs.

According to Laughing Place (via Toon Zone News), Bret Iwan is the new, official voice of Mickey Mouse.

Jessica Bendinger, screenwriter of Bring it On, which I loved, and Stick It which I really should watch is holding a competition. What you have to do is adapt a scene from her novel The Seven Rays into a mini-screenplay. Good luck!

It sounds like The One Ring have been tipped off that a Hobbit announcement of some import will arrive on December 18th. I’m betting on a Bilbo name, but what about you?

Here’s a new French poster for Jaco van Dormael’s Mr. Nobody.

Greg Staples has been cast as Judge Dredd. Wow. Who’s Greg Staples? Oh… hang on. This is for the Judge Minty fan film. As for DNA’s big Dredd film, concept artist Jock has tweeted that there will be a meeting on Monday.

Wired want to tell you how to make a feature film on the cheap. Good luck! Again!

Jane Campion’s scinitillating romance Bright Star is easily one of the best films of the year… but Sony have cancelled its US DVD release almost as soon as announcing it, according to BluRay.Com. Normally the announcements read psotponed, not cancelled, so I don’t know what’s up here. Did somebody forget to clear some rights?

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the animated short films short list, a list of 10 shorts, narrowed down from 37 films, that will advance in the voting process for the 82nd Academy Awards. The Academy branch members will select five nominees from the ten titles. I have included the list of 10 short films after the jump, along with trailers/previews, or video embeds of the full short films, when available.

“The Cat Piano,” Eddie White and Ari Gibson

The Cat Piano from PRA on Vimeo.

“French Roast,” Fabrice O. Joubert

“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty,” Nicky Phelan

“The Kinematograph,” Tomek Baginski

“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte),” Javier Recio Gracia

“Logorama,” Nicolas Schmerkin

[new video]

“A Matter of Loaf and Death,” Nick Park

“Partly Cloudy,” Peter Sohn

“Runaway,” Cordell Barker

“Variete,” Roelof van den Bergh

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010.

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The World Premiere of James Cameron’s Avatar is set for December 10th, just 20 days from now but as of Wednesday, “around 30 minutes of the movie remain incomplete”. Cause for concern?

According to Jon Landau, the film’s producer, the scenes need work ranging from sound mixing through colour timing along to visual effects. What isn’t clear is how many minutes of FX work need to be locked, and how much of that floating half hour is requiring the more final post production polish only.

Landau’s big argument, though is that on a film like Avatar, there’s ” little meaningful difference between principal photography and special effects” - that’s The Wall Street Journal paraphrasing him, but the point stands. There really weren’t any non-FX shots, so of course the schedule will include FX work down to the wire. Imagine the editing room a couple of weeks from completion on a Pixar film - it’s not film editing their doing, but image rendering and sound mixing. The cutting on films so heavily CG reliant needs to be done at an earlier stage.

Marketsaw have reported that Weta have completed their work on the film. If that’s true, it indicates another reason to be sit back and be cool.

Besides the New Zealand masters there are six other FX houses working on the film which proves an awareness in the production that the load needed to be shared. Once again, nothing that alarms me.

For me, the key quote in the article comes when Landau says “Every shot we get back raises the standard for what follows”.

If that’s true, and I’m happy to take it on face value, then I find it hugely encouraging. Even under the big Fox gun and up against the tyranny of a rapidly approaching release date, the production are feeling inspired by their own work. They like what they see, and they want to keep their standards on an upwards curve. Isn’t that what we want our filmmakers to be like?

Another juicy nugget at the foot of the article claims that “Mr. Cameron and a business partner also covered some of those costs out of their own pockets”, further compounding the filmmaker’s faith in what they’re creating.

The article tells us that the film is expected to run between 2hrs 30 and 40, before credits. This error margin almost certainly won’t be down to unfinished assemblies of individual scenes, for reasons I explained above, but because of the possibility of whole scenes being left in or pushed out.

I’m as excited as the next man to see Avatar, but having read about this last month post production sprint, I’m jealous of the buzz that must be racing through the film’s post production team.

• James Cameron’s Producer on Battle Angel Alita, The Dive and Avatar 2
• New Avatar Featurette Shows Off The “Human Hardware”
• First Avatar Clip and New Image
• New Avatar Featurette
• LOL: South Park’s Avatar Parody
• Avatar TV Spot: Selling Cameron to Kids

Every fifth or sixth word in my notes on The Twilight Saga: New Moon is ‘mope’. If there’s a more listless, disengaged piece of film this year I hope I don’t have to suffer it. (Actually, there is, and I did right after writing this. The guys’ flipside to New Moon: Ninja Assassin.) This second Twilight film is not a dreamy, thorny gothic romance; it is a stereotypical, unimaginative caricature of depressed teens expanded into 120 minutes. By comparison, Catherine Hardwicke’s creaky first film looks like a wise and knowing glimpse into youthful distraction and obsession.

There’s another thread that dominates my notes on New Moon, and which is really the crux of why the movie is so lousy: ‘heroine’ Bella (Kristen Stewart), who in this chapter is reduced to sub-character statues. She’s less substantial than tissue paper, but is featured in nearly every scene. Bella is listless and empty, devoid of any notable characteristic. She has no opinions and nothing interesting to say; her only characteristic is that she wants. But the object of her desire, the vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson, pale and grim), is equally as insubstantial. They’d make a perfect pair, if you were looking for a couple to fill out the deep background of a better film.

We open a short time after the events of the first film. Bella has been generally accepted into the ranks of the vampiric Cullen family. But her status as a human — that is, potential food — is underlined when an innocent paper cut leads to a violent family showdown. It’s one thing when your new girlfriend doesn’t fit in with the fam; quite another when she’d fit all too well on the dinner menu. There’s also the lingering spectre of rival vampire Victoria (the briefly-seen Rachelle Lefevre, to be replaced in the next movie by Bryce Dallas Howard) who, having been defeated in the last film, earnestly want to get her fangs into Bella.

So the Cullens, not to put too fine a point on it, fuck right off. Edward brushes off Bella in the way a confused teenage kid might (ironically making his action one of the few recognizable human moments in the story) and she’s left to mope around for months. Finally her eye lands on the newly beefed up Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), who hits werewolf puberty just as he and Bella are about to really hook up. Their friendship develops as she uses him to take her mind off Edward; she’s playing him along, and he’s too smitten to see it.

It’s a classic romantic setup, but new director Chris Weitz doesn’t get it. He knows that Bella and Edward represent grand romance to a legion of teens, so he smashes them together in the frame. But there’s no spark. He knows that Bella is meant to be distracted and wooed by werewolf Jacob, so he shoots Jake and his wolfpack brothers with their shirts off and pecs glistening, seemingly unaware of how laughable the crew is. Nothing genuine passes between any of the characters; you could mistake the film for a feature-length parody of the Twilight phenomena if you didn’t already know better.

Melissa Rosenberg wrote the script. She’s already a Twilight vet, having scripted the first film, and has plenty of experience with obsession thanks to her day job on Dexter. I’m told that her script is very much a direct adaptation of the novel, so I’m left pinning the blame for this snoozefest on Weitz’s perfunctory direction. At most, perhaps Rosenberg has to answer a seemingly truncated climactic sequence where Edward tries to end his life at the hands of the Volturi, a clan of bloodsucker royalty. (He basically attempts the vampiric version of suicide by cop.)

The craft in Catherine Hardwicke’s effort was definitely more rickety than what’s on display here; from any technical perspective this is a far more competent film. (Which generally means: more traditional, which is not necessarily better by any means.) OK, the effects here are better, thanks perhaps to extra dollars in the budget that were spent on shirts for the entire cast in the last movie. But when it came to the feel, Hardwicke got it and Weitz doesn’t. In Twilight, scenes between Bella and her father were touching, and Bella’s alienation was easy to understand. It gave her a reason to be drawn to Edward Cullen. In New Moon, there’s no reason at all.

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson both struggle against the content vacuum that sucks the life out of the movie, but neither is even vaguely strong enough to put up the necessary fight. As Jacob, Taylor Lautner is marginally better, but he also gets the best material; he’s the only active, non-depressed character of the core trio. Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning offer a little juice as Volturi elders, Sheen even channeling a bit of Christoph Waltz energy, but it’s a futile effort. So too with Anna Kendrick, who genuinely earns a laugh or two. But after seeing her sparkle in Up in the Air this is like catching her sneaking in a bored weekend of community theatre.

/Film Rating: 2 out of 10

• Twilight Stars Get $10 Million Pay Raise For Sequel
• What is Twilight? And is it the Next Harry Potter?
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon Movie Trailer
• 2009 MTV Movie Awards Winners
• Taylor Lautner Returns for Twilight Sequel New Moon
• Twilight: EW Covers, Advance Ticket Sales and Tour Dates

Back in September, just as the film was screening to very positive word at the Toronto Film Festival, The Weinstein Company moved Youth in Revolt back to January 15. That wasn’t a huge surprise. Though audiences seem to really like Miguel Arteta’s adaptation of C.D. Payne’s novel, thanks in part to what some call a career-expanding performance by Michael Cera, TWC already has their awards season movies in Nine and (maybe, but looking less likely now) The Road. Saving Youth in Revolt for 2010 was a predictable move.

Now the film’s release date has been bumped up slightly, to January 8, and audiences will be able to buy tickets to sneak previews of it on January 2.

Variety reports on the date change, which it says will be a nationwide opening, and the sneak peek. (The subhead actually says the film opens on January 9, contrasting the Jan. 8 date in the body text, but since the 9th is a Saturday we’ll stick with Jan. 8.) On January 2, screens showing Nine will be taken over briefly for screenings of Youth. Reasonable move. At that point Nine will have been open long enough to perform as well as it is going to, and Youth could use the attentive bump to offset the fact that people will have been paying attention to Christmas, New Years’, a bunch of other movies and their hangovers in the weeks prior.

Just in case that sneak preview night isn’t enough, TWC is also doing a college tour of the film with Michael Cera in tow. With partners Comedy Central, the film will hit five cities starting December 1; we don’t yet have a schedule of stops, but will present it when we can. In the meantime, here’s the trailer for the film, in case you missed it when we promoted this clip a couple months back.

• Youth in Revolt Moves to January 2010
• TIFF Video Reactions: Youth in Revolt and Daybreakers
• Youth in Revolt Movie Trailer
• VOTD: Michael Cera Flips Out on the Set of Youth in Revolt
• Page 2

Last month, Lionsgate released a special 30-second Halloween teaser trailer for Dominic Sena’s supernatural thriller Season of the Witch which had us scratching our heads. Sena is best known as the director of fun but disposable action films like Gone in Sixty Seconds, Swordfish and the recent comic book adaptation Whiteout, and I had heard great things about Brian Schut’s script… But the teaser looked like a direct-to-dvd Dark Castle production. The new trailer gives us a much better idea of what to expect, and somewhat raised expectations. Watch the trailer for yourself after the jump, and leave your thoughts in the comments below.

The film stars Nicolas Cage as a 14th century Crusader who returns with his comrade (Ron Perlman) to a homeland devastated by the Black Plague.

“A beleaguered church, deeming sorcery the culprit of the plague, commands the two knights to transport an accused witch (Claire Foy) to a remote abbey, where monks will perform a ritual in hopes of ending the pestilence. A priest (Stephen Campbell Moore), a grieving knight (Ulrich Thomsen), an itinerant swindler (Stephen Graham) and a headstrong youth who can only dream of becoming a knight (Robert Sheehan) join a mission troubled by mythically hostile wilderness and fierce contention over the fate of the girl.When the embattled party arrives at the abbey, a horrific discovery jeopardizes the knight’s pledge to ensure the girl fair treatment, and pits them against an inexplicably powerful and destructive force.”

Click on the image below to watch the trailer in high definition on fandango.

Season of the Witch hits theaters on March 19th 2010.

• Season of the Witch Teaser Trailer
• Concept Art From Tim Burton’s Unfilmed Superman Film
• First Official Photos From Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
• Kick-Ass Teaser Trailer
• Early Buzz: Is Kick-Ass The Best Superhero Movie Ever Made? Trailer Coming Soon
• January Jones Teams Up With Nicolas Cage for Hungry Rabbit Jumps

Summit Entertainment has announced that The Twilight Saga: New Moon has broken box office records, earning over $26.27 million in midnight screenings from 3,514 theaters. This destroys the $22.2 million midnight record held by Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince, and the previous second place, Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight, which earned $18.4 million in midnight earnings. Also, Summit’s re-release of the original Twilight on Thursday night on 2,057 screens resulted in $1.3 million in ticket sales.

But the real question is, what will New Moon’s numbers look like at the end of the weekend?

Here is a round up of predictions from the Box Office prognosticators around the web:

• Box Office Psychics: $114M
• Lee’s Movie Info: $111M
• Box Office.com: $110M
• Box Office Mojo (Derby): $98.4M

• The Twilight Saga: New Moon Theatrical Movie Trailer
• 2009 MTV Movie Awards Winners
• Reader Forum: Why Do You Read End-of-Year Top 10 Lists?
• Twilight Moves to November; Could an IMAX Release Be In the Works?
• The Dark Knight is Breaking IMAX Records
• Page 2

The next episode of Bones, set to air on December 3rd, is to be called The Gamer in the Grease and appears to be jam packed full of Avatar product placement. There’s a promo clip on Youtube, which you can see embedded below the break.

The show airs on Fox which is, of course, a sister wing of Newscorp. to 20th Century Fox, the studio behind the film and I don’t think we can blame them for wanting to promote this phenomenally expensive piece of product as well as possible. But it’s not just a product, it’s a piece of of creative expression too - hopefully an honest one - and it would be nice to think Bones is too, so it’d be quite sad to see them crossed-over in an empty, cynical way.

So, let’s watch this clip and then count the references to Avatar together.

• There’s the title, on the cinema canopy and behind the woman crossing her arms.
• There’s a queue of folk up to some deep blue Na’vi cosplay.
• There’s a guy inexplciably saying “Avatar” between two words of the voice over man’s “Strange… New… World”, which is itself an evocation of Pandora.
• “This is so much more than a movie” doesn’t relate explicitly to the film, but I’m sure Fox are trying to plant the association in our minds.
• And, of course, there’s Joel David Moore, a Bones regular who also plays Norm Spellman in Cameron’s movie.

What did I miss?

I’m going to resist a certain online slang word for Avatar fans. I wish I could coin another - Savantars, maybe? Okay, didn’t work.

This is going to have to be some seriously gripping episode of Bones to take the audience’s mind off of all of the product placement. If it’s too distracting, of course, Fox might find a lot of viewers turning off and even brewing up a little resentment.

Via Cinematical

• 30 Minutes of Avatar Are Still Not Done, But Don’t Flip Out
• New Avatar Featurette Shows Off The “Human Hardware”
• Iron Man 2 Movie Trailer For Christmas?
• Avatar: French Poster, 3 Hour Running Time Confirmed, Soundtrack Track Listing Reveals Entire Plot
• First Avatar Clip and New Image
• Leona Lewis To Sing Avatar’s Theme Song

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?

Kandahar Trailer

We all have our own narratives.

It’s interesting to see how we deal with the processing of cultural watersheds in our timelines and this movie looks like it’s one that’s important enough to Russians that it warrants a film. Forget about the stories, as Americans, we all know about, Chernobyl, Afghanistan, the nuclear arms race, this is something that doesn’t sound familiar and for good reason. What films like this are able to do is make real the moments none of us know about, as experiencing the drama that other countries go through make real the notion that we all suffer at the hands of those who want to inflict harm on people who didn’t ask for it. Call me silly, but this trailer conveys the weight of what happened to seven Russian pilots who were imprisoned for more than a year before they all overpowered their captors to eventually find their way to freedom.

What’s more, and what’s particularly compelling to me, is that this is set up like an action film with fighting and explosions. Knowing what this movie is about, though, helps to see that this isn’t your average movie-of-the-week. It’s smart in that we see a man we all can recognize as a pilot, some of these things really do transcend borders, with his epaulets and uniform are all mussed, he looks tired. The actor, who I found out was the baddie in the absolutely enjoyable popcorn feature Behind Enemy Lines, Vladimir Mashkov, exudes the right kind of suaveness and with a forlorn expression on his face. It’s a straight on camera shot and it is a moment that informs not only what kind of movie this is going to be but that this is going to utilize the video camera found footage trick along with action style filmmaking which not only feels like a device we’ve been exposed to a lot lately but the ‘asplosions make up for it.

I am further jazzed by this trailer’s editing. Where once we are bearing witness to these pilots’ plight as they seem to be interviewed in their captivity there are additional scenes woven in of pure violence. Walls are being shattered, planes are streaking across the sky, there is rioting in the cramped streets of what, ostensibly, is Kandahar, and these fellas look like they’re on their way of escaping a permanent detainment.

It all crescendos really well in one big moment and I tell you, for my money, this looks like one import I wouldn’t mind getting over here simply to see a good escape film. This movie looks like it has it in spades. Sometimes language gets in the way of what’s happening but this is a trailer where I found myself chomping at the bit in anticipation for how this was going to end. Thankfully, we’re not sure and not told.

The Slammin’ Salmon Trailer

I guess comedy really is subjective.

I liked Super Troopers, I kind of liked Beerfest, but this doesn’t look like the sly humored beast I have come to expect from the guys who really are hit or miss with their theatrical offerings.

Don’t get me wrong, however, as it starts wonderfully as I thought it would set up the kind of funny we’re in for. Not only that, but it’s pretty bold to just start a trailer with zero set up, just letting Michael Clarke Duncan do his thing as he confuses a young man’s Grecian last name for the phonetically correct Meat Drapes. It’s funny, I suppose, and Clarke really sells the joke well but as the joke goes away and the trailer meanders on the premise feels like we’ve been here with Waiting, years ago in fact.

And things just slide right downhill. We get a lame bit with everyone eating some bad fish, you have Duncan punching out a thrashing swordfish inside his own kitchen for reasons that aren’t really funny, we’re introduced to a character named Nuts for reasons that aren’t very amusing, and we’re given a premise for that seems about as contrived as anything I’d see on an episode on Friends as a hackneyed reason to have “outrageous” things happen.

It’s not that the idea of a wait staff competition is lame but for a whole movie to be based on this feels like a warmed up leftover a la Employee of the Month. Strangely, you’ve got Nuts trying to shove a two foot hoagie down some customer’s mouth, Duncan hitting him squarely in the rib cage, and then we pan to someone in the distance puking on his plate. I am not sure in what kingdom this is valued for comedy gold but it isn’t.

The rest of the trailer is much of the same kind of thing. I am holding out hope that this could be because I’m seeing these jokes mid-delivery but the issue I have, and why it’s included this week, is because I don’t think it sells itself well if it really is a raucous night at the movies. If, at best, it’s a dollar bin rental then I’d say we’ve seen all we need to of this movie.

I can’t imagine what else they’re holding back on if it’s supposed to be funnier but I know I’m already on to the next trailer, this one forgotten.

Jump Trailer

Stephen Chow produced, you say?

I am used to seeing films like this tinged with a lot of machismo and a metric ton of violence, legs, arms, funny, fists, and choreography. What this film seems to have, however, is a lot of former and latter but without the anger. In fact, this seems downright exciting. A movie that doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously, Kitty Zhang Yuqi is bringing over the same bubbly vibe she brought to CJ7 and here she is being leaned on to bring out the real heart of a movie that seems strange but, wait for it, poignant. Yuqi’s father is a Kung Fu master but instead of continuing on her family’s martial artistry she yearns to be a dancer. I read the rest of the synopsis but the trailer is much more focused than the plot twists and turns would have you to believe.

The opening sequence is done well. In no short order, we get introduced to our protagonist, her ambitions, her essence, and the village she lives in. It looks like one fraught with poverty as a local manufacturer looks to hire some yokels to help man the line, as it were, and plays musical chairs to determine the winner. It’s amusing and provides enough context in 30 seconds to warrant further investigation of what is afoot here.

It absolutely is an answer to what a romantic comedy should look like to a younger set living in Asia. There isn’t swordplay and there certainly isn’t the requisite level of aggro many of those who espouse loving Asian cinema to appeal to that kind of audience but, to me, this is absolutely the kind of movie that looks like it could be a worthy entry into a line of films that don’t get exposed much in this kind of forum. Yes, guns are awesome and so is Kung Fu kickery as people get their noggin crushed in with a sandaled foot to the face.

Sometimes, however, a movie wants to jump on the cultural zeitgeist for the moment, here we’re talking about hip hop dancing, and it just happens to be shepherded by one of the more influential men in Asia movie making today, Stephen Chow. You’ve got to at least see this trailer’s glossy exterior and appreciate what it’s trying to do. The very last scene of this trailer blends martial arts and street dancing in a way that seems tantalizing once you think about how both of these forms of bodily expression compare to one another.

My Tehran For Sale Trailer

I have to recommend a book called The Ayatollah Begs to Differ by Hooman Majd for one of the most insightful and sharp examinations of the current Iranian state. Not only does it give a layperson like myself a guide to what helped brought this country to its current incarnation, it absolutely has informed the way I saw this trailer.

Whereas before, thinking that the thought police would try and squelch any remnant of personal liberties is de rigueur, understanding that there is an odd acceptance of western ideas such as consumerism and fashion and music assists in seeing that modern Iran is going through a transitory period in its history. The opening sequence of this trailer, showing a young woman riding in the back of a car with what looks like a swarthy suitor who’s looking at her kind of uncomfortably, rolling through the streets of Iran is one that evokes what we think of this country: old fashioned, still not accepting of a woman’s right to dress the way she’d like and having to suffer the indignities of having to cloister her sense of self behind a socially regulated garment.

But the trailer surprises you.

The scratchy radio that plays as they drive past tenements with colored portraits of popular Iranian figures echoes out into a club beat. It pulsates as women dance around without their robes, they are socially mixing with young men as they drink and smoke and cavort with one another. An interstitial comes up and tells us that a generation is living double lives. I’m jamming out, enjoying this mini rebellion of sorts, and that’s when the thought police arrive. Literally. Cut to these ladies back to wearing their mandated attire, at a detention station, the sounds of a whipping, a beating, as a woman cries out in pain beyond our eyes.

A young woman looks like she has made up her mind to escape her country and start a new life for herself in Australia. We’re not really told if she successfully leaves her past literally behind her but the movie has me hooked on thinking this could be a real portrait of the Iranian experience as told through the eyes of one of its younger generation. What an opportunity to see what is really happening here and how we get to where we’re going and I am just thrilled at the hint that we might get a view into this side of life we don’t normally get to see.

Assassins and Bodyguards Trailer

How many films is Donnie Yen going to be in this year?

I know, he has only been in three this year but I’ve only but recently discovered Yip Man, learned he was doing Yip Man 2, and then saw he was doing this movie, one that has a seriously good premise. I’ll start by saying the movie 16 Blocks wasn’t that good. Bruce Willis was good, Richard Donner’s directing was OK, and Mos Def was mediocre but it was the premise that probably sold some suit with a checkbook. The movie fell short of the promise it held within it but this film looks like it will hopefully bring out the best of having a compressed timeline with an uncertain outcome in a confined space. The film deals with Dr. Sun Yat-sen, a man who is actually eluded to being the father of modern China. A revolutionary, a threat to the established order, you can only imagine that this a story that will be fraught with tension, of building up this man’s importance, and of conveying the dire situation he finds himself in. This trailer delivers on all of it.

This man, this figure, has to survive a singular five hour period where hundreds of assassins descend on him across thirteen blocks. It sounds like something completely outrageous but the trailer eases you into what we’re seeing. Thankfully, it starts slow, controlled and we’re not rushed into much. It literally is a quiet opening, we’re told this is Hong Kong 103 years ago. The sense of time, of place, is captured quite well. A voiceover starts to talk about revolution and what it can do for millions as a guy literally gets pummeled in slow motion right before our eyes. It’s an unforgiving beating and it stands in stark contrast to the words being spoken. The voiceover continues as some people wail for what is being done to this poor guy who eventually gets up and stares unflinchingly to the camera, all battered and cut open.

Then the guy gets all Malcolm X on us and talks about a revolution that is paved with blood and sacrifice as we’re told that this man, the guy speaking of revolution, is a prime target for assassination. Unexpectedly, a dead body falls into a crowded marketplace for reasons unknown.

Things just erupt in violence as the old regime tries to quell this uprising. And what a quell it is as this military/ninja force starts shooting arrows at these people, guys fall out of the roof and douse the rabble-rousers in acid, buildings blow up, and I suppose it does come down to one hour for reasons I am unsure of.

None of that matters, though, as this looks like a historical epic to end all historical epics and I couldn’t be more curious to see how this all shakes out.

In case you missed them, here are the other trailers we covered at /Film this week:

• Remember Me Trailer - I am absolutely of the forgiving spirit when I say that while New Moon was absolutely abhorrent I am mildly interested in seeing what Robert Pattinson is able to do here. The trailer feels fresh and is hopefully a great showcase for what this guy can do.
• Percey Jackson and The Lightning Thief Trailer #3 - I don’t really see the attraction in films like Harry Potter but to those who like to swim in that lake of make believe this looks exactly like more of the same. The effects look decent, the story seems cheeky, and I am sure young boys and girls will love a new franchise to get attached to.
• The First Gun International Trailer - This is a film where the less you know, the better you’re off. An amalgam of color, theatrics, and craziness puts this as one of the most entertaining trailers I’ve seen this week.
• Far Cry Trailer - I couldn’t tell you what I think of this trailer as it’s like gnat that you’re trying to swat with a newspaper: it doesn’t stop long enough for you to kill it. I nearly got motion sickness just watching it and I can’t imagine I would fare any better watching the whole thing so I think I’ll skip this one for health reasons.
• The Last Song Trailer - I’m pretty sure I’m not the target demo for this. While I may have downloaded Party in the U.S.A. (don’t you dare judge me) I cannot recommend this film, but I will say that it is probably the perfect film for any young lass looking for love at the multiplex next spring.
• Kick Ass Trailer With Commentary By Matthew Vaughn - This is more like the 90 second version of Hollywood Minute as it’s got nothing to do with the trailer. He’s being interviewed and his trailer just happens to be playing underneath it. I thought it might be a mini-commentary but, gotcha, it isn’t.
• Slayers Trailer - I have to agree with Russ Fischer on this one. The premise sounds good on paper but what we have here looks like something I would catch on the Disney Channel around Halloween, not something I would want on a big screen.
• Across The Hall Trailer - I agree with the sentiment that this could be a rather by-the-numbers thriller. What sells it for me, though, is that I am on edge throughout this whole trailer and am now curious to see if it can carry me through the whole thing.
• Unmade Beds Trailer - I am fascinated by this one. A mix of having a good vision, an interesting plot, and a wholly unique way of communicating the film’s contents makes a solid trailer that gets me excited for a film I didn’t know existed before pressing Play.
• Crazy Heart Trailer - I literally felt my heart ache watching this thing and am now expecting greatness after seeing this trailer. Either it is one of the best con jobs in trailer creation this year or this really is, as it proclaims generically for anyone doing any kind of Oscar bait film, the performance of a lifetime.
• Leaves of Grass Trailer - The fact that I love Norton more sporing a mullet and a country twang than I do his straight laced doppelganger shows how much creativity went into creating the twin. I am not so sure, however, how long I’ll be able to take the back and forth and whether it can be more than just a witty premise.
• Black Devil Doll Trailer - I might as well kill myself if this is what passes muster at studios looking for quality material for their A-list talent. “What did you just say? Mistaken identity? Parents? Marky Mark without his shirt on? The parents turning into a latter-day crime fighting team? Sold!”
• Gone With The Pope Trailer - I can say that when seen in a theater this is a trailer that will make anyone with a uterus poke their significant other with their elbow and whisper definitively, “We’re seeing that.” For me, it looks manipulative and has pretty much shown me the entire film by the end of it. Way to go.
• Altitude Trailer - Thanks, a perfectly common and uninteresting trailer filled with all the treacle that will make my wife go “Squee!” thus ensuring I’ll have to see this piece of throwaway Harlequin romance on a screen. From the jaunty piano music to the way too upbeat voiceover guy I already hate this movie as I know I’ll be asked/required to buy two tickets when it comes out. I hate life.
• The Lovely Bones International Trailer - I think at one time this movie could have spoke to my sensibility as a movie lover but then I grew up and stopped being amused at simpletons who share strange proclivities. The trailer doesn’t flatter this film at all but, honestly, and thankfully, these movies aren’t made for me.

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Amazon has a promotion today which allows you to buy both Fight Club and Boondock Saints on Blu-ray for $22.98, $5 off their already sale price. Scroll down to the Best Value section and click “add both to cart” to qualify for the deal.

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Michael Bay has been hanging around at the launch of a Victoria’s Secret Show, with the excuse that he directs their commercials, and discussing his supposed nemesis in lipgloss, Megan Fox. And what does he have to say about her?

I love her.

Er… okay, Mike. He did also discuss the role he’s creating for her in the third Transformers film. “She’s got a great part in Transformers 3” he promised. So he’s not going to kill her off? “No, no, no. She gets enough of that already”. Okay… whatever that means.

USA Today had Andrea Mandell on the scene, who got Bay to discuss the crazy hurtful things that Fox has said about him. Here’s their version of what he said:

She called me [after the Hitler comment] and goes, ‘It’s all bullshit, Mike.’ The press, they just like to prey, and stalk, and pounce and find a good little juicy thing. But she’s always wanted to do these crazy comments. That’s just her. She’s great.

How dare the press pounce on her cute little Hitler comment like that. There was nothing offensive about it at all, not to anybody.

Okay, the only news here, really is that Bay is promising a big role for Fox in the next Transformers film. I don’t believe him when he says she won’t be killed off because I don’t really believe when he says anything he seems to be lying so often, but he does seem to be operating from the assumption that she’ll figure in the film in some sort of substantial capacity.

Well, as substantial as anything has ever been in a Michael Bay picture.

I think Fox’s finest hour to date was quite easily Jennifer’s Body, which I liked a great deal, but she was carried right into that role on the crest of a zeitgeist wave. She was the “that type” we all knew at the time, and soon enough, there’ll be another “that type” come along, and hopefully one we can all like a little better.

Does anybody care if Fox is in the next battling bot-a-thon or not? Surely what appeal there is lies in the hydraulic characters, not the pneumatic ones?

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The Tobolowsky Files is a new podcast from the people who brought you the /Filmcast, featuring a series of stories about life, love, and the entertainment industry, as told by legendary character actor Stephen Tobolowsky. In this episode, Stephen shares memories of his mother in honor of her birthday.

You can always e-mail Stephen at stephentobolowsky(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or you can e-mail David at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Please let us know what you think of the show! Also, starting with episode 5, The Tobolowsky Files will no longer appear in the /Filmcast feed, so be sure to subscribe to the Tobolowsky Files using our new links for the podcast at http://www.tobolowskyfiles.com.

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The common trailer complaint is that they always give too much of the movie away. Which is funny, because that’s actually not the case nearly as often as you’d think, and after being able to compare many movies and their trailers, I would have long ago hoped that people would realize the truth of it. In the case of Letters to Juliet, however, things are different. When I saw the trailer in front of the New Moon screening two days ago I couldn’t help feeling a great sense of relief that I’d never have to sit through the entire feature, because I’d just seen it all in the trailer. Now you can, too, after the break.

Moviefone has the trailer which is not, to my surprise, an ad for a film adaptation of an Elvis Costello album. Instead the film is an adaptation of the novel by Lise and Ceil Friedman. It follows Sophia (Amanda Seyfried) who, while in Verona, Italy, finds a fifty-year old letter written by Claire (Vanessa Redgrave), a woman who walked away from a life with the man she loved. The girl writes back and ends up joining the woman and her grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan) on a journey to find the lost love. Seyfried’s unattentive boyfriend (Gael García Bernal, slumming) is off on his own, and Seyfried and Egan fall for each other. Then Franco Nero rides up looking all studly on horseback and everyone sighs.

The film is directed by Gary Winnick, who earlier this year was behind the truly execrable Bride Wars. While this doesn’t appear to be as materialistically depressing as that movie was, it also doesn’t seem to have much going on below the surface. I’m sure the “I am Lorenzo Bartolini!” montage will be cute and funny, but the rest of it is fairly cringeworthy.

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• Casting Rumor: Who is Alice in Tim Burton’s Wonderland?

After concept work on Battlefield Earth, Red Planet, two Star Wars prequels and The Astronauts Wife, poor old Stephan Martiniere sure could use a break. Okay, that’s not entirely fair - he also got to contribue to I, Robot which ended up being quite a clever film, at least in terms of it’s imagery.

One of his assignments appears to be character designs for a film of The Looking Glass War, the Frank Beddor Alice in Wonderland spin off that Charles Roven is currently shepherding towards the big screen. After the break, some big and frightening pictures of some dudes in armour that seem to be spoiling for a right royal ruckus, as well as Alyss Heart, Beddor’s heroine.

These four characters are identified only by a card suit, respectively Club, Diamond, Heart and Spade. This refers to their class in the heirarchy of Wonderland. I think these are simply soldiers of the families with which they share these names.

And here’s Alyss. She looks as ready to rock with that bleeding big sword as the rest of them - these aren’t called the Looking Glass Wars for nothing, of course. There’s more than a touch of Tron at play here, don’t you think? Maybe even Galactus, at least as far as that helmet goes.

I’m not sure many of these suits of armour would be at all functional, but that’s hardly the point. I wonder what guidance Martiniere was given in creating these designs, if there was a director involved? If you look closely, you’ll see that the artworks are dated 2006 so they may not even be considered in the current attempt to adapt the books. What makes them relevent, though, is that they do visualise the characters necessary to tell this particular story, and are a lot less time consuming than reading the books if you want to get a rough and ready idea of what kind of movie this would be.

Unless Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is very well received, I’m feeling a little doubtful that this project will come to fruition any time soon. They both take the Alice mythos and remix it, tossing in extra swordfights - though Burton’s film to a much less extent - and they each give everything more of a contemporary fantasy vibe.

Maybe Burton’s film could also snuff out The Looking Glass Wars by being too successful?

Thanks to /Film reader John Struan of Superpunch for the link. You can check out Martiniere’s many designs for other works at his official site, including the Area 51, MK vs DC and Stranglehold video games.

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Some of the weirdest and most interesting news lately has been about action in the edit bay. We saw that a couple of world-class craftsmen had been brought in to rework The Wolfman, for one. Now there are tales of tweaks that run both ends of the crazy spectrum. When we can run a news item that puts Brett Ratner and Peter Jackson in the same headline you know the world has gone topsy-turvy, but at least they’re not working together.

First up, THR reports that Ratner has been hired to re-edit Kites, “a love story shot in Las Vegas, Mumbai, New Mexico and Los Angeles.” The film will be released in English and Hindi; the two versions won’t be dubbed, as they were shot simultaneously. Ratner is cutting up the English version, and the obvious joke is that all storytelling might as well be in Hindi to him. What’s the point of this story? To have a laugh, I suppose, as I can’t come up with any reason that this is news otherwise. Certainly got my attention for a second. Here’s a longer synopsis from IMDB, so read it with all the suspicion something sourced from IMDB deserves:

In the harsh terrain of the Mexican desert, a mortally wounded man is left for dead in the heat of the desert sun. This is J. Once a street smart, carefree young guy. Now, a wanted man. As death looms, the only thing that keeps him alive is the quest to find the love of his life, Natasha. A woman betrothed to another man, but surely destined for J. A woman who comes into his life like a bolt of lightning and changes it forever.

Things get a little more interesting over in Peter Jackson’s side of the spectrum. A small Reuters report the other day noted that Jackson was adding “more violence and suffering” (those are his words) to The Lovely Bones, after test audiences were unsatisfied with the fate of one character.

The test screening process is a weird part of the filmmaking system, but making edits after screenings can be crucial. If your film just isn’t working in front of an audience, only sheer hubris would prevent you from tweaking. But this is a strange thing to do, even for a filmmaker who is known for his scenes of violence.

But it’s really not that big a deal when you read the actual report — I won’t post the details here to avoid spoilers for those who are shy, but read the whole Reuters report to find what was added. It’s not any sort of drastic change, and doesn’t sound like the sort of thing that would raise eyebrows when seen in the film. (It’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom level stuff, and not even on par with that film’s serious violence.) My curiosity about the film remains unsated, but this is hardly a prediction of gloom; just a minor tweak instead.

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What would it take to get you really excited for the fourth Underworld film? I’m not sure anything would do the trick for me (I wasn’t excited for the second and third by any means) but putting a really good writer on the job would help. Seeing that a writer from The Shield would be writing the picture gave me a little boost of interest. Only a little boost, though, because it isn’t series creator Shawn Ryan, but John Hlavin, who wrote a couple episodes of the final season.

THR has the goods on Hlavin, who has done some other TV work here and there, most recently writing a couple episodes of the ad agency show Trust Me.

Beyond this hire, we don’t know much about the film, and prior statements about it should probably be taken with a grain of salt. While 3D is a fairly reasonable expectation, until there’s a script ready I wouldn’t hold too tightly to the assumption that Kate Beckinsale will return.

Lakeshore Entertainment honcho Tom Rosenberg said almost two years ago that the fourth film would be meant to carry on with Beckinsale and Scott Speedman’s story as left off at the end of Underworld 2. But two years is a long time, and I wouldn’t put too much stock in that assertion now. Right now there’s no director attached, and no deals for primary cast to return, so until there’s an actual script we probably won’t hear too much more. Len Wiseman is producing, but that’s not news — he’s produced all three and we knew for certain that he’d be on this one, too.

All we’ve got is a quote from Hlavin, who says the film definitely isn’t another prequel. “It will satisfy old fans and excite new audiences,” he says, “meaning that we don’t want to redo the first three movies, so steps are being taken to honor what fans have loved but at the same time introduce fresh elements.”

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Comic book and sci-fi films are meant to exist in a fantasy world separate from the real world, which is why when the two worlds start bleeding together, the results can be equally exciting and terrifying. After the jump, we’ll hear stories of bank-robbing Spider-men, Klingon-speaking parents, and a beam of light that just might kill you.

First up, it looks like Spider-Man hasn’t been taking his “Great Power, Great Responsibility” speech very seriously these days. Via Topless Robot, we’ve learned of a litany of crimes perpetrated by people dressed as Spider-Man. A few weeks ago, two people dressed in Spider-Men costumes walked into a Southlake bank; while one of them threatened customers, the other one loaded up on cash. The pair got away but according to the Star Telegram, “The bandits left in a dark minivan with a broken rear passenger window covered by a red tarp or blanket, police said.” More recently, Spider-Man has also been seen assaulting a man on Hollywood Boulevard and robbing a restaurant in Washington.

Next, via Gizmodo, we’ve learned of a Minnesota linguist named d’Armond Speers who spoke Klingon to his son for the first three years of his life:

I was interested in the question of whether my son, going through his first language acquisition process, would acquire it like any human language…He was definitely starting to learn it.

I was initially horrified at the thought that a parent might put a linguistic experiment above the social health of his son. However, the father actually wrote in to Gizmodo and explained that things aren’t as serious as they seem. Speers only spoke Klingon to his son when he was interacting with him directly; his son was primarily exposed to English and witnessed his father interacting with others in English. Perhaps more importantly, Speers’ son is now 15, and is apparently a well-adjusted teen, despite having a Trekkie for a father (proof that this is possible!).

Finally, we heard from the Telegraph (again via Topless Robot) that scientists have developed an ultraviolet light beam which can stun, similar to the phasers in Star Trek. As of now though, it only works on worms. According to the Telegraph:

Researchers have now found a way to paralyse tiny worms when they expose them to ultraviolet light. Even when the ultraviolet light was turned off the animals stayed stunned. However, if they were subsequently exposed to a different form of light they recovered again and were able to move.

Harmless flirtation with science fiction, or the first step towards a post-apocalyptic future? You decide.

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Coming to you weekly from my vantage point in good old Blighty, it’s Slashfilm UK. Anglos and Anglophiles rejoice as every Friday I’ll be bringing you a round up news, links and coverage specific to the motion picture comings and goings here in the UK. Sometimes we’ll be talking about films that have already played in the US, other times it will be films that won’t make it to the US for a good while yet, and from time to time you’ll read about films that will never make it to the US at all.

Coming up after the break are images from Chris Morris’ terrorism comedy Four Lions, reviews of Southern Softies and The Sarah Connor Chronicles, details on a gorgeous sounding Suspiria Blu-ray and a whole lot more.

Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch has already released the soundtrack album to his debut film God Help the Girl, despite not quite finishing the screenplay yet. Murdoch’s latest e-mail to fans tells us:

The script for the film is now also in a state of (near) completion (film scripts are never really ever finished) and things are moving slowly towards going into production. Most likely there will be a Belle and Sebastian record first during 2010, so filming should get properly underway in 2011.

UK visitors to YouTube will now see a channel called Shows. What does clicking on it get you? Lots and lots and lots of full episodes of TV, all for free. Literally thousands of shows. There are 30 episodes of classic (ie. pre-Russell T. Davies) Dr. Who, 52 episodes of Speed Racer, 18 episodes of The IT Crowd, 30 episodes of Peep Show and even Derren Brown’s phenomenal special, The Heist which was just about the most exciting thing I ever saw on TV. It’s all ad-supported of course. We’ve got our very own Hulu at last.

The first set of official stills from Chris Morris‘ so-called “terrorism comedy” Four Lions have been released, and here they are.

The UK Film Council have announced plans to combine their existing funds into one, the £15 million Film Production Fund “focused on the pursuit of creative excellence and puts more emphasis on first- and second-time filmmakers”. If you want your comments to factor into their plans, they’ve set up an online questionnaire.

The Britspotting festival of British and Irish film, inexplicably held in Berlin, has come to a close for another year. The jury awarded the best picture prized to Michael Whyte’s No Greater Love, a documentary about a Notting Hill monastery where “nuns lead a cloistered life dedicated to prayer and contemplation, rarely leaving the monastery except to visit a doctor or dentist. Silence is maintained throughout the day with the exception of two periods of recreation”.

New statutory measures proposed in The Queen’s Speech would mean that Channel 4 must, by law, invest in film. Screen Daily have some comments from the UK Film Council and Film 4’s Tessa Ross.

Kidulthood director Menaj Huda is prepping the horror film Comedown. Screen Daily describe it thus:

[The film] follows six teenagers who become the target of a local psychopath after setting up a pirate radio station aerial in the condemned tower block where he lives.

The director of Kidulthood sequel Adulthood, Noel Clarke, has been hard at work on his own new film, a heist thriller with the title 4.3.2.1 and a cameo from none other than Kevin Smith. The official synopsis says the film is about “three days in the lives of four girls who are unknowingly connected by a major diamond robbery”. Clarke this week tweeted an image from the editing room.

90.1% of respondents clicking on a Guardian poll agreed with Robert Carlyle that UK multiplexes should reserve a screen for British films. Just one, Robert? That would leave an awful lot of Brit flicks just as homeless as they are now.

The BBC have pledged to have HD Freeview coverage for 50% of the population by the summer, with 98.5% set by the end of the digital switchover.

What appears to be the first image from Ken Loach’s Route Irish has appeared in a Screen Daily report on the film’s French Funding.

Tesco have struck up some odd deals, according to Retail Week. They’ll be the exclusive UK vendors of the Dreamworks Animation Christmas special Merry Madagascar and, when it reaches DVD next spring, Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles. Apparently there’s more Dreamworks specials to come throughout the year.

Col Spector’s Honeymooner will star Daisy Haggard, who I’m surprised hasn’t been in truckloads of features already, Gerard Kearns from Shameless and Chris Coghill. According to yes, Screen Daily once again, the film is shooting now. Here’s their mini-synopsis:

Fran Goldman learns some new rules of love having been dumped by his fiancee four weeks before the wedding.

And here’s the synopsis they’ve mysteriously taken down:

Fran Goldman offered his fiancée everything, but four weeks before their wedding she called it off. Deciding to stay in London rather than honeymoon on his own, Fran remains convinced that she’ll change her mind. But when he bumps into her with her new boyfriend, he has no choice but to try to move on.

A UK Blu-ray of Dario Argento’s Suspiria is now formally set for January 18th. As well as a hopefully eye-popping transfer, this disc will offer us the following special features:

• Fear At 400 Degrees: The Cine-Excess Of Suspiria documentary featuring director Dario Agento and composer Claudio Simonett
• Audio commentary by leading Dario Argento experts Alan Jones and Kim Newman
• Suspiria Perspectives featuring Claudio Simonetti, Norman J. Warren and Patricia McCormack.

Here’s the extended trailer that Cine Excess prepared for this release:

In The Loop’s Chris Addison will be in the next series of Skins, while his “other” sitcom, Lab Rats, has not been recommissioned. He tells The Guardian that his Skins character will be a “Cameronian control freak – an uptight, smug bully who, it seems to me, is less interested in teaching than in ‘fixing’ youth”. That’s David Cameron, of course, not James.

Marking the 80th anniversary of Tintin, not to mention increased interest in view of the upcoming Speilberg and Jackson film, Dom Joly is making a documentary about the boy reporter. Broadcast report that a 60 minute cut of the doc will be shopped internationally.

The Times reprinted a butchered version of Edgar Wright’s once sincere and touching tribute to Edward Woodward without either asking, paying or caring much what they made Wright or Woodward look like. Wright took them on via Twitter, and they’ve been left with an awful lot of egg on their faces. I particularly enjoyed The Guardian’s brisk wrap-up of the event, which quoted a number of Wright’s tweets at once. Thankfully, Wright now thinks that The Times are going to make a donation to Woodward’s memorial fund while the paper have issued what they call “a clarification“, though even that seems to be at least a little faulty at the moment.

A wonderful new clip from Neil Jordan’s Ondine has arrived at Making Of, and you can see it below. The official synopsis for this film reminds us that in this story, “like all fairy tales, enchantment and darkness go hand in hand”. Jordan’s next should be an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book.

Good Luck Anthony Belcher’s Jim Field Smith and George Kay have sold a pitch to Paramount. The Hollywood Reporter are telling us it will be a family adventure film a bit like Night at the Museum.

London will get the Avatar world premiere on December 10th, according to Nikki Finke. Great!

Bryan Lee O’Malley has explained the British publication of his Scott Pilgrim comics and shared the cover artwork for one book:

Today’s the day that John Shuttleworth’s Southern Softies receives it’s UK cinema release. Though it’s unlikely to sway any determined Shuttleworth haters (they’re out there, I’m afraid) it could well round up a bunch of new fans from the undecided.

Ostensibly a documentary, in the sense that Borat is ostensibly a documentary, Southern Softies is about Northern keyboardist and singer-songwriter John Shuttleworth travelling to the Channel Isles to test his theory that people get softer and wimpier the further south you travel. Meanwhile, a series of hilariously minor incidents and microscopic non-tragedies ensue. It’s a particularly British kind of comedy, I think, and probably doesn’t even make much sense to the middle classes who’ve never met, or for that matter been, a person quite like Shuttleworth.

Some of the best material in the film sees the conventions of basic-grade documentaries get upended by Shuttleworth’s naive mix of keenness and inadequacy, from the trick of editing in reaction shots or “noddies” filmed out of sequence through to using walkie talkies to cue supposedly spontaneous action.

Despite some pretty big laughs, this film is just about as avuncular as a film can get so be warned - this is no Bruno, but something much, much, much more gentle.

Shuttleworth’s alter ego Graham Fellows will be doing a series of Q&A appearances to support the film over the next couple of days, the details of which are on his official site.

Another UK release this week was the second season set of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. This time last week I’d never seen a full episode of the show, but I’ve been busy trying to cram in as much as I can and was actually quite surprised, if not exactly relieved that the first season was so short. There was definitely a gear change from season one to two, not least because I was upgrading my viewing from DVD to Blu-ray, but because the show seemed suddenly able to let the supporting cast breathe more. I was never really sold on Thomas Dekker as John Connor (Connor is forever Furlong to me, I’m afraid) and Lena Headey had perhaps a little too much baggage from her British TV roles for me to accept her as the same Sarah Connor I’d known from the movies, but there are definitely some really great performances amongst the rest of the cast. Summer Glau’s Cameron is probably the biggest show stealer, and I think that was the buzz I’d already picked up on.

I have to say that the HD rendering of the show on Blu-ray is really quite brilliant too. All respect to cinematographer Stephen Collins, of course, but there must also be some acknowledgment of the transfer that has been executed here.

I’ve still got hours of Sarah Connor Chronicles to watch, but I’m actually looking forward to seeing what goes down. I’ve just seen the one where Cameron thinks she’s Allison, the resistance fighter from the future and was pleased to see the show try something quite different to it’s typical fast-action paradigm. Will this invention keep up throughout the second season? I’m hoping so.

Josh Friedman has now moved on from this show to running the proposed reboot of Charlie’s Angels. Will Ms. Glau be getting a callback? It would certainly make sense.

Entrants to last week’s competitions should keep an eye on their e-mail inboxes today because I’ll be contacting the winners very soon.

Stevern Soderbergh’s The Informant! launches in UK cinemas today. Here’s our quad poster:

Here’s the newly unveiled UK trailer for Mr. Right, a Britcom with James Lance and Jeremy Edwards that will hit cinemas next week, on Friday 27th. The film appears to have been sitting on the shelf for a few years… because it’s not up to snuff? Or because of it’s subject matter…?

I think I’ll close up every week from now on with some box office from the previous weekend. The data will come from the UK Film Council who provide a handy spreadsheet that I’ll cull some interesting info from for you, and then screen capture. Sound like a plan? Here’s one now:

• No Related Post

Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) joined The Swell Season, Irish musician Glen Hansard and Czech singer and pianist Markéta Irglová (you know, the musical artists from the indie musical Once) on stage at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on November 18th, 2009. Segel joked that the movie Once beat out the Dracula Love song from Forgetting Sarah Marshall at the Academy Awards due to Hollywood “politics.”

Segel performed a song which involved asking college girls in the audience, interested in having sex with him, to call a phone number - 315-329-6673. And yes, it is a real number. Women who call the number are given an email address to contact him (helptronics@gamil.com). Apparently Segel performed the same song, with few lyrics changed, at a Maroon 5 concert earlier this month. Watch a video of the performance after the jump.

Here are the lyrics from the New York performance of the song:

It don’t take long
for this old man to form a habit
and I know some of the things I do, they just ain’t right

So tell me would it be wrong
for me to use my celebrity status
to make love to a college girl tonight

1-315-329-6673
But only call it if you need me
315-329-6673
But only call it if you need me
315-329-6673
But only call it if you need me

Now I know you’re charmed
by my lovely on screen persona
yes sweet and humble that’s always been my carreer

But wouldn’t it be a shame
for you to miss this one time offer
to make love to Jason Segel freshman year

Please don’t be scared
if you’ve got bicurious feelings
I promise baby I won’t ever tell

So bring a friend
to my swanky Manhattan hotel room
I’ll be me, you can be Mila Kunis and Kristin Bell

Remember when I was in that show
Freaks and Geeks
Well there were no special effects
No, no special effects
So if you thought I was sweet
well yeah I’m really that sweet

Remember when I showed my penis in
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Well there were no special effects
No, no special effects
So if you liked what you saw
well that’s really what I’m working with

1-315-329-6673
But only call it if you need me
315-329-6673
But only call if you’re disease free
315-329-6673
But only call it if you need me

Remember when I showed my penis in
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Well there were no special effects
No, no special effects
So if you thought it was small
if you thought it was small
well then your boyfriend
is probably
not white.

• Once: The Broadway Musical?
• Marketa Irglova’s Oscar Speech
• Interview with Once’s John Carney, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
• Geek Deals: The Wire: The Complete Series (23 Discs) for $90; The Swell Season for $3
• Disney Announces The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made
• Jason Segel Joins The Adventurer’s Handbook

Paramount Pictures has hired School of Rock screenwriter Mike White to script Santa Wars, a comedy based on the true story which appeared on This American Life in December 2008. The story, written by Joshuah Bearman, told of two rival factions that developed within a union of professional Santa Clauses, which resulted in a “Santa Claus civil war.”

White is best when put in the dark comedy arena, and this might be a perfect fit. This story is definitely more akin to Bad Santa than Elf. White’s previous credits include Dead Man on Campus, Chuck & Buck, Freaks and Geeks, and The Good Girl. More recently, he’s had a turn in more family-friendly territory with School of Rock and Nacho Libre, before making his directorial debut Year of the Dog.

After the jump you can find more information about the original story that has inspired this feature film, and even listen to that original segment.

Here is a description of the original story from Chicago Public Radio:

A tale of two Santas. There’s Tim Conaghan, a full-time professional Santa with a big belly and a real flowing white beard. And there’s Santa Nick—he too has a belly and real white beard. But the story of Santa Tim and Santa Nick is not like most uplifting Christmas parables. Instead, it’s about two men, very much alike, who came to lead rival factions in a bitter Santa civil war, and came themselves to be arch enemies. Josh Bearman reports on the political schism that’s overtaken the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas.

You can listen to the whole 27-minute segment on ThisAmericanLife.com. Play the episode and fast forward to the 22:30 mark.

source: variety

• Interview: Jon Ronson, the Author of The Men Who Stare at Goats
• HBO Greenlights Enlightened, From School of Rock Writer Mike White
• School of Rock Writer Mike White’s New Spec Bought By Columbia
• Errol Morris To Make Second Non-Documentary Film
• This American Life Getting Into Movies, Plan Spy Romance For Starters
• Carts of Darkness, a Cool Documentary, is Online

The casting news for Kenneth Branagh’s Thor just keeps on coming. Recently we reported on the casting of The Warriors Three, and tonight we’ve learned that Idris Elba (The Wire’s Stringer Bell, RocknRolla) has joined the cast as Heimdell, “the guardian of Asgard, he stands on the BiFrost Bridge ready to defend the city from intruders.” I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised by this torrent of casting news since the film starts shooting in January.

The rest of the cast includes Chris Hemsworth (as Thor), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), and Natalie Portman. And let’s not forget the recently cast Warriors Three, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano, and Stuart Townsend.

The plot, as we’ve reported before:

The movie’s story sees the god of thunder Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions re-ignite an ancient war. As punishment, Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans. Once here, he learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends dark forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Elba recently had a good turn on The Office, and can be seen in the upcoming Takers and The Losers. Like many, I know him best as the eloquent and coldly calculating Stringer Bell from The Wire, and I’m glad to see that his career is taking off with big projects like this. He’s done his share of forgettable projects as well (Prom Night, Obsessed), but overall things are looking good for him.

Overall, Thor is shaping up to have an interesting cast, which it sorely needs. Like Iron Man, it’s going to be tough to sell yet another vaguely-known comic property to the moviegoing public, and recognizable faces will certainly help convince people to see the film.

• Thor Finds Its Warriors Three in Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano, Stuart Townsend
• Marvel Studios Starts Shooting Thor in January
• An Uncanny Similarity Between Mad Men and The Office
• John Cusack Wants a Role in the Preacher Movie, Idris Elba Fancies a Part in 100 Bullets
• /Filmcast Ep. 74 - A Serious Man (GUEST: Richard Kelly, Director of The Box, Southland Tales, and Donnie Darko)
• Anthony Hopkins to Play Odin in Thor

In May we told you that Hollywood was going to develop a movie based on the television show American Gladiators. I had hoped it would be one of those projects that would slip into nothingness, never to be heard from again. Not so…

Patriot Games/Varsity Blues scribe Peter Iliff will write a screenplay based on an idea by former Legendary Pictures chief marketing officer Scott Mednickis (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) who is producing the feature. Iliff is probably best known for writing Point Break, and recently wrote the upcoming sequel Point Break Indo.

The film will be set inside the world created in the tv show and will present “a compelling story that launches a whole new set of characters” with the “Herculean characters as superheroes.” I can’t even imagine what an American Gladiators movie would be like. On one hand I would love to see a remake of The Running Man, but I doubt that American Gladiators would be anything but PG. They are hoping to get the project off the ground and into theaters by 2011.

But will it be in 3D? While doing research for this article, I stumbled across 3ality Digital, a video production company which is listed as being part of this production. Funny thing is, 3ality Digital mostly works on 3D movies. U23D was their debut production. So could it be that they are hoping to shoot the film in 3D?

source: Variety

• American Gladiators: The Movie?
• Mike O’Hearn in Talks for Conan; Auditioning for Captain America?
• Point Break 2 to Begin Filming in Mid-2008

Netflix’s plan to bring streaming to the masses seems to be proceeding swimmingly. Under their “Netflix Watch Instantly” program they’ve been streaming a selection of 17,000 films on various platforms such as the PC, Roku, and Xbox 360 for quite some time now, and they recently added PS3 functionality with the promise of moving to the Wii in the future. But they’ve also been active on the content side, signing a groundbreaking deal with Starz last year to stream thousands of high-quality films. These moves have made “Watch Instantly” more than just a flirtation with new technology; indeed, “Watch Instantly” has become an essential part of most people’s Netflix subscriptions (available to anyone with at least an $8.99/month plan).

To this list of considerable accomplishments, they’ve added the acquisition of streaming rights to 53 films from IFC Entertainment.

According to Variety, Netflix has nabbed rights to IFC indie favorites such as Errol Morris’ The Thin Blue Line and Christopher Nolan’s Following (Sayles’ Return of the Secaucus Seven and Susanne Bier’s Brothers are also supposed to be in the mix). Variety claims that these movies are to be available for streaming starting today, with more titles added as time goes on. However, when I log into Netflix, I still don’t see “Watch Instantly” options for the films described. Please let me know what your own user experience is like in the comments. Perhaps by morning this will change; if so, I’ll update this post. [Update: The movies have started showing up on Netflix Watch Instantly! Enjoy!]

For the most part, IFC Entertainment has been one of those companies whose continuing existence is a source of hope to me, demonstrating that there are still people with common sense and a love for good movies inhabiting this industry. I hope both parties are pleased with this partnership, and that it continues for the foreseeable future. Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll be able to stream The Decalogue to our Xboxes. Ahhhh, the future….

• Nolan Begins - Christopher Nolan to Screen Following in LA

We mentioned last week that Stephen King mentioned that his new book, Under The Dome, might end up as an HBO miniseries. Well, Variety now has word that Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks TV have optioned the book and are looking to set it up as a mini series, likely for cable. Spielberg will executive produce. The story is set in a small vacation town in Maine which becomes covered by an invisible force field which causes the residents to fight for survival, in two warring factions.

Here is the official plot description from the book:

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed as “the dome” comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when — or if — it will go away. Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens — town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician’s assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing — even murder — to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn’t just short. It’s running out.

The front of the book features an elaborate town map and list of characters, even including “Dogs of Note”. USA Today called the book “Propulsively intriguing… Staggeringly addictive”, and The New York Times said it was “Tight and energetic from start to finish… Hard as this thing is to hoist, it’s even harder to put down.” And author Neil Gaiman called it one of his “favourite books of the year so far.” The 1088-page book was released on November 10th, and is available on Amazon for $14.50.

To give you a feel of what the mini series might look like, here is a promotional trailer King’s publisher produced to sell the book:

Dreamworks is on the search for writers, and will probably begin shopping the project to prospective buyers after the creative details are nailed down.

Spielberg has been trying to be involved in a King production for years. Steven purchased the rights to King’s book The Talisman shortly after the book was published in 1984. The project went through many incarnations, but never went into production. Most recently, Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy announced plans to produce a six-part mini-series based on the book for TNT. The project fell back into development hell due to budgetary concerns.

• Stephen King News Pile-Up: Under the Dome to HBO, More Dark Tower, Cell Screenplay By King and More
• Indiana Jones 4 Movie Trailer Due Thanksgiving 2007
• No Dark Tower For J.J. Abrams
• Steven Spielberg and Will Smith’s Old Boy is No More
• Stephen King Novella The Colorado Kid to Become TV Series Called Haven
• Paranormal Activity: Spielberg’s Haunted Screener, Remake Madness, and Area 51

Oh, this is some good stuff. I was a little surprised recently when the announcement came down that Cary Fukunaga, who directed the very excellent Sin Nombre, would adapt Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel Jane Eyre as his next film. But I liked Sin Nombre so much that I’ll watch anything Fukunaga does at this point. Especially now that he’s likely to have Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender in the lead roles.

Variety reports that Wasikowska and Fassbender are in talks. Wasikowska is the lead in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and, in general, is starting to seem like one of the more interesting young actresses out there right now. She’s drawing a good balance between big moneymaking stuff (Alice) and more interesting films (this one, That Evening Sun and Gus Van Sant’s new one). And Fassbender isn’t doing too badly on his end, either. Inglourious Basterds was notable, yes, and he’s got some fun and interesting stuff coming up too, like Jonah Hex and Birdsong, with Brian Cox and Paddy Considine. Interesting duo, these two, and I think they can knock it out of the park, especially working for Fukunaga.

Sadly, the trade casting break doesn’t add anything new to our info bank about the film. It reiterates that Moira Buffini’s script is said to retain a period setting and play up the gothic elements of the original novel. So I’m stuck where I was when I last wrote about the film, guessing that of all the major adaptations of Jane Eyre this could be most like the 1944 version with Joan Fontaine, Margaret O’Brien and Orson Welles. But that’s just a guess, based on very little real info about the film. And with this trio of names (quartet, really, including Buffini) I don’t need any more. I want to hear that this has really started rolling so I can begin looking forward to footage.

• New Casting For Gus Van Sant’s Next, Which is No Longer Called Restless
• Casting Notes: Michael Fassbender Fires A Single Shot; William H. Macy and More in Dirty Girl; Goth Icon Peter Murphy Cameos in Twilight 3
• Sin Nombre Director Cary Fukunaga to Adapt Jane Eyre
• Casting Notes: Kristen Bell, Parker Posey and Mia Wasikowska Have New Gigs; Eliza Dushku Teases Videogame Adaptation
• Lionsgate Dumps Another Movie…This Time It’s Joel Schumacher’s
• Fish Tank Movie Trailer

The Apatow-verse still hasn’t dealt with sequels as of yet, but it’s bound to happen eventually. Yesterday Judd Apatow appeared on the Funny or Die Writer’s Room and talked about topics ranging from his first project and living with Adam Sandler, to potential sequels for films he’s directed or produced. In regards to the latter, he offered up some info on the potential for Superbad and Pineapple Express sequels.

Apatow seemed pretty confident that Superbad 2 probably won’t happen anytime soon, despite how much he’s begged Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. He says “they don’t want to ruin it”, and that “it’s a gem of a movie, and they don’t want a crappy second.” He goes on to say that there’s a little talk of a Pineapple Express sequel, and that we’d “have a better shot at seeing that.”

While I had fun with Superbad, I’d personally much rather see any film in the Pineapple Express universe—if only to see James Franco reprise his role. Superbad’s story seemed fairly well contained, whereas Pineapple Express could potentially continue as a series of stoner adventures a la Cheech and Chong.

Apatow also makes quick mention of Get Him to the Greek, the spin-off film from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The film is the closest thing the Apatow-verse has gotten to a sequel (he calls it a “sideways sequel”). He says “It’s sort of like My Favorite Year on heroin”.

To a degree, I much prefer the fact that the Apatow films (both directed and produced) have each been somewhat different. I appreciate that they’d rather move on to new and original ideas instead of trying to create an endless franchise. This is a philsophy I wish formerly-great comedians like Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin could follow as well.

Discuss: Were you looking forward to a Superbad or Pineapple Express sequel? Would you like to see a sequel made for any other Apatow film?

[Via The Playlist]

• A Pineapple Express / Superbad Crossover Movie?
• Seth Rogen Says No to SuperBad 2, Yes to Pineapple Express 2
• Pineapple Express Movie Trailer
• Huey Lewis’ Pineapple Express Theme Song
• Pineapple Express Red Band Movie Trailer
• Movie Review: SuperBad

Good news Chuck fans! Pretty much everything great that could be announced for the series prior to its season three return has happened today. The original plan was for the show to return in March, but we’ve learned that Chuck will be returning on Sunday, January 10, with two episodes back-to-back. The series will then resume its regular time slot on Monday, January 11 at 8pm EST, taking over Heroes‘ previous throne. Heroes will be shifted to Mondays at 9pm.

And if that’s not enough to get you excited, we’ve also learned that NBC has ordered six episodes beyond the initial 13 episode run—bringing Chuck season three to a healthy 19 episodes.

TV critic Alan Sepinwall also posted a Q&A (be warned, it contains a spoiler for the very end of Chuck season 2) with co-creator Chris Fedak about the news. Fedak is definitely pleased to be coming back early, “It’s kind of strange to be making a television show and not having anybody watching it. We’re doing lots of crazy stuff.” And he also chats about how the extra episodes will fit with the storyline they already had planned:

Right now, we’re going to stick with the 13 that we had planned. When we got the order for six more episodes, we restructured the story somewhat, but we’re still operating along the lines that the six additional episodes will be Chuck season 3.2. We’re not going to pad the original story out. We’re going to tell more story.

We’ve also got word on the the guest stars for this season via press release:

Angie Harmon (NBC’s Law & Order), who will play Sydney, an enemy operative; Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), who is set to play CIA Agent Daniel Shaw; Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) will play Colonel Keller, a soldier and spy from Casey’s past; Kristin Kreuk (Smallville), who will portray Hannah — a potential love interest for Chuck; Armand Assante (Judge Dredd) as dictator Premier Goya, who is the target of an assassin; Steve Austin (WWE Smackdown!) will portray Hugo Panzer, who becomes entangled in Chuck’s first solo mission; and Vinnie Jones (Snatch) will play Carl Stromberg, an arms dealer.

Ultimately, this is all a great sign for Chuck and its fans, because it shows that NBC clearly has a lot of faith in the series. It should be particularly cherished by the network now that Heroes has fallen from grace, and they really don’t have much else in the way of good hour-longs right now. The guest stars look interesting, and should also do well to drum up interest from new viewers.

If you’ve been on the fence about the series, I highly recommend spending these next few months before the premiere to catch up. Chuck has a great pilot, but it takes a while to find its legs in the first season. Once it does, you’ll be hooked. Season 2 was pretty much great across the board, and featured Chevy Chase as a Steve Jobs-esque villain. What more could you want?!

• TV News: V Brings on Chuck Producer, Zuleikha Robinson Now a Lost Series Regular
• Paul Rust to Star in TV Comedy Series About Working at Wal-mart
• J.J. Abrams Developing New Spy TV Series for NBC
• TV News: V Shut Down, Brandon Routh on Chuck, Summer Glau in Dollhouse
• /Filmcast Ep. 51 - Angels and Demons (GUEST: Laremy Legel from Film.com, Dan Trachtenberg from the Totally Rad Show)
• Chuck Renewed, Sarah Connor Chronicles Gets Canned

Dustin Hoffman might not return for the third installment in the Meet the Parents franchise. Entertainment Weekly is reporting a rumor that “there has been strife between Hoffman and the studio over the size of the part, the scheduling of the days on set and other difficulties.” Hoffman has agreed to appear in the film, titled Little Fockers, as part of a funny cameo near the end of the movie, but it seems like that will no longer happen. Universal declined to comment.

Now for the really bad news… The fact that Bernie Focker won’t appear in the next sequel doesn’t mean that his wife Roz Focker (played by the ever annoying Barbra Streisand) won’t have a part. Streisand still has “a prominent role” in the movie, which is extremely disappointing, because many people say she was one of the worst parts of the sequel.

Little Fockers will introduce Gaylord and Pam Fockers as parents of five-year-old twins named Henry and Ashley. Here is what we’ve learned from a previously leaked casting breakdown: Henry is kind and a little oversensitive. He has a pet lizard who he loves, and likes to imitate. He likes to sing and dance. He gets along by withdrawing from conflict with other kids, and likes to play solo on the schoolyard. Ashley is a tomboy. She can be a little bit of a bully, but she loves her twin brother. She likes finding out things, especially if it’s something a grownup doesn’t want her to know.”

A few new characters join the party, including the Focker’s babysitter Tamyra, rumored to be played by Jessica Alba, Harvey Keitel,  who plays a contractor employed by Stiller’s character and Laura Dern. Ben Stiller, Robert DeNiro, Teri Polo, and Owen Wilson return. Filming began last month.

• Ben Stiller’s Little Fockers
• Casting News: Harvey Keitel Joins Those Little Fockers, Zachary Quinto Eying Romantic Dramedy Whirligig
• Little Fockers Revealed; Raven-Symone To Babysit?
• Peter Segal In Talks to Direct Little Fockers
• Jay Roach Won’t Meet The Little Fockers
• The Tale of Despereaux Movie Trailer #2