SMAC - SHOWS, MOVIES & CHICKS

SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT has acquired THE B-TEAM a ADAM MCKAY-directed action comedy that will team WILL FERRELL and MARK WAHLBERG as cops.
MCKAY and FERRELL who brought us the nothing but awesome ANCHORMAN, the decent STEP BROTHERS and the not-so-great TALLADEGA NIGHTS will also produce the flick. It's still uncertain, if the flick will be released as B-TEAM due to possible legal/name issues with 20th CENTURY FOX that is mobilizing a movie based on TV series THE A-TEAM.
I keep you posted on this one.

One of the greatest Stand-Up comediens of all-times RICHARD PRYOR will get a full feature biopic. Writer/director BILL CONDON (DREAMGIRLS) is likely to sell his script RICHARD PRYOR: IS IT SOMETHING I SAID? to FOX SEARCHLIGHT (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE).
EDDIE MURPHY is attached to the project to play the late RICHARD PRYOR who died in December 2005 due to a heart attack.
He was 65 years old.

source: EW

Another remake no one needs but who's counting, right?

TOTAL RECALL is coming back to the big screen. NEAL H. MORITZ, Hollywood producer and owner of a company called ORIGINAL FILMS who brought us movies like THE FAST & THE FURIOUS, S.W.A.T. or xXx (which sadly ain't porn but "triple x") is in final negotiations with COLUMBIA to direct and produce a new version of SCHWARZENEGGERS big hit TOTAL RECALL (1990).

No word on who's starring or what the script will be like...

HARRY POTTER has a date. Well not an actual date but a release date for THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1 AND 2.

DEATHLY HALLOWS - PART 1:
November 19th, 2010

DEATHLY HALLOWS - PART 2:
July 15th, 2011

And for those who are confused about the HALF-BLOOD PRINCE:

HALF-BLOOD PRINCE:
July 17th, 2009

So the 81st Annual Acadamy Awards are over. I have to admit, I was kinda sceptical beforehand and couldn't really get on the OSCAR-Hype-Train. There was just nothing that promised a spectacular or at least an interesting show. The nominated movies were quite unspectacular, boring or just wrong. With some exceptions of course. I loved FROST/NIXON, though I don't think this well crafted and well acted piece of work deserved a statue that says "this is one of the most important movies ever made". I was however disappointed, that THE DARK KNIGHT did not get a nomination for Best Picture. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fanboy and I'm not basing my opinion on Box Office sales, BUT I doubt a Blockbuster can get any better than this. If you hand out 11 statues to TITANIC and don't even "nominate" TDK for Best Picture, you should not wonder why people lose interest in the Acadamy Awards. If the OSCARS aren't believable and credibile, than what's the point? That being said, of course I watched the whole show and... I enjoyed it.

First of all, I thought HUGH JACKMAN did a terrific job. I was really really sceptical if he could pull this thing. I was like "Wolverine? Really?", but credit where credit is due, I have to cut the man some slack. He was very likeable and the good thing was he didn't force himself to the audience. He sang, he danced, he shook some hands and hosted very smoothly. I have to admit though, that I still prefer a comedian like Jon Stewart, Steve Martin or Chris Rock. JACKMANN was good, but he was too clean for my taste. And what's with all the singing and dancing and "Musicals are alive" shit? Come on...

However I LOVED the idea of presenting the awards for best Actor/Actress by former winners. It was beautiful to see so many great actors together on one stage talking directly and in front of the nominated actors/actresses.
Another thing that was very nicely done was the way how they announced the categories and explained and showed what it meant. Like when they talked about Best Screenplay, they showed actual excerpts of that particular script and the scene as it was in the finished movie. Great!

What else...loved the JAMES FRANCO , SETH ROGEN and JANUSZ KAMINSKI(!) skit (Rogen takes one of Kaminskis two Oscars and wonders "can you make a pipe out of this?"), loved BEN STILLER not wanting to be the funny guy anymore (very funny), loved BEYONCÉ...

Let's talk HEATH LEDGER. Is it just me, or was the Oscar for HEATH kinda boring... or unspectacular. I don't say it had to be particulary "special" in any kind of way, but it felt kinda cold from my perspective. The mother and sister of HEATH seemed to really enjoy the Oscars and judging from the hair of LEDGERs sister and the dress of his mom, they put quite some time and effort to look nice on stage, whereas their speech was pretty dull. I expected more emotions and feelings. Not "faked feelings" mind you. Don't get me wrong. No one has to burst out in tears, if they don't feel like it, but I thought he wasn't praised and honored enough. But maybe that's just me...

As for the winners, there was not really a big upset or surprise. I'm glad that BUTTON didn't get away with too many OSCARS, because it just didn't deserve them. The only thing that was, well at least a littlebit surprising, was SEAN PENNs OSCAR for best ACTOR. I haven't seen MILK yet, but I can imagine that it was an Oscar-worthy perfomance by PENN. I mean it's SEAN PENN ffs... BUT I would loved to see the award go to MICKEY ROURKE. I love that guy, loved the movie and I'm not sure if he will ever get a shot for an Oscar again. Well I guess I have to watch his kickass acceptance speech of the SPIRIT AWARD over and over again and imagine how it would have been, if had won an Oscar:

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
Winner: "Slumdog Millionaire"
(Fox Searchlight) A Celador Films Production; Christian Colson, Producer

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Winner: Sean Penn in "Milk" (Focus Features)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Winner: Kate Winslet in "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Winner: Danny Boyle for "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Winner: Penelope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (The Weinstein Company)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Winner: Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner: "Milk" (Focus Features); Written by Dustin Lance Black

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner: "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Winner: "WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Andrew Stanton

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Winner: "La Maison en Petits Cubes" A Robot Communications Production; Kunio Kato

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
Winner: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Art

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Winner: "The Duchess" (Paramount Vantage, Pathe; and BBC Films) Michael O'Connor

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
Winner:"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Paramount and Warner Bros.) Greg Cannom

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Anthony Dod Mantle

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Winner: "Spielzeugland (Toyland)"A Mephisto Film Production; Jochen Alexander Freydank

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Winner: "Man on Wire" (Magnolia Pictures) A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Winner: "Smile Pinki" A Principe Production, Megan Mylan

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
Winner: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Eric

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
Winner: "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) Richard King

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
Winner: "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
Winner: "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Chris Dickens

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Winner: "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)
Winner: "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Music by A.R. Rahman; Lyrics by Gulzar

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Winner: "Departures" (Regent Releasing) A Departures Film Partners Production; Japan

Okay, as promised I keep the DARKO goons posted.
The "official" trailer for the DONNIE DARKO sequel S.DARKO has been released.
And actually... I kind of like it.

You can watch the trailer on www.sdarko.com.

The folks over at IGN report about a possible big screen version of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. It's still a rumor as UNIVERSAL hasn't confirmed anything yet. The rumor though seems pretty detailed. Check it out. :

“We were informed that the film will be based on the original BSG series from 1978-79 rather than the recent reboot from Sci Fi Channel. The story followed a band of humans who were the only survivors of a devastating attack on their colonial home world by the vicious cybernetic race known as the Cylons. The survivors, led by Commander Adama, embark on a journey through space aboard the military vessel Battlestar Galactica to find refuge on a distant planet called Earth.”

I keep you posted on this one.

Beautiful AMY SMART. I think I fell in love with her when I first saw her on ROAD TRIP seducing BRECKIN MEYER. I fell in love again when I saw her in the great and underappreciated INTERSTATE 60. She did another roadtrip in the mediocre RAT RACE and it seems to me, that AMY is the kind of girl you just want to bunk and go on an adventure. She has the perfect mixture of sweetness and toughness. If you saw CRANK you'll know what I mean...

So where is AMY now?
Well besides of giving her voice to several ROBOT CHICKEN characters, we will see her in CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE. Also she just landed the lead in a new ABC pilot called "SEE CATE RUN", about a young attorney eventually running for President of the U.S.

EMPIRE released a set of pretty interesting INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS posters. Something tells me you won't see them like that in Germany...

The new teaser trailer for MICHAEL BAYS TRANSFORMERS sequel is out. Looks like a decent blockbuster. At least the blow up and crash a shitload of stuff. Like buildings, cars and bridges and buildings and cars and shit.
Check it out:


You can find in HD here.

Some lucky people in L.A. had the chance to watch a screening of the final cut of WATCHMEN yesterday. Lucky for us, some of them share their thoughts on Latinoreview.
Here is an excerpt:

2. The ending is different, no squid. I was one of the people who never really cared about squid/no squid, but I feel the ending will work better for mainstream audiences that have never read the book.

3. They do not imply a sequel anymore than the book does...

7. It was fantastically close to the book; even the framings of shots were lifted directly from the book.

8. Jackie Earl Halley is the shit in this. He IS Rorschach.

9. This movie is gory. I'm a gore hound and I was surprised at how graphic some scenes were. Really had people squirming.

10. NAKED Sally Jupiter. (CORRECTION NAKED Silk Spectre)

I have to say Snyder knocked this one out of the park. There is some gruesome, brutal stuff here that is hard to watch. The fight scenes are awesome, and, like in 300, Snyder continues the use of ramping the frame rate to accentuate the movements of the characters. I knew there was going to be some slo-mo, but I didn't think he overdid it. All in all, fans of the book are going to more than pleased with the film. For a book that was for years considered un-filmable, he certainly managed to hit almost every beat and did not compromise any of the material

I have to admit, that though the writer of the review sounds pretty amazed, I am kinda shocked, that ZACK SNYDER changed the ending... Let's just hope he didn't screw up!

Check the full review here.

EMPIRE MAGAZINE has a pretty interesting cover-story on their march issue that's on sale this friday. Here is a scoop:

Inside, we’ll tell you how the film finally became a reality after years languishing in tangled rights hell; why Peter Jackson stepped aside from directing; what might be contained in the mooted second movie; and just what director Guillermo del Toro has in store for the whole shebang.

Here’s a taster of our exclusive interview with del Toro:

“Whatever The Hobbit ends up being, it has to ultimately blend seamlessly into the first movie of the trilogy. We have to respect the cosmology and the canon established by the trilogy and follow it.”

Script is penned by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (WANTED) and the flick will be directed by no other than DAVID CRONENBERG (EASTERN PROMISES). The movie is an adaptation of ROBERT LUDLUMS (writer of the BOURNE TRILOGY) book by the same name. WASHINGTON and CRUISE are in talks not yet confirmed though.
Story is about two bitter enemy spies who, after spending two decades trying to kill each other, grudgingly team up against the Matarese, a powerful group at the root of a conspiracy.

This has blockbuster written all over it. More to come on this one...

This flick is a typical sort of "sequels no one needs". But since there are a lot of DONNIE DARKO fans out there, I guess it belongs here aswell. After all, there might be a small chance that it won't suck...
S. DARKO - A DONNIE DARKO TALE is basically the same story but now told through the eyes of Donnies sister Samantha. Of course no one that worked on DONNIE DARKO is involved in this straight to DVD release (meaning no JAKE GYLLENHAAL and no RICHARD KELLY). A real trailer is supposed to be shown at NYC ComicCon.
Anyhow, here goes the (fanmade-) teaser trailer:

Ok, without further ado. Click here to go straight to the BASTERDS trailer.

It's a wrap guys! That's right, QUENTIN TARANTINOS Nazi hunt INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS is in the can! Entertainment Tonight gave an exklusive first glimpse on the soon to be released BASTERDS trailer. (Check back soon, you'll find it here as soon as it hits the net!).
Check out the ET preview:

JASON STATHAM back on track. Check out the new poster for CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE!

And here goes another comic adaption: BRETT RATNER (of RUSH HOUR fame) will direct ROB LIEFELDS YOUNGBLOOD comic book. It's about a fictional superhero team that made its debut as a backup feature in the 1987 one-shot Megaton: Explosion before later appearing in its own ongoing series in 1992 as the flagship publication for Image Comics (SPAWN). Through out their publishing history, they were originally published by Image Comics, and later by Awesome Entertainment. In 1998, LIEFELD hired ALAN MOORE (WATCHMEN) to relaunch and revamp Youngblood.
No word about the plot of the movie and whether it takes on LIEFELD oder MOORES vision of the comic.

RATNER to VARIETY: “Most of the great graphic novels are gone, and ‘Youngblood’ is one of the few comicbooks left with tentpole potential. It was a real personal passion project for me, and a lot of people wanted (‘Youngblood’), but the amazing thing about the guys at Reliance is the speed with which they’re able to move.”

I guess by now you all heard about the infamous BALE OUT on the set of TERMINATOR: SALVATION. Looks like CHRISTIAN BALE is kinda the new STAR WARS KID. Probably as I am writing this, someone on the planet is uploading an new remix of BALES rant on youtube. Though I think it's funny and he kinda deserves to be mocked for being a cock, I still think he is a great actor and probably not half as much of an asshole, as the leaked audio suggests. I mean come on... I know a lot of people that have gone ballistic (or should I say "baleistic"?) over some shit and regretted it immediately. It's just human to sometimes lose your shit (pun intended). That's not an excuse and it doesn't make it right, but people should stop pointing fingers. If BALE wouldn't be a rich celebrity, no one would make a big deal out of it. But being famous does not change the fact, that you're still a human. And sometimes even an asshole.
That being said, CHRISTIAN BALE apologized on L.A.'s Kevin & Bean morning radio show on KROQ. Though you may still think he is a prick, I say cut the dude some slack and let bygones be bygones.
Listen to the apology here.
And besides all that: TERMINATOR: SALVATION will kick ass!