Sundance First Look: The Greatest
It's Sundance time. My mailbox is clogged with pitches for movies to screen, interviews to do. I'm planning on a radical new approach this year, since so many of the movies that buyers slather over in advance turn out to be disappointments, and the ones that go home with distribs are the ones critics and audiences actually admire. (See: Frozen River, Ballast, Trouble the Water.) So I'm going to go see the movies that look good, and then decide who to interview based on what I like! (I'm taking my flipcam.)R

Trailer Premiere: Watch Michael Shannon And Amy Ryan In ‘The Missing Person’
Writer/director Noah Buschel made a name for himself with “Neal Cassidy” and “Bringing Rain,” and now he’s back again for “The Missing Person.” The film — which will have its world premiere at the forthcoming Sundance Film Festival — stars Michael Shannon (fresh off his much talked-about “Revolutionary Road” performance) as a private detective hired to follow a man (Frank Wood).

"Uhhm...Wrong Number"
A hot-off-the-presses poster for Richard Shepard's I Knew It Was You, a Sundance-screening doc about the late great John Cazale.

Stars! Stars! Stars! Sundance Non-Competition Lineup
I Love You, Philip Morris, featuring Ewan McGregor and Jim Carrey sporting unusual hair choices, Will premiere at Sundance.  Sundance has announced its lineup of “world premiere” films that are not in the festival competition. So while the competition lineup features movie stars slumming in indies in order to win awards, the noncompetition films feature movie stars who like Utah in the winter, picking up swag, and making films that earn money, and maybe a better shot at an award than your ave

I KNEW IT WAS John Cazale
It’s about time there’s a documentary about the late great John Cazale. If you claim to be a movie buff and you’ve never seen any of Cazale’s movies, then you got some renting to do because he only made 5 feature films and all of them either won or nominated for Best Picture. He died in 1978 of Bone Cancer and was once engaged to the legendary Meryl Streep. He was best known for as Fredo, Michael Corleone’s brother. Here are the 5 classic films: THE GODFATHER, TH

Rudo y Cursi trailer
This is another Mexican film starring the ethereal pair of Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. The film will be directed by Carlos Cuaron the brother of Alfonso Cuaron and produced by the trio Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. The movie is a drama comedy about two brothers fighting each other because of the pressures of professional soccer. Despite the fact that charolastras are back in the game, Diego, Gael and Director Carlos insist this nothing to do with Y Tu Mama Tamb

Mamma Mia! Keeps Singing Atop Global Box Office
Movie musical MAMMA MIA! still reigns over the international box office, taking $14 million (GBP7.56 million) in the last week (begs15Sep08). The ABBA-inspired film, starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth, is pulling in audiences worldwide, taking its global haul to $475 million (GBP256.7 million) - $334 million (GBP180.5 million) of which was taken outside of the U.S. Angelina Jolie's action thriller Wanted is in second place with $11.6 million (GBP6.27 million), and Ben Stiller's Trop

Oscar Futures: The Guilds Turn On the Bat Signal
Every week between now and February 2, when the nominations are announced, movies and stars will help themselves — or, sometimes, hurt themselves — in the Oscar race. Vulture's Oscar Futures will listen to insider gossip, comb the Oscar blogs, and out-and-out guess when necessary to track who's up, who's down, and who's currently leading the race for a coveted nomination. Best Picture UP:The Dark Knight. Important recognition this week from the WGA, PGA, and DGA (plus unimportant recognition fro

Possible 2008 Sundance Premieres
Paper Hearts - First up is a film that almost no one has heard about until now. The feature filmmaking debut of Nicholas Jasenovec, the film is an unconventional comedy which is being described as “part-documentary, part-scripted comedy” about Michael Cera’s real-life relationship with Charlyne Yi (Knocked Up). Not much else is known about the film, but indie insiders are already predicting that it will be this year’s Sundance break out hit ala Napoleon Dynamite. [THR] Spread - Davi

‘WALL-E,’ ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ ‘The Dark Knight’ Win Awards From Chicago Film Critics Association
CHICAGO– The Chicago Film Critics Association announced their winners for the best of 2008 and an animated robot, superhero movie villain, wrestling star, and former teen actress walked away with big prizes. “Wall-E” was the big winner of the day, taking home an amazing four prizes, the most presented to any one movie this year.Pixar’s “Wall-E”, an animated masterpiece about the last robot on planet Earth, won the big prize for Best Picture and also took home Best Original Sc

‘The Dark Knight,’ ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Lead Nominees From Chicago Film Critics Association
CHICAGO– The Chicago Film Critics Association announced its choices for the best of 2008 on Monday morning. The biggest blockbuster of the year, “The Dark Knight,” and the sleeper hit of the season, “Slumdog Millionaire,” tied for the most nominations and will compete for best picture of the year from Chicago film critics.The Chicago Film Critics Association“The Dark Knight”, the massively successful continuation of the Batman franchise, and “Slumdog Millionaire&#

'The Spirit,' 'Seven Pounds' and 'Revolutionary Road': A Taxonomy of Trash [Rants]
Though Hollywood reserves the holiday movie season for its annual harvest of ambition, prestige and clout, even the most painstaking Oscar husbandry can often fail. For three much-anticipated films in particular, the damage varies.So Bad it's Good:The Spirit (Dec. 25). Perhaps it's best to know as little as possible going into this adaptation of Will Eisner's classic 1940s comic series, written and directed by Eisner acolyte Frank Miller in the arresting visual style of his debut (with Robert Rodriguez) Sin

New ‘Kick-Ass’ Photos Hit The ‘Net, Featuring Aaron Johnson In Pseudo-Superhero Costume
Last month we got our first look at the main character’s do-it-yourself superhero costume in “Kick-Ass,” the upcoming adaptation of Mark Millar’s ultraviolent comic book series, directed by Matthew Vaughn. While most of our on-set peeks at the film have been blurry at best, Newsarama has posted a pair of photos from the set that provide a clear look at actor Aaron Johnson in the role of wannabe-superhero Dave Lizewski — and in full “Kick-Ass” costume. We’ve posted one of the photos after

2008 ‘Razzies’ Nominees Include Indy 4, Paris Hilton And Tom Cruise - How Would You Vote?
Is it just me, or was 2008 one of the worst years for movies ever? Well folks, the time has finally come to vent. It’s one of my favorite days of the year, as my Razzie ballot just arrived in the mail. As a registered voter, I take my obligation very seriously, and it’s always interesting to see what the annual awards for bad filmmaking have nominated for the worst of the worst. Here’s your chance to help me vote! Below are the newly-released nominations for the 29th Annual Razzie awards

This Week’s DVD Releases: Ready For “The Promotion”?
Not exactly a bumper crop of DVDs this week, and the only one I’m really interested in is The Promotion. An indie comedy starring John C. Reilly and Seann William Scott as two grocery store junior managers competing for a coveted promotion, it got good reviews at SXSW but not much of a theatrical release. Now that it’s on DVD though, The Promotion is a good candidate for a rental. Give it a shot, you might be surprised. Also coming out this week is Then She Found Me, a Helen Hunt-directed drama

Blu-Ray Review: ‘Mamma Mia!: The Movie’ Makes Musical Magic
CHICAGO– To some people, a “Sing-Along” version of “Mamma Mia!: The Movie” might sound like a threat. “No, Timmy, you can’t watch The Dark Knight for the hundredth time and if you don’t do your chores, I’m going to make you sing along with Pierce Brosnan again.” But “Mamma Mia!” has a very specific, very satisfied audience and they will be giddy with ABBA glee at the Blu-Ray release of their favorite movie of 2008.It might have slipped unde

Fall Into A 'Bromance' K-Hole [Watch, TiVo, Kill]
Greasy chicks and dudes compete for male affection tonight on The Bachelor and Bromance, respectively. We try to restrain ourselves, but can't help noting our disdain for the latter, regardless of tonight's Bro-athalon results.WATCHThe Bachelor [8 PM, ABC] - Single father Jason Mesnick is back after being shot down by last season's Bachelorette, and he's looking for love for himself and his son. Of the 25 women competing for his heart, four are single mothers themselves, which is some sort of twist, but we

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ not slumming it at Critics’ Choice Awards
The 14th annual Critics’ Choice Awards, presented by the Broadcast Film Critics’ Association, were presented Thursday. The winners were: Picture: “Slumdog Millionaire” Actor: Sean Penn, “Milk” Actress: Tie: Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married,” and Meryl Streep, “Doubt” Supporting actor: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight” Supporting actress: Kate Winslet, “The Reader” Acting ensemble: “Milk” Di

Garcia lines up ‘Mother’ trio, Cuaron, del Toro, Inarritu to produce ensemble drama
Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu will produce the writer-director’s next feature for their Focus Features International-funded outfit cha cha cha. The $4.5 million project, produced with Mockingbird Pictures president Julie Lynn, follows the intersecting lives of a 50-year-old woman, the daughter she gave up for adoption 35 years ago and a black woman looking to adopt a baby. - from THR Related Entries Geek Guille

Paul Giamatti's Soul, Chris Rock's Barber Among Subjects in Sundance '09 Spotlight [Sundance Film Festival]
The Sundance Film Festival this afternoon unveiled the competition lineup for its 2009 incarnation (a/k/a the One You're Boycotting), and it's a sharp crop of international cinema that will no doubt be met with accolades and not just a few bounced checks from cash-strapped indie distributors. Follow the jump for our quick, dirty, reductive and completely arbitrary survey of the fest's hottest titles and trends. · As assumed, the Michael Cera-Charlene Yi potboiler Paper Heart will screen in Par

Kate Winslet “Late Show With David Letterman” Video (01/08/09)
Golden Globe-nominated actress Kate Winslet, who recently reunited with Titanic co-star Leo DiCaprio in the big screen film Revolutionary Road, appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday. Check out this video from late night’s appearance.

Update On Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Witches’
A while back we learned that the man himself, Guillermo del Toro, would be producing an Alfonso Cuaron-directed version of Roald Dahl’s The Witches. Now it seems that instead, Del Toro will be the one directing (though he’s the busiest director on the planet already) and Cuaron will produce. As many of you know via many nightmare-filled nights after watching it — the story was made into a film in 1990 also called The Witches and it starred Angelica Huston as the head witch. I don̵

Sean Penn’s Oscar-Possible Harvey Milk Puts Face to Gay Rights in ‘Milk’
CHICAGO– Just as Tom Hanks put a face to AIDS in 1993’s “Philadelphia,” Sean Penn has now put a face to gay rights as Harvey Milk in the new Gus Van Sant true-story film “Milk”.While Penn’s Harvey Milk had the physical demeanor of a petite and gentle man, the fire inside the real-life activist for gay rights was both his blessing and sometimes his poison.Rating: 4.0/5.0Milk found balancing personal relationships challenging amid his relentless quest to be the first gay politician in California

Mountain Men: The Sundance Film Festival … [Festivals]
Mountain Men: The Sundance Film Festival broke out its non-competition selections for 2009 this afternoon, a starrier, funkier twist on yesterday’s slate of barbershop docs and Pierce Brosnan weepies. At the top is Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor’s gay prison romance I Love You Philip Morris, which we’ve been anticipating since first spying Carrey’s frolicsome South Beach sojourn. Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle will be around for the cop drama Brooklyn’s Finest, while B

'Time Out, Guys. I Need Some Notes On My New Commercial' [A Call To The Bullpen]
Boomp3.comHigh school football coach and digital camera pitchperson Ashton Kutcher called for a time out during the big break to ask his defense line for some feedback on his latest ad campaign. Kutcher was concerned that he was coming off like a slight tool in the latest ads. However, the defense line thought that they should focus on the game since they were only down by a field goal. Kutcher said that he had the game winning play all drawn, but would only give it up after getting some feedback. The That