Kevin Spacey has signed on as the villain in Vince Vaughan and Paul Giamatti’s seasonal comedy, Joe Claus. Spacey will be playing Claus’ burnt out brother, Fred Claus, in the project which is to be directed by David Dobkin (Shanghai Knights, Wedding Crashers). Other names confirmed for the project include John Michael Higgins, who will be Santa’s head elf and Judi Dench, who’s part has not, as of yet, been announced.
After the first public screening of “The Da Vinci Code” last night at Cannes Film Festival, hundreds of critics have been ferverently typing up and publishing their opinions online and so far, the verdict is very disappointing. On it’s Rotten Tomatoes page, (at the time of posting) it’s average rating is just 3.8/10 with 7 out of 7 reviews currently rating the film as rotten. Whether the tides will turn over the next couple of days or whether the film really is awful, is something that will very soon, be determined.
Jackie Chan and Jet Li have told Chinese news site Sina.com that they will be joining forces and have signed on to do a film which they have currently dubbed the “J & J Plan”. Details on the project are currently scarce but we have been promised that an official announcement regarding the film will be made at Cannes Film festival which starts today and ends on May 28. The collaboration is already being billed as one of the biggest and probably most lucrative deals in action movie history.
Stalking in the shadow of “United 93″ is “World Trade Center”, Oliver Stone’s new film that portrays the tragic events of September 11 2001. But whether you’re interested or disgusted by this sudden influx of 9/11 films, you’ll no doubt be interested in the brand-new World Trade Center trailer. The film follows the true story of two New York police officers, Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin, that bravely helped to rescue people from the falling buildings, but ended up becoming trapped themselves.
Wolfgang Peterson’s affinity with water is evident again with his latest foray, Poseidon; the only problem is - just like Perfect Storm, it’s doomed to languish in the shallow depths of mediocrity. It’s opening weekend took a disappointing $22.2 million, exceeding the studio’s pessimistic estimations but not taking a large enough chunk out of the possible $200 million production costs. It’s overall position in the weekend’s box office rankings was 2nd, after Mission Impossible III which has managed to hold onto the top spot for it’s second week, bringing it’s total gross to over $84 million.
Despite the first film being decidely tame and boring, The Grudge has managed to grab itself a sequel and thanks to a Russian film site the first pictures from production are now available. Starring Amber Tamblyn, Arielle Kebbel, Jennifer Beals, and (yes) Sarah Michelle Gellar, The Grudge 2 is scheduled to open on October 13. In Tokyo, a young woman (Tamblyn) is exposed to the same supernatural force that troubled her sister (gellar) in the first film.
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Brett Ratner, director of the recently announced Rush Hour 3, has revealed who his dream cast would include and who he is actually going to ask to be in the film. He told Coming Soon that both Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan are back and that he really wanted to try and get Yao Ming (NBA Star), Gong-Li (Memoirs of a Geisha, Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak) and Aishwarya Rai (Bollywood’s biggest female star) on board for the project. Shooting for Rush Hour 3 is scheduled to start on August 16.
In the western world, Hollywood blockbusters are generally the order of the day. The never-ending stream of conventional films is rarely interrupted by something truly original and intelligent. Lady Vengeance is one of these rarities and provides you with an intoxicating saunter off the beaten track. It’s the third instalment in Park Chan-Wook’s so-called “revenge” trilogy, which includes Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and the more recent Oldboy, and it promises to deliver the same level of ingenuity, fluidity and beauty that its predecessors have been hailed for.
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New Line have reportedly agreed to pay Chris Tucker $25 million for his role in the next film in the Rush Hour franchise, Rush Hour 3. The first two films were massive global successes, grossing over $600 million between them. The announcement comes as a surprise to the industry because of Chris Tucker’s somewhat limited portfolio. For more information on the upcoming, inevitable box office hit, Rush Hour 3, visit it’s imdb profile.
Disney have unveiled the full trailer for Pixar’s latest animation masterpiece, Cars. The film follows “Lightning McQueen, a hotshot rookie race car driven to succeed, discovers that life is about the journey, not the finish line, when he finds himself unexpectedly detoured in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs. McQueen gets to know the town’s offbeat characters- who help him realize that there are more important things than trophies.”
