Movies

Hilary Swank is taking a page right out of Halle Berry's playbook by following up her Oscar win with a Joel Silver flick. Hilary was at Comic-Con this weekend promoting her new supernatural thriller "The Reaping" and we couldn't help but see the connection between the two actresses.

It wasn't long ago that Berry won an Academy Award for her moving performance in "Monster's Ball," but instead of following up the film with another Oscar-worthy role she opted for the Silver produced "Gothika." Although the film was a critical mess, Berry's status as a superstar went unchanged.

Swank doesn't seem phased by her decision to follow up her win for "Million Dollar Baby" with a genre film though, "I like to challenge myself, I like to find new things. When Joel sent me the script, it was a page-turner and I couldn't stop reading it...I had a really fun time doing it as well...It's fun to do a Joel Silver movie."

Turns out BFFs Jake Gyllenhaal and Lance Armstrong are more then just bosom buddies. Jake is interested in playing Lance in a upcoming Sony biopic about the seven-time Tour De France winning, cancer surviving, rock star dating, all around nice guy.

The guys have been spotted riding with Matthew McConaughey in Malibu lately. Now we hear that Jake is in training for the role and part of that training is spending every waking moment with Lance. They were recently spotted together in France for the Tour de France.

Though "Spider-Man 3" doesn't open until next summer, 5,000 lucky fans got an early look at the new film at Comic-Con, the country's largest comic book convention. The stars of the sure-to-be hit were also on hand and tried to remain tight-lipped about the movie.

A slimmed down Tobey Maguire, who plays the titular hero, was very vague and made the new film sound a lot like "Spider-Man 2." "You know, Peter's dealing with elements of himself and things that have been imposed on him that put him kind of in conflict with himself," says Maguire, "He's got some battling to do."

The new villains offered up a little more. Topher Grace, who plays Venom, says his character embraces his badness. "Well, he just really, really enjoys being evil, which is rare. Usually some of these characters could be tortured. But, I have to say, I think he believes with great power comes great fun."

Jay and Silent Bob are back in "Clerks 2," 12 years after the original film became a cult classic almost overnight. The pot pushers are joined again by the Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson), who work at a fast food joint this time around.

For Jason Mewes, who is surprisingly sexy without Jay's long blond locks, there was no hesitation to join director Kevin Smith on screen again. "Any movie that Kevin does and writes me I'll do it ... we've been friends forever," he says, adding, "That is why I come back for more ... and I got paid twenty thousand million dollars, all right, twenty billion dollars, wouldn't you come back for twenty billion dollars?"

Joining the cast for the sequel is "Sin City" hottie Rosario Dawson, who says the film definitely doesn't hold back. "There is definitely something to be offended by for everyone but there is also something for every single person to just jump out of their seat and laugh and be happy about."

The woman was identified as Dessarae Bradford. Bradford unsuccessfully sued the actor for $5,000 last April claiming the "Miami Vice" star had harassed her with phone calls, cards and text messages.

Almost everyone has that guy at work who knows a little too much about Star Wars and Bruce Lee. The guy with the employee manual memorized and the boss' home phone on speed dial. That guy in NBC's hit "The Office" is Dwight Schrute, a character played by Rainn Wilson.

From Dwight to a sicko mortician in "Six Feet Under" to his current film "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" playing a wingman to Luke Wilson's character, Rainn is becoming a household name (even though it's a bit odd.)

Rainn cites his offbeat family for his comic sensibilities. "A crazy mix of hippie bohemian culture and white trash." That combined with a string of horrid jobs, including a grease ball insurance broker in New York where he would lie his way into offices to get appointments, paves the way for a genius comic career.

Yesterday Fox Filmed Entertainment launched Fox Atomic, a youth-focused division, along with an accompanying website. The division was announced at Comic-Con an annual gathering of comic fans in San Diego.

Fox Atomic announced its 2006-2007 film line-up and theatrical release dates for three of their films. The films are what you would expect from a studio trying to suck cash out of the purses and wallets of the 18-24 crowd: horror movies and teen sex romps round out the list.

"Turistas" is the first film on their roster. Basically it's "Lost" with teenagers, but instead of crashing a plane on a deserted island they have a bus accident in a remote Brazilian beach town.

Then the much anticipated sequel to the 2006 cinematic classic "The Hills Have Eyes" hits theaters. This time National Guard troops are attacked by desert mutants while on a training exercise. Note to reader: mutants get a tad bit angry when people show up on their lawn.

The second horror film from Fox Atomic is the sequel to "28 Days Later" the British zombie flick. In "28 Weeks Later" the Rage virus has been virtually wiped out in London when, oops, a carrier of the virus cruises into town and ignites the epidemic all over again.

M. Night Shyamalan is back in theaters with his latest fright flick, "The Lady in the Water."

Shyamalan sat down with his leading lady, Bryce Dallas Howard, for an interview as part of AOL Moviefone's Unscripted feature series. The pair, who worked together previously on "The Village," asked each other questions submitted by AOL users.

When one user asked Night how he makes such scary movies -- but doesn't actually show a lot of violence -- he said,
"I just find it stays with you more if the audience is interacting more... The less you show, the more they have to participate and then they take that home with them."

For a movie he didn't like, film critic Joel Siegel is sure helping "Clerks 2" gain some publicity ... though it's not necessarily good. According to Kevin Smith's MySpace blog and Page Six, Siegel made the unprofessional move of disruptively storming out of a press screening for the new film. Both critic and filmmaker were on CBS Radio's "Opie and Anthony Show" this morning and the fight raged on.

"There's no reason I wanted to listen to anymore of it, I stood up and got a little carried away," Siegel said of his reaction to the film. The critic continued to defend himself on the radio show, apparently not realizing that he was talking to the director himself until 10 minutes into the tirade.

Smith refused to back down though saying, "You're a paid professional,sir, it's your job to sit there and watch a movie and review it, that's what you get paid for. It's one thing to walk out and if you don't want to do your job, fine, I understand the movie's not your cup of tea."

Siegel did note that he told Page Six he thought Kevin Smith was a very good filmmaker and he thought the original "Clerks" was one of the most important films of all time, something the gossip page forgot to mention. He also made a semi-apology, "If you'd like an apology, I'm glad to apologize. This was indeed the first movie I've walked out on in 30 years. If there's a second movie I walk out on, I'll be much quieter."

The film opens this Friday.

Listen to Smith & Siegel on CBS Radio

Dillon tells Parade magazine that his Oscar nomination for "Crash" earlier this year "reinvigorated" him both professionally and personally.

Luke and Rainn Wilson, no relation, co-star in the new comedy "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," which finds Uma Thurman as a jilted ex who uses her superhero powers to get back at a former flame. Luke plays the man in question and admitted he's definitely had his own run-ins with crazy women in his dating past.

"We had broken up a couple of weeks before and she was standing over my bed, and it really scared me, really. She had gotten into the house somehow, we didn't lock the house, that didn't help in the break in ... I just woke up and she was glaring at me, it was one of those things, I woke up and thought something doesn't feel right." While a creepy experience, Luke and Rainn's reenactment of the events during the press junket is anything but.

Luke also offered one easy out when dealing with potentially mental ex-lovers: "This is really hard for me to say, this relationship has been great but I'm gay."

Collapsing floors, trees that attack and a house that can open its front door and grab your dog off the lawn before you can say "aaaaiiiieeee!!!"

This is what you get with Columbia Pictures' new animated film, "Monster House". The film boasts the voice talents of Jason Lee, Nick Cannon, Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Fred Willard and animated-film veteran Kathleen Turner, who told cameras:

"Bob Zemeckis calls me up and says: 'You've been the most seductive animated character, would you like to be the ugliest?"

If you hear any hissing in movie theaters this August, don't assume it's coming from film critics.

It's probably just the snakes.

Variety reports today that "New Line has decided to avoid any potentially buzz-killing pre-release reviews of 'Snakes on a Plane.'", noting that it "will launch without press screenings prior to its first late-evening showings on August 17th."

Possibly the most reductive titles in the history of cinema, "Snakes on a Plane" is just the latest example of dissonance between film pundits and studio marketing chiefs: Sony's "Da Vinci Code" largely ditched the critics, and "Pirates 2" appears to be - loathe as I am to say the words - critic-proof. According to The Associated Press, 12 movies in the first three months of the year bypassed critics, compared with just two last year.

As my estimable editor Kyle Pope wrote in the L.A. Times this past Sunday, "You could chalk all this up to a predictable, long-established summertime standoff between high-brow critics and low-expectation moviegoers who want little more than an easy escape that gets them out of the heat. But there's something more going on here. What we are watching is nothing less than the demise of the mainstream entertainment critic - a reordering that will last well beyond the return of more serious movies this fall.

For the second time this year, I've felt a bit duped after leaving a blockbuster. I suppose I have no one to blame but myself for walking the plank: I totally bought into the hype around Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean," a film that was "tracking as big as anything in history" per Nikki Finke's "Deadline Hollywood Daily" column.

And with good reason: After the unqualified success of the first film, you, me, and everyone else I knew was hot to see it. Disney spent $140 million on the first film, and managed more than $650 million worldwide with it. Having admitted to spending $225 million on this one (which in English likely means you can add $25 million to that figure) one's timbers shivered to think what awaited us in theaters this time.

Unfortunately: A sea dog.

Don't get me wrong: From a box office perspective, "Pirates" is an unqualified hit. But I suspect that "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" will wind up more akin to "Matrix: Revolutions" than "Titanic."

Per the Hollywood Reporter: "'Dead Man's Chest' ...continues to exceed expectations. The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced/Gore Verbinski-directed film has now earned $258.2 million, setting a record as the highest 10-day grosser. The record tops 'Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith's' 10-day number of an estimated $236.9 million, set last year."

Having spent the entire two and a half hours of "Pirates 2" yawning, with my micro-naps interrupted by a thunderous score, I wonder what the drop-off will be next weekend. And in particular the week after that, when all those who couldn't get into a screening during opening weekend finally do see the film, and leave deafened and bored out of their skulls and cross bones.

More than anything, though, I marvel at the skill of Oren Aviv, the Disney marketing chief whose promotion is detailed so carefully in today's New York Times.

Aviv's elevation comes, as the Times' Laura Holson points out, "despite a major reorganization of its live-action movie division, which will alter the way Disney movies are made and marketed" - and a time when Disney has slid from first place in box office (in 2003) to fifth.

Again, don't misunderstand me: Aviv's promotion is richly deserved, for no doubt he is the architect of Disney's decision to emphasize only certain parts of its marketing data to the industry press - i.e. Nikki Finke report of tracking "as big as any film in history." That is, the studio was careful to let it be known that everyone wanted to see a sequel, but equally scrupulous in not emphasizing that everyone who'd screened said sequel was in love with it. (Because, let's be honest, they weren't. At least, no one in the theater I was in was laughing.)

Former "Survivor" winner and current convicted felon Richard Hatch bares it all in a new independent film.

Hatch who famously went au naturel on the first season of "Survivor" is once again exposing his family jewels in the new film "Another Gay Movie."

Whereas pixelation saved viewers from the full horror on television, moviegoers will have to endure the sight of the full-figured 45-year-old in all his naked glory.

At the movie's L.A. premiere on Saturday at the Outfest film festival, patrons shrieked and gasped during Hatch's full-frontal nude scene.

"Another Gay Movie", which opens July 28, is a parody of teen sex comedies like "American Pie" and "Porkys" but with a gay twist. The film also features (clothed) appearances by British talk show host Graham Norton and Ant from "Last Comic Standing."

Hatch is currently playing a different game of 'Survivor' now that he's serving a 51 month sentence in a federal prison for tax evasion.

The documentary chronicles Lennon the peace activist as opposed to Lennon the Beatle and his troubles with the U.S. government- from the legal wrangling involving FBI files to the goverment try to deport him. The film will have interviews with Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, Walter Cronkite, Geraldo Rivera, activist Angela Davis, and Watergate ex-con G. Gordon Liddy.

While a parody of websites is nothing new, the act of re-creating a news website with the intent to promote a documentary about a peace activist is. Was Drudge irked? Who knows. But he did post the headline "Paramount Movie Campaign Mocks Drudge Report...."