Movies

"Desperate Housewives" hunk Jesse Metcalfe makes his big screen debut this weekend in "John Tucker Must Die" and dons a (sexy?) g-string for the role.

"Stepping out in that thong in front of these four beautiful girls and in front of 50 extras... It was a little nerve wracking," says Metcalfe of the revealing scene, "but it was kind of a rush and I think it came off well."

His "Desperate" co-star Eva Longoria was at the film's premiere last night to offer moral support.

"We've formed such a great friendship and I'm just so proud to see him move on from 'Desperate Housewives,'" said Longoria, "A lot of people really sit on their asses and not do anything but he is a really hard worker and I'm looking forward to seeing him back next week on the set."

Suit yourself, Jason, but it's not hard to do. Watch this: "Speed" meets "D.O.A." See, wasn't that easy?

"Speed" is about a bus that can't go below 50mph or it blows up. "D.O.A." is about a man who's been poisoned and has only a few hours to find his killers before he kicks. Both plots are so juicy they spawned sequels and remakes, but nobody ever thought to put them together.

John Travolta strips down to his bathing suit during the filming of his latest flick -- and the results aren't pretty.

The star -- whose bod is far from his ripped self in "Staying Alive" more than 20 years ago -- was in New Mexico filming the aptly named "Wild Hogs," about a group of suburban biker wannabes.

In one scene, Travolta and co-stars William H. Macy, Tim Allen, and Martin Lawrence go skinny-dipping in a local watering hole, only to be confronted by a naked gay man who tries to entice them into a game of marco polo.

Travolta isn't the only member of the cast who looks like he could use a Bally's membership -- check out Allen and Lawrence.

25 years ago Richard Donner was removed from the helm of "Superman 2." Hot on the heels of "Superman Returns" release and after the persistence of comic book and Superman fans, his version of the Superman sequel will finally see the light of day.

Donner was famously removed from the movie after not getting along with the producers. British director Richard Leslie was brought on board and they cut out enough of a percentage of Donner's footage to not credit him in the final version of the film. The movie went on to great success, much to the chagrin of Donner.

Now it seems Donner will have the last laugh. 15 minutes originally exorcised from the original movie and banished to the "phantom zone" will be added, including footage of Gene Hackman and the late Marlon Brando in the upcoming "Superman ll: The Richard Donner Cut."

Quentin Tarantino, creator of such esteemed art house date films as "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction," was on a panel at Comic-Con this weekend to discuss his and Robert Rodriguez's upcoming double film "Grindhouse" when he told the audience that he wanted to do not one but two "Kill Bill" prequels.

One prequel will cover Bill's back story and would feature Pai Mei, Esteban Vihaio, sword maker Hatori Hanzo and, of course, Bill.

The second will be the further adventures of Uma Thurman's character The Bride, possibly working as an assassin for Bill.

The real kicker about this announcement was Tarantino wants the films to be anime-inspired, not unlike the Oren-Ishii sequence in the first "Kill Bill" film. This news alone should have Tarantino and anime fans salivating.

Of course, Tarantino is known to throw out ideas that either don't come to fruition or take years to make. We're still waiting for the "Inglorious Bastards."

We realize the futility of this mission, but we're undertaking it anyway: Everyone needs to stop wasting time with ridiculous movies like "Lady in the Water" and "Pirates" and go see "My Super Ex-Girlfriend."

We'll leave aside that Ivan Reitman directed "Stripes" and "Ghostbusters," films that already belong in the canon of comedy. (Lineage is hardly a reason to go see a film. Just look at "Poseidon" or "Alexander" for proof.)

Nor should you see "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" because screenwriter Don Payne, late of "The Simpsons," wrote one of the funniest scripts in years. (Lots of scripts get marred by inept direction, natch.)

No, the real reason you oughta go see "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" is that it is everything "Pirates of the Caribbean" should have been: Uproariously funny, clever and utterly original. Ribald, but not coarse.

In a word, fun - something I was starting to doubt you could have at a summer movie.

Consider the lugubrious "Superman Returns": "You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, but every day I hear people crying for one..."

Well, um, yes. Save us from these torpid summer movies with ponderous dialog and no fun whatever!

And then along comes "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," stuffed with laughs and smarts. Does it push the envelope of special effect like "The Matrix"? No, and it's not supposed to: It's a Spandex send-up, and an ingenious and enjoyable a comedy as I've seen in years.

Why'd it go so wrong? Box Office Mojo offer this assessment: "[a] combination of romantic comedy and superhero antics, handled awkwardly in the marketing, proved a turn-off for followers of either genre - there's never been a successful superhero comedy (outside of family movies) and the sub-genre is characterized by such failures as Mystery Men and Blankman. Making matters worse, "Ex-Girlfriend" star Uma Thurman's titular character was presented as unhinged and cruel and, hence, not relatable."

(Or, given some of the women my pals have dated, all too relatable?)

Please, Uma's not the problem. Maybe I do have a soft spot for the brilliantly, unapologetically crazy and needful turn by Uma Thurman. But more than likely, it's that adult movie-goers have been so trained to fear over-serious superhero movies that they finally rejected the only one worth seeing this summer.

Whatever. Just don't treat misguided marketing and a lousy opening weekend as Kryptonite; go see it.

"Snakes on a Plane" is shaping up to be the most buzzed about movie of the summer and Samuel L. Jackson couldn't be happier. Already achieving cult status with the classic "Pulp Fiction," Jackson is ready to be recognized for something different."

"If people can stop yelling do I know what a quarter-pounder with cheese in France is called and start yelling get these motherf***ing snakes off the motherf***ing plane, I'll be fine, I'll be great."

The premise of the film is simple. Jackson's character is an FBI agent transporting a convict when the plane he's on gets attacked by poisonous snakes. Though the film doesn't open until August 18th, Jackson is already contemplating a sequel.

The latest comic book character to get a big screen make-over is "Ghost Rider" starring avid comic book fan, Nicolas Cage. The Oscar winner showed up looking like he hasn't slept in weeks.

Cage was at the huge comic convention, Comic-Con, in San Diego this weekend promoting the movie which he says is very close to his heart.

Based on the popular Marvel Comics series, "Ghost Rider" stars Cage as stunt motorcycle rider Johnny Blaze who makes a deal with the devil in order to save his mentor from cancer.

The film also stars Latin beauty Eva Mendes as Roxanne Simpson a go-getting reporter and love interest to the "Ghost Rider."

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."