Young female fans rejoice! Robert Pattinson is back in Vancouver to shoot some more scenes for the upcoming vampire film, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse“. He was spotted at Heathrow airport early Wednesday morning and he arrived in Van City, Thursday. “Twilight Eclipse” will arrive in theaters, June 30, 2010.

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MacGruber gets a 100% favourable rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s pretty good for a film that’s yet to be released.

The upcoming MacGruber feature length movie is based on the extremely popular Saturday Night Live character. The SNL sketches parody the 1985-1992 adventure series, MacGyver. The movie is expected to be released on May 21, 2010.

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IGN Movies give “The Losers“, 8 out of 10 stars. The movie is a “wild ride from beginning to end.” The filmmakers stay true to the comic book series and the result is a “clever, fun, action-packed movie with “all of the entertainment value of a summer blockbuster”, although we are only in April. Read on.

The Losers is full of thrilling set-pieces and amusing banter in-between (and during), but these elements alone don’t make for a complete package. For that you also need compelling characters and a cast with crackling chemistry, both of which this film has. Morgan’s charisma and physicality make him believable as a leader, a romantic hero and a genuine action star. And Saldana holds her own against her male co-stars, kicking lots of ass and showing off some too. As Max, Patric channels every idiosyncratic, over-the-top action-movie villain, combining cold pragmatism with unpredictable ruthlessness and a short fuse. When he finally shares screen time with the good guys, their encounter has been built up to such a degree that it becomes an epic turning point.

Click here to read the full review.

The Losers open in wide release, April 23, 2010

<br/><a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/get-thrilled-with-the-losers/5q8qmh5?fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="Get thrilled with 'The Losers'">Video: Get thrilled with &#8216;The Losers&#8217;</a>

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Sprint presents: An Evening Benefiting the American Film Institute (Monday, May 17, 2010).

The “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time“, Hollywood premiere is at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and A Cinematic Celebration of Jerry Bruckheimer is at the Mann Chinese 6 and El Capitan Theatre. Featured movies include: “Armageddon”, “National Treasure“, “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” and “Top Gun”. Each screening will be introduced by an actor or filmmaker from the movie.

Tickets are on sale to AFI members on April 22 and April 23 for the general public.

To become an AFI member click here.

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Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence star in Deat at a Funeral

Three years ago, a darkly funny British comedy called Death At A Funeral crept into Los Angeles. It went virtually unnoticed – but not by comic Chris Rock.

Intrigued by the title, he went to see this bizarre frolic about the death of a family patriarch and the chaos that ensues on the day of his funeral.

“I saw it at an art house,” Rock remembers. “I saw it at a little theatre with, like, 10 people. To me, I said: ‘This is like a pop movie. Why is it playing at a little art house?’ Me and the other 10 people were laughing our asses off. It was amazing.”

That day, the seed was planted for transporting this gruesomely funny English comedy of manners to Pasadena, Calif., and for hiring an A-list black cast (Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, Danny Glover, Zoe Saldana) as well as such leading white actors as Luke Wilson, James Marsden and the diminutive Peter Dinklage to rework the property for North American audiences.

This must be one of the quickest remakes in history. A movie released in 2007 gets a new version only three years later. But Rock, who is a producer and an uncredited scriptwriter on the film opening Friday, saw no need to wait. Neither did Clinton Culpepper, the canny boss of Screen Gems, the Sony division with a track record for scoring big box-office returns out of low-budget projects.

“I just thought the jokes would work in America,” Rock told a news conference Sunday. He also saw the potential for a great ensemble piece. “We’re not doing a lot of one-guy comedy right now. A lot of things are collaborations . . . Date Night . . . The Hangover. So I thought the fact that it had a lot of funny parts was perfect for me, knowing I wouldn’t have to carry the whole movie, and also perfect as something the studio would really be into. So I thought it would work that way.”

Britain’s Dean Craig, who wrote the screenplay for the original film, retains the formal writer’s credits on the new one, although Rock and Aleysha Carr (Everybody Hates Chris) adapted his script. In giving his blessing to the remake, Screen Gems’ Culpepper insisted that one line of dialogue be pivotal.

It’s the one that Rock, in the role of the deceased’s beleaguered son, delivers to Martin Lawrence, who plays his brother, an acclaimed and somewhat pompous novelist obsessed with his racial heritage. The speech goes this way: “Let me get this straight: Our father was romantically involved with a guy that could fit in his pocket, and you’re mad that he was white?”

Both Culpepper and Rock say this hilarious line defines the cheeky essence of Death At A Funeral, a comedy that revels in busting taboos. It seems the deceased parent, a pillar of Pasadena’s black community, had a secret life – a gay relationship with a white dwarf (Peter Dinklage, re-enacting the same role he played in the British version) who has shown up for the funeral demanding his share of the inheritance.

The very memory of this speech starts Rock laughing again as he chats with reporters. But he’s right – the line provides as good an explanation as any for the fact that the Motion Picture Association of America has slammed an R rating on it in the United States.

Making fun of death and mourning and embalmed corpses tumbling out of caskets is only the beginning when it comes to spoofing the ritual of the funeral, and baring emotional travails run rampant. The MPAA censors also had to pass judgment on the scenes where James Martin, a future white in-law, gets high on a hallucinogenic drug and spends most of the movie naked. Or a scatological sequence in which Tracy Morgan finds himself in the firing line of Danny Glover’s bowel movements.

But Rock turns out to be unhappy with that Restricted rating. Would you believe that he sees Death At A Funeral as family entertainment?

“I think we’ve made an American family comedy – despite the R (rating), a movie you can see with your whole family. It’s a movie for absolutely everybody; that’s what I think. It’s got a big great cast – black, white. All the black people that aren’t in a Tyler Perry movie right now, are in this movie. If you like it, please spread the word.”

Rock clearly doesn’t want Death At A Funeral to be ghettoized and perceived as a film for black audiences. He points to its white cast members and to the fact that the film takes interracial relationships for granted, and to the hiring of a white director in Neil LaBute, a controversial filmmaker whose early successes (In the Company of Men, Your Friends & Neighbors) triggered attacks from feminist groups.

In fact, he doesn’t much like being tagged as a black comedian these days.

“Is there ‘black’ comedy?” he asks. “There’s comedy that ‘black’ people do – and, to me, it’s all just comedy, to tell you the truth. There’s Richard (Pryor)and Eddie (Murphy)and (Bill)Cosby . . . I consider myself in the same line, but I’m also the descendant of George Carlin and Rodney Dangerfield and all those guys. So I just mix it up. When I was a kid, we didn’t think that Rodney Dangerfield was a funny white guy. We just thought he was a funny guy.”

But there’s also pride in the impact of black comedians on a wider culture – an impact not always fully acknowledged. He cites himself and co-stars Martin Lawrence and Tracy Morgan.

“Me, Martin and Tracy – can you name three white comedians that more white people would come and see? If I said no black people could come and see me next week in L.A., I would still sell more tickets. So I just consider myself a comedian. . . . You know what I mean? I’ve seen Martin Lawrence play for thousands and thousands of white people.”

These days, Rock’s own world embraces far more than standup. Last year, Good Hair, his fascinating documentary about the African-American hair industry won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. His first book, Rock This, made the New York Times bestseller list. And currently, he’s involved in another remake – this time, rewriting Kurosawa’s Japanese classic, High And Low, for director Mike Nichols.

He has submerged himself in every aspect of the filmmaking process, and has reached some firm conclusions about both the hazards and rewards of doing remakes.

“When you know that a movie’s ending works, your life’s so much easier. . . . I’ve remade a few movies, and they all have one thing in common: great endings. . . . If you haven’t a great ending, don’t remake the movie.”

Still, speaking of funerals, how would Rock like his own to play out?

“I’d want all the living presidents there. I’d want them all to be in shorts, too . . . with the Stanley Cup somewhere around . . . . Jay-Z to rap the eulogy.”

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

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Release date: Friday August 13, 2010
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Director: Edgar Wright
Studio: Universal Pictures
Screenplay: Michael Bacall, Edgar Wright
Producer(s): Eric Gitter, Edgar Wright, Marc Platt, Nira Park
Cast: Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Satya Bhabha, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Alison Pill, Aubrey Plaza, Brandon Routh, Johnny Simmons, Mark Webber, Mae Whitman, Ellen Wong
Official Site: scottpilgrimthemovie.com
Rating: Not yet rated
Available film art: Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World movie posters

Synopsis
Based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Oni Press comic book of the same name, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World follows the eponymous slacker rocker on his colorful quest to defeat his dream girl’s seven evil ex-boyfriends. Twenty-two year old Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) may not have a job, but rocking the bass for his band Sex Bob-omb is a tough job unto itself. When Scott locks eyes with Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), he knows she’s the girl he wants to grow old with. But Ramona has some serious baggage; her supercharged exes rue the thought of her being with another man, and they’ll crush any guy who gives her a second glance. Now, in order to win Ramona’s heart, Scott will do battle with everyone from vegan-powered rock gods to sinister skateboarders, never losing sight of his gorgeous goal as he pummels his way to victory. Shaun of the Dead’s Edgar Wright directs from a script he penned with Michael Bacall. Superhero veterans Chris Evans and Brandon Routh co-star in the action comedy as two of the seven ex-boyfriends.

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Release date: Friday July 30, 2010
Genre: Comedy, Action, Adventure, Family
Director: Brad Peyton
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Screenplay: Ron J. Friedman, Steve Bencich
Producer(s): Andrew Lazar, Polly Cohen
Cast: Chris O’Donnell, Paul Rodriguez, Christina Applegate, James Marsden, Leslie Mann, Ray Liotta, Katt Williams, Neil Patrick Harris, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Clarke Duncan, Roger Moore
Official Site: catsanddogsmovie.warnerbros.com
Rating: Not yet rated
Available film art: Cats and Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore original movie posters

Synopsis
The epic struggle for control of planet Earth continues in this sequel to the 2001 comedy that had pet owners all across the world looking at their house pets in a whole new light. Chris O’Donnell and 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer head up the cast of the production, with scripting duties being handled by Brother Bear’s Ron J. Friedman and Steve Bencich.

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Ben Stiller in Greenberg

Few in Hollywood can perform with consistency on both sides of the camera the way Ben Stiller can.

If Zoolander didn’t establish that, Tropic Thunder certainly confirmed Stiller’s dual talent, underscored by Robert Downey Jr.’s supporting-actor Oscar nomination for his obsessed Tropic Thunder thespian.

Besides being multi-faceted, the 44-year-old is also bankable, which is another rare commodity. Stiller movies have earned more than $1.5 billion US world wide.

That includes the aforementioned Tropic Thunder, and a few studio comedy franchises, most notably, the Meet the Parents series and Night at the Museum flicks.

From time to time, Stiller wades into the more tempered humour pool to challenge himself in emoting territory removed from his more exaggerated comedy comfort zone.

That would be the case in Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg, which opened in select theatres last Friday.

In the movie, Stiller plays the title character, a neurotic New York underachiever who suffers a breakdown. After treatment, he hangs out at this brother’s L.A. home, ostensibly house-sitting while the family goes on an exotic vacation.

After boredom sets in, Greenberg tries to re-connect with some old rock ‘n’ roll band mates, including Ivan (Rhys Ifans), who seems to have as many issues as his former sidekick.As they struggle with their past and their presents together, Greenberg develops a new relationship with his brother’s just-out-of-college assistant (Greta Gerwig), who seems to be almost as lost as Greenberg.

To tell you that Baumbach (who co-wrote Greenberg with wife Jennifer Jason Leigh) previously put together Kicking and Screaming, The Squid and The Whale, and Margot at the Wedding, is to explain Greenberg, the movie.

It falls somewhere into that milieu, mixing comedy with drama as awkwardly as the characters deal with their individual shortcomings. And that was exactly the challenge Stiller decided he needed.

“I really love Noah’s movies, and would have done anything he sent over to me,” says Stiller. “He had written such a layered character and movie, and it was intriguing, and not the kind of material I get that often.”

Originally, Baumbach had written the part for a younger actor, but re-wrote the role when Stiller showed interest in it.

With the screenplay adjustment, the actor embraced his Greenberg persona as defined by Baumbach’s re-modelling. So Stiller jumped in with both feet, defining a cynic who’s apathetic and doesn’t care.

“Greenberg’s trying to get through life, because things haven’t really worked out the way he wanted them to,” notes Stiller.

Opportunities have passed him by, as the film so deftly underscores, “but he tries to rationalize his lack of momentum” with sarcasm and a temper. “He’s probably too smart for his own good,” agrees Stiller.

“But everybody struggles with their own sense of themselves,” he adds. “Playing this guy gave me a real appreciation for what I have, because it’s very easy to focus on what you don’t have.”

Still, he says he’s fortunate his director is just plain “articulate” in showing specific details of all the characters.

“It’s really interesting how people react to Greenberg,” reports Stiller. “All the reactions seem to be very visceral; audiences are moved by it or it makes them uncomfortable.”

He’s also thrilled to work with the dog in Greenberg, who had previously played Delgado in Beverly Hills Chihuahua. “I was familiar with his work, because I have kids,” he says. “So there was a respect.”

Next up for Stiller is a return to the mainstream with Meet the Little Fockers, which opens next Christmas. In it, Stiller’s frazzled husband copes, ironically, with kids.

“It was great to re-connect with Robert De Niro,” the actor says. “It’s always exciting to be around him. He understands his persona, and has an amazing sense of humour.”

Meanwhile, Stiller is in the early stages of developing a sequel to Zoolander as writer and director. “We are working on a script right now, so the idea is to have something to shoot next year,” Stiller says.

And, of course, after Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian earned a whopping $413 million US worldwide last spring, another Night seems inevitable.

Another Tropic Thunder flick doesn’t seem so likely, however.

“I don’t think so,” he says. “That was a one-off thing that took us nine years from beginning to end.”

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

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Release date: Friday April 30, 2010
Genre: Horror
Director: Samuel Bayer
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Screenplay: Wesley Strick, Eric Heisserer
Producer(s): Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller
Cast: Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, Rooney Mara, Kellan Lutz, Clancy Brown, Connie Britton
Official Site: nightmareonelmstreet.com
Rating: Not yet rated
Available film art: A Nightmare on Elm Street movie posters

Synopsis
Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema has hired veteran screenwriter Wesley Strick to pen the relaunch of the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” series.

The original “Nightmare” was written and directed by Wes Craven and released in 1984. The new project will keep the high school setting and delve deeper in the psychology of nightmares and Freddy Krueger himself.

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