Zooey, Blagojevich, and X-Men, OH MY!

Film.com has put together a little photo gallery of one my favorite actresses/singer, Zooey Deschanel. It's kind of hard not to like her, she's just so adorable! The gallery gave me a chance to look over some of her amazing fashion choices, and some of her more questionable ones. If indie had a spokesperson, she'd probably be it.

Despite the rise of Chicago's golden boy, lately the city's been looking more corrupt than ever. Oh Rod Blagojevich... tisk tisk! Did you really think no was going to find out? Your hair can't hide all your secrets. You would have made a great host for "Lets Make a Deal."

David Denby gives his take on Revolutionary Road (btw, my review of it will be up soon!), Gran Torino, and The Class. As per usual, he makes some great points. "Winslet had played American women without straining, but this time she enunciates with laborious precision-you can see her propelling vowels and consonants like smoke rings." Denby proves again why he's one of the best critics in the biz.

And now, for a little trailer catch-up!

Ché - I can't tell you yet whether it looks epicly brilliant, or long and worn out. Benicio Del Toro in the lead seems like a perfect fit, but I'm afraid he might ultimately come off as too course. I think back on Gael Garcia Bernal, who played young Ché in The Motorcycle Diaries, and almost wish they'd brought him back to reprise the role. But I guess he doesn't look old enough to play the part. The trailer does move me to want to see the film, but they are dividing it into two parts... Not since Kill Bill has such a risk been taken. Will it pay off? The trailer makes me think, yes.

What Doesn't Kill You - Dear movie producers, please stop making movies about South Boston. Thank you.

Monsters Vs. Aliens - This looks like the best thing to come out of Dreamwork's Pixar stealing labs (sorry, that was harsh) since Shrek... oh wait, I hated Shrek. Well, in any event, this looks way better and considerably funnier. With a great cast of voices (Seth Rogen, Reese Witherspoon, Rainn WIlson, Stephen Colbert, Will Arnett, etc.) this is one animated feature that looks like it will give us what we want. For the record, I loved Shrek 2.  

Star Trek - I don't think I'm the only one who's really excited about Heroes' Sylar (aka Zachary Quinto) following in the great Leonard Nimoy's footsteps and taking up the reigns of Spock. He couldn't look more the part if he tried (even without make-up). Is it weird that I have a little bit of a crush on him? I thought so... From the trailer, the film looks like it will cover a "Star Trek: The Early Years" story line and be heavily action oriented. Not sure how Chris Pine will fair as Captain Kirk, I think Chris Evans might actually have been a better choice (did you see Sunshine?). The cast has a few other big names; Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz), Eric Bana (Troy), and John Cho (Harold and Kumar). All put together, I think they may end up with Star Trek meets Animal House. 

Nothing but the Truth - I have a hunch that Nothing but the Truth will be this year's Michael Clayton, only with less acclaim. From what I gather, Kate Beckinsale finally nabbed a role where she can actually do some real acting. Anymore of this Underworld crap and she'll end up on "Where are they now?." The story centers on a reporter who faces a possible jail sentence for outing a CIA agent and refusing to reveal her source. Vera Farminga stars as said agent and I've been hoping to see more of her since The Departed. Here's wishing you luck Kate on your foray into real film!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Considering the level of flop-dom that X-Men 3 ended up achieving, some might wonder why they even bothered making a prequel (it's not like we're dealing with Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit here...). The answer for making it, is money (did you know they're making a Sex and the City 2? God help us). Even though X-Men 3 went down as the worst in the trilogy, it still made a ton of cash, and now producers are hoping to do it again. This time though, they are focusing on a simpler story and one character. Even though the star will be Wolverine, we'll get a chance to see some new heroes and villains. Taylor Kitsch of Friday Night Lights fame will play Gambit, Ryan Reynolds will play Deadpool and Dominic Monaghan will take on Beak. We'll also get a chance to Liev Schreiber (also in Defiance) as Sabretooth, and interesting casting choice in the sense that I wouldn't have picked him but I think he could be great. The trailer is well edited, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really excited to see Riggins as Gambit, but I'm gonna head into this one with low expectations. Hopefully it will overcome them.

Fanboys - Those of the Apatow crew that aren't in Adventureland (see below), you can probably find in Fanboys. The basic plot is that a group of good friends get together to achieve the impossible; successfully break in George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. Can they do it? I don't think anyone really cares, cause with the cast of guest stars they've racked up no one will be focusing on the plot. It looks like it could have moments of comedic promise, but I think this one will probably be hit or miss, leaning towards miss.  

 

Gomorrah - Based on the tell-all book that caused it's author to go into hiding, Gomorra is a tale of Italy's mafia. Critics are already comparing it to The Godfather but I don't know if I'd go that far based on what I've seen. I think this is one of those movies that most people won't get a chance to see, but may just end up blowing those that do away (literally).

Adventureland - Superbad director, Greg Mottola, returns with Apatow cast in tow to bring us Adventureland. But this time, he wrote the movie himself, perhaps based on his own experiences spending a summer working at an amusement park... The story takes place in 1987, when a motley crew, run by two off-their-rocker bosses (Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig), find ways to slack on the job. It looks pretty predictable, and I'm sure it won't be the next Superbad (it's too soon for that anyway), but with Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr, Jesse Eisenberg, Hader and Wiig, it may make us laugh so hard we don't care. Here's hoping it's better than the trailer lets on. Oh, and Kristin Stewart returns to play the pretty intellectual girl once again.

Terminator Salvation - CHRISTIAN BALE! Man I love this guy, he can do anything! He can play a newsboy who bursts into song, a piano playing victorian in love with a tomboy, an anorexic machinist, even Batman! But, can he play John Connor? The answer is, of course he can. In fact a simple "duh" would probably suffice. In the fourth, and hopefully last, installment of the Terminator saga, John is still fighting that damn Skynet and trying to figure out who to trust. In the trailer, you can hear Bale's Batman voice kick in as his says "I don't know if we can win this war." Please let the answer be yes, and give us the Star Wars ending we so desperately need. They killed his mother and his father, and now it's time for John to finally have something go his way. CGI looks promising as do the performances (at least by action flic standards).

9 - Brought to you by creep king Tim Burton, but directed and written by newcomer Shane Acker, 9  looks like an animated cross between Corpse Bride and this year's Coraline. Even though I adore Tim Burton and his zany world, this does not look very promising so far. But, watch the trailer and maybe you'll find something in it I didn't.  

That's all for now. I'm still working on my t.v. segment and my Revolutionary Road review will be up soon. I hope everyone's Christmas shopping is coming to a end!