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Review: Despite All Its Little Foibles, 'X-Men: First Class' Is Near First Rate

  • By Drew Taylor
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  • June 1, 2011 3:30 AM
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  • 12 Comments
While a titled cross has been key in "X-Men: First Class" iconography (as well as a huge part of its incessant and not-entirely-original marketing campaign), suggesting that "X" indeed does mark the spot, the symbol most associated with the highly anticipated sequel/prequel/reboot/whatever-the-fuck-it-is is a question mark. Things have been leaning to and fro in the buildup to the movie's release, with pros and cons both flying wildly. Its unequaled cast (including a mix of veterans and up-and-comers including Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Kevin Bacon, January Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and more) was balanced out by reports of an insanely hectic and rushed shooting schedule (ten months to get through production and post-production) and the unvarnished interviews with director Matthew Vaughn, who claimed to have worked with five different cinematographers and was largely unaware of who the crew was on any particular day.
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More: Films, Review, Super Hero Films, X-Men: First Class

Great Things Come in Pairs: 'Yogi Bear 2' Announced

  • By Sam Price
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  • June 1, 2011 2:20 AM
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  • 3 Comments
Whatever he gets up to in his spare time – shilling "Ghostbusters 3" and its bizarre array of potential female leads like a crazed beggar man, contemplating selling his organs on Amazon Marketplace, downing a glass of whiskey and sleeping pills whenever a re-run of “Spies Like Us” hits the airwaves – Dan Aykroyd can take solace in the news that at least “Yogi Bear 2” is becoming a reality. While many were decrying last year’s original as a prelude to nuclear holocaust, the film itself managed to net over $200 million worldwide and hence Coming Soon reports that humanity is getting treated to take another suckle on the smoky teat of Yogi. Let this be a lesson to exhausted parents with diminished expectations everywhere.
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More: Films, Actresses, Animated Films, Yogi Bear

Now The First Look At The NSFW International 'The Girl With Dragon Tattoo' Poster Leaks

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • June 1, 2011 2:04 AM
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  • 19 Comments
Update: /Film have gotten their hands on the French poster for the film which has a ludicrously lengthy website address. Check it out below.
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More: Films, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Ray Winstone & Gillian Anderson To Star In Sexed-Up 'Great Expectations' For Brit TV

  • By Sam Price
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  • June 1, 2011 1:51 AM
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  • 0 Comments
A zeitgeisty role like Agent Dana Scully may cast a long shadow, but Gillian Anderson seems determined not to have the first line of her obituary read “that redheaded gal off 'The X-Files.'" Lurching in recent years between respectable British TV costume dramas and mirthless crime fare (“Straightheads” won’t be one to tell the grandkids about), Anderson is now in talks to take the most iconic role in a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel “Great Expectations” as Miss Haversham, alongside eternal Cockney bruiser Ray Winstone as the novel's duplicitous Magwitch. Like everything else nowadays, though, don’t expect this to be your mother’s rainy Sunday afternoon "Great Expectations". Oh no, The Daily Mail reports that this three-part miniseries threatens to be “sexually charged”.
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More: Films, Actors, Actresses, Film Studios, Great Expectations, Ray Winstone, Gillian Anderson, BBC

James Gray & Joaquin Phoenix Reteam For 'Low Life'; Marion Cotillard & Jeremy Renner To Co-Star

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • June 1, 2011 1:41 AM
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  • 12 Comments
Teaming up on three films -- "The Yards," "We Own The Night" and "Two Lovers" -- there hasn't been any director/actor pairing in recent American cinema as rewarding as that between James Gray and Joaquin Phoenix. However, circa the actor's stunt during the press rounds for "Two Lovers" where he grew a Will Oldham-esque beard and declared he was starting a rap career, many wondered if that relationship was over. And despite what reports may have surfaced, Gray wasn't worried, saying as early as February 2009 that he was confident he would work with Phoenix again. Then in September of last year, it was revealed that he was in on the joke from the beginning. So the joke is over, Joaquin Phoenix needs to get back to work and the duo are pairing up for their fourth film. And they've got some fantastic talent to help them out.
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More: Films, Actors, Actresses, James Gray, The Immigrant, Jeremy Renner, Joaquin Phoenix, Marion Cotillard

Sam Waterston Heads Back To TV For Aaron Sorkin's HBO Pilot

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • June 1, 2011 1:34 AM
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  • 2 Comments
They say there's no such thing as a job for life these days, but the cast of NBC's long-running procedural "Law & Order" must have thought they had the closest thing to one until the show was canceled last year, on the verge of its 20th season. But rather than slipping quietly away into retirement, 70-year-old Sam Waterston, who played District Attorney Jack McCoy on the show for a whopping sixteen years, across 368 episodes, has just booked a new gig, and he couldn't have asked for one with a better pedigree.
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More: Actors, Actresses, TV Networks, Greg Mottola, Jeff Daniels, Sam Waterston, Alison Pill, Olivia Munn, Emily Mortimer, Aaron Sorkin

Exclusive: Swedish Actress Lena Endre Joins Paul Thomas Anderson's 'The Master'

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • June 1, 2011 1:14 AM
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  • 0 Comments
With filming to set to begin soon, casting continues on Paul Thomas Anderson's highly anticipated untitled religious film aka "The Master." Just yesterday a trio of thesps -- Jesse Plemons, David Warshofsky and Laura Dern -- came aboard the film and now another name previously linked to the project has come aboard as well.
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More: Films, Actresses, Untitled Scientology Project, Lena Endre

'Fright Night' & 'Buffy' Scribe Marti Noxon To Rewrite 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • June 1, 2011 1:03 AM
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  • 0 Comments
For a pitch so simple (Jane Austen + The Undead = bidding war!), the adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" has had some problems actually getting made. Originally set to team Natalie Portman and "The Fighter" writer-director David O. Russell, both talent jumped ship, thanks to, respectively, pregnancy and a career resurgence, and backers Lionsgate have subsequently gone through half of Hollywood trying to get the film on screen: Mike White was briefly going to direct, and names from Scarlett Johannson, Bradley Cooper and Tilda Swinton to David Slade, Mike Newell and Christopher Smith were all mentioned as possibilities for some kind of involvement at various points.
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More: Films, Craig Gillespie, Pride And Prejudice And Zombies

Watch: Trailer For 'Spy Kids: All The Time In The World' Debuts In 4D, Or Something

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • May 31, 2011 12:56 PM
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  • 3 Comments
You can't say that Robert Rodriguez wasn't ahead of the curve when it came to the current 3D fad/revolution. The technology might have been primitive compared to what's being used these days, but 2003's "Spy Kids 3D: Game Over" was the first wide 3D release in literally decades, predating the work of better known advocates in the field like James Cameron and Robert Zemeckis, and, for better or worse, paving the way for the current glut of stereoscopic releases.
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More: Films, Actors, Actresses, Robert Rodriguez, Genre Films, Joel McHale, Jeremy Piven, Ricky Gervais, Jessica Alba, Spy Kids 4

Jim James Originally Hired To Write Music For 'The Muppets,' Songs On New My Morning Jacket Album

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • May 31, 2011 10:54 AM
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  • 2 Comments
Thanks to the two recent teaser trailers "The Muppets" looks like a total blast, capturing the vibe that made us giddy for the felt covered co-stars back when we were in short pants. The film features an all star cast (Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Rashida Jones, Chris Cooper with cameos from Emily Blunt, Ricky Gervais, Alan Arkin, Jack Black, Billy Crystal, Zach Galifianakis and more) and will be tuned up by “Flight of the Conchords” star Bret McKenzie. But it wasn't always that way. With My Morning Jacket's new album "Circuital" hitting stores today, frontman Jim James has been doing the press rounds revealing that at one time he was on track write songs for the upcoming movie, but that you can hear some of his efforts on the band's latest long player.
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More: Films, Musicians, The Muppets, My Morning Jacket, Jim James

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