I have not yet seen Grindhouse — the upcoming double-bill by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez — but tonight I bumped into someone who caught it on the recent press junket, and he tells me that all versions of this film shown everywhere in the world will begin with one of the “Restricted” trailers, featuring the cougar shown above, that were created in British Columbia during the 1970s or 1980s. Awesome. (Click here to see four trailers that were created... Read more

The cover art for the British and American editions of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been revealed! Personally, I would like to know why, in the American cover, Harry and Voldemort are not facing each other but, instead, are looking at something else. (Hat tip to ComingSoon.net, among others.) Read more

The theatrical release of Evan Almighty, the sequel to Bruce Almighty (2003), is less than three months away, now. The new trailer will debut tomorrow night during a marathon of The Office, the TV series that stars Evan Almighty‘s Steve Carell. Meanwhile, today, Cinematical put up this new poster for the film. I guess it’s about time I started brushing up on my Noah’s Ark movies. Read more

IESB.net reports that various movie studios, emboldened by the success of 300, are vying for the film rights to another graphic novel about an ancient battle of epic, even mythical, proportions, by the name of War in Heaven — which, alas, seems to have no connection to the Charles Williams novel of that name: Trac 2 Media, is developing a feature film adaptation of the forthcoming comic book series “War in Heaven.” The project has been dubbed “the next 300.”... Read more

Since the first DVD version of The Nativity Story has no bonus features to speak of, and since we will have to wait several months for the two-disc version, I got together with one of my priests a few nights ago to record an audio commentary of our own. You can download all 96.4 megabytes of it by right-clicking here. I have wanted to record a commentary for a long, long time, and I am still working out some of... Read more

Just time for a few items that came up today; no time yet to catch up on the various other items that have come up lately. 1. The first footage from The Golden Compass is now available here, and it looks pretty good. Indeed, I am excited. And I am also distraught, because I know where this story is leading. 2. The Associated Press picks up on the news that Disney may or may not release Song of the South... Read more

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest. Shooter — CDN $1,559,422 — N.AM $14,501,000 — 10.8%300 — CDN $17,297,757 — N.AM $162,354,000 — 10.7%Premonition — CDN $3,312,905 — N.AM $32,191,000 — 10.3%Reign over Me — CDN $820,695 — N.AM $8,000,000 — 10.3%Bridge to Terabithia — CDN $7,671,339 — N.AM $78,881,000 — 9.7%Dead Silence — CDN $1,126,393 —... Read more

Shooter is one of those action movies that is so cynical about the state of the world, it leaves you feeling dirty on your way out of the theatre. The film makes a number of very explicit references to the Iraq War and issues related thereto, and it is not too hard to suppose that director Antoine Fuqua is essentially apologizing for his earlier film Tears of the Sun (2003), which came out at the beginning of the Iraq War... Read more

My review of Pride is now up at CT Movies, as is my review of The Last Mimzy. Read more

Amazing Grace opens in Canada tomorrow, so today the Globe and Mail ran an interview with director Michael Apted: Slim and handsome at 66, Apted is testy about many things, in a game and charming way. He doesn’t like Toronto’s weather. Born in working-class London, he long ago abandoned the cold for California, where he currently heads the Directors Guild of America. In his DGA role, he’s annoyed by runaway Canadian film productions. He’s even more annoyed by U.S. and... Read more