IGN.com is reporting that Matt Damon really is in talks to play “the young James T. Kirk” in Star Trek XI, even though the character is supposed to be over a decade younger in the movie than he was in the TV series, and even though Damon is already one year older than William Shatner was when he created the character. But it gets better. IGN.com also reports that Adrien Brody and Gary Sinise have been approached to play Leonard... Read more

Variety reports that Penelope Cruz attended the world premiere of The Inquiry — the Italian movie about an ancient Roman agent who investigates the resurrection of Jesus, which FoxFaith is releasing on Good Friday under the title The Final Inquiry — last Tuesday at the Los Angeles Italia Festival. Apparently one of the main characters in the film is played by Penelope’s sister Mónica. But wait a minute, didn’t this film have its world premiere at the Capri Hollywood Film... Read more

I’ve been away from the computer for at least 40 hours, so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. In the meantime, I just want to note two comments on Amazing Grace, a film which was #10 in “North America” this past weekend, though it does not come to Canada for almost four weeks. First, Beliefnet’s Charlotte Allen writes at OpinionJournal.com: It is rare that a Hollywood film takes up a subject like William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the British... 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. Ma Fille, Mon Ange — CDN $1,066,964 — N.AM $1,066,964 — 100%Pan’s Labyrinth — CDN $4,545,411 — N.AM $32,295,000 — 14.1%The Number 23 — CDN $1,579,809 — N.AM $15,107,000 — 10.5%Music and Lyrics — CDN $2,547,527 — N.AM $32,063,000 — 7.9%Because I Said So — CDN $2,968,991 — N.AM $38,376,000... Read more

The Hollywood Reporter reports that J.J. Abrams has finally signed on to direct Star Trek XI — he was always going to produce it, but until tonight he had not committed to direct it. The paper adds that the film will revolve “around a young James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, chronicling their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and their first space mission.” I don’t know if I buy this. The Memory Alpha entries for Kirk and Spock seem to... Read more

My interview with Katherine Paterson, author of Bridge to Terabithia, was cited again yesterday — this time in an excellent article by Emily Bazelon at Slate.com on how both the book and the film treat mortality, denial, anger, and related themes. And while I like the film overall, I do agree that it “nearly wrecks” the final scene “by bursting into Disney fantasy” — a point that I considered making myself, in my review, but you never know just how... Read more

Now that Warner Brothers has tossed out the Joss Whedon version of Wonder Woman and the David Goyer version of The Flash, both of which had been in development for about two years, Variety reports that Warner has commissioned a screenplay for The Justice League of America. No doubt the studio is impressed by the success that Fox and Marvel have been having with the X-Men (2000-2006) and Fantastic Four (2005-2007) ensembles. It remains to be seen what, if any,... Read more

RC at Strange Culture says the Oscar nominations should not be based on which films did best at the box office. I agree. But that reminds me, I should probably update a post that I made here last year, which marked the first time since 1985 that not one of the Best Picture nominees grossed over $100 million either before or after their nominations, and possibly the first time ever that the winner was not one of the top 25... Read more

I will be appearing on the CBC Radio show BC Almanac this Friday — around 1:30pm PST — to talk about the Oscars. Fortunately, I have managed to see just about all the nominated feature films; the two remaining exceptions are: Curse of the Golden Flower (nominated for costume design; it has already left Vancouver) After the Wedding (nominated for foreign language film; it has not come to Vancouver yet) I have also seen three of the five nominated animated... Read more

The New York Times ran a story yesterday on the misleading ad campaign for Disney and Walden Media’s new version of Bridge to Terabithia — and along the way, they cite my interview with Katherine Paterson, though without quoting the exact words: The reviews are in for “Bridge to Terabithia,” a new children’s film from Walt Disney and Walden Media: loved the movie, hated the trailer. . . . Advertising campaigns for movies present a carefully edited, and often misleading,... Read more