The Hollywood Reporter says Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson has joined the cast of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles as “Catherine Weaver, the CEO of a cutting-edge high-tech company.” As one who counts ‘Only Happy When It Rains‘ among his favorite rain-themed songs of all time — and yes, I do have a list — I just had to post this news, along with this photo from Garbage’s music video for the theme song to The World Is Not Enough... Read more

I actually kind of like it when DVDs go right into the movie; it beats sitting through ads and FBI warnings, and if you really want the menu screen, you can always get there by pressing the menu button. But apart from that minor disagreement, this is a fun little video. Click here if the video file above doesn’t play properly. (Hat tip to The Movie Blog.) Read more

I have never seen the TV show, and I wasn’t allowed into the press screening, so I doubt I will get around to seeing the Sex and the City movie — especially since I still haven’t gotten around to seeing P.S. I Love You, 27 Dresses, Made of Honor, What Happens in Vegas and various other romantic comedies that have come out in the last few months, either just before or after my son Nicholas was born and my life... Read more

In the last couple years, we have seen revivals of the Rocky (1976-1990), Indiana Jones (1981-1989), Rambo (1982-1988) and Die Hard (1988-1995) franchises … and we could even add original-series Star Trek (1979-1991) to the list, since the new film is bringing back Leonard Nimoy as Spock … so hey, why not revive Beverly Hills Cop (1984-1994), too? They were talking about it two years ago, but now, says Variety, they have a director attached … and it’s Brett Ratner.... Read more

Because, of course, this sort of thing is so important: In a May 13 review of “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” The Associated Press, relying on production notes from Walt Disney Pictures, reported that the film was an adaptation of the second book in C.S. Lewis’ series. “Prince Caspian” was chronologically the second book to be released in the series. But after more of the series was written, it became sequentially the fourth book. I especially love the way... Read more

An American colleague tells me he was told by a publicist today that there will be no advance screenings of The Happening, the first R-rated film from M. Night Shyamalan. That’s interesting, since Shyamalan’s last film, Lady in the Water (2006), had advance screenings even though it was one of the worst major releases in recent memory — and this despite excellent acting from Paul Giamatti, excellent cinematography from Christopher Doyle, and excellent music from James Newton Howard. Then again,... Read more

My children haven’t started watching any of the shows or movies yet, but they do watch me play the videogame sometimes, and I’ve got them started on the tourism, the costumes and the toys. So I can certainly hope that the day isn’t too far off when I can have a conversation with my son or daughter like the one below: Click here if the video file above doesn’t play properly. (Hat tip to TrekMovie.com.) Read more

From his latest blog post: I’m having a lot of fun. I just finished my first action scene (yes, there WILL be action scenes!), and am cracking some decent jokes. It’s hard to create jokes for Fraggles, since they have no pop culture references whatsoever. That’s probably a good thing… that means I have a better chance of creating a timeless movie (If I see one more cute iconic character ruined by “Shrekking It Up” for easy jokes, I’m going... Read more

My colleague Josh Hurst got married a few days ago and is off enjoying the perks of newly wedded bliss for the next couple of weeks, so I’m looking after his Reel News column for CT Movies until he gets back. Today’s column looks at some of the latest developments with regard to The Hobbit, including last Saturday’s online chat with producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo Del Toro, as well as the Times of London‘s recent report that Christopher... Read more

Two months ago, I mentioned that Hal Holbrook had been cast as Charles Templeton in Billy: The Early Years, a new biopic about Billy Graham — and, since Holbrook is in his 80s, I wondered whether this story might be told from the point of view of the older Templeton, who had lost his faith in his 40s and published a book about his loss of faith when he was 80. Turns out I was right — though Holbrook has... Read more