Year One, the upcoming comedy produced by Judd Apatow and directed by Harold Ramis, has been referred to as a “biblical comedy” in various reports, but there has been some debate over how accurate that label really is — especially since none of the characters mentioned to date have had any direct biblical parallels. For a while, it was seeming like the film’s theme and setting might be more “ancient” than anything else. But now … the Hollywood Reporter says... Read more

What, oh what, did I ever do to deserve a child who rushes to turn off the DVD player while the end credits are still rolling? I first noticed this problem a few days ago. My eldest son used to hop with joy when the VeggieTales video came to its end and some techno-mix thingy began playing over the closing credits. But a few days ago, when the end credits began, my boy didn’t have time to start his usual... Read more

People reports that Benedict Fitzgerald, co-writer of The Passion of the Christ (2004), is suing writer-director Mel Gibson for $5 million: In the 21-page complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Benedict Fitzgerald accuses Gibson of fraud, breach of contract and unfair business practices. “Gibson preyed monetarily on Ben, taking advantage of his unbridled enthusiasm for the project and with full cognizance of Ben’s fundamental personal and spiritual beliefs,” the lawsuit says. Fitzgerald claims Gibson, who also takes a... Read more

New Line Cinema famously settled its legal dispute with The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson late last year. But as far as I can tell, the lawsuit filed by Saul Zaentz, who owns the film rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy, is still a going concern. And now, the Associated Press reports that the studio is facing yet another lawsuit — this time, from the Tolkien estate, the HarperCollins publishing company, and possibly others: The plaintiffs seek more than... 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. Rambo — CDN $4,090,000 — N.AM $36,876,490 — 11.1%27 Dresses — CDN $6,570,000 — N.AM $65,078,461 — 10.1%Untraceable — CDN $2,240,000 — N.AM $24,320,956 — 9.2%Juno — CDN $10,710,000 — N.AM $117,506,107 — 9.1%The Bucket List — CDN $6,350,000 — N.AM $74,995,446 — 8.5%Cloverfield — CDN $6,330,000 — N.AM $76,040,905... Read more

Four months ago, I passed along a news story to the effect that the French studio Gaumont was making a 3-D animated film about Noah’s Ark called Rock the Boat. Today, Variety reports that the studio wasn’t actually committed to the 3-D aspect of the film until this past week — but now that they have committed to it, they think this could have ramifications all across Europe: In a groundbreaking decision on one of Europe’s flagship productions, Gaumont announced... Read more

Oh my. I knew I loved Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days when I saw it at the local film festival four months ago, and I knew I really regretted not being able to see it a second time before writing my second, longer review of the film last month for CT Movies. But now Victor Morton has seen it a second time and posted two new appraisals of it at his Rightwing Film Geek blog, and... Read more

The other day, Jim Hill complained that far too many Disney DVDs feature interviews with Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, the two guys who composed the bulk of the music for Mary Poppins (1964), The Jungle Book (1967), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) and several other Disney projects, as well as the non-Disney films Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Charlotte’s Web (1973). In his write-up on the brand new “special edition” of The Aristocats... Read more

My kids still don’t talk much when they happen to be watching TV, but these are the words my bright-eyed daughter said today on seeing the image below, at the start of the Wallace & Gromit cartoon A Close Shave (1995). I wonder to what degree she made that association, between those words and this image, because she recognized which episode this was, and to what degree she made that association because she recognized the sheep silhouettes themselves. Or perhaps... Read more