Joe Leydon at MovingPictureBlog notes that Meet the Spartans, which opens this Friday, is not being screened for critics. That’s hardly a surprise, since the people who made this movie also made Epic Movie (2007) and Date Movie (2006), both of which were also released without being screened for critics first. Meanwhile, in a shocking turn of events, Lionsgate has announced that there will be press screenings for Rambo … tomorrow! This film, too, opens on Friday, so that’s pretty... Read more

The Academy has spoken, and since everyone and his dog will be offering opinions on the nominees announced this morning, I won’t say all that much about them here myself. However, I will say that I am disappointed to see Zodiac shut out of all the categories. And that this really does seem to be a race between No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, because those are the only two films nominated for Best Picture and... Read more

Chris Pine, who is currently playing the young James T. Kirk in J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trek movie, was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly while promoting another movie at Sundance this week — and although he told them he would reveal “not a thing” about Star Trek, he did let slip this one little potentially spoilerish tidbit, which would seem to confirm certain rumours about the new film: “I’ve met Mr. Nimoy a couple of times. He’s been on set and... Read more

I have never been a big Marvel fan — back in my comic collecting heyday, 12+ years ago, I was more of a DC guy — but news like this makes me wish I were. (Hat tip to Thom Wade at In One Ear…) 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. P.S. I Love You — CDN $5,880,000 — N.AM $50,461,000 — 11.7%Atonement — CDN $2,940,000 — N.AM $31,884,000 — 9.2%Juno — CDN $6,740,000 — N.AM $85,052,000 — 7.9%I Am Legend — CDN $19,510,000 — N.AM $247,447,000 — 7.9%The Bucket List — CDN $3,260,000 — N.AM $41,569,000 — 7.8%27 Dresses —... Read more

No time to comment, just passing this along. Variety reports: Oliver Stone has set his sights on his next directing project, “Bush,” a film focusing on the life and presidency of George W. Bush, and attached Josh Brolin to play the title role. The director has begun quietly shopping a script by his “Wall Street” co-writer Stanley Weiser. . . . “It’s a behind-the-scenes approach, similar to ‘Nixon,’ to give a sense of what it’s like to be in his... Read more

It’s not a very scary film, and it has its share of implausibilities — would a cell phone really work underground, in a subway station, when the city aboveground is being trashed? — but there is something about Cloverfield that really, really works. And that is the way the film makes use of its central gimmick, whereby we are supposed to believe that the entire movie unfolding before us is something that was found on a memory card or a... Read more

Got a whole lot of catching up to do! 1. All the marketing for The Dark Knight has tended to emphasize the Joker, the Joker, the Joker. But a story in the Los Angeles Times suggests the film’s real focus may be elsewhere: HEATH LEDGER and Aaron Eckhart, welcome to Hollywood’s elite and gaudy Arkham club. In the highly anticipated new Batman film “The Dark Knight,” which opens July 18, Ledger is stepping into the purple suit of the Joker,... Read more

Judith Timson of the Globe and Mail is bothered by the latent pro-life elements in recent films like Knocked Up and Juno: But could [these movie plots] also be part of a subtle attitudinal shift against abortion that conservative thinkers like David Frum are calling for? Mr. Frum, in his new book Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again, prescribes “education and persuasion … rather than changes in law” in the continuing fight against abortion. Sounds creepy. But do these films... Read more

Kyle Smith wrote at his blog today that The Golden Compass “tanked so badly that the second and third installments are not going to be made” — but he offers no evidence for this claim, no links, and he devotes the bulk of his post to the story that the Atlantic Monthly published two months ago and director Chris Weitz’s response, which was also posted online two months ago. I’ve been waiting for news regarding New Line Cinema’s decision in... Read more