An interview with Frank Yablans and Cindy Bond, producers of the new CGI version of The Ten Commandments that is opening in theatres later this week, is now up at CT Movies. (I didn’t speak to them myself, but I helped edit the piece.) They talk about their plans for the projected 12-part series Epic Stories of the Bible and reveal a few details about Noah’s Ark: The New Beginning, the next film in the series, which is already in... Read more

Remember that rumour about Karl Urban — co-star of The Lord of the Rings, Pathfinder, Doom and The Bourne Supremacy — being in talks for the new Star Trek movie? Today IGN.com reports that he is being pursued for the part of Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy; whether he gets the role will apparently depend on his schedule. Urban is 35; DeForest Kelley was 46 when he created the role. 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. Across the Universe — CDN $1,840,000 — N.AM $12,909,000 — 14.3%Elizabeth: The Golden Age — CDN $708,992 — N.AM $6,183,000 — 11.5%We Own the Night — CDN $1,130,000 — N.AM $11,000,000 — 10.3%The Kingdom — CDN $3,920,000 — N.AM $39,954,000 — 9.8%Good Luck Chuck — CDN $3,180,000 — N.AM $32,756,000... Read more

If you’re offending people on both sides of any given issue, does it necessarily follow that you must be doing something right? It was completely unsurprising when Bill Donohue of the Catholic League released a statement a few days ago condemning The Golden Compass. They tend to go after a lot of things. But now comes this report from the Observer, a British paper: One of the key religious themes of Philip Pullman’s award-winning series of children’s novels, His Dark... Read more

Matt Page at the Bible Films Blog has linked to my earlier post on animated Noah’s Ark movies that went into development in the last ten years — none of which have actually been produced yet — and Christopher Heard has posted a comment there noting that a full-length animated movie called El Arca, produced by the Patagonik Film Group, was released in Argentina just this past summer. Several video clips are available at YouTube, including the trailer below. I... Read more

The National Post profiles Tom Perrotta, author of Election, Little Children and The Abstinence Teacher — all of which have been made into films or, in the case of that last title, are about to be: The Abstinence Teacher is a funny two-hander about people on opposite sides of the culture war. Tim is a recently remarried soccer coach and screw-up who’s valiantly trying to correct his mistakes with the help of the Tabernacle, a church growing in power in... Read more

Just in case you haven’t seen them yet, Errol Morris — one of my favorite filmmakers — has posted some fascinating items at his New York Times blog regarding a couple of photos that were taken by Robert Fenton during the Crimean War, back in 1855. Both of these photographs depict the exact same landscape from the exact same position, but in one photo, there are cannonballs ON the road, whereas in the other photo, they are OFF the road.... Read more

In a shocking departure from previous casting announcements, the makers of the next Star Trek movie have hired an actor who is older than the actor who created the character. John Cho, of American Pie (1999-2003) and Harold and Kumar (2004-2008) fame, has been hired to play helmsman Hikaru Sulu. Cho is 35, whereas George Takei was 29 when he created the role. Read more

My review of Elizabeth: The Golden Age is now up at CT Movies. Read more