Twelve days ago, it was announced that 30-year-old Zachary Quinto will play Spock in the new Star Trek movie. The role was created, of course, by Leonard Nimoy, who was 35 when the series began in 1966 — though he had played the role a couple years earlier, too, in the long-shelved first pilot ‘The Cage‘. Now, Ain’t It Cool News claims to have the casting breakdowns for some of the movie’s other characters — including their ages: James Kirk... 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. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — CDN $27,790,000 — N.AM $261,027,397 — 10.6%The Simpsons Movie — CDN $12,410,000 — N.AM $128,060,578 — 9.7%Hairspray — CDN $7,380,000 — N.AM $78,854,798 — 9.4%Transformers — CDN $26,340,000 — N.AM $296,379,328 — 8.9%I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry — CDN... Read more

John Podhoretz of the New York Post was roundly denounced this week when he dismissed Ingmar Bergman, who died on Monday, as an over-rated figure from the past whose “day had passed”. Victor Morton at the Rightwing Film Geek blog called Podhoretz an unproductive “twit”, Gary Susman at Entertainment Weekly‘s PopWatch Blog called Podhoretz a “spectacular . . . philistine”, and Glenn Kenny at Premiere.com wondered if Podhoretz had any actual pro-Bergman critics in mind when he belittled the Bergman... Read more

Bit late with this one, but anyhoo. As of Friday morning, I believe there were something like 14 reviews of Bratz: The Movie up at RottenTomatoes.com — there are now 46 — so evidently some critics saw this film in time to write it up. But here in Vancouver, the only press or preview screening was on Thursday night — and as we all know, night-before screenings “don’t count”. So this film gets an honourable mention in the “not screened... Read more

Yahoo! Movies and the official website for The Golden Compass have both posted the extended preview reel that played at Comic-Con recently. The actors look great, the visual effects look great, the music sounds great, and darn it, I find it all rather moving. If this were any other film, I would be very much looking forward to watching it. (Scratch that: I am very much looking forward to watching it.) But, alas, all the excellence on display is tainted... Read more

Here are the first two sentences from John Anderson’s review of Daddy Day Camp for Variety magazine: Some former child stars have been known to overdose on drugs, get busted for carrying guns, pose nude for Playboy and appear on late-night infomercials. Fred Savage has directed “Daddy Day Camp.” So, um, comparatively speaking, that’s a good thing, right…? Read more

My review of The Bourne Ultimatum is now up at CT Movies. One angle I don’t pursue in this review is the comparison or contrast that some have made between Jason Bourne and James Bond. Matt Damon himself told the Associated Press: Bond is “an imperialist and he’s a misogynist. He kills people and laughs and sips martinis and wisecracks about it,” Damon, 36, told The Associated Press in an interview. . . . “Bourne is this paranoid guy. He’s... Read more

If you had made a film based on Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising, and you had rushed it into production, and you had already released a lame trailer, and you were only two months away from releasing the film itself, what do you think you would do? If you were Fox-Walden, you would change the title! That’s right, The Dark Is Rising — the title of both the book on which this film is based, and the five-book series... Read more

The Simpsons Movie broke a few records this past weekend. With over $74 million in the till as of Sunday, it had the third-biggest opening weekend of any animated film ever; it lags behind only the two Shrek sequels. That means it had a bigger opening than any film by Pixar (The Incredibles, 2004, $70.5 million), Disney (The Lion King, 1994, $40.9 million), Fox / Blue Sky (Ice Age: The Meltdown, 2006, $68 million), Warner (Happy Feet, 2006, $41.5 million),... Read more