The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Keisha Castle-Hughes gave birth to a daughter, Felicity-Amore, last Wednesday. You may recall that Castle-Hughes became pregnant last year at the age of 16, shortly after she finished playing the Virgin Mary in The Nativity Story — but before the film was released in theatres. Some journalists evidently hoped that this would cause a great religious controversy, but it never happened. Castle-Hughes did, however, face a strong backlash in her native New Zealand. Shortly... Read more

If you have not yet seen the trailer for Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) — John Boorman’s mind-bogglingly awful sequel to William Friedkin’s mind-blowingly good The Exorcist (1973), a sequel so terrible that it came a narrow second to Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) in the Medved brothers’ bad-movie book The Golden Turkey Awards — then here, at last, is your chance: Exorcist II: The Heretic essentially tries to pull a Godfather Part II (1974) on us by going... Read more

Speaking of nudity and ratings, check out this bit of hyperbole from a recent Newsweek story on The Simpsons Movie: To make it on the big screen, you have to give people something spectacular. Something extraordinary. Something like Bart Simpson—full frontal. It happens early in “The Simpsons Movie,” when the animated 10-year-old takes a dare from his goofball father, Homer, to skateboard naked through the streets of Springfield. Hidden by plants and picket fences, he whizzes along, past kids, down... Read more

Many thanks to the folks at Fox Faith for sending me review copies of Beyond the Gates of Splendor (2002) and End of the Spear (2005), two films that I had heard much about but had never had the chance to see before. The former film is a documentary about five American missionaries who were killed by Ecuadorian natives in 1956, and how both sides of that incident came to be reconciled in the end, while the latter film is... Read more

Hoodwinked! director Cory Edwards announced at his blog today that he may soon be making his live-action directorial debut: I’m pleased to finally announce that I have closed a deal to direct a feature film for 20th Century Fox. “ANDREW HENRY’S MEADOW” is a kid-centered fantasy adventure, executive produced by Zach Braff and written by his brother, Adam Braff. The film is also being produced by John Davis and Derek Dauchy for Davis Entertainment (“I Robot,” “Alien Vs. Predator,” “Eragon”).... Read more

Robert Koehler of Variety reviews Midnight Clear, the latest movie to be produced by Left Behind co-author Jerry B. Jenkins: Until it reveals its actual Christian purpose in the final minutes, “Midnight Clear” will easily fool many viewers into thinking they’re watching a modest Coen brothers-style comedy-thriller. This conventional but sensitively observed tale, drawing together disparate and mostly lonely lives on Christmas Eve, is a religiously motivated pic (and winner of the debut film prize at Cinequest) that could play... Read more

My review of The Invisible is now up at CT Movies. 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. Hot Fuzz — CDN $1,620,000 — N.AM $12,447,000 — 13.0%Fracture — CDN $2,490,000 — N.AM $21,336,000 — 11.7%The Condemned — CDN $442,099 — N.AM $4,000,000 — 11.0%Blades of Glory — CDN $9,720,000 — N.AM $108,086,000 — 9.0%Next — CDN $643,057 — N.AM $7,200,000 — 8.9%Vacancy — CDN $1,210,000 — N.AM... Read more

Variety covers the re-release of The Other Conquest (1998): Though most studios have cleared far out of the path of “Spider-Man 3,” there will be a bit of counterprogramming available for non-Spidey fans. Warner Bros. is releasing “Lucky You,” a romancer with Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana. And, reflecting the growing demand for Spanish-language pics, Union Station Media will re-release Mexican epic “The Other Conquest” on 50 prints in the U.S. on Cinco de Mayo weekend — seven years after... Read more

Variety reports that Ridley Scott, having directed Russell Crowe in Gladiator (2000; my review), A Good Year (2006) and the upcoming American Gangster, has signed up to steer the actor through his latest project, a movie called Nottingham: Crowe stars as the Sheriff of Nottingham in a revisionist take on the Robin Hood tale, with Nottingham as a noble and brave lawman who labors for a corrupt king and engages in a love triangle with Maid Marion and Robin Hood.... Read more