What hath The Da Vinci Code wrought. Variety reports: Fox is worshipping at the “Church of Steve,” a half-hour comedy from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Prods. Single-camera laffer, created and written by Chris Henchy (“I’m With Her”), revolves around an average Joe from New Jersey who finds out he’s a descendant of Jesus. Fox said it has given a put pilot commitment to the project, which will be produced by Gary Sanchez Prods. and Sony Pictures Television.... Read more

FilmStew.com doles out just a little more info about The Ten, an upcoming comedy based on the Ten Commandments: In a segment based on the commandment Thou Shall Not Steal, Winona Ryder plays a woman who falls in love with a stolen puppet and begins treating it like a real person. In another piece, based on the edict Thou Shall Honor the Sabbath, the story brings together the unlikely combo of naked men and Roberta Flack music. Welcome to the... 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. The Illusionist — CDN $3,917,924 — N.AM $31,378,443 — 12.5%The Black Dahlia — CDN $2,253,516 — N.AM $20,742,610 — 10.9%Open Season — CDN $2,136,948 — N.AM $23,624,548 — 9.0%Jet Li’s Fearless — CDN $1,621,758 — N.AM $18,066,869 — 9.0%Jackass: Number Two — CDN $4,606,687 — N.AM $52,070,722 — 8.8%School for... Read more

The Hollywood Reporter, via Reuters, reports that Gael García Bernal — star of The Motorcycle Diaries (2004; my review), The King (2005; my review), The Science of Sleep (the best use of cardboard ever!) and several other films — has been asked to play the bad guy in The Bourne Ultimatum, “though negotiations have not yet begun.” They’d better negotiate fast, though! The film — which adds David Straitharn to a returning cast and crew that includes Matt Damon, Joan... Read more

Yay! The new ‘Walt Disney Treasures‘ sets are now available for pre-order! And if the descriptions and/or predictions at UltimateDisney.com are accurate, then it looks like, between these sets and the sets and movies that I already own, I will soon have every single animated short produced by the Walt Disney Studios between the creation of Mickey Mouse in 1928 and the death of Uncle Walt in 1966, with the exception of only a few specific categories: over sixty Donald... Read more

The newest issue of BC Christian News is now online, and with it, my film column, which looks mainly at the film festival — with brief comments on Son of Man, A Sunday in Kigali, Catch a Fire, Uganda Rising, His Big White Self, Requiem, Sound of the Soul: The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music and Into Great Silence — but also touches on The Journals of Knud Rasmussen and the upcoming VanCity Theatre screening of Raiders of the... Read more

Press screenings aside, I have seen eight movies at the Vancouver film festival since it began on Thursday — and at nearly every one of them, I have heard constant chattering from the filmgoers behind me, off to the side, across the aisle, and so on. This sort of thing is an occasional problem at regular movies, too, and it can get pretty annoying; I will never forget the moron who felt the need to give voice to every one... Read more

The official website for The Nativity Story has two new items up now: a featurette on the production design (apparently it’s harder to design a poor village than a rich city), and the first theatrical trailer (technically, the earlier trailer was a “teaser”). The trailer starts off on sort of a Da Vinci Code note — stylistically, that is — with references to Hebrew prophecies and the like … … before proceeding to the basic story points, including this scene... Read more

Time for the first batch of capsule reviews. I will prioritize the films that I saw on the days in question, and then, time permitting, I might comment on films that I caught earlier. If any of these films still have any screenings left, I will include that info here. – Renaissance (dir. Christian Volckman; France/Luxembourg/UK, 103 min.) Sort of a cross between Sin City (2005; my review) and Minority Report (2002; my review), this is a highly stylized animated... Read more

My review of The Guardian is now up at CT Movies. Read more