Today's Trailers: My Own Love Song, Splice, Solitary Man, and The A-Team!

First up we have a look at Renee Zellweger's latest attempt to get back in our good graces, the road trip flick 'My Own Love Song':

Next up we have the well cast sci-fi horror flick 'Splice':

Following that we have Michael Douglas in 'Solitary Man' (excuse the minute or so of the Italian movie show thing that plays before it, until I find a better link):

Finally, we have the theatrical version of 'The A-Team':

-Thoughts?

The team behind the 'Harold and Kumar' flicks will be directing American Pie 4...

...according to this in The Hollywood Reporter:

Staring at a menu that included American pie and White Castle burgers, “Harold & Kumar” creators Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg have decided they’re hungry for something new.

The duo is coming aboard to direct “American Pie 4,” Universal’s reboot of the “American Pie” franchise, setting the stage for newcomer Todd Strauss Schulson to direct “A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas,” the third installment of the trippily successful “Harold & Kumar” series.

The decision for Hurwitz and Schlossberg is tinged with some irony as their original stabs at screenwriting in the late ’90s were designed to bring back the R-rated comedy. When “American Pie” was released in 1999, they saw that someone — writer Adam Herz — had beaten them to the (spiked) punch.

“Pie 4,” which Hurwitz and Schlossberg are already penning, seeks to reunite the cast of the original movies. No deals have been made, but the strong interest on the actors’ end is one reason the project is in high gear.

On the “Kumar” front, Mandate, the production outfit behind the movies, recently completed deals with John Cho and Kal Penn to reprise their roles (Penn’s deal was trickier to make as the actor had left Hollywood to work as associate director at the White House Office of Public Engagement). Schulson’s deal isn’t closed yet. The movie is eyeing a summer start.

Hurwitz and Schlossberg, repped by CAA and Principato/Young, wrote the script for the new one, as they have with the previous two. The pair made their directorial debut with the second movie, “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay.”

The duo was initially on board to direct the third “Kumar,” but their decision to segue to “Pie” resulted in a search for prospects.

Schulson began his career working on music videos, which led to “MTV Whatever Things,” and then he moved into comedy by directing shorts for comedians as well as helming commercials. His short “Mano-a-Mano” premiered at 2008’s SXSW, and the resulting buzz caught agency and studio attention.

Insiders say Schulson, repped by Gersh and Brucks Entertainment, wowed Mandate with his presentation and take on “Kumar.” The log line is being kept under wraps, although one story line does resurrect Neil Patrick Harris, who plays himself in the movies and “died” in the second one.

The story line for “Pie 4″ also is being kept under wraps.

The “Pie” series has remained a lucrative franchise for Universal despite the fact that the last time a film hit movie screens was in 2003. The studio puts its trust in its home entertainment division, which began churning out straight-to-DVD spinoffs beginning with “American Pie Presents Band Camp.” The movies, of which at least four were made, did not star the original cast and sold millions of copies on DVD.

-I know I'm perhaps the only film critic who likes all of the theatrical American Pie movies, but I could see this working, provided the original cast does indeed return...thoughts?

Toy Story 3 gets a couple of new character Posters!

-Thoughts?

The Indie Circuit - Week 2

My deepest apologies for getting this up about a day later this week, but I've been hard a work on making a bunch of wonderful things happen to hopefully go up very soon. I once again wanted to collect the reviews here of the top five Indie films current in theaters (as ranked by the stars given in the reviews given by the Awards Circuit staff writers), and let you know where said films were playing/opening this weekend. I'm going to try a slightly different format this week, and I hope you enjoy it, as I also hope you enjoy a wonderful time at the (Indie) movies. Cheers!

Chloe

Full listing of engagements can be found here.

City Island

Opening this Friday (today):

San Francisco - Embarcadero Cinemas - (Opens - 4/2)
Irvine - Westpark - (Opens - 4/2)
Encino - Town Center - (Opens - 4/2)
Pasadena - Playhouse - (Opens - 4/2)

Greenwich - Bow Plaza - (Opens - 4/2)

Chicago - Century Centre - (Opens - 4/2)
Evanston - Cinearts - (Opens - 4/2)
Highland Park - Rennaissance Place Cinema - (Opens - 4/2)

Cambridge - Kendall Square Cinema - (Opens - 4/2)

Minneapolis - Edina 4 Theatres - (Opens - 4/2)

Montclair - Clairidge - (Opens - 4/2)
Tenafly - Tenafly - (Opens - 4/2)
Rocky Hill - Montgomery Center - (Opens - 4/2)
Westfield - Cranford Theatre - (Opens - 4/2)

Bronxville - Bronxville - (Opens - 4/2)
Roslyn - Roslyn - (Opens - 4/2)
Kew Gardens - Kew Gardens Cinemas - (Opens - 4/2)
Malverne - Malverne Twin Cinema - (Opens - 4/2)
New York - AMC Loews 72nd St. East - (Opens - 4/2)

Plano - Angelika Film Center & Cafe - (Opens - 4/2)

Still playing in:

Dallas - Angelika Mockingbird - (Opens - 3/26)
Los Angeles - The Landmark - (Opens - 3/19)
Miami Beach - South Beach - (Opens - 3/26)
New York - Angelika Film Center - (Opens - 3/19)
New York - Amc Empire 25 IMAX - (Opens - 3/26)
Philadelphia - Ritz At The Bourse - (Opens - 3/26)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Screens where it's opening this week and still playing can be found here.

Greenberg

In theaters everywhere.

The Secret of Kells

Now Playing:

New York: IFC Center and Village East Cinema
Los Angeles: The Landmark, Westpark 8 (Irvine), Fallbrook 7 (West Hills)
Bay Area: Embarcadero (SF), Shattuck (Berkeley), Los Gatos Cinema (San Jose), Aquarius (Palo Alto)
Washington DC: E Street Cinema
San Diego: Landmark Ken Cinema
Chicago: Gene Siskel Film Center
Madison: Sundance Cinemas
Boston: Landmark Kendall Square and Amherst Cinema (Last week!)
Philadelphia: Ritz at the Bourse (Last week!)

Ask some of the AC Staff anything...

Shout out to Joey & Myles for pointing this out to me. Let's give it a try.

Clayton http://www.formspring.me/AwardsCircuitEd

Joey - http://www.formspring.me/JoeyMagidson

Myles - http://www.formspring.me/misterdirector

Start voting for your 2003 Awards Circuit Community Awards winners!

Yes, the polls are open, so go here and make your choices. Will The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King dominate like at the Oscars? Can Lost in Translation pull an upset? What will happen? Be sure to vote and stay tuned to find out!
Also on the main page is an article on cinema in the 1970's. It's a great look back, so go here and check it out. It's a must read!
-Thoughts on how ACCA will turn out?

Will Bob Dylan be an Oscar Nominee again this year?

Well, it's way to early to tell, but this article here from The Playlist seems to think that he may have a shot for his songs in 'My Own Love Song', some of which are sung by Renee Zellweger and Forest Whitaker.
-I'm going to post the trailer in the trailer blog post tomorrow, so stay tuned for that, but anyway...thoughts on Dylan potentially getting nominated again?

Cameron Crowe finally picks a new project...

...potentially, at least. Here's the story from New York Magazine:

Vulture has learned that Cameron Crowe, who hasn’t directed a film since 2005’s Elizabethtown, is circling a script based on the best-selling Benjamin Mee memoir We Bought a Zoo. Back in 2006, Mee — then the do-it-yourself columnist for the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper — moved into a run-down twelve-bedroom mansion in the southwest English countryside with his wife, two children, brother, and 76-year-old mother. The catch? Their old manse also included the 30-acre Dartmoor Wildlife Park, a dilapidated preserve that was home to 200 wild animals. Poignantly, the Mee family’s successful efforts at rehabilitating the zoo’s menagerie of ailing beasts was juxtaposed with the steady decline of Mee’s wife, Katherine, who received a terminal-cancer diagnosis.

From what we hear, Zoo already had a great script from Oscar-nominated Devil Wears Prada screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna. But if he signs on, Crowe will be doing a little rewriting before directing it, presumably to insert dialogue that zookeepers will repeat for the rest of their lives, much as any high-school student from the late eighties continues to quote “I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen.”

-Cameron is one of my absolute favorite filmmakers, so suffice to say, I'm in...thoughts?

ACCA Nomination Recount Correction!

To all the readers, there has been a mistake made on the ACCA tally of votes and it comes in the category of ORIGINAL SCORE.

It was announced that RZA was nominated for his work on Kill Bill Vol. 1, but with a second look RZA did not come in the top five of the category. Gabriel Yared has replaced RZA as a nominee for his work on Cold Mountain.

We're sorry for the confusion but I think this will make many happy or upset, depending on which film you loved more.

Best Original Score Nominees -
Danny Elfman - Big Fish
Gabriel Yared - Cold Mountain
Thomas Newman - Finding Nemo
Howard Shore - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Klaus Badelt - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Full Listing will be up in a few moments and voting will open.

'Salt' gets a new Trailer

Behold:

-Thoughts?

Stephen Daldry picks his next book to adapt into a likely Oscar nominee...

...and it's one with a lot of potential too. The Hollywood Reporter has the story:

Stephen Daldry, who has developed a reputation for high-caliber literary adaptations with "The Hours" and "The Reader," is tackling his latest book.

Daldry is attached to direct "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," the adaptation of the Sept. 11-themed novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Scott Rudin, king of the high-brow adaptations, is producing "Close," which will be a Paramount and Warner Bros. co-production.

The 2005 book centers on Oskar Schell, a nine-year-old amateur inventor, jewelry designer, astrophysicist, tambourine player and pacifist, as he searches New York for the lock that matches a mysterious key left by his father when he was killed in the September 11 attacks. Eric Roth, who last took on "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," penned the adaptation.

Casting the child role will be critical, but CAA-repped Daldry has also established a knack for finding key young talent. The director gave Jamie Bell his feature debut with 2000's "Billy Elliot" and he introduced German actor David Kross to American audiences in "The Reader." Kross was a teen when he played the younger version of Ralph Fiennes in the Holocaust-themed film.

-I know a lot of people who love the book, so perhaps this is another winning combination...thoughts?

Is Leo also going to star in an Oliver Stone movie?

That seems to be the latest story, though he was involved with the project before Stone came aboard. Here's the story, via Variety:

Oliver Stone is doing some investigating for 20th Century Fox.

Director, who helmed Fox's upcoming "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," is coming aboard to develop and possibly direct "Travis McGee," based on the fictional detective created by American author John D. MacDonald.

Leonardo DiCaprio was already set to star as the scrappy detective, a self-described beach bum who resides on a houseboat in Florida, taking on random cases.

Peter Chernin's Fox-based Chernin Entertainment is attached to produce with Amy Robinson and Appian Way's DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran.

Film would take its storyline from the first of MacDonald's 21 books, "The Deep Blue Goodbye," which has the detective searching for a World War II treasure. Adapted script was penned by Dana Stevens.

Stone's "Wall Street" sequel is likely to make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. In light of that opportunity, Fox decided to push back the release of "Wall Street" from April 12 to Sept. 24.

-Thoughts?

The frontrunner for Best Picture this year gets a stunning Trailer!

Gaze at the next Oscar Juggernaut:

April Fools! (Weak, I know)
In any case, this looks like a lot of fun...thoughts?

Some new details emerge about Tom Hanks' next directorial project...

...including a new bit of cast information and a more detailed look at the plot. The Hollywood Reporter has the story:

Bryan Cranston is in final negotiations to co-star with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts in "Larry Crowne." Hanks also is directing the dramedy for Vendome and Universal.

Written by Hanks and Nia Vardalos, the story centers on the title character (Hanks), who is downsized from his job and decides to start over by enrolling in college. There he forms some unexpected bonds with fellow students while also catching the eye of a professor (Roberts).

Cranston, stars of USA's "Breaking Bad," is playing Roberts' husband, a blogger who spends most of his time looking at porn.

Hanks is producing with his Playtone partner Gary Goetzman. Vendome is financing the film, which begins principal photography this month in Los Angeles. Universal is distributing the movie domestically.

The UTA-repped Cranston has won back-to-back Emmys for his performance in "Bad," one of cable's critical darlings. He is shooting Disney's sci-fi tentpole "John Carter of Mars."

-Sounds a bit like 'Back To School', but I love that movie...thoughts?

Todd Solondz's film 'Life During Wartime' gets a Trailer!

Take a gander:

-I'm certainly curious...thoughts?

Is Leonardo DiCaprio going to be J. Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwood's upcoming biopic?

Well apparently Deadline (in this article here) believes that he's in negotiations for the role. I'm not sure if he's the right choice or not, but he's certainly an interesting one, if nothing else.
-Thoughts?

Believe it or not, Iron Man 2 gets "2" more Posters...

No April Fools Day joke here...thoughts?