1. Eagle Eye (3,300 Theaters, 118 Minutes, Rated PG-13):On the surface, this seems like a paranoid pot-boiler of a thriller. Shia LeBeouf and Michelle Monahan receive calls on their cellphones from a mysterious woman who forces them to do shady things just to stay alive. This puts the pair in conflict with the government and chases and danger ensue.

But, if you think about it, the concept might be too implausible. Yes, I supposed if you are 100% behind the paranoid Big Brother fantasies, you are willing to give the plot a little more leeway. But with all the variables in play here, the idea a shadowy terrorist or government organization can fill a man’s apartment with bomb making materials in just a few hours isn’t very realistic.

I know. I have no problem believing people can fly or shoot lasers from their eyes but I have an issue with this. Well, the moviemakers here are trying to create an illusion that this can happen in the real world. So the rules of believability are more strict. 

 
2. Nights In Rodanthe (2,704 Theaters, 97 Minutes, Rated PG-13): I know the name probably has a meaning in relation to the plot, but couldn’t they have picked a better title? I mean, I had a heck of a time finding the poster for the film on Google Images because I kept misspelling the name.

If this movie does half as good as the last film adapted from a Nicholas Sparks novel, The Notebook, then we people who made this might have a big hit on their hands. During my time working at the local video store, that latter movie was constantly being rented.

This is the third movie Richard Gere has made with Diane Lane (after The Cotton Club and Unfaithful). Considering he made at least two with Julia Roberts, he seems to like to recycle his leading ladies.

 3. Miracle at St. Anna (1,185 Theaters, 160 Minutes, Rated R):  Also known as Spike Lee’s “For Your Consideration Movie” It is a sweeping historical epic set during World War II adapted from a novel. That’s has Oscar bait all over it.

And yes, I did say novel. The ads seem to indicate that it might be a true story. However, the film was adapted from a 2003 novel by James McBride. The novel was inspired by real events, but this is a work of fiction.

Lee had garnered some press after calling out Clint Eastwood for including more African-Americans in his WWII film, Flags of Our Fathers. Lee’s point that the contribution of black soldiers in WWII are often not as recognized as they should be. This film gives him a chance to change things in that area.

1. The Women (2,962 Theaters, 114 Minutes, Rated PG-13): At long last, this film finally hits the screen.

This project was in the works for over 10 years and at one time or another, every big name actress was attached to star. The one constant was Diane English, creator of TV’s Murphy Brown, who wrote this adaptation and was always attached as director.

The movie is a remake of the 1939 film and the stage play of the same name. If any of you guys out there a dragged to this by your girlfriend and are looking for a male cast member to identify with, keep looking. This is an all female cast.

The story involves a woman who husband is having an affair with a younger woman. She deals with this betrayal by bonding with some of her lady friends.

2. Righteous Kill (3,152 Theaters, 100 Minutes, Rated R): Robert DeNiro. Al Pacino. That is pretty much the entire advertising campaign for this film. Two of the best actors of our generation, sharing the screen together.

Not that this is the first movie in which they co-starred. Both were in Godfather II but did not share any scenes. They also co-starred in Heat but only shared a handful of scenes. This film, they are definitely interacting with one another. Personally, I would be more excited if it happened a few years ago, but I still recognize the specialness of them acting off one another.

Of course, the question is: will the quality of their acting overcome what seems to be a rather common plot. A cop is a suspect in a murder. He tries to clear his name but there is some doubt if he is innocent.

3. Burn After Reading (2,651 Theaters, 96 Minutes, Rated R): If you are the Coen Brothers, and you have to follow your dark and disturbing drama, No Country For Old Men, with something, what do you do?

You do a compete 180 and do a goofy caper comedy, of course!

Yes, for those of you who forgot that the Coens can also do comedy in addition to crime dramas, well, here you go. The story revolves around a pair of dim-witted fitness instructors who find a disc with secret CIA information on it. They try to sell it to whoever wants it. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned and hilarity ensues.

I don’t know how good the movie is, but I laugh whenever I see Brad Pitt’s goofy face and silly pompador on the ads. So at least it will be a little funny.

Be warned: the following trailer is a “yellow band” trailer. Which I guess means that it might be a bit naughtier than a green band but not as raunchy as a red band. But if you are easily offended,well, for gosh sakes don’t click below!

3. Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys (2,070 Theaters, 111 Minutes, Rated PG-13): The bloom might be off the Tyler Perry rose, so to speak. His last film, Meet the Browns, did okay but didn’t debut at number one like his movies usually do. This week will be an interesting test to see how big his fanbase really is because he has some very tough competition.

The title leads you to believe that this movie would be about a family of serial killers how bond over the people they murder, which would be a refeshing change of pace for Perry and might make for quite an interesting movie.  

Unfortunately, it is the story of two families rocked by scandal who find relief to their woes through the power of friendship. Oh, and a cross-country road trip.

Collider has scored the first look at Enik, the intelligent Sleestak in next summer’s Land Of The Lost, an adaptation of the 70s Sid and Marty Krofft Saturday morning clasic television series. That’s him to the left.

The new version stars Will Ferrell, Anna Friel and Danny McBride as the three explorers on a “routine expedition” who discover a strange land of dinosaurs and weird alien technology. (Click to make bigger)

Fun fact: Enik was created for the original tv series by Star Trek and Babylon 5 actor Walter Koenig, who scripted the episode featuring the character’s first appearance, “The Stranger.”

Update: And the trailer has been yanked.

The first international trailer for Ron Howard’s upcoming adaptation of the stage play Nixon/Frost has hit the internet. The play and film tells the behind the scenes story of a series of interviews former President Richard Nixon did with British talk show host David Frost following Nixon’s resignation over the Wtaergate scandal. The film carries over the original stage production’s casting of Michael Sheen as Frost and Frank Langella as Nixon. Interestingly, while Langella doesn’t much resemble Nixon, he does have many of his mannerisms down. It should be an interesting performance to watch. We’ll all get to watch it when it comes out on December 5. 

“[Bubba Nosferatu] is dead to me,” Bruce Campbell announced Friday night on Fangoria Magazine‘s Fangoria Radio Show on Sirius Satellite Radio.

The announcement comes as a disappointing surprise to fans of the actor and director Don Coscarelli’s 2002 cult hit Bubba Ho-Tep, for which Bubba Nosferatu would serve as both a sequel and a prequel.

“It sleeps with the fishes,” Campbell continued. “Don Coscarelli is a very passionate filmmaker. We got to a few points [in developing the screenplay] that we couldn’t reconcile. I want to keep our friendship, so we parted ways. So I’m not part of that project.”

Campbell impressed critics in Bubba Ho-Tep as an aging, nursing home-bound Elvis Presley fighting off an attack from an Egyptian mummy with the help of another of the home’s residents who thinks he is John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis). Although the film ended with a title card announcing Bubba Nesferatu, it was done as a joke by Coscarelli. It was only after intense fan reaction to the film that the director actually began developing the sequel, with screenwriter Stephen Romano.

According to reports, Bubba Nosferatu would have had Campbell as Elvis fighting a clan of Las Vegas vampires in both the past and the present while dealing with the machinations of his manager, Col. Tom Parker. Oscar-nominee Paul Giamatti, a professed fan of Bubba Ho-Tep, had already been lined up to play Parker.

Fangoria reports that Coscarelli plans on moving forward with the project anyway, though he admits that it will be hard to find an actor who can take over Campbell’s role.

As far as a return to the role that launched his career, the hapless Ash of the Evil Dead franchise, Campbell doesn’t hold much immediate hope.

“[Evil Dead writer/director] Sam Raimi still talks about it, but he’s in no rush to do it with everything else he has going on,” Campbell stated. “Sam jokes, ‘Maybe we can do another Evil Dead when we’re 70.’ ”

In 2004, an attempt was made by New Line Pictures to merge the Evil Dead franchise with that of the Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday The 13th series for a picture to be called Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash. Campbell says that Raimi walked away from it due to lack of creative control. The pitch developed for the movie is now being adapted as a six-issue comic book miniseries.

Campbell also stated that the announced Evil Dead remake, featuring a new cast, was also a dead project.

“The feedback from the fans was 90 percent negative,” Campbell said. “It’s going nowhere. The remake has fizzled fast at Sam’s [production] company.”

On the positive side of things for his fans, Campbell did state that Burn Notice, the USA Network series on which he co-stars as a burned out ex-spy, has been picked up for a second season. He also stated that his agent and publisher are asking him to write a third book as follow-ups to his previous best sellers If Chins Could Kill: Confessions Of A B Movie Actor and Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way.

“All I have is a title at this point,” Campbell stated. “It’s called Surrounded By Idiots: Why You Should be Glad I’m Not Emperor Of The World.”

Via Bruce Campbell News Central.

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that while director Richard Donner never really had a solid script for a sequel to his 1985 film The Goonies, he may be revisiting the story of a group of kids who go on an adventure to find fabled pirate gold to save their land developer-imperiled neighborhood in another form- as a musical! The magazine’s website is reporting that Donner states that there is an active attempt to mount an adaptation of the film onto the Broadway stage.

”Steven [Spielberg, the film’s producer] and I have discussed it, and it’s something that I’m fairly passionate about right now,” Entertainment Weekly quotes Donner.

But what are the chances of actually seeing this movie hit the boards? Better than average, I would say.

Sure, both Evil Dead: The Musical and The Wedding Singer have closed in the past few months, but Broadway producers haven’t given up on adapting movies for the stage. Currently a production of the 1980 disco movie musical Xanadu is rehearsals for a May opening while last month saw casting notices circulating for an adaptation of Mel Brooks’ comedy Young Frankenstein. As long as The Producers, The Color Purple and Monty Python’s Spamalot continue to rake in the cash, there will be financial backers willing to pony up cash to mount a stage adaptation of any film they think will draw an audience.

Besides, you know you want to see what kind of production number they turn the “Truffle Shuffle” into.