1. Arthur (Warner Brothers, 3,276 Theaters, Rated PG-13): If there was a film that really didn’t need to be remade, it probably was the original Arthur. The 1981 film wasn’t exactly the best film in history, but it was good for what it was. Dudley Moore was perfectly cast as the lush trust fund baby, John Gielgud won an Oscar for his deadpan portrayal of Hobson, and while the exceptional amount of drinking in the original makes it somewhat dated today, it was in no need of updating.

But, this being Hollywood, an updating it gets. The drinking, at least in the trailers, is toned down. Russell Brand is more age appropriate to play a child of wealth and leisure being forced to grow up, although the weird, acerbic wit might not play as well as Moore’s playful drunken dialogue.

The story, in essence, still remains the same. Arthur is threatened with being cut off from his fortune unless he marries the daughter of another billionaire. Problem is, he’s fallen in love with another woman of lower standing.

2. Your Highness (Universal, 2,769 Theaters, 102 Minutes, Rated R):I think the powers that be behind this movie lucked into something with this cast. I don’t know if they had any idea that James Franco would be nominated for an Oscar and Natalie Portman would win one when they cast them in this film, but at least they got a pretty good joke for their ads.

They aren’t the only ones giving able support to Danny McBride. The excellent cast also features Zooey Deschanel, Charles Dance and Justin Theroux in supporting roles. That’s not too shabby.

The story revolves around a prince who must rescue his love after she has been kidnapped. He is forced to bring along his foppish, incompetent brother along. Things are complicated when they meet a female warrior along the way.

3. Hanna (Focus Features, 2,535 Theaters, 111 Minutes, Rated PG-13): This is the era of the violent little girl. Kick-Assfeatured a pre-teen girl trained from birth to becoming a martial arts wielding super-hero. Now, we have this one, which features Saoirse Ronan as a teenager raised from a young age to be a dangerous super spy and assassin.

What could be exploitative to the point of becoming Grindhouse cinema, the quality will certainly rise above that with actors the caliber of Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett in the cast. Can’t imagine any film with those three would ever be less than interesting.

4. Soul Surfer (Tri-Star, 2,214 Theaters, 106 Minutes, Rated PG-13): In 2003, Bethany Hamilton was attacked by a shark while surfing off the coast of Hawaii. The shark bit off her left arm up to her shoulder. A few inches higher, she would have been killed. As it was, she lost 60% of the blood in her body after the attack.

Just the fact that she went through such a horrible attack and survived is enough for her to deserve a film devoted to her life. The fact that she climbed back onto a surfboard and went back into the ocean to become a championship surfer means that she deserves a film devoted to her life that is promoted far more than this one is.

I remember seeing some on location pieces floating around here and there, but here it is being released in 300 less theaters than it’s nearest competitor to little or no fanfare.

A new trailer for Marvel Studios’ Thor has hit online last night. The new clip pretty much gives equal time to stars Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman. It also feels geared more towards the non-comic geek fan, explaining to the viewer many of the things that comic book readers would recognize automatically, in addition to showcasing the film’s Earth-bound and Asgardian action.

Thor opens May 6th.

Hot off it’s win at the Directors Guild Awards on Saturday, The King’s Speech won two trophies at last night’s Screen Actors Guild awards taking home accolades for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and star Colin Firth winning Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.

David O. Russell’s The Fighter also won two awards, with Christian Bale picking up Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role and Melissa Leo winning Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.

Natalie Portman won the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her work in Black Swan.

All the individual awards winners are nominated in their corresponding Academy Awards categories, putting them as the frontrunners to win those awards next month.

1. No Strings Attached (Paramount, 3,018 Theaters, 110 Minutes, Rated R): I don’t know about you, but when I look at this film, it strikes me as it is above Ashton Kutcher’s usual fare and quite a bit below Natalie Portman’s (an actress who apparently looking to over take Michael Caine as the hardest working actor/actress in film. This is just one of about 500 films she has been or will be in within the last 24 months).

This film does come with a pedigree. It was originally called Fuckbuddies and the script by Elizabeth Meriwether was ranked #5 on the 2008 Black List of worth reading unproduced scripts. It was then renamed Friends With Benefits, but that name had to change when the producers realized there was a similarly themed film with that name starring Justin Timberlake and Portman’s Black Swan sparring partner Mila Kunis in the works.

The trailer had some laughs in it, but mostly from the supporting characters. That really isn’t as good a sign as you might think it is.

On Friday, Marvel Studios honcho Kevin Feige held a webchat through the LA Times Hero Complex blog, in which he beat the promotional drum for next summer’s Thor (“Thor is our first step into [the cosmic Marvel Universe] and from there, anything’s possible”) and Captain America: The First Avenger (“an epic, period adventure”) releases as well as answered numerous questions about what Marvel has in store for their super-hero team-up film The Avengers in 2012 and beyond.

Feige reconfirmed some of the superhero films that will be making their way to cinemas in the next couple of years. In response to a FilmBuffRich (Now who could that be?) who asked, “After Avengers we know you’re looking at Iron Man 3, The Runaways and possibly Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man. Anything else you care to share?” Feige responded, “ Those 4 films are gonna take up the next three years of my life! But don’t worry, we’re always working on more.” As to what those more may be, Feige hinted that Marvel Comics characters the likes of Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, Black Panther, Luke Cage, Moonknight, Power Pack and the Punisher were in various stages of development over the course of the hour.

Since the chat jumped back and forth through a number of topics, we’ve organized all his responses below by category.

Thor

• Natalie [Portman] was always our first and only choice for Jane.
• Natalie and Chris [Hemsworth] have amazing chemistry in the film. After an early cut, [Marvel Comics writer Brian] Bendis told me it was the best romantic chemistry in a Marvel movie.
• People looking for a reference to Don Blake in the Thor film will find one.
• (On the abandonment of the Thor comic’s faux-Shakespearean dialect) – As much as I love Stan the Man’s Shakespearean dialect, we felt it would be over-bearing. However, our director Kenneth Branagh has a great ear for the English language and I think you’ll find that the Asgardian speak is appropriately regal.
• You only see her briefly in the trailer, but Kat Dennings comes close to stealing the film.
• Idris rules as Heimdale. Come to think of it HE may come close to stealing the movie!

Captain America: The First Avenger

• (On star Chris Evans having previously played the Human Torch in Twentieth century Fox’s two Fantastic Four films being cast as Captain America) – We figured if Harrison Ford could be Indiana Jones and Han Solo, Chris Evans could play Torch and Cap.
• Working on the Cap trailer now. You should be seeing one in the new year.
• More Cap pics coming early next year.
• (Will one of those pictures be Hugo Weaving in his Red Skull makeup?) – You’ll be seeing it soon enough. And believe me, he looks amazing.
• While there’s no Invaders, there’s lots of Howling Commandos!
• (Though it looks like the Howling Commandos will not be lead by Sgt. Nick Fury) – We’re keeping Nick Fury as portrayed by the great Sam Jackson just in the modern era for now.
• [Captain America’s sidekick] Bucky plays an important part in the film. Sebastian Stan’s done a tremendous job playing him.

The Avengers

• (Responding to a fan’s concern that Chris Evans as Captain America may not have the same screen presence as Iron man’s Robert Downey Jr or Thor’s Hemsworth) – Evans owns the screen as Cap and is going to hold his own and then some.
• The best part about making an Iron Man movie is deciding which of his many armors to debut. Joss would kill me if I gave anything away, but I will say that the evolution you saw his armor take in IM2 will continue in The Avengers.
• (On the possibility of any other heroes or cameos we don’t know about yet in the film) – Maybe…
• On choosing Joss Whedon to direct – He doesn’t lose site of the characters no matter how big and crazy the spectacle gets.

Ant Man

• Edgar [Wright, writer and director for the project] was here a few days ago. He’s already working on the next draft.
• (We should see the movie) – sometime after The Avengers.

Iron Fist

• A very talented writer is currently working on a draft
• (Will the script be based on Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction’s work on the series?) – The movie is definitely inspired by that great run.

The Future

• (On how far their films are planned out for) – We try to stay five years ahead of the game. But now that you bring it up, what would you like to see in 20 years?
• Love Power Pack, Maybe someday!
• I have not been shy about my love for Dr. Strange, Black Panther, and Luke Cage.
• (Another question about a possible Black Panther film brought this response) – Things are in the works.
• Punisher’s back in house, and various plans are in the works.
• (On the possibility of an R-Rated superhero film from Marvel) – We’re definitely open to it. Blade was a great franchise for us
• I love female heroes too and would love to bring many more to the big screen in the future.
• Moonknight’s a challenging, but extremely interesting character. We’ve been discussing various versions of it for years.

Miscellaneous

• Love Marvel Zombies, but don’t think a Zombie TV show would ever work… haha.
• (On Easter Eggs in upcoming films) – The Thor and Cap movies are really about our distinct origin stories for two of our most famous characters. As long as people are excited to find hidden secrets, we’ll continue to hide them.
• (Will Thor, Captain America and/or The Avengers have button scenes after the credits?) – Some of them will…
• The Incredible Hulk is MCU canon.
• Our primary job is doing justice to the title characters, but we do have someone who’s got a large chart that spans across his office wall tracking the continuity. It’s pretty cool. Maybe we’ll publish it one day.

In the wake of strong positive reviews of her work in Darren Aronofski’s Black Swan which premiered at the Venice and Telluride Film Festivals this past week, Natalie Portman has reportedly been offered the lead role in director Alfred Cuaron’s science-fiction thriller Gravity.

Initially, the project was set up at Universal Studios with Angelia Jolie attached, but after the studio put the project in turnaround, Jolie departed. Even after the film landed at Warner Brothers, Cuaron could not entice Jolie back.

Although she had met with producers and Cuaron about the project before, Portman landed the offer without even taking a screentest. Previously, Cuaron had met with and/or screen tested a number of actresses for the role including Sandra Bullock, Blake Lively, Marion Cotillard, Abbie Cornish, Sienna Miller, Carey Mulligan, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Olivia Wilde and Naomi Watts.

According to the Hollywood Reporter‘s Risky Business blog, the offer and the latest draft of the script have been sent out to Portman, who should giver her decision shortly.

Portman will play an astronaut stranded on a space shuttle after some debris strike it, killing the rest of the crew. Her only chance of survival is donning a spacesuit and heading towards the International Space Station, hopping from satellite to pieces of space debris along the way. The character will spend a majority of the film’s runtime on screen alone, so the movie will sit very squarely and heavily on whomever takes the role.

Robert Downey Jr is already signed for a short role on the film, which is scheduled to go before cameras in January.

1. Everybody’s Fine (Miramax, 2,133 Theaters, 100 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Wow, that is some bad photoshopping on the poster there.  Granted, I know a star the magnitude of Robert DeNiro could not be expected to attend a photo session for the About Schmidt knock off that he made to pay the water bill on the Tribeca Grill, but you’d think that considering the film is in the most theaters this week, Miramax would spring for a composite photo where the lighting at least kinda looked the same.

The story involves a widower trying to connect with his estranged family over the holidays.

You can’t really go wrong with the diverse  cast, but the film doesn’t really seem to be all that groundbreaking. And the fact they made the poster in 2 minutes makes it seem that this film is a bit too slap dash to really be good.

2.Brothers (Lionsgate, 2,088 Theaters, 110 Minutes, Rated R):  Is it just me, or does this cast and director seem a little bit too upscale for the subject matter? It seems like this film should be directed by a recent film school graduate, star James Vanderbeek, Tom Welling and Leighton Meester, and air on the Lifetime network. Instead we get an multiple Oscar nominated director in Jim Sheridan, and intriguing trio of Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman, and Jake Gyllenhaal. Weird.

Based on the Danish film of the same name, it features on a man who comforts his brother’s wife and family when the brother goes missing in Afghanistan. When the brother comes home, disturbed by his war experiences, he doesn’t like how close the wife and his brother have come.

I would just like to point out that this films stars Spider-Man, the guy who was in line to replace him as Spider-Man, and Queen Amadala. Just throwing that out there.

3. Armored (Sony/Screen Gems, 1,915 Theaters, 88 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Funny that this film is the one with the lowest theater count. It is the one that is most heavily advertised.

A crew of an armored car service hatches a plan to steal a cargo worth $42 Million. Everything goes well until a cop stumbles upon their hiding place. Then the crew begins to fall apart and the job, and their lives, are in jeopardy.

This film seems to be a cut above the typical heist gone wrong film. Matt Dillon, who can play these roles in his sleep, appears to go from a man who is helping out a friend in need to a desperate man trying to kill that man when he puts the caper at risk. That is a range of emotion to go through, and, if it is as it seems, provides a great character arc. 

Update:The Hollywood Reporter has just confirmed Dennings’ involvement in Thor. Although there has been no official confirmationas to what character Dennings will be playing, the Reporter‘s sources state that the character is a work associate of Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster character.

Well, we thought we knew who all was in the cast of the upcoming comic book adaptation Thor, but it looks like there is one more mystery role that has just been filled. Natalie Portman, who has already been cast as Jane Foster, the love interest of Thor’s Earth-bound alter-ego Dr. Donald Blake, let slip to MTV Splash Page that one of the things she was looking forward to when production on the film starts early next year is that she’ll be working with her friend Kat Dennings.

Dennings joins Portman, Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård and Tom Hiddleston in the adventures of the titular Norse god of thunder (Hemsworth)-turned-superhero. Kenneth Branagh is directing.

Since Portman neglected to state what role Dennings will be playing, but that hasn’t stopped the speculation as to who she may be playing. The odds on favorite character for Dennings to be playing is the Enchantress, an scheming Asgardian magic-user. One look at the picture of the character at right shows that Denning is pretty much a dye job away from looking the part. Leading creadance to the speculation is the fact that the Enchantress has frequently crossed paths with both Iron Man and the Avengers and the Thor film will ultimately crossover with the two Iron Man films and the upcoming Avengers.

Of course, others have put forth the possibility of Dennings playing Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death. Here, she wouldn’t need the dye job. A distant third option is that Dennings is playing a new character, created especially for the film. If you parse Portman’s statement, you’ll notice that she said she’ll be working with Dennings. Is it possible that Dennings’ character is an associate of Portman’s Jane Foster. I think it might be possible.

I have a feeling that now that the cat is out of the bag, an official announcement of Dennings’ involvement will be forthcoming, complete with her character.

We ended last week with  some comic book movie casting news and so we start the new week with some more.

Marvel Studios has announced that Academy Award nominated actress Natalie Portman has been picked to play Jane Foster in their upcoming comic book adaptation Thor. In the comics, Jane Foster is a nurse who is also the love interest of Dr. Donald Blake, thee mortal who can become the titular Asgardian God of Thunder. However, director Kenneth Branagh has already stated that Blake won’t be a part of the film, so it remains to be seen exactly how her character will fit into things. Marvel’s press release does state that “the character will be updated for the feature adaptation.” Will she be a doctor now?

Thor is set to have cameras start rolling early next year, with a scheduled premier of May 20, 2011.