Comic heroes and A-list romcoms aside, you might call this weekend a lull between the sheer Pottermania of last weekend and the sheer multitude of new titles facing moviegoers next weekend. One left you no choice, the other leaves with almost too much. And in between, there are these:
Tired of routinely beating your Facebook friends in Bejeweled, FarmVille and Mafia Wars, and looking for a challenge that better suits your movie-fan bona fides? Movieline sister site Deadline.com has just the thing you need: the Deadline Hollywood Game , a new Facebook destination that combines real-time news with digital gameplay to place you at the heart of Hollywood. Do you have what it takes to make it in Tinseltown? Click through for sign-up details and the full press release.
If you haven’t read Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games books yet, the blazing new motion poster Lionsgate debuted today for the 2012 Hunger Games film won’t make much sense. Suffice to say, once you begin reading the novels, the sight of a flaming gold bird-shaped pin will stir your senses into action, the symbol of rebellion and of the series’ young heroine, Katniss Everdeen ( Jennifer Lawrence ).
Since the first trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes debuted online three months ago one thing about the film stood out. Not that apes can apparently defeat an army of riot police and helicopters by merely jumping around, but that James Franco was tasked as the film’s lead. “We it call the cure for Alzheimer’s,” he intones with a super-serious acting voice. Sounds good, believable scientist! Of course, maybe that’s the trick of Rise of the Planet of the Apes ; Franco is but merely impeccably tailored set dressing hiding the real star of the show: Andy Serkis.
Captain Planet and the Planeteers , among the cheesiest children’s properties that the ’90s birthed, was a cartoon very earnestly devoted to encouraging environmental awareness among youngsters built around the multi-colored titular superhero. Now, thanks to the folks who brought us Transformers , that mulleted, blue-skinned emblem of early-’90s morning TV will be updated with a live-action film. Has retro rebirthing gone too far?
And now, some Harry Potter news that will refresh even the weariest of Muggles — and probably outrage conservatives even more : Emma Watson met the oiled-up mensch who plays “Himmione Grainghim” in the gay pornographic motion picture Whorrey Potter and the Sorcerer’s Balls . When she found out who he was, it reportedly “made her night.” If true, I dance at her nerve. Go, you vagabond child star, go! Plus, the picture is soulfully edifying.
This Marine Corps. Ball business is getting out of hand! A week after Friends with Benefits stars Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake received their invitations to various Marine Corps. Balls from members of the armed forces, Betty White was asked out by Sgt. Ray Lewis. Sadly, White declined, leaving poor Sgt. Lewis dateless. And that’s when Linda Hamilton stepped in.
Indie auteur Paul Thomas Anderson and Bridesmaids star Maya Rudolph welcomed son Jack on July 3, Rudolph’s rep confirmed today to People . Baby Jack makes three kids for Anderson and Rudolph, joining daughters Pearl and Lucille in the brood of one of Hollywood’s most unlikely-sounding (but awesome) pairings. Congrats, parents! [ People ]
Get ready to watch the best-worst thing you will see all day: a trailer for a little movie called Freerunner which stars model/actor Sean Faris as a young thrill seeker who must use parkour-like skills to race from one end of the city to the other to save his girlfriend and himself because, you see, he has a ticking bomb strapped around his neck. Like a dog collar. That’s also a bomb. Just click through already, or else we have to break up. Seriously. I’m not joking this time.