James Marsden is not a Barry Manilow fan, no matter what you may have read in his IMDb.com bio. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter , the Bachelorette actor explains that he’s the victim of “a famous actor friend of mine” who “likes to go into other people’s bios and add things.” Marsden won’t identify the guy, but apparently, the wiseacre managed to get the usually reliable IMDb to embellish the Enchanted actor’s bio with the erroneous tidbit that Marsden was a big fan of the “Copacabana” crooner. As a result, Marsden has had to field frequent questions on the subject, most recently when Access Hollywood ‘s Billy Bush asked him about Manilow at the Napa Valley Film Festival on Nov. 9. A spokesperson for IMDb told THR that information submitted to the site “goes through a series of consistency checks before it goes live,” but that given “the sheer volume of the information, occasional mistakes are inevitable, and, when reported, they are promptly fixed.” The Manilow reference does appear to have been removed from IMDb, but why do I feel like it’s only a matter of time before the bio bandit strikes again. [ The Hollywood Reporter ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
The desire to dress up in skimpy sci-fi costumes is strong in AnnaLynne McCord. The Insider.com posted a curious photo gallery of the 90210 actress in a number of odd get-ups from the show, including a shot from next week’s episode in which she dresses up in a replica of the famous metallic bikini that Carrie Fisher wore in Return of the Jedi . According to the site, McCord, who plays Naomi, dons the costume for a trip to a comic convention where her nerd husband Max is selling a video game. It’s good timing for McCord and the producers given that fanboys and girls and the media are all atwitter over Disney’s plans to bring Star Wars Episode VII to the big screen in 2015. Who knows, if the right person is watching, McCord could land a walk-on as a Twi’lek Jedi or some other role that calls for a barely-there costume and a toothy smile. Apparently, it’s not the first time that McCord has channeled her inner geek. In another gallery photo, she appears to be dressed as an Avatar Na’vi, sporting blue skin and a tale and a similarly hued cut-out dress. [ The Insider ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Mark Basseley Youssef , the California man behind Innocence of Muslims , is going to prison, although not for the Islam-goading movie he made. The Associated Press (via the New York Daily News ) is reporting that U.S. District Court Judge, Christina Snyder, sentenced Youssef — who’s also been identified in media reports as Nakoula Basseley — to one year in the big house after he admitted to four of eight alleged probation violations stemming from a 2010 bank fraud conviction, including obtaining a fraudulent California drivers license. None of the violations had to do with the content of “Innocence of Muslims,” a film that depicts Mohammad as a religious fraud, pedophile and a womanizer. The movie sparked violence in Libya and other parts of the Middle East, killing dozens. Although a film as amateurishly made as Innocence of Muslims should be a crime, Youssef’s inflammatory film is protected under the First Amendment. As George Clooney told Movieline , the film excerpt that appeared on YouTube “made me mad and I’m not Muslim,” adding: “The simple truth is that in order to make [democracy] work, the idiots get to have their say, too. Read more of Movieline’s coverage on Innocence of Muslims : After Innocence Of Muslims, 2 Possible Muhammad Pics On The Way Innocence of Muslims Filmmaker Nakoula Basseley Unmasked By New York Tabloids Was Inflammatory Innocence Of Muslims Film Directed By Karate Cop, Happy Hooker Schlock Veteran? Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
There’s a lot to look at in this international trailer for G.I. Joe: Retaliation : Explosions. The muscled forms of Channing Tatum and Dwayne Johnson . More explosions. Masked men engaging in ninja sword fights while suspended from a snowy mountain. Avalanche! Jonathan Pryce appearing to reprise his role as the Bond villain in Tomorrow Never Dies. Bruce Willis making cracks about his cholesterol after a near-death experience. Wait! What? Isn’t that what John McClane does in the Die Hard movies — like A Good Day to Die Hard , which hits movie theaters a month and a half before the G.I. Joe sequel? Okay, so no one plays a smirking, self-deprecating hard-ass better than Willis. Which is why you should learn how to tell them apart: In A Good Day to Die Hard , he’s John. In G.I. Joe Retaliation , he’s Joe. Simpler movie, simpler name. Got it? Good. Now, watch some explosions. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
It’s Hitchcock in the morning, Hitchcock in the evening, Hitchcock at supper time given the upcoming Hitchcock movie, the recently-aired HBO flick The Girl , Blu-Ray releases of Dial “M” for Murder (in 3D!) and Strangers on a Train , and now a sumptuous new collection of the Master of Suspense’s work. On the other end of the spectrum is a kids’ holiday movie that never got the acclaim it deserved — but now that director Paul Feig has gone on to make a little film called Bridesmaids , maybe it has a shot at cult status. HIGH: Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection (Universal Studios Home Entertainment; Blu-Ray $299.98) WHO’S RESPONSIBLE: This impressive set features 15 films directed by the Master of Suspense. WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Hitchcock plied his trade at a number of movie studios over the years, so this is hardly a complete retrospective of his legendary career. That said, Universal offers a sumptuous array of some of his best movies (and a few that aren’t the greatest). Recent Sight & Sound magazine chart-topper Vertigo pops up, alongside such cherished classics as Psycho , North by Northwest and The Birds . The box set also includes such lesser-known but equally unforgettable films Shadow of a Doubt , Frenzy , Rope , Marnie and Saboteur . WHY IT’S SCHMANCY: Hitchcock’s career is notable for more than his directorial talent. After David O. Selznick brought him to the U.S., Hitchcock became one of the most successful Hollywood filmmakers of his time. Then the French film critics who later started the New Wave, made the case that Hitch wasn’t merely a genre director but rather an artist and auteur . He scored a trifecta of sorts when the Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV show, featuring his droll wrap-arounds, made him a household name in this country in a way few directors ever accomplish. All three Hitchcocks — the journeyman, the visionary and the self-promoter — are on display here. WHY YOU SHOULD BUY IT (AGAIN): Only a few of these titles have been previously available on Blu-Ray, and there are enough extras here to stun an ox, from audio excerpts of the famous Hitchcock/Truffaut interviews to trailers and documentaries. Leonard Maltin even pops up to provide a defense for one of my least-favorite Hitchcock movies, Topaz. If anyone’s going to make me rethink a film, it’s Maltin. LOW: Unaccompanied Minors (Warner Home Video; DVD Double Feature with Dennis the Menace Christmas $12.97) WHO’S RESPONSIBLE: Written by Jacob Meszaros and Mya Stark, based on the story by Susan Burton; directed by Paul Feig; starring Dyllan Christopher, Gina Mantegna, Lewis Black, Wilmer Valderrama. WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Spencer (Christopher) and his younger sister Katie (Dominique Saldaña) are flying on their own — “unaccompanied minors,” in airline-speak — to spend the holidays with their father when they get snowed in at a Midwestern airport. Big brother and a bunch of other solo-traveling youngsters must outsmart the airport’s Christmas-hating manager (Black) to make sure Katie gets her present from Santa. WHY IT’S FUN: OK, yes, it sounds like your typical Home Alone rip-off, but Unaccompanied Minors deftly mixes youthful angst (they’re all the children of divorce) and hilarious hijinks in a way you’d expect from Feig, the creator of Freaks and Geeks . As with his critically-acclaimed NBC series, Feig has a great eye for casting the kids (the juvenile cast includes Brett Kelly from Bad Santa and Everybody Hates Chris ’ Tyler James Williams). He also loads the cast with a team of comedic all-stars that includes Teri Garr (as a woman whose holiday decorations are so aggressive that they scare passers-by), Rob Corddry, Sandra Tsing Loh, Mindy Kaling, B.J. Novak, Jessica Walter, Tony Hale, Dave “Gruber” Allen and three of The Kids in the Hall. WHY YOU SHOULD BUY IT: If you’ve got kids you need to keep entertained this holiday season, or if you want to check out a comic gem that was mostly ignored at the time of its release, this one’s absolutely worth picking up. Alonso Duralde has written about film for The Wrap , Salon and MSNBC.com. He also co-hosts the Linoleum Knife podcast and regularly appears on What the Flick?! (The Young Turks Network) . He is a senior programmer for the Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles and a pre-screener for the Sundance Film Festival. He also the author of two books: Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas (Limelight Editions) and 101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men (Advocate Books). Follow Alonso Duralde on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Your worst Halloween nightmare has come true. You’ve been invited last-minute to a costume party by your boss, who just loves letting his freak flag fly for the occasion. It’s a command performance, and your year-end bonus could damn well depend on what you throw together in the next hour. The thing is, you hate costume parties. Well, wipe that flop sweat off your brow, fire up your color printer and follow me to the next page. If your boss likes Halloween, then chances are he loved The Hunger Games and may even be channeling Katniss for the night. You can join him in rebelling against the Capitol with Movieline’s very own Mockingjay pun costume. 1.) Print this baby out, and 2.) pin or tape it to your shirt. For extra credit, do something weird with your hair and you, my friend, will be dressed to impress. Happy Halloween! Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Don Coscarelli and Ridley Scott don’t have a helluva lot in common as filmmakers, but watching the new trailer for the former director’s long-gestating movie John Dies at the End put me in mind of Scott’s Prometheus . Coscarelli’s film, which is based on a David Wong novel, has to do with a drug called “Soy Sauce” that gives its users access to another dimension. Check out the trailer at the 55-second mark where a drop of the soy sauce hangs from the needle of the syringe. Now tell me that its spiky black appearance doesn’t remind you of the scene in Prometheus where Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) — the morning after having unwittingly been fed some of that creepy black goo from the Engineers’ship by the android David — looks in the mirror and sees some scary weird tendrils projecting from his eyeball. As you might expect from the director of Phantasm and Bubba Ho-Tep , the trailer also has jumping Tarantulas, pills that turn into fly-like creatures and a monster that consists of various cuts of raw meat. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Just two quick observations about Joss Whedon ‘s Zomney political ad, which has gotten plenty of coverage elsewhere. The video has a lot of smart, funny lines in it, but it’s tough to beat the filmmaker’s observation that: “The 1 percent will no longer be the very rich. It will be the very fast.” The other thing that I love about the clip is that Whedon, who, based on the success of The Avengers alone is probably a member of the 1 percent — the wealthy, not the fast version — is doing dishes by hand in the spot. Love that earthy image Joss, and the drying rack. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
If human cloning has begun, I’d like to wager some money that Tom Hanks is an early adopter. The actor has been everywhere over the last week, making the media rounds to promote his latest picture, the ambitious Cloud Atlas , and his friend Steven Spielberg’s film Lincoln as well. On Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report on Thursday night, the actor worked in a clever nod to the six roles he plays in Cloud Atlas (well, four of them, anyway) in a Halloween-themed skit that featured kids costumed as some of the more memorable characters that Hanks has portrayed over the years, including Woody from Toy Story , Chuck Noland from Cast Away , replete with a “Wilson” volley ball cut open to function as a candy bag, astronaut Jim Lovell from Apollo 13 — an “Oscar-denied hero” as Hanks pointed out — and Captain Miller from Saving Private Ryan . His co-star in that film, Matt Damon , even made a cameo dressed as a soldier to grouse about being in the skit and say that that he’d rather be drunk at a movie theater “heckling Argo,” his bud Ben Affleck’s picture. I particularly love Hanks having fun with his nice guy image — at one point, he grouses about “that punk Joseph Gordon Levitt nipping at my heels” — and the self-promotion chores of Hollywood. After telling Colbert: “Six characters in one movie, isn’t it great!”, one of the kids in Cloud Atlas costumes declares: “I smell Oscar buzz!” The segment ran almost 10 minutes, but the there was more of Hanks to be had on TV that night. If you had your DVR recording The Late Show with David Letterman , Hanks also appeared in what the talk-show host claimed was a clip from Spielberg’s Lincoln . Funny, I never knew that they served popcorn and trash-can sized cups of soda at the Ford Theater back in Lincoln’s day. Two more reasons why Hanks isn’t just aces as an actor, he’s one of the most entertaining talk-show guests out there. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
James Bond may be able to tussle with the world’s most notorious evil-doers, but he’s not able to resist the alluring sounds of singer Adele ‘s soulful voice. 007 star Daniel Craig said that he cried when he first heard the theme song to Skyfall . In an interview with Yahoo! Movies U.K., the Bond star said he was moved emotionally when he heard the first notes of Adele’s ballad. “I cried,” he said. “From the opening bars I knew immediately, then the voice kicked in and it was exactly what I’d wanted from the beginning. It just got better and better because it fitted the movie. In fact the more of the movie we made, the more it fitted it.” Skyfall director Sam Mendes said that the Rolling in the Deep singer was given an early copy of the script to help her compose the song, co-written by Paul Epworth. “She came in very early before we started shooting and her main concern was ‘I write songs about myself, how can I make a Bond song? My answer was ‘just write a personal song’! Carly Simon’s ‘Nobody Does It Better’ was a love song,” said Mendes. Skyfall headed to the number one spot on iTunes only ten hours after its release. Adele recorded the song at London’s Abbey Road Studios, featuring a 77-piece orchestra. “I was a little hesitant at first to be involved with the theme song for ‘Skyfall,'” Adele said. “There’s a lot of instant spotlight and pressure when it comes to a Bond song.” And the song has already lured some notable covers. Artists Jedward and Willow Smith have given their spin to the catchy tune. Skyfall had its World Premiere in London Wednesday and will open in the U.S. November 9th. [ Sources: Huffington Post , Yahoo! Movies U.K. ]
