Cinematical

It looks like our beloved tween king really wants to move on from the glitz and glamor of tweendom. They grow up so quickly! Remember when Zac Efron bowed out of Footloose hoping to stop the neverending roll of typecasting after the High School Musicals and Hairspray? Well, he's taken his next step towards making that possible. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Efron will star in an upcoming untitled thriller for Mandate Pictures, one that he will also executive produce.

We're not getting any plot details yet, except for three words. It will be "a sexy thriller." Something along the lines of Basic Instinct? Mulholland Drive? I'm more inclined to believe that it's just an adult thriller, and Mr. Executive Producer wanted some sort of description released to alert us to the more adult fare. As we all know very well by now, "sex," "sexy," "stripper," and those other saucy s-words are essential when Disney alums try to break out of the fluff and into the meaty adult roles.

Leslie Dixon, the multifaceted writer behind films like The Thomas Crown Affair, Overboard, and Zac's own Hairspray remake will write the script, and as of now, there's no director attached. I'm just trying to imagine the dude in a sexy movie, but any film I slip him into makes me giggle, so I turn the question over to you: Are you ready for sexy Efron thrills?

Ever since I watched Neil Simon's Murder by Death over the weekend, and subsequently wrote about it, my head has been full of murder mysteries. More specifically, those set at the dinner table.

There's just something about a large feast, a collection of quirky characters, and the need to solve a mystery that works wonderfully again and again. It's no wonder there's a whole business dedicated to murder mysteries over dinner. Do those gourmet flavors like Sharks' Fin Soup inspire mental clarity? Or is it just the fact that sitting at a large table makes it harder to flee when hard truth hits? I've no idea, but again and again, the suspects sit and the truth ultimately comes out -- usually with the help of a clever detective like Nick Charles, Hercule Poirot, or a handful of colorful suspects pointing the finger at themselves.

Murder by Death, Ten Little Indians (and its many adaptations), Clue, The Thin Man, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Gosford Park ... you name it! There's food at every turn. They sit; they eat; they detect. But which is the best? Is there any way to really put one above the rest? There are so many great instances that it seems like the most impossible task to choose just one. Myself, I can't pick -- each has its magic, whether it be slurping soup, serving nonexistant soup, or a clever revelation of the killer Charles-style.

But what about you? Which dinner mystery do you think is the most foul pleasing?

In February, Kevin James signed on to play The Zookeeper in MGM's upcoming live action comedy. At the time, the plot was described as the story of a zookeeper who decides to leave the zoo because he's having trouble meeting a girl ... but the animals intervene. Now we know what that intervention is. The guy wants to win back the woman of his dreams, so the animals teach him their methods of dating and mating. I hate to say it, but this sounds cute.

The instructors of ze love, according to Variety, will be Adam Sandler as a capuchin monkey, Cher as a giraffe, Jon Favreau as a bear, Sylvester Stallone as a lion, and Judd Apatow as an elephant. I think they missed an opportunity by not making Sly a stallion, but otherwise, those voices could make for an interesting set of mating rituals.

Jim Breuer, Faizon Love, and Bas Rutten are rounding out the voice cast, but there's also one other name on the roster -- Rosario Dawson. Yes, she will play the woman of his dreams. Oh, men must love the fantasies that Hollywood provides.

The idea of anthropomorphized animals teaching a lonely sap mating rituals could make for a lot of comedy -- if they're allowed to really dip into the mating rituals. Do you think this James laffer will live up to the promise, or pale in comparison to projects like Green Porno?

Confessions of a Shopaholic
Perhaps we shouldn't expect anything from a movie about a shopaholic, but this comedy's ditzy heroine and silly story can't even compare to other notable films in the romcom genre. In her review, Jette Kernion said: "Confessions of a Shopaholic tries to have it all ... Unfortunately, it's never as good as the movies it tries to imitate." Skip it. Also on Blu-ray.

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Inkheart
Yet another film in Brendan Fraser's ever-growing collection of familial adventure. (Will he ever leave it behind and return to his dramatic roots?) Nick Schager describes the film as "a scattered collection of ideas, most of them cavalierly mixed together and barely fleshed out." Skip it. Also on Blu-ray.

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The Pink Panther 2
It might not seem possible, but as Eric D. Snider wrote in his review of the Steve Martin-starring sequel: "Despite being a sequel that is completely unnecessary, The Pink Panther 2 is actually better than its predecessor," and "It has several funny sequences and a general tone of good-natured frivolity." When fluffy fun is on the agenda, Rent it. Also on Blu-ray.

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Phoebe in Wonderland
Tim Burton's spin on Alice in Wonderland is quickly coming our way. But for now, there's the Elle Fanning-starring tale of a girl trying to find her place in real life. Kim Voynar said: "there are so many rich layers to explore in this carefully crafted story; it's rather like a kaleidoscope, in that what you see and get out of it shifts and changes depending on which character's perspective you're looking at, and what ideas you bring to watching it." Rent it.

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Also out: The Code, Bob Funk, Dragon Hunters, Table for Three, Mr. Troop Mom, Simon Says, Legend of the Bog, Backwoods, He's On My Mind, War Wolves

Stephen Dorff and Chris Pontius (Jackass) aren't the only men gearing up for Sofia Coppola's upcoming film Somewhere. It turns out the rumors are true -- Movieline has confirmed that Benicio del Toro will be making an appearance. Unfortunately, it's only brief. He'll play someone Dorff has a run-in with at the Chateau Marmont (where Dorff's character is holed up). This is fitting, as the site points out, since that's where he had that rumored sexy run-in with Scarlett Johansson. Will they meet in an elevator?

Meanwhile, funny woman Kathryn Hahn, who you surely remember from films like Anchorman and Step Brothers, has scored two new gigs -- one on the big screen, and one on TV. The Hollywood Reporter posts that she has grabbed a part in James Brooks' untitled baseball comedy, and is also developing a pilot with husband Ethan Sandler that she will potentially star in. As for the comedy -- that's the Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, and possibly Jack Nicholson flick focusing on romance, laughs, and baseball. She'll play Rudd's assistant.

Finally, Cher is really doing what she can to perk up her career lately. Aside from Drop Out and The Zookeeper, Variety has confirmed that the earlier talks have now been sealed -- Cher will head to Christina Aguilera's upcoming Burlesque. The saucy icon will play "a former dancer who struggles to keep the club open and gives the young girl a chance to shine." Cher will sing for the film, but there's no word on whether she'll turn back time to wear that bathing-suit like body floss.

Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) has invited the five greatest detectives to a "dinner and murder." How can they resist? Included are a blind butler, a deaf-mute maid, screams, spinning rooms, secret passages, false identities, and more plot turns and twists than are decently allowed.

When you see a plot summary like that, how can you resist? It's pure ridiculousness. Nine years before Clue, there was Neil Simon's Murder By Death -- a most excellent spoof on the classic literary detectives: Peter Falk as Sam Diamond (Spade), Elsa Lanchester as Jessica Marbles (Marple), David Niven and Maggie Smith as Dick and Dora Charleston (Charles), James Coco as Milo Perrier (Poirot), and Peter Sellers as Sidney Wang (Chan). Rounding out the cast, there's James Cromwell as a ridiculous French chauffeur, Eileen Brennan (of later Clue fame) as Spade's dame, Alec Guinness as the butler Bensonmum, Nancy Walker as the deaf-mute maid plus Estelle Winwood as the nurse and Richard Narita as Willie Wang.

Invited for the ultimate murder mystery party by Capote's Lionel Twain, each detective arrives with their recognizable quirks in tact, from Dick Charleston's martini and manners to Poirot's love of food. They arrive, they dodge death, and they try to solve the carefully planned and utterly confusing murder. It's completely ridiculous, but not in that way we're used to these days, with the proliferation of terrible spoofs. In 1976, it was talented actors whose charisma made the absurd irresistible and fun rather than trite and forgettable.

Thanks to that Internet phenomenon known as Twitter, the Scream world was buzzing over the weekend, clearing up some questions whilst opening up a whole other can of worms.

Last we heard, the Arquettes were in talks to reprise their roles for Scream 4. But they weren't the only ones Kevin Williamson was counting on. June 10: "Come on Sid! Say yes! Please!!!!!! I'm begging!!!!!" But it looks like begging didn't help to schmooze Neve Campbell back to her killer-fighting role. On Friday, Williamson followed up with: "Trying to figure out a Sid-less scenario. She won't do it. This sucks." (The tweet has since been removed, but can be found in the Google cache here.) He now says that he's "moving forward will all my characters regardless...it's the story I wanna tell."

Williamson further clarified his comments to PopWrap, saying "I've had numerous conversations with Neve. She's a friend. Nicest girl on the planet. It just ain't workin' out and it sucks for me." He also admitted that Campbell not doing it kinda hurts his original idea, because her role was a lot bigger than we all may have originally thought. "It was no cameo. I'd never play Sid out that way. And I ain't got no Sid-less scenario. So, I don't know yet what to do." He did, however, clear up one thing. This is definitely not a reboot: "It is a sequel. Scream 4. The first chapter of a new trilogy."

Could this be a chapter where the frights start from moment one and actually carry through to the end? Williamson is scaring himself, but can he still scare us?

This week we've got more to look forward to than just Public Enemies. According to USAToday, a collection of concept art and publicity images for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland will start wallpapering movie theaters. And they're a lot better than the blurry Hatter pic and first concept pieces!

Luckily, we won't have to die of impatience to see them, because the site included all the images -- a bunch of huge concept pictures that you can drag your mouse around to explore (like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum), our first official peek at Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter, plus our beloved royalty: Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen and Anne Hathaway's White Queen. The leaked Hatter pic doesn't do the full-color version justice, with Depp rocking a killer clown look, and Hathaway looks excellent. But Bonham Carter really takes the cake (and coolest bobblehead ever prize) with her digitally swelled noggin and heart-pursed lips. (Check it out in the gallery below.)



In this incarnation, Alice is a 17-year-old girl who flees a snooty party when she learns that she's about to be proposed to. She follows a white rabbit down a hole, and re-enters Wonderland. It's been ten years since that first visit, and she doesn't remember a thing.

Alice in Wonderland is scheduled to hit screens on March 5, 2010. Excited yet?

UPDATE: Movies.ie discovered the first image of Matt Lucas as both Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Check it out in the gallery above and in larger form over at Movies.ie. [via Slashfilm]

Here we go again! The latest film to get put through the remake ringer: Das Experiment. But at least this incarnation is getting a pretty interesting cast. Variety reports that Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker, Elijah Wood, and Cam Gigandet will star in The Experiment, Paul Scheuring's (Prison Break) take on the German psychological thriller.

For the uninitiated, Experiment focuses on a collection of ordinary guys who sign up for a research study. They must become a group of guards and prisoners to see what affects power and control can have on a man. Of course, those affects will be bad. Brody will be the de facto head of the prisoners, while Whitaker will play the guard who becomes corrupt with power. One can assume that the other two will fall in line on one of the two sides, although their roles aren't being shared at this time.

Man, I wonder if they'll get any pointers from Rider Strong? The Boy Meets World kid got all sick with power on Veronica Mars when Logan had to partake in this very experiment for class. But seriously -- with Brody and Whitaker at the front, this could be one sweetly dark flick. As for the Scheuring side, Prison Break never appealed to me so you wonderful readers will have to weigh in on that end. Filming begins in Iowa next month, so are you ready to tap into your darker, power-hungry side?

A new journey to the world of Cimmeria has been in the works for eons, with a slew of delays, casting rumors, and rewrites keeping the project barely puttering. Just look here to freshen up. But now ... the new Conan the Barbarian may have been found. And he bares a striking resemblance to the last. (My emphasis of that word will make sense in a second.)

The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Biz Blog reports that Lionsgate and Nu Image/Millennium are not interested in finding a fresh Conan, but grabbing an Arnold Schwarzenegger look-alike. They're in talks with Roland Kickinger -- a 41-year-old actor who, just like Arnie, is from Austria, is a body-builder-turned-actor, had a role as a T-800, and even played a Conan-era Arnie in See Arnold Run. Talk about the Schwarz being with you ... and about a lack of casting creativity!

Could this, perchance, be a little over-the-top? I mean, yay for Kickinger, who could finally make a huge mainstream-role out of his Arnold similarities and set out on the path for gubernatorial success. But as for the film and the rest of us -- this seems more over-the-top than a mirrored version of Psycho!

I don't think Schwarzenegger can say "I'll be back" anymore. It just doesn't have the same ring when there's a new Austrian to cover for him.