Sure Shots: Penelope Cruz/Woody Allen; Taken 2; Rise of the Apes

* Woody Allen's very promising Midnight in Paris opens in just a few short weeks, but he's already hard at work on his next film, an untitled piece to be shot in Rome. Pretty much nothing has been revealed about what that film will entail, but I'm guessing it'll have a bunch of beautiful people talking about love and sex ad nauseum. One thing we do know is that Penelope Cruz will be in it, returning to work with the legendary filmmaker after the success of 2008's Vicky Cristina Barcelona. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in that film. Could history repeat itself?  Thanks to EW for the breaking news on that story.

* The breathless flap over Liam Neeson possibly exiting the sequel to Taken has long since subsided, so I guess it's safe now to start locking up the people he'll be working with. Since the sole reason his butt kicking middle-aged daddy character was so riled up last film was the kidnapping of his daughter, played by Maggie Grace(Faster), it only makes sense she'd come back this time as well. Grace has been confirmed to be returning for the sequel, to be directed by the man with the supervillain name, Olivier Megaton(Transporter 3). I'll sh*t if she gets kidnapped again in this flick. 

* Coming up with a viable title for Fox's Planet of the Apes prequel has proven to not be as fun as a barrel full of monkeys. The film, which stars James Franco and directed by Rupert Wyatt, has had three titles already, the most recent being Rise of the Apes. Well now CBM reports that it's changed again, to the lengthy Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Yuck.