Michael C. Hall joins 'Pete's Dragon'; Aubrey Plaza meets 'Dirty Grandpa'; Bruce Willis plots 'Bandits'

A non-musical remake of Disney's live-action/animated film Pete's Dragon may not seem like one that would demand a ton of talent around it but that's exactly what it's got. David Lowery's film already stars Robert Redford, Bryce Dallas Howard, Wes Bentley, Oakes Fegley, and Oona Lawrence, and now you can add Dexter's Michael C. Hall. The film centers on an orphan boy who befriends a giant imaginary dragon. [Variety]

Last year Aubrey Plaza starred in the extremely raunchy comedy The To Do List, so she should be a perfect fit for a film titled Dirty Grandpa. She joins Zac Efron, Robert De Niro, and Zoey Deutch in the Dan Mazer-directed comedy about "an uptight twenty-something (Efron) who embarks on a road trip before his wedding to bond with his recently widowed grandfather (De Niro) only to find that his grandpa is a foul-mouthed lunatic on a mission to get laid during Spring Break." That sounds kind of great, actually. [Deadline]

Bruce Willis is finally bringing Elmore Leonard's book Bandits to the big screen. Years ago he had optioned the rights only to have it lapse and get picked up by Quentin Tarantino along with a bunch of other Leonardo novels. He, of course, ended up adapting Rum Punch into Jackie Brown while the other books again lapsed. Now Bandits is back in Willis' control and he's hired Mitch Glazer (Passion Play) to write the script. The dark comedy's complicated plot follows "Jack Delaney, an ex-con who is struggling to stay on the straight path as he dresses up corpses as a mortician in his brother’s funeral home. Things get much more exciting for him when he meets a gorgeous lapsed nun who is just back from Nicaragua where she took care of lepers and tried to keep the contras from hacking them up with machetes. She wants to smuggle a beautiful young Nicaraguan woman – who contracted leprosy–because the woman’s ex-lover, a Somoza-type colonel, wants to kill her for possibly infecting him. That same guy is raising millions from rich Americans to take back to the contras and the bored mortician finds his own cause, stiffing the colonel and getting away with a fortune with the help of the nun and an ex-cop." [Deadline]

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Spoil the Holidays with the 'Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever' Trailer

You know those stupid Grumpy Cat videos that were being shared all over your Facebook page like forever ago? Y'know, the ones that are still being sent to you by that friend who is ALWAYS late when it comes to stuff like this? Well, there's a movie on the way courtesy of those foul evildoers at Lifetime Network, and the first trailer for it has arrived to put a damper on your day.

Inexplicably it's Aubrey Plaza voicing the mean-spirited kitty in Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever. I beg to differ; the worst Christmas ever is for anybody who is forced to sit through this on holiday morning. Uh, the plot has a young girl being granted her Christmas wish of being able to communicate with Grumpy Cat, hilarity ensues, stuff gets blown up. Whatever. Never let it be said that Hollywood won't exploit any hot-for-a-second property for some quick cash.

Obviously, this looks atrocious and like something Plaza will scrub from her IMDB and Wikipedia page when she thinks nobody is paying attention. If you're interested in this holiday lump of coal it airs on November 29th.

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RZA meets 'Mr. Right'; Aubrey Plaza goes to 'Fresno'; 'Ant-Man' Adds Martin Donovan in Pivotal Role

RZA's Fox series Gang Related may not have lasted as long as he hoped, but the rapper/filmmaker has plenty to do on the big screen. He's joining Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick in Mr. Right, a comedy about a woman who falls in love with the perfect guy....except that he's a hitman. Paco Cabezas, who directed the dreadful Nicolas Cage thriller, Rage, is behind the camera for this one, but the script was written by Max Landis, who penned Chronicle.

The film Fresno already had a great pair of stars in Judy Greer and Natasha Lyonne, but now the cast has gotten even better with the addition of Aubrey Plaza. She joins the Jamie Bobbitt-directed film along with Molly Shannon, Fred Armisen, Clea Duvall, and Ron Livingston. The story centers on "two co-dependent sisters who work as hotel maids in Fresno."[Variety]

Martin Donovan, who is normally seen alongside Mary Louise Parker in everything from Saved! to Weeds, has just landed a "pivotal" and very secret role in Marvel's Ant-Man.  Filming is already underway so one would think the role is pretty small, which begs the question how important it can really be to the story? Perhaps the character he plays will go on to bigger things in future Marvel movies? Only time will tell. Peyton Reed is directing Ant-Man with Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Evangeline Lilly, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, T.I., and John Slattery starring. [THR]

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Chris Evans, Michelle Monaghan, Anthony Mackie and More in First 'Playing It Cool' Trailer

So what is it that causes a movie with an A-list cast to get delayed indefinitely? While sometimes it has to do with legal issues, like with Dakota Fanning's Effie Gray, more often than not it's because the movie isn't very good. But even then the right cast usually trumps quality, and that would seem to be the case with Serena, the period drama with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. But what about the romantic comedy Playing it Cool? It's been gathering dust since 2012 and even though the first trailer is out the film still doesn't have a release date.

The reason for the delay can't have anything to do with the cast because it's pretty phenomenal from top to bottom. Chris Evans, Michelle Monaghan, Anthony Mackie, Aubrey Plaza, Luke Wilson, Topher Grace, Martin Starr, Giovanni Ribisi, and Philip Baker Hall lead this one about a screenwriter who really wants to do a big action movie but is encouraged to write a romantic-comedy instead. Naturally this proves to be a problem because he doesn't know the first thing about love and doesn't believe it exists...until he meets the perfect woman. And maybe that's the issue with this film, which used to go under the title A Many Splintered Thing, is that it sounds like any of a million other similar movies. But that shouldn't be a problem given the generic state of rom-coms nowadays, and their continued box office success.

Chances are Playing it Cool with arrive some time in 2015 but for now it's on the shelf.


Playing it Cool - Official Trailer (2014) Chris Evans by MovieSpawn

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Johnny Depp is a Big Spender in First Trailer for 'Mortdecai'

Bouncing from one blockbuster franchise to the next has obviously done Johnny Depp a world of good. Not only are the Pirates of the Caribbean and Alice in Wonderland movies like printing money, but he gets to indulge in playing kooky characters that audiences seem to love. It's the other movies that have become a problem, as Depp has been mired in one high-profile flop after another: Dark Shadows, The Lone Ranger, Transcendence, and that's just the start. So what does that bode for Depp's latest, the quirky spy comedy, Mortdecai?

The first trailer for Mortdecai has Depp back in goofball mode just as his fans like him. Set to an updated version of "Big Spender", we're introduced to the titular idiotic man-of-mystery, an art dealer and rogue who gets swept up in a global plot involving stolen art, Nazi gold, international terrorists, angry Russians and British MI5. Directed by David Koepp, who seems to taking from the Austin Powers playbook, this looks a silly and broad comedic romp with a cast that includes Olivia Munn, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany, Ewan McGregor, Aubrey Plaza, and more. If it turns out to be a hit then chances are we'll see the rest of author Kyril Bonfiglioli's Mortdecai Trilogy brought to the screen.

Mortdecai hits theaters February 6th 2015, and should we take that terrible date as a bad omen?


Mortdecai Teaser TRAILER 1 (2015) - Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow Movie HD by MovieTrailerz

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Review: 'Life After Beth' Starring Dane DeHaan and Aubrey Plaza

NOTE: This is a reprint of my review from the Sundance Film Festival.  Life After Beth is available now exclusively on DirecTV.

It seems like so long ago that zombie movies were cool, but eventually the market became so flooded with the undead that they became as stale as their rotted flesh. That's led to a number of twists on the zombie genre designed to give it a fresh look; make them funny (thank you Shaun of the Dead), make them romantic parodies (lookin' at you Warm Bodies), make them something other than scary flesh-eaters. And already we've seen so many of these films that the update is in dire need of an update, best evidenced by Life After Beth, an indistinguishable and messy zombie comedy with a lot of talent but not a lot of laughs.

Written and directed by Jeff Baena, co-writer of David O. Russell's wonky I Heart Huckabees, Life After Beth is just as scattered tonally, and doesn't seem to have a clear point to make about relationships. An ominous shot of a girl hiking through the woods introduces us very briefly to Beth (Aubrey Plaza), who had just recently dumped her ex-boyfriend Zach (Dane DeHaan) to "see other people". When she dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances, Zach is understandably broken up and reaches out for any connection to her he can find. That means spending a lot of time with her parents (John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon), and pining for a second chance to do things over.

Miraculously, he gets his wish when Beth shows up at her home with zero recollection of anything that had happened. She doesn't remember the break-up or any of the problems that led up to it; all she recalls are the happy times. At first Zach comes to believe she's a zombie, but is unable to convince Beth's parents who want to act as if their daughter's return is perfectly normal. Eventually Zach just decides to go with it and take this opportunity to fix their relationship. It's like a really screwed up version of The Vow as they go out to their favorite spots and even have sex (ewwwww), while her fractured memory continues to deteriorate. But when she starts to decompose and give in to fits of rage, not even Zach is able to ignore it for long.

Ostensibly about our need to hold on to an ugly but comfortable past rather than moving on to something new, the Baena never takes this idea seriously enough for it to hold any significance. Nor is there any consistency to Zach's reaction to Beth's return. At first shocked and a little horrified, he goes in a flash to loving her again, only to fall out of love just as quickly. As he attempts to move on with an old acquaintance (Anna Kendrick), Zach just looks like a jerk, and a wish-washy one at that. No wonder Beth dumped him in the first place.

With a supporting cast that also includes Paul Reiser and Cheryl Hines, there a number of funny comic touches, but laughs never come consistently. The best gags come as Beth begins to exhibit zombie behavior for the first time, subtly snapping her jaws and growing more feral. The film makes the most out of zombie indestructibility, and sight gags involving a car and a giant weight strapped to Beth's back are truly inspired. It's unclear whether we're supposed to take this zombie threat (yes there are other undead walking around) seriously or just brush it off as genre silliness. If Baena wants us to take something meaningful from this story it's not readily apparent.

Safety Not Guaranteed offered a small glimpse of the sweeter side of Aubrey Plaza, but we see it fully on display here. She actually gets to cover the entire spectrum as Beth goes from Zach's excitable lover to drenched in blood and screaming at the top of her lungs in anger, confusion, and ultimately hunger. DeHaan is perhaps too cerebral of an actor for a role that requires him to be lighter on his feet comedically, and we get some solid work from the reliable John C. Reilly. Life After Beth doesn't compare to the best the zom-com genre has to offer, but nor is it the absolute worst. It lies somewhere in the unimpressive middle, and maybe it's time for other movies such as this to stay buried for awhile.

 Rating: 2.5 out of 5

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First Trailer and Posters for Zombie Comedy 'Life After Beth' with Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan

Zombie movies have been a largely overused facet of the horror genre for decades without much deviation, but lately we've started to see filmmakers take the idea in some fun new directions. Of course there was Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland which played up the familiar aspects of zombie movies in a comedic way, and last year's Warm Bodies gave us a romantic twist on the formula. Following a similar path is Jeff Baena's zombie rom-com Life After Beth, which debuted at Sundance and has now just released its first trailer.

Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan play the couple at the center of this one, with him as a guy who desperately wants to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, Beth. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, he gets that opportunity when she is killed and returns as a slowly deteriorating zombie with total amnesia. Baena has pulled together a great supporting cast with Paul Reiser, John C. Reilly, Anna Kendrick, Molly Shannon, Cheryl Hines, and Matthew Gray Gubler, but it's Plaza who really steals the show in what I believe is her finest work since Safety Not Guaranteed. Overall the film was too inconsistent to make the best use of such a fun idea, saying in my review it "lies somewhere in the unimpressive middle" of the growing zom-com genre.

Life After Beth hits theaters on August 15th.

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Trailer for Ensemble Dramedy 'About Alex' with Aubrey Plaza, Jason Ritter, Jane Levy, and More

There must be an unwritten rule somewhere that every indie ensemble that looks vaguely like The Big Chill must have Jason Ritter involved. It's not necessarily a bad thing and he's certainly found his niche in the genre, something he talked about in my interview with him for The Big Ask, and he's got another such film on the way in About Alex.

Ritter stars alongside Nate Parker, Aubrey Plaza, Jane Levy, Max Greenfield, Max Minghella, and Maggie Grace in the dramedy that marks the directorial debut of writer Jesse Zwick. Here's the official synopsis although I'm guessing you can probably figure what this one's about because all of these movies deal with the same issues reflected by the current generation...

In ABOUT ALEX, a circle of twenty-something friends reunite for a weekend away after one of them suffers an emotional breakdown. Despite the group’s best efforts to keep it light and enjoy themselves, a tinderbox of old jealousies, unrequited love, and widening political differences leads to an explosion that, coupled with the flammable combination of drugs, wine, and risotto, cannot be contained. An honest appraisal of adult friendship for our current social media moment, ABOUT ALEX is a lighthearted look at the struggles of a generation that has it all – and wants more.

About Alex hits VOD and theaters August 8th, and along with the trailer here's also a new clip.

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Aubrey Plaza Joins 'The Driftless Area' as First Photo Debuts

On sale right now at Cannes is The Driftless Area, an adaptation of Tom Drury's acclaimed novel dealing with love, death, and fate. With a cast consisting of Anton Yelchin, Zooey Deschanel, Frank Langella, Alia Shawkat, and John Hawkes, drumming up a few buyers should be easy, especially now that production has begun and another big name has come aboard.

Aubrey Plaza is the final addition to the film, signing on just as the first official image has been released. Co-written by Drury and director Zachary Sluser, the story centers on Pierre (Yelchin), a young bartender who returns home after the death of his parents, only to fall in love with the mysterious Stella (Deschanel). He also gets wrapped up with a dangerous crook and some stolen cash.

Filming is underway now in Vancouver, and we can expect to see Plaza next opposite Chris Evans in A Many Splintered Thing. She'll also co-star in Mortdecai with Johnny Depp and will return for the final season of NBC's Parks and Recreation.  [THR]

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Aubrey Plaza Joins Hal Hartley's 'Ned Rifle'

It's been five years since Hal Hartley's Fay Grim, the second leg of his planned serio-comic trilogy that began with 1997's Henry Fool, and the final chapter is shaping up quite nicely. Aubrey Plaza will be taking on the female lead in Ned Rifle, as Henry Fool's (the returning Thomas Jay Ryan) long lost flame, Susan. Parker Posey is back as Fay Grim, and so are Liam Aiken and James Urbaniak as Ned and Simon Grim. The supporting cast includes Martin Donovan, Karen Sillas, Robert John Burke, and William Sage. These films tend to take unexpected turns, so it will be interesting to see where this one goes. Fay Grim suddenly became an espionage movie, and judging by Hartley's description this one will be just as out there....

"In this swiftly paced conclusion, Henry and Fay’s son, Ned, played by Liam Aiken, turns 18 and leaves a witness protection program. (“Rifle” is his maternal grandmother’s maiden name—he’s incognito). His mom has spent the last four years in military custody for alleged terrorist activities (see Fay Grim, 2007) and is transferred to a federal penitentiary to serve a life sentence. Ned, who has absorbed the Christianity of the well adjusted and devout family he has been living with, nevertheless sets out to find and kill his dad, Henry Fool, for the mess the man has made of Fay’s life. But his aims are frustrated by the brilliant, sexy, and troubled Susan, whose connection to Henry predates even the great man’s arrival in the lives of the Grim family."

Sounds perfect for Plaza, who has been using the indie world to expand beyond her usual droll, deadpan sense of humor. The Kickstarter-funded Ned Rifle should begin shooting next month and hit the festival circuit later this year. [Variety]

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Sundance Review: 'Life After Beth' Starring Dane DeHaan and Aubrey Plaza

It seems like so long ago that zombie movies were cool, but eventually the market became so flooded with the undead that they became as stale as their rotted flesh. That's led to a number of twists on the zombie genre designed to give it a fresh look; make them funny (thank you Shaun of the Dead), make them romantic parodies (lookin' at you Warm Bodies), make them something other than scary flesh-eaters. And already we've seen so many of these films that the update is in dire need of an update, best evidenced by Life After Beth, an indistinguishable and messy zombie comedy with a lot of talent but not a lot of laughs.

Written and directed by Jeff Baena, co-writer of David O. Russell's wonky I Heart Huckabees, Life After Beth is just as scattered tonally, and doesn't seem to have a clear point to make about relationships. An ominous shot of a girl hiking through the woods introduces us very briefly to Beth (Aubrey Plaza), who had just recently dumped her ex-boyfriend Zach (Dane DeHaan) to "see other people". When she dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances, Zach is understandably broken up and reaches out for any connection to her he can find. That means spending a lot of time with her parents (John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon), and pining for a second chance to do things over.

Miraculously, he gets his wish when Beth shows up at her home with zero recollection of anything that had happened. She doesn't remember the break-up or any of the problems that led up to it; all she recalls are the happy times. At first Zach comes to believe she's a zombie, but is unable to convince Beth's parents who want to act as if their daughter's return is perfectly normal. Eventually Zach just decides to go with it and take this opportunity to fix their relationship. It's like a really screwed up version of The Vow as they go out to their favorite spots and even have sex (ewwwww), while her fractured memory continues to deteriorate. But when she starts to decompose and give in to fits of rage, not even Zach is able to ignore it for long.

Ostensibly about our need to hold on to an ugly but comfortable past rather than moving on to something new, the Baena never takes this idea seriously enough for it to hold any significance. Nor is there any consistency to Zach's reaction to Beth's return. At first shocked and a little horrified, he goes in a flash to loving her again, only to fall out of love just as quickly. As he attempts to move on with an old acquaintance (Anna Kendrick), Zach just looks like a jerk, and a wish-washy one at that. No wonder Beth dumped him in the first place.

With a supporting cast that also includes Paul Reiser and Cheryl Hines, there a number of funny comic touches, but laughs never come consistently. The best gags come as Beth begins to exhibit zombie behavior for the first time, subtly snapping her jaws and growing more feral. The film makes the most out of zombie indestructibility, and sight gags involving a car and a giant weight strapped to Beth's back are truly inspired. It's unclear whether we're supposed to take this zombie threat (yes there are other undead walking around) seriously or just brush it off as genre silliness. If Baena wants us to take something meaningful from this story it's not readily apparent.

Safety Not Guaranteed offered a small glimpse of the sweeter side of Aubrey Plaza, but we see it fully on display here. She actually gets to cover the entire spectrum as Beth goes from Zach's excitable lover to drenched in blood and screaming at the top of her lungs in anger, confusion, and ultimately hunger. DeHaan is perhaps too cerebral of an actor for a role that requires him to be lighter on his feet comedically, and we get some solid work from the reliable John C. Reilly. Life After Beth doesn't compare to the best the zom-com genre has to offer, but nor is it the absolute worst. It lies somewhere in the unimpressive middle, and maybe it's time for other movies such as this to stay buried for awhile.

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Bruce Willis is 'Captive'; Aubrey Plaza Joins 'Mortdecai'; Elijah Wood 'Sets Fire to the Stars'

* Bruce Willis can still pack 'em in, especially for the most tired of action movies, and he's just added another one in hopes of getting more of your money. He'll star in the boringly-titled Captive (*yawn*), about "an American real estate magnate living in Brazil who is kidnapped and held for ransom at a prison cell hidden in a Sao Paolo landfill while a detective specializing in ransom cases tries to find him." Directing is Simon Brand, who helmed the mediocre "whodunnit" Unknown. [Variety]

* Production on the Johnny Depp-led comedy Mortdecai has moved to Los Angeles, and along with it a handful of promising new additions have been made to the cast. Aubrey Plaza, Jeff Goldblum, and Oliver Platt have joined Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, and Paul Bettany in the adaptation of Kyril Bonfiglioli's books about the titular art dealer and part-time rogue who goes off on a quest involving a stolen painting and missing Nazi gold. David Koepp is directing, and with this cast Mortdecai could be Depp's best film in years.

* Elijah Wood will play famed poet John Michael Brinnin in the indie drama, Set Fire to the Stars.  Andy Goddard (Downton Abbey) will co-write and direct the story which chronicles Brinnin's friendship with Welsh writer Dylan Thomas, played by Celyn Jones. Thomas led a turbulent life led by his personal demons and a stormy marriage, and I suspect the bulk of the film will deal with how Brinnin tried to help his friend through it. Production begins later this month.

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New trailer for Mark Webber's 'The End of Love'

Mark Webber's intimate and deeply personal The End of Love debuted at last year's Sundance Film Festival, so perhaps in an attempt to remind people of that, a new trailer has debuted just days before this year's fest kicks off. We brought you the previous one a few months ago, and it looks like a story Webber has been aching to tell for quite some time, even if it does look all too much like the prototypical indie festival film.  Starring alongside his actual son, Webber plays an actor(named Mark of course), who must learn to grow up and take care of his child in the wake of his wife's sudden death.

Co-starring Aubrey Plaza, Shannyn Sossamon, Michael Cera, Amanda Seyfried, Jason Ritter, and more, the film hits Itunes on January 21st before opening in limited release on March 1st. Check out the trailer below....

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Aubrey Plaza and John C. Reilly to lead zombie comedy 'Life After Beth'

Because Hollywood's idea of doing something new and different with zombie movies is to make them funny, we've seen no shortage of films emulating Simon Pegg's Shaun of the Dead. Some work better than others, and we'll be seeing the idea tweaked a tad with with the upcoming undead romance, Warm Bodies. But there's one on the horizon that has a leg up on the rest with two fantastic leads already in place.

A story in The Guardian about Aubrey Plaza revealed that the Parks and Recreation star will be headlining Life After Beth, a zombie comedy also starring John C. Reilly. Written and directed by her boyfriend, Jeff Baena(I Heart Huckabees co-writer), the film sounds like a big screen adaptation of the U.K. short film of the same name, which has the following logline...

“Domestic bliss, tenderness, heartbreak and the undead. Life After Beth is a short observation of a couple subsisting together in London.”

The film is actually kinda weird and surreal, so I'm curious to see how it'll be adapted for the big screen. Assuming that's what Baena is actually doing. But the premise is great, and Plaza is on a roll right now. Combine her with the super-talented Reilly and this could be a pretty sweet deal. Filming is set to begin next spring.

Life After Beth... from Cosmo For King on Vimeo.

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Trailer for Mark Webber's 'The End of Love' with Michael Cera and Amanda Seyfried

Premiering at Sundance earlier this year, The End of Love didn't make a whole lot of waves, and thus to the best of my knowledge still doesn't have a distribution deal in place. The film marks the second directorial effort by Mark Webber, an actor many will recognize from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and he's brought along a few friends in a story that looks to be a deeply personal one.

Webber stars as an actor named Mark, who is struggling to find a balance between work and caring for his infant son as a single parent.  'Scott Pilgrim' alum Michael Cera appears as himself, and Aubrey Plaza is in there as well. Amanda Seyfriend plays a woman named Amanda, and if you look closely you'll see others such as Alia Shawkat and Jason Ritter. Shannyn Sossamon plays a woman Mark seems to hit it off with, and what you get is what looks like a reflection on some aspect of the actor's real life, mixed with a healthy dose of fiction. While seeing all of Webber's close buds together is cool, this trailer is so glacially paced I hope they aren't using it as part of the sales pitch.

Check out the trailer for The End of Love below....[BleedingCool]

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Sure Shots: Aubrey Plaza; 50 Cent; Matthew Vaughn

* If Roman Coppola wanted to draw attention to his long awaited(over a decade!) sophomore directing effort, A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, then he made a smart choice in snagging Charlie Sheen for a role that sounds eerily close to his own wacky life. But if Coppola wants the film to be any good, he'll need more help than that. And so along with co-star Jason Schwartzmann, he's now added the sardonic wit of Aubrey Plaza(Funny People). The story centers on Swan, a successful and irresistable graphic designer whose life goes into a tailspin after his girlfriend breaks up with him. [Variety]

* Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. >sigh< I know, it seems like the rapper/bullet magnet is in another film every single week. It's not that far from the truth, as he's hooked up with producers Randall Emmett and George Furla who are making movies just for him. The next is The Pursuit, about a cop and a criminal teaming inadvertently teaming up to capture a bank robber, each for their own personal reasons. They are pursued by a US Marshall trying to get to the robber so he can face proper legal justice. [Deadline]

* So chatty comic book creator Mark Millar has finally started to accept that Kick-Ass 2 may not even happen, and if it does Matthew Vaughn likely won't be back as director. Awesome. That doesn't mean the two won't work together again, though. In fact it seems like a certainty, as Vaughn has picked up the film rights to Millar's comic, Superior. It's a really good story, actually, and one of Millar's best. It centers on a young boy suffering from multiple sclerosis, who idolizes a comic book hero by the name of Superior. When an alien being arrives on earth and chooses the boy to have one wish fulfilled, he gains the ability to turn into his idol.

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Sure Shots: Elysium; Sarah Palin/Julianne Moore; The Hand Job

* A couple of quick notes about Neill Blomkamp's follow-up to District 9, the sci-fi flick Elysium. LatinoReview broke the news that Wagner Moura(Elite Squad 2) has signed on as a villain with a "crazy sense of humor". He'll be joining Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, and Sharlto Copley. Sony has also announced a March 8th 2013 release date.

* Ever since it was announced that Jay Roach would be directing Game Change, based on the controversial book about the 2008 Presidential campaign of John McCain, I've been wondering who would play his running mate turned professional victim, Sarah Palin. I guess it was too much to hope for Tina Fey, but I'll take Julianne Moore please! EW reports that the Boogie Nights super-actress(she's always awesome, I don't care what anyone says) will play the Vice Presidential nominee. I can't wait to see what approach she takes, since we've seen so many impersonations of her already. 

* Aubrey Plaza is going to be a star. Count on it. The hilarious comedienne was the best part of Judd Apatow's Funny People, and she had a few spot on moments in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Her first true starring vehicle is The Hand Job, which sees her playing a studious high school grad trying to get some sexual experience before college. The film was written by Bill Hader's wife, Maggie Carey, who also plans to direct. Hader just dropped some additional casting to The Playlist: Alia Shawkat(Amreeka), Donald Glover(Mystery Team), Andy Samberg(Hot Rod), Mae Whitman(Scott Pilgrim), and Connie Britton(Friday Night Lights) are all aboard. Count me in!

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