Ben Foster Joins 'The Finest Hours', Leslie Mann Eyes 'Vacation', Billy Bob Thornton Boards 'Our Brand is Crisis'

Disney's Coast Guard rescue drama The Finest Hours just got a lot more interesting with the addition of Ben Foster (The Messenger) to the cast. He joins Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, and Holliday Grainger in the Craig Gillespie-directed film chronicling the dangerous 1952 rescue attempt after two oil tankers collided during a blizzard. Foster will be seen next as Lance Armstrong in an untitled biopic, and will have a key role in Duncan Jones' Warcraft film. [Variety]


Filming on the remake of National Lampoon's Vacation begins this week, but one major role has remained elusive. That would be Audrey Griswold, the sister of Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) and daughter to Clark and Ellen Griswold (Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo). Leslie Mann (Knocked Up) is eyeing the Audrey role now, with Chris Hemsworth as her TV anchor husband, Stone Crandall. Christina Applegate plays Rusty's wife, with Charlie Day as a river rafting guide. John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein (Horrible Bosses) are directing.


Fresh off the multi-Emmy winning Fargo, Billy Bob Thornton is in talks to join Sandra Bullock in the political comedy, Our Brand is Crisis. Directed by David Gordon Green and based on Rachel Boynton's 2005 documentary, the film centers on political spin doctors as they try to sway the 2002 Presidential election in Bolivia.

Read More

Leslie Mann Hunts Down 'Las Madres'; Lena Headey is 'Jacqueline Ess'; Ming-Na Wen Joins '6 Miranda Drive'

* Leslie Mann can currently be seen in the terrible but money-raking comedy The Other Woman, about three scorned women who get revenge on the man they hate. Now Mann is set to lead Las Madres, which is about three unemployed friends who decide to earn a buck by tracking down a wanted criminal with a price on his head. Way to stretch there! No director is on board yet but Pam Brady is rewriting Lona Williams' original script. [Variety]

* In HBO's Game of Thrones, Lena Headey plays the evil and manipulative Cersei Lannister, a woman more than willing to use sex to get what she wants. Headey will play a similar character now in Jacqueline Ess, an adaptation of Clive Barker's short story about a woman who achieves the ability to transform people’s bodies at will. She uses this power to grant men their greatest desires, but always at a fatal cost. Jovanka Vukovic will make her directorial debut on the film which will shoot later this year. [Variety]

* Ming-Na Wen will take a break from hopping the globe in Agents of SHIELD to star in 6 Miranda Drive, a small-budget horror from the folks at Blumhouse Productions. Directed by Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) and starring Kevin Bacon and Radha Mitchell, the film centers on a family who bring back a supernatural force from their vacation to the Grand Canyon. Seriously.

Read More

Review: 'The Other Woman' Starring Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, and Kate Upton

Why didn't somebody tell me it was 1996 all over again and The First Wives Club was back in theaters? Oh wait, it's 2014 and that is not Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bette Midler making mincemeat out of some poor, cheating scum of a man? No, this is The Other Woman, a rancid pseudo "girl power" film about women who think it's just the greatest thing ever to learn they've all been cheated on by the same guy. And maybe that's true since the guy is Game of Thrones' hunky Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who gets the honor of crashing through a plate glass window and crapping his pants.

Figuratively, director Nick Cassavetes has also stunk up the joint with this doughy pant load of a comedy, the kind that should have women carrying pitchforks to screenwriter Melissa Stack's door. It's a shame because Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann are two of the funniest women around, both generally hitting high marks with raunchy comedies just like this. But Stack's insulting, clichéd script and Cassavetes' inexperienced comedic hand is an insurmountable opponent. Diaz plays Carly, a high-powered lawyer who seems a notch or two less stern and crazy than her character in The Counselor, although this would have been a better movie if she were. Carly thinks Mark (Coster-Waldau) is the perfect guy, and for a while he is. She confides in her girl-chasing father (Don Johnson) that she thinks Mark is almost too perfect, and on cue she discovers he's a married man with a home in Connecticut. Oops. That'll teach you women to show up at a guy's house unannounced and dressed like the world's sluttiest Roto Rooter employee.

Mark's wife Kate (Mann) might as well have "Welcome" stamped on her forehead she's such a doormat. He's reaping the benefits of a business venture based on her ideas, riding in fancy cars and jetting around the country where he seems to have women stashed like candy at fat camp. Meanwhile she's insulting her own intelligence and basically acting like a buffoon. When she learns of Mark's infidelity, she has a total breakdown which looks an awful lot like her acting normal. While shedding some tears is to be expected, Kate goes full-on stalker and latches on to Carly, basically forcing them to become the most improbable of friends. Rather than moving on and just getting Mark out of their lives, they decide it makes more sense to make their entire lives about getting payback. Kate Upton is upstaged by her own cleavage (she's nicknamed "The Boobs" for a reason) as Amber, yet another of Mark's conquests who gets in on the vengeful shenanigans.

So the girls make Mark's life miserable in every way that matters to a guy like him. Hair remover in the shampoo, Ex-Lax mixed into his drinks, financial ruin...it's all there and extremely familiar. At one point he sprouts boobs after downing some female hormones. Hey, the guy deserves it. He didn't just cheat on his wife; he wasn't honest with Kate and Amber, either. So there's no doubt Mark is a total douche. However, the women aren't all that, either, and the script doesn't do much to make us care about them a whit. In fact, it seems to insult them at every available opportunity. Kate is a cry-baby who insults her own intelligence frequently. The one thing Carly is supposed to be good at (other than sexual marathons) is being a lawyer, but she never shows any real aptitude for it. And Amber might as well be a wind up doll with a gigantic rack. There's never a lick of consistency in the way these women relate to one another, and their attitudes shift at the drop of a plot contrivance.

That's not to say Diaz and Mann don't do their best with what poor material they're given. Mann is pretty funny when she's not flopping from one idiotic pratfall to the next. You'd think after all of those Apatow movies she'd want to get away from playing insecure women, but apparently not. Diaz finds herself in the straight-role, and she's always at her best as the alpha female. It's another impressive comedic turn in a career full of them. She and Mann would make a great duo in another movie. Upton's not terrible, she's really only there to be a hot bod and that's what she's good at. Coster-Waldau bites it the worst, though. There's nothing for him here but toilet humor and forced overacting. Game of Thrones must seem like a calming reservoir after this experience.

The Other Woman isn't just an unfunny comedy, but it treats its female characters like a bunch of side chicks.

Read More

See 'The Other Woman' Before It's In Theaters!

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau must be one hell of a guy, not only does he play Jamie Lannister on the awesome Game of Thrones but now he's starring in The Other Woman where he has to make us believe that Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, and Kate Upton are all fighting over...or because of, him. 

After discovering her boyfriend is married, a woman (Cameron Diaz) tries to get her ruined life back on track. But when she accidentally meets the wife he’s been cheating on (Leslie Mann), she realizes they have much in common, and her sworn enemy becomes her greatest friend. When yet another affair is discovered (Kate Upton), all three women team up to plot mutual revenge on their cheating, lying, three-timing SOB.

If you want to see this one before it hits theaters make sure to hurry, the first 40 people who go to GoFoBo via this link get tickets. The screening takes place on Tuesday, April 22nd at 7:00pm at Regal Gallery Place. Hurry up and get them now, they won't last long!

Read More

New Trailer and Three Clips for 'The Other Woman' Starring Kate Upton's Rack

It's going to be a busy summer for Cameron Diaz as she stars in two very different rom-coms dealing with sex. Marital relations with Jason Segel go awry in the R-rated comedy, Sex Tape, which just dropped its first red band trailer. But before that she'll deal play The Other Woman in a film starring Leslie Mann and Kate Upton.

For reasons beyond understanding, a new Emoji trailer for the film has been released which only serves to make it look less appealing. If these are the steps they're sinking to draw attention, what does that tell you? Along with it come three clips that show us how hysterical infidelity can be. Diaz plays a woman who discovers that her boyfriend (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is not only married to Mann's character, but also has an even younger mistress played by Upton. Rather than fighting it out, they team up to get revenge. Blah blah blah blah girl power or something. Short of Upton's admittedly-awesome slow motion jogging, and the revelation that even the smell of her sweat is alluring, this looks pretty terrible.

The Other Woman gets played on April 25th.

Read More

Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann get Revenge in 'The Other Woman' Trailer

It's probably not worth it anymore to complain about the state of romantic comedies and their treatment of women. Every year we're inundated with awful movies that depict women as conniving, bitter, petty, insecure....and that's just how they are to their friends! It's probably not going to stop any time soon, and in 2014 we get to see those stereotypes perpetuated in The Other Woman.

The first trailer for this potential train wreck has been released, in which Leslie Mann and Cameron Diaz play a wife and mistress who team up to take down the guy cheating on them both. Turns out he's Nikolaj Coster-Waldau from Game of Thrones, and he's got yet another gal on the side in Kate Upton, with the only real highlight a slo-mo jogging scene that sure trick a few guys into buying a ticket. Oh, and Nicki Minaj is in this for some reason.  I didn't know women were so forgiving. So it's normal for the wife to become good friends with the woman her husband has been messing around with?

Anyway, this looks terrible and like a pock mark on the pimply career of Nick Cassavetes. The Other Woman opens April 25th 2014. 


The Other Woman with Kate Upton and Cameron Diaz – Official Trailer by FanReviews

Read More

Get down with the teaser trailer for 'Rio 2'

Blue Sky Studios has had a pretty good go of it with their animated line-up, beginning of course with the mega-successful Ice Age movies and others like Robots and Horton Hears a Who! But nobody could have predicted that 2011's incredibly vibrant Rio would take home nearly $500M worldwide. Yet that's exactly what it did, and so a sequel was whipped up that now has a trailer all set and ready to go.

The teaser doesn't actually explain much of the plot, instead letting us know this will be as much of a jubilant musical celebration as the last one. Jesse Eisenberg is back voicing Blu, the quirky blue macaw who now lives in Rio de Janiero with his three kids and wife Jewel, voiced by Anne Hathaway. Afraid their kids are growing soft in the big city, they decide to take them out in the Amazon wilds to live like real birds.  Tracy Morgan, Leslie Mann, Will.i.am, Jamie Foxx, George Lopez, and Jermaine Clement all return.

Carlos Saldanha is back to direct Rio 2, which opens on April 11th 2014.


RIO 2 - Bande-Annonce Teaser [VF|HD1080p] by Lyricis

Read More

Leslie Mann and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau join 'The Other Woman' with Cameron Diaz

When we first began hearing about The Other Woman, it was shaping up to feature quite the promising pair of ladies at the top in Cameron Diaz and Kristen Wiig. Diaz always seemed like more sure of a thing, and now Wiig is definitely out as Leslie Mann has come aboard, joined by Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

With Nick Cassavetes directing and a script by Melissa Stack, the story has Diaz as a woman who discovers she's the mistress to a married man, and teams up with his wife to get revenge. Mann will play the wife while Coster-Waldau will play the cheating spouse.

This sounds a little too much like The First Wives Club to me, but I generally like everyone involved, even if Mann has been playing the same role for years. She'll be seen next in Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring, while Coster-Waldau continues to build his resume by appearing in Oblivion opposite Tom Cruse. [THR]

Read More

Leslie Mann, Israel Broussard and a host of newcomers join Sofia Coppola's 'The Bling Ring'

Sofia Coppola isn't wasting any time casting up her next film centered on Hollywood excess, The Bling Ring. With Emma Watson and Taissa Farmiga already in place, Coppola is adding not only a veteran comedic presence, but also a handful of newcomers getting their big break.

Leslie Mann(Knocked Up), aka Mrs. Judd Apatow is the latest to join the film based on the true story of a bunch of teens known as the Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch aka The Bling Ring who robbed the homes of wealthy celebrities. Mann will play the mother of two of the girls in the group, probably Alexis and Gabrielle Neiers. Continuing her trend of hyping undiscovered talent, Coppola has cast Israel Broussard(Flipped, The Chaperone) as the male lead. Katie Chang, Claire Pfister and Georgia Rock will be making their feature film debuts.

Filming will begin in the spring, so it's unlikely we'll see it by the end of the year. I hate to see it end up in early 2013 as it will be forgotten come awards season, but we'll just have to wait and see. The addition of Mann makes me think this may be more of a comedy or satire than originally thought. [THR]

Read More

Judd Apatow confirms next film will be a Knocked Up spin-off, not a sequel

Briefly, since I've written and corrected myself once about this already.  Judd Apatow recently confirmed to HitFix that his next film will not be a sequel or prequel to Knocked Up. Instead, it will be a spin-off featuring the popular characters portrayed by Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann in the film.

So I wasn't completely wrong. I did call the film a "sequel of sorts", since his first statements didn't seem to clarify things. So I guess we can look at this in the same way we look at Get Him to the Greek, which was a spinoff of Forgetting Sarah Marshall featuring Russell Brand's Aldous Snow character. Below is the relevant quote from Apatow.

“It is just a story from Pete and Debbie’s current life. People really responded to their characters and problems.  I felt like there was a lot of ground I could explore with them.”

Spinoff. Sequel. What's the friggin' difference? It's using the same characters in a story that takes place after the first one. I guess it doesn't really matter what it's called. I'm looking forward to it regardless.

Read More

Knocked Up again?!? Judd Apatow to write and direct sequel(or prequel) *UPDATE*

*UPDATE* According to a tweet from Judd Apatow himself, the film will be a sequel as it takes place in the current time...

"it takes place currently. Lots of fun details to it but I will keep them quiet for a little while. It comes out summer 12."

You can read the rest of last night's report on the story below.

Judd Apatow's last film as writer/director was 2009's Funny People, which didn't exactly hit home with a lot of people. It had it's moments(mostly in the more biographical first half), but eventually fell apart into a lousy sitcom. Now we know what his next project is going to be, and according to Variety he'll be going back to his biggest hit yet by revisiting Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann's characters from 2007's Knocked Up.

No word yet on whether or not Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl's characters, the focus of the first film, will make an appearance. Considering Heigl's feelings towards the film, I think it's probably more likely we'll see Rogen show up and not her.

Universal Pictures plans for shooting to begin this summer, with a June 1st 2012 release date already established.

I wonder if this is a way to compensate for Funny People's lukewarm reaction. Knocked Up was by far his most successful comedy as director, grossing over $219M worldwide and establishing Apatow as a comedy force to be reckoned with.

Read More

Sure Shots: Rachel Weisz; Mis-Fits; Leslie Mann

Quickly...

* Rachel Weisz is looking to reteam with The Constant Gardener director, Fernando Meirelles, in a psycho-sexual drama called 360. The film is based on Arthur Schnitzler's play, Reigen, about a cycle of promiscuity between numerous couples. Gardener is in my personal opinion the best political thriller of the last ten years at least, and Meirelle's City of God was amazing as well. Between his working with Weisz again(she won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Gardener) and the storyline I think this is one flick I'll be keeping a close eye on.

* Guy Pearce, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Seymour Cassel, Cloris Leachman and Virginie Ledoyen have joined the cast of L.D. Napier's directorial debut, Mis-fits. The quirky comedy follows a necro-detective who goes in search of people's lost, dead relatives. That doesn't sound quirky or funny at all. On a side note, I think this is the first time I've even thought about Virginie Ledoyen since 2000's The Beach. She sorta fell off the mainstream map.

* Leslie Mann(from every film her husband Judd Apatow makes) has signed on as the female lead character in The Change-Up, one of the many flicks weighing down Ryan Reynolds' schedule. She'll star alongside him and Jason Bateman in the comedy about two guys who accidentally switch bodies. One of them a married dude, the other a bachelor. I'm guessing the now single guy will try to bang Leslie Mann's character. Call it a hunch.

Read More