Freshly Popped Movie Blog Archives - January 2009

Is Henry Selick’s new stop-motion film Coraline too scary for kids? The 2-1/2 minute trailer starts all cute and fun, but ends up showing some pretty dark stuff – which the movie’s new TV spots calculatedly seem to be de-emphasizing. Neil Gaiman, who wrote the original children's book, says in his blog that it's for a parent to determine: "I think a good rule of...

This week's new home video releases: • Lakeview Terrace Sam L. Jackson is a not-so-good neighbor who menaces a young interracial couple who moves in next door, to the point they begin to fear for their lives.• The Rocker Cute, if overlong, comedy starring "The Office" uber-geek Rainn Wilson as a...

Mickey Rourke's swinging comeback on the big screen has Marvel reportedly offering him $250,000 to sign on as the main villain in Iron Man 2. Excuse me? Did I read that right? The man just received an Oscar nod for The Wrestler and won his first Golden Globe—and Marvel's only offering $250,000? I know the economy's bad, but that's ridiculously cheap. Iron Man made $582...

Although troubles with the economy forced many people to stay home this year, the 2009 Sundance Film Festival still managed to churn out a pretty large number of good, solid films (with a lot of celeb-filled casts...see our complete Sundance photo gallery). As all of these flicks continue on to fill a spot in this packed 2009 marketplace, here are the 10 most buzzed-about films you’ll need...

The Academy has spoken...and apparently, they went to see a different movie than the mass of moviegoers. Replace the words The Dark Knight with The Reader in most of the major categories, and that was both THE surprise and snub of Oscar nom morning. No Best Picture, Best Director or even Best Screenplay for TDK. Yes, of course, Heath Ledger was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (and rightfully...

If the Academy Awards represent the best, the Razzies represent the worst. Among 2009's abysmal nominees announced today, it's no surprise Paris Hilton's Hottie and the Nottie received a nom for Worst Picture, along with The Happening, In the Name of the King, The Love Guru, Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans. How many of you actually saw those movies...and will admit to it? Did you...

Ok, now that Hugh Jackman is set to host the Oscars (and we're sure you may have some comments on that, too), how else should the producers shake things up for this often too-tried-and-true telecast? Here are the top 20 results from our survey of 7,000+ Fandango users. Let us know, though, if we forgot your recommendation to the Academy...1. NO POLITICAL SPEECHES EVER!When asked about which...

This week's new releases: • Saw V Jigsaw may've died two sequels ago, but this grisly Morton's Fork franchise lives on to answer the question of who will take over his dirty work.• Max Payne Mark Wahlberg stars in this video game adaptation that has a great look...but much else?• The Express Sports...

Watchmen fans, woohoo! It appears that Warner Bros. and Fox have finally gotten their acts together, and reached a settlement. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the studios will present the details of their agreement to Judge Gary Fess on Friday morning, and request that the case be dismissed. Fess earlier ruled that Fox was right to claim copyright infringement, and that producer Larry Gordon...

Diehard Star Wars fans are counting down the days until the long-awaited Fanboys film finally opens Feb. 6! Waging war against the Weinstein Co. over changing the plot and release date proves true fans are not to be messed with. So please, fanboys and gals, don't get all huffy after reading this: People who have never seen George Lucas' trilogy do exist. This irreverent, humorous video from a...

Will Johnny Depp reprise Hunter S. Thompson (well, one of his alter egos, anyway) as his next project? The site The Bad and the Ugly happened to run across a casting notice for The Rum Diary, Thompson's loosely autobiographical story about a hard-drinking journalist named Paul Kemp that's schedule to film in March that implies Depp is already a part of the film. He's been...

No real "DVD of the Week," per se, but lots of new releases come out today. Mirrors This critically maimed remake of a Korean horror flick stars Kiefer Sutherland as a disgraced NYPD cop turned burned-out department store security guard, who starts seeing dead people in the many store mirrors that somehow survived a massive fire. I can't quite recommend this as a "DVD of the...

The rumor mill is circulating that the High School Musical diva auditioned for Leah Clearwater—a mean, sulky and annoying lycanthrope. She pretty much stays ill-tempered throughout the saga and, in the final tome, becomes just bearable. Would sweet, smiling, Disney crooner Vanessa Hudgens be fitting? "I think she'd be great," Ashley Greene, who played Alice in Twilight, tells...

Not to take anything away from Golden Globe noms The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (my second favorite movie of the year), Doubt and Frost/Nixon -- all fine films that led with five nominations going in, and all completely shut out -- but it was gratifying to see Slumdog Millionaire (which we've hailed on this blog as the little movie that should) sweep its categories, winning best...

Pity the poor horror movie babysitter, those generally young, attractive, unsuspecting and henceforth about-to-be-terrorized ladies tasked with minding bratty tots in big, scary houses. If their charges aren't frightening enough, they eventually have to take on myriad supernatural and man-made threats, be they knife-wielding sanitarium absconders, urban legend-based homicidal maniacs or...