Movie News: Monday, December 04

At the Movies: `Days of Glory' honors forgotten foot-soldiers of World War II (AP)
   AP - Forgotten participants in the liberation of France receive a deeply moving tribute in the World War II saga "Days of Glory," a film that's epic in both scope and drama as it follows a group of North African soldiers fighting the Nazis in Europe.

Clooney's beloved potbelly pig Max dies (AP)
   

AP - George Clooney's beloved potbelly pig Max has died, Clooney's publicist said. He was 19.

Independent film group InDigEnt set to close (Reuters)
   Reuters - Producer-director Gary Winick said his InDigEnt film company will shut down in January, bringing an end to the high-profile production outfit that championed low-cost, independent and digital movie making.

Yo, Philly! Rocky still loves ya (AP)
   

AP - Sylvester Stallone isn't pulling any punches this time: Rocky Balboa is going out like a champ.

The OH in Ohio
    ( Released: 12/05/2006   Rated: NR   Avg. Score: 3.5/5     | Trailers | Photos | Reviews  ) — A woman (Parker Posey) is happily married to her husband (Paul Rudd), with one catch: She's never had an orgasm. So she leaves him and sets out to find sexual fulfillment.

How to Eat Fried Worms
    ( Released: 12/05/2006   Avg. Score: 4/5     | Trailers | Photos | Reviews  ) — Eleven-year-old Billy inadvertently challenges the school bully on his first day at a new school. In order to save face and earn the respect of his new classmates, Billy agrees to a bet to eat 10 worms in one day.

Pulse
    ( Released: 12/05/2006   Avg. Score: 1.5/5     | Trailers | Photos | Reviews  ) — Based on the Japanese horror movie Kairo, this thriller centers on a group of college students (Kristen Bell, Christina Milian, Ian Somerhalder) who discover that a computer hacker unwittingly pirated a strange wireless signal that opens a doorway for evil spirits to cross over into the world. The evil spreads like a virus, and the students must race to find a way to stop it.

Audio Edition - December 4th 2006
   Welcome to The Audio Edition Round Table! On today's show, the regular cast of idiots (Myself, Bruxy, Doug and Darren) discuss: 1) Films 4 Food Fest 2) Apocalypto 3) Pirates of the Caribbean 3 4) The Astronaut Farmer trailer 5) Short Circuit remake 6) It's a crime to kiss in a movie in India 7) Rat out your friends for a bag of popcorn 8) He-Man is dead 9) Beverly Hills Cop...

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Idlewild
    ( Released: 12/05/2006   Avg. Score: 3.75/5     | Trailers | Photos | Reviews  ) — In a Prohibition-era speakeasy, a manager-performer (Big Boi) and his piano player (André 3000) fight off gangsters looking to take over their business.

Beerfest
    ( Released: 12/05/2006   Avg. Score: 3.25/5     | Trailers | Photos | Reviews  ) — When American brothers Todd and Jan Wolfhouse (Eric Stolhanske and Paul Soter) travel to Germany to spread their grandfather's ashes at Oktoberfest, they stumble upon Beerfest — the secret Olympics of beer drinking. The brothers receive a less than warm welcome from their German cousins, the Von Wolfhausens, who cast them out of the event. Vowing to return in a year to defend their family's honor, the Wolfhouse boys assemble a team of beer drinkers for a showdown.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
    ( Released: 12/05/2006   Rated: PG-13 - for intense sequences of adventure violence, including frightening images   Avg. Score: 3.5/5     | Trailers | Photos | Reviews  ) — Capt. Jack (Johnny Depp) owes a blood debt to the legendary Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), captain of the dreaded Flying Dutchman. He threatens to curse Jack to an afterlife of eternal servitude and damnation if he can't settle up. Soon-to-be-married Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) join Jack on a quest to find the Dead Man's Chest, which may contain a treasure that Jones will accept as payment.

Miami Vice
    ( Released: 12/05/2006   Rated: R - for strong violence, language and some sexual content   Avg. Score: 4.5/5     | Trailers | Photos | Reviews  ) — Miami cop Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) lives with Bronx-born intelligence analyst Trudy (Naomie Harris), and they work undercover transporting drug loads into South Florida to identify a group responsible for three murders. Meanwhile, Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) goes undercover working with the supplier of the South Florida group and gets romantically entangled with Isabella (Gong Li), the Chinese-Cuban wife of an arms and drugs trafficker. Soon it's tough to figure out who's on the right side of the law.

`Happy Feet' retains box-office foothold (AP)
   AP - The animated penguin tale "Happy Feet" and the James Bond adventure "Casino Royale" were a one-two punch at the box office for the third-straight weekend.

Rip Torn arrested outside NYC for DUI (AP)
   

AP - Rip Torn, who was acquitted of drunken-driving charges two years ago in New York City, was arrested again Monday in a city suburb after a collision, state police said.

Stars face court action over kiss (Reuters)
   

Reuters - A kissing scene from a movie starring Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan has irked a lawyer who has filed a criminal case against them, accusing them of obscenity, he said on Sunday.

Review: Violent excess mars `Apocalypto' (AP)
   AP - He hinted at it with Jesus' prolonged, agonizing death in "The Passion of the Christ." With an immeasurable body count and mutilation factor in "Apocalypto," it's confirmed: Mel Gibson is master of the epic snuff film.

Interview with the Cast of The Holiday
   In the world of Reality TV where some of the most successful shows include families or people switching roles, its no surprise that The Holiday turns this into a romantic comedy. MovieWeb says:Nancy Meyers' latest film stars Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet as two people who just need a change. And that change comes in living in each other's world for two weeks. Cameron plays a very successful...

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Man Sentenced to 7 Years for Bootlegging Movies
   If you want to stop a movement, you have to take off its head. (But dont crucify him, that just makes it worse) This is a principal known throughout the ages, and now it looks like someone caught on and has applied it to bootleggers. Cinematical Reports:A prolific movie bootlegger, dubbed "The Prince of Piracy," has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for covertly taping and...

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New DVD releases: `Pirates' sequel (AP)
   AP - Selected home-video releases:

Fire inspector has real Hollywood clout (AP)
   AP - The most powerful man in Hollywood isn't an A-lister, but attends more movie premieres than Brad Pitt and George Clooney combined. He has no entourage, but hits enough nightspots to make Paris Hilton jealous. He's a red-carpet regular with the power to shut down any event from the Oscars on down.

Polanski honored at European Film Awards (AP)
   

AP - Roman Polanski was honored with a lifetime achievement award in the country of his childhood at the 19th annual European Film Awards.

DiCaprio film may hurt diamond demand: analysts (Reuters)
   

Reuters - "Blood Diamond," the Warner Bros. thriller that hits movie theaters on Friday, could spark public concern about illicit "conflict diamonds" and hurt demand during the key holiday shopping season, analysts said on Monday.

Be A Rat For A Free Bag Of Popcorn!
   Looks like Regal Cinemas are testing out a project where they get movie goers to act as rats... and I think it's a great idea! Our friends over at Filmjunk give us the following:this American theatre chain has decided to start providing remote alert devices to its customers to help notify staff of any problems they may encounter during the movie. The device will be about the size of a pager, and...

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DV Guru
   I've been involved in digital video for about 8 years now. Yup, it was that long ago that I produced my first little piece on the old Amiga Video Toaster (a product still around today now owned by NewTek) with 2 external 9 gig video drives that a dude basically had to put a second mortgage on his house to buy. Since then, I've used a lot of different stuff. In editing I've used Avid (various...

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Happy Feet and Casino Royale 1 And 2 At Boxoffice For 3rd Week
   I can't remember the last time this has happened. For the third straight week Happy Feet and Casino Royale have come in at #1 and #2 at the boxoffice. "Happy Feet" got $17 million in the three days beginning December 1, taking its total to $121 million and "Casino Royale" followed with $15.1 million, for a three-week total $115.9 million. Are these two films really that good? Or is it just a...

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Big Lebowski Fest In New York
   One of the all time ultimate guys movie is heading to New York for a festival dedicated to just it. The Big Lebowski fest is indeed New York bound... and I gotta tell ya I'm tempted to make the trip. The good folks over at M&C give us this:The New York version of the festival, which has other incarnations across the United States, will include a bowling tournament, live music and a screening of...

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Pirates 3 Image
   Jessop sent me this sweet little image from Pirates of the Caribbean 3. I'm so glad Captain Barbossa is back! He's my favorite character in the franchise so far.

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Movies for the Films 4 Food Fest
   Hey there guys, as you all know, the first Films 4 Food Fest is coming up Saturday January 20th here in Hamilton Ontario. I expect you all to show up. Book your flights now. :) Ok, one of the events is obviously us all sitting down and watching some fun flicks together. There will be 3 films in total (on top of the recording of the "live" Audio Edition, the interactice panel discussion,...

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The Astronaut Farmer Trailer
   The Astronaut Farmer trailer has hit the web, and I can't believe I'm going to say this... but I really liked it. No seriously, I'm actually looking forward to watching this thing now. Billy Bob Thornton is sort of a hit or miss lead in any film. On the one hand you can get your Bad Santa... or you could end up with a Bad News Bears remake (ouch, my brain hurts just thinking about that pile...

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Early Apocalypto Reviews
   We're still anumber of days away from the wise release, but the early Apocalypto reviews are starrting to come in... and they look just amazing. Of the 20 or so reviews I've read, only 1 didn't seem to like it. The rest... do more than like it... they're loving it. And from the reviews, Apocalypto is something that I wasn't expecting it to be... the year's best ACTION movie!?!?! Here is what...

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Indian Actors Being Charged For Kissing On Screen
   Damn, I wonder what India would have thought of Shortbus? Ok so here's the deal... 2 Bollywood actors, Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan, are being CHARGED with obscenity for... are you ready for this... KISSING in a movie. Yup, looks like a lawyer has filed a CRIMINAL case against them. Yahoo News gives us this:Shailendra Dwivedi of Indore, near Bhopal, the capital of central Madhya Pradesh...

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Short Circuit Remake
   Oh... My... God. Looks like we're about to get a Short Circuit remake. Yes that's right... I'll say it... here it goes... "Johnny Five is alive!!!" Oh come on, you knew it had to be said. I loved this movie as a kid, and it's funny because Serena (from Joblo and occasional Audio Edition guest) and I were just having breakfast the other day and she brought up the Short Circuit frainchise as...

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Sissy Spacek celebrates women in speech (AP)
   

AP - Academy Award-winning actress Sissy Spacek celebrated strong and independent women during a speech at a conference here on women's health issues.