A CHRISTMAS CAROL Director: Robert Zemeckis  Stars: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth Studio: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures The Plot: An animated retelling of the Charles Dickens novel about Ebenezer Scrooge (Carrey), a Victorian-era miser who is taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions. THE FOURTH KIND Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi  Stars: Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Will Patton  Studio: Universal Pictures The Plot: An investig... Read Full Story

In Hollywood, there is a list of names. It isn’t written down. It’s not drawn up by a singular person or a committee. Yet, every director, producer, and studio executive is generally in agreement as to who is on it (and it’s about the only thing those individuals can agree on). It’s a list of stars who can carry a big-budget movie, and getting one of them in your film is essential to getting it made. With the price tag for action flicks climbing into the $200 million ... Read Full Story

Mariah Carey gulped “ugly juice” for her role as a dowdy social worker in “Precious,” a film performance that may free her from painful memories of box office bomb “Glitter.” Carey told CNN’s Larry King she would like to take on the real life role of a mother — but only after her career obligations slow down “because I cannot do the having-a-child thing halfway.” The interview — airing on CNN’s Larry King Live Wednesday ... Read Full Story

This weekend in London, Julianne Moore sat down for an inspired chat in front of a few hundred folks at the London Film Festival.  There promoting both Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” and Atom Egoyan’s “Chloe,” Moore and moderator Briony Hanson (of London’s The Script Factory) talked about everything from those films to her previous work to her thoughts about aging to her tendency to work with queer filmmakers. So, in the vein of a piece indieWIREran a few months back on another (often) redheaded ... Read Full Story

Johnny Depp is in talks to star with Angelina Jolie in “The Tourist,” a film that is undergoing another major shift of elements as it heads toward a February production start.  Graham King’s GK Films is financing and distributing through his multi-picture output deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Depp would play an American tourist drawn into a web of intrigue and danger by a female Interpol agent (Jolie) as she attempts to locate a criminal who was once her lover.  READ ARTICLE AT VARIE... Read Full Story

Martin Scorsese, star attraction at Hollywood’s latest cheerleading session for high-definition home entertainment, said the words many a studio suit can only hope prove true. “Blu-ray is going to extend the lifetime of a movie,” the filmmaker told the crowd Tuesday during Blu-Con 2.0 symposium at the Beverly Hilton. Speaking by — what else? — video, Scorsese praised Criterion’s remastering of the 1948 film classic “The Red Shoes” for upcoming ... Read Full Story

The Parents Television Council is threatening to declare war on CW affiliates who broadcast next week’s Very Special Threesome episode of “Gossip Girl.” In a letter to affiliates obtained by TheWrap, PTC chief Tim Winter blasts the scheduled storyline as “reckless and irresponsible” and claims the show is “expressly targeted to impressionable teenagers.” The head of the right-wing political action group says CW affiliates that air the episode will be... Read Full Story

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will serve as co-hosts of the 82nd Academy Awards, Oscar telecast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman announced today. “We think the team of Steve and Alec are the perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars,” said Shankman and Mechanic. “Steve will bring the experience of having hosted the show in the past and Alec will be a completely fresh personality for this event.” “I am happy to co-host the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin,” said Martin. “I don’t play the... Read Full Story

On June 25, just hours after Michael Jackson died, Tim Patterson drove from his home in the Santa Clarita Valley to downtown Los Angeles with $60-million worth of film footage in his trunk.  As he sped down Interstate 5 in his green Lexus convertible, Patterson carried virtually all of the 140 hours of rehearsal footage from the late singer’s planned “This Is It” concert series that would eventually be whittled down to the 112-minute movie that opened last week to a decent ... Read Full Story

Susan Seidelman’s influential 1982 feature debut, “Smithereens,” has launched on iTunes and Amazon VOD this week. Later in her directing career, Seidelman went on to helm such acclaimed projects as Madonna’s big-screen debut, “Desperately Seeking Susan,” and the pilot episode for HBO’s “Sex and the City.” Recently, she directed the arthouse hit “Boynton Beach Club.” In honor of the digital re-release of “Smithereens,” Seidelman reflects on how her career began in downtown Manhattan. READ ART... Read Full Story