It's amazing how much can change in a small handful of years. These days she's bringing back the fashions of the '80s (tight-rolled jeans, Dirty Dancing shorts) as she graces every tabloid and website, works on stage, and hangs with Tom and Suri. But she used to be pretty busy with the holiday that is Thanksgiving. Just five years ago -- Katie Holmes' hair was red, she was young and spunky, and she was starring in Pieces of April. (The trailer is above.)
Usually, holiday-centric films just get the basics -- turkey, family, matriarch in the kitchen. They don't focus on young, punky girls who are determined to bring together estranged family members and make a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Yes, April definitely has the obligatory family trauma to make the drama we have all come to expect, but it also shows just how far and wide tradition can reach, and that not all the cooks in the kitchen are smiling moms in aprons.
Go back a few more years, and you can find a second Thanksgiving-themed film. Change her name to Libbitz, make her the object of Tobey Maguire's affections, and you've got The Ice Storm. Personally, I prefer the latter, but it all boils down to what you're looking for -- the possibility of bringing a family together and lots of food, or retro dysfunction laced with black humor.
Twilight day is almost upon us, which means we're getting inundated with every little morsel that can be cooked up. For example, did you know that Robert Pattinson is a bad kisser with bad dandruff? I guess he was telling the truth in that Unscripted about always telling everyone everything.
But this isn't about Pattinson's real-life woes. I wanted to discuss teen girls, love, and vampires. I must admit, it goes together. I read just about every vampire romance I found when I was a teen. But at the same time, girls were staking the vamps back then. Or at least Buffy was, long before she went soft for the hottie known as Angel.
Above is the classic Paul Reubens death scene from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Now he's no Edward Cullen, so I imagine it's a lot easier to stake the vamp when he's not sexy. If only the ultimate force that created vamps knew -- the way to really make them invincible is to make them tall, dark, and handsome.
Will you run out to bask in the Twilight this week, or go for something more old-school, like Buffy or THE vamp, Dracula?
The alliteration and the memory was just too much to pass up this week!
Friday will bring the release of Max Payne, starring none other than Mark Wahlberg (with a little help from Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Ludacris...). Now it would be easy and sort of obvious to just revel in some "Good Vibrations" or Wahlberg's tight-whitey clad arse, both of which were extremely prevalent at the start of Marky Mark's career. Instead, here's his first film role from 1994 -- Wahlberg playing Pvt. Tommy Lee Haywood in Renaissance Man.
In the clips above, Haywood gets into a fight with Pvt. Jamaal Montgomery -- otherwise known as Kadeem Hardison, or Dwayne Wayne. Then they get to delight in the Shakespearean world of Hamlet under the tutelage of Danny DeVito, and then, oh yes, Mr. Wahlberg sings a little bit of "Achey Breaky Heart."
It never ceases to amaze me how far that man has come. It didn't take him long either -- after this film came Basketball Diaries, then there was only Fear and Traveller before he became Dirk Diggler.
Twenty-two years ago, Sam Rockwell was a junior in high school. I wonder if his young teenage mind ever imagined that two decades later he'd be starring in a feature film as a choking con man/sex addict. Since the adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's Chokeis hitting theaters today, I thought we'd head back to Rockwell's real childhood.
There was no crazy mother kidnapping him and taking him on wild bus rides and dangerous adventures at the zoo. Instead, he was a student at San Francisco School of the Arts, busying himself with the school's improv group. About a minute in on the above video, you can see him sitting on a stage with one Ms. Margaret Cho. They do a little saucy improv before briefly talking about themselves. First there's Cho, hitting on areas she'd become famous for discussing, and then there's Rockwell. That guy oozed cool even back then.
From galaxy-wide adventures to the Old West, methinks Rockwell sought the adventure he said he was looking for.
[Thanks to Christopher Campbell for the heads up!]
The latest wacky work from Ethan and Joel Coen, Burn After Reading, is headed to screens next week. As you might have seen from the trailer, the flick has brought together the awesome collection of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, and Frances McDormand. But this is certainly not the first Coen movie that Frances has graced. In fact, they jump-started her career in 1984 with Blood Simple.
Above, you can check out the trailer for the film, which follows love triangles and murder. McDormand's Abby is married to Julian (Dan Hedaya), but having an affair with Ray (John Getz). To make matters messier, her lover works for her husband. Julian finds out and wants murderous revenge. But deals with sketchy characters will always be that -- sketchy -- so things don't go according to plan. If you need to know more, check out Peter's great retro review.
It's not really a primer for Burn After Reading, which is definitely more in the Coens' goofy sea, but it is a look at how far McDormand has come over the years. Thank God Joel found her and married her! Can you imagine all those films, especially Fargo, without McDormand?
The unthinkable has happened -- Steve Coogan treaded on William Shakespeare's grave and created the super-saucy Hamlet 2. But as the film continues to expand its screening reach, I thought I'd go back in time -- way, way back in time, beyond many of the Hamlet films that have graced our Shakespeare-insatiable eyes.
The above film was not meant to be a comedy, but you have got to see the silent version of Hamletabove. The music alone is peppy enough for a dance, and I keep expecting some comedy troupe to pop up and wreak havoc in the scene. But this is the ghost scene from the silent, 1913 adaptation, so it's serious. Really.
Personally, I just love the part where the ghost pops up. Special effects have come a long way, eh? And for all of those actors these days who talk about the struggles of acting when a special effects character isn't in the room -- pshaw, these guys were doing it long ago.
Yesterday, movie theaters everywhere were greeted with the ultimate sight in rockin' sexiness -- Rainn Wilson. Yes folks, The Rocker opened yesterday, and now you can see Robert "Fish" Fishman get kicked out of hard-core band Vesuvius, lose all hope, and then find a new future with his nephew's high school rock band twenty years later.
But before the days of rockers, or fastidiousness on The Office, or even pent-up sexual attraction on Six Feet Under, Rainn Wilson was a space man. Above you can see him as Lahnk, in a deleted scene from Galaxy Quest. As a member of the reactor staff, he has a question for the fish-out-of-water Fred (Tony Shalhoub), and wants a little advisement. Oh yeah, and the guy who introduces him -- Enrico Colantoni.
Whoever would've thought that the Spock-esque dude would hop onto Almost Famous, star in a hit television show, and then get a romance with Kelly Bundy?!
For those who've always wondered what movie bloggers talk about late on a Sunday night, look no further as last night my buddy Peter over at Slashfilm emailed me a tip on a film featuring Scarlett Johansson at 13. No, we're not pervs, Peter had come across the awful kids flick on TV and thought it would make a fine Stars in Rewind post. I had never heard of My Brother the Pig, and so upon checking out the clip I was (pleasantly?) surprised to not only see Scarlett doing her 13-year-old thing, but also early Eva Mendez before she changed her last name to Mendes. Better yet, she's playing Johansson's nanny Matilda with a thick Spanish accent. Thankfully Mendes eventually grew up and became hot, removing her from a Hollywood life full of playing the nanny for rich white folk.
My Brother the Pig sort of reminds me of Adventures in Babysitting, except one sibling was accidentally turned into a pig and there's no male teenager to crush on Johansson or her almost-but-not-quite-hot-yet nanny Eva Mendes (ie: This isn't the Johansson threesome you want to see). Also making an appearance as the clueless dad? Yup, Judge Reinhold! You know it's bad when the six different pigs used in the film are credited on the movie's IMDb page. Damn, I can probably do another 500-1000 words on this sick flick, but I'd rather stop here and let you enjoy the clip above.
These days, Robert Downey Jr. has got the world at his fingertips with blockbuster movies and memorable, irresistible race-changing roles. But talk of his career is always tied into his long, rocky past with the movie business. However, things weren't always that way. Before the widely forgotten Baby It's You, or even the likes of the jerky Ian in Weird Science, at the ripe ol' age of 5 he showed up in his dad's film Pound, as "Puppy."
The 1970 film focused on a pound where 18 dogs were hoping to be adopted -- the twist being that they were all played by humans. Robert is, of course, one of the uber-cute, young pups that wanna-be dog owners drool over, and yes, he's saying what you think he's saying. Robert was super-classy and snarky even back then.
We finally get to see his Kirk Lazarus this week, but that's not all Downey has planned for us this year. After the light fare he's been busy with, we'll get to see him star opposite Jamie Foxx in The Soloist this November.
Sure, I've already shared Seth Rogen's audition for Freaks and Geeks, but since the comedic wonder that is The Pineapple Express is finally here, it's a pretty good time to share old-school Saul and Dale before they reunited, hit the chronic, and got themselves in trouble with dangerous drug dealers. A good ten years ago, they were living in 1980. In the above clip, James Franco's Daniel spends a lot of time going punk, and then Nick (Jason Segel) and Ken (Rogen) make fun of him for his new look, full of distressed clothing and eggy hair.
Most of the kid's from Judd Apatow's old show have come a long way, many of them reuniting over and over in the Apatow universe. But I have to say -- it's high time Sarah Hagan gets a piece of the action. It's just wrong that her last movie was Orange County. Even a little cameo. Just a tiny one to start ... Whaddya say, Judd?
At the age of 83, Tony Curtis is getting some film festival love. Jam! reports that the legendary actor will receive a lifetime achievement tribute at the Montreal Film Festival, which runs from August 21 to September 1. In honor of that, I thought it would be nice to go back some years and see old-school Tony. Since we're in the throes of summer, Don't Make Waves seemed most appropriate. It's a tale of possessions up in flames and saucy forays with sexy swimmers.
Don't Make Waves was the first Sharon Tate film to hit theaters, and in the scene above, she meets Mr. Curtis. Tony wakes up to a beach wonderland of surfers, gymnastics, and more, and he foolishly decides to take a swim amongst the surfers. While out there, he gets knocked out by a surfboard, and gets dragged to shore by the epic Tate and given mouth to mouth.
There's no poll this time around, but here's a bit of trivia. While the film didn't do so well, it was the inspiration for Malibu Barbie, based on Tate's character in the film, Malibu.
What with the firestorm over John McCain's ad calling Barack Obama a hollow celebrity akin to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, you'd think someone would have pointed out that McCain actually has Obama beat in the "number of Hollywood movies appeared in" category. Here's a video -- unearthed by Movie Moron via SlashFilm -- of John McCain's amusing cameo in Wedding Crashers, shaking hands with Christopher Walken's remarkably well-connected Secretary Cleary at his daughter's wedding. And yes, that's James Carville next to him, but Carville shows up in everything.
Just a bit of harmless fun for McCain or despicable participation in a BOOB RAUNCH FEST? You be the judge.
Also: Number of cameos on 24: John McCain: 1; Barack Obama: 0. You can check that video out over here. What's that old saw about glass houses?
Last year, Christopher Campbell gave us a Michael Cera "rewind" from Steal This Movie. I hate to be repetitive, but there's another clip I just have to share. Did you know that George Michael once popped up in a Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen television movie called Switching Goals?
He plays Taylor, a jerky tyke who is mean to Ashley and tells her she can't be a good goalie. (This inner-movie knowledge is thanks to the IMDb message board.) In the clip above, the kid gets to be jerky while buying cleats. "Watch it! I have a very delicate bone structure!"
See? Cera can be more than just sweet, passive little boys. He can be a snarky dude trying to protect his bones as well!
Last Rewind Answer: While most of you guessed that Tom Cruise was the man who wasn't considered for the part of Jim Morrison in The Doors, it was actually James Spader.
With Christian Bale currently in theaters kicking ass right, left and sideways as Batman, we thought it'd be fun to take a look back at the Dark Knight when he was just a wee boy. In the clip above, watch as Bale sings and dances up a storm in the film Newsies as Jack "Cowboy" Kelly. Remember that one? It came out in 1992 (though it was set in 1899) and it followed Kelly as he organizes a newsboys' strike due to the raising of the distribution price per paper by the publisher, Joseph Pulitzer. These kids were pissed, poor and ready to put on their dancing shoes -- and who could blame them. In all seriousness, though, this was a fun little flick ... and the music wasn't even half bad.
What do you think? Should Bale take this Batman act to Broadway?
In the last twenty-four hours alone, countless news articles have compared the late Heath Ledger to James Dean. Of course it helps that the two actors -- whose careers lie fifty years apart -- bear physical resemblances to each other. The real reason for the frequency of the comparison, however, revolves around the possibility that Ledger, like Dean, might end up with a posthumous Oscar nomination.
Other than Dean, whose death in a 1955 car accident was preceded by two nominations back-to-back, six actors have landed the distinction -- but only one, Peter Finch, actually won (for Network in 1976). However, Ledger is now perceived an actor who possessed a potential he never quite realized, while Dean was already an icon by the time of his death (and he still didn't win the prize). If Ledger gets nominated for his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight, the award will also acknowledge the great career that never was. Dean surely would have followed Giant with other wonderful performances, but his brief filmography also allowed the actor to reach a level of prestige that Ledger would have needed a few more movies to attain. So does this comparison really hold up?
The media certainly seems to think so. "Like Dean, he could endure as a mythic figure of talent silenced before his time," writes the AP. "People are aflutter over seeing the final performance of a new James Dean," reports The Huffington Post. " One quality that Ledger and Dean did share is rapid growth," notes the Baltimore Sun.
In the last twenty-four hours alone, countless news articles have compared the late 
