Odds and ends from Golden Globes Day Thursday:

• We've already told you how Samuel L. Jackson is set to star in Cleaner (not Code Name: The Cleaner or The Cleaner -- simply, Cleaner), to be directed by Renny Harlin. Now, it appears two more folks might be joining his cleaning crew. Ed Harris and Keke Palmer (remember Akeelah from Akeelah and the Bee?) are in talks to co-star in the pic which follows a man (Jackson) who cleans up crime scenes, but soon finds himself in trouble when the dude cleans up evidence from a murder before it's reported. Harris will play a cop and Jackson's former partner, while Palmer gets the honor of playing Jackson's daughter. "Daddy, why do you clean splattered brains for a living? Can't you be, like, an accountant?"
• Entertainment Weekly has some pretty badass pics from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's new film Grindhouse. Long story short: Tarantino's half (Death Proof) follows a psycho stunt driver who runs people over with this sweeet looking car. Rodriguez's half (Planet Terror) is apparently some balls-to-the-wall zombie flick. I imagine the amount of blood, guts and gore in this puppy will set some sort of record ... but don't hold me to that. In the pics, Russell rocks out his ride and -- wait -- check out Rose McGowan and Marley Shelton on that bike with something exploding in the background. Yum. Er, cool.
• While you're checking out all those pics, why not dive into the first official still photo from Ocean's Thirteen. Oh yes, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and George Clooney are all decked out in suits and shades -- they're just sitting at the airport, minding their own business. However, we're positive Clooney and his gang of the sexiest men alive have more than a few aces up their sleeves ... if you know what I mean. [via JoBlo]
• According to British tabloid The Sun (which, in case you did not know, is the most reliable source on the entire planet), The Killers are in talks to perform the title song for Bond 22 (aka the one after Casino Royale). I'd like to be the first one to say, well, killer! I dig The Killers, always have -- and I'm in agreement with The Sun's secret inside source, who says: "The Killers have reached the perfect point in their career to do a Bond track. They have the right sound, right look and a huge fanbase, making them the perfect choice." Bond 22 (or should we start calling it Risico?) is scheduled to hit theaters in November 2008. If you could choose any artist to perform the next Bond song, who would it be?

Well, it's been a long time since Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now he's back with Live Free or Die Hard -- the fourth (and final?) installment in the Die Hard franchise. The first official trailer for the film is set to play in theaters this weekend, but apparently Yahoo! accidentally leaked it online a day early. However, it was quickly pulled and only a handful of people got the chance to see it.

Oh, but we don't give up that easily. C'mon. Once you leak something, there's no going back, folks. Thus, Coming Soon was quick enough to grab the trailer and host it on their site -- go check it out right now (you need to scroll down and click on teaser). I must say, the film looks pretty good -- it appears as if they took every action-packed scene in all three previous Die Hard films, added a slew of special effects and mashed them together in a blender. Once again, McClane is fighting helicopters, driving backwards in his car, blowing up buildings and partnering with a sidekick who doesn't understand why the dude is so calm, yet so insane at the same time. I dig it. Vintage McClane in the modern-day world. But do the absurd amount of special effects take away from that old school Die Hard feeling? You be the judge; definitely let us know what you think. Live Free or Die Hard is set to be released on June 29.

UPDATE: Here's the YouTube link.

Geek news I found while wondering where I put my socks:

• The first official Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer picture is online. It looks mostly like all the unofficial pictures we've seen, but a bit more polished. The Four are there, but of course no sign of the Surfer yet. (Thanks to F4Movies)
• Speaking of official pictures, AICN throws us the first official Underdog poster. Laugh at me if you want, but I was unaware the movie would actually star, you know, a real dog. I figured it'd be something more along the lines of the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie, with CGI'd representations of the old cartoon character. I'm not a fan.
• According to SuperheroHype, if you watch the FX channel's screening of Spider-Man 2 on January second, you'll catch a sneak peek of Spider-Man 3. Who knows what this means, really. As usual, if you aren't interested just wait for the internet to catch up an hour later.
• Why did big names grab onto the Speed Racer movie? Money, of course! Producer Joel Silver talks about Ice Age envy with IGN.
• Warner Bros. debut another Ninja Turtles trailer. Whatever opinions you hold about this film, they probably will not be changed by the new look.
• Last but certainly not least, a brand new trailer for Transformers (that includes real footage from the film!) is supposed to debut on December 20.

Back in February, Martha Fischer had news of Terrence Howard's upcoming sports drama titled PDR. Well it's almost a year later, and the film is now called Pride, and the new teaser poster and trailer are available online.

JoBlo.net has the teaser poster with a link to the official site and trailer. The film is the true story of Jim Ellis, who turned inner-city teens from a local park and recreation center into a championship swim team. The film also stars Bernie Mac, and is being directed by first-timer Sunu Gonera. Sure, the whole thing sounds a little tired, and this is a movie I think we've all seen plenty of times before. All the clichés of an uplifting sports flick seem to be there and watching the trailer pretty much confirms it. On the upside, it looks like it might have a great soundtrack. And, I have to admit that Lionsgate pulled off a pretty slick poster for the film. I love a good movie poster, and Pride's one-sheet has a nice combination of 70's kitsch and simple graphics. It's pretty eye-catching, even if the movie itself seems like nothing special.

Lionsgate is planning on a spring release for the film, so there is still some time to drum up some interest. If nothing else, at least they managed to make an original poster. ...

I know, I know, I feel your pain, believe me. I can hardly handle waiting the long days until the latest cinematic incarnation of that friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is released to a clamoring world, either. Unfortunately, those are the breaks and we just have to be patient and wait until Spider-Man 3 comes to theaters this summer.

Until then, we've at least had a few glimpses into what the new film would be like. Some pics. A trailer and some video. And now, something that's a little late for Halloween but still, just as exciting -- a video featuring head specialty costumer for Spider-Man 3 Shownee Smith (not to be confused with Saw actress Shawnee Smith). In the video, courtesy of our friends at Comics2Film, Mr. Smith and his pals demonstrate the inner workings and the delicate procedure that goes into making the very cool Spidey suit.

One thing friends, if you do try this at home, please do so responsibly. Nobody needs to get hurt making a costume. If you're worried about the consequences or feel you might get injured, do yourself a favor -- just go buy a Spider-Man costume at Wal-Mart like the rest of the kids and leave the latex molding to the pros. Although, I am tempted to try this -- especially if Vivian Chow will come over and sew it for me. She's kinda cute. Enjoy the video.

With so many movies crowding the box office these days, distributors have to try to produce marketing for their films that will cut through the cacophony of TV, radio, iPods and ringing cell phones. It can be hard to produce a poster that is eye-catching enough to make you stop and give it a second look. What's the last poster that really caught your eye? The blog Sam's Myth has a nice collection up of his favorite five posters from the past year. While we don't agree with all of his choices (Nacho Libre, really?) -- for the most part they're nice picks from the absurd amount that were seen plastered around a town near you.

Check out the poster for Dave Chappelle's Block Party, which proves that a movie doesn't have to be great to have a fantastic poster. This is basically a concert film, but the poster really pops and has a 60s/70s feeling to it. Plus, a film like Hard Candy, which was barely a blip on the radar, has what is probably the most visually arresting poster from the entire year. I'm a huge fan of retro art and magic, so naturally I rushed out to see both films that were set in the world of turn-of-the-century magic. I thought The Illusionist was extremely engaging, but The Prestige fell a bit flat for me. The same is true for their posters, as well. In fact, The Illusionist is probably my favorite poster from this year, besides the Superman Returns poster that pays homage to the amazing artwork of Alex Ross.

However, this year has also produced some posters that weren't worth the adhesive they were hung with. What's with The Good German directly ripping off Casablanca? That's a classic movie poster that shouldn't be imitated, and there's a fine line between homage and copying.

Look for my inner Grinch to come out as I post the Worst Movie Posters of 2006 just before Christmas. Bah, humbug!

I love James Lipton. There I said it, the cat is out of the bag -- but I'm not the only one. Apparently he's how you really know if you've made it somewhere in Tinseltown. He may also be the golden ticket to your very own Oscar. Variety seems to think so. I have to say that they might be right on that one. James Lipton is quite the extraordinary guy. He just may be brilliant. The man is a writer, a poet, an actor, and the dean of a school that industry hopefuls claw their way into. It also bears the name of the show he's best known for Inside the Actors Studio.

I swear Inside the Actors Studio is to me as to what Howdy Doody was to kids in the fifties. I dress up as Jean Harlow and plop myself in front of the television with the Complete Works of Shakespeare lying heavily in my lap. If I still lived with my mother she would tell me to scoot back from the TV or else I'd go blind. But what will James Lipton ask Glenn Close that will make her blush? What moment in Clint Eastwood's life will he have no recollection of until Lipton reminds him that it happened? What is Olympia Dukakis' favorite curse word?! I just almost fainted. Now that I have recomposed myself I can honestly say that out of the 173 talents that he has interviewed there are only maybe five that I can make a snide remark about. That's pretty remarkable.

But back to Variety's predictions of him being an actor's key to the Academy Awards: Interestingly enough, in two recent episodes, Lipton interviews two currently buzzed-about actors, Forest Whitaker and Eddie Murphy. Both actors have remarkable roles this year in The Last King of Scotland and the soon to be released Dreamgirls, respectively. Whitaker definitely has my vote for Best Actor. Is their appearance on the show is just coincidence, or perhaps a richly calculated maneuver by their publicists?

If the world worked in accordance to what I wanted then Jeffrey Wright would be the next to be interviewed on Inside the Actors Studio. Then he would take home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Casino Royale. Anything he touches turns to gold. Sigh.

Well. Now the only thing we can do is wait until the Oscar nominations are announced to see just how much of a hold Lipton has on the Academy voters. Even if we're wrong, James Lipton, you still really have a hold on me -- and that's all that really matters.

Those gore-soaked knuckleheads over at Bloody-Disgusting.com have had themselves one helluva busy day! First up is some wacky Uwe Boll news: Not only is the German goofball hoping to do a BloodRayne 3 some time soon, but it also looks like Christian Slater has signed on for Alone in the Dark 2. Ha! Take this news with a grain of salt, because Uwe is known for doling out press releases and gossipy tidbits at the drop of a hat -- but he's always good for a laugh, that Bollman.

Next up we got the brand-new trailer for Scott Glosserman's rather excellent Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, which Anchor Bay will be releasing theatrically in February. The trailer blurbs about nine different critics, but left out the guy who wrote the planet's very first BTM review: Me! :-( Ah well, the movie still rocks. Horror fans should be prepared to fall madly in love with this clever little indie.

THEN we get the very first teaser trailer for Fox Atomic's The Hills Have Eyes 2 over at IGN Movies, which is suitably short, slick and spooky. (This sequel hits on March 9.)

Closing out the horror hijinks is an all-new international poster (also courtesy of IGN) for Eli Roth's Hostel 2 -- which really has to be seen to be believed. Let's just say it's ... meaty. (Hostel 2 now has a release date of June 8, by the way.)

Keep up the great work, o bloody & disgusting ones!

The film that's been lauded as "This year's Lord of the Rings" (I highly doubt that, but I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the movie) could be decorating your walls soon if you're lucky. This would be the perfect stocking stuffer for someone who loves fantasy, dragons or John Malkovich. While it's great to see another fantasy film hitting the box office, it makes me nostalgic for movies like Dragonslayer, which defined the genre for me when I was kid.

Eragon's big claim to fame is that it was written by Christopher Paolini when he was 15 years-old. Since being published, it has attracted a lot of attention, and the film stars actors like Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich and Robert Carlyle, which isn't too shabby for a fantasy film. The trailers haven't wowed me yet, and I played a demo of the video game based on the movie -- which was almost enough for me to give up on the film, it was that bad. However, I'm determined to give this one a fair shake. At the very least, they've got themselves a cool poster.

FirstShowing.net will be giving away 20 of these as part of their "Poster Madness Contest," so head over and sign up before midnight, December 16. You have to answer a couple of trivia questions, but with the help of your trusty sidekick 'The Internet,' we have every confidence that you'll come through with flying colors. Good luck!

I'm green with envy! The entertainment industry has calculated their CO² emissions before I have. I'm under the delusion that being five feet tall means I'm less responsible for destroying the environment than Paramount. Height has something to do with it, right?

But really, it seems that Hollywood is taking a strong stance against global warming. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth didn't only force regular folk to take a look at their lifestyles but the movie folk as well. It's even become fashionable to be an environmental activist. Most celebrities have jumped on the bandwagon to save the planet. Not that I mind at all; I make it sound like this is the next annoying thing. In fact, I think it's great. I myself do my best to help protect the environment. One time I filled my entire car up with water bottles to recycle. I became convinced I could refuel my entire gas tank with the cash refund. It wasn't until I did the math that I realized the drive to the recycling center would cost me more money than I would receive and I also would be contributing that much more CO² into the environment. Therefore I threw them into my parents' recycling bins when I went home for Thanksgiving.

But -- in a calculated move similar to my recycling, but, you know, actually effective -- Hollywood's trying to go green. And, the interesting part of Variety's spotlight on Hollywood's efforts to be green is that it seems they're really doing it. United Talent Agency calculated their annual C0² emissions and has planted enough trees to make their company carbon neutral in 2006. Well, when I say 'planted' them, I mean they hired Go Zero and had them take care of it. A fun green fact to know is that Syriana was the first film expressly planned to be carbon neutral. They calculated exactly how much carbon emissions they would produce into the environment during the entire production and then took the necessary actions, planting trees and other routes (constructing wind farms possibly) to neutralize their emissions. Now I feel like I understand something about Syriana, even if it's just that there are now enough trees to soak up the CO² from the generators used to run the lights, cameras and the coffeemakers.

Studios, agencies, actors and people are all on their way to saving the polar bears and restoring the environmental balance. It truly is incredible.; I'm just curious -- in the future do you think we'll be reading, "Exactly 157 trees were planted during the making of this film." on the back of DVD jackets?

Way back in June we had Crazy Chris Campbell informing us that Lionsgate had just purchased North American distribution rights to Happily N'Ever After, a CG-animated fairy tale spoof from the producer of Shrek -- and today we get our very first peek at the long-gestating project. ComingSoon.net is where you'll find the goods.

The plot deals with all the heroic fairy tale characters dealing with conflict from all the villains ... or something like that. (Let's give it up for characters in the public domain!) What I find most amusing is the voice cast. We got Sarah Michelle Gellar as Ella (as in Cinderella), Sigourney Weaver as an evil witch (cool!), Freddie Prinze Jr., Andy Dick, Patrick Warburton, Jon Polito, Wallace Shawn and George Carlin -- and when I say "amusing," I actually mean it. Most of those actors have pretty funny voices!

So in addition to the previously linked clip, this just-discovered teaser trailer at YouTube, and a release date of January 5, I can also inform you that both the writer and the director are first-time filmmakers. But hey, I liked Hoodwinked, so I think this flick looks pretty, well, amusing.

It seems that the pimping of Factory Girl (as reported here on Cinematical by Jessica Barnes) is continuing, although on a smaller scale. Time to show off your skill with Photoshop (or the photo editing application of your choice); The Weinstein Co. is running a Factory Girl poster design contest. As the article on Poster Wire points out -- though it doesn't say this on the Factory Girl site -- even if you win the contest it seems unlikely your design will be used to promote the film in theaters since no major studio has ever acquired their poster design in this way. Also, bear in mind that the official poster is already in circulation. The winning design will be shown on the film's official website, and if things go anything like the Resident Evil: Apocalypse design contest from a few years ago, you might expect the winning design to be included as an extra on the DVD. If you're OK with that, then the prizes include: a full-sized printed copy of your winning design autographed by the the cast of the film, a private screening of the film for the winner and 25 friends, and, of course, bragging rights.

The Factory Girl website offers a downloadable production kit in zip format with the basic building blocks you'll need including 15 different images from the film, 6 different title treatments, and the billing block (that ultra-dense block of really tall text at the bottom of every movie poster). Check here for the official rules.

[via Poster Wire]

Yes, another teaser for The Simpsons Movie is circulating online, this being the third official one to debut. However, it's only available in windows media right now (though I assume it will pop up on YouTube soon enough), and so you Mac users are folks who cannot get windows media to work on your cruddy computer are sh*t out of luck. But don't worry my friends, you ain't missing much. The teaser opens the same way the last one did, with that little bunny hopping across a field before cutting to the title card and then to two short clips of Homer trying to hammer a nail onto his roof with Bart alongside him.

I must say, these short bits of the film aren't really exciting me all that much. I feel as if I'm watching the coming attractions for next week's Simpsons episode, only with less footage and jokes that aren't that funny -- all physical stuff with no sharp, witty dialogue. Since the first two were all about Homer, and the third featured Bart with Homer, this leads me to believe that each character will slowly make their way in -- perhaps the next one will feature Marge, then Lisa and Maggie. It bothers me that they're trying to hype us all up by shoving five-second clips of Homer hurting himself down our throats. Give us more. Give us dialogue. Give us humor. Give us something that will actually make us laugh and want to see the movie, like, right now. So far, that has not happened -- and while I'm a huge Simpsons fan who will no doubt pay money to see the movie -- I'm afraid my excitement level going in won't be as high as I wanted it to be. Thoughts? Reactions?

I can't say I was terribly worried about whether Halle Berry, having never been one of my favourite actresses, would find a way out of "The Curse of Catwoman." Still, I have to admit, it's too bad that her latest release doesn't look like it is going to be the one to break that slump.

Moviefone now has the first look at the trailer for the upcoming thriller Perfect Stranger starring Berry, Giovanni Ribisi, and Bruce Willis. The story follows a woman with the unfortunate name of Ro, who gets caught up with a powerful and obsessive man (Willis) while trying to solve the murder of her friend. Beyond having a title that immediately brings Balki to mind, the movie seems like a pretty run of the mill "erotic" thriller. And on a side note, I think we all hope Willis doesn't venture into Color of Night territory in the love scene. If you are the type of person that doesn't like to be told too much about a movie, you might want to hold off on the trailer for now.

So, is it just me, or does a long trailer always look a little desperate? Especially when the trailer gives most of the movie away. I doubt Perfect Stranger will be the film that restores Berry to her Oscar glory, so here's hoping she has better luck with her next project Things We Lost in the Fire.

[via JoBlo.com]

Dozens of paparazzi were crouched like lions outside the entrances and exits of a Manhattan hotel last Friday, and not because they're big fans of Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth and really wanted to take a snap of him. The more attractive half of 'Brangelina' is in town, on break from filming A Mighty Heart in India, and she made a late agreement to show up at the junket for her latest project, The Good Shepherd. The film, which is best described as 'The WASP Godfather,' originated with Francis Ford Coppola some years ago and tumbled through many levels of development hell before finally landing at the feet of Robert De Niro. It tells the story of the birth of the CIA through a tight-knit group of ambitious boys, including Matt Damon, who first meet at Yale and then continue their secret-handshake games throughout World War II and into the Cold War. Among other things, the film marks the return of Joe Pesci to the screen after an absence of eight years.

Thanks to the barely controlled chaos of the day and the various gossip columnists who muscled into the event after catching wind of you-know-who's RSVP, Cinematical wasn't able to drum up much time with the attendees, but we were still on hand for most of the day to watch De Niro, Roth, Damon and Jolie sweat it out under the hot lights for the sake of their pet project. Here is a sampling of what went on:

Angelina Jolie

Cinematical: Can you give an update on Atlas Shrugged? What sparked your interest in developing it? "I think it's a wonderful book. I'm a fan of her writing. I think it's an amazing project. It's, in many ways, a controversial and complicated project and I think it needs to be done right. There's been a lot of talk as to how that can be and 'what are the important reasons for making it?' There's a lot of really great people involved. It's being written now, and we'll see as the script comes out, how close we are. Then we'll know how close we are to possibly making it. Everybody involved, the producers involved, we all sat down around a table and we all agreed that if we couldn't do it right, if we couldn't do it justice, if along the way any one piece didn't come together like the right director or the right script, then we would all just fold it and not do it. So that's where we're at right now. We're taking it step by step, and we're going to make damn sure that it's done right."