Josh Hutcherson

Movie-wise, there’s possibly something for everyone this week, with a couple of big flicks, at least in hype if not in quality. IMDB lists four new releases, and you can get more details from their profile pages, which I’ve linked to from each movie’s title.

New Releases

• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley. Directed by Mike Newell. This one looks very much like the recent Mummy flicks with Brendan Fraser, at least in terms of the CGI. But it does look entertaining, despite being based on a video game. Apparently Gyllenhaal put in quite the effort to improving his physique.
• Sex and the City 2: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon. Directed by Michael Patrick King. I was enough of a fan of the TV series to watch when I could, but I missed the first movie. Unfortunately, I’ve heard nothing good so far about SatC 2; only that there’s a lot of “bore” and “excess”. Still, die-hard fans will probably go, for completion.
• Survival of the Dead: Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe. Directed by George A. Romero. Romero’s back with yet another ‘Dead’ zombie flick, but again in his newer style, which fans of his original material (before Land of the Dead) apparently tend to stay away from.
• Micmacs [limited; French]: Danny Boon, Andre Dussollier, Nicolas Marie. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Jeunet is a multi-award-winning director, as well as a writer, producer and actor. Notable is 1991’s Delicatessen dark, futuristic comedy, balanced against a genre flick like 1997’s Alien: Resurrection. But beyond the plot as listed in IMDB, I know nothing about Micmacs.

Data from IMDB’s Now Playing page.

Also Playing

Still in theaters: Shrek Forever After, Iron Man 2, Robin Hood, Letters to Juliet, Just Wright, MacGruber and others, mostly released last week.

Upcoming Movies/ Roles

• Logan’s Run, slated for a 2012 release might have a new director, Carl Rinsch. The movie is being produced by Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman, and is based, I assume, on both the 1976 movie (with Michael York, Farrah Fawcett, Peter Ustinov) and the short-lived 1977 TV series (Gregory Harrison, who is Paul Norris on One Tree Hill), not to mention the original novel from 1967. [Heat Vision]
• Emma Roberts will join ‘Scream 4’. I must have lost track; I thought they were at #5. But the much of the original cast is in it: Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Neve Campbell. [Hollywood Insider]
• Brendan Fraser will likely not be starring in the sequel for Journey to the Center of the Earth. Directing duties might fall to Brad Peyton. [Deadline]
• The next Spiderman script has five contenders for the lead role: Jamie Bell, Alden Ehrenreich, Andrew Garfield, Frank Dillane, Josh Hutcherson. [Perez Hilton]
• Nina Dobrev of the show Vampire Diaries will join Kellan Lutz and Samuel L. Jackson in the action movie Deathgames. [Heat Vision]
• James McAvoy will play the younger version of Professor X (previously played by Patrick Stewart) in the next installment of the X-Men movies, X-Men: First Class, which takes place before the trilogy. [Hollywood, Heat Vision]

Screen Scene Tidbits

• Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are two of the best actors in Hollywood, and on my top five faves. But does that mean they’re qualified to play Rat Pack pals Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra in an upcoming biopic? Martin Scorcese thinks so, and that means it’s pretty likely to happen. [The Playlist]
• The Harry Potter film series is coming to an end. Can you believe it’s been about 10 years since the first one?! Apparently a few of the cast members, including Daniel Radcliffe, are a bit emotional as they’re wrapping up the last movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (2010; Part II will be released in 2011). [People]
• Human Centipede is said to be one of the most revolting films ever made — so much so that some audience members were dry heaving in their seats during a viewing; the rest made for the door. But some wag got the clever idea to turn the opportunity into a Web-based video game — which doesn’t seem as offensive. If you don’t already know why Human Centipede the movie is so offensive, trust me, you never want to know. Even the description is revolting. Don’t even look it up. If you’re a little curious, play the Human Centipede Web game, which is just a clone of the original Centiped video game. Note: this game is NOT for the kiddies.

Enjoy the movies!