Universal Pictures have attached Tobey Maguire to star in The Crusaders, a movie about the landmark 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education Case that declared state laws which had established separate public schools for black and white children, had denied black children equal educational opportunities.

The unanimous decision from the court was “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Maguire will play Jack Greenberg, an idealistic lawyer fresh out of law school who spearheaded the victory against segregation in American schools. The movie is based on his memoirs Crusaders in the Court.

Gary Ross will direct, having previously worked with Maguire in his two most famous non-Spidey movies,  Pleasantville and Seabiscuit. Former Buffy the Vampire slayer actor and Recount scribe Danny Strong will scribe - he is also an alumni actor from Ross’ previous films.

Important story and historical moment in U.S. history, well worthy of it’s translation to screen even if it will be a dialogue heavy courtroom drama. Can Maguire really pull this kind of material off, a “Tom Cruise” style performance in A Few Good Men?

Ross sure has great faith in him, I can’t say I’m fully convinced.

source - variety

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Here’s our first look at Soul Men, the buddy comedy starring Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac as a bickering pair of backup soul singers who decide to take a road trip together despite the fact that they haven’t spoken in two decades and lived very much apart.

The trip is to honor a fallen friend and their former band leader whose tribute concert they are putting aside their differences to reach. From the looks of things, they make it to the concert - though IMDB’s plot synopsis don’t mention the road trip at all, maybe the trades got that part wrong.

Both Jackson and Mac, two very charismatic actors have done all their own signing and performances on stage for the movie which marks their first ever pairing together.

Isaac Hayes (as himself), Jennifer Coolidge and Sean Hayes all support the Malcolm D. Lee (Undercover Brother) picture, written by Intolerable Cruelty scribes Matt Stone and Robert Ramsey.

Been really looking forward to this one. The movie sounds a lot more serious than comedic, I’m expecting Dreamgirls but without the cheese. The movie opens in November and I would love to see it perform.

source - cinema blend

We are a few days late on this one but I can’t let it slip by, it’s our first look at Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th remake over at Platinum Dunes.

The images first appeared in Entertainment Weekly but has since been enlarged by Shock Till You Drop.

The movie opens on Friday February 13th 2008 and is directed by Marcus Nispel (Texas Chainsaw Massacre redo, Pathfinder).

For the first time in a decade, the frequently named greatest film of all time - Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather has been knocked off the top spot on IMDB’s Top 250 User Rated Movies of All Time.

For the time being at least, The Dark Knight has landed the coveted title, averaging a 9.5 out of 10.

Of course this will go down but it’s still significant as The Godfather looked like a movie that was never going to be knocked off it’s top spot, so no matter how briefly - it’s still a historic event.

Well done Mr. Nolan, you can be very proud of yourself today. It’s so rare to find a blockbuster movie that breaks box office records, appeases the rabid fans of a franchise and also becomes a critics darling. This no doubt has been the only film to do such a task since 2003’s Return of the King and it’s a very rare thing indeed.

It’s no wonder why I called Chris Nolan the No. 1 working director today back in August 2007.

A big thank you to Paramount, who just like they did with their biggest blockbusters this year Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Iron Man, they have wisely given a simultaneous release for next year’s Star Trek - opening in 46 countries on and around May 8th 2009.

As someone who lives in the U.K and currently unable to see The Dark Knight, this is very much appreciated.

For the first time ever, Star Trek will open worldwide at the same time as it bows out in the U.S but of course this is now to expected as it’s a Summer event movie. This is no longer that geeky sci-fi yarn but a movie which has to appeal to a wide audience, and it will need an event feeling if it has any chance of making a profit at the box office.

Not an easy task for

A) A movie with the name Star Trek in the title.

B) A movie with Leonard Nimoy and Star Trek in the title (I.E: his presence alone will make the movie seem less fresh in the eyes of new viewers)

C) A tentpole going up against Terminator IV, Wolverine and Angels & Demons in quick succession).

I just wonder if J.J. Abrams has some clever viral marketing up his sleeve to unleash upon us soon. I just wonder.

Hope we get to see something at the Con next week!

FULL LIST OF STAR TREK WORLDWIDE RELEASE DATES HERE

source - trek movie

You may wonder why I’m posting about a PG rated “inspirational dance” movie, the kind of flick just like How She Move and Step Up which we will usually try and avoid talking about, and when we do tend to discuss them it ain’t usually with much pleasure.

But… this one’s a little different. It’s called Make it Happen from director Darren Grant (Diary of a Black Women) and it opens in the U.K. on August 8th.

For a start, I kinda dig the story. A young dancer who can’t get a break, takes up the intimidating task of dancing in a Burlesque house to try and get noticed. Yeah, I like that one better than the usual teen angst in this kind of movies.

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE

And then there’s Mary Elizabeth Winstead, she’s one hell of a fine young actress and at OWF we have seen her coming before most. I thought she was a real stand out in Final Destination 3 and Quentin Tarantino must have thought so too giving her a great part in Death Proof.

If he ever gets around to remaking Faster, Pussycat! Kill Kill! he could do a lot worse than this young lady.

Sadly, Len Wiseman doesn’t have the same eye for talent and pretty much wasted her in Live Free or Die Hard last Summer.

She’s one of the best of her age right now, she’s gonna be a huge star. She sells this flick for me. Give the trailer a watch, it might surprise you.

Hyde Park Entertainment have bought the remake rights to the Blake Edward’s classic comedy 10, one of the highest grossing movies of 1979.

The original starred Dudley Moore as a guy obsessed with a girl he calls a “Perfect 10″ and the lengths he would go into making himself a presence in her life, despite his love for his wife played by Julie Andrews.

Bo Derek played the perfect hottie in the original and immediately became a star, a sex symbol of the 80’s, with her rather unique braided hairstyle becoming as popular as the Jennifer Aniston haircut of the 90’s.

The remake will boast a “newcomer” for the role made famous by Derek, though I think they are missing a trick by not going for someone like Teresa Palmer, who you could really make into a movie star with a part like this.

Several meetings have already taken place over the remake and a writing/directing team should board soon.

The original which was more slapstick and humorous than say a serious take on this kind of Lolita tale that Kubrick made in the 60’s, has that kind of universal appeal of subject matter. I think all of us, no matter what age or sex can relate to seeing a beautiful “10″ that’s way out of your league and imagine ourselves becoming obsessed by them.

This could be a huge money maker and actually a good film if they go semi or majorly serious with it. Hell, Forgetting Sarah Marshall was almost a full homage movie to 10 grossed nearly $100 million worldwide just this year.

source - variety

After very minor roles in Poseidon and Planet Terror, singer Stacy Ferguson (aka Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas) has earned her first major film part. She will attempt to seduce the Two Time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis in the Weinstein/Relativity Media musical Nine.

The much troubled production which was originally set to film in January before the WGA strike hit and lost some key talent in the process, stars Lewis as a famous film director who struggles to find peace in either his proffesion or home life and so begins to engage in dramatic relationships with the women in his life.

It’s of course an updated version of the magnificent Federico Fellini movie 8 1/2.

Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson and Sophia Loren make up the rest of what is an amazing ensemble cast for Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha director Rob Marshall.

Shooting begins October in the U.K. with a view to a Christmas 09 release, and surely it’s going to be a huge Oscar contender.

source - variet

Just smashing the one day record set by Spider-Man 3 last year, The Dark Knight has grossed an estimated $60-$63 million on it’s first full day of release and if it sustains, should become the highest grossing three day weekend opening of all time.

In comparison, Spidey 3 made $58.9 million on it’s first day, then $151 million for the weekend.

And unlike Spider-Man 3, the vast majority of those who see it love the thing. Currently on IMDB, it’s the third highest rated movie of all time, just ahead of it’s much compared The Godfather Part II.

Though of course in a few more weeks, we will have a better understanding of where the movie is likely to sit. Pixar’s Wall-E wasn’t to dismilar a while back but has since dropped down to 22nd after 44,064 votes.

Now for us Brits, we should stop moaning about the delayed release of the best films of this summer. Just look how much we have to look forward to.

Today I’m going to see Wall-E, on Wednesday the god damn Dark Knight (possibly the most anticipated film in the history of my life), then my absolute favourite movie of all time is getting re-released around the country in a digital print in August- The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.

Then we get Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Get Smart, two movies I expect to be entertaining as hell!

source - variety

British comedy actor Simon Pegg worried me last year with his first major starring role outside of his Edgar Wright/Nick Frost team with Run, Fatboy, Run - a movie so incredibly unfunny and stupid that it was 2 hours of pain watching Pegg take the material seriously.

For actors like Pegg, much like Ricky Gervais - it takes a special kind of role and clever writing material to really use them at their best because they are comedians first and not actors. I find it pretty interesting that both men are playing similar roles in American produced movies at around the same time and they both fall down to the same problem.

With straight characters… Pegg and Gervais are not the leading man, or shouldn’t be.

Here’s the trailer for Pegg’s second attempt at this, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People which similarly to Run, Fatboy, Run descends into a kind of gag so over-used, so wretchedly banal and so bottom of the barrel, it’s impossible to not cringe. It’s the spit the food on the lady gag!

SEE IT IN HD HERE

Simon Pegg should not try and be the British version of Adam Sandler. He is way better than that and to many movies like this, people will soon get sick of him.

From Curb Your Enthusiasm director Robert B. Weide and adapted to the screen by Peter Straughn (Sixty Six), the movie is based on the real life memoirs of British journalist/critic Toby Young who struggled to fit in when he went Stateside to work for Vanity Fair. It’s basically a guy’s version of The Devil Wears Prada.

Kirsten Dunst plays Pegg’s love interest, Jeff Bridges his boss, Danny Huston his co-worker and Megan Fox plays a parody of herself as a dumb American actress. The movie opens in the U.S. and U.K. on October 3rd and looks awful.

source - coming soon