Film Archives

Seth Rogen's happy to finally be filming "The Green Hornet."

"'Green Hornet' is everything I imagined and more," Rogen told reporters Thursday evening, adding that even though the production, which spent years in development, has begun, "we still gotta make it awesome."

MY SUPER PSYCHO SWEET 16
9 p.m. Friday, MTV
Tune in or out? out of four

Dylan Walsh and Penn Badgley break from their TV roles to star in the thriller "The Stepfather," opening Friday. Screen Gems photos

Dylan Walsh and Penn Badgley both worried about remaking "The Stepfather," but both actors thought it would be a nice break from their TV day jobs.

"Nip/Tuck" star Walsh takes on Terry O'Quinn's title role of David Harris. Badgley of "Gossip Girl" fame plays his stepson and rival, Michael Harding. In the film opening Friday, Michael comes home from military school to find his mother (Sela Ward) living with her new boyfriend, David, who has a dark, deadly past.

CHILDREN OF THE CORN
8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, Syfy
Tune in or out? out of four.

Matt Lanter and Rumer Willis spent a lot of time together this year.

No, they aren't canoodling. But Willis has a recurring role on Lanter's CW series "90210," and they co-star in the new horror flick "Sorority Row," which opened Friday.

It's only fitting that Ryan Kwanten (left) and Alexander Skarsgard of "True Blood" are Scream 2009  nominees. Who doesn't squeal when they are onscreen? HBO photo

"Star Trek" boldly took the most nominations for Spike TV's Scream 2009 awards.

J.J. Abrams popular reboot of the sci fi movie franchise earned 17 nominations, followed by 13 each for "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and "Watchmen."

HBO's "True Blood" earned nine nods, the most for a TV show. Unlike other awards, Scream pits TV and movies against each other.

John Hughes (right) talks with Matthew Broderick on the Chicago set of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" as Mia Sara and Alan Ruck wait. Everett Collection photo

The Encore movie network this weekend will honor writer-director-producer John Hughes, who died Thursday, by airing two of his long list of wonderful films, "Sixteen Candles" and "Weird Science."

Encore will show "Sixteen Candles" at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 9 and "Weird Science" at 8:35 p.m. Sunday.

Ray Park insists that his latest film, "G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra," doesn't suck.

"The movie's great," he told me Thursday, before heading to the L.A. premiere of the movie, in which he plays sword-wielding warrior Snake Eyes.

Tony Hale plays office nerd Stuart in the Web series "Ctrl." NBC photo

Tony Hale is ready for the "Arrested Development" movie.

"I want to wear Buster's hand again," he told me during a phone interview on Thursday. "I want to wear the hook again."

Sacha Baron Cohen has been on a whirlwind tour to promote his latest ambush comedy, "Brüno."

Usually, Cohen dons his latest alter ego, the flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista, but earlier this week let me down when he went on "Late Show with David Letterman" as himself.

He was back on the show Thursday night--as Brüno--delivering the "Top Ten Reasons to See the New Movie 'Brüno.'"

The movie opens Friday.

TAKE REDEYE'S VAMPIRE QUIZ

Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) need to come out of the coffin.

Call me a traditionalist--or just call me gay.

Edward Cullen and Stefan Salvatore are hot boys, but this fang-fan prefers his vampire stories with more gay flavor than "Twilight," the CW's upcoming "The Vampire Diaries" or other upcoming vampire projects provide.

I saw a wonderful movie Tuesday night I want to tell you guys about. Directed by Marc Webb and starring former "3rd Rock from the Sun" actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, "(500) Days of Summer" is funny, touching and real.

Philip Winchester and Sarah Chalke star in "Maneater." Lifetime photo

Sarah Chalke is having a great year.

"Scrubs" ended its season with her character, Elliot, and Zach Braff's J.D. married with a child. As Stella on "How I Met Your Mother," she's been on-again, off-again with Josh Radnor's Ted. And for Lifetime's mini-series "Maneater," airing at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, her character bullies one played by Philip Winchester into getting married.

Seeing Chalke get all that on-screen action led me to ask her: Which leading man is the sexiest?

"Zach, Philip or Josh? Mmm. They're all so different, it's hard to compare," she told me last Friday. "I would say that I was lucky to have all three within the same year. They all have a little somethin' somethin', and all of them are great kissers."

"Maneater" is based on the book by Gigi Levangie Grazer, who also wrote "The Starter Wife." In it, Chalke plays Clarissa Alpert, a shallow Hollywood socialite who plans her wedding to Winchester's character, a hot new producer, before they even meet.

Chalke talked about all her roles, and playing a gold digger, during Friday's conference call with reporters.

DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH
8 p.m. Monday, Sundance
Tune in or out? out of four.

The main thing we learn about author and provocateur Harlan Ellison in Erik Nelson's overstuffed documentary is something we already knew: Ellison is a mad genius.

Posted at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 24

U.S. Senator Joan Cameron (Judy Davis, left) searches for answers in her daughter's death. ABC photos

DIAMONDS
8 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday, ABC
Tune in or out? out of four.

This ambitious two-part film about the seedy blood diamond trade loosely weaves together five stories, which is at least two stories too many.

Posted at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, May 7

WATCH THE 'STAR TREK' TRAILER
'STAR TREK' MEETS 'LOST' IN PARODY

BOLDLY GO—AGAIN—ON ME TOO
Chicago’s WEMU classic TV will air a marathon of the original “Star Trek” from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday. Find Me Too on your TV service here.

Chris Pine takes Capt. Kirk's seat in the new "Star Trek" film. Paramount photos

When J.J. Abrams’ bold new “Star Trek” opens Thursday, it’s going to make a lot of people happy.

It also will cause outrage, but that’s nothing new. Some “Trek” fans have been bickering from the moment Abrams’ re-imagining of Gene Rodenberry’s beloved vision of the future was announced.

The Enterprise bridge looks too slick, they said. The ship was built in San Francisco, not Iowa. Chris Pine isn’t buff enough to play Kirk. You can’t change that. You have to do this.

BOLDLY GO--AGAIN--ON ME TOO
Chicago's WEMU classic TV will air a marathon of the original "Star Trek" from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday. Find Me Too on your TV service here.

Chris Pine takes Capt. Kirk's seat in the new "Star Trek" film. Paramount photos

When J.J. Abrams' bold new "Star Trek" opens Thursday, it's going to make a lot of people happy.

It also will cause outrage, but that's nothing new. Some "Trek" fans have been bickering from the moment Abrams' re-imagining of Gene Rodenberry's beloved vision of the future was announced.

The Enterprise bridge looks too slick, they said. The ship was built in San Francisco, not Iowa. Chris Pine isn't buff enough to play Kirk. You can't change that. You have to do this.

Posted at 4:10 p.m. Friday, April 17

GREY GARDENS
7 p.m. Saturday, HBO
Tune in our out? out of four.

Who knew Drew Barrymore could do drama? She’s a huge surprise in this film based on the real lives of “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale (Barrymore) and her mother, “Big Edie” Bouvier Beale (Jessica Lange), who were the subjects of Albert and David Maysles’ 1975 cult classic documentary. The touching, uncompromising film follows the Beales from their New York society heights of the 1930s to the 1970s, when Jackie O’s rich, eccentric relatives were found living with dozens of cats and raccoons in their run-down East Hampton estate, called Grey Gardens. Lange and Barrymore give exceptional performances as two women who, for whatever reason, went from beautiful to batty.

Posted at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 15

RECAP OF TUESDAY'S PERFORMANCES

Quentin Tarantino gave a very quick peek at his latest movie, “Inglourious Basterds,” during Tuesday’s “American Idol.” The Weinstein Company sent the entire clip out today. The film, set during WWII, stars Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger and will hit theatres on Aug. 21.

Posted at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 15

Spike TV will broadcast the world TV premiere of “Zombie Strippers!” starring porn legend Jenna Jameson.

Don’t get too excited, boys, it’s been edited for TV. That means no nudity, a Spike TV rep tells me.

All together now … Damn!

Now you’ll have to watch the “cinematic masterpiece,” as Spike TV calls it, for the grandness of the “epic” story. Airing at 9 p.m. Sunday, April 19, “Zombie Strippers!” has Jameson playing “an angst-ridden exotic dancer in Nebraska who becomes infected with a deadly virus and morphs into a supernatural, flesh-eating zombie.”

Robert Englund, who played Freddy Krueger in "The Nightmare on Elm Street" films, and former UFC fighter Tito Ortiz co-star.

Will Forte (left) and Mitch Hurwitz

"Hey Will, would you be in it?" Hurwitz asked Forte during a Wednesday conference call with reporters about their current project, Fox's animated series "Sit Down, Shut Up."

"Oh my God, I'd love to. Is this an offer?" Forte responded. "Let me get my agent on the line."

Posted at 2:10 p.m. Wednesday, April 1

Maybe it was an April Fool’s gag, but Mitch Hurwitz says he just might write Will Forte into his “Arrested Development” movie.

“Hey Will, would you be in it?” Hurwitz asked Forte during a Wednesday conference call with reporters about their current project, Fox’s animated series “Sit Down, Shut Up.”

“Oh my God, I’d love to. Is this an offer?” Forte responded. “Let me get my agent on the line.”

Posted at 2:10 p.m. Wednesday, April 1

Maybe it was an April Fool’s gag, but Mitch Hurwitz says he just might write Will Forte into his “Arrested Development” movie.

“Hey Will, would you be in it?” Hurwitz asked Forte during a Wednesday conference call with reporters about their current project, Fox’s animated series “Sit Down, Shut Up.”

“Oh my God, I’d love to. Is this an offer?” Forte responded. “Let me get my agent on the line.”

Posted at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 31

PEDRO
7 p.m. Wednesday, MTV
Tune in or out? out of four

Posted at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 31

PEDRO
7 p.m. Wednesday, MTV
Tune in or out? out of four

Posted at 9:45p.m. Monday, March 30

JIM GAFFIGAN: KING BABY
9 p.m. Tuesday, Comedy Central
Out Tuesday on DVD
Tune in our out? out of four.

Posted at 9:45p.m. Monday, March 30

JIM GAFFIGAN: KING BABY
9 p.m. Tuesday, Comedy Central
Out Tuesday on DVD
Tune in our out? out of four.

Will Lorraine Bracco (left) and James Gandolfini be revisiting New Jersey? HBO photo

"The Sopranos" ended its HBO run with a controversial fade to black.

Is creator David Chase about to turn the lights back on? Series co-star Lorraine Bracco says yes. Well, maybe.

Posted at 2:55 p.m. Wednesday, March 25

Will Arnett says everybody’s doing it. The “Arrested Development” movie, that is.

Arnett, who lends his voice to the film “Monsters & Aliens,” told E! News that the big screen adaptation of the cult TV hit should begin filming by the fall.

“As far as I know, everybody’s doing it,” he said, which means Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, Jessica Walter, Jeffrey Tambor and David Cross are on board.

“We want to get done by the end of the year and Mitch [Hurwitz, writer/director] is actively working on [it],” Arnett told E!. “Hopefully, by the fall, we’ll start rolling, as they say.”

Arnett couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a dig at Bateman, who he co-stars with in Hurwitz’s upcoming Fox animated series, “Sit Down Shut Up.”

“Jason Bateman’s been in rehab for the last two years, so when he gets out, then I think we’ll probably start,” Arnett joked.

Sounds like Gob and Michael Bluth all over again

Posted at 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 25

Will Lorraine Bracco (left) and James Gandolfini be revisiting New Jersey? HBO photo

“The Sopranos” ended its HBO run with a controversial fade to black.

Is creator David Chase (right) about to turn the lights back on? Series co-star Lorraine Bracco says yes. Well, maybe.

Bracco, who played Dr. Jennifer Melfi, psychiatrist to mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), told AOL Television that Chase is preparing to write a film version. AOL interviewed her after naming “The Sopranos” the No. 1 TV drama of all time.

“I'm so glad that he's going to write the movie soon,” she told AOL TV, adding that she is “trying to make him crazy and write the script before we all get too old and fat.”

Later in the interview when asked specifically about plans for a movie, Bracco did a reverse.

“I have no idea. But you know, it is something that I bring up with him,” she said. “I hope [Tony’s] fine, happy in New Jersey, bringing AJ to colleges. I think that would be a great way to start the movie, bringing AJ to colleges ... It would be very funny.”

An HBO spokeswoman on Wednesday whacked the idea of a "Sopranos" feature.

"I'm not aware that anything is going on with that," she told me, adding that the movie sounds like "something on [Bracco's] wish list."

Bada bing.

Chase currently is working on a miniseries for HBO, called “A Ribbon of Dreams, about the history of the Hollywood film industry. According to the network, the mini will begin in 1913 and follow two men who form an unlikely producing partnership in a very young Hollywood. The duo will cross career paths with such Hollywood greats as John Ford, John Wayne, Bette Davis and Billy Wilder.

Will Arnett says everybody's doing it. The "Arrested Development" movie, that is.

Arnett, who lends his voice to the film "Monsters & Aliens," told E! News that the big screen adaptation of the cult TV hit should begin filming by the fall.

"As far as I know, everybody's doing it," he said, which means Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, Jessica Walter, Jeffrey Tambor and David Cross are on board.

Posted at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, March 17

Zac Efron is ready to graduate from high school roles.

The “High School Musical” hunk appears on the cover of April’s Interview magazine and in a racy photo spread inside. In one shot naked Lithuanian model Edita Vilkeviciute is lying on top of him.

“I think it went pretty cool,” Efron told director Gus Van Zandt of the photo shoot. “… I just got to roll around in the dirt for a couple of hours. I got pretty dirty by the end of it, so that was fun. It was definitely different from anything I had ever done before.”

The 21-year-old said he wants to do “something surprising” in his movies, too, but worries directors won’t cast him.

“Most of the directors I’d want to work with don’t even know who I am,” he told Van Zandt, who interviewed him for the magazine. “Their daughters might.”

Efron almost loses the high school image in his next film, “17 Again.” He plays a 37-year-old who happens to be trapped in the body of a 17-year-old—who looks like Zac Efron.

You can read the full story at Interview's Web site.

Posted at 11:30 a.m. Monday, March 16

Will Forte isn’t the only guy in Hollywood who loves “MacGyver.”

The secret agent man with a plan is coming to the big screen, says The Hollywood Reporter.

“We think we're a stick of chewing gum, a paper clip and an A-list writer away from a global franchise,” said Richard Brener of New Line, the studio working on the big screen remake of the iconic 1980s series.

The ABC adventure show starred Richard Dean Anderson as Angus MacGyver, a secret agent of sorts who was able to diffuse bombs and make other gadgets to save the day out of everyday objects such as chewing gum and a paper clip. Forte has been lampooning the show for two years in his “MacGurber” skits on “Saturday Night Live.” Anderson appeared in the most recent ones on March 7, 2009.

Anderson is not attached to the movie project, says the Reporter. Raffaella De Laurentiis is producing the film with Martha De Laurentiis and original series creator Lee Zlotoff.

Watch my fave MacGuber skits by clicking this link.

Posted at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 11

The housemates on “Real World: Brooklyn” won’t be partying or bickering on Wednesday’s episode. They’ll be watching a preview screening of the new MTV movie, “Pedro.”

The movie, about “Real World: San Francisco” housemate Pedro Zamora, will air on MTV April 1. It pays tribute to Zamora, who was the first HIV-positive gay man on TV when he appeared on “Real World” in 1993. Zamora did tons of work in HIV-education before his death at age 22 in November 1994.

“Pedro” was written by Dustin Lance Black, who just won an Oscar for writing the “Milk” screenplay.

Click the link below are scenes from “Real World: Brooklyn” set to air at 8 p.m. Wednesday on MTV.

Here's clip for "Arrested Development" fans. Beginning April 1, "AD" alums Jason Bateman and Will Arnett will voice characters in "AD" creator Mitchell Hurwitz's animated comedy "Sit Down, Shut Up."

The actors recently sat down to bash each other. Sample exchange:
Bateman: "He's surprisingly breasty."
Arnett: "Sounds like he's projecting."

Posted at 4:25 p.m. Sunday, March 8

“Watchmen” ruled at the box office this weekend, earning $55.7 million in ticket sales and causing a heated debate over whether director Zack Snyder’s adaptation of the cult comic is actually any good.

I loved it, but I’m sucker for superheroes, even flawed ones.

The debate moves to TV on Monday, when movie bloggers Drew McWeeny of HitFix and formerly of Ain’t it Cool News squares off against David Poland from Movie City News on “Attack of the Show” at 6 p.m. (Central) on G4.

G4 is promising “two very different perspectives on the film.”

Last week, “Attack of the Show” got a visit from the movie’s blue man, Dr. Manhattan. You can watch the clip here.

Posted at 10:50 p.m. Friday, March 6, 2009

“Star Trek” spawned four spin-off and one animated series, 10 movies, dozens of books and on May 8, a relaunch by J.J. Abrams of epic proportions.

Beam me up already.

The latest and most awesome trailer is opening screenings of “Watchmen” in theaters this weekend. I can only imagination how amazing it looks on the big screen. I’m giddy as a schoolgirl watching it on my computer—for the 20th time. (Click to Apple to see it in hi-def.)

We see Starfleet Capt. Pike convincing a rebellious James T. Kirk to enlist. There are amazing shots of skydiving in space, a planet imploding and boffo, bruising space battles.

Then comes the goose-bumps-for-geeks moment: a bloodied Cadet Kirk sits in the captain’s chair for the first time as he takes control of the Enterprise.

And for anyone who’s sniping about Chris Pine not living up to William Shatner’s bed-hopping bravura, just check out Pine’s sexy two-fingered salute to Zoe Saldana’s Uhura. Looks like he’s doing just fine.

Check out the earlier trailers HERE, and then tell me what you think. Will Abrams, Pine, Saldana, Zachary Quinto (Spock), Simon Pegg (Scotty), Karl Urban (McCoy) and Anton Yelchin (Chekov) boldly take us where no “Star Trek” fan has gone before?

Posted at 9:30 p.m. Thursday, March 5

The much-anticipated “Watchmen” film opens in theaters Friday, giving the big blue superhero Dr. Manhattan a reason to pack up his "radioactive gentleman’s luggage” and visit G4’s “Attack of the Show.” Here’s a clip from the episode. It starts out slow, but builds to a bouncy finish. I don’t know who this blue man is, but folks, that chest ain’t CGI like in the movie. It's a pixelated pleasure.

Posted at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 3

Are you ready to meet the new Zac Efron or Vanessa Hudgens? Or how about the next Corbin Bleu or Ashley Tisdale?

That’s right, Disney has lined up “High School Musical 4” to air on the Disney Channel in 2010, with a while new cast of characters. Here’s the network’s story pitch:

“East meets West in a classic love triangle set against the cross-town school rivalry between the East High Wildcats and West High Knights, in ‘High School Musical 4,’ the fourth story in the celebrated franchise that became a cultural sensation, fueled unprecedented digital music downloads and underscored the strength of Disney Channel and Radio Disney’s connection to kids, tweens and families.”

The old cast won’t be back, but Peter Barsocchini, screenwriter of the first three films, will pen “High School Musical 4.” Bill Borden and Barry Rosenbush return as the executive producers.

Cover your ears!

Posted at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 28

Philip Johnson and Rosie O'Donnell star in "America." Lifetime photo

AMERICA
8 p.m. Saturday, Lifetime
Tune in or out? out of four.

Rosie O’Donnell produced, co-wrote and co-stars in this made-for-TV film about a kid who gets lost in foster care. O’Donnell, a foster mother herself, is heavy-handed with her narration about the screwed-up system, but she mostly gets things right. She’s surprisingly restrained as a therapist helping troubled teen America. Newcomer Philip Johnson knocks it out of the park with his raw, emotional and seething portrayal of the title character.

Ron Howard confirmed that we'll be getting an "Arrested Development" movie some day.

"It's going ahead," the executive producer told MTV News on Sunday's Oscar red carpet, confirming that he met with series creator Mitch Hurwitz on Feb. 20 about the film.

What Howard wouldn't confirm was who from the original cast, including Will Arnett and Jeffrey Tambor, would be in the film, and what sort of trouble the Bluths would be in this time.

"We've been asked to no longer divulge anything or get into the game of who's in, who's out," Howard said. "People are going to have to see."

Aww, Ron! Give us more scoop!

Posted at 9 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23

Ron Howard confirmed that we’ll be getting an “Arrested Development” movie some day.

“It’s going ahead,” the executive producer told MTV News on Sunday’s Oscar red carpet, confirming that he met with series creator Mitch Hurwitz on Feb. 20 about the film.

What Howard wouldn’t confirm was who from the original cast would be in the film, and what sort of trouble the Bluths would be in this time.

“We’ve been asked to no longer divulge anything or get into the game of who’s in, who’s out,” Howard said. “People are going to have to see.”

Aww, Ron! Give us more scoop!

Posted at 11:50 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22

SEAN PENN WINS ONE FOR GAY RIGHTS
WINNERS' LIST
OSCAR VIDEOS

The Oscar crowd loved Hugh Jackman's opening Sunday; but the night's big production number with Beyonce (below) seemed out of place. L.A. Times photo; MCT photo (below)

Hugh Jackman bombed at the box office last year, but his Oscar opening was a big hit.

He should have quit while he was ahead. A second Broadway-style number slowed down a ceremony that wasn’t as different as it was promised to be.

The “Australia” actor, hosting his first Academy Awards, opened with a musical tribute to the best-picture nominees that he claimed to have come up with in his garage due to Oscar producers downsizing the ceremony.

The lyrics weren’t that clever—he didn’t really come up with them himself—but what the showman did offer was a loose, fun and charming kick-off to Hollywood’s biggest party of the year. He sang with Anne Hathaway and to Kate Winslet, bashed the Academy for not nominating “The Dark Knight” for best picture, danced with the “Craigslist dancers” and to techno music and, with armbands a la “The Wrestler,” plugged his upcoming film “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

Whew! People's Sexiest Man Alive then charmed the nominees, putting some, like 15-time nominee Meryl Streep, on the spot.

“When someone puts up numbers like that, it’s just hard not to think steroids,” he cracked.

He also handed those elbow pads back to Mickey Rourke, making a joke about the actor’s string of no-holds-barred acceptance speeches during this awards season.

“Say whatever is on your mind because you know we have a seven-second delay,” Jackman said, “but if you win, we switch to a 20-minute delay.”

Later, Jackman ate up what seemed like 20 minutes himself, when his big production number with Beyonce and others stopped the show cold. It wasn’t that it was that bad (I admit it, I do like musicals), it just seemed horribly out of place. No one needs to revisit “Mamma Mia” or “High School Musical” at the Oscars.

The Academy promised a different show, but it wasn’t. The set seemed smaller and more intimate, but the show was still laborious and overproduced—just like that second Jackman number.

Five presenters introduced each acting nominee. And although the mini-tribute to each actor was nice, they stretched the show too long.

Thankfully a filmed segment from “Pineapple Express” stars Seth Rogen and James Franco and the great Tina Fey broke up the monotony on a night when no surprises occurred among the winners.

And yes, once again the show went over its allotted time. But won’t it always? The Oscars ceremony is a big, extravagant and overdone beast, and not even Jackman is huge enough to corral it.

Posted at 11:45 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22

JACKMAN CHARMS OSCAR
WINNERS' LIST
OSCAR VIDEOS
DON'T MISS MICKEY ROURKE'S INDIE SPIRIT AWARD SPEECH

Oscar winners Kate Winslet, Sean Penn and Penelope Cruz celebrate after the show. MCT photo

Mickey Rourke was the sentimental favorite, but Sean Penn walked away with his second best-actor Academy Award on Sunday.

“You commie, homo-loving sons of guns,” quipped Penn, who won for his portrayal of slain gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk in “Milk.” “I did not expect this and I want it to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me often.”

SAG winner Penn topped Rourke, who had taken the Golden Globe, BAFTA and Independent Spirit awards for his nearly autobiographical role as a washed-up wrestler fighting to come back in "The Wrestler." The once hot actor was in an acting wilderness for 15 years until this movie came along.

Penn’s was one of few surprises during Sunday’s ceremony, which saw “Slumdog Millionaire” load up on the statuettes, winning eight Oscars including best picture and best director for Danny Boyle.

A story of hope amid poverty in Mumbai, India, “Slumdog” came in with 10 nominations. “Just to say to Mumbai, all of you who helped us make the film and all of those of you who didn’t, thank you very much. You dwarf even this guy,” Boyle said, pointing to his Oscar.

Penn’s award was a big win for the gay rights movement in California, and he called out those who voted for the state’s ban on gay marriage.

“I think it’s a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that support,” Penn said. “We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone.”

Dustin Lance Black, the screenwriter for “Milk” and a fellow winner, also addressed gay marriage and growing up gay when he accepted his trophy for original screenplay.

“When I was 13 years old my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas, to California, and I heard the story of Harvey Milk and it gave me hope,” Black said. “It gave me the hope to live my life.”

Other awards went as expected, but that didn’t stop the winners from gushing.

Kate Winslet won best actress for “The Reader” and gave another in her long line of elegant, warm acceptance speeches.

“I’d be lying if I said I haven’t made a version of this speech before,” she said. “I think I was probably 8 years old and staring into the bathroom mirror, and this would have been a shampoo bottle. Well, it’s not a shampoo bottle now.”

Penelope Cruz, accepting the best supporting actress award for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” said she was surprised.

“Has anybody ever fainted here? Because I might be the first one,” she said, although she has won several other awards for the role.

The family of the late Heath Ledger accepted his Oscar for playing the Joker in the Chicago-filmed “The Dark Knight” after they received a standing ovation from the crowd at the Kodak Theater in L.A. His posthumous award will be held in trust and given to his now 3-year-old daughter, Matilda, when she turns 18.

“This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath’s quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here—his peers within an industry he so loved,” said Ledger’s father, Kim.

It was a touching moment on a night with few surprises.

AP contributed to this post.

Posted at 2:45 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22

WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK. SO TURN DOWN VOLUME.

Mickey Rourke outdid himself with his best-actor acceptance speech at the 2009 Film Independent's Spirit Awards on Saturday.

After cracking up audiences at the Gold Globes and BAFTAs, the 56-year-old comeback kid and star of “The Wrestler” honored his friend Eric Roberts, his dead dog Loki, the Santa Monica Police department and a host of others with a profanity-filled, hilarious speech.

Those poor organizers of Academy Awards probably are crapping their pants that the Oscar front-runner will do the same thing if he wins Sunday. Maybe more viewers will tune in hoping to see it.

Rourke started his speech trying to get his old friend Roberts some work in Hollywood.

“Eric Roberts is the [bleeping] man. Like I got, he deserves a second chance, and I wish there would be one [bleeping] filmmaker in this room that would let him fly because he is something else,” Rourke said.

He went on to thank the Santa Monica Police Department.

"They gave me a bed to sleep in 10 years ago. And I thank them—I asked them for two pillows, they told me to [bleep] off. But anyway, thank you, Darren Aronofsky, for believing in me … He is one tough son of a bitch and he don't like it when I say that 'cause he goes, 'Mickey, you'll scare all the other actors away from me.' But Darren, you know what, if they ain't got the balls to bring it, then [bleep] 'em, you know?"

He also thanked the WWE and Vince McMahon for supporting the film despite it exposing some raw aspects of the sport, including “steroids and the cocaine and the bangin' the girl [bleep] in the bathroom."

Watch the video above. Here’s hoping Rourke repeats at Sunday’s Oscars.

Posted at 9:33 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17; updated Wednesday, Feb. 18

Fox this week aired a trilogy of trailers for the upcoming “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” movie, with the final one debuting during “American Idol” on Tuesday.

Here they are. Thanks to Trailer Addict for the embeds.

The first trailer, “Outcasts,” deals with star Hugh Jackman’s chest. No, no; it shows the first time little Wolfie got his claws, and then when grown up Wolverine gets his claw update.

“Brothers,” which aired Monday, shows the relationship between Sabretooth and Wolverine.

"Legends" gives us a peek at the other mutants we're going to see in the film.

Posted at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12

Wolverine’s busting out in a big way beginning this Sunday.

Fox network will air three 60-second trailers for “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” over three nights to create a three-part narrative about the film. The first spot airs during Sunday’s 8 p.m. “Family Guy;” the second during Monday’s 7 p.m. broadcast of “House,” and the last on Tuesday during the 7 p.m. airing of “American Idol.”

Hugh Jackman (above) reprises his role as Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox film, which opens May 1. You can see other photos released by 2oth Century Fox on my earlier post here, plus the current trailer for the film here.

The narrative will reveal more about Wolverine's origin and introduce some of the other mutants in the film. The other mutants include Liev Schreiber's Sabretooth, Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool, Taylor Kitsch's Gambit, Dominic Monaghan's Beak, Lynn Collins' Silver Fox, will.i.am's John Wraith, Daniel Henney's Agent Zero and Kevin Durand's The Blob.

Posted at 7 a.m. Friday, Feb. 6

XIII
8 p.m. Sunday and Feb. 15, NBC
Tune in or out? out of four.

Would sibling politicians belong to two different parties? I guess it could happen, but it seems unlikely to me. Much of this derivative and silly two-part mini is unlikely, which isn’t always a deal-breaker if the story is compelling and the acting is good. Unfortunately, this rip-off of the worst things about “24” and the basic premise of the “Bourne” movies—secret agent shoots the president right in front of her governor brother and thousands of others, conveniently gets that kind of amnesia where he can’t remember who he is but remembers how to do all kinds of high-tech stuff and be a killing machine, then works to stop a corporate/military conspiracy to overthrow the government.

Stephen Dorff makes an OK amnesiac agent, whose only clue to his identity is a “XIII” tattooed on his chest, Val Kilmer, on the other hand, is poorly cast and very bloated as the man sent to shut Dorff up.

Sadly the mini leaves the door open for a sequel. Do yourself a favor, rent the “Bourne” movies and watch them instead.

Kimberly Elise is the best thing about "Gifted Hands." TNT photo

GIFTED HANDS: THE BEN CARSON STORY
7 p.m. Saturday, TNT
Tune in or out? out of four.

Cuba Gooding Jr. (right) gets top billing in this made-for-TV movie about the troubled childhood and meteoric medical rise of Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, a pioneering pediatric neurosurgeon. Yet I’ll remember Kimberly Elise, who shines as his illiterate single mother demanding that her two boys be the best they can be. The inspirational story loses some dramatic steam once Ben grows up and Elise is out of the picture, but it’s still a stirring tale.

THE GOOD WITCH’S GARDEN
8 p.m. Saturday, Hallmark
Tune in or out? out of four.

Catherine Bell (left) returns as the seemingly all-knowing and never flustered Cassie Nightingale of last year’s “The Good Witch.” This time, the witchy woman made peace with most of her neighbors, but when she opens up her home as a bed and breakfast, a mysterious stranger threatens to cause trouble. That may sound like a juicy conflict, but this “Garden” could use a few more exotic flowers. It’s just very exciting.

Posted at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1

JACKMAN, OTHER AUSSIES ARE ALL OVER TV.

All photos courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.

Twentieth Century Fox has released new images from “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which opens May 1.

I was hoping they’d have art of “Friday Night Lights” star Taylor Kitsch, who will be playing Gambit. But they’re all shots of star Hugh Jackman, which I’m not complaining about. Enjoy.

Posted at 1:45 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24

Sundance Channel has been celebrating the Sundance Film Festival this month by giving movies from past festivals their U.S. television premieres during "31 Days of Sundance.” Two upcomings screenings caught my eye. They are listed below. Go to Sundance Channel’s Web site to see the entire “31 Days of Sundance” schedule.

Julianne Moore as Barbara Daly Baekeland. IFC/Sundance photo

SAVAGE GRACE
9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, Sundance

This juicy, fact-based drama stars Oscar nominee Julianne Moore as Barbara Daly Baekeland, a would-be actress who vaulted into the upper class when she married plastics magnate Brooks Baekeland (Stephan Dillane). Spanning 40 years, Savage Grace captures a world of wealth, decadence and simmering discontent as it chronicles the Baekelands' disintegrating marriage and Barbara's intense relationship with their only child, Tony (Eddie Redmayne). Directed by Tom Kalin, this film appeared at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

Joe Strummer. Photo by Sho Kikuchi

JOE STRUMMER: THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN
9 p.m Wednesday, Jan. 28, Sundance

Director Julien Temple, one of the first documentarians of England's punk scene, draws on his shared cultural history and close friendship with the late Clash co-founder Joe Strummer for this acclaimed documentary. Loaded with rare archival footage and interviews with family, friends and admirers, the film celebrates the complicated man behind the legend. It appeared at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

Posted at 12:15 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 18

Yes, Skeet Ulrich, there is more life in "Jericho." CBS/CW photo

Nuclear explosions, network cancellations, black ops mysteries—nothing can kill the post-apocalyptic series “Jericho.”

After the 2006 thriller was cancelled by CBS fans sent so many nuts—a play off a line in the show—that the network revived it for another half season. It was cancelled again, however. But recently, the CW began airing the old episodes on Sundays.

The big news, however, comes from executive producer Jon Turteltaub, who told If Magazine last week that he’s developing a “Jericho” feature film.

"It would not require you to have seen the TV show, but it gets into life after an event like this on a national scale,” he told the online magazine during a promotional tour for his new CBS thriller, “Harper’s Island.” “It would be the bigger, full-on American version of what’s going on, beyond the town in Jericho."

"Jericho" starred Skeet Ulrich as a resident of a Kansas town that survived a series of nuclear attacks throughout the U.S.

Turtletaub also offered some hope that the TV show might return, saying that the CW repeats of the show are drawing more viewers than the number who watched “Mad Men” on cable.

“If it was like this remarkable success,” he told iF, “they would bring it back.”

We’ll see, but just in case he’s wrong, gets your peanuts ready fans.

Speaking of fans, for anything "Jericho" related, visit the Jericho-Kansas site, which works as a hub for the "Jericho" fan world. How else would I know that Skeet Ulrich's birthday is Tuesday, Jan. 20?

Posted at 10:45 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11

DON'T MISS THE RED CARPET PHOTO GALLERY, CLICK HERE.

HOW WERE THE GLOBES? CLICK HERE.

The film "Slumdog Millionaire" took four awards at Sunday’s 66th annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills. Here are the winners, including twice honored Kate Winslet.

MOVIES

Posted at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9

Teri Polo (above left), Jason Priestley and Cheech Marin star in "Expecting a Miracle." Also starring are Shalim Ortiz (below left), Kevin Hernandez and Rebeka Montoya. Hallmark photos

EXPECTING A MIRACLE
8 p.m. Saturday, Hallmark
out of four.

With the title “Expecting a Miracle,” this slight-but-sweet TV movie has to be about a baby, right? Yes, it is that obvious, with a main plot that follows an L.A. couple (Jason Priestley and Teri Polo) who are about to break up because they can’t get pregnant. It also offers a subplot about a Mexican boy with a bum leg and his wise priest (Cheech Marin). They both teach the couple powerful lessons while providing a whole lot of hopeful Hallmark moments. Yes, I did shed a little tear.

Posted at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 24

CHRISTMAS ON MARS
Tune in or out? out of 4.

Maybe I should have hit the eggnog—or something stronger—before I watched The Flaming Lips’ “Christmas on Mars.”

Sundance Channel airs the space fantasy at 11 p.m. Christmas Eve, 1:30 p.m. Christmas Day and 11 a.m. Dec. 27. You might have to watch it all three times to figure it out.

I think I’ve done it, on my third attempt. After twice falling asleep, I sat through the entire 86-minute feature that stars members of the Lips: Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Kliph Scurlock and Michael Ivins. (The film took seven years to make, mostly shot in Coyne’s hometown of Oklahoma City.)

Cohn, the writer, seems to be telling the hopeful story of a virgin birth inside a space station on Mars. At least that’s what I make of the never-ending images of galaxies a star formations that suggest female genitalia, and the only female character, who sits in a bubble attending an unborn baby gestating outside her body in another bubble.

“If that baby makes it, maybe we’re all going to make it,” the narrator says. “Or maybe we’re all just trapped inside the belly of a machine.”

The “we” are the stressed-out humans aboard the station, including Fred Armisen (“Saturday Night Live”), Adam Goldberg and Steve Burns (“Blue’s Clues”). The narrator, Major Syrts (Drozd), who wanders aimlessly, thinks out loud and tries to prepare for the station’s Christmas festivities. His Santa kills himself, but along comes a ridiculously dressed Martian (Coyne) to help the astronauts—I think.

The Lips’ soundtrack and all the visuals are trippy and fun, but once you get past the psychedelic, galactic beginning, it’s a snooze fest.

I’m sure Lips fans and film buffs will disagree, but I need something with a pulse to keep my interest.

Posted at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13

Shirley MacLaine plays Coco Chanel as she launches a comeback.

If “Coco Chanel,” this made-for-TV biopic about the legendary French designer, were a fashion line, it’d be sold at Dress Barn stores.

Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine looks good as the aging fashion force in the Lifetime film, airing at 7 p.m. Saturday, but she’s on screen only to set up the flashbacks. In those scenes, Czech actress Barbora Bobulova (right) portrays Chanel through most of her life—which plays out like a bad romance novel filled with death, love, abandonment and betrayal.

With all these Harlequin high jinks, we barely see the couture queen’s iconic “little black dress” and other designs—even though the film clocks in at a patience-stretching three hours. When we get back to MacLaine, Coco has lost any trace of an accent, but at least she still has sass.

That’s not enough to make this work.

Posted at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 22

S.I.S
9 p.m. Sunday on Spike

PETA, not to mention the L.A. Police Department, won’t be too happy with Spike TV’s latest “Spike Guy Movie,” “S.I.S.”

The made-for-TV flick presents LAPD’s covert Special Investigation Section as out-of-control cops who track dangerous criminals by using often criminal means. It also offers up diamond-heist scheme that pits attack dogs against the police.

PETA protests aside, the dog twist is about the only original idea here. Spike throws every cop drama ploy in the mix—an officer haunted by his accidental killing of an innocent bystander, lawyer crusading to shut down the secret police squad, a nearly invincible crook—and a whole lot of violence.

Boys love that stuff, right? Not this one.

DEAR PRUDENCE
8 p.m. Saturday on Hallmark

Wow, I didn’t see this coming: I liked “Dear Prudence,” the first in a series of made-for-TV films starring Jane Seymour (right) as TV personality Prudence McCoy.

In this movie’s world, Prudence is a cross between Martha Stewart and Heloise, offering up “Prudence Pointers” and solutions to homemakers everywhere.

Seems Prudence has an answer for everything, including “whodunnit?” The nosy know-it-all not only can get blood stains out of a carpet (use shaving cream!), she can solve the crime—Jessica Fletcher style—whether the police want her help or not.

The set-up is pretty silly and the crime is easy to solve, but the film still works—much like “Murder She Wrote” did back in the day. Seymour, as usual, is appealing, and she nor anyone else involved seems to take it too seriously.

Posted at 11 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, from Nebraska

Starlets Morgan (Joanna “JoJo” Levesque, left) and Marissa (Shenae Grimes) fight papparazi.

Morgan Carter calls Spielberg "Steven," spends thousands on glam clothes and endures rehab.

Oops, she did it again. In Lifetime’s original film, “True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet,” airing at 8 p.m. Saturday, singer Joanna “JoJo” Levesque plays Morgan, a Britney Spears-Lindsay Lohan knockoff who follows every professional triumph with an embarrassing personal scandal.

After her latest drinking disgrace, the 17-year-old starlet is sent to Indiana to live with no-nonsense Aunt Trudy, goes undercover as a transfer student and deals with mean girls and a boy who apparently has never picked up a tabloid or watched TV.

It’s hard to believe almost no one at Morgan's Midwest high school would recognize a LiLo-type star trading barbs with the popular girls, yet I can forgive this frilly film for the error because of everything that works.

JoJo is totally convincing as Morgan. Valerie Bertinelli (right with JoJo), who appears to be working out her own divorce issues onscreen, gives a solid performance as Aunt Trudy.

Screenwriter Elisa Bell smartly spares us any sappiness in her adaptation of Lola Douglas' novel, while Tim Matheson's direction keeps the sermonizing against life in the fast lane to a minimum. The movie jabs humorously at Hollywood without making it out as an evil empire.

The movie eventually lets us down with its predictable ending, but up until then, "True Confessions" is frilly, surface-only fun.

Posted at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 1

Stephanie Honore, Aimee Fortier, Ashley Benson, Jessica Heap and Ashlynn Ross are the “Fab Five.”

“Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal,” is a lot like the movie “Means Girls,” but without Tina Fey, Lindsay Lohan, Amy Poehler or any of the laughs.

Sure, this Lifetime original movie, airing at 8 p.m. Saturday, isn’t supposed to be a comedy. Still, I found myself laughing at its melodrama.

The Fab Five cheerleaders of this based-on-truth story make the “Mean Girls” seem like candy stripers. In fact, they are so evil I can’t imagine someone—kids, teachers, parents or the crabby lady down the street—wouldn’t have put them in their places already.

Have adults in Texas ever heard disciplining their brats—or are they hypnotized by the cheerleaders’ moves that “Fab Five” shows in slo-mo, pervy dance sequences?

Cheerleader captain Brooke Tippit (Ashley Benson, above right) and her four beastly besties—Ashley, Lisa, Jeri and Tabitha—get away with anything at their Texas high school, where Brooke’s mom Lorene Tippit (Tatum O’Neal, above left) is principal.

The squad’s newest coach—they’ve driven several away—is optimistic new teacher Emma Carr (Jenna Dawson, left), who is shocked at the Fab Five’s shenanigans, but more appalled by the school administration’s and district’s inability to discipline the troublemakers.

When she tries to teach the girls a lesson, they go after her and the squad members who rally around her. I won’t spoil anything for the former cheerleaders who plan to watch.

Just know this: You’re better off watching “Mean Girls” or even “Bring It On” for the tenth time than watch “Fab Five” again.

Posted at 6 p.m. Friday, June 6

Three very different types of made-for-TV movies debut this weekend. Here’s my takes on “Sybil,” “Backwoods” and “The Circuit.”

Jessica Lange and Tammy Blanchard take the roles famously acted by Joanne Woodward and Sally Field in CBS' remake of "Sybil."

SYBIL
7 p.m. Saturday CBS
I’d watch Jessica Lange read the phone book. Thankfully she gets to do more in this made-for-TV movie, starring as a psychiatrist who helps a client, Sybil (Tammy Blanchard), deal with her 16 separate personalities. Unfortunately this update of the superior 1976 TV movie skips too much story, which lessens the impact of the shocking atrocities that caused Sybil’s psyche to split. It also plants doubt the story is true, suggesting the two women, who died in the 1990s, made the whole thing up.

BACKWOODS
8 p.m. Sunday Spike TV
Eight colleagues go off into the woods for a company retreat but end up being hunted by members of a cult right out of “Deliverance.” I’m talking crossed eyes and twangy gee-tars here. The actors—including Haylie Duff (right), Danny Nucci and Ryan Merriman—do a good job, um, screaming and running. The second-rate script gets too misogynistic, but go figure—we’re watching Spike. Despite that, it was fun to see an arrow pierce a guy’s neck and other “Rambo”-like ambushes.

Michelle Trachtenberg, Drew Fuller and Billy Campbell race cars in "The Circuit."

THE CIRCUIT
7 p.m. Sunday ABC Family
Fresh from playing bad girl Georgina Sparks on “Gossip Girl,” Michelle Trachtenberg replaces the bitchy with brassy as a budding NASCAR driver. She’s no Speed Racer, no matter how fast she go-go-goes, because she won’t follow directions. She also doesn’t get along with her estranged father, a NASCAR legend (Billy Campbell), and is sleeping with her biggest competition (Drew Fuller). This made-for-TV flick has bedroom antics, family melodrama, you-go-girl spunk and a predictably cheesy ending. And lap after lap, it drew me in.

Posted at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, May 22

Sunny Mabrey (left) and Dean Cain try to outwit Anthony Michael Hall (right) in "Final Approach."

Daryl Hannah, Dean Cain, John Schneider, Anthony Michael Hall, Lea Thompson—no, this isn’t the line-up for the next season of “Dancing with the Stars.” But after their latest disastrous projects air this weekend, these actors may beg for the positive exposure.

These stars are helping Hallmark Channel make Memorial Day Weekend an adventure-filled holiday.

At 7 p.m. Saturday, “Final Approach” flies into living rooms, and if any movie ever had a cast of one-time all-stars, it’s this. Cain channels Jack Bauer as former FBI agent Jack Bender, who ends up on a flight hijacked by Hall and his terrorist band. Thompson plays his wife, an FAA official who wears very short skirts. Even Tracey Gold from “Growing Pains” shows up as a TV journalist who is secretly filming the hijackers.

The movie has its good points—naming all the has-beens, for example—but is far too long and scattershot. If it had focused just on the action on the hijacked airplane, it might have worked.

Speaking of has-beens, in “Shark Swarm,” airing at 7 p.m. Sunday, Hannah and Schneider (left) play a happy couple whose idyllic, ocean-front town is threatened by a dishonest developer—and a mutant shark swarm! The “Jaws” rip-off part of this film actually has some teeth (heyo!), but it gets lost in the convoluted crime tale and eco-friendly preachiness.

Again, a tighter focus would do wonders to keep the relevant action moving.

As hard as “Swarm” tries to muffle the suspense, one genuinely “Jaws”-like moment will make you jump. And no, it’s not when Hannah’s swimming in the ocean and you get a peek at her Spanx.