LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Consumer Electronics Show -- TitleMatch Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of Protocall Technologies Incorporated (OTCBB:PCLI), today announced that it is collaborating with leading consumer electronics company Pioneer Home Entertainment in a demonstration of the latest TitleMatch DVD On-Demand service January 7-10, 2008 at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Filed under: Comedy, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand

It would appear that tensions on the set of Four Christmases are at an all time high, as the off-screen feud between stars Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon continues to heat up. Last month we told you how both actors were a bit peeved over the other's work ethic. Witherspoon didn't like the fact that Vaughn would show up to the set unprepared, laid-back and ready to improv (after a long night at the bar), while Vaughn seemed pissed that Witherspoon refuses to lighten up and go with the flow. Perhaps that's why pal Jon Favreau was brought in for a late inning role, so that he could keep Vaughn in check and not let the guy ruin the entire flick?

Now, Digital Spy tells us that things on set aren't getting any better. Witherspoon apparently has a problem with one of the scripted love scenes between her and Vaughn, and doesn't want to go through with it. Says a spy: "Reese has an issue with the scripted love scene. It is meant to be a funny, American Pie-style romp, full of bumps and laughs, but Reese is of such a prude, she thinks it's just too much." And this is the girl who was just named the most-liked celeb in 2007? Granted, I wouldn't blame Witherspoon for not wanting to get dirty between the sheets if her partner reeks of alcohol and refuses to go strictly by the script. Who knows what he would do once they were in bed together; for all we know, he could go crazy with the improv, whip out his Johnson and start wagging it around. Sheesh, no Oscar winner deserves that sort of disrespect.

Then again, a scene like that would probably go down as one of the funniest of the year. Poor Reese. If you slack off on set, you get reamed, and if you show up every day on time, with your ultra-professional cap on, you still get reamed. I guess you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't. Hopefully the film won't suffer because of this feud (though the press junkets should be very interesting).

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Filed under: Drama, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, The Weinstein Co., DIY/Filmmaking, Nicole Kidman

Quick: Name the last live-action film starring Nicole Kidman that absolutely rocked the box office? Okay, that's a tough one, I know, so how about the last live-action Nicole Kidman film that was any good? Hmm, that's also pretty tough. Fine, how about you just name the last live-action film that starred Nicole Kidman. That's pretty easy. The Golden Compass. It debuted last month. Yes, it's pretty clear that Kidman's appearance in a film is not all that it used to be, and fans aren't exactly flocking to the theater just because a film includes her name in the credits. Straight off filming the latest Baz Luhrmann epic, Australia, comes word from the sometimes-reliable Page Six that Kidman has dropped out of her next flick, The Reader, which was due to begin filming this month.

The reason? Well, they claim it's because the gal is pregnant, and she doesn't want to take on any work that could potentially harm her unborn child. Of course, Kidman, nor her reps, have confirmed that she is pregnant, and so I wouldn't go and take this news as official word. Page Six describes The Reader as being about "a man who carries a longtime sexual obsession for an older woman who's later prosecuted for war crimes after it emerges she was a member of the SS and a guard at Auschwitz." The film is based on Bernhard Schlink's book, and it co-stars Ralph Fiennes and Bruno Gatz. A rep for The Weinstein Co. said the "status on The Reader has not changed," so who knows what the real truth is.

As Page Six points out, perhaps now is a good time for Kidman to take a much-needed break. Her last three films, The Invasion ($15 million), Margot at the Wedding ($1.8 million) and The Golden Compass ($59 million) didn't exactly break any box office records, and so some time away to nurse that bun in the oven might be the appropriate move.

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Filed under: Critical Thought, Celebrities and Controversy, Fox Searchlight, Oscar Watch

What is the proper etiquette one must employ when interviewing Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody? Are you allowed to ask her about her time as a stripper and a phone-sex operator? Is that crude or off-topic? There's no question how she (and Fox Searchlight) feel about the issue -- sitting down with Cody for a one-on-one interview last month (for another outlet) was one of the oddest experiences of my life, since Fox insisted on having a senior publicist actually be in the room and stand near me during the interview and occasionally even interrupt my questioning -- a first. I later found out the same treatment was given to others, and this thinly-disguised attempt to intimidate the journalist out of asking any potentially non-PG questions was really out of line and unnecessary. However, Cody can't control television interviews as successfully, as evidenced by her upcoming appearance on Peter Bart's AMC show, which apparently turned into a cringe-fest.

On Cody's MySpace page, she says Bart "was full of condescending questions. Wait until Sunday -- you'll see him asking when I plan to be a normal woman and have children!" I can't wait to see that, since it would seem to be a new contender for the stupidest thing he's ever said, and that's saying a lot. In the meantime, AMC is hosting some teaser clips from the interview, and you can see Cody's face drop into a pained grimace when Bart asks "Were you ever a stripper?" and moves on to other questions like "Were you writing at the time that you were stripping?" and "Where did you strip?" Some bloggers have taken the position that it's invariably creepy and unnecessary to ask Cody these kinds of questions, but I still say when someone writes a whole book about something, it's sort of fair game.

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The National Society of Film Critics, of which Wesley and I are members, met today in New York and voted on the films of 2007. "There Will Be Blood" came away the big winner, taking best picture, actor, director, and cinematography. Other categories held some surprises. The full list of winners, with runners-up, is as follows:

BEST PICTURE
1. There Will Be Blood
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
3. No Country for Old Men

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
1. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
3. Persepolis

BEST DIRECTOR
1, Paul Thomas Anderson ? There Will Be Blood
2. Joel and Ethan Coen ? No Country for Old Men
2. Julian Schnabel ? The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

BEST NONFICTION FILM
1. No End in Sight
2. Sicko
3. Terror?s Advocate

BEST ACTOR
1. Daniel Day-Lewis ? There Will Be Blood
2. Frank Langella - Starting Out in the Evening
3. Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Savages, Before the Devil Knows
You?re Dead

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the
Coward Robert Ford
2. Javier Bardem ? No Country for Old Men
3. Philip Seymour Hoffman ? Charlie Wilson?s War

BEST ACTRESS
1. Julie Christie ? Away from Her
2. Marion Cotillard ? La Vie en Rose
3. Anamaria Marinca ? 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Cate Blanchett ? I?m Not There
2. Amy Ryan ? Gone Baby Gone and Before the Devil Knows You?re Dead
3. Tilda Swinton ? Michael Clayton

BEST SCREENPLAY
1. Tamara Jenkins ? The Savages
2. Paul Thomas Anderson ? There Will Be Blood
3. Ronald Harwood ? The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. There Will Be Blood ? Robert Elswit
2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly ? Janusz Kaminski
3. No Country for Old Men ? Roger Deakins

BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM to ?Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind? by
John Gianvito

FILM HERITAGE AWARD to "Ford at Fox," a 21-disc box set from Fox Home
Video.?

FILM HERITAGE AWARD to Ross Lipman of the UCLA Film and Television
Archive for the restoration of Charles Burnett?s "Killer of Sheep" and
other independent films.

Filed under: Action, Casting, Deals, Sony, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Exhibition, James Bond, Images, Daniel Craig

With filming less than a week old, an entire mini-gallery of photos have arrived from the set of Bond 22. Some of those are 'out of the office' shots of M, played of course by Judi Dench. In the shots that leaked out we see M and one of her confederates walking down some London street -- the kind of scene that will probably comprise two to three seconds of screen time in the finished film, if at all. Some snaps of Daniel Craig were also obtained by JustJared this week and picked up by MI6, when the actor showed up to film some scenes at Burwood Place, London. According to the report on MI6, some are saying that the local fire department was on hand to help the production create fake rain for the location shoot, but this isn't confirmed. The only other thing to be said about the shots is that they are completely unrevealing of anything about the film, other than the fact that it's actually shooting.

Meanwhile, MI6 is also reporting that according to their sources, Gemma Arterton's role in the new Bond film is "not the major role," meaning the real Bond girl has yet to be cast. They stress that "extensive" casting searches have focused on finding a Latin American actress for that position and they also say that Moneypenny is not thought to figure into this film -- so who is Arterton playing? The fact that her given name is "Fields" instead of something like Baroness von Whoever, I now think it's likely to assume that she's some new MI6 recruit who either gets killed early on or turns out to be a villain later in the piece like Rosamund Pike in Die Another Day.

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Filed under: Deals, United Artists, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Tom Cruise

Some major major news on the strike front seems to be leaking out today, with an official announcement expected to come at some point tomorrow (according to Deadline Hollywood). Looks like United Artists (aka the movie studio run by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner) is in the process of inking a deal with the WGA that's very similar to the one they made with David Letterman's Worldwide Pants. Said deal, if it goes through, would allow United Artists to work with writers on whatever upcoming projects they have planned, making them the first such studio allowed to do this since the strike began. Damn. Score one for Tommy Boy! It's not yet known which films will take advantage of this interim deal right off the bat, but we do know that Oliver Stone's Pinkville was recently postponed due to problems with the script. Chances are, with the cast for that flick already in place, it will be one of the first delayed productions to be back in business. Of course, this is all subject to the deal actually going through.

On the other hand, United Artists could get right to work on a literary property they just optioned for seven figures. While all this interim agreement talk continues, The Hollywood Reporter tells us UA has optioned the film rights to Ranger's Apprentice, a fantasy series written by Australian author John Flanagan. According to HR, it "follows the adventures of an orphan boy named Will who becomes an apprentice ranger and fights to keep the mythical kingdom of Araluen safe from invaders, traitors and other dangers with the help of his master Halt." Yup, that sounds like just about every fantasy series being optioned these days, but what's even more interesting is that writer-director Paul Haggis was in talks to adapt and direct at one point before the strike happened and halted those discussions. Haggis doing big-budget fantasy? Bit of a stretch if you ask me -- what do you think?

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Filed under: Awards, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Newsstand, Politics

While sites like ours struggle to decide how, in fact, we're going to cover the Golden Globes, Deadline Hollywood tells us that a number of key decisions were made late today. Firstly (and probably the most important), SAG has officially announced that none of the actors or actresses will cross the picket line and attend the awards ceremony on January 13. That was an expected decision, but still one that kind of shocks you. However, DH claims NBC is still moving forward with preparations to air the make-shift ceremony on their network. With who in attendance? Got me.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association issued the following statement: "The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been placed in an extremely difficult position with the ongoing Writers Guild strike. We are making every effort to work out a solution that will permit the Golden Globes to take place with the creative community present to participate. We hope to announce a resolution to this unfortunate predicament on Monday." Personally, I'm not sure what the hell they're going to resolve by Monday, but I would expect NBC to fold and not televise the ceremony. How could they with no one showing up? And how ridiculous would it look if some fat studio exec was standing on stage, handing out award after award to folks who aren't there to accept them? This is what NBC wants the entire country watching? I don't think so.

Here's SAG's statement: "After considerable outreach to Golden Globe actor nominees and their representatives over the past several weeks, there appears to be unanimous agreement that these actors will not cross WGA picket lines to appear on the Golden Globe Awards as acceptors or presenters. We applaud our members for this remarkable show of solidarity for striking Writers Guild of America writers."

And here's the WGA's statement: "We are grateful to our brothers and sisters in SAG for their continued solidarity and support. The entire awards show season is being put in jeopardy by the intransigence of a few big media corporations. We urge the conglomerates to return to the bargaining table they abandoned and negotiate a fair and reasonable deal with writers to put this town back to work."

And here's Nikki Blonsky's statement: "Motherfu**ker son of a b*tch! This was my chance! You fu**kers!"

And here's Cinematical's statement: "We made up Nikki Blonsky's statement, but you have to imagine the poor girl is pretty pissed. Plucked from obscurity to star in Hairspray, nominated for an award, and she can't even show up. We feel you Nikki ... we feel you. Hug?"

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Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, From the Editor's Desk

So I've been watching this whole Britney Spears drama unfold today, and it got me thinking about the kind of biopics we'll be seeing in 10-15 years; the sort of stuff that will be based on the fascinating lives people are living right now. I hate to be the one who says this -- and as much as she's a total trainwreck, I still hope she pulls through -- but are we really that far away from waking up in the morning to TMZ breaking the news of Britney Spears' unfortunate death? Yeah, you've got Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton -- two giant headaches; there's no denying that. But Spears is in a league of her own. She's right there. She's on the verge of leaving this planet ... and it's almost like the media want her to die in some absurd way because they'll have their story of the year.

And then after she dies, MSNBC will run non-stop coverage (though it's an election year, so Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood will win out in the end), interviewing the editor of In Touch Magazine 30 times throughout the day, asking them this same question: How come no one was there to help this girl out? And while the editor from In Touch Magazine talks, they'll show the same music video montage -- Britney in a school girl uniform, Britney in leather, Britney at the VMA awards. Larry King will bring on her mother. Then her father. And if he's lucky, he'll get a pregnant Jamie Lynn. The trifecta! You go Larry! The film sites (including Cinematical) will try to find a way to spin the story in a way that announces which jackass first nabs her life rights for a biopic, and that will be it. The end of Britney.

Until the day comes for a biopic. And we run through the names of a few up-and-comers trying to decide who should play Britney. I'll probably write the post, and say something like -- "I vote for Lohan, since she already knows how to sing and could probably pull off a believable Britney." And how ironic would it be if that performance is what nabs Lohan an Oscar nod? Nah ... too soon. Too soon. Maybe Jamie Lynn would play Britney, in a fitting tribute to the girl who taught her how to have stupid sex at 16. But you know what? It doesn't have to go there. Now is the time for her f**king family to drop whatever sh*t is stored in that warehouse they call an attic and get this girl some help. Because when and if it ever happens, I want Britney to star in her own biopic. And I want it to end with her smiling at the camera, with her middle finger in the air, as she goes ... "See, I survived. And f*ck you Perez Hilton!" (Only the MPAA will ask her to remove the word 'f*ck' in order to get the film down to a PG-13 rating. And we'll probably write a post about it.)

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Add Wesley to the voices praising "There Will Be Blood" and Daniel Day-Lewis to the skies -- of the actor's performance as a monomaniacal oilman, Wes writes "He's the smoke, the ash, the lava, and the volcano." That sounds about right. This isn't an easy movie, and some of the best things in it are also the screwiest, but it feels absurdly alive while you're watching it, and how many films can you say that about anymore?

If you want something easier and more inspirational -- but good -- there's Denzel Washington's "The Great Debaters" (starring Denzel, Forest Whitaker, and a young actor improbably named Denzel Whitaker -- no relation to either, apparently). If you really want blood, there's "Sweeney Todd." And don't forget Julian Schnabel's rapturously beautiful "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" at the Coolidge, the Kendall, and the West Newton.

"Black Narcissus" is playing at the Brattle tonight -- only one of the most gobsmackingly gorgeous color movies of all time, co-directed by the great Michael Powell and with Oscar-winning cinematography by Jack Cardiff. And, yes, it's about sexual repression among a group of British nuns in the Himalayas. The scene in which Kathleen Byron puts on lipstick (above) remains one of the great creeporama moments in classic cinema. Seriously, you need to see this puppy on a big screen.

Tomorrow (Saturday the 5th), the Brattle switches gears and hosts a Monty Python festival. What, the curtains?

Also tomorrow, the MFA rescreens Sergei Bondarchuk's massive 1968 adaptation of "War and Peace" -- all four parts and 484 minutes of it. The marathon begins at 10:30 a.m. and is well worth clearing out your calendar for. Think of it as the Iron Man competition of movies.