Looking to recover from the critical and commercial failure of Jennifer’s Body, director Karyn Kusama is moving in a new direction with her next project, The Rut.  According to 24 Frames, the plot revolves around “a father-daughter relationship and centers particularly on hunting, as a daughter must learn the tricks of hunting and archery taught to her by her father after said father goes missing.”  Details are scarce at this early stage, but the wording of the article makes it sound as though Kusama will write as well as direct.

Chloe Moretz is in talks to star as the daughter, which is pretty much all it takes to hook me.  If she finalizes a deal, this sounds like a nice companion piece to the father-daughter relationship in Kick-Ass.  For that matter, the same could potentially be said for Moretz’s role in Let Me In (in theaters October 1st).  Maybe I’m reading into things too much — when you’re 13-years-old, I’m sure many roles call for you to interact with a father (or father figure) in a meaningful way.

Cinema has long been the province of men on the creative side of things. Though much is made of Katherine Bigelow this year, she and directors like Karyn Kusama are a rarity, and still represent only a small handful of the filmmakers working today. Such may make it seem like a film written by a woman and directed by a woman might be handled with kid gloves. But no, because the writer was Diablo Cody, and the star was Megan Fox, their effort Jennifer’s Body was not particularly well received, and died at the box office. But this story of two best friends (Fox, Amanda Seyfried) who grow to hate each other once Fox’s Jennifer becomes a succubus will eventually find an audience, because it’s interesting, even if it’s not entirely successful. My review of Jennifer’s Body on Blu-ray after the jump.

I maintain that “Jennifer’s Body” wasn’t the fault of screenwriter Diablo Cody but rather a mismatch between Cody and director Karyn Kusama where it seemed like one wanted to make an ode-to-”Heathers” and the other wanted to make a straight horror flick.  Sadly, because of the dominance of socially-retarded males on the Internet*, people dance on her failure and pretend like this is the end of the Oscar-winning screenwriter.

As if.  Cody’s adapting the long-running teenage-girl book series, “Sweet Valley High”.  Hit the jump to learn more about why this is a great match.

Despite Hollywood’s September slowdown, studios are still sending plenty of movies into theatres.  Few of this year’s fall freshmen are connecting with audiences, however.  Like Tyler Perry’s “I Can Do Bad All By Myself” one week ago, this weekend’s box office had room for only one hit out of four attempts – Sony Animation’s “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”.  The CGI adaptation of the popular children’s book brought in an estimated $30 million in its first three days for over $9,000 per screen.  When measured against competing titles like “Jennifer’s Body” and “Love Happens” that’s damn near a landslide of cash.

Of this weekend’s four new films, there wasn’t much doubt about who was going to claim the top spot on Friday.  In the wake of the R-rated revolution of August, Sony’s family-friendly “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” had a good shot at a great opening weekend even without the added attraction of the toon’s 3D format.  The studio was hoping for a weekend total around $20 million but, after adjusting their expectations as Friday’s numbers rolled in, it looks like the final 3-day tally will be closer to $30 million.  20^th Century Fox also had to adjust their expectations after Friday’s debut of “Jennifer’s Body”.  The long-awaited Megan Fox/Diablo Cody horror-hybrid debuted with a truly dismal $2.8 million… not quite the second place finish that many predicted.  Second went instead to Steven Soderbergh’s “The Informant!”, though at only $3.6 million no one at Warner Brothers is doing back-flips.  And the news wasn’t much better for Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart in “Love Happens”.  To watch Hollywood’s A-listers suffocate further under Sony’s falling food, check back tomorrow.

Is “Jennifer’s Body” an allegory for a woman dealing with the aftermath of her rape?  Is it a metaphor for the perceived threat of female sexual power?  Is it about the dissolution of sisterhood as a result of turning attention to the pursuit of men to the neglect of all else?  Is it commentary on gender roles in modern youth culture?

Actually, “Jennifer’s Body” is none of these things but it leaves them at the periphery in such a frustrating and non-committal manner that all you’re left with is a bland horror flick punctuated with Diablo Cody’s singular dialogue.  Oh, and Megan Fox being attractive.  Don’t forget Megan Fox being attractive.  You may have forgotten that she’s attractive.  You should know that before you see the movie.

Opening tomorrow is “Jennifer’s Body”. The film stars the always ready to give an outrageous quote Megan Fox, as well as Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons and Adam Brody. I saw a screening and have to say, I really liked it. Yes, I’m recommending a film made by 20th Century Fox. It’s been awhile since I’ve said that. Feels nice.

Anyway, just a few days ago at the Toronto Film Festival I got to speak with Amanda Seyfried and Adam Brody. During the interview, they talked about being at TIFF, the party scene, making the movie, and what they have come up. Watch what they said after the jump:

Opening tomorrow is “Jennifer’s Body”. The film stars the always ready to give an outrageous quote Megan Fox, as well as Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons and Adam Brody. I saw a screening and have to say, I really liked it. Yes, I’m recommending a film made by 20th Century Fox. It’s been awhile since I’ve said that. Feels nice.

Anyway, just a few days ago at the Toronto Film Festival, I got to interview Megan Fox and Johnny Simmons. They talked about what being at the Festival was like, being at the premiere, I try to find out about the party scene at TIFF, and what filming the movie was like. Watch the interview after the jump:

Opening this Friday is “Jennifer’s Body”. The film stars the always ready to give an outrageous quote Megan Fox as well as Amanda Seyfried. I managed to see a screening and have to say, I really liked it. Yes, I liked a film made by 20^th Century Fox. It’s been awhile since I’ve said that. Feels nice.

Anyway, to help promote the film, I spoke with the cast earlier today and later this week I’ll have those interviews online. Until then, you can check out 7 clips from the film after the jump. The film’s a lot of fun, check it out this weekend.

This is a good one.  While out promoting her new movie, “Jennifer’s Body”, Megan Fox let some unflattering comments about Michael Bay escape her perfectly-penciled lips. It was something about the “Transformers” director being “like Hitler” to work for.  How silly, right?  She was obviously kidding because – everyone knows – Obama is way more like Hitler than some random movie guy!  Not everyone found the funny in Fox’s comments, however.   Three “Loyal Transformers Crew” members channeled their rage into over 1,000 venomous words posted Friday night on Bay’s website.  They start by calling her “dumb-as-a-rock” and, trust me, it only goes downhill from there.  Get your bitch-on after the jump.

MTV aired a program tonight called “Behind the Screen” and they showed off new clips from “Jennifer’s Body”, “Ninja Assassin”, “2012″ and some behind the scenes footage from “Clash of the Titans”. Thanks to the magic of embedding, you can see the clips after the jump. Take a look:

Once again, with the Toronto Film Festival set to begin in a few weeks, I’ve been provided with a ton of new images from the many films that are premiering at the festival. So rather than waste any time, after the jump take a look at new images “Jennifer’s Body”, “The Road” and “Youth in Revolt”. All three look like they could be really good.

A new “Jennifer’s Body” featurette has been released and it shows us a little more about the girl who’s not just “high school evil.” As if there weren’t enough reasons to be excited about the new feature from Oscar-winning “Juno” scribe Diablo Cody, you can now see some new footage and hear directly from the cast and crew about the film with some new insight into Amanda Seyfried’s character – the aptly named “Needy.”  More after the jump.

With “Jennifer’s Body” opening on September 18^th, 20^th Century Fox has gotten Megan Fox to record a PSA about High School Peer Pressure. But rather than have her say all the vanilla things, let’s just say she talks candidly about what you should do if you’re pressured. It obviously ties into “Jennifer’s Body”. Watch it after the jump:

After a big, career-making splash, most young filmmakers choose a safe project for their follow up. Not so with Oscar-winning “Juno” screenwriter Diablo Cody. Instead of playing it safe Cody, and with the assistance of Director Karyn Kasuma, Producer Jason Reitman, and stars Meagan Fox and Amanda Seyfried, Cody has crafted a slick, darkly funny splatterfest that aims to tear up the box office come September.

The film, a sort of kinky, post-feminist take on the satanic-cult subgenre, centers on Jennifer (Fox) who, after a satanic ritual gone haywire, ends up with demonic powers that she uses to eat boys alive, literally. Her best friend Needy (Seyfried) is then forced to try and save the day.

Earlier tonight at Comic-Con I was fortunate enough to see most of the first act of the film and speak to Reitman, Kusama, Cody, and Fox.

Hit the jump for the details.