Emboldened by the success of Valentine’s Day, Garry Marshall took another crack at the holiday-based all-star anthology in 2011, with similarly repulsive results. This time, though, movie-goers commendably ignored him (and hopefully quashed plans for Columbus Day or whatever the hell was coming next). Of course, it’s never a good idea to interpret the commercial failure of a terrible movie as anything more than an aberration. But in this case, there was an encouraging sense that the world had finally revolted against a sub-genre populated by cynical, bald-faced cash-grabs.

And indeed, New Year’s Eve is the romantic comedy distilled to its basest form; a film that trots out a dizzying array of A-listers and expects applause, while abandoning time-consuming chores like character, story and dialogue. Hit the jump for the full review.

Some quick casting bits today.  Here they are in brief:

• Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) is set to join Haley Joel Osment (Sixth Sense) in the sci-fi mystery, I’ll Follow You Down.
• Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation) will join Shia LaBeouf in the noir romance film, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman.

Hit the jump for more.

With Shia LaBeouf having been attached for some time now, the gritty pulp romance film, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman continues to fill out its cast.  Oscar-winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) and German import Til Schweiger (Inglourious Basterds ) are reportedly joining the Fredrik Bond-directed picture.  The romantic actioner from screenwriter Matt Drake (Project X) stars LaBeouf as the title character who falls in love with a woman (Evan Rachael Wood) who happens to be claimed by a violent and mentally unstable mob boss (Mads Mikkelsen).  The picture is reportedly set to shoot in Eastern Europe this coming May.  Hit the jump for more on Leo and Schweiger’s character, as well as to see who else might be joining.

This Means War is like plummeting to your death but pushing that thought out of your head and trying to enjoy the free fall.  You know it’s going to end badly, you shouldn’t be enjoying this, but there’s a silver lining in the exhilaration.  You have to embrace the charming lead performances in McG‘s action-rom-com in order to take your mind off their completely loathsome characters and the story’s gaping plot holes.  It is a master class is why movie stars are movie stars, and how the best of them can let you have breezy fun until you splatter on the sidewalk.

We’ve been provided with 12 clips from Garry Marshall’s upcoming romantic comedy New Year’s Eve to share with our readers. The film features a ginormous ensemble and tells a number of intertwining stories that all take place on New Year’s Eve in New York City. The cast includes Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Sienna Miller, Lea Michele, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Til Schweiger, Seth Meyers, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel, and Carla Gugino.

Hit the jump to watch the clips. New Year’s Eve opens December 9th.

New posters have been released for The Rum Diary and New Year’s Eve.  The former is kind of cute and almost makes the film look like a light comic spin on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which is appropriate considering that Hunter S. Thompson was the author of both novels.  As for the New Year’s Eve poster, it perfectly encapsulates the cynical, greedy reason for the movie’s existence.  The point isn’t to convey a plot, but to jam as many stars into the film as possible in the hopes that you’ll like one or two of them enough to see the movie.  However, the stars you like will most likely be in the film for probably less than ten minutes total.  If you think watching a star you like play a poorly defined character is worth a dollar a minute, then you like wasting money.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The Rum Diary opens October 28th.  New Year’s Eve opens December 9th.

A new trailer for Garry Marshall’s star-studded New Year’s Eve has been released. This trailer isn’t much different from the first one in that it’s basically a montage of all the pretty celebrities and their separate stories set to pop music, though this new look does include inappropriate Abigail Breslin flashing. If you enjoyed Marshall’s Valentine’s Day, then you probably don’t need to be sold on the pseudo-sequel, and if the February-centered first film wasn’t your thing then this New Year’s Eve trailer is probably more than a little cringe-worthy. It looks like Seth Meyers may be the only saving grace for the brave boyfriends who are forced to soldier through this one.

The cast includes Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Sienna Miller, Lea Michele, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Til Schweiger, Seth Meyers, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel, and Carla Gugino. New Year’s Eve opens on December 9^th. Hit the jump to watch the trailer.

The first trailer for Garry Marshall’s New Year’s Eve has been released. The follow-up to Valentine’s Day stars every actor ever in the history of acting, whom I can only assume will appear for five minutes of screen time each. The trailer is basically a montage of all the actors making their New Year’s preparations and yearning for somebody to love. Nothing groundbreaking, but if you were a fan of Valentine’s Day it’s a safe bet that this movie is probably your kind of thing.

The cast includes Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Sienna Miller, Lea Michele, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Til Schweiger, Seth Meyers, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel, and Carla Gugino. New Year’s Eve opens on December 9^th. Hit the jump to watch the trailer.

There was a rumor last month that Joaquin Phoenix was up for the role of Clyde Tolson, the gay lover of former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, in the biopic Hoover.  Such is news to director Clint Eastwood, who responded to Reuters‘ inquiry into the matter with the splendidly aloof, “No. I don’t know where that came from… Didn’t he become a rapper?”  Phoenix is reportedly returning to the craft after I’m Still Here was admitted as a hoax, though it appears it’ll have to be another vehicle — perhaps Big Shoe or The Odd Life of Timothy Green.  Eastwood did confirm Di Caprio’s negotiations for the lead, saying “It’s a great role for him… [Hoover] is a fascinating character.”

Hit the jump for news of Til Schweiger joining The Courier and This Means War, plus details on Alan Arkin’s role opposite Jennifer Aniston in Buttercup.

You already know if you love or hate the films of Quentin Tarantino.  It isn’t that his films haven’t evolved over the course of his career but they do possess a singular style that is often imitated but never duplicated.  His detractors will find his newest film, “Inglourious Basterds” to be his worst while his fans will celebrate it as his best yet.  Count me in the latter category.  Not only is this film have greater intensity than any horror film in recent memory, it features one of the greatest villains in cinema history.  And no, it’s not Hitler.

While “Inglourious Basterds” has a lot of great performances, Christoph Waltz is the one you’re all going to remember and talk about. That’s because he’s so good as Col. Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, I think he’s going to be remembered at the end of the year during Award season. Yeah…he’s that good. Anyway, I recently got to speak with him about making the film and it’s after the jump. Take a look:

While Eli Roth is primarily known for his writing and directing skills, he’s slowly building up a resume as an actor. And as one of the leads in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”, this might be a role that opens up a new door for the filmmaker.

In the film, Eli plays Sgt. Donny Donowitz – also known as ‘The Bear Jew’. I won’t spoil the reason why he’s called that…but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to mention he’s not a nice Jew. Anyway, I recently got to talk with The Bear Jew about making the movie, working for Quentin, the violence in the film, and a lot more. Take a look:

A show that I absolutely loved was “Freaks and Geeks”. So anytime I can speak with a former cast member, I’m always happy to do it. But when they’re promoting a movie that features Jews killing Nazis, I’ll reschedule my day to make sure I can help promote the film! And that’s exactly what I did to talk with Samm Levine last week. While he wasn’t part of the official junket schedule, when I was offered the opportunity to talk with him, we arranged to meet up and the interview is after the jump. He talked about how he got the part, filming in Berlin, deleted scenes, running time, what he has coming up and a lot more. It’s a great interview so take a look:

Sometimes you need to sell a movie. Other times you can just write a new Quentin Tarantino movie is opening this Friday!

As most of you know, Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” hits multiplexes this weekend and I definitely recommend checking it out. While some may have issues with the violence or the long running time, I was into the film from the beginning to the kick-ass ending. So to help promote the movie, I got to interview most of the cast and the one you’re about to watch is with B.J. Novak. In the film, B.J. plays one of the Basterds. During the interview he talked about getting the part and tells a great story about meeting Quentin. Watch it after the jump:

With Quentin Tarantino’s new movie “Inglourious Basterds” set to invade theaters August 21^st, the Weinstein Company has released 9 movie clips and about 10 minutes of behind the scenes footage from when they were filming the movie. If you want to be spoiler free, this is not the article for you. But if you’re looking for a taste of the new Tarantino movie right now, you’ve come to the right place.

I saw a screening yesterday and have to say…it’s great. The film takes tons of surprising left and right turns, and if you’re a cinefile, there are tons of movie references you’ll appreciate. But with this being a Tarantino movie, would you expect anything less? Also, while all the performances were top notch, Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa is a whole other level. You’ll see what I mean in a few weeks. Until then, watch the clips after the jump: