7 photosFelicity Jones

In the film Yelchin plays an American student who talks so goddamned low that you can’t understand a word of this trailer. He falls in love with his British classmate played by Felicity Jones as she’s the only one who can make out what he’s trying to say. Their relationship suffers when she violates her visa and must return to England. Looks pretty good if you’re into crying and sun-flare. Still though, speak up Yelchin! Sound guys can only do so much.

6 photosImogen Poots

It features more horror elements than the previous cuts, and features more David Tennant. Which makes sense seeing as international audiences actually know who he is. Frankly, I don’t have to be sold. I’ve seen enough to know it will keep me entertained. I’ll still watch the next three trailers though.

4 photos‘Horrible Bosses’ Posters Showcase Just How Horrible These Bosses Are

The first trailer side-stepped the intro of Tennant’s Criss Angel-type illusionist/vampire hunter, Peter Vincent, but makes up for it this time around. Vincent coaches Anton Yelchin‘s Charlie in how to battle the bloodsucker next door. And it looks like they do have quite the battle. Though in all fairness, whether vampiric or not, the chances of Colin Farrell burning down his neighbor’s house have always been quite high.

Olivia Munn has officially joined Aaron Sorkin‘s HBO drama about what happens behind-the-scenes – whoa, there’s a behind-the scenes? – at a cable news show. Currently the series is called “More As The Story Develops.” When I wished I could “see more” of Olivia Munn, her suddenly getting a lot of acting work was not what I had in mind. Stupid monkey’s paw. Meanwhile, Allison Pill (Milk) joins the cast as an associate producer in a shaky relationship with another staffer. The reason the relationship’s shaky? He accidentally asked her to give him some “forehead.” (Hollywood Reporter)

The old and buster Spider-Man, Topher Grace, is set to star in Gently Down The Stream along with Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried and Katherine Heigl. He’ll play De Niro’s son, who falls in love with his adopted brother’s Latin sister. Eh, that kind of thing happens all the time, I’m sure. Justin Zackham is directing. (Deadline)

Rapper / actor / vitamin water aficionado 50 Cent will play blind DJ Shamus Cocobolo in Stephen Sommers‘ Odd Thomas. Yeah, that does sound odd. Based on the bestseller by Dean Koontz, the film’s about a clairvoyant short order cook (Anton Yelchin) who follows around a suspicious man connected to an impending disaster. Odd Thomas also stars Addison Timlin, Willem Dafoe and Patton Oswalt. (Variety)

What it does have, though, is Anton Yelchin and McLovin exchanging one-liners, and Colin Farrell as a vampire with the least-threatening vampire name since “Max”: “Jerry.” It actually looks pretty good – it might not be as sexy as Twilight, but it’s a lot funnier and less boring.

The second one shows Anton Yelchin and Toni Collette crouching in a burning room. I’ll leave it to you to decide which of these is more interesting. But I will say that the second one doesn’t have anyone even slightly resembling magician Criss Angel. MindFreak! (MovieWeb)

So, set your Advent calendars appropriately, and remember to get your tickets ahead of time in case they sell out. And make sure you put in for personal time at your job if you need to. This is why they announce the release dates early, so you can start making arrangements! (Deadline)

Anyway, he’s joining Anton Yelchin as the titular clairvoyant, and Willem Dafoe and Nico Tortorella are rumored to be attached as well. The universally beloved Stephen Sommers is directing, so it’s likely we’ll be hearing some funny stories about Oswalt complaining about Van Helsing on set. (Variety)

Tortorella is up for the lead villain: a shady, Satan-worshipping cop working under Willem DaFoe‘s local police chief. Has there been a satanic police procedural yet? Maybe there’s one in development at USA. Anyway, for those of you not currently in the Koontz Klub, Odd Thomas is about a clarvoyant, small town cook named Odd (Anton Yelchin has been cast), his girlfriend (Addison Timlin) and their wacky adventures trying to sav the town from evil spirits.

Odd Thomas is looking to begin production in New Mexico later this year. (Hollywood Reporter)

If Colin Farell, the vampire next door, was grabbing me by the shirt, I would probably die immediately. Of fright!

The only thing scarier than McLovin with a tiny knife is McLovin with a tiny knife… IN WATER!

Anton Yelchin faces his most terrifying obstacle in this scene. And that is trying not to make fun of Imogen Poots‘ name.

And as if all of this wasn’t scary enough, the film will be in… 3D! I’m never sleeping again. (Collider)

Who will date the dead people-seeing, short-order cook played by Anton Yelchin now? Rumors say it’ll be Addison Timlin from “Californication,” who would beat out the likes of Emma Roberts, Portia Doubleday, and Kat Dennings. See, flashing your boobs on Showtime can only lead to great things.

Stephen Sommers is directing his own script. (Variety)

The role of Stormy Llewellyn, which sounds like a dragon porn star‘s name, has been offered to Lily Collins (The Blind Side). She beat out a bunch of other young ladies, like Emma Roberts, Portia Doubleday, and Kat Dennings, for the opportunity to play Anton Yelchin‘s girlfriend. That’s something worth Yelchin about. We’ll see if she accepts the part.

Directed by Stephen Sommers, the plot concerns California desert townie Thomas, “a short-order cook with clairvoyant abilities who encounters a mysterious man with a link to dark, threatening forces.” Sounds like Odd lives up to his name. Production will start May 2, provided ghosts don’t screw up the filming. As long as they stay in their special trailer, like they’re supposed to, everything will be fine. (Variety)

Yelchin is now attached to several franchises including Star Trek and Terminator, but I was going for a different scoop. I saw Like Crazy at Sundance and it so profoundly affected me, I wanted to bring you the advanced scoop on the film that Paramount will release later this year. In Like Crazy, Yelchin plays Jacob, who struggles with a long distance relationship to Anna (Felicity Jones) in England. His on-again/off-again American girlfriend is Sam (Jennifer Lawrence again).

I hope this makes sense. It was day 7 on 3 hours sleep per night.

Q: Both The Beaver and Like Crazy seem to deal with characters addressing issues that are difficult for people to talk about. Did you see that connection?

AY: Yeah, I mean I think Like Crazy, people sort of find easier to talk about because it’s a love story. It’s hard for people, it makes people sad because it reminds them of their own personal heartbreak. I think The Beaver has sort of a much more serious issue at its core which is depression. Personally I think depression is a more serious issue than a long-distance relationship but obviously both films are about the two profoundly affecting the people involved, restructuring their lives completely. But I also think the way that Like Crazy approaches long distance relationships isn’t something that people like to talk about. People like to think that it’s clean but it’s not. It’s completely ambiguous and really difficult for each party involved. Sometimes you just don’t know because Jacob and Anna date other people while they’re still together technically. It’s gray. It’s kind of a gray area.

Q: In Like Crazy I think they’re dealing with blame and anger too.

AY: Sure, yeah, it’s that thing of pointing fingers but who can you really [blame?] With Walter Black in The Beaver, it’s not his fault that he is depressed. It’s not but it profoundly affects the people around him. It ruins their lives. In a relationship, it’s neither of their faults that it worked out that way in Like Crazy that they’re across the world from each other. They both did it together and then it just is how it is. But you’re right, a lot of it is about wanting to blame somebody for something and seeing that you can’t really and trying to understand that.

Q: With The Beaver, it’s more straightforward that talking through a beaver puppet is not healthy. Does that make it harsher dramatically?

AY: Of course, it’s more tragic I think personally because you see a man suffering so much that he has to resort to talking through a puppet he found in a trash can.

Q: Walter’s dealing with that, but Porter’s helping Nora deal with an unspoken issue so it’s more layered that just the beaver.

AY: Right, of course, and I think one thing is that Porter and Walter both have issues that they don’t face. That’s what it is, by being afraid, by both having fathers that are depressive and Walter’s father committed suicide and Walter has incredible depression as a result of that. Porter is afraid to be like his father so he suffers this kind of depression as well and falls into what his father falls into. Porter then tries to do everything he can but face his own issues. He’ll take Nora’s very dark past and try and help her face it, which is almost like a cry for help to have himself face his own issues but he uses it on her instead of taking it into consideration for himself.

Q: It did make me happy for Jennifer Lawrence. At least she got to end up with you in one movie.

AY: Yeah, Jen, man, she’s so great. She’s such a great actress. She’s so different in Like Crazy, so different in The Beaver, she’s different in everything. She’s just a great actress.

Q: But one of the most heartbreaking things in Like Crazy was that Sam was an amazing girl. She just wasn’t Anna.

AY: Yeah, that scene kills me. I think Jen is so brilliant in it, where she starts crying and he has to tell her he has to go. She just loves him and wants to know if he loves her and he does. It’s not that he doesn’t love her. It’s just a different kind of love. It’s not that same thing. It’s a friendship. It’s great because Jen and I had already done The Beaver so we were already friends. Because it was an improv film our comfort level with each other, not that we couldn’t do it if we hadn’t met before, but we were really comfortable with one another. We know one another, we’re friends. I think that translated into making the relationship between Sam and Jacob more like a friendship.

Q: Do you think maybe Porter keeping a list of all the flaws he wants to avoid might not be the way to deal with it either?

AY: Yeah, exactly. He keeps a list of the flaws just to make himself more angry about who he is. To remember to not do those things because he thinks they’re going to make him like his father. So it really is just another way of him trapping himself inside of this nonidentity, this weird thing that’s not a realistic construct. It’s a construct that he uses to trap himself. You can’t avoid having an identity. You are who you are but that fear of facing that, that fear that maybe who he is is like his father, he tries to stay away from it by listing all these things, it’s completely unhealthy and traps him in all this pain.

Q: One of them is “hates his father who hated his father who hated his father.” So what does he think he’s doing?

AY: He’s not avoiding it. He lists them and he can’t do anything. It’s a completely unconstructive, painful, unpleasant place to be and it ultimately almost destroys him.

Q: What was acting with the beaver like?

AY: Well, it’s different for me because Porter never acknowledges the beaver. He always thinks it’s ridiculous so he addresses his father, and he doesn’t even really address his father. He addresses his mom but when he deals with his father in the hallway, he just thinks it’s ridiculous. It’s insulting and hurtful to him and there’s also that relationship of his father has now chosen a puppet over him. Not only has his fathe taken himself out of the family and this is of course on a subconscious level where it’s like because all he thinks is he hates his dad, really he wants his father. A father is the missing part of his life, the part that he can’t face and it hurts him tremendously. But to add insult to injury, his father has now replaced connection with his family with a puppet.

Q: Were there ever moments on the set where it just seemed ridiculous?

AY: I think Mel loved it. I think it’s a great character. I think he does such an amazing job in the movie, for an actor I think that opportunity is pretty great, to be able to play a man who has a beaver and his hand.

Q: When you’ve had conversations about Like Crazy, have you found it’s really revealing about the people who are telling you their experiences?

AY: Yeah, that’s one thing about Like Crazy. Everyone had their own story related to the movie. Everyone had their own heartbreak. Everyone had their own love that they would cry about when they talked about it. All different age groups, both sexes, everyone had that one person or maybe a couple people that had affected their lives in that way and they told me.

Q: Even the people who are cynical about it reveals how strong they feel relationships can or can’t last.

AY: Yeah, because I think Like Crazy’s a subtle film, it doesn’t really give answers. It sort of shows a situation that there really is no answer to. That’s why I think it ends like that. You see a moment in time in a kind of voyeuristic way.

The Beaver is a strong portrait of coping with depression. It’s got a whimsical tone, which makes the dark moments all the more poignant. Jodie Foster shows as a director that you really can make a movie about anything if you do it right. I mean, a guy with a beaver puppet? Come on!

Walter Black (Mel Gibson) is moping through depression. He tries techniques as extreme as self-flagellation and he sleeps all the time. His son Porter (Anton Yelchin) keeps track of all of Walter’s bad habits so he can avoid the same patterns. Walter’s wife Meredith (Jodie Foster) finally kicks him out of the house because he won’t find a successful treatment.

Walter finds a beaver puppet in his trunk and, talking throug the beaver, thwarts his own suicide attempt. The beaver calls himself The Beaver and talks for him in an Australian accent. The Beaver presents this plan to Meredith, who has the normal human reaction, so The Beaver lies and says it’s a doctor’s idea. So she goes with it.

The depression is palpable. Gibson is really effective portraying Walter’s pain with silent looks. He also makes you believe he believes this beaver is talking, even when you can see his lips move. He’s so sincere and determined, that’s even better than playing it straight faced.

There really is a lot you can do with a beaver too. Walter showers with it and blows it dry. He has sex with Meredith wearing it and cuddles with it around her. The Beaver even gives him business success with a wood carving kit that becomes all the rage in toy stores. There’s no end to awkward situations with a beaver.

There’s a teen story between Porter and Nora (Jennifer Lawrence), the school valedictorian with a traumatic past of her own. The film deals with ou buried issues at all levels.

The film gets dark. The beaver is not cute anymore after a while and Walter’s forced it on his family. I wouldn’t say it’s a realistic portrayal of mental illness, but a metaphor for it with the beaver representing a dangerous coping mechanism in cinematic form.

Yelchin will play the title character; Odd Thomas,  a short-order cook/ghost whisperer. When a mysterious man arrives in his small desert town, Thomas discovers he has one day to prevent a cataclysmic event. And in case this project doesn’t sound dopey enough for Sommers, never fear. In order to save the day, Thomas teams up with the spirit of Elvis Presley. You roll your eyes now, but think of how much fun we’ll have when Nicolas Cage is cast as the King. (Bloody Disgusting)

Anna (Felicity Jones) and Jacob (Anton Yelchin) meet their senior year in college. I wish a cute, ambitious British poet would leave a four page note on my car. Anna proves to be the most wonderful woman we’ve seen in movies, so she’s worth the trouble that comes later. Jacob’s a solid guy himself.

The falling in love part of the movie is really sweet. They spend a lot of time just sitting together. They don’t have to babble, rather just be in each other’s presence. They write notes to each other that we don’t get to read. Their relationship is passionate and natural.

Anna’s visa ends at graduation. She’s so in love, she stays the summer, but the next time she visits her family, she’s not allowed back in America. That is a way more badass premise than Going the Distance. Drew Barrymore and Justin Long lived in the same country. Not only do Anna and Jacob cross an ocean, but the break the law too!

Their scenes apart feel longing. I miss Anna when she’s away. Visits reveal that they’re living separate lives. Missing calls because of the time difference, seeing other happy couples on the tube, that’s how long distance really feels.

Jacob and Anna intelligently discuss the difficult problems. Jacob has no role in her group of friends. Did they sleep with other people while they were apart? It seems like the answer is no but it’s still a bad talk. When Anna asks Jacob if he wants to see other people, he gives the right answer but the question is just awful.

When it seems impossible, Jacob does see a new girl. Samantha (Jennifer Lawrence) is amazing, but she’s no Anna and that’s sad for poor Sam. Everyone in this movie is a good person and that creates more drama than stories of opposites. Doing the right thing for yourselves and each other is harder than bickering. There’s one argument but the unspoken conflicts hurt more.

Jacob and Anna make choices about marriage, about their whole lives and there’s still red tape that can’t be solved. How do you have fun and love each other when it’s so frustrating. People get hurt around Jacob and Anna because they’re not really available.

The only bad thing I can say about Like Crazy is I really wish it wasn’t shot handheld. The story and performances overpower the distracting shakes, but this movie really could have benefited from deliberate camerawork.

The movie’s open ending may make people think it’s a downer. I personally feel I know exactly what happens for Jacob and Anna and I’m happy for them. That’s not a spoiler because they don’t really say. So, the lesson is: don’t squat in America for love. Going through the proper channels is better in the long run.

The trailer also feels like it’s edited as an apology card from Gibson. A poor guy who’s drowning in life tries to redeem himself and mend fences. Perhaps we’ll be so moved by the soiled beaver on his hand we’ll forget that in real life Mel Gibson has pretty much offended everything under the sun. That beaver is powerful stuff. Powerful stuff indeed.

Great googley-moogley. Sofia Vergara has a sister. And she’s hot. And judging from the picture above, that sister has a friend who is a photographer/dentist. But wait, there’s more! She’s also an actress, and has just been cast in Craig Gillespie‘s Fright Night remake.

Sandra Vergara will play the girlfriend and assistant to David Tennant’s magician turned reluctant vampire hunter. F*cking magicians, man. Always pulling top-notch ass. No matter how fugly/creepy/gropey they are as people. Never thought I’d rue the day that I didn’t learn to juggle. (THR)

Cast: Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, David Tennant

Synopsis: A charismatic vampire tries to convince his film obsessed neighbor that he is a vampire who has come to suck as much blood as he can, thereby eradicating plenty of human life.

Release Date: August 19, 2011

^{THIS COULD BE YOU!!!!}

Ever feel like you’re nothing but a nameless blur floating by in the background of your own life? Do you ever feel so insignificant and meaningless that the only taste that doesn’t turn your stomach is corn whiskey or the cold barrel of a .22?? Do you like boxed lunches??? Well, good news!! Fright Night is giving you the chance to cash in on your unique passivity.

Anyone who blends in nicely with a crowd in the Albuquerque area can work as background talent on the upcoming vampire flick remake. All you need to do is visit OnLocation.net and then show up. You may even get the chance to see Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, David Tennant, or Imogen Poots (tee-hee) from a distance while a 2nd AD berates you and the rest of the herd. It’s still better than staying home and watching daytime television.

^{Take notes, boys. THIS is how you peacock.}

In news that is sure to make you say, "Hrrmm, yeah. That’s okay. I guess," Christopher Mintz-Plasse and David Tennant have joined Craig Gillespie‘s Fright Night remake. The pair will use their soft joke-fingers to comically-relieve and tug the laughter out of audiences. Gently at first, but then harder and faster as the film approaches its climax.

Tennant will play Peter Vincent, a character who in the original movie was played by Roddy McDowall as the host of a late-night horror show. In the remake, he’s a Las Vegas magician whose show revolves around horror-movie imagery. Vincent claims to be a vampire expert, but when the teen turns to him for assistance, he’s less than helpful.

Mintz-Plasse is playing Evil Ed, Yelchin’s friend who feels slighted that Charlie has left his nerdy past behind and thus joins the vampire’s coven.

In my experience you need to be careful when a middle-aged man dresses in a cape and claims to be a vampire expert. Last time I did that, the chubby teens at the Hot Topic turned me in to mall security. (THR)