Big Eyes is the story of famed (I guess) painter Margaret Keane and her husband, Walter Keane and the couple’s rise to fame in the 50′s and 60′s. If you’re uncertain why Burton would take on such a project that isn’t cartoon-y or CGI…

Hold your goddamn horses and take a gander at Keane’s work. Right here.

Makes sense now, doesn’t it?

We also get a look at Samuel L. Jackson outfitted to resemble Latter Years Louis Armstrong. Sadly, he doesn’t even attempt to do the voice.

Cast: Ray Stevenson, Matthew McFayden, Logan Lerman

Synopsis: The hot-headed young D’Artagnan along with three former legendary but now down on their luck Musketeers must unite and defeat a beautiful double agent and her villainous employer from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war.

Release Date: October 21, 2011

Leo’s All-Time Greatest Spazzouts

Tarantino almost nabbed DiCaprio for Landa in Inglorious Basterds, as the actor was interested in the role early on. The talks didn’t pan out that time, but perhaps second time’s a charm? (Deadline)

Django Unchained is Tarantino’s follow-up to Inglorious Basterds, a spaghetti Western about the team-up of a slave and a German bounty hunter, who search for the slave’s wife and together take on an evil plantation owner. Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz are apparently also in talks for major roles, as the house slave to the plantation villain and the bounty hunter, respectively. No surprises with those names. They’re regular Tarantino pal-arounds.

Though Smith is Tarantino’s top choice, no official deal has been made, and the money-factor could be a problem. Smith commands giant, novelty-sized checks for his movies, and rightfully so, as he’s one of the few stars today you can really bank on. Still, Tarantino would save money if he gets Smith’s “Willenium Package,” which includes his acting services, the acting services of his two children, and a radio-friendly end credits rap.

I bet there’s some furious number crunching going on in the Weinstein Co.’s accounting department right now. (Hollywood Reporter)

Twitter user @agenttrainee twote the picture below, which is supposedly the cover page of Tarantino’s new western. Django Unchained sounds like a jazz album somebody recommended to be in college, but I never listened to. The film will definitely star Christoph Waltz and has been described as a spaghetti western. That much we know for sure, not that I don’t trust all news stories broken on Twitter. (/Film)

Water for Elephants has great production value. It’s a period piece that takes you back to Depression era circus road shows like old time Hollywood productions. It’s also just like all the other historical epic romances. Coming of age, forbidden romance, oppressive older generation and present day bookends because nobody thinks they can just start the story in the past.

Jacob Jankowsky (Hal Hobrook and then Robert Pattinson) wanders up to a closed circus in present day and starts telling the story of how he remembered the great Benzini Bros. tragedy of 1931. Back in ’31, Jacob (Pattinson now) had everything going for him, about to graduate Cornell veterinary school, until his parents die in an automobile accident.

The banker is blatantly insensitive, criticizing Jacob’s generous father for helping people without pay. That’ll teach him to put a lien on his business for his son’s tuition. Jacob hops a train that happens to be the Benzini Brothers’. August (Christoph Waltz) gives Jacob a Training Day about the circus, only it’s over the course of the movie so it’s not really a Day.

August’s wife Marlena (Reese Witherspoon) is the star performer, an acrobat who works with the horse Silver Star. Jacob’s first act as circus vet is to put Silver Star down, so he bonds with Marlena over that heartbreak. Marlena already hates her husband, and rightfully so because he’s abusive, but it’s just artificially constructing a “forbidden” love. Except for a mutual affection for animals, Marlena and Jacob don’t have any real connection. They’re just there to be the romance.

Every theme in the movie is spelled out for you. The college boy has no real world experience. The boss works people and animals to death, literally. Did you forget the bookend with old Jacob? There’s a tragedy coming too.

To replace Silver Star, August buys Rosie the elephant. Rosie does some amazing stunts in one take, some with Witherspoon doing acrobatics herself. It’s just dressing up a domestic abuse story. August gets violent with Rosie and then cries apologetically. Jacob tries to save Marlena like she’s Rose in Titanic. Still, when Jacob threatens August’s life, I never for a moment believed he was going to go there.

By the time we see the tragic circus disaster, it’s revealed already in progress which is an interesting way to present it. Water for Elephants actually has the ending I wanted Titanic to have, but no, I never wanted it as saccharin as the final bookend makes it.

The Three Musketeers in 3D swings into theaters October 14, 2011.

“It all happens in real-time, so it’s about an hour and 45 minutes of negotiation between two sets of parents and how it all falls apart. Kind of like ‘Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?,’ but a little funnier. There’s a lot of wit.”

Sounds pretty good, right? Almost good enough to make you forget about Polanski’s, uh, hobbies. Anyway, here are three set photos from the film, which you can look at in either righteous anger, eager anticipation, or both. (via The Playlist)

Cast: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Christoph Waltz, Anthony Mackie

Synopsis: On the brink of winning a seat in the U.S. Senate, ambitious politician David Norris (Damon) meets beautiful contemporary ballet dancer Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt)—a woman like none he’s ever known.  But just as he realizes he’s falling for her, mysterious men conspire to keep the two apart.

Release Date: September 17, 2010

The Green Hornet is as good as any Green Hornet movie could probably be, which is to say he’s not a very interesting superhero. He owns a newspaper and his sidekick is a martial artist? That leaves a lot more room for Seth Rogen to play than maybe a character with more definition, but the superhero blockbuster as an art film doesn’t really work.

It’s actually when Britt Reid (Rogen) become The Green Hornet that the movie falls apart. Before that, the story of an antisocial rich kid has an edgy attitude, even if it only manifests in a PG-13 drunken party. Finding out his dad (Tom Wilkinson) died on the news in his limo is effectively dramatic. Christoph Waltz looks great as Chudnofsky with a goatee, a Caesar cut and a double barreled gun.

Reid becomes a total dufus, doing happy dances to celebrate victories. He never shuts up during an action scene and often just states what’s happening to him. Reid’s interview with Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz) is just weird, perhaps an uncomfortable bit of failed improv, and he’s always babbling at her. The Spy Kids were more mature.

I get the attempt to deconstruct the hero/sidekick relationship but it’s really forced. Reid would be insecure that Kato (Jay Chou) is such a badass, but he’s just whiny about it. Kato’s issues with being a servant as his cover are better played but still come out of nowhere. Reid’s analysis of superhero movies is pure Rogen. He’s wrong about all movie heroes being good guys though. Spider-Man and Batman always have trouble with PR.

By the time Kato and Reid are reall fighting, it becomes cartoon slapstick with bouncy sound effects. The gas gun bit is funny, but then Reid is still going totally gaga over Lenore like she’s the only one who can save his newspaper. This is a secretary with little journalism experience. There is plenty of people way more qualified for the job, and I bet some of them are also hot too.

The action is pretty awesome. If they’d have just done a straight generic plot with these action scenes they would have had a solid movie. Kato-vision basically alters perspective, time and physics at the same time. The climax in The Daily Sentinel is thrilling. Then there’s more silly comedy epilogue.

The 3-D looks fine. There are some good shots of the Reid mansion and roses coming into focus, plus more abstract Michel Gondry shots towards the end. There’s also a lot of blurry background from the post conversion process. Anything CGI, like flying bottle caps or missiles, can come out of the screen pretty easily.

Ultimately The Green Hornet is as troubled as its many delays would indicate. You know, superhero comedy is tricky. They can’t all be Blankman.

DIRECTOR: Michel Gondry

CAST: Seth Rogen; Jay Chou; Cameron Diaz; Christoph Waltz; Edward Furlong; Tom Wilkinson

SYNOPSIS: By night, debonair newspaper publisher Britt Reid fights crime as a masked superhero known at The Green Hornet. At his side is martial arts expert Kato.

The film tells the story of an old-timey circus and some dude (Pattinson) who is in love with an elephant (Witherspoon). At least that’s what I assume, since I didn’t actually watch the trailer. I’ve been afraid of the circus ever since my parents sold me to one. Wait, a circus is a warehouse where you sew fake Prada handbags, right? Oh. Well just watch this trailer, anyway.

Apparently, the Green Hornet’s trusty sidekick, Kato, has the ability to see things in super-slow motion. This allows him a distinct advantage when fighting villains. I’m not sure if all Asians have this power, or just Kato. Either way, Panda Express has seen the last of me.

The Green Hornet buzzes into theaters January 14.

^Uncanny.

JustJared snagged some snaps today from the set of What The Hell Is Orlando Bloom Doing? Here you can clearly see Orlando dressed like an asswipe along with Cristoph Waltz and Milla Jovovovovovovich. No photos yet of co-stars Logan Lerman, Mads Mikkelsen, Matthew Macfayden, Ray Stevenson, or Juno Temple, but I’m sure they look just as ridiculous. I’ll keep you posted.

Check out a full gallery after the jump…

There’s a rumor going around Tinz Town that Christoph Waltz may encourage Mary Jane Watson to wait for the cream. The Inglourious Basterds bad man is said to be in Sony’s sights to play the villian in the upcoming Spider-Man 3D reboot. Note that they are only interested. Waltz hasn’t indicated that he’s interested. However, he did agree to star in Paul W. S. Anderson’s Three Musketeers, so it’s not like he’s picky.

Whether Waltz is sought for the role of the Lizard or Green Goblin is unclear as of right now. Perhaps he’s a method actor and got lost in his Basterds‘ Jew Hunter role. Y’know, you see the name "Spiderman" on paper and you just kinda assume. (The Playlist)

_{Welcome to your hangover.}

The Adjustment Bureau is bringing Philip K. Dick back to the big screen, and in more of a Blade Runner way than a Paycheck way. Matt Damon plays an ambitious politician on the brink of winning a U.S. Senate seat when he meets ballet dancer Emily Blunt. Then sh*t gets unreal. Just as he’s realizing he’s falling for her, mysterious men conspire to keep the two apart.

The motley crew known as The Adjustment Bureau is led by Roger Sterling of "Mad Men," and it’s my asumption that when they’re not determining people’s fates they’re aligning spines in their unstuffy chiropractic practice. It’s the place right by the Baskin Robbins. Park on Oak though, there are never any spots on Main.

Check out the trailer after the jump. The Adjustment Bureau has orchestrated its release for September 17, 2010.

The Adjustment Bureau Trailer – Watch more Movie Trailers

Back in 1940, all it took to turn a Frenchman into a Nazi was a few dozen Panzers and the promise of an adequate wine ration. In 2010, all it takes to turn a Nazi into a Frenchman is a few million dollars and director Paul W.S. Anderson.

Christoph Waltz, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Colonel Hans Landa (a.k.a. The Jew Hunter) in Inglourious Basterds, has signed on to play Cardinal Richelieu in the upcoming Three Musketeers film. Waltz joins a heavily European cast including Mads Mikkelsen and Milla Jovovich.

According to FirstShowing.net, the film will be presented in 3-D. Anderson’s version of the classic tale is also "going for a contemporary feel without moving the story from the traditional period setting." I’m assuming that means that the characters will say words like "s**t" and "sexting" while still wearing pantaloons.