The early reviews are in and the late Heath Ledger is dazzling a the Joker in the new Batman film ‘Dark Knight.’  Many are already stating that Ledger should be posthumously nominated for an Oscar.

Director Chris Nolan’s latest installment of Batman, shown to a packed IMAX house Saturday in LA, made good on many of the amped-up promises touted in its trailers: cooler new toys, groundbreaking cinematography, a darker tone and the genesis of a villain named Two-Face.

But Ledger’s green-haired fiend overshadowed all of them, from the first moment he appeared onscreen to a burst of applause and cheers from the audience.

It’s hard not to wince a little when Ledger’s character gets going on the topic of death, as he frequently does. It’s been only six months since the actor was found dead from an accidental overdose in his SoHo pad.

In this flick, Ledger showed us what a masterful actor he was - certainly deserving of a posthumous Oscar nomination.

I am sure Heath’s last movie will make many of his fans smile, laugh, cry and marvel at what a great talent he was in Hollywood.

Mike Myers and his movies have raked in over $2 billion dollars in ticket sales since he left ‘Saturday Night Live’ to pursue a career in film. He has by all accounts been extremely successful. However, Myers has had more than enough horrible movies that have bombed as well. With the horrible box office results and reviews of The Love Guru I decided to put together this list of:

The 5 Worst Mike Myers Movies of All-Time

1. The Love Guru - IMDB Rating 4.5 - If you spent $10 bucks to see this film after seeing it advertised shamelessly on ‘American Idol’ then you probably should be submitted to take a psych test. Sometimes the big Hollywood power houses give too much control to stars and their pet projects. The Love Guru should have never been given a green light. Anytime you put Kanye West, Jessica Simpson, Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake on the big screen opposite the eccentric Mike Myers the result becomes inexplicitly predictable.

Released 2008, 88 minutes too long. $14.0 opening weekend.

2. The Cat in the Hat - IMDB Rating 3.3 - I am old school and truly believe Dr. Seuss belongs on paper not the big screen. Myers was woefully miscast in this Seuss classic. Producers thought after Jim Carrey’s success as the ‘Grinch’ that Myers would be the perfect fit to play ‘The Cat in the Hat.’ All of Mike’s attempts at humor went over the heads of children and were too juvenile for adults……mostly about farting, double-entendres and body humor. Hopefully after Mike’s woeful performance as the Cat they will ban any and all future production of Dr. Seuess books into box office films.

Released 2003, 82 minutes too long

3. The Thin Pink Line - IMDB Rating 3.9 - If you saw this one you probably rented it after seeing all of the star power on the back of the movie box. This film stars not only Myers but Jennifer Aniston, Will Ferrell, Janeane Garofalo, and David Schwimmer as well. So it had a butt-load of star power yet that couldn’t save this sinking ship from a weak script. The title, which reminds me of a bad porn spin off of The Hunt for Red October, probably didn’t help in the marketing of the film either.

Released 1998, 106 minutes too long

4. Pete’s Meteor - IMDB Rating 4.8- Myers plays a drug addict (I thought he was high all the time anyway) in this 1998 bomb. For those who didn’t see this one, which is all of you, the plot centers around a meteor that lands in Pete’s back yard. The rest of the film Pete and his sister are trying to track down and reclaim the meteor from the government and a university that is claiming it. If you own this DVD then it is probably a coaster. Pick up your soda and see if its resting on this flick. If Mike Myers touched it in 1998 it BOMBED as two of the three films he made in 98 made this list with the third being an dishonorable mention below.

Released 1998, 92 minutes too long

5. Wayne’s World 2 - IMDB Rating 5.7 - I have to admit being a big fan of Wayne’s World on SNL. I use to stay up every Saturday night back in the day and watch the rest of the garbage on there in hopes of seeing a 4 minute skit with Wayne, Garth and perhaps a guest band like Aerosmith. The first WW movie was great and they should have stopped after that male-teen masterpiece. The sequel was not as well written and was very much a bore….except for the legions of 13 and 14-year old boys who saw it in the theaters. The movie poster tagline (above) pretty much sums up WW2.

Released 1993, 95 minutes too long

Dishonorable Mentions: So I Married an Axe Murderer, Elvis Stories, 54 and Austin Powers in Goldmember.

Actor Sylvester Stallone has signed on to star in a Bollywood movie.  He is the first super-star actor to do so to date.  Stallone will also be joined by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the upcoming film tentatively called ‘Kambakht Ishq’.

The two will appear alongside the Bollywood stars Ashkay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor in Incredible Love, the story of an Indian stuntman who takes Hollywood by storm but cannot find true love there.

The film will be the first Indian production to be shot at Hollywood’s Universal Studios and will have the highest budget in Bollywood history: more than £11m.

Bollywood refers to the film industry in India, specifically the Indian city of Mumbai.  It is one of the largest producers of films in the world outside of Hollywood.

It appears Stallone has three options at this point in his career: 1. Another Rocky movie, 2. Another Rambo movie, 3. Bollywood.

Golden era actress/dancer Cyd Charisse has died at the age of 87 in Los Angeles from a heart attack.  She rose to fame opposite Gene Kelly in Singin’ in the Rain back in 1952.

Her career spanned seven decades and included a stint with the Ballets Russes as a teenager, along with many dramatic films.

But it was as a partner to Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly that audiences embraced her.

She became famous for her roles in musicals before turning to more dramatical parts as she matured as an actress.

Cyd was married to her first husband for nine years but her second marriage to Tony Martin lasted 60 years from 1948-2008.  Cyd is survived by Martin who is 95-years old.

Full Film Resume

Four time Oscar winner Stan Winston has passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 62. He died after a seven year battle with multiple myeloma.

Winston won four visual effects Oscars and earned multiple nominations. His first Oscar was for James Cameron’s “Aliens” (1986). Winston later won two Oscars for “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1992) (visual effects and makeup) and 1993’s “Jurassic Park.”

Stan will be missed dearly by those in the industry and close to him.

Lauren Santo Domingo is the New York socialite/heiress that has rose to national prominence for wearing the dress that Sarah Jessica Parker wore to the red carpet NYC premiere of Sex and the City before she did.

The Nina Ricci dress (photo of SJP in dress)was designed by Olivier Theyskens. He had told Parker that it had only been work in photo shoots prior when in fact Domingo and Lindsay Lohan had both worn it before out in public.

Mel Ferrer, the actor/director and one-time husband of the late Audrey Hepburn, passed away on Monday at his ranch in California.  Ferrer was 90-years old.  Ferrer appeared in over a 100 films and directed/produced several others.

He appeared in more than 100 films and made-for-television movies, directed nine films and produced nine more.

Ferrer’s most impressive film role came in 1953 in “Lili.” He played a disabled carnival puppeteer with whom a French orphan (played by Leslie Caron) falls in love.

On the big screen, Ferrer was most recognizable for his performance as Prince Andrei in “War and Peace” in 1956 with Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda. He was paid the then princely sum of $100,000. He appeared in “The Sun Also Rises” alongside Ava Gardner, Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn.

Ferrer was often cast in big pictures during the late ’50s and early ’60s: “The World, the Flesh and the Devil” with Harry Belafonte and Inger Stevens; “Sex and the Single Girl” with Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis; “Paris Does Strange Things” with Ingrid Bergman; and “The Longest Day” with an all-star male cast.

Hepburn was Ferrer’s fourth wife.  They were married from 1954-1968. The produced a son Sean Hepburn Ferrer during their marriage.  Ferrer married a total of five times.   His other wives were Frances Gulby Pilchard (married twice), Barbara C. Tripp, Elizabeth Soukhoutine.

Tobey Maguire could be done playing Spidey in the extremely lucrative Spider-Man franchise. Latino Review is reporting that Patrick Fugit could be tabbed to replace Maguire in Spider-Man 4.

Laura Ziskin and Grant Curtis are tossing names around. NO OFFERS HAVE BEEN YET. That being said, the name at the top of their list to replace Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spiderman is Patrick Fugit.

Fugit caught his big break playing kid-rock reporter William Miller in Almost Famous.  He has also appeared in White Oleander, Saved, Spun, Wristcutters and The Amateurs.

From the looks of it Fugit would make a pretty good selection to play Peter Parker.

The Sex and the City movie that thousands of women have waited years for hits the big screen this Friday.  Last night they had the United States premiere in New York City.

All of the big names were at the premiere including Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Noth and Cynthia Nixon.

The movie will face stiff competition at the box office this weekend from Iron Man, Prince Caspian and Indiana Jones.  It should still have a pretty nice opening with many girlfriends going to see it to rekindle girls nights of watching the classic TV show together.

Premiere Photos Below

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Academy Award winning director Sydney Pollack has died at the age of 73-years old in his Pacific Palisades home in California. He had been suffering from stomach cancer.

Pollack produced and occasionally acted in some of his films. He won the Oscar for directing Out of Africa in 1985

Sydney will be remembered for the films Out of Africa, Tootsie, The Way We Were, The Firm, Sabrina, The Players and Michael Clayton (actor).

He was born in Lafayette, Indiana.

Pollack is survived by his wife Claire Griswold and two daughters Rachel and Rebecca.  His son Steven Pollack died in a 1993 plane crash.

Mother of two Gwyneth Paltrow bears a single breast (left) in her film Two Lovers which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday in France according to Roger Friedman.

But in her new film, “Two Lovers,” which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival Monday night, she quite surprisingly bares a single breast. The shot is, shall we say, head-on into the camera. And it’s for more than a couple of seconds. This is no wardrobe malfunction. It’s on purpose. (To paraphrase a great “Seinfeld” quote: “They’re real … and they’re spectacular!”)

Of course, this moment — it’s the left breast, by the way — is meant to be part of the story; it’s exactly what her manipulative character would do to land her man, in this case a character played by Joaquin Phoenix. In “Two Lovers,” Phoenix plays a mentally jumbled lonely guy who tries to juggle romances with both Paltrow’s selfish car crash of a mistress and Vinessa Shaw’s girl next door.

‘Two Lovers’ = 1 breast so I assume it will take ‘Four Lovers’ to see the set.

Matt Damon looks like a bit of a cross between a male porn star and a MIT tech on the set filming his upcoming movie The Informant.

Do you think the mustache is a good look for Matt?

photo: ONTD

Christina Ricci, on the set of Speed Racer, was sexually harassed by an ape on the first day of shooting. It was in fact an actual ape and not the burly Vince Vaughn.

“The chimp jumped over and grabbed my left breast and hung off me,” Ricci told Pop Tarts with a slightly embarrassed smile. “It happened in the middle of the first take on the first day of shooting — it was painful.”But in an attempt to “not upset the chimp any further,” Ricci said she stood still and meekly cried “help, help, ouch” until she got the attention of the crew, who were facing the other direction.

Ok, so she wasn’t actually raped by the chimpanzee but I couldn’t pass up using the title. She likely would have been though if she didn’t get help from the crew.

Earlier this morning we were reminded that wild animals on movie sets can strike out and even kill, as the grizzly bear from Semi-Pro killed his trainer Stephan Miller.

The 80th Annual Academy Awards are taking place in Los Angeles live at this very moment. Here is a look at the winners from tonight’s celebration honoring the best films of 2007. (reload for updates)

And the Oscar goes to:

Best Picture: No Country for Old Men

Best Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, Juno

Best Documentary Feature: Taxi to the Dark Side

Best Documentary Short Subject: Freeheld

Best Original Score: Atonement

Best Cinematography in Film: There Will Be Blood

Best Original Song: “Falling Slowly“, Once

Best Foreign Language Film: The Counterfeiters

Best Film Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum

Best Song: “Falling Slowly“, Once

Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

Best Sound Mixing: The Bourne Ultimatum

Best Sound Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum

Best Adapted Screenplay: No Country for Old Men

Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Animated Short Film: Peter and the Wolf

Best Live Action Short Film: Le Mozart de Pickpockets

Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Best Art Direction: Sweeney Todd: The Barber of Fleet Street

Best Visual Effects: The Golden Compass

Achievement in Makeup: La Vie en Rose

Best Animated Feature: Ratatouille

Best Costume Design: Elizabeth: The Age

My favorite films of the year are Juno, Elizabeth: The Age, and The Bourne Ultimatum

2008 Academy Award Winners

Actress Eva Mendes is on the March 2008 cover of ‘Maxim’ magazine’s U.K. version.  In the article she says she likes to prune her roses in the nude.

The next two movies you can see Eva in are:

The Women - The story centers on a group of gossipy, high-society women who spend their days at the beauty salon and haunting fashion shows. The sweet, happily-wedded Mary Haines finds her marriage in trouble when shop girl Crystal Allen gets her hooks into Mary’s man. Naturally, this situation becomes the hot talk amongst Mary’s catty friends, especially the scandalmonger Sylvia Fowler, who has little room to talk - she finds herself on a train to Reno and headed for divorce right after Mary. But with a bit of guts and daring, Mary snatches her man right back from Crystal’s clutches.

The Spirit - Rookie cop Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces in Central City.

See Eva’s Photo Spread in this Issue

Michelle Williams was suppose to start filming Blue Valentine next month.  Production on the film has been delayed to give Williams time to grieve for Heath Ledger.

Filming on her next movie, Blue Valentine, has been postponed while she takes the time to grieve for Heath Ledger, her onetime fiancé and father of her child, the producers of the film confirmed Tuesday to E! News. 

Production was due to begin Feb. 25 but has been pushed back indefinitely.

Williams and Ledger broke up last August.  The two met and fell in love on the set of Brokeback Mountain.

One of my favorite toys as a kid, G.I. Joe action figures, are coming to the big screen. Channing Tatum is set to star as Duke.  Steven Sommer will direct the action flick.

He’ll be joining Sienna Miller, Ray Park, Rachel Nichols, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Said Taghmaoui, Marlon Wayans and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the cast for the action-adventure.

Filming is set to begin next month.  The movie is tentatively scheduled to be released on August 7, 2009.

Is Channing a good casting to play Duke? (See Images Below)

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Read More on Heath’s Tragic Passing

Veteran actress and American Gangster co-star Ruby Dee received her first ever Academy Award nomination this morning in Hollywood for ‘Best Supporting Actress’.

The nomination is long over due and well earned from her work not just in American Gangster but throughout her illustrious career.

It’s the first Oscar nomination ever for the 83-year-old stage and screen legend, whose storied career across all major forms of media dates back to 1939. Dee is nominated for her “American Gangster” role of Mama, the mother of Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas, played by Denzel Washington.

She faces competition in the category from Cate Blanchett (”I’m Not There”), Saoirse Ronan (”Atonement”), Amy Ryan (”Gone Baby Gone”) and Tilda Swinton (”Michael Clayton”).

Congrats and best of luck to Ms. Ruby on her first nomination!

Ruby Dee’s Complete Acting Resume

The 80th Annual Academy Awards will take place and be televised live February 24th from Los Angeles.  The Oscars are the biggest trophy those in the film industry can receive.

Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood were all nominated for ‘Best Picture’.

There Will Be Blood received the most nominations with eight. No Country for Old Men and Michael Clayton each racked up seven nominations.

Here is a look at the nominees for each category:

BEST PICTURE
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

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