The Directors Chair

Full details have been revealed for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, which, as previously reported (see blu-ray.com, July 5), will be released on Blu-ray on August 31 as a Best Buy exclusive. This two-disc Rich Mahogany Edition will include 50 minutes of new special features, a Many Months of Burgundy book and 12 collectible trading cards.

Special features include:

* Commentary with Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, Lou Rawls, Andy Richter, Kyle Gass, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Christina Applegate
* Deleted and extended scenes (new)
* Bloopers
* ESPN Sports Center Audition – Ron Burgundy
* Wake Up Ron Burgundy
* Feature Introduction by Will Ferrell and Aaron Zimmerman
* Raw Footage “Good Takes” (new)
* Music video: “Afternoon Delight”
* “Afternoon Delight” recording session (new)
* Public Service Announcements
* Awards Speech
* AMC Loews Happy Birthday (new)
* Interviews:
o Rebecca Romijn
o Jim Caviezel
o Burt Reynolds
* Cinemax: The Making of Ron Burgundy
* Reel Comedy: Anchorman
* A Conversation with Ron Burgundy
* Cast Auditions (new)
* Table Read (new)
* Rehearsals
* Playback Video
* Commercial Break
* Trailers (in HD) (new)

Source: BR.com

My review of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is now online and you can read it by clicking here!

Based on the best selling Brian Lee O’Malley graphic novel, the movie appears to transcend the source material as its striking visuals and ear-bleeding soundtrack leap out the screen at you in a way you couldn’t imagine.

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has declared he will stay at the club despite admitting a move to Barcelona was an attractive proposition.

The 23-year-old has been linked with Barca all summer, with the Gunners rejecting two bids from the Catalans.

Fabregas apologised to fans for the delay in committing his future but said he is now “100% focused on Arsenal”.

“I am a professional and I fully understand that it is Arsenal’s prerogative not to sell me,” he added.

“I owe a lot to the club, manager and the fans and I will respect their decision and will now concentrate on the new season ahead with Arsenal.”

World Cup-winning midfielder Fabregas joined the north Londoners from home-town club Barcelona in 2003 as a 16-year-old and he admitted that the lure of returning to the Spanish champions was an attractive one.

“Firstly I would like to apologise to all the Arsenal fans for not speaking sooner about my future but I have not known what I was going to do until this moment,” he explained.

“I cannot deny that joining a club like Barcelona was not an attractive move for me. This was the club where I learnt my football, it is my home town where my friends and family are and a club where I have always dreamed of playing.

“There are not many players in the world who would not want to play for Barcelona. I have had many conversations with [Arsenal manager] Arsene Wenger both in person and over the phone over the last few months and although the content of those conversations will remain private, the conclusion is that Barcelona have had two formal offers rejected by Arsenal.

“I am an Arsenal player and as soon as I step out on to the pitch, that is the only club I will be thinking about. I am looking forward to the start of the season and putting this speculation behind me.”

Wenger has remained adamant throughout the summer that the playmaker was not for sale at any price, but the Spanish champions were not distracted by Arsenal’s obstinacy.

A number of Barca’s top players have expressed their desire for Fabregas to join them at the Nou Camp, including new signing David Villa and midfielder Xavi.

And during post-tournament celebrations for Spain’s World Cup triumph, a number of international team-mates forced Fabregas into a Barcelona shirt, which the player himself later brushed off as a joke.

Arsenal announced on 2 June that they had rejected an offer from Barcelona for Fabregas, insisting they had “no intention of selling him”.

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell warned that his club would not be held to ransom for the player, indicating a fee of 50 or 60m euros was far more than they were prepared to pay.

Fabregas trained alongside his Arsenal team-mates on Thursday, appearing in front of fans at the Emirates Stadium at the club’s members’ day.

Access Hollywood has debuted a clip from “New Man in Charge,” the epilogue featured on the “Lost: The Complete Sixth and Final Season” and “Lost: The Complete Collection” Blu-rays and DVDs coming to stores on August 24. The epilogue has more on Hurley and Ben Linus’ story after where the series finale ended. You can watch the clip using the player below!

Source: AccessHollywood

A movie trailer for Steve Antin’s Burlesque has just debuted. Those interested to see Christina Aguilera’s theatrical debut should hit the jump for the trailer and for a plot synopsis of the film. Burlesque hits theaters on November 24, 2010.

Don’t get me wrong: I think Christina Aguilera has an amazing voice and am constantly baffled by how she has been eclipsed by Britney Spears (whose talent comes nowhere close). But in my opinion, this trailer is a disaster.

The trouble starts right away with Aguilera’s too-earnest, kind-of-trying-too-hard delivery of “You’re kidding right?” Then, a flurry of exposition conveying exactly the extreme degree to which Cher is better than everyone else, as well as the extreme degree to which Aguilera is, like, TOTALLY a fish out of water. All the main actors deliver the most clichéd dialogue possible for this type of film, and the results are blandly predictable. Gee, I wonder if Christina Aguilera’s first movie will allow her character to demonstrate that she actually has talent? I’m probably being too harsh but this trailer is less comparable to the trailers of films such as Nine, and more to those of films such as Crossroads.

What do you guys think, though? Is Aguilera convincing in the brief moments we see here? Are you looking forward to the film?

Plot synopsis:

An upcoming musical film starring Christina Aguilera, Cher and Stanley Tucci. Christina Aguilera will make her theatrical film and musical debut as the leading character, a “small-town girl with a big voice”, who finds work at a Los Angeles neo-burlesque club, inspired by Bob Fosse’s Cabaret. The film also marks the first starring role in a decade and first musical film for Cher. She plays Tess, a former dancer who struggles to keep the nightclub open and serves as a mentor to Christina Aguilera’s character, Ali. Aguilera’s love interest will be played by Cam Gigandet, and Stanley Tucci has been cast as the nightclub’s manager.

Source: /film

Mon Aug 2 2010 – In a news exclusive, 20th Century Fox has given us word that The Rocky Horror Picture Show will be released on Blu-ray Disc on October 19th, 2010.

In addition to a wealth of new features as well as fan favorites from the LaserDisc and DVD releases, the RHPS Blu-ray will come with remastered 1080p MPEG-4 video (aspect ratio: 1.66:1) and DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio (as well as the original mono audio). Here’s a rundown of the features:

New Features:
• Restored Picture – Brand New 4K/2K Master From The Original Camera Negatives
• The Midnight Experience: The Late Night, Double Feature, Picture-in-Picture Show, Vintage Callback Track (Unrated), Prop Box, Trivia Track
• BD-LIVE: Live Lookup, Powered by IMDb
• Rocky-oke: Sing It!
• Don’t Dream It, Be It: The Search for the 35th Anniversary Shadowcast, Part I
• An-tic-i-pation: The Search for the 35th Anniversary Shadowcast, Part II
• Mick Rock (A Photographer)
• Mick Rock’s Picture Show (A Gallery)
• Pressbook and Poster Gallery

Previously Seen Features:
• Audio Commentary by Richard O’Brien and Patricia Quinn
• Deleted Musical Scenes and Outtakes
• Alternate Credit Ending and Misprint Ending
• Rocky Horror Double Feature Video Show
• Beacon Theater, New York City “Time Warp” Music Video (possibly from the 15th Anniversary VHS/LaserDisc?)

We will keep you posted on more details as soon as they become available. In the meantime, here’s Fox’s official press release.

Source: RockyHorror.com

Nickelodeon is apparently making a live-action movie adaptation of the popular television cartoon series The Fairly OddParents. The movie titled A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow up Timmy Turner stars Jason Alexander and Cheryl Hines

The movie centers on Timmy Turner (portrayed by Drake Bell), but unlike the series, Timmy is no longer a 10-year-old boy — he is 23, still lives at home, and still attends the 5th grade. Timmy’s arrested development stems from his desire to keep his beloved fairy godparents, Cosmo (Daran Norris as his animated form and Jason Alexander as his live-action form) and Wanda (Susanne Blakeslee as her animated form and Cheryl Hines as her live-action form), because “Da Rules” dictates that godchildren lose their fairies when they grow up. But when Tootie (Daniella Monet), a formerly nerdy girl who’s always had a crush on Timmy, returns to town as a gorgeous grown-up, Timmy finds himself having very adult feelings for her. He must decide whether to grow up and be with the woman he now loves, or continue acting like a child to keep the fairy godparents he adores. In the meantime, Hugh J. Magnate (Steven Weber), a larger-than-life oil tycoon, turns his attention to capturing Timmy’s fairies and using their power to fuel his maniacal ambition.

Now I do like the cartoon and I’m a big fan of Drake Bell and Jason Alexander but really? How much longer does Drake have to work for Nickelodeon?

Source: /film

My review of Eclipse from the Twilight Saga is now online. Please note that this film is not missing it’s star rating, it has not been given any stars!!

All of this substance leads to a very disappointing and unsatisfactory climax when the vampire “war” begins and ends in moments.

You can read my review on The A-Team by clicking here.

Does this make it a bad movie? Not really, it’ll keep you munching away at your popcorn and transfixed at what’s going on if not leaving you a little deaf when you walk out.

The UK Film Council is to be axed as part of a cost-cutting drive by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), it has been announced.

The organisation, founded in 2000, had an annual budget of £15m to invest in British films and employed 75 people.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he wanted to establish a “direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute”.

UK Film Council chairman Tim Bevan called it “a bad decision”.

He said the announcement was “imposed without any consultation or evaluation”.

“People will rightly look back on today’s announcement and say it was a big mistake, driven by short-term thinking and political expediency,” he said.
Digital screens

The Film Council was set up by the Labour government to develop and promote the British film industry.

Funded by the National Lottery, it channelled about £160m into more than 900 films over the last 10 years, including Bend It Like Beckham, The Last King of Scotland and Streetdance 3D.

Other initiatives included the Digital Screen Network, which invested in 240 digital cinema screens across the UK – meaning the UK now has more digital cinemas than any other European country.

Mr Hunt said fifty-five public bodies including the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) were facing closure as the government committed to “increasing the transparency and accountability of its public bodies, while at the same time reducing their number and cost”.

“Many of these bodies were set up a considerable length of time ago, and times and demands have changed,” he added.

“The changes I have proposed today would help us deliver fantastic culture, media and sport, while ensuring value for money for the public and transparency about where taxpayers’ money is spent.

Source: BBC News