Art Imitates Stripping Life

I always knew Channing Tatum had a healthy outlook on his whole persona.

The actor is set to reteam with Steven Soderbergh, the director of his August thriller Haywire, for Magic Mike, a comedy set in the world of male strippers.

Tatum will draw from his real-life experience as a dancer back in the day, which he totally has owned, btw.

Soderbergh is quite keen on the project, and has gone on the record to say that he thinks it will be “sexy, funny, and shocking,” while Tatum is even keener.

“This was a wild and pivotal time in my life and I couldn’t be more thrilled to go down the rabbit hole with Steven,” he said.

Dare to bare, Chan! Dare. To. Bare.

Photo: CoverGuys.blogspot.com.

Taking on a Legend

Jeremy Renner is proving to be quite unstoppable.

The man could take over both the Mission: Impossible and Bourne franchises is set to produce and star in a biopic about Steve McQueen based on the books Portrait of an American Rebel and The Life and Legend of a Hollywood Icon.

Way to go, Jer.

Introducing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

They did it: Prince William and Kate Middleton got hitched today.

Click here for a look at all the pomp and circumstance.

Photo: TheDailyBeast.com.

Update 1: Click here to find out all about the duchess’ Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen wedding dress.

Update 2: Now click here to watch the happy couple kiss...and then kiss again (that’s more like it, you two!).

J. Lo Gets Hypnotico

Jennifer Lopez’s music career is on fire again...and don’t you forget it.

Girlfriend has already gotten us back “On the Floor,” and now she wants us to get all “Hypnotico.”

That’s the name of one of the tracks from her so-so reviewed latest album, the long-delayed LOVE?, which, btw, was penned by none other than Lady GaGa.

The ditty’s a fun little moment, if a little derivative. So it should do super at the clubs. Know what I mean?

I’m glad La Lopez is having a good go at it these days, but, music-wise, I wish she could recapture or emulate the magic of, say, “Waiting for Tonight.”

Photo: People.com.

Update: Now click here for a preview of J. Lo’s video for “I’m Into You.”

H-O-T Alert!

The Shenemy

Michael Shannon is going to have help making Superman’s life harder in Superman: Man of Steel (title still TBC, btw).

Shannon, who’s playing General Zod in Zack Snyder’s upcoming, Henry Cavill-starring reboot, will be joined by German-born actress Antje Traue on the bad-guy front now that she reportedly has been cast as the villainous Faora.

I like this lady’s look, and I’m going to make an effort to seek out her oeuvre between now and next summer, which is when the blockbuster is set to open.

Photo: Celebs101.com.

And So It Shall End

We all knew the epic story would come to an end some day, and now it is official.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is but just a little more than two months away (it opens on July 15, btw), but here is a preview of what’s to come...of the ultimate battle between the bespectacled wizard (Daniel Radcliffe) and He Who Must Not Be Named (Ralph Fiennes):



Click here for a refresher on Part 1. Now go and start stocking on tissues. The end of an era in pop culture is coming to an end.

Hello, Theseus & Co.!

It’s finally here: My first look at an Immortals trailer.

Henry Cavill plays Theseus, a (beyond-ripped) man chosen by the gods to unite us all in the movie opening on Nov. 11.

Produced by the same folks who brought us 300, and directed by Tarsem Singh, Immortals – which looks pretty darn spectacular – co-stars Kellan Lutz, Freida Pinto, and Mickey Rourke.

I. Cannot. Wait for it.

Photo: Towleroad.com.

Time for Egglesfield

I like it when I spot talent.

Colin Egglesfield, the Melrose Place reboot actor I liked the most and one of the stars of next week’s Something Borrowed, is no longer an up-and-comer – he has arrived.

He is gracing the pages of the current GQ looking all fine and s---, and he has booked a recurring return to TV, playing Angie Harmon’s troublemaking youngest brother on TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles.

Join me in welcoming the guy to the big time, whaddya say.

Photo: SoapHunksBlog.blogspot.com.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

A new trailer – a new red-band trailer – for Bridesmaids has dropped, and I gotta say it makes me anticipate this Judd Apatow-produced chick-com even more.

The movie, co-written by and starring Kristen Wiig (TV’s SNL), tells the story of Annie, a lovelorn and broke woman who has to bluff her way through the pomp and circumstance, and expense, of being her BFF’s (Maya Rudolph) maid of honor.

The female-centric laugher co-stars Damages’ Rose Byrne as a competitive bridesmaid, as well as Melissa McCarthy (TV’s Mike & Molly), Ellie Kemper (TV’s The Office), Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Jon Hamm, with whom Wiig gets...uh...quite funny and freaky.

Photo: Universal Pictures.

Zombie Warrior

Brad Pitt is out to save the world.

After almost a year of rumors, the actor has officially signed on to star in World War Z, an adaptation of Max Brooks’ book about a zombie apocalypse directed by Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace).

Mireille Enos (AMC’s The Killing) will play his wife.

Production is set to get underway in June for a summer 2012 release.

Photo: Crushable.com.

Ghosts of Boyfriends Past

You know how exhausting dating can be, right?

Well, Anna Faris sure does in her fall release What’s Your Number?, for she plays a woman going down man-mory lane, revisiting each of the past 20 guys she has dated wondering if any of them was The One.

The rom-com opening on Sept. 30 features Joel McHale, Zachary Quinto, Dave Annable (instead of Matt Bomer), Andy Samberg, Anthony Mackie, and Faris’ real-life husband Chris Pratt (TV’s Parks and Recreation) as some of the would-be missed boats, as well as Chris Evans as the BFF who will help Faris figure it all out.

Check out the trailer:

Looks cute, huh.

Coach Girl

But she is so first class!

Indeed, she is, and that’s why my girl Gwyneth Paltrow is going to be the new face of Coach, the luxury goods company, not the part of the airplane you and I fly – and girlfriend who could not be more excited about the gig.

“I grew up in New York City and I’ve always thought of Coach as the quintessential New York brand,” she said. “I’ll never forget getting my first Coach bag.”

You can expect to see Paltrow hawking the brand beginning in September.

Photo: People.com.

Moe Chris, Please

The search for a new Moe continues.

With the Farrelly brothers’ Three Stooges movie set to start shooting super-soon – and Will Sasso and Sean Hayes already on board as Curly and Larry, respectively – all eyes are on who will play the third Stooge...and word on the street is one of my fixations is in the running for the role.

Chris Diamantopoulos, a.k.a. Becki Newton’s hubby (and baby daddy) and a TV vet in his own right (the guy was on USA Network’s The Starter Wife and 24, among other stories) has been “discussed” for the part, but he is yet to confirmed for it.

Fingers crossed because this…[signaling with all five fingers toward the new] excites me!”

Photo: Zimbio.com.

Totally Casting Called

Move aside, Sharon Stone: Kate Beckinsale has got your number.

The Underworld heroine has been offered the role of Lori in the Colin Farrell-led Total Recall remake.

Should the Brit sign on the project would be a family affair: her husband, Live Free or Die Hard helmer Len Wiseman, is directing.

Both Eva Mendes and Rosario Dawson are being eyed for the same role (that of Melina), while Bryan Cranston (AMC’s Breaking Bad) is set to play the movie’s villain.

Photo: Flickr.com.

Getting Savage Together

John Travolta and Uma Thurman are set to reunite once again.

The Pulp Fiction and Be Cool co-stars have said yes to Oliver Stone’s next project, an adaptation of the book Savages, which tells the story of a couple of pot growers (Taylor Kitsch and Kick-Ass star Aaron Johnson) whose pot-smoking and -dealing gf (Blake Lively) is held ransom by the Mexican drug cartel to make them produce for its operation.

Travolta will play a burnt-out DEA agent, while Thurman will take on the role of the girl’s mom.

Benicio Del Toro is also on board, as the leader of the cartel, as is Salma Hayek, who will play his wife.

Photo: People.com.

Lindsay Wins Some, Loses Some

And the Lindsay Lohan Saga keeps getting more pretzel-y.

Just days after booking a two-picture deal (including a role as Kim Gotti in Gotti: Three Generations), L2 saw her grand felony charge reduced to a misdemeanor...and her cute little butt sent to jail for 120 days for violating her parole. She also has to complete 480 hours of community service.

Oh yeah – the judge was not amused by the “brazenness” she perceived, which, granted, Lohan gives out in a major way.

Don’t worry, though. Because of overcrowding and all those reasons that would never apply to any Jack or Jane on the street, Lohan has been released after posting bail.

Girlfriend is due back in court to appeal the ruling next month.

Photo: EW.com.

The Good Man

Tom Cruise is looking to get serious after he finishes with Rock of Ages.

The Cruiseter is eyeing the starring role in a drama by Dan Fogelman (the screenwriter of Cars, its upcoming sequel, and Crazy, Stupid, Love) as a disgraced politician struggling to put his life back together after having an affair.

Up next, though, is the Mission: Impossible fourthquel, subtitled Ghost Protocol and opening later this fall.

Photo: SocialiteLife.com.

Applying

Jim Carrey is looking for a job at The Office.

The actor has signed up to guest in the season finale of the show, alongside Ricky Gervais, Will Arnett, James Spader, Ray Romano, and Catherine Tate.

Carrey will be playing someone interviewing for the position being vacated by Steve Carell’s Michael Scott.

I wonder if Dunder Mifflin can handle a mohawk.

Photo: PopCrunch.com.

The Switch

It is one of the summer’s most anticipated pairings: that of Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman.

The pair will co-headline The Change-Up, a new comedy from the director of Wedding Crashers and the writers of The Hangover opening on Aug. 5.

Hit Alert!

Bateman plays a responsible married man who, after a freak accident involving peeing into a fountain at night and a strike of lightning, switches bodies with his slacker single buddy (Reynolds), thus ensuring the laughs keep a-comin’.

Check out the movie’s hilarious red-band-trailer for a taste (oh, the invaluable Leslie Mann plays the Arrested Development star’s wife, btw).

So glad these two good-looking fellas are coming our way. We get them not only in this, but in a couple other hotly anticipated projects: Green Lantern for Reynolds, and Horrible Bosses (out on July 8, and co-starring the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, and Kevin Spacey) for Bateman.

Photo: Collider.com.

La Lopez Wants to Get Real

Jennifer Lopez, a.k.a. the world’s most beautiful woman, is on a roll.

The star and current American Idol judge is looking to launch her own reality show that will search for the best undiscovered musical talent throughout Latin America.

Lopez is teaming up with Simon Fuller for the project – tentatively titled Que Viva – which would partner her up with none other than her husband Marc Anthony.

Photo: EW.com.

Simply Irresistible, Pt. 74

Now, that’s the hotness right here.

I have such a massive crush on Heather Morris, a.k.a. Brittany on TV’s Glee.

And I think you can see why:

If they must reboot Buffy, I think Morris would be just ideal for the part: She can move and she can be funny.

Zeta Rocks

Catherine Zeta-Jones is finding a healing force in her work.

The Oscar winner, who recently revealed she suffers and had been treated for bipolar II disorder, has joined the growing star-studded cast of the Rock of Ages big-screen adaptation.

Tom Cruise, Russell Brand, Julianne Hough, newcomer Diego Boneta, Mary J. Blige, Paul Giamatti, and Alec Baldwin are already on board.

The Chicago stunner in another musical? Count. Me. In!

Photo: CourierMail.com.au.

Update: Click here to find out more details about the role CZ-J will be playing, which was specifically created for the movie.

Ready to Get Down

Eva Longoria is getting her groove back.

The Desperate Housewife is getting her post-divorce life back on track with a reported new boyfriend (Eduardo Cruz, brother of one Penélope), a new, very lucrative contract to stick with her hit show for a bit longer, and a new role in an upcoming comedy.

Longoria has been cast in The Baytown Disco, a project revolving a gorgeous woman who convinces three hapless redneck brothers to rescue her son from what she calls an abusive ex.

Billy Bob Thornton is set to co-star, playing, presumably, one of the three men.

Up next for the actress, though, is the Andy Garcia-co-starring Cristiada, about the Mexican Cristeros War; Without Men, another Latin America-set war drama; and Days of Grace, a Mexican-set drama.

Photo: People.com.

Author LG

Lauren Graham has written a book.

The Parenthood star has had her debut novel, the semi-autobiographical You’ll Never Make It, picked up by Random House.

The story of a struggling actress in New York City in the mid-1990s should hit shelves...soon.

She better come to Miami to promote the book. After all, she kinda owes me a meet for not being there when I went to see her in Guys and Dolls.

Photo: EW.com.

A Bad Case of the Block

Winona Ryder is sticking with psychological thrillers for a bit.

The actress, who I last saw in Black Swan, has signed on to star in The Stare opposite James Franco, playing a playwright who begins to hallucinate and become paranoid as she struggles to get her latest project off the ground.

So...a feel-good movie, huh.

Franco will play one of the actors in her production.

I love that Ryder is working consistently again (she was also featured in last winter’s The Dilemma), but can someone turn her attention to something light and costume-y, please?

Photo: FanPop.com.

Mother Figure

Elizabeth Banks could be reuniting with her Seabiscuit director, Gary Ross, for The Hunger Games.

The actress and new mom is thisclose to nabbing a part in the trilogy starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth.

Banks would play Effie Trinket, the pink-haired, bright-eyed showbiz-type who becomes Katniss (Lawrence) and Peeta’s (Hutcherson) handler.

On a related note, Thresh and Rue will played by Dayo Okeniyi and Amandla Stenberg, respectively.

Photo: Moviehole.net.

Update: In more Hunger Games casting news, Marvel and Glimmer will be played by Jack Quaid (as in son of Dennis and Meg Ryan) and Leven Ramblin (TV’s Grey’s Anatomy), respectively.

Pushing the Boundaries

The Help is coming.

By that, of course, I mean the adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s 1960s-set best-selling novel about class and race, and the white college grad (Emma Stone) who with one exposé confronts all these differences right outta the water.

Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, and the buzzy Octavia Spencer are among the co-stars of this late-summer entry opening in August.

Busy Wahlberg

Whatever he’s chasing, Mark Wahlberg seems determined to find it.

The Fighter star is attached to produce and maybe star in two new movies: a remake of the 1971 ex-Green Beret movie Billy Jack and the Chicago mob movie When Corruption Was King.

Neither project is on the fast track.

Wahlberg is keeping quite busy these days.

He also just signed onto the action comedy Bait & Switch, and he’s working on Seth MacFarlane’s Ted, a demented teddy bear comedy co-starring Mila Kunis.

Oh, and he is set to reunite with David O. Russell planned take on Uncharted, a videogame adaptation.

Photo: FilmBuffOnline.com.

Happy Birds

The new animated offering Rio bursts onto an otherwise cheerless spring with vibrant colors, some pretty awesome voice work by Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway, and a soundtrack rich in boss nova sounds supervised by Sergio Mendes that’s fun but could’ve been funner.

Eisenberg does his neurotic thing as Blu, a macaw-out-of-natural habitat that can’t fly. The poor little guy was poached from Brazil like, seven and a half seconds after hatching, and grew up in Moose Lake, Minn., as the BFF of a bookish girl-later-grown woman named Linda (voiced by Leslie Mann).

Blu and Linda could not be happier together. She adores him, and he adores her and his life in Minnesota.

When a Brazilian scientist (Rodrigo Santoro) comes a-knockin’, though, Blu starts to wonder, fleetingly at first, just who he really is. He begins to question why he doesn’t fly, and if a life lived inside is really what he’s meant for, y’ know, especially after Tulio, the scientist, informs Linda that Blu is the last male of his species and that he would like to take him back to Rio de Janeiro so he can mate.

Oh yeah – Rio’s a booty-call movie. It’s all about a...a birdie call. For the kids to enjoy.

It takes some convincing and a little soul-searching, but Blu and Linda agree, and so off they go to South America to meet Jewel (Hathaway), Blu’s more-free-spirited female counterpart.

Not long after he arrives in though, Blu and Jewel are birdnapped by a group of smugglers. Eventually, they escape, combining her street smarts and his knowledge of the human ways, encountering many a misadventure along the way, for the two are literally chained to each other, as well as new pals, including another tropical bird voiced by George Lopez, that help them in their quest to get to freedom and back to Linda.

Rio has a little fun with all of this, with making us hope Blu can combine the best of both worlds (will he learn how to fly? and under what circumstances? will nature be stronger than nurture?), but, ultimately, it troubles itself with trying to be too much (like a coming-of-age story for Blu...and a two-ifs-by-the-road for the lovebirds...and an actioner – the pair trot around the city escaping a number of foes).

If it had taken a breezier approach I’d say this was one trip worth taking. In some ways it is, but you may not enjoy it all the way. The childrens sooo will, though (especially in obligatory 3-D), and that’s who this one is for, after all.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: 20th Century Fox.

Uh...No

Lady GaGa has dropped “Judas” on us...and it’s just not doing it for me.

It’s a love song of sorts, but it doesn’t sound romantic to me. At all.

I guess I will have to wait for the reportedly controversial video to get it. Because music is so visual with this one.

Photo: Vogue.com.

As MLK

The baddest mofo in Hollywood is headed to Broadway.

Samuel L. Jackson will play Martin Luther King, Jr., in The Mountaintop, a dramatic exploration of the Nobel Prize-winning civil rights leader’s final night before being assassinated.

The play, which at one point was to feature Halle Berry, will open on the Great White Way in October.

Photo: Snarkerati.com.

Atta Cowboy

I know I’ve shared a Cowboys & Aliens trailer before, but this latest cut features Daniel Craig looking all sweaty in the chest and the abs (keep your eyes peeled at the 1:44 mark!):

You understand if I’m redundant, right?

Oh, yeah, there’s some more insight into the plot, too, btw....

More Scream!

It really is what a generation has been clamoring and waiting for for like, a friggin’ decade, so, yeah, it’s true what they say about the things that come to those who wait – they’re good, and Scream 4 is no exception.

Alright, to be completely honest I can’t say the movie was all that and a bag of...uh...fresh blood. Well, there’s plenty of that, indeed, but I guess what I am saying is we’re all a little...older. And we know better.

By that, I mean, of course, original-flavor Scream, which remains the very best of the franchise for obvious reasons: it came out a simpler time and it was fresh and groundbreaking and it was fun.

Not that this fourthquel isn’t – it’s just that the sensibilities of 2011 are def not those of 1996, which is when the first installment of the successful series about the Ghostface killer(s) and the folks that all got a phone call that creepily asked “What’s your favorite scary movie” before dying a bloody death first came out.

We all (should) know the story by now: Woodsboro ingénue Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) spent her high school, college, and the early part of her adult years dodging a handful of knife-wielding Ghostfaces who had a number of reasons for wanting her dead.

With the help of her lifelong friend, deputy-cum-town sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and Courteney Cox’s tabloid reporter-cum-sheriff’s wife-frenemy Gale Riley (née Weathers), Sid has managed to survive three movies – and countless books about her experience, as well as movies within the movies.

Scream 4 is out to test her endurance once again.

The movie finds her returning to Woodsboro after 10 years. She’s on a book tour to promote her I’m-not-a-victim tome and to show everyone that she has moved on with her life.

Things have been quiet.

As soon as she sets foot in her ol’ hometown, though, all hell breaks loose. The body count starts to get up there, and Sidney soon finds out the killer – or killers! – is rewriting the rules on the oldtimers (and us), and he or she is threatening everyone she loves, including Dewey and Gale (who are having a crisis in their marriage), as well as her young cousin Jill (Emma Roberts) and a whole new group of students to slice and dice, including Hayden Panettiere as a friend of Jill’s, Rory Culkin, and a bunch of other up-and-comers.

Kristen Bell also pops up along the way, as does Community’s Alison Brie in a bitchin’ role.

Obviously, I can’t and won’t say anything else because that would be being a wet blanket. However, I will say I...liked Scream 4.

I didn’t love it because nothing can recapture the magic of the first one, y’ know. And I thought the first half was way stronger than the second half, which featured one too many twists for my taste (which, btw, I welcomed with open arms because the alternative just wasn’t going to do).

That said, am I watching the movie again this weekend? Heck ya I am. I’m not a fan for nothing, and that’s who this one is really for, after all – so let’s reunite and say hello to the newbies and enjoy our favorite scary-movie franchise in a dark theater somewhere...it’s going to be a scream.

My Rating ***

Photo: Dimension Films.