A few weeks ago, I saw the trailer for Vantage Point, which hits theaters Feb. 22. The thriller presents eight perspectives (à la Rashomon) on an assassination attempt on the U.S. president. It stars Sigourney Weaver and some other people.

Fine, the other people are Matthew Fox, Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker and William Hurt, but all I really need is Sigourney. She plays a TV news producer named Rex Brooks. Rex! That's hot.

And Zoe Saldana plays a reporter in the film. I guess we can assume she'll be working under Sigourney. Ahem. I couldn't find any stills of her in Vantage Point, but here's a picture of her in uniform in The Terminal:

Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer (Munich) plays a paramedic who provides one of the viewpoints. … continue reading

And with that question, film critic Joe Queenan isn't questioning movies like Beowulf or 300, with CGI background or characters. I might have been with him on that.

No, Queenan is lamenting what the advent of the information age has done to movies. His case in point: Psycho. If it were set in today's world, TripAdvisor.com and her PDA could save Janet Leigh from that fatal shower at the Bates motel.

I sort of see his point: I'm as tired of post-Matrix computer-age drivel as anyone else. But the pre-cell-phone-era films Queenan applauds, such as Beowulf, American Gangster, and No Country for Old Men, have something in common (aside from limiting cutting-edge technology to spear manufacturing or bolt pistols): a decided lack of strong female roles. You might as well call the Coen brothers' movie No Country for Women at All. … continue reading

I was actually sort of excited about Shoot 'Em Up, which is set to open this Friday. The title sounds a little bloody for my usual taste, but I sometimes do like a good, brainless action flick. Oh, and then there's this:

Yeah, there's a reason Monica Bellucci made the AfterEllen.com Hot 100 list. No. 68 doesn't do her justice.

Here's the movie's plot, such as it is: Clive Owen stars as "a mysterious loner who teams up with an unlikely ally to protect a newborn baby" from villains who hunt them "throughout the bowels of the city." (Uh, wait a minute. This is sounding awfully familiar.) And the trailer is fun, at least from the action movie standpoint. It's beautifully filmed (well, beautiful for a gritty, dirty set), and Paul Giamatti looks engagingly demented. Even more than usual, I mean. … continue reading