Hey! Tim Allen is set to make his directorial debut – and star – in an independent movie about an ex-con whose life gets “crazy” after he gets out of prison, Crazy on the Outside. He tries to seduce his parole office and his life is manipulated by his sister. Doesn't this sound great? Yeah, I didn't think so either.

But then I heard about some additional casting. Jeanne Tripplehorn has signed on to play the single-mom parole officer who is the object of Allen's affections.

All I can say about that possible pairing is…ew. (And grossness aside, the ethical violation inherent in such a love match horrifies me.)

Of course, this wouldn't be her first movie pairing with an icky guy. She was with Michael Douglas in Basic Instinct and Tom Cruise in The Firm. And she's wife #1 in Big Love.

Hubby Bill Paxton is not icky, but the situation certainly is. Regardless, she's pretty much always watchable regardless of her romantic partner.

And even more watchable is the other actress who just joined the cast as the manipulative sister, Sigourney Weaver.

I'm trying to think if I've ever disliked her performance in a movie…and I'm coming up blank. I haven't liked every movie she's been in – and I was utterly perplexed that she had a throw-away part in Be Kind, Rewind, which I'm embarrassed to admit I saw a few weeks ago. But Weaver is always good. So, she might even make this wacky, ex-con comedy watchable.

One amazing thing about her is how versatile an actress she is. … continue reading

Whether or not Vantage Point turns out to be a good movie, it's already a winner in my book. Not just because I like thrillers, which I do, but because of the promotional interviews from its beautiful star.

As scribegrrrl told us a few weeks ago, Sigourney Weaver plays a TV producer named Rex Brooks. Weaver told Good Morning America that the part originally was written for a man and she thought keeping the name "Rex" was cool. She was right.

That picture has nothing to do with Vantage Point and isn't from a recent interview. Do you care?

Weaver doesn't have a lot of screen time in Vantage Point, but her interviews have revealed a bit more about her upcoming role in James Cameron's film, Avatar, in which she plays the female lead, Grace. The film marks her first action film in 10 years. I think we all remember the last one. … continue reading

One of life’s great shared injustices is the yearbook photo. We all had to get them. And — unless they’ve somehow magically found a cure for awkwardness, geekiness and general dorkitude since I was a teenager — most of us dreaded them. For whatever reason, be it bad skin, bad clothes or the steadfast yet ultimately misguided belief in the transformative properties of big bangs, many of us look back at our school pictures and cringe. Or, at the very least, giggle. But you know what? Celebrities had to get them too, just like us mere mortals. Now that is what I call justice.

So, let’s play a little game called Name That Teenager. It’ll be fun; like being back in high school, but already knowing what everyone will look like at the class reunion. Let the games begin:

Among them you have a Rock star, an Alien hunter, an alphaBette and the possible next president of the United States of America.

Give up? … continue reading

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

My love for all things Tina Fey is well documented and borders on obsession. I swear, your honor, I’ve been sure to stay at least 500 feet away from her, as the court order requires. So I think I’m allowed this simple indulgence. Yesterday I watched the first trailer for her new comedy Baby Mama, and, save for the unfortunate fact that my badonkadonk is still very much in place, I pretty much laughed my ass off.

Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Sigourney Weaver and Maura Tierney together in one movie? Has someone been reading my dream journal again? The premise is this: A 30-something successful single gal (Fey) longs for a baby and hires a surrogate (Poehler) who lives with her during the nine months of the pregnancy, and hilarity ensues. In case you think I’m exaggerating, please take a look for yourself. (Watch it in glorious hi-def here.) But I warn you: Ye of tiny hiney should beware, because when you’re done you could have none left.

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Last spring, Scribe Grrrl riffed about the dream casting (and character naming) in the upcoming Tina Fey movie Baby Mama. Well, the first test-screening has happened in New York and although I was not there, I did read the review that some random viewer posted online. So it was almost like being there.

Baby Mama, again, stars Tina Fey as a successful, single, baby-desiring woman who hires a surrogate (Amy Poehler) when she learns she's unable to conceive. Circumstances lead Poehler's character to move in with Fey's character and hilarity likely ensues. The bottom line, according to random reviewer, is that Baby Mama is quite good and funny, but not as good as Mean Girls.

Here's Tina Fey on the set of Baby Mama:

And in Mean Girls:

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Of course, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison, because Tina Fey did not write Baby Mama and did not star in Mean Girls.

It's the end. That volcano towering over your hometown is about to blow, and you only have an hour to get out of town and save assorted important people and innocent children along the way No, wait. A gang of murderous strangers — or army of the undead, take your pick — is on your tail without adequate exposition, and your assorted armory is out of bullets. Or maybe it's that the asteroid approaches on a collision course, threatening the earth with a dinosaur-like extinction.

In any case, one question remains: Who do you call in an apocalypse? Which hero do you want to help you save the world, then take home afterward to celebrate your survival? Those were questions actually asked by a recent study. (OK, not the one about taking her home. That was me. But really, what's the good of saving the world if you can't snuggle with your honey when it's over?) Here's the only woman to make the top ten:

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The last time James Cameron sat in the director's chair, he brought us large chunks of ice and a sinking ship. From The Abyss and Aliens to Terminator and Titanic, nothing he does is small or cheap. So naturally we expect big things from his newest directorial project, a 3D sci-fi epic called Avatar, not to be confused with M. Night Shyamalan's live action version of Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cameron's film is said to combine live action with virtual characters, including the big, blue avatar occupied by the movie's hero for much of the film. With a budget of just under 200 million dollars, it would actually be cheaper than such recent offerings as X-Men 3 and Superman Returns. Of course, with Cameron at the helm, one would expect that budget to swell significantly.

I'm one of those people who love a good action epic, especially a good sci-fi action epic, but I'm not willing to give Cameron glowing recommendations. I love his movies, but he's a little too egocentric for my tastes. But I have a great deal of fondness for some of the female characters he has helped bring to life, including Lindsey Brigman in The Abyss, Sarah Connor in Terminator, and Rose Dawson in Titanic.

So I'm looking forward to seeing what Mr. Cameron does with the female characters in his newest venture. Among the women previously cast in the film are CCH Pounder, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver. I wonder how Weaver feels about being in yet another war with aliens? Do you think she wonders if maybe Cameron has it in for her?

The newest addition to this group is feisty Michelle Rodriguez. … continue reading

I'm often underwhelmed when I read that a movie will be made about a historical female figure. Period movies about strong women who challenge the male hierarchy only to be demonized by contemporaries and historians (and sometimes real demons) are a genre unto themselves: Insert tragic historical female, grant her enough authority to hang herself, end with creative torture by the powers that be. It's not that I mind tragedies, it's that I've seen that movie a hundred times, just with different dresses. (Unless it's Cate Blanchett in The Golden Age. But then, Elizabeth I would not be subjugated by any man.)

Just last year, we had Marie Antoinette. Kirsten Dunst's version of the teenage bride is the definition of used and abused.

The Messenger (1999) gave us Joan of Arc. A girl with holy visions and military skills? Burn her at the stake. Not even Milla Jovovich's armor could save her. … continue reading

No, I don't mean that time when she got arrested for shoplifting. But that's the first thing that comes to mind, isn't it? It's true: After a self-imposed hiatus from acting, Winona Ryder is trying to get her career back on track, but first she has to explain herself in public.

I'm only exaggerating a little when I say that Ryder's career is like a scrapbook of my college movie night memories. Even her films without lesbian moments had a queer subtext that we loved. There was this: … continue reading

The new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on newsstands today, includes a special pull-out list of the best (according to them) sci-fi movies and TV of the past 25 years. (Yes, that means Star Wars was ineligible, which is a nice move on the magazine's part — way to counterbalance all the hype.)

You can view the full list on the EW website. Here are some highlights of the top 25 (and by "highlights," I mean my rants and raves).

24. Galaxy Quest — I adore this movie. Not many parodies manage to be both smart-funny and stupid-funny at the same time, but this one strikes the perfect balance. Plus, how great did Sigourney Weaver look in that costume?

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Sigourney Weaver is in negotiations to join the cast of Baby Mama, which I've been looking forward to since Sarah mentioned it way back in September. It stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as a single career woman and surrogate mother, respectively. (And hilariously, I'm sure.)

Weaver will play the owner of the surrogate agency. If that doesn't exactly sound chortle-inducing, wait till you hear the character's name: Chaffee Bicknell. Sounds like Weaver might get to dust off that take-no-prisoners attitude she displayed to such fine effect in Working Girl. … continue reading

I'm not really one for sun, pool parties or spontaneous lap dances from drunk chicks in bikinis. (I wish I were joking about that last one.) But I do like Sigourney Weaver, so imagine my joy when I saw this in the seat pocket on the flight back:

Yeah. A tank top, great cheekbones and the ability to wield alien-immolating gadgets -- that's definitely the American Way.

To read the actual article, visit the American Way web site. And you can hear Sigourney's dulcet tones in the Planet Earth miniseries on the Discovery Channel, airing Sundays through April 22.

Variety reports that Sigourney Weaver has signed on to star as the famed Gypsy Rose Lee, a 1930s and '40s burlesque dancer (who, yes, may have been bi), in an HBO TV movie. Lee also later penned the mystery novel The G-String Murders, which became the 1943 film Lady of Burlesque.

According to Wikipedia, there is definitely a lesbian connection:

Gypsy Lee and sister June, who also became a successful performer, continued to get demands for money from their mother, who had opened a lesbian boardinghouse in a ten-room apartment on West End Avenue in New York City. Mother Rose shot and killed one of her guests (according to Erik Preminger, she killed her own lover, who had made a pass at Gypsy) at the boardinghouse.

Well! Sigourney Weaver, who is executive producing the HBO telepic with Dreamgirls producer Laurence Mark, will play Gypsy Rose Lee circa late 1950s, when she was at the end of her burlesque career and was working on getting her life story turned into a musical. The HBO movie will be filmed this year.

Don't know what Gypsy Rose Lee looked like? Take a gander: