For those in the SoCal area who don’t mind a drive east to Montclair, the Mission Tiki Drive-In Theatre offers up double features of first-run flicks for only $7, and kids 9 and under get in free. Current flicks include Cloverfield, First Sunday, The Bucket List and Walk Hard. Of course, that eye-clawing double feature of Meet the Spartans and Alvin and the Chipmunks looks like quite the punisher, especially if the latter is your weekday nightcap…

Hey, remember that Justin Guarini kid, from American Idol? The one who looked like Sideshow Bob, from The Simpsons? Well apparently, confirming that America is indeed a land of second chances, he’s booked another movie gig, this time in a straight-to-video, family-friendly flick entitled Fast Girl.

Cleanly shorn, Guarini plays second fiddle in the movie, which tells the story of orphaned Alex Johnstone (Mircea Monroe), a young girl with racing in her blood. Under the guidance of her Uncle Bill (Dwier Brown), the owner of a local speedway, Alex sets out to prove to the testosterone-fueled racing world that she has what it takes to be the best in the traditionally male-dominated sport. When she encounters handsome professional driver Darryl (Guarini), though, the stakes are “raised even higher,” according to the film’s press release. So will Alex crash and burn — metaphorically or literally — or will she pull through, and be able to make her dreams come true, and carry on her father’s legacy? Gee, I wonder. Caroline Rhea and Jack Weber also star; Daniel Zirill (The Champagne Gang) directs. For more information, click here.

Just days after the passing of Brad Renfro in what is widely presumed as a drug overdose, the day of Academy Award nominations has been overshadowed by the shocking news that fellow actor Heath Ledger, Oscar-nominated for his role in Brokeback Mountain, has been found dead today in a Lower Manhattan apartment at the age of 28. CNN is reporting that Ledger was found unresponsive by a housekeeper at an apartment owned by billionaire actress Mary-Kate Olsen*, who was not at the scene; pills, possibly an over-the-counter sleeping medication, were found “in the vicinity of the bed.”

UPDATE 1/23: * Apparently it wasn’t Mary-Kate Olsen’s apartment. Nor her building. Nor was she even in the city. The masseuse who discovered Ledger’s body at the apartment in SoHo called Olsen (twice) before calling 911, because she knew she was a friend of
Ledger’s. Ummm… okay.

Twenty-five-year-old actor Brad Renfro was found unresponsive in his Los Angeles home early yesterday morning, and pronounced dead by paramedics at 9 a.m. local time. Renfro made his film debut at age 12 in the 1994 big screen adaptation of John Grisham’s The Client, opposite Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones, but the glare of the spotlight proved too much, as he struggled with issues of sobriety and addiction.

Drugs aren’t yet being cited in his death, but the actor served 10 days in jail in May 2006 after pleading no contest
to driving while intoxicated and guilty to attempted possession of
heroin. The latter charge stemmed from his arrest in Los Angeles’ Skid Row
area after attempting to buy heroin from an undercover officer in
2005 — an act that was captured in a rather astonishing photo splashed across the front page of the Los Angeles Times.

While the last several years found the work less frequent and of less consequence than much of his early work, Renfro apparently just completed a role in The Informers, Buffalo Soldiers director Gregor Jordan’s adaptation of a Bret Easton Ellis novel, starring Winona Ryder, Brandon Routh and Billy Bob Thornton.
For me, though, I’ll always remember his turns in Apt Pupil and especially Larry Clark’s Bully, the latter of which was a gripping portrait of careening adolescent excess.

In the shadow of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s awards dinner Saturday evening and NBC’s awkward proffering of the Golden Globes, the 19th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, which screened over 210 films from 66 countries, came to a successful close this weekend, wrapping up with an awards luncheon on Sunday, January 13.

Helen Hunt’s Then She Found Me
was graced with the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature; the
movie releases domestically in May, from THINKFilm. The Audience Award
for Best Documentary Feature, meanwhile, went to Tricia Regan’s Autism: The Musical. Croatia’s Armin was feted as the Best Foreign Language Film; Song Gang-ho received the Best Actor award for his
performance in South Korea’s Secret Sunshine, directed by Lee Chang-dong, while Anamaria
Marinca and Laura Vasiliu shared the Best Actress prize for their
performances in Romanian filmmaker Cristian
Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

Other, previously announced gala honorees included Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman’s Juno, which was celebrated with the Chairman’s Vanguard Award; Hairspray, which was honored with the
Ensemble Performance Award; Sean Penn, who was tabbed as Director of the Year; Atonement director Joe Wright, who was given the booby prize of the Sonny Bono Visionary Award; and Emile Hirsch and Nikki Blonsky, who were feted with the festival’s Rising Star Awards.

The 22nd installment of the James Bond franchise kicks off production today at London’s Pinewood Studios, with new Bond hottie Olga Kurylenko joining Daniel Craig for more action, intrigue and innuendo.



The film, still operating under its characteristically numeric working title, is scripted by Paul Haggis and directed by Marc Forster, and follows the success of Casino Royale, the latest and highest grossing film in the series. Starring alongside Craig is an impressive international cast led by French actor Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) as the sinister villain and Ukranian actress Olga Kurylenko (above) as 007’s leading lady. Reprising their roles from Casino Royale in the next Bond film are Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright and Giancarlo Giannini; franchise newcomer Gemma Arterton will play the role of MI6 Agent Fields.

Commenting on the commencement of production, producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said in a statement: “We are fortunate to continue in the Bond tradition of attracting the finest international actors for our starring roles. Mathieu, in the role of Dominic Greene, a leading member of the villainous organization introduced in Casino Royale, will be a powerful counterpart to Daniel’s portrayal of Bond. Olga Kurylenko will play the dangerously alluring Camille, who challenges Bond and helps him come to terms with the emotional consequences of Vesper’s betrayal.” Despite its delay in the start of shooting, moved back more than a month, the 22nd Bond film is still on track for a November 7, 2008 nationwide release.

The 19th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival announced today that it will honor composer James Newton Howard with the Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing at the event’s annual awards gala on January 5.

Hosted by Entertainment
Tonight’s Mary Hart and set to unfold at the Palm Springs Convention Center,
the festival’s awards gala will also honor Juno
with the Chairman’s Vanguard Award, Hairspray with the
Ensemble Performance Award, Sean Penn
with Director of the Year, Daniel Day-Lewis and Halle Berry with the Desert
Palm Achievement Awards, producer Jerry Weintraub with the SAG Foundation Patron of the
Arts Award, Atonement director Joe Wright with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award, Marion Cotillard
with the Breakthrough Performance Award and Emile Hirsch and Nikki Blonsky
with the Rising Star Awards. For more
information on the festival, click here.

Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien have announced that their respective late night talk shows for NBC will resume live scheduling on Wednesday, January 2, according to The Hollywood Reporter and other sources. Other chatters’ shows, like those of CBS hosts David
Letterman and Colin Ferguson, and Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and
Stephen Colbert, remain out in solidarity with their writing staffs
that have been on the front lines of the strike.

In one sense, it’s an understandable decision in support of Leno and O’Brien’s 80-100 respective non-writing staffers, and their need to get a paycheck or move on to other work. At the same time, this is just another reminder of why the expiring SAG contract is really the only one that matters to studios. No matter how much talk there is about respect for the written word, writers have been and always will be regarded as the most susceptible to pressure, one of the easiest groups to break.

The American Film Institute has just announced the official selections for their AFI Awards 2007, its almanac-style recording of the most outstanding achievements in film and television. Ignoring the small screen for now, its big screen honorees, presented in alphabetical order, are: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Into the Wild, Juno, Knocked Up, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, Ratatouille, The Savages and There Will Be Blood. Adjust your Oscar prognostication accordingly…

In advance of the complete announcement of its line-up on Monday, December 17, the 19th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, taking place January 3-14, has announced that the U.S. premiere of Then She Found Me, co-written and directed by Academy Award winner Helen Hunt, will open its slate.

Marking Hunt’s feature directorial debut, the film is an adaptation
of Elinor Lipman’s novel, and tells the story of New York schoolteacher April
Epner (Hunt), who hits a midlife crisis when, in quick succession, her husband
Ben (Matthew Broderick) leaves her, her adoptive mother dies and her real
mother (Bette Midler), an eccentric talk show host, suddenly materializes and
turns her life upside down. April then begins a courtship with Frank (Colin
Firth), the father of one of her students. Then She Found Me will screen at 6:30 p.m. at Palm
Springs High School,
and will be followed by a reception at the nearby Desert Museum.

Also, it was announced that on Sunday, January 6, writer-director
John Sayles will receive the Festival’s American Maverick Award, following a
screening of his 16th feature film, Honeydripper. For more
information on the festival, click here.

Some more photos of Denzel Washington and his family visiting
troops at Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, as previously mentioned here.

The Brook Army Medical Center is where many wounded soldiers, especially burn victims, who
have been moved from Germany come to be hospitalized and rehabilitated in the
United States.

Meant to post this earlier, but to those again wishing to confirm that I conform to the
saddest stereotypes of a film critic (i.e., a white guy with glasses), I appear on the third episode of That Indie Film Show, discussing the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men, Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Starting Out in the Evening, which is built around a command performance from Frank Langella. It’s about halfway through the show, which can be accessed on IKlipz.com or by simply clicking here.

Sand and Sorrow, a
powerful film narrated by George Clooney about the tragic and ongoing genocide
in Darfur. Campus Progress and the ENOUGH Project have
teamed up to coordinate and organize house parties across the U.S.
to view the film, which debuts on Thursday,
December 6, 2007 at 8 p.m. local time, together. To check for an event in your area, click here; otherwise, check your local listings for other HBO play dates and show time information. For more information about the film, meanwhile, click here.

John C. Reilly, the star of the upcoming Judd Apatow-produced
comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,
will tour the country next month in character as his alter ego Dewey Cox, the
mythic rock ’n’ roll icon whose music influenced a nation. After a special
screening of the film with tickets made available through local radio promotions,
Reilly will perform music from the movie with Cox’s band, The Hard Walkers.

Dubbed the “Cox Across America Tour,” the seven-city run of
rare live performances in support of the December 21 bow of Walk Hard will kick off this evening at
the world-famous Roxy on the Sunset Strip, then continue on to the Rock &
Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on Wednesday, December 5, with subsequent shows
in Chicago, Austin, Nashville, San Francisco and at New York’s fabled Knitting
Factory. The definitive, career-spanning collection of Cox hits, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, hits stores
and online merchants today.

Support the American Cinematheque by joining as a new member
this holiday season and receive an invitation to great sneak preview screenings of two major new
release films in December — There Will Be Blood, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Daniel Day-Lewis and
Paul Dano, and Charlie Wilson’s War, directed
by Mike Nichols and starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman and
Amy Adams.

One can buy a membership online through PayPal, or in person at the box offices of either the Aero Theatre or Egyptian Theatre, and also receive a great DVD now through December 14. Memberships make a great gift, too, for that film
lover in one’s life; they’re tax-deductible, and if one is a current American
Cinematheque member, your own membership is extended for three months if you buy a
friend a gift membership. For more information about the Cinematheque’s schedule, membership levels,
ticket sales, and more, visit their web site by clicking here.

An unprecedented lineup of celebrities has joined forces for
a special eBay charity auction as part of a social action campaign for the
highly anticipated film version of The Kite Runner. On December 5, authentic
Afghan kites, each bearing a tail personally autographed by a different celebrity, will be listed for bidding on eBay. The
proceeds will benefit the Afghanistan Relief Organization (ARO) specifically
for the training of teachers and the construction of rural libraries in Afghanistan.

Among those celebrities who have autographed the 25 kite
tails are Madonna, Angelina Jolie,
Daniel Craig, Benicio Del Toro, Billy Bob Thornton,
Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon, Cher, Edward Norton, Jessica Biel,
Kate Winslet, Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie
Portman, former President George H.W. Bush, Eva Mendes, Ryan Gosling,
Steve Nash, reality TV chicks Lauren Bosworth and Lauren Conrad, composer Hans
Zimmer, and The Kite Runner director Marc
Forster and actor Khalid Abdalla. In addition to receiving a kite with the
tail autographed by the celebrity, the winning bidder will receive a thank you
card signed by the celebrity.

Other items to be listed on eBay include a trip to the set
of the new James Bond film
as a personal guest of director Forster, as well as a private lunch with The Kite Runner author Khaled
Hosseini. Individuals will also have the opportunity to bid for the
inclusion of their names in Hosseini’s next book. The Kite Runner releases from
DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Classics in select theaters on December 14,
followed by a national bow.
For more information on the auction, click here.