Sometimes I have to wonder why anyone would want to work on a turd of a movie like Alien vs Predator 2 (aside from the whole paycheck aspect of it), but now we know at least one good reason why someone would risk tarnishing their career for it. Apparently a member of the crew has made off with one of the alien suits from the film, and is now seeking to make a quick buck by selling it online. Is it really that easy to walk off the set with an alien, unnoticed? And how has this guy not already been caught? A quick search on E-Bay didn’t seem to turn anything up, so maybe this guy isn’t as stupid as he seems.

I’d be curious to see how much a prop like this would fetch from collectors. 20th Century Fox is understandably angry about the situation, especially since the creature designs were supposed to be a closely guarded secret. Word on the street is that the new alien design is much closer to the style seen in James Cameron’s Aliens. Unfortunately that still won’t be enough to get me to pay to see this flick.

You know, I’m not one for paying attention to how much money actors and actresses make, but sometimes it’s an interesting glimpse into the Hollywood pecking order and the perceived box office power of certain stars. The Hollywood Reporter recently released their list of the highest paid actresses of the year, and at the top of the pack is Nicole Kidman, who earned her biggest paycheck to date for the upcoming sci-fi thriller The Invasion.

Most of the people on the list aren’t really a big surprise, although it certainly proves that starring in a few duds doesn’t necessarily hurt your earning power. Actually, have any of these actresses done anything good lately? I suppose Halle Berry had X-Men: The Last Stand and Jennifer Aniston had The Break-Up.

Absent from the list this year is Julia Roberts, who hasn’t done much recently aside from a couple voice-acting gigs. But with all the money she made in 2005, why would she need to work?

1. Nicole Kidman ($16 million-$17 million)
2. Reese Witherspoon ($15 million)
3. Renee Zellweger ($15 million)
4. Drew Barrymore ($15 million)
5. Cameron Diaz ($15 million)
6. Halle Berry ($14 million)
7. Charlize Theron ($10 million)
8. Angelina Jolie ($10 million)
9. Kirsten Dunst ($8 million-$10 million)
10. Jennifer Aniston ($8 million)

Although I’ve read some positive tidbits regarding The Dead Girl, up until now it hadn’t piqued my interest enough to investigate further. The movie stars Brittany Murphy (who I’m not really a fan of) and for some reason (probably due to the title) I just assumed it was yet another mediocre horror flick. But then I noticed that it was also one of the films up for Best Feature at the Spirit Awards, so I decided to check out the latest trailer.

Well it’s certainly not a horror movie, and Brittany Murphy is far from the only significant name here. The cast is pretty stacked, with Toni Collette, Giovanni Ribisi, Josh Brolin, James Franco, and Marcia Gay Harden all making appearances (among others). The movie is a murder mystery with intertwining storylines, reminding me a little bit of Sam Raimi’s The Gift (although I don’t think any of the characters are psychic in this one). The music and captions in the trailer were a little on the cheesy side, but the performances look strong. This is definitely one to keep an eye on. The Dead Girl is in limited release on December 29th; check out the new trailer over at AOL Moviefone.

You heard that right… Eddie’s bringing back Axel Foley baby! This week the rumours of a 4th Beverly Hills Cop film have been confirmed by Variety, who report that Eddie Murphy is working closely with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Paramount to revive the popular franchise. It’s definitely a bit of a risk… some may remember that Beverly Hills Cop III bombed at the box office, despite the massive success of the first two flicks. There’s also the fact that a lot of moviegoers may never have seen any of the original films, so they’ll have to work at making Axel hip and current. (Unfortunately, that could also be this movie’s undoing.) Still it would be nice to have Eddie Murphy doing something halfway decent for a change (to be fair, his performance in Dreamgirls is apparently getting rave reviews). So who’s in for Beverly Hills Cop IV?

Award season is almost upon us, and although people are just now starting to talk about potential Oscar nods, the Independent Spirit Awards have already dished out their full list of 2007 nominees. The Spirit Awards are essentially the art-house version of the Oscars; eligibility depends on the cost of the completed film coming in under $20 million. This year’s front runners are Little Miss Sunshine and Half Nelson, having racked up 5 nominations each.

Personally I’m glad to see both of them get recognition here; I know Little Miss Sunshine didn’t sit right with some people, but it’s still one of my favourite flicks of the year. Interesting to note, however, the only actors from Little Miss Sunshine to get nominated were Paul Dano and Alan Arkin, both for Best Supporting Male. Didn’t see that one coming. Some other interesting nominees on the list include Steven Soderbergh (Best Director for Bubble), Catherine O’Hara (Best Female Lead for For Your Consideration), and Michael Winterbottom’s The Road To Guantanamo (nominated for Best Documentary, even though it’s actually a docudrama). Check out the full list of nominees below, and feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Clint Eastwood’s Flags Of Our Fathers has come and gone in most theatres, and it looks like it didn’t quite live up to expectations. Shot for $90 million, the WWII pic has so far grossed only $33 million domestically. My guess is that it just looked overly patriotic and sentimental at a time when people had seen enough of that. However, as it turns out, Eastwood has also been working simultaneously on a companion piece called Letters From Iwo Jima, which tells the story from the Japanese side. This, in my opinion, is a lot more interesting, if only because it’s a perspective we don’t often get in WWII flicks.

A trailer and website have now gone online for Letters From Iwo Jima, and it looks to focus a lot more on the battle itself than Flags Of Our Fathers did (which, in my opinion, is a good thing). But will the lack of interest in Flags doom Letters From Iwo Jima before it even hits theatres? I know a lot of people have been talking up both of these movies with Oscars in mind, but does Clint run the risk of splitting votes between the two choices? Personally I’m just interested to see if an American director can do this story justice. It’s pretty weird to think that he probably had to direct most of the actors without really knowing what they were saying either. Letters From Iwo Jima will be released on December 20th, most likely in select theatres. Check out the website and trailer now at the link below.

You’ve gotta love Rosie O’Donnell, she’s always giving us great fodder for Weird Web Wednesdays. This is actually a week or two old now, so maybe a lot of people have seen it. Basically Rosie accuses Kelly Ripa of being homophobic, and then Ripa calls in to The View and confronts her. CLASSIC.

Rosie vs Kelly
CNN Reporter Pushes Drunken Student
Michael Richards Gangsta Rap
Nintendo Superfan In Line for the Wii
Loud Office Girl Gets Pwned
PS3 vs Chainsaw
Best People’s Court Post-Verdict Interview Ever
Lame Street Fight
There’s Much Penis Going On Here

It’s been said many times before, but it really is the truth… Freaks & Geeks was a landmark TV show, shut down prematurely by a network that couldn’t seem to find a place for it in their line-up. The cult success of the show, however, was responsible for many of the cast and crew moving on to bigger and better things. Creators Judd Apatow and Paul Feig are now well-established movie directors, stars James Franco, Seth Rogen, and Linda Cardellini (among others) have also scored some big roles in prominent movies and TV shows.

Well now Freaks & Geeks fans will be happy to see Judd Apatow bringing some of the cast members back together again for a new project, this time a big screen comedy called The Pineapple Express. The story finds two stoners (Franco and Rogen) getting mixed up in a drug gang. The script was written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg (who was a writer on Da Ali G Show, along with Rogen). Oddly enough, however, Apatow will not be in the director’s chair for this one (he’s busy directing his latest comedy Knocked Up, also starring Rogen). Instead he will co-produce while David Gordon Green (All The Real Girls, George Washington) directs. Now there’s an interesting and unexpected choice to direct a goofy comedy. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

Earlier this year we heard that HBO might be picking up the pieces of the failed Preacher feature film, and turning the Vertigo comic into a TV series instead. Needless to say, it’s a great comic, and with the quality of HBO behind it, I’ve been excited about the prospects. Very excited indeed.

Well now it looks like we’ve got some confirmation that HBO is developing the show, although the names involved may worry a few people. Mark Steven Johnson is currently writing the pilot… that’s right, the same guy who brought us Daredevil, Elektra and Ghost Rider movies. Howard Deutch will direct it; his credits include Pretty In Pink, The Whole Ten Yards, and the pilot episode of Melrose Place. Strangely, this isn’t the first time Johnson and Deutch have collaborated on a project; they were the writer/director team for Grumpier Old Men! So are we to assume this will be a comedy? Well it definitely has plenty of dark humour in it… but I’m still a bit apprehensive. No word yet on casting, although James Marsden (who was previously attached to the Preacher movie) is mostly likely out.

Okay, now seriously… can you think of a single classic horror movie that isn’t supposedly being remade right now? I can’t. Not one. (Someone help me out here!) I guess there had been talk of a Poltergeist sequel for a while now (Part 4, unless you count the TV series), but it has come out this week that the sequel has now been dropped by Sony in favour of a “straight up remake” of the original.

Truth be told, a remake probably has more commercial potential right now, but once again it’s going to depend on the creative team behind it. The scooper who reported this says the remake will be “pretty much frame-for-frame… Just think Hills Have Eyes“, which is interesting because The Hills Have Eyes is one recent remake I actually liked. Still, an exact remake does seem kind of pointless. As expected, it sounds like no one from the original will be involved… not Steven Spielberg, not Tobe Hooper, and not even Craig T. Nelson! (Apparently the sequel, on the other hand, would have had an appearance by his character.) I don’t know, I guess there’s not much else to say about this until more details are announced, but still… is anyone surprised?