While in New Orleans helping with rebuilding efforts there, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie reportedly took the kids to see The Water Horse and to eat at a KFC and a McDonald’s (at different times). I gotta say that really surprises me. I thought Jolie does promo work for animal rights groups (no?) and that fast food would be the last place they’d go. Maybe I’m wrong. Also, if Jolie is really rubbing caviar on her face, then fast food seems kinda cheap.

Jolie will be starring in Atlas Shrugged, based on the novel by Ayn Rand, as well as Kung Fu Panda, Wanted, and The Changeling. Pitt, whose birthday just passed, will be appearing in Burn After Reading, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Chad Schmidt, and Dirty Tricks in 2008, and The Fighter and Dallas Buyer’s Club in 2009. The video clip below is from Dirty Tricks, which also stars Meryl Streep, Sharon Stone, Annette Bening, Jill Clayburgh, Gwyneth Paltrow and others.

Compare the picture above with the picture of Jennifer Aniston over at the UK Daily Mail. Aniston is dressed all in black but she can’t hide it from me. Look very carefully at her “ripe” face, ripe behind and what looks very much like a baby bump in her belly. Loose cloth does not hang like that unless there’s something underneath. Her weight gain is very even.

Now it’s not surprising that she was dining alone with Courteney Cox, since the latter’s husband, David Arquette, is reportedly tired of seeing Aniston hang around all the time. (Which is pretty stupid considering Aniston is the godmother of Coco Riley Arquette.) But back to the supposed pregnancy. Popbytes thinks the daddy might be either Vince Vaughn, Paul Sculfor, or Jason Lewis. Lewis is her current flame, whom she’s supposedly living with. (Personally, I think Jack Nicholson has impregnated everyone in Hollywood. I mean, he did say he might have 9,000 kids because of the amount of sex he’s had. It’s a conspiracy, I tell ya. Every Hollywood spawn born this year came out of the womb quoting Nicholson characters. Let’s hope they all take after their mothers.)

In 2008, Lewis will be in the Sex and the City movie, The Pardon and The Attic. I daresay he’s even handsomer than Brad Pitt. Aniston is four movies in 2008 (He’s Just Not That Into You, Management, Traveling, Marley & Me) and two in 2009 (Gambit, The Senator’s Wife).

Below is a video clip of Cox and Aniston having a kiss in the season finale of the TV series Dirt. Does Cox kind of look like Cher here or am I imagining things?

How do you cast the right person to play Mr. T’s character from the old TV series, Sgt. Bosco “B.A.” Baracus? C. Robert Cargill at Film.com thinks Ving Rhames should play him.  I hadn’t thought of that Does Ving Rhames have hair? Can you just imagine him with a Mr. T-style Mohawk?

If there’s no mohawk, forgot about doing the movie, I say. But Ving Rhames could work. Not sure about George Clooney, Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Gosling in other roles in the movie.

Not that I would go see an A-Team remake. Unless maybe there was a crossover with the Lord of the Rings, like the video clip below speculates.

Film.com has a great list of the top ten badasses of 2007 movies. The top three are:

1. McLovin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) from Superbad.
2. King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) from 300.
3. Machete (Danny Trejo) from Machete/ Grindhouse.

Earlier this Fall, fake ID cards included in shipments of the DVD to Hawaii were taken off the shelves of Wal-Mart stores because theysupposedly closely resembled the Hawaiian state driver’s license.

As you might already know, DVD players and DVDs have a geographical codes that stop consumers from watching DVDs not targeted for them. But cinephiles looking to view foreign flicks still have a few options.

Mick LaSalle of the San Fransisco Chronicle writes about what your options are for viewing foreign movies, as well as gives a list of several he’s discovered.

Basically, it boils down to buying a region-free DVD player from Amazon.com, Samstores.com or elsewhere, then buying foreign DVDs online. The video clips below are some examples of what you could otherwise be missing.

Bravo, Barron Hilton I for deciding to donate 97% of your $2.3B fortune to charity. No doubt you’re fed up with the antics of your granddaughter Paris Hilton and now your 16-year old grandson and namesake Barron Hilton II.

Now this isn’t exactly 100% news because Barron Hilton I had previously indicated that Paris would not be getting her inheritance. That’s probably because of her very public antics. But he’s essentially confirmed that Barron II won’t get much either.

It’s probably because Paris has ruined the family name by essentially becoming a porn star instead of a hotelier as well. Or maybe grandpa saw Paris’ latest movie Hottie and the Nottie and was horrified at how untalented Paris is? And of course there’s the upcoming Repo! The Genetic Opera! (2008; clip below).

It’s interesting to note that when the original Conrad Hilton died in 1979, he didn’t leave any money in his will to descendants. But that was contested and the fortune re-acquired into the family. Maybe Paris’ great-grandpa knew that money would ruin these kids?

Ayn Randians have probably waited a long time for this one: a movie adaptation of of Ayn Rand’s 1957 Objectivist novel Atlas Shrugged. The only cast currently credited is Angelina Jolie as Dagny Taggart, though there are eight people credited as producers, co-producers or executive producers. (Two have the last name of Baldwin, and the company is listed as Baldwin Entertainment Group.)

IMDB details state that Ayn Rand herself had wanted Farrah Fawcett for a TV mini-series that NBC had planned in the late 1970s but which never came about. Rand died in 1982 of lung cancer, but her other great Objectivist novel The Fountainhead was made into a 1949 movie starring Gary Cooper. (A few of her other works of writing were also made into movies.)

A 3D animated clip of “Atlas Shruggged” that’s unrelated to this production is shown below.

[sources: Egoist]

You’ve probably seen them: articles in print and online suggesting that uploading and downloading of movies on cell phones is on the rise. I have a hard time believing it, given that cellular Internet connections are not always cheap. But one British man got a huge shock: a cellphone bill for nearly $60,000 after he spent a month downloading the video for between 20-30 TV shows. (Read on for a less expensive solution.)

Using a regular cable or high-speed dialup Internet connection, it wouldn’t be an issue as many of such plans have a fairly high monthly data bandwidth allowance. Unfortunately, Ian Simpson used his his cell phone as a modem for his laptop.

What’s surprising is that it was allowed to get that high. Most cellular Internet plans have an upper limit in terms of data bandwidth used and are not allowed to exceed that. But Vodafone UK says these are legitimate charges.

A Cheaper Solution

This guy’s obviously a doofus for not checking his connection terms, but what do you if you’re a movie buff and tend to be on the go? Ask your cellular provider if they have an Internet conection plan named something called “wi-fi on the go” or “personal hotspot”. These consist of special modems that work on a cellular network but don’t require a cell phone.

Once you’ve got the modem configured and your connection plan activated, you can use the modem typically in any city that your cellular provider has coverage. All you need is a computer and an eletrical outlet. If you’re using the using the modem on a particular computer for the first time, you’ll need to do a little bit of configuration. If you’re using the same laptop all the time, then it’s a one-time effort.

Just be sure to check your “personal hotspot” connection terms. Many of these personal hotspot/ wi-fi-on-the-go plans give much better data bandwidth allowances than a regular cell phone Internet plan. But not always. “Unlimited browsing” doesn’t always mean unlimited browsing, as the video clip below shows.

Now, if you still want to watch full-length movies or TV episodes on the tiny little screen of your cell phone, then you’re beyond help.

While Jessica Simpson’s movie Blonde Ambition bombed in the eight theaters it was released in in Texas the past weekend, it did not not break any records for lowest box office receipts. Apparently the record lowest box office receipts goes to loud-mouthed Katherine Heigl in 2006’s Zyzzx Road, which apparently grossed $20 on opening night and a total of $30 for the weekend. According to IMDB trivia, $10 was refunded to a member of the film crew who went to see it.

Oddly enough, Zyzzx Road also opened only in Texas, but only in one theater. Blonde Ambition opened in eight. Lesson to independent movie houses: don’t release crappy films in Texas theaters?

Wondering what “Zyzzx Road” is? The movie seems to actually be about a similarly-named real road called “Zzyzx Rd”, which is an I-15 exit between Las Vegas and L.A.

Christmas 2007 is gone, but the holiday season has a bit of time left yet and everyone has their own way to celebrate the “festive” season. I, like many people, enjoy watching movies associated with Christmas (despite intensely disliking a once-a-year holiday where you’re supposed to be nice to people you don’t like).

This is merely my own personal short list - ordered alphabetically - of either “Christmas” movies I’ve seen many times or which are on my shortlist to see.

1. A Christmas Carol. Released Dec 16, 1938. Starring Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart, Terry Kilburn. One of the classic “Ebenezeer Scrooge” movies.

2. Christmas Vacation. Released Dec 1, 1989. Starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Juliette Lewis, Johnny Galecki, John Randolph, Diane Ladd, Randy Quaid, Doris Roberts. How can you not like the Griswolds and the zaniness of their family Christmas?
3. Die Hard. Released Jul 15, 1988. Starring Nicolas Cage, Bonnie Bedelia. Not released in December but an Xmas flick still the same.
4. Home Alone. Released Nov 16, 1990. Starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, John Heard, Catherine O’Hara, John Candy. A modern classic of kookiness and fun for the holidays.
5. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Released Dec 18, 1966 (made for TV, animated). Narrated by horrormeister Boris Karloff. This one is so much more fun for the family than the scary 2000 live-action version with Jimmy Carrey.
6. It’s a Wonderful Life. Released Jan 7, 1947. Starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore. This is it, the classic, and my favorite Xmas flick, as well as tops in my favorite Jimmy Stewart movies. Directed by Frank Capra, father of Frank Capra, Jr.
7. Miracle on 34th Street. Released May 4, 1947. Starring Maureen O’Hara, Gene Lockhart, Natalie Wood. Is this Santa real as he claims, and has to defend himself in court?
8. The Family Man. Released Dec 22, 2000. Starring Nicolas Cage, Tea Leoni, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Piven, Saul Rubinek. Despite being an original story, it’s strongly reminiscent of It’s a Wonderful Life.
9. The Nightmare Before Christmas. Released Oct 29, 1993 (animated). Voices by Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara, Paul Reubens. It’s a bit creepy for Christmas, but hey, it’s directed by Tim Burton.
10. The Sound of Music. Released Mar 29, 1965. Starring Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer. Not sure why it’s such a big Xmas flick as I can’t sit through a whole showing, but I’ve listed it for a dear young friend who loved it and passed away during this season many years ago.

That’s my list, love it or hate it. Maybe some of the new crop of Christmas week movie releases will have place on a “classics” list someday.