Not surprisingly, WALL*E the little robot took top box office honors this weekend, followed by Wanted, the action-thriller starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. Most surprising? That The Happening and Zohan are still in the top ten! Check out the stats from Box Office Mojo:

1-WALL*E, $63.08M

2-Wanted, $50.92M

3-Get Smart, $20.21M

4-Kung Fu Panda, $11.69M

5-The Incredible Hulk, $9.57M

6-The Love Guru, $5.34M

7-Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, $5.17M

8-The Happening, $3.90M

9-Sex and the City, $3.80M

10-You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, $3.17M

Image: WALL*E, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2008

Dreamworks just released a new trailer for Eagle Eye, the action-thriller starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan as two strangers who become the pawns of a mysterious woman they’ve never met, but who seems to know their every move. Turns out they’re being used to further her plot for a political assassination, and must work together to outwit the woman before she has them killed.

Wow, it looks fantastic! Of all the Fall 2008 action-thrillers so far, I’m most excited about this one. It hits theaters Sept. 26, 2008. Check out the new trailer:

Writer Charmian Christie has a great blog called Christie’s Corner, where she recounts her culinary triumphs and disasters. It’s a fabulous site that combines food, fun, and, of course, excellent writing. The tag-line says it all: “Real food. Real life. It ain’t always pretty.”

Today on Film Gecko, Charmian talks about movie food and has a few awards to hand out. She writes:

If I were in charge of the Academy Awards, I’d add a new category — “Best Food”. While I can appreciate riveting performances, witty dialogue, sweeping cinematography and mind-boggling special effects, food is equally compelling. So sensual, pivotal and universal, it works its way into almost every film, no matter what the genre or story line. Can you name a film where a coffee shop, restaurant, meal or snack doesn’t make at least a brief appearance? I can’t.

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There’s a story in Variety this morning that a sequel is in the works for 300, the epic movie about King Leonidas and the 300 men who fought the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C.

“The King of Persia,” is a favorite catch-phrase around this house. And even if you haven’t seen the movie, you’ve probably seen the picture of Gerard Butler gritting his teeth in adrenaline-soaked agony.

Legendary Pictures, also producing The Dark Knight, is interested in the graphic novel Frank Miller is working on, and the rumor is it’s a prequel or spinoff of 300.

The movie is a favorite of my 13-year-old son’s, so I’ve seen it a few times. The thing is — AND DON’T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE — I’m wondering how the heck they’ll revisit the same characters, since most of them died in the first movie. If it’s a prequel, I guess maybe they’ll go into the previous generations or something.

Image: 300, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2006

I posted earlier today about the deal Philip Seymour Hoffman inked with Overture Films. Kind of excited about that.

It also reminded me that I have two DVDs of Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead to give away. It’s a grim, gritty, film-noir masterpiece by 83-year-old director Sidney Lumet. It tells the story of two brothers, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke, who decide to solve their money problems by robbing their parents’ jewelry store. Yeah, it didn’t really turn out like they thought it would.

Read my review of Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.

THE GIVEAWAY: I have TWO DVDs of “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” to give away. To enter the contest, simply leave a comment on this post by midnight on Wednesday, July 2, 2008. Be sure to include a valid email address. Winners will be drawn randomly. I’ll email the winners for their snail-mail address after the contest ends. Good luck!

Image: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Image Entertainment, 2007

Angelina Jolie is famous for her real-life tattoos, and now she’s got some new ones for her movie, Wanted, in which she plays an assassin. They’re fake. I guess.

Anyway, Entertainment Weekly put together a fun story about 22 memorable tattoo’d characters, including Robert De Niro in Cape Fear, Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises (which includes one of my all-time favorite naked scenes), and Nicolas Cage in Raising Arizona. Can you guess or remember what that tattoo was? I had to look at the picture.

Check out the story here.

Image: Wanted, Universal Pictures, 2008

I’ve been a big fan of everything Philip Seymour Hoffman has done, including Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead and Charlie Wilson’s War (well, I’ll qualify that by saying he was the highlight of that otherwise bland film). Both Capote and The Savages are sitting here in my must-see stack. 

Now Seymour’s company, the New York-based Cooper’s Town Productions, has inked a two-year, first-look deal with Overture Films. That’s exciting because both Overture and Hoffman have a history of meaty, life-and-death films, and I’m sure the pairing will produce some greats.

Their first project is “Unconditional.” Originally produced as a play at the LAByrinth Theater Company, where Hoffman serves as co-artistic director, the Brett C. Leonard drama centers on an interlocking set of stories about lonely New Yorkers, covering such themes as race, love and betrayal. Leonard will adapt the work for the screen, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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HottieBoombaLottie definitely gets the award for one of the funniest movie names, but it also looks like a great movie. I caught up with actress Lauren McKnight (who plays Cleo) on her way to the movie’s premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival:

Jane: Hey, Lauren, how are you?

Lauren: I’m doing good. I’m actually in the middle of nowhere right now, driving to California. So, if the signal fades, I’ll call you right back.

Jane: Sounds good. So tell me a little about HottieBoombaLottie.

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I haven’t had a chance to see Wanted, but was planning on checking it out this week. Based on the following review from guest reviewer Elizabeth Kricfalusi, I might skip it!

Elizabeth writes:

Way back in February, I issued a challenge to readers to go see a movie that they would normally avoid, taking a chance that they just might be pleasantly surprised. I hadn’t gotten around to meeting the challenge myself, despite my other goal this summer of seeing a movie a week. (My experience so far can be summed up as: So Many Great Movies, So Few Weekends…)

But I finally decided I could hold off on seeing War, Inc., the next movie I really want to see, for at least another week and, instead, went to the newly released action-adventure flick, Wanted.

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Who doesn’t love balloons? I haven’t seen this doc yet, but it’s definitely on my list.

TWISTED: A Balloonamentary (don’t you love that name?!) is getting some great buzz (240,000 hits on the YouTube trailer, Boing Boing, Best Week Ever blog, and Entertainment Weekly blog). Director Sara Taksler emailed me last week about the film, and it looks funny and fabulous.

The Hollywood Reporter called the film “one of those wide-grin quirkster documentaries one hopes to discover every festival season, a thoroughly winning feature.”

Read more and watch the trailer…

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