Keanu Reeves has signed up to star in an action thriller about the drug trade entitled Cartagena, according to reports coming out of Cannes today.

Described by Screen Daily as a cross between The French Connection and Michael Clayton, the film will be set in Columbia and feature Reeves as an undercover agent who becomes embroiled in a conspiracy involving drug dealers and international agents.

When Cartagena was previously announced in December, Clive Owen was cast in the lead, so today’s news suggests he has left the project.

Rupert Wyatt, who directed prison drama The Escapist, will helm the $25m film, with production set to start in September.

The news comes hot-on-the heels of the announcement that Reeves will play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a modern-day version of the classic tale, although that project is currently in the early stages of development.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Sorry for let this site so long without real updates. I have a few images to add here, from the past months, but will start with, finally, captures of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Added 700+ bluray captures in the gallery:

Enjoy!

Source: Reuters

Keanu Reeves is about to develop a split personality as the star of a modern retelling of “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

Universal Pictures is developing the feature, with Justin Haythe, writer of “Revolutionary Road,” penning the script. Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, writer-director of the “Pusher” trilogy of gritty thrillers, is in negotiations to direct the project, titled “Jekyll.”

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella about a doctor who scientifically develops an evil self has become so pervasive in popular culture that the phrase “Jekyll and Hyde” conjures the idea of a split personality. The story has been translated to the screen and stage dozens of times. Among the adaptations are comedy versions, kids’ stories (”Jekyll and Heidi”) and gender-switch tales (1995’s “Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde”). The story has undergone modern iterations as recently as 2007, when the BBC aired a miniseries that set the story in the present as Hyde ran amok in London.

Plot details for this “Jekyll” are being kept locked in the laboratory.

Universal clearly is enamored with the tale; it also has been developing a take on it with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, but the two adaptations couldn’t be more different.

Icon Film Distribution Announce June 26th Release Date for The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM–(Marketwire - March 19, 2009) - From all outward appearances, Pippa Lee (ROBIN WRIGHT PENN) leads a charmed existence. An anchor of feminine serenity, she is the devoted wife of an accomplished publisher (ALAN ARKIN) thirty years her senior, the proud mother of two grown children, and a trusted friend and confidant to all who cross her path. But as Pippa dutifully follows her husband to a new life in a staid Connecticut retirement community, her idyllic world and the persona she has built over the course of her marriage will be put to the ultimate test. Read more →

I know, I know. I need to see Robert Wise’s original 1951 version of The Day the Earth Stood Still, but for whatever reason, I haven’t done it. I even owned it for a period of time, but I just never got around to watching it. It happens. On the other hand, if I had seen it, it would conflict with my rule of thumb that seeing the remake first is better, because then you get to experience both on (mostly) their own terms. Thus, without personal attachment to the original looming, I can say that this big-budget remake is a briefly thoughtful, mostly-quiet and artificially action-packed experience that feels like a car wreck between two movies: a fairly entertaining character piece and the sci-fi action extravaganza that 20th Century Fox obviously expected to get.

The movie’s first act shows the most potential. Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) is swept away from her home by a police escort, manned by flustered agents who inform her that even they don’t know why she’s being picked up. She’s rushed into a room with a crowd of other scientists and engineers and told that not only is something from outer space going to impact Earth in the middle of Manhattan, but it’s going to happen in less than 80 minutes. I always question the way government officials act in movies, but there’s a palpable sense of tension and paranoia, and even a few good character touches (Jon Hamm fans should also know that his brief performance is front-loaded). A better movie would have played out closer to real time; the concept that Earth might be destroyed with such little forewarning is a really great idea (although there’s a shade too much 9/11 imagery here). Sadly, it barely makes up the first twenty minutes. At the end of it, a giant swirling orb touches down in the middle of Central Park, and an alien creature steps out, only to be shot by an overzealous soldier. Not the best first impression. [ Read More ]