His last movie didn't do so hot, but George Clooney's still making headlines. This time, he has spoken out about the recent split between the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. According to Variety, Clooney has decided to stay neutral where many prominent actors have taken sides, and he's urging others to take the same route. If Hollywood actors go on strike, it'll probably be SAG's fault, considering the eagerness of AFTRA to negotiate a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. AFTRA's biggest defender is Tom Hanks, while Jack Nicholson is heading up the other side. "Stories about Jack Nicholson vs. Tom Hanks only strengthen the negotiating power of the AMPTP," Clooney said in a statement.

Like many actors, Clooney wants to take any measures he can to prevent a strike. As a member of SAG, the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America, he wears many hats. "I'm hoping that there might be a way out of this," he said. "To be sure, I'm not the brightest bulb out there. So maybe someone has a lot better idea." Then he got personal: "I just happen to believe so strongly in both unions... my father, my mother, aunt, uncle, even cousins were all members." Nobody's doubting his allegiance, but after souring his relationship with the WGA after Leatherheads came out, it's hard to say how the other unions will regard him in the coming months.

On June 5th, production began on Angels and Demons, the sequel (wait, wasn't the book a prequel?) to tepid religious mystery/global mega-hit The Da Vinci Code.

On June 9th, Jessica Barnes brought to our attention a couple of photos from said shoot.

And as of June 16th, the Vatican has formally denied the long-awaited request on behalf of the filmmakers to film crucial scenes within the critical churches of Santa Maria del Popolo and Santa Maria della Vittoria.

According to Variety, the proper permits require cooperation between the Italian government and the Vatican. However, since "the film pursues a type of fantasy that damages common religious sentiment," they were not approved. The production has already relocated to near Naples in an effort to double the needed interior shots, and the film is still scheduled to open on May 15, 2009.

Tom Hanks' hair could not be reached for comment at the time of this post.

Having been one of the ten people on earth who hasn't read The Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons, it's no surprise that I'm not terribly amped for the follow-up flick from Ron Howard. But, I know I am in the minority here, so feast your eyes on a new batch of photos (courtesy of Trovacinema) of Tom Hanks and company hard at work on the big-screen Angels and Demons. Most of the cast is pictured in the photos, and by the looks of it, everyone seems to be having a grand old time on location in Rome.

Demons will center on Robert Langdon (Hanks), who's smack dab in the middle of a fight between The Vatican and The Illuminati. Once again, the Harvard professor will have to take down an ancient conspiracy, but this time they have an eye on assassinating high-ranking members of the church. Casting finally finished back in April with the addition of Ewan McGregor (which is a good thing for me, because if anyone can make me sit through a film I normally wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, it's McGregor), and Ayelet Zurer as the daughter of a CERN physicist looking to solve her father's murder.

Shooting on the picture just began last week, and Howard will finish up location shots in the next three weeks. Then the production will move back to the states where they can complete interior shoots on the Sony lot. So as long as a SAG strike can be avoided, Howard should be able to get the production in on time.

Angels and Demons is scheduled for release on May 15th, 2009.

Between Forgetting Sarah Marshall last week, and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay this week, the comedy world is all aflutter with dangerous vacations, whether that danger is watching your newly ex-girlfriend snuggle up to her raunchy new pop-star boyfriend, or heading to Amsterdam to get some Maria lovin'.

So this time around, I figured I would dip into vacations that go bad. We could break into the smaller-scale travel films, where protagonists only go a town or state over, but Harold and Kumar already did the close traveling. Now they're going a heck of a lot farther. Interesting adventures, strange people, and romantic dysfunction are the players in this game, and for this week's double feature, I give you: Blame it on Rio and Joe Versus the Volcano.

And, just to be clear, me choosing two infamously bad movies says nothing about my thoughts on H&K. I swear!

Even the most enthusiastic devotee of big-budget Hollywood is bound to have a few movies which he trudges to see out of a sense of duty rather than excitement. For me it's (among other things) Ron Howard's Da Vinci Code franchise, based on the borderline illiterate but ultra-popular books by Dan Brown. It is out of that same sense of obligation that I report to you the impending recruitment of Ewan McGregor to star alongside Tom Hanks in Angels & Demons, the prequel to the first film. McGregor will play Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca, a Papal aide who helps Hanks's intrepid symbologist stop an attack on the Vatican. As we suspected yesterday, Munich's Ayelet Zurer is also on board to play Vittoria Vetra, the daughter of a murdered physicist who tags along with the hero scientist. (This is contrary to earlier reports that Naomi Watts had scored the part.)

The main reason I have little hope for Angels & Demons is that, as with the first film, the screenplay will be written by Akiva Goldsman, who may be my least favorite working screenwriter. Ewan McGregor is a splendid actor, but Goldsman's dull, leaden dialogue managed to defeat even Sir Ian McKellen. As The Da Vinci Code proved, Goldsman and Brown are one deadly combination.

We've got a ways to go: Angels & Demons comes out next May. I think I'll go back to not thinking about it now, if you don't mind.

This is one movie I keep forgetting is actually being made. Ron Howard's adaptation of Angels and Demons has been simmering away, sending out casting calls, not quite reaching any level of heady anticipation. Maybe this news will do it.

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer has landed the part of Vittoria Vetra, the daughter of a CERN physicist who is embarked on a journey to uncover the truth behind her father's murder. Of course, Robert Langdon (still played by Tom Hanks) accompanies her, and they must foil a terrorist plot in the process.

The studio has yet to confirm. Naomi Watts was reportedly the last to be in talks for the role. No other parts have been cast.

I'm not an avid reader of Dan Brown, so I must ask: is the plot of Angels and Demons really that similar to The DaVinci Code? Is it really that a pretty foreign girl loses a member of her paterfamilias, and Robert Langdon must help her? Is it via the works of coded works of Michaelangelo? Is the Catholic Church evilly involved? I am guessing it is, since one of the characters in need of an actor is an aide to the Pope. Fill me in, because I will never read the book.

Angels and Demons is still set for release May 15th, 2009.

There are two ways to watch Charlie Wilson's War. The first way is to watch it like we watch most movies -- go in to be entertained, to experience something outside of our scope of experience -- to leave our lives at the door and encounter something different. The other way is to be critical, having researched the situation upon which the film was based, to see how it diverges, and then decide whether the divergence is acceptable within the realm of what actually happened. One way will give you an entertaining experience. The other will probably result in the film getting under your skin.

I usually get pretty tense over large leaps in the truth. To this day, I grumble at the thought of Girl Interrupted, and the fact that they could insinuate that a character based on a real, live person could be indirectly involved in another's death when it simply isn't true. With Charlie Wilson's War, however, I wasn't completely weighed down by derailments from truth. Perhaps this is due to being warned after reading reviews like James' and Kim's, maybe it was due to the film more omitting facts than completely changing them, or perhaps it was the light delivery of the subject. Whatever the case, Charlie Wilson's War is an enjoyable film weighed down by its decisions of omission.

Quick, name of all of Matt Damon's fictional brothers -- in order -- from Good Will Hunting!

How good are you at movie quizzes? Have you ever stumbled across a quiz and thought, "This is way too lame -- I could've come up with a much cooler quiz than this?" Are there still a plethora of undiscovered topics out there? And speaking of the word 'plethora,' what movie is this line from: "Jefe, would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?" Okay, I'll stop now. But check it -- Moviefone just launched this really cool feature where you can create your own movie quizzes and share them with other like-minded individuals. Don't feel like creating a quiz? Well, then go exploring around -- there's already a ton of quizzes created by other folks for you can partake in.

Right now, I'm seeing quizzes on the Star Wars Trilogy, on Tom Hanks movies, on celebrity voices, on Harry Potter films, on Will Ferrell, on Pixar Movies, on hidden things in movies ... and the list goes on. There's also a leader board which you can aspire to land on one day. So head on over to Moviefone, create a quiz, take a quiz, what have you, then come back and let us know your favorites. (Also, feel free to pimp your own quiz in the comments section and we'll all run over and take it.)

John Orloff got his break writing two episodes of the Emmy-winning HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. His latest script is another true-life tale -- Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart, just out on DVD. Heart focuses on Mariane Pearl (Angelina Jolie), a reporter whose husband Daniel, an American journalist, was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan. The script just earned Orloff an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Screenplay. The awards will be held on February 23rd.

Cinematical: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

John Orloff: I still don't know whether I want to be a writer! I went to UCLA Film School, and I had a great writing teacher who thought I had a particular skill in that department. So I kept taking that teacher for the whole time I was at UCLA, kept on writing. At the end of it I was 22, it was the late 80s, and people weren't really hiring young writers, so I started to work in advertising. Spent about ten years miserably working in commercials, until I met a woman -- who is now my wife -- who was working in the business as a development exec at HBO. And she was bringing home all these screenplays, and they were horrible! Just awful! And these people had agents, and they were working. So I pitched my wife a non-fiction movie that I had been thinking about writing for ten years, with the incredibly commercial idea of a sixteenth century English melodrama. It was actually about the Shakespeare authorship issue -- who wrote the plays? I wrote the script and had the misfortune of writing it two months before Shakespeare in Love came out. But I sent out this script, trying to get an agent, and did finally get "hip-pocketed" by an agency.

Cinematical: And that script eventually got you your big break with Tom Hanks -- pretty decent guy to start out with, no?

JO: Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, yes! The most important thing that happened out of the Shakespeare script was that Tom's company was among the readers. They liked it, and I met with Tom about another project, but every time I sat down with him I would ask if he had hired writers on Band of Brothers. I'm a huge World War II buff, and I think I eventually just wore him down. He finally asked me to write a script, and I wrote one episode. He was very happy with it and asked me to write another. So, that was my first paying gig.

I just love those lists that are supposed to represent the fandom of the general public. This is probably because my preferences rarely converge with them. Sure, some of my tastes are a little off the beaten path -- I'd pick Danny Huston over Brad Pitt, or Julie Delpy over Julia Roberts. That being said, I still love me some good mainstream. Yet I still find myself raising my brows when I read these lists, just as I did today when I saw the annual Harris Poll for America's favorite movie stars, which Hollywood.com put up today. The order is surprising, as is the one lone oldie to the group.

Their results, counting down from 10 to 1:

10. Bruce Willis
9. Sandra Bullock
7. (tie) Matt Damon & Sean Connery
6. John Wayne
5. Will Smith
4. Julia Roberts
3. Johnny Depp
2. Tom Hanks
1. Denzel Washington

Yes, that's John Wayne there at number 6. Apparently he is the only actor to nab a spot on the poll every year since its inception in '94. Also, Depp is quickly working his way up the ranks, having moved up four positions from last year. Personally, I find the list surprising, and a bit sad in the realm of women in cinema. What say you?

I didn't leave Charlie Wilson's War, the new film from director Mike Nichols, dissatisfied or unamused. I walked out of Charlie Wilson's War angry. No reasonable person expects a film -- any film -- to capture the complexity and scope of real events with absolute precision; adaptations are translations, and as the old Italian saying goes, "The translator is a traitor." It's one thing to compress, combine and fictionalize a story to fit the sprawling, ugly mess of it onto the big screen; it's another to take only the best, shiniest parts of a real, ugly story and turn it into a feel-good comedy. Translation may be traitorous, but Charlie Wilson's War feels like a conscious act of treason against reason itself. As film critic David Thompson has said, "We learn our history from movies, and history suffers ...." Charlie Wilson's War isn't just bad history; it feels even more malign, like a conscious attempt to induce amnesia.

Based on George Crile's 2003 book of the same name, Charlie Wilson's War follows the exploits of Charlie Wilson, a Democratic Congressman from Texas who, during the '80s, had as much fun with his position as you could, which was a lot. As Charlie Wilson's War opens, we see Charlie hot-tubbing in a Vegas hotel suite; the room's full of booze, broads and blow. But Charlie, played by Tom Hanks, can't look away from the news; as one of his new acquaintances notes her apathy to world events, Charlie boils it down: "Dan Rather's wearing a turban; you don't want to know why?" Dan Rather's in a turban because Dan Rather's in Afghanistan, among the Afghan mujahideen -- the Islamic rebels trying to drive the Soviet Union out of their country by any means necessary. This sight sparks something in Charlie, so he sets out to increase the C.I.A.'s funding for the Afghan rebels -- from $5 million a year to 10. It's a lot of money. It's going to be much more.

Well, I knew I Am Legend was going to do well, but HOLY TOLEDO! Will Smith's apocalyptic science fiction/horror flick set a record for a film opening in December, an honor previously held by 2003's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Alvin and the Chipmunks also found its niche, pulling in some righteous bucks of its own. As you can see, the gap between these two and the holdovers from previous weeks is quite dramatic. Here are the final numbers:

1. I Am Legend $76.5 million.
2. Alvin and the Chipmunks $45 million.
3. The Golden Compass $9 million.
4. Enchanted $6 million.
5. No Country for Old Men $3 million.

We've got a whopping five big releases this week, with three of them using colons in the titles. That must be a record right?

Charlie Wilson's War
What's It All About: Tom Hanks plays Charlie Wilson, a real life congressman who sought to aid Afghani rebels fighting off Soviet soldiers during the 1979 invasion.
Why It Might Do Well: As the TV spots are touting, this one has five Golden Globe nominations and some strong critical buzz working in its favor (83% Fresh over at Rottentomatoes.com). With bankable stars in front of the camera like Hanks, Julia Roberts and Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Mike Nichols at the helm, what's not to like?
Why It Might Not Do Well: There's some serious competition out there this week from both newcomers and last week's two big releases. Also, a film dealing with politics may not be what people are looking for in a holiday movie.
Number of Theaters: 2,500
Prediction: $15 million

National Treasure: Book of Secrets
What's It All About: Nicolas Cage returns as Ben Franklin Gates, the globe trotting artifact hunter who must now track down pages of John Wilkes Booth's diary to clear his family's name.
Why It Might Do Well: The first National Treasure movie opened to a respectable $35 million weekend in 2004 before going on to make $173 million domestic and $347 million worldwide, so I bet a lot of folks who liked the first will be back for more. This one opens in way more theaters than anything else coming out this week and I suspect this will be next week's number one movie.
Why It Might Not Do Well: It depends on how many people are willing to forget Ghost Rider.
Number of Theaters: 3,500
Prediction: $55 million

When Brad Pitt ditched his starring role in State of Play last Wednesday, it seemed like for once a production was hitting snags that have nothing to do with the writer's strike. Not true; it turns out Pitt's departure was due to a script problem, specifically that Pitt thinks it needs some more work and Universal disagrees, and so State of Play has become yet another victim of the strike. But unlike other strike-affected movies, such as Pinkville and Shantaram, State of Play may not be going into a development hibernation. According to Variety, Universal is attempting to woo Russell Crowe to fill Pitt's shoes and keep the movie on track. Crowe would have to make sure he can squeeze this film in before his March start on Ridley Scott's Nottingham, while the studio would have to make sure that Crowe doesn't mind problem scripts. If the actor doesn't get cast, though, Variety points out that both Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp seem to be available thanks to the strike (same goes for Bruce Willis I think).

Obviously, Universal is hoping to get this movie made no matter what, because it needs to have something in the can once the strike has left us with a release void. Yet despite the strength of its cast, which includes Edward Norton, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn and Jason Bateman, the studio has to understand that if the script is problematic, the outcome may be a disappointment. It's worth pointing out that the plot of State of Play, which deals with politics and journalism, sounds superficially like the recent remake of All the King's Men, which had a stellar ensemble yet failed anyway. State and Play may be nothing like that film, but regardless it does remind me enough to foresee a failure. Anyway, we should hear definite word on whether or not Crowe takes the part early this week. We should also hear definite word, though probably not this week, on whether or not Universal plans to sue Pitt over his exit. The case will certainly be interesting to follow, because it could change the way in which Hollywood deals with A-list talent and pay-or-play contracts.

ComingSoon now has the exclusive first look at the teaser poster for Charlie Wilson's War (click on the image to the right for a larger version). War stars Tom Hanks as the 'unconventional' congressman Charlie Wilson, who with the help of a Texas socialite and a rogue CIA agent managed to organize a "covert war" in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. Hanks is joined by Julia Roberts as the socialite Joanne Herring and Philip Seymour Hoffman as CIA agent, Gust Avrakotos.

Wilson's good-time-guy image was only one aspect of his personality and more importantly he considered himself a staunch patriot with a clear sense of right and wrong. Wilson was once quoted as saying '"The US had nothing whatsoever to do with these people's decision to fight...But we'll be damned by history if we let them fight with stones." Charlie Wilson's War is based on the book, Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History by George Crill III -- I guess for the sake of billboard space they decided to shorten the title just a little.

The trailer for the film was just released a few weeks ago, and I think most of us were a little 'underwhelmed' by the whole thing. It's a solid cast, and it does have Oscar written all over it, but for such a fascinating story I guess I was just expecting a little more 'oomph' in the preview. Although for those of you out there worried that this is just another boring political drama, don't worry, the trailer works in a few genuine laughs -- but that could just be me. Much like the trailer, the poster for the flick isn't going to blow you away but it gets the job done -- mainly reminding you that there are three Oscar winners in the film. Considering you have mega-stars like Roberts and Hanks in the cast, it's a pleasant surprise that Hoffman made it on the poster at all. Charlie Wilson's War is scheduled for release on Christmas Day.

When you consider the star power behind the film version of George Crile's book, Charlie Wilson's War; I'm a little surprised it took this long to finally get a trailer. Worst Previews is hosting a clip from Entertainment Tonight who had a first look at the real life story of democratic senator Charlie Wilson, as played by Tom Hanks (unfortunately it also has an ET commentator rattling on in the background). In the early 80's, Wilson conspired with a Texas socialite and a rogue CIA agent to fund an Afghan resistance to the Soviet invasion. Tom Hanks stars as the coke-snorting, stripper-loving senator congressman with Julia Roberts filling in as socialite Joanne Herring, and Philip Seymour Hoffman as CIA agent Gust Avrakotos. The film has Oscar bait written all over it; three winners in one film? Someone has got to get a nomination out of this one. Directed by Mike Nichols, the film marks Aaron Sorkin's first screenplay in almost a decade; now that Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip is no more, maybe he can get to work on that script about the '68 Democratic convention for Spielberg.

Charlie Wilson's War is set for release this Christmas and opening the same day as Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, as well as the kiddie flick The Water Horse. Neither of which seems like much of a challenge to the drama when it comes to ticket sales since they aren't exactly vying for the same audiences. The only fly in the ointment come Christmas weekend could be the Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson life affirming weepy, The Bucket List. It looks like it's gearing up to be a battle of the "Hollywood heavyweights," but my money is on Hanks and company. The man seems to have the magic touch, after all. Charlie Wilson's War opens December 25th.

UPDATE: The official trailer has just arrived over on Yahoo, so head on over there to check it out.