Universal Studios appears to have claimed next May the 15th on which to release Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat follow-up, tentatively titled Brüno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt.

That pretty much explains what type of shenanigans Cohen is up to for this stealthily filmed outing, and I believe that it comes across as a remarkable vote of confidence from Universal that they're willing to face off against the likes of a DaVinci Code prequel (which, if the first film is any indication, might be worth a couple of laughs itself).

Sure, Borat did well enough to justify such a prominent spot, but that came out in early November, not the week before Memorial Day. Maybe I'm too adjusted to having my summer comedies laced with special effects or Judd Apatow; who knows, maybe we'll get a blockbuster comedy that gets by on actual ... laughs.

[via Box Office Mojo]

Because Michael Moore can't make enough movies to piss people off 24/7, we fortunately have people like Bill Maher, whose new anti-religious documentary, Religulous, hits theaters this fall. Of course, Maher has said that he shouldn't be compared to Moore, whom he considers to be a genius. Plus, Maher didn't direct the film, Larry Charles, of Borat, Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, did. But in the same way that Al Gore is credited with An Inconvenient Truth, Maher, who hosted one of my favorite shows of the past (Politically Incorrect) and currently hosts HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher (which I've never seen, because I don't have HBO), will be continually given credit for this film. No matter who gets the higher billing, though, it's certain that Religulous is going to be hilarious thanks to the talents of both gentlemen.
Now, to help promote the film and presumably to get people either laughing or offended a few months early, Maher has unleashed a new website called Disbeliefnet.com. It seems to be part satire, part examination of the world's religions, part blog of religion-related news and part movie marketing. Movie fans might want to check out the grouping of clips/trailers from films detailing the endless suffering of Jews. Personally, my favorite gag is the "Donate Now" button that goes to a randomly chosen religion's donation form. Now I can give to everyone equally with ease.

And speaking of equal coverage, Maher and Charles' film seems to touch on all the major and minor religions of the world, bringing their "guerilla" shooting style into places cameras have supposedly never been before. But if the film doesn't focus any attention on your religion, don't worry: you can be offended about not being able to get offended. Or something.

Religious opens October 3rd.

This week's Sex and the City movie is hardly the first cinematic continuation of a TV show, but there really haven't been that many. Usually when we think of film adaptations of TV series, we're thinking of remakes. But there are a few movies that pick up where their respective show ends, whether as a resuming story, a prequel or something totally random and barely connected.

And of course, we keep hearing about other possible series-to-film resumptions: Lost, 24 and Arrested Development movies have all been discussed, and they may indeed happen. So, while there isn't a long list of predecessors to model their transitions on, I've compiled seven titles that did it right in some way or another. Hopefully, for the sake of the fans of Carrie and co., Sex and the City will be enough of a success to make number eight.


Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

People may enjoy the second installment best, but this is the one that started the film franchise, officially reigniting a series that had been canceled ten years prior. Though the original show had its share of fans, enough to eventually get this film produced, it wasn't initially considered a success. And interestingly enough, neither was the movie thought of as a complete hit, despite its $80 million gross and the fact that it spawned another ten film installments (and additional series).

In the event that an Arrested Development movie gets made, it could be seen as similar to Star Trek, since the TV show was initially a failure yet it has gained a larger following since its cancellation, enough to call for production of a feature follow-up. However, there's also a good chance that it will also be a failure on the big screen, like was Serenity, the cinematic continuation of the TV series Firefly.
tion more than simply an adaptation.

Catching an afternoon screening of Iron Man last weekend, the questionably denigrating representations of Afghani villains bugged me less than the bizarre cultural references in the trailers preceding it -- especially when it came to accents. Three previews in a row contained characters speaking intentionally mangled English, a fact all the more recognizable because all of them were played by well-known actors. You Don't Mess With Zohan showed Adam Sandler as a tough Israeli hair stylist. The Love Guru preview found Mike Myers blabbering on with South Asian inflections. Rounding things out in perhaps the most innocuous case, Cate Blanchett popped up as a Communist baddie in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Are these gross caricatures or fair play?

We've touched on this issue before, but it looks like each month the trend gets a little stronger. There's edgy and there's a line: Borat may or may not send the wrong message, but the character's faux Kazakh accent tells you a lot about the way Americans tend to judge foreigners on the basis of their less-than-perfect English. The specific nature of the satire gives Cohen's performance an underlying purpose -- unlike, say, Love Guru, which seems more like a chance to ignorantly marvel at Myers' ability to turn Indians into a continuous punchline. Recently, a few Hindu groups launched protests against the film. This could mark uncharted terrain for Myers, who did not, as far as I know, get lambasted by any hippies after the first Austin Powers.

One of the scenes in Forgetting Sarah Marshall that people will be talking about over the virtual water cooler next week is the one that involves Jason Segel doing full frontal nudity. Yes, he lets it all hang out, and what's admirable is that he does it purely for the sake of a joke. That takes courage! That takes guts! That takes ... well, you know.

This isn't the first film to use nudity for laughs, of course. Comical naughty bits have a rich history in Hollywood. Here are seven movies with hilarious nudity.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
What's funnier than a naked dude? A naked FAT dude. And what's funnier than a naked fat dude? A naked fat dude wrestling a naked skinny dude in a hotel room, and a hotel hallway, and a hotel elevator, etc., etc.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Religulous (click on the image to enlarge), directed by the very funny Larry Charles (Borat, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm) and starring that oh-so-controversial comedian Bill Maher (who currently hosts the HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher). From what we know, Religulous is a documentary about world religion, with Maher and Charles traveling the world to interview people from different countries and get their opinions on religion. Knowing Maher and his beliefs, it's pretty much guaranteed that all hell will eventually break loose. I think it's pretty fair to say there will be a certain amount of people who don't agree with what Maher has to say about religion. Personally, I think he's a pretty funny guy and I dig the fact that Lionsgate would get behind a film like this. Lionsgate: The Distributor with Balls!

Religulous arrives in theaters on June 20.

You know what stinks? Coming up with a fairly cool idea for a new column ... only to discover that someone even cleverer not only snagged the idea a few months ago, but also did such a bang-up job that it makes a new rendition seem pointless.

But since I'm in a writing mood, here's the story: I was sharing a pithy IM convo with a good pal, and somehow we got into mocking Borat and Austin Powers for being way too over-quoted. (I call it the Stairway to Heaven Syndrome: When something of serious quality melts into near-nothingness because of endless repetition and constant over-exposure.) So I said "Hey, I could do a funny Cinematical Seven on 'the world's most annoyingly over-quoted movies'!!"

My friend's response was "Hey, good idea. Just like this one." The author is the youthful-yet-not stupid Adam Quigley, whose work you just might know if you hang around JoBlo's Movienerd Blissfactory once in a while. And while I'm well aware that I'm recycling someone else's (months old) list, I just figured it was too much fun to not pass along.

Not to spoil too many of the surprises, but the movies I would have picked for my Cine Seven are ALL on Adam's list, but they were mostly the easy ones: Swingers, Austin Powers, Borat, Holy Grail, Office Space, etc. Check out the full list of the 10 Most Obnoxiously* Over-Quoted Movies of All Time. And feel free to let us know which ones we might have forgotten. For example, I love love love The Princess Bride, but I'm tired of hearing idiots scream "inconceivable" and waiting for a charitable chuckle. (Also, most of the picks are (logically) comedies, but I'd like to hear about some over-quoted non-comedies. I suppose Jaws, Star Wars, Casablanca and Scarface would make that list.)

(* See, Adam went with "obnoxiously," whereas I was going to use "annoyingly." Well played, Quigley!! And special thanks to Will Goss for the linkage and the nerdly movie conversation. ) %Gallery-12639%

Well, Sacha Baron Cohen has already made sure that he won't be haunted by Borat jokes for the rest of his life, so it was only a matter of time before he started to branch out. First was his foray into musicals, and now it's time for something just a little more 'serious'. Once again Cohen has gotten lucky and he's caught the eye of another great director. The Times Online has reported that Cohen signed to play 60's counter-culture icon Abbie Hoffman for Steven Spielberg. Cohen is the perfect choice to play the self-described "Jewish Road Warrior, communo-anarchist". They both seemed to appreciate a good prank, and hey -- the two even look alike.

The film will be called The Trial of the Chicago Seven and was written by Aaron Sorkin (Charlie Wilson's War) with presumably Spielberg directing. The story will center on the infamous trial of seven men for riots at the 1968 Democratic convention. Hoffman was an activist and author who, along with Bobby Seale and Jerry Rubin, were put on trial for conspiracy and inciting to riot. He was eventually cleared of the charges and was still a celebrity at the time of his death in 1989.

According to the Times, Cohen is set to receive five million dollars for the role that he had to be "talked into" by Spielberg. It was probably wise for Cohen to say yes, since apparently some have lived to regret turning down the directing legend. Cohen already has Brüno lined up as his next film. It will be another 'character' comedy; about a gay, Austrian fashion correspondent. As for Spielberg, he has already started wrapping up work on Indy 4 and there is still the Lincoln biopic with Liam Neeson. Plus, he has already lined up the sci-fi film, Interstellar. So it could be some time before The Trial of the Chicago Seven makes it's way to production. If you can't wait to get your fix of civil disobedience though, you can always check out the animated documentary Chicago 10 when it opens in March 2008.

[via The View From Here]

In an interview for Sweeney Todd over at the Telegraph, Sacha Baron Cohen goes into lots of detail about the process of learning to sing for the role. He tells a long anecdote about having his mother look up a singing teacher for him in the Yellow Pages, and then finding out the woman not only never heard of him, but also never heard of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp or the musical Sweeney Todd. "I ignored everything she said and went to the set the next day," he says. When made to audition for Sondheim, Cohen says he was unable to hit a crucial high note, but came up with a unique solution -- "I brought in a very fat female opera singer to sing the final note." Apparently, that was good enough to gain him Sondheim's approval.

Cohen also talks at length about his alter-egos Ali G and Borat, and says that he's come to realize that the popularity of the Borat movie means he'll never be able to do the character again. "Admitting I am never going to play them [Borat and Ali G] again is quite a sad thing," he says. "It's like saying goodbye to a loved one. It is hard, and the problem with success, although it's fantastic, is that every new person who sees the Borat movie is one less person I 'get' with Borat again, so it's kind of self-defeating form, really. It's upsetting, but the success has been great." Of course, the interviewer tries to get some info out of Cohen about Bruno, the next character he'll be taking to the big screen, but Cohen pretty much stops him cold. He's not opening his mouth about that.

I was a little hard on the International Press Academy last year, but they made some ridiculous decisions when handing out their Satellite Awards. Still, at least they came off as being different than every other year-end awards giver by picking winners like Joseph Cross and X-Men: The Last Stand (best comedic actor and best editing, respectively). Those are at least some interesting, unpredictable picks, right? This year, I feel the need to be harder on the organization, because it's gone totally predictable in honoring No Country for Old Men, Juno, Sicko, American Gangster, Ratatouille, Diablo Cody and Christopher Hampton, among others. The actors they honored -- Marion Cotillard, Viggo Mortensen, Ellen Page, Ryan Gosling, Tom Wilkinson/Casey Affleck (tied) and Amy Ryan -- aren't all the most obvious choices, but they aren't shocking, either. Couldn't they have at least gone with nominee Clive Owen or his nominated "comedy or musical" Shoot 'Em Up (!?!?!?), or something?

Not that the winners aren't deserving, but what good is yet another awards ceremony if it's not going to distinguish itself from the Golden Globes, which are the Satellite's unrecognized yet unmistakable "baby daddy". Yeah, the Hollywood Foreign Press will likely go with some other winners, but they won't seem that different. Again, I do salute the IPA for having a documentary category, though it wouldn't have hurt to give The King of Kong its one possible prestigious(?) award -- not that it was actually a better film than fellow nominee No End in Sight. Also, it's always enjoyable to see what the IPA picks for best DVDs (The Prestige for overall; Borat and Masters of Horror Season 1 (tied) for extras; Ratatouille for youth-oriented; Ken Burns' The War for documentary; The Graduate 40th Anniversary Edition for classic). For the rest of the nominees and winners, head over to Variety.

Okay, how many people from Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan have not sued the production? By now, I would assume that at least half of these guys have, and even though it has been over a year since the flick has screened to audiences, disgruntled, unknowing participants are still rolling in. Reuters reports that the latest guy to complain is driving instructor Michael Psenicska. Remember the scene? According to his lawsuit, he was fooled into thinking that he was part of a "documentary about the integration of foreign people into the American way of life." He names star Sacha Baron Cohen, One America Productions, Todd Lewis, and Twentieth Century Fox in the claim.

The instructor says he got $500 in cash for the lesson, and says that it was all "surreal," as Cohen drove erratically, drank, and propositioned a pedestrian for sexy time. In addition to that cash, he's asked for $400,000 in the suit, for damages and his continual emotional harm. Oh, how I love the emotions angle, especially when it's coming from a gruff guy who was freaked out by Borat's kiss greeting. I guess the thought of hundreds of thousands of dollars was enough to make him get in touch with his softer side. Can you imagine how much worse he'd be handling things if he was part of some of the other scenes? The lesson to be learned in all of this: Don't agree to any sort of media involvement if there's even the slightest possibility that you wouldn't like their spin on things.

It's been a solid year since Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan blazed across screens. The racist punks and hug-fearers have whipped out their lawsuits, and all the press has died down. Of course, that makes it the perfect time for Sacha Baron Cohen to release a book this week as Borat Sagdiyev called BORAT: Touristic Guidings to Minor Nation of U.S. and A. and Touristic Guidings to Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. The cover boasts the Borat basics -- scary, horned, green Jews, and more of Sagdiyev's bits than you ever need to see.

In honor of the release, Reuters has posted an e-mail interview with the Kazakh-loving superstar. It's not a bad gig for Cohen -- sitting around at home with the new baby, whipping up awkward-to-read e-mails, and making money. I'd just like to be there when the kid gets older and asks dad why he wrote a scene that would place his face firmly in Ken Davitian's genitals. Anyhow, Borat answers the following pressing topics: which country he prefers (Kazakhstan or USA), which people are smarter, advice for people traveling in the US, life in Kazakhstan, and the most pressing of all: who Borat is behind for the next President. And I've got to give props to Frances Kerry, who was noted as editor -- just how exactly do you edit Borat?!

You might recall that last year's opening Midnight Madness title was a little movie called Borat. Things were going swimmingly until the projector broke down and chaos ensued. Our own Kim Voynar was on hand to report all the details. This year the honor went to Dario Argento's The Mother of Tears, which debuted Thursday at Midnight. Argento did not enter the theater riding on a donkey, but the crowd did reportedly sing "Happy Birthday" to him before the movie began.

I'm surprised that non-horror experts Stephanie Zacharek of Salon and David Poland of The Hot Blog liked the film, though they each take great pains to explain why. Zacharek admits that she doesn't "have a taste for contemporary horror pictures" -- she was "dismayed at the protracted, sadistic quality of the violence" in the remake of House of Wax -- nor has she seen any of Argento's recent work. Still, she feels that The Mother of Tears "is so unapologetically loopy and lush and ridiculous that I found it irresistible." Though she acknowledges "some sick stuff" in the movie, she prefers "Argento's sick violence" because it's "of the old-school kind." The movie "is sick as hell. But at least it's got class."

As Poland notes, he was "deeply offended" by Eli Roth's Hostel 2. He then describes some of the violence and nudity in The Mother of Tears and asks, "So why isn't it pushing my buttons? Because you can feel the feelings of the man sitting in the director's chair. And while there is a real cruel streak, towards both sexes, in Eli Roth, you get the distinct feeling that while he is raising the stakes endlessly, Dario Argento is just having a nasty good time. ... It feels like good clean fun."

Cinematical's Scott Weinberg will have the final word for us -- will it be "sick," "classy" or "fun"? The festival's official Midnight Madness blog has information on the pre-premiere party. The blog itself is filled with posts on the films, breaking news, photos and videos -- including some archival interviews with Maestro Argento.

What's up with Sir Ben Kingsley as of late? First, he co-stars opposite Mary-Kate Olsen in The Wackiness, and now he's teaching Mike Myers how to wear a chastity belt in The Love Guru. Obviously, the man who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Ghandi is looking to delve into some more commercial comedic fare, and The Hollywood Reporter tells us the actor has officially signed on to the Myers comedy as "Guru Tugginmypudha, the ashram leader who teaches the title character (Myers) how to love himself and wear a chastity belt." Nice. Meagan Good and John Oliver have also joined the cast, which already includes Myers, his Shrek the Third buddy Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba, Verne "Mini Me" Troyer and Romany Malco (who I'm really digging on Weeds).

I've been itching to see Myers take on another bizarre character that wasn't either an animated green ogre or Austin Powers, and from what I've heard his love guru shtick is pretty hilarious. Should the film be a hit, look for Myers to be well on his way toward another popular franchise. There aren't many people left who are funny enough to carry an entire movie dressed up as some lunatic, and with the exception of Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat, it appears as if those SNL skit-type flicks are fading fast. Can Myers revive them? In The Love Guru, he plays an American raised in India by gurus who returns to his homeland in an attempts to help those in need. Alba's character, who plays the manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs (if you can believe that) hires The Love Guru to help one of her players (Malco) when his girlfriend (Good) ditches him for a rival hockey player (Timberlake). And if that doesn't sound absurd enough, Troyer will be playing the Leaf's coach. Fantabulous! The film begins shooting this Friday in Toronto, and is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on June 20.

I was so, so, so happy when Aardman Animation (Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit) got a new distribution deal with Sony two months ago. And now I'm so, so, so happy that the two studios have announced four new projects, all of which sound amazing. It isn't clear what film will arrive in theaters first, nor in what order these films will be released at all, but considering Aardman's deal with Sony is only for three years, I'm guessing at least one of these will be in theaters by the end of 2008.

• First of note is the directorial return of Aardman co-founder Peter Lord (Chicken Run), who will be make an animated feature based on Gideon Defoe's The Pirates! series of books (the first, titled The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists, features Charles Darwin as a main character). The script is being written by Lord and Defoe with British television vets Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil (they also wrote the upcoming feature Gnomeo and Juliet).
• Oscar-winner Steve Box, who co-directed Curse of the Were-Rabbit, will direct The Cat Burglars, a supposed mix of Wallace and Gromit and Ocean's Eleven that equals "family-friendly Tarantino." Writing this one, along with Box, are partners Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharaoh (British TV's Life on Mars).
  
• Four-time Oscar-winner Nick Park, who created the Wallace and Gromit characters, is working on a new feature, but the studios haven't specified exactly what it is. A few months back, when Aardman was still in flux, Park was said to be working on a new W&G project, but it probably wasn't a feature film. However, now that Sony has made feature films more possible for the animation studio, we can be hopeful that another full-length outing from our favorite cheese-lovers is in the works.
• Finally Aardman has tapped a special new screenwriter to work on an animated action film for the holiday season. Peter Baynham, who was nominated (with four other guys) for an Oscar for writing Borat, is scripting Operation Rudolph, which portrays Santa and the North Pole as being like a high-tech military force (a peaceful, present-delivering force).