Here’s a fun little video from CelebTV about the starlet’s new gig for pal Penelope Cruz’s Mango Clothing 2009. You can catch Johansson next in "Iron Man 2," playing Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow opposite Robert Downey, Jr. It’s due in theaters May 7, 2010. Nice way to kick off the summer movie season next year.

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But apparently, that’s the plan. Cruise even got the A-Ok from Paul Newman just a few months before the legend died of lung cancer last September. Cruise intends to produce the film through United Artists, the studio he helped to resurrect as an MGM property in 2006.

Cruise, 46, would play Sundance, the role made famous by Robert Redford, while Travolta, 55, would play Newman’s Cassidy. Some reports have Cruise already interviewing screenwriters.

Of course, Travolta and Cruise are both Scientologists and longtime friends. I wonder if they’ll be trying to convert people on the set. Sorry! Couldn’t help myself!

I just can’t wrap my head around this project at all. Let the original stand as is – a classic western starring two movie legends. Don’t muck it up, please.

Photo Credit: TM and © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved; Source: Daily Express

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Variety says the Paramount movie won’t be a traditional remake, but rather will stick closer to the Charles Portis book than the original movie did. The story follows a 14-year-old girl who, along with an aging U.S. marshal and another lawman, tracks her father’s killer in hostile Indian territory.

It already sounds like a winner, because the project reteams the Coens with Scott Rudin, their partner in crime on "No Country for Old Men."

The new movie will apparently be told from the girl’s point of view, rather than the marshal’s. Hmmm, what do you bet they’ll get Dakota Fanning to play the girl. Isn’t she the first choice for every character in that age range these days?

Image: splashnewsonline.com

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Jones has two movie projects in the works: "The Book of Eli," a futuristic Western from Warner Bros., and "American Tragic," an indie flick written and directed by Ryan Piers Williams.

In "Eli," Jones will play the leader of a group of bikers. Produced by Joel Silver, the movie also stars Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Jennifer Beals and Mila Kunis.

In "Tragic," Jones will play an old friend of James (Ryan O’Nan) a slaughterhouse worker. The cast also includes June Raphael, Melissa Leo ("Frozen River,") and America Ferrera, who is executive producing.

Sounds like a nice couple of films I’ll look forward to seeing. Both are scheduled for a 2010 release.

Image: October Road, ABC

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And thanks for my next Film Gecko Five – Bloodiest Movies. But I need your help, Geckos, because I don’t watch a lot of the blood and gore. What are your favorite bloody movies?

I’ll start with a poll, but feel free to add your own or tell me your favorites in the comments section. After a few days, I’ll pick the top five and run a Film Gecko Five. Let’s go! n

Image: Amazon.com

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“Australia” is a sweeping epic of a movie involving romance, adventure, drama and war. It begins with English aristocrat Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) journeying from London to Australia’s rugged Northern Territory to convince her husband to sell their unprofitable cattle farm known as Faraway Downs.

But when she gets there, she’s immediately a fish out of water among the uncivilized town filled with brawling bar thugs. One of those thugs is Drover (Hugh Jackman), a grizzled, raucous guy who takes her to the ranch to meet up with her husband. But when they get there, things are not at all as they should be, and the cultured Lady Ashley must decide what to do.

More after the jump…

Her choice: Drive the cattle across the wild landscape to a ship docked in the harbor of Darwin, where she’ll sell them AND the ranch, and head back to England.

Well, you can guess that nothing goes according to plan. Not only is she up against the natural elements, but she’s also battling a villainous cattle baron named King Carney (Bryan Brown) and his chief thug, Fletcher (David Wenham).

She also finds herself a mother of sorts to little Nullah (Brandon Walters), a half-aboriginal boy who, like her, is a fish out of water, because half-breeds are considered only good enough to be servants to white people. Thus, the authorities are hunting Nullah down to strip him of his culture and train him to be a servant. The boy also narrates the story, which I found enchanting and wonderful.

I loved everything about this movie except the length. At 165 minutes, it’s long, long, long, and most of the audience was squirming during the last third of the movie, which almost seemed like an add-on. Really, it probably would have made a nice sequel.

“Australia” is one of those sweeping epic movies that’s reminiscent of old Hollywood – a plucky heroine, a dashing hero, a determined child, a few villains, some horses, and lots of beautiful scenery. Throw in the fact that Darwin is the target of a Japanese invasion complete with war bombs and a city on fire, and well, it’s all very romantic and engaging.

Note to Parents: The two main characters have lots of sexual chemistry, which leads to several passionate kisses and a love-making scene with a woman’s bare shoulders and legs, and a man’s bare chest. Violence includes characters being speared, shot, burned, drowned and beaten. Children are also put in peril. Language includes “Crikey,” “damn,” “bloody,” “bastard,” and one “f-ing.” Several characters use insulting terms towards the aboriginal and half-aboriginal people, including “creamy.”

Images: Australia, 20th Century-Fox Film Corp., 2008

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Appaloosa opens in theaters Oct. 3, 2008 (limited release on Sept. 19), but it’s making the rounds at film festivals and premiere screenings.

Based on the novel by Robert Parker, it tells the story of two friends hired to police a small town that’s suffering under the rule of a rancher. But their job gets complicated with the arrival of a young widow.

Ever since Lord of the Rings, I’m always interested to see what Viggo Mortensen is doing (seems like he has a “horse” theme to his career, doesn’t it?). This film is written and directed by another favorite, Ed Harris, and stars Jeremy Irons and Renee Zellweger. It’s rated R for some violence and language.

Check out the pics from the screening at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Sept. 17 in Beverly Hills.

More after the jump…

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The DVD:

Read my review of There Will Be Blood, a story about family, greed, religion, oil and, yes, blood.

THE GIVEAWAY: I have TWO “There Will Be Blood: 2-Disc Collector’s Edition” DVDs to give away. To enter the contest, simply leave a comment on this post by midnight on Saturday, June 14, 2008. Be sure to include a valid email address. Winners will be drawn randomly. I’ll email the winner for their snail-mail address after the contest ends. Good luck!

Image: There Will Be Blood, Paramount Vantage, 2007

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Read my review of There Will Be Blood, a story about family, greed, religion, oil and, yet, blood.

THE GIVEAWAY: I have TWO “There Will Be Blood: 2-Disc Collector’s Edition” DVDs to give away. To enter the contest, simply leave a comment on this post by midnight on Saturday, April 12, 2008. Be sure to include a valid email address. A winner will be drawn randomly. I’ll email the winner for their snail-mail address after the contest ends. Good luck!

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Based on the Upton Sinclair novel, “Oil!,” There Will Be Blood takes place at the turn of the 20th century and revolves around an oil man named Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis, who won an Oscar for the role). In spite of his impressive skills as a smooth-talking salesman, he doesn’t like people very much. In fact, not at all. Even his son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), whom he takes in after his father dies in an oil-rig accident, is used to help sell people on the notion that Plainview runs a “family business.”

When Daniel determines that there’s oil under a particular piece of land, he goes to talk to the owner, under the guise of taking H.W. camping. The owner’s son is Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), an equally smooth-talking leader of the Church of the Third Revelation — an evangelical church rife with chanting and healing rituals and lots of fist-pumping “Ye shall be saved!” moments.

But here’s the thing: Both men are in it for power. For Plainview, it’s sheer evil lust for power to control other men and his own destiny. For Eli Sunday, that oil is his chance to gain control over the flock of poor innocents who live nearby — all in the name of God. Plainview can have his oil, says Eli, but first he has to build a church on the land. A church where Eli will rule with his evangelical fist.

The two men hate each other from the moment they meet. Each in their own way are hard, unflinching businessmen who will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals — even if it means spiraling into an abyss of madness.

Directed and written by Paul Thomas Anderson, this movie is both bleak and beautiful. Or maybe a better way to put it is “beautifully bleak.” The sepia-toned colors of the film, the so-intense-he-makes-you-ache acting of Day-Lewis, and the stark, hard-driving musical score by Jonny Greenwood make this one of 2007’s best films.

It’s not pretty, but this movie definitely sticks with you and makes you think about the horrors that some people are capable of, under the guise of business, power, and religion.

DVD Extras: While there aren’t a ton of extras, this 2-disc set still contains some interesting stuff, including a “making of” featurette with 15 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage; two deleted scenes lasting nearly 10 minutes; “Dailies Gone Wild,” an alternate take of the restaurant scene involving Daniel, his son, and employees of Standard Oil; a teaser for the film and the original theatrical trailer (both of which are well-crafted examples of how to pull in an audience without giving too much away); and “The Story of Petroleum,” a black-and-white silent film chronicling the oil business in the 1920s.

Theatrical Trailer:

Images: There Will Be Blood, Paramount Vantage, 2007

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