Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau

Emily Blunt will star opposite Matt Damon in The Adjustment Bureau, a sci-fi love story George Nolfi is directing Universal and Media Rights Capital.

The story, which Nolfi adapted from a Philip K. Dick short story, follows a congressman (Damon), on the rise in politics, who meets a beautiful ballet dancer only to discover strange circumstances keep them apart.

Blunt is playing the dancer.

The original story "Adjustment Team," first published in 1954 is about Ed Fletcher, a real estates salesman who finds out that our world is really one big soundstage controlled by strange and mysterious guardians. So the film version sounds a little different.

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The Great Buck Howard, 2008 - Movie Review

Director: Sean McGinly
Starring: John Malkovich, Colin Hanks, Emily Blunt, Tom Hanks, Tom Arnold, Griffin Dunne
Running Time: 87 minutes
Score: 2 / 10

This review by Pamela Fruendt.

I saw a preview of THE GREAT BUCK HOWARD last night ( 3/18/09 ). The story is loosely based on the career of Master Mentalist 'The Amazing Kreskin.'

I had every anticipation of having a great evening...Great word out of Sundance. Great trailer. Free film. What could be bad about it?

Guess what? This film is so utterly disappointing. It is a cruel and demeaning look at aging performers unable to adapt to a changing world.

John Malkovich gives a moving performance as Buck Howard...After all, he is John Malkovich but he can't carry the film alone. Colin Hanks' acting is flat and uninspired giving the oh so talented Emily Blunt mere crumbs with which to work.

Even Colin's real life father, Tom Hanks, can't save this film despite a moving yet all too brief appearance .

See the film if you're a Malkovich fan...otherwise wait for cable or DVD. I've seen the Amazing Kreskin myself and this film does him a tremendous disservice.

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Iron Man 2 - Rourke in, Blunt out, Johansson in.

Past news suggested Mickey Rourke could not be in Iron Man 2 due to being offered a low amount of pay. Now Nikki Finke has the news that Marvel Studios have upped their offer substantially and Rourke will now be in as a Russian villain opposite Robert Downey Jr. Thanks to Pam for sending me the news.

Variety say that he will be playing the villain Whiplash. They say that the version in Iron Man 2 "includes elements from that comicbook villain and Crimson Dynamo, another Russian baddie." Basically he'll be wearing a big suit of armour with big whip tentacle things on his arms.

Nikki Finke also confirmed that Scarlett Johansson will be indeed stepping in to replace the originally announced Emily Blunt in Iron Man 2. Blunt was initially chosen to play Black Widow, but then Fox required her to star in Gulliver's Travels instead, due to a contract she had signed with them during The Devil Wears Prada. Finke says that, "Scarlett actually screen-tested for the role and didn't get it," but is the replacement that Favreau and Marvel chose, primarily because her agent signed her on for a very low pay out.

I do think it is a damn shame that Blunt won't be playing the Black Widow as I feel she is a better actress and has the right athletic build for the character. I could see Johansson playing someone like the Scarlet Witch (no pun intended) but I just don't see her as the Black Widow. Don't get me wrong. Johansson was great in Ghost World and Lost in Translation, I just don't think she has kept the acting chops going in recent films.

I also hope Rourke brings his A-game to the villainous Whiplash. I don't want to see a retread of his bad guy character, Darrius Sayle in the not very good Stormbreaker.

How do you feel about the two pieces of casting news for Iron Man 2? Is it shaping up to be as good as the first?

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The Wolfman - Review from a Test Screening

Check out the LFF review of the final cut of the film.

AICN had a few reviews of The Wolfman starring Benicio del Toro, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and Anthony Hopkins. I'm looking forward to this film as I love all the old black and white creature features. Here is one of the reviews (lots of spoilers so if you don't want to know, don't read it)

A WOLFMAN preview screening review...

I was able to get into a screening of THE WOLFMAN tonight in Albequerque. Going in, I expected this to be another in the ‘reimagining’ of famous monster movies into more action-y popcorn fare like DRACULA, THE MUMMY or SLEEPY HOLLOW and indeed it is but I felt like this one was a cut above because the movie had a real sense of respect for it’s story: no camp, no clever one liners. Just good old fashioned suspense and sense of dread as to what’s around that foggy corner. And P.S…scary as hell!!!

So yes, I was a fan of this. To start, its cast is great – Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving. All serious actors here who actually ‘act’ and not simply ‘react’ to effects (ah, Dracula anyone?)

After a fun, gory (this is a deliciously hard ‘R’ for gore) hunting scene where a man gets his in a gloomy forest via wolf, we are introduced to Del Toro’s Lawrence Tuthill – an actor in the midst of playing HAMLET ( a role he doesn’t realize he is to play throughout the movie ). He is on his way home for his brother’s funeral (the man who was murdered in the opening). The amount of gravitas and detail that Del Toro and the other actors bring to their role is definitely worth mentioning. This is a thinking man’s monster movie. Really, truly one for the diehards and I really appreciated the way this standard was maintained throughout the entire piece. Will 16 yard olds who dig Mark Wahlberg movies like it? Who knows but its suspenseful as hell and had this unnerving sense of dread that reminded me of the miniseries based on King’s SALEM’S LOT back in the ‘80’s.

Anyway, once Del Toro gets home he meets his dead brother’s fiancée EMILY BLUNT who (big surprise) becomes attracted to him and his estranged father ANTHONY HOPKINS. From here the movie becomes a bit of a whodunit as to who killed his brother.

Unfortunately, Del Toro goes to the nearby gypsy colony himself to uncover the murder and gets involved in an attack by the Wolfman himself. This sequence by the way is fantastic – a bloody cat and mouse around the camp that results in Del Toro himself being attacked (but not fatally) by the monster. Well, once bitten and you know the rest…or do you? The plot actually starts to delve into this GASLIGHT kind of uncertainty where Del Toro can’t be sure if he’s a wolfman or dreaming it. And Johnson actually does a credible job of arguing that whether or not you actually become a werewolf on a full moon, if you THINK you will you are just as dangerous.

No surprise that the 3rd act becomes this fast paced wolf hunt with torches but I really loved this Beauty and the Beast sequence where the wolfman enters a costume ball (with several animal masks ) and makes it all the way to the stage where a blind soprano sings to him face to face without realizing he’s a monster (another fun aspect: visual references aplenty)

Obviously, I quite liked this film. Perhaps they could tighten it here and there (I think it ran like 1 hour 50 mins) but I was surprised at its ‘brain over braun’ approach and really hope that it finds its deserved audience this coming Summer.

I regard great old films as just important pieces of art as great novels or paintings so it is with great pleasure that I send this review of what I thought was a high minded, tremendous and incredibly SCARY work to you tonight. (seriously, people were shrieking during the last scene!)

Regards,

WOLFIE

There are a couple more reviews over at AICN if your want to check them out, but all in all it is sounding rather good. Are you looking forward to seeing it?

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The Young Victoria - Trailer

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (wasn't he Azrael?) and starring Emily Blunt, Mark Strong, Paul Bettany, Princess Beatrice, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Friend and Jim Broadbent.

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Sunshine Cleaning - Interviews. Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Steve Zahn and Alan Arkin

Rose Lorkorswki (Amy Adams), a former high school cheerleader and now a thirty-something maid, is trying to create a better life for herself and eccentric eight-year-old son Oscar. Her burn-out younger sister Norah still lives at home with their father Joe, who;s on the latest of a life-long string of get-rich-quick schemes. When Rose learns of the big money to be made in the crime scene cleaning and bio-hazard removal business, she and Norah partner up to create their own company.

Here are some interviews with the main cast. Be sure to check out the trailer.

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Iron Man 2 - Black Widow. Who's best Dushku or Johanssen?

There's finally a bit of an update regarding Iron Man 2, in particular the role of Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow (Russian secret agent super spy). EW have the news.

Because Emily Blunt's commitment to Twentieth Century Fox and the studio's upcoming Gulliver's Travels movie may prohibit her from costarring in Iron Man 2, Marvel is in discussions with other actresses, most significantly Scarlett Johansson, to take her place, EW has learned exclusively. Marvel will not confirm, but sources around Hollywood say Johansson has indeed met with the filmmakers and is interested in taking the role of Russian superspy Natasha Romanoff, who doubles as Black Widow. Blunt's reps are still trying to make both projects work, but Gulliver's is further along, with a start date of April 15. Iron Man 2 still doesn't have a shooting script and a start date has not yet been determined.

Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse, Buffy) had also appeared on the Howard Stern show recently and mentioned how much she would like the part.

“They’re doing Iron Man 2, and I’m so perfect for the Black Widow character, that they just need to get into it. They need to understand… I just learned Russian because I had to play a Russian girl in Dollhouse.”

Out of all of the people mentioned I do hope Blunt gets the scheduling sorted as I feel she would be best suited. Johanssen is just totally wrong for the part in my opinion and sounds like Marvel are jus going for a big name without thinking of the character involved. If Blunt can't do it I'd much rather see Dushku play Natasha as she has got the physical skills for the part.

If Blunt can't do it who do you want to see play Natasha? Dushku, Johanssen or someone else?

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The Great Buck Howard - Poster

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The Great Buck Howard - New Photo

A law school dropout and aspiring writer takes a job with a has-been mentalist. With John Malkovich, Colin Hanks and Emily Blunt.

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Sunshine Cleaning - Poster for Amy Adams and Emily Blunt forensic cleaning movie

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Sunshine Cleaning Trailer - Amy Adams latest

The trailer for Sunshine Cleaning. Rose Lorkorswki (Amy Adams), a former high school cheerleader and now a thirty-something maid, is trying to create a better life for herself and eccentric eight-year-old son Oscar. Her burn-out younger sister Norah still lives at home with their father Joe, who;s on the latest of a life-long string of get-rich-quick schemes. When Rose learns of the big money to be made in the crime scene cleaning and bio-hazard removal business, she and Norah partner up to create their own company.

It also stars Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, and Steve Zahn.

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