In case you needed any more reasons to see "Jane Eyre" (playing in limited theaters right now), the above photograph from W magazine might tempt you.

That's Michael Fassbender (who plays Rochester) and Mia Wasikowska (who plays Jane) looking very, well, beautiful together. Though you won't see the two stars dressed like this in the movie, their chemistry might make you wonder about ... white tank tops. Or something. (What is Fassbender wearing? I think I own that same shirt.)

I have no idea why I suddenly sound like some lady who talks about her favorite "hunk" while wolfing down an entire carton of Dreyer's slow churned ice cream, but alas, it's been one of those days. I will blame my early morning dental appointment during which two women talked on and on about some Jake Gyllenhaal snaps in Life & Style magazine. It's their fault.

 

I probably don't have to explain the above poster but, unless you've been in your house, listening only to AM radio for the last ten years, it's the newest one-sheet for Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."

Though most "Pirates" posters feature it's biggest star, Johnny Depp as the now iconic Captain Jack Sparrow, this one gives the great Penelope Cruz the spotlight. She plays Angelica in the fourth installment of the blockbuster.

 

The Onion AV Club compiles an entertaining list of 20 plus pop culture functional alcoholics (as in, like most people we know), and among some of their terrific choices (including Nick and Nora Charles at number one and two for the "Thin Man" movies), is one of my favorite cinematic souses.

The movie that they tried to remake but it just didn't have the same sauce (though they include the second picture) -- "The Bad News Bears."

Here's what they wrote:

"Morris Buttermaker, 'The Bad News Bears' (1976 and 2005)

"Of the many elements that mark Michael Ritchie’s 1976 film 'The Bad News Bears' as a product of another age, the portrayal of minor-league-pitcher​-turned-pool-cleaner​-turned-youth-baseba​ll-coach Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) as a desperate alcoholic in search of a quick buck is perhaps the most telling. (Though to be fair to contemporary times, Richard Linklater’s 2005 remake starring Billy Bob Thornton doesn’t tinker with that too much.) The rest of the league initially sees Buttermaker and his Bears as a joke, but the coach’s innate resourcefulness shows through some key scouting moves that eventually earn the team a place in the championships. Once there, Buttermaker can see clearly enough through the sudsy haze that too much success has turned him into an overly competitive asshole, so he throws the game by pulling the all-stars and putting in the benchwarmers. It’s a generous move that ends with the coach cracking open his prized beer chest one last time—a low-budget (and highly illegal) way to let the movie’s true champions celebrate like they’ve just won the World Series."

 

It's being called an "indie drama" and that could mean anything, but the movie "Natural Selection" starring actress and comedian Rachael Harris, is taking home all the big awards at the SXSW Film Festival.

The story described by EW as "a suburban Texas housewife searching for her dying husband’s illegitimate grown son (Matt O’Leary) — won Grand Jury Prize for narrative feature filmmaking at this year’s SXSW film festival."

Here's more:

"The film also took home the festival Audience Award, as well as jury prizes for its screenplay (by writer-director Robbie Pickering), editing, and music. Harris and O’Leary both won Breakthrough Performance awards, along with Evan Ross from the carjacking thriller '96 Minutes. 'Dragonslayer,'  about skateboarding culture in Fullerton, Calif., took home the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary feature. (EW film critic Lisa Schwarzbaum served on the jury for the documentary feature competition.)

 

"As a multi-tasker, she puts even James Franco to shame.

"But actress, book author, screenwriter, producer, mother, youngest-ever Mark Twain Prize for American Humor honoree and seven-time Emmy winner Tina Fey has one more label she's ready to add to her resumé: life coach to Gwyneth Paltrow.

"'Any time you talk about being a working mother and you complain about it in any way, people eat your face,' Fey tells InStyle for its April issue, on sale Friday. 'I remember reading some interview where Gwyneth Paltrow said something like, 'I missed my kids on the set one day and I was crying.' And I thought, Yeah, I've totally done that.'"

-- From an interview with Tina Fey at In Style (via People)

 

I'm not one to dump so negatively on a filmmaker's dream, but I think the idea of cutting this project loose is a good one.

One, I don't know how the filmmakers could really make the original "Yellow Submarine" better -- it's a Beatles artifact and should stay that way, flaws and all. And dear god, you know it would have to turn into a more kid friendly movie. No thanks. I much prefer the brilliantly scored (you know, The Beatles) often creepy original.

And then two, I don't want to hear a bunch of baby boomers complaining about it ad nauseam -- like it's the downfall of civilization as we know it.

Here's more from Coming Soon:

"'Yellow Submarine' the proposed performance capture remake of the 1968 animated Beatles film, will not be moving forward at Disney as was originally planned.

"Set for development at ImageMovers Digital, the project was to have been directed by Robert Zemeckis with a cast announced last year.

"Though some online speculation has already suggested that the decision relates directly to this past weekend's under-performance of the Zemeckis-produced 'Mars Needs Moms, sources tell ComingSoon.net that Disney's decision regarding 'Yellow Submarine' has been a long time coming and that the official cancellation of the project was actually made quietly several months ago.

"Even though Disney is no longer involved with the film, it has yet to be confirmed whether Zemeckis may pursue the project at another studio." 

What if "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" had been made as an indie teen drama, rather than the upbeat, anarchic John Hughes classic that it is?

British filmmaker Joseph Brett wondered this, and put his thoughts into action by re-cutting a trailer for the Matthew Broderick picture set to Wood Pigeon's "A Slight Return to Home." The result is fantastic. He creates both another film entirely, and then highlights some of the underlying, more tender and fragile themes in the film.

Watch for yourself:


 

Though I liked the loopy mess of "The Fighter" -- part dysfunctional family drama/comedy, part boxing drama with all the usual tropes (and montages), part scene-stealing showcase for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, part well, David O. Russell picture (there are some trademark touches -- like rooms crowded with people yelling to eventual comic effect), I'm not sure how I feel about a sequel.

"Fighter" star and producer, Mark Wahlberg is becoming set on one, however.

Here's what he said in an interview with EW:

"And you’re back in fighting shape now?

"I weigh about 185. But it’s still solid. Ready to throw down. I got bit by the bug, and now I’m trying to plant the idea in everyone’s head that we should do — not five or six 'Fighters' like 'Rocky' — but one more because the big thing that Micky Ward was famous for was his three epic battles with Arturo Gatti. So we’re talking about possibly taking one more run at it.

"I assume a sequel would include much of the same cast?
"Yeah. Everybody had such an amazing experience making the movie that I can’t imagine they wouldn’t want to go back. But it’s still kind in the early stages."