This is lovely. Janet Maslin on the late Jill Clayburgh, a wonderful actress whom women (and men), saw themselves -- even found themselves -- in.

She left us too soon.

From the New York Times:

"Has any actor’s career ever been more powerfully affected by a prefix? It was the 'un' in 'Unmarried' that established Ms. Clayburgh’s creative power. Women’s roles had been changing irrevocably, and a new assertiveness was being established and understood. But the usual story lines of that era followed female characters’ quests for independence and authority. Heroines rebelled. They picked themselves up and moved out. They took action. They weren’t acted upon.

"Their roles were often sharply defined, but Erica’s was not. Paul Mazursky, the writer and director, had a divorced friend who described herself as "an unmarried woman" on a mortgage application. Extrapolating from that, he envisioned the story of a Manhattan wife set adrift. But Ms. Clayburgh’s shaping of the character was utterly and unmistakably her own, just as surely as its impact on female movie audiences was universal. And the unaffected nature of the performance became its most distinctive feature.

 

Maybe I need to heed the advice of Warren Oates in "Stripes" and, "Lighten up, Francis," especially regarding a big-screen version of "The Smurfs," but ... I'm already not into this.

I rather enjoyed that the animated series "The Smurfs," a show in which I learned a lot about classical music, remained sealed in a time vault of memory. Unless magically capturing the mood of the 1980s, these perfectly strange blue creatures of youth should be left alone.

If only Brett Easton Ellis had written the script for the newest take.

But then I wonder what fans of the "Smurfs" creator, Belgian cartoonist Peyo, who debuted the first "Smurfs" comic in 1958, felt about the television series? Or how about viewers of the first "Smurfs" movie, "Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs" (1965), or those crazy for the second "Smurfs" movie, "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute" (1976)? How did they feel?

Yes, I need to calm down. With that, check out the teaser trailer for the movie, opening next summer. 

 

At first I thought the below casting news read "Shadowboxer" and thought, wasn't that a movie starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Helen Mirren directed by "Precious" helmer Lee Daniels? Or did I dream that one night?

According to Wikipedia, it was no dream.

And then I thought, wasn't that a disco hit by the late Andy Gibb, the other brother of Maurice, Robin and Barry? Or was that also a dream I had one night? Oh, no, that was "Shadow Dancing."

OK, my Lee Daniels and brothers Gibb obsessions aside, actress Rebecca Hall ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona," "The Town") is in talks to star in "Shadow Dancer," adapted from the book by Tom Bradby.

Here's more from Variety:

"Pic will be directed by 'Man on a Wire' helmer James Marsh and is produced by Unanimous Pictures' Chris Coen. Ireland's Element Pictures is also on board to produce, along with Blighty's BBC Films, while Gallic shingle Wild Bunch is also backing the project.

"Story, adapted by Bradby, follows the tale of a young woman, a former IRA terrorist turned informer for Blighty's MI5. Her brothers are both heavily involved with the IRA and her husband was killed by Brit security forces. But when she is arrested over an aborted bombing attempt in London, she is forced to reveal her past if she wishes to see her children again.

 

Enough with early Oscar predictions, as in who will win the coveted golden boy. Here's the new question: Who will host the telecast?

This is the query floating around the Net (as last year's Oscar winner Sandra Bullock likes to call the Internet), and a good one. I have no idea.

TheWrap looks at the wondering and comes up with some contenders:

"The show’s producers, Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer, have been in place for more than three months now, and we’re now past the time when the last Oscar hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, were announced.

"According to Deadline, Cohen and Mischer offered the gig to the well-received 2009 host, Hugh Jackman, who declined; I’ve been told by someone on the production side that Justin Timberlake’s name was in the mix early on as well.

"So who will they get?

"These thoughts were inspired by musings at In Contention, where Guy Lodge puts in a vote for Steve Martin (his favorite past host, and mine) hosting not with Baldwin, but with Tina Fey, and by reader suggestions there and at Awards Daily  and The Envelope and Hollywood Elsewhere."

 

Though receiving mixed reviews and, strangely, little hoopla, DreamWorks' "Megamind" came in with a $47.7 million debut over the weekend. The 3-D animated comedic family movie with vocal work from megastars like Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt, made it to the top slot, even with higher ticket prices.

In second place was Todd Phillips "Due Date," a movie that didn't hit the critical pay dirt of his previous R-rated adventure, "The Hangover," but the pairing of Robert Downey Jr. and Zack Galifianakis drew in audiences, grossing $33.5 million.

At third was yet another critically mixed picture, Tyler Perry's "For Colored Girls." In spite of showing in fewer theaters, the more serious drama for the prolific Perry racked up $20.1 million. Impressive.

 

And now we have ... a new muppet.

Thanks to the people at Coming Soon, who scanned the pictures, we can take a look at Entertainment Weekly's exclusive two-page spread on Disney's "The Muppets," to be directed by James Bobin from a script by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller.

Here's more from Coming Soon:

"The article mentions that the new Muppet in the film will be Walter, who you can see holding the smartphone below. He's described as 'a sweet, slightly naive twenty-something Everypuppet who, in the movie, is the best friend and roommate of Segel's character, Gary. Both Gary and Walter are die-hard Muppet fans.'

 

Since James Bond was born to be a franchise and we never tire of the character, in all of his various reboots, this is good news indeed.

James Bond is back.

From WENN:

"The next James Bond film is officially back on track. Production on the stalled project is set to resume, and the movie is due in cinemas in late 2012.

"The 23rd 007 picture, starring Daniel Craig, was put on hold indefinitely this year as the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio fell into financial difficulty.

"The firm filed for bankruptcy this week and announced plans for a massive restructuring of the company's finances. The deal means film projects previously put on ice can now go ahead, and MGM executives have announced that the Bond film is a high priority.

 

We all still really, really like her.

That's Sally Field, who is reportedly in negotiations to join Martin Sheen (whom we also, really, really like) in Marc Weber's newest take on "Spider-Man."

Field is in talks over possibly playing Peter Parker's Aunt May, while Sheen might be chosen for Uncle Ben.

Here's more from Hit Fix:

"Still eternally youthful at the age of 63, Sally Field hardly resembles the traditional image of what most comic book readers expect of Peter Parker's beloved Aunt May.  However, reports suggests the two-time Oscar winner is in negotiations to join Martin Sheen, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans in Marc Webb's reboot of 'Spider-Man.'

"The news was initially broken by the Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog, but is spreading around town like wildfire.  If the "Brothers and Sisters" star joined the cast, it would be a radical transformation of the character who was previously played, to great acclaim, by Rosemary Harris in Sam Raimi's three 'Spider-Man' films.