Steven Soderbergh created a gem. The Informant is hilarious as Matt Damon leads us through chaos and stupidity as a corny whistle-blower in the agribusiness.  True to life story based on Kurt Eichenwald’s nonfiction bestseller,  Soderbergh made a smart move when he cast Scott Bakula, who plays an FBI agent brilliantly off Damon.  Some may say this is Bakula’s comeback; but the way he looks in this trailer, I’d say he never left.

Movie opens October 9th.

ComingSoon.net was nice enough to share the latest news from Comic-Con. The new banner for James Cameron’s Avatar is already up in San Diego. Comic-Con is taking place July 22-26.

Avatar opens December 18 in conventional 3D theaters and IMAX 3D starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Peter Mensah, Laz Alonso, Wes Studi, Stephen Lang and Matt Gerald.

From what I gather of bits and pieces, the film concerns an ex-Marine, thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in bio-diversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival.

What is that being on the banner? Na’vi.

Sadly, Are You Scared 2 is one of those sequels…one of those sequels that proves that a sequel is almost always a bad idea because they’re so desperate to cash in on a name that they’ll put any kind of sludge up on screen.  And that is the case with Are You Scared? 2, a sequel that can’t quite hold the mustard against its halfway decent predecessor.

Jumping on the “geocaching” bandwagon, by which people armed with GPS locators go wandering the planet looking for random stuff that’s been buried in the ground.  And when Team DNA, a geocaching band with growing notoriety on the web, goes for their record-breaking run, they run afoul of a crew of maniacs hosting their OWN web-based broadcast with a much more sinister bent.  The name of THAT webcast is, essentially “kill the stupid geocachers”.  Aided and abetted by a crowd of rich degenerates who are willing to pay exorbitant sums to watch people die slowly and messily.

Yes, it’s torture porn mixed with a cheesy game show and brought to you on the strength of a halfway decent Saw knockoff.  That’s all the original really was, you know, which is why I really wasn’t holding out much in the way of hope for this one to be any good.

I admit, when it started, I actually thought I might be pleasantly surprised, especially when I discovered that genre favorite Tony Todd was going to be involved.  He’s a genre favorite actor for a reason, folks–pretty much everything he shows up in, he turns in a decent performance.  There aren’t very many roles that gravelly-voiced genius can’t turn out solidly.

I have to say “not very many” of course because for what may be the first time in recent memory, Todd has officially screwed the pooch.  I’m watching him play the guy behind the whole thing and I’m really a lot more bored than I should be.   I’m bored mostly because all Todd will do is mutter vaguely at his monitors and do random stuff like:

1. Play with his pet turtle.  He’s named it “Timothy”.  I’m baffled and disgusted all at the same time that they’d waste my time with this garbage.

2. Water his plants.  He uses a spray bottle.

3. Drink wine.  He seems to prefer red.

Frankly, the torture porn involved in this was bad enough, but when you intermingle it with scenes from the newest HGTV series “At Home With A Deranged Lunatic”, the whole thing just falls apart.

After how the first one turned out, I was at least hoping for a little bit of more of the same– I couldn’t believe I was hoping for more of the same!–but what I got was a badly planned, badly realized hash of a movie that couldn’t have been worse if it tried.  The plot holes were massive (did no one think to maybe, you know, break a window to get out of the building?).  The dialogue was godawful (if you have to fill script pages by having characters repeat dialogue, you desperately need editing).  And if anyone actually manages to care about any of these characters, I’ll be just all sorts of amazed.

So if you’re looking to watch hot chicks get tortured and dismembered for no clear reason, or for sequels that have nothing to do with their predecessors, or for a truly lousy movie, then Are You Scared 2 is going to be exactly what you need.

This summer, greed, murder and paranoia take first class seats on Night Train, a taut, new thriller starring Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon, Saw), Leelee Sobieski (88 Minutes, The Wicker Man) and Steve Zahn (Management, Joy Ride).  National Entertainment Media brings this nail-biting suspense film in the vein of Shallow Grave and The Ninth Gate to audiences as a simultaneous direct-to-DVD and Blu-ray.

How far would you go to have everything you desire?  Christmas Eve… when a veteran conductor (Glover), a young pre-med student (Sobieski) and a struggling salesman (Zahn) discover a dead body onboard a night train, the three strangers find themselves on a collision course with destiny.  Among the deceased man’s possessions is a mysterious box, which fascinates their attention.  Upon looking inside, they see a treasure so valuable that the three conspire to hide the body and split the fortune themselves.  This decision sets in motion a tense game of obsession and deceit, where greed betrays reason and morality gives way to temptation.  With local authorities at every stop and an assortment of suspicious passengers along for the ride, can the three strangers overcome their fixation with the coveted box or will they delve even deeper into the trenches of depravity?

Bonus features on both the DVD and Blu-ray editions of Night Train include a “Making of” featurette, interviews with the cast and crew, along with the trailer and photo gallery.  The film is presented with Spanish and SDH English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Also featuring Matthias Schweighoefer (The Red Baron, Feardotcom), Geoff Bell (RocknRolla, Scoop) and Richard O’Brien (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dark City) in supporting roles, Night Train was written by and is the feature film directorial debut of Brian King, whose previous screenwriting credits include the film Cypher starring Jeremy Northam and Lucy Liu. The film was shot on location in Bulgaria.  It is rated R by the MPAA for violent content and some language.

Post  your name and Screenhead will pick the winner of Night Train Friday, July 31, 2009

I am looking forward to seeing how the weekend box office will unfold with American firecrackers and fireworks popping off this Saturday night.  I have a feeling from the numbers on Wednesday’s opening of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs indicates the weekend will prove fruitful for the mighty moneymaker of Ice Age franchise.  The kids movie scored the best opening on a Wednesday for an animated feature with $13.8 million, beating the previous holder Shrek 2.

We mustn’t forget Michael Mann’s Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, which got off to a promising start. The period gangster movie tallied an estimated $8.2 million as it opened Wednesday, placing third just under Michael Bay’s Transformers 2.

I am pretty sure that come Sunday Ice Age will still be on top while Transformers fights with the John Dillinger movie for second place.

In today’s most unsurprising bit of news, STYD reports that Sony is planning on releasing a fourth Resident Evil movie dubbed Resident Evil: Afterlife in theaters by September 17, 2010. The site notes that the date is from an internal memo circulating around Sony’s offices. They later updated their article with confirmation that the release date is real.

It’s not surprising to expect a fourth movie after the third one’s ending left the door wide open. As can be inferred from the ending, Afterlife will take place in Tokyo, Japan and possibly a few other international locales with multiple copies of Mila Jovovich fighting it out.

However, it is still not known if W.S. Anderson is onboard to direct, and whether Jovovich herself will reprise her role. But then again, seeing as how all three have been successful so far, everyone is likely to return for a fourth film.

Charlie Day and Christina Applegate are set to go the extra mile with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long in upcoming romantic comedy Going the Distance.

The story follows a couple (Barrymore, Long) trying to maintain a long-distance relationship. Day play Long’s best friend while Applegate will play Barrymore’s sister.

Day is best known for being one of the stars and creators of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He is currently developing a pilot for Fox titled Boldly Going Nowhere. Meanwhile, Applegate comes from the ABC sitcom Samantha Who. She last appeared in The Rocker and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.

The cast of ensemble comedy The Kids Are All Right has been livened up with fresh meat in the forms of Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Hutcherson and Mia Wasikowska.

The film will revolve around a brother and sister (played by Hutcherson and Wasikowska) who set out to find their same-sex parents’ sperm donor (played by Ruffalo). However, the family dynamic is upset when he enters their lives.

Bening and Moore play the parents.

The project has already started shooting with Lisa Cholodenko occupying the seat of the director. It was written by Cholodenko and Stuart Bloomberg.

THR reports that George Gallo is set to direct the indie thriller Columbus Circle from a script he co-wrote with Kevin Pollak, who is also acting in the film.

The film’s cast comprises of Selma Blair, Amy Smart, Jason Lee and Giovanni Ribisi. It will focus on a reclusive heiress (Blair) in an upscale Manhattan apartment building where a detective (Ribisi) shows up to investigate a homicide next door after which a new couple (Smart and Lee) move in. Pollak is set to play the building’s concierge and one of the heiress’ few friends.

Filming will begin this month in Los Angeles. This film marks Pollak’s first stab at writing; he is known for parts in films like The Usual Suspects and A Few Good Men.

Legendary actor Bill Nighy (Underworld, Pirates of the Caribbean) recently sat down with British tabloid The Independent to whom he confirmed that he has landed a role in the final two-part Harry Potter film.

While he doesn’t come out and say the name of the character, Nighy noted that he will be a “goodie”. Many are speculating that the role will be that of Rufus Scrimgeour, the veteran Auror who becomes the Minister of Magic after Cornelius Fudge goes out.

It’s funny to point out that Nighy had previously complained that he was “the only British actor who hasn’t been on Harry Potter.” Well, he just got his wish fulfilled!

The two-part Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is set for release in November 2010 and July 2011.

The Stoning of Soraya M is a movie that promises to tell stories Americans are interested in, especially with the conflicts in Iran currently being headline news. The movie is set in Iran and depicts the plight of women there. The story is compelling and the cultural differences are sure to cause a stir among people worldwide.

The movie is currently playing across the country, but in select theaters. It is based on a true story of hate, violence and the untold story of women in the Mideast. Yet, it is also a story of hope and inspiration. The realty of The Stoning of Soraya M may make it a hard movie to watch for some.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs was released on Wednesday and with it came a cooling effect to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The holiday weekend will allow Ice Age to topple over Transformers’ dazzle affect on audiences. The movie, out by Twentieth Century Fox, is an animated one, sure to draw in more families. It opened in 3993 theaters nationwide on Wednesday and saw an estimated $13.8 million in sales that day alone.

By comparison, the second week of Transformers saw a significant drop on Wednesday, selling only $10,9 million in sales. The movie, though, has sold $240.9 million dollars since it opened a week ago. The battle continues between the two movies over the weekend.

Having worked all these years at Warner Bros, George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures are in final negotiations to sign an exclusive two-year theatrical development and production deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Clooney, in a press release, wrote about his experience at WB, noting that he has “felt like part of a family for almost 20 years,” but that it is finally time to move on.

Despite the new deal, the company still has several projects being worked on at Warner Bros. These include an adaptation of John Grisham’s non-fiction bestseller The Innocent Man and the Iowa presidential primary-set Farragut North based on Beau Willimon’s critically acclaimed play.

They are also working on adapting The Challenge by Aaron Sorkin, Our Brand is Crisis and The Tourist.

So far Megan Fox has played mostly damsel-in-distress type roles, but all that is about to change when she becomes a demon and eats boys at the local high-school in Jennifer’s Body.

A couple of new grainy pictures from the film have popped up online courtesy of Empire and Film School Rejects. They show Fox and her co-star Amanda Seyfried in bloody dresses, looking quite disturbing.

Written by Diablo Cody, the film follows Fox, a mean cheerleader-type, possessed by a demon who starts eating boys at the school. She is to be saved by her best friend (played by Seyfried) who must first escape a correctional facility and go after Nikolai (Adam Brody) and his Satan-worshipping band who are responsible for the demonic transformation.

The film is set for release this Septemer.

Faded action star Christian Slater has turned his attention to television, as he is now in negotiations to star in ABC’s upcoming series The Forgotten.

The series will be a mystery drama revolving around a group of amateur detectives led by a former cop (played by Slater) whose 11-year old daughter was kidnapped three years ago.

A pilot was already shot with British actor Rupert Penry-Jones, who will be replaced by Slater. Another role is being recast also, though no name has been attached yet.

The Forgotten is set to start September 22. This will be Slater’s second appearance on TV after last year’s short-lived NBC spy drama My Own Worst Enemy.