Title: The Cave of Forgotten Dreams Director: Werner Herzog If many modern actors frequently locate a personal commercial sweet spot and then mine that seam for all it’s worth, a lot of directors tend to do the same thing. Only a few filmmakers robustly embrace the sort of eclecticism that marked the careers of their early- and mid-20th century counterparts. After all, they want to continue working, and in an ever-competitive creative arena part of the dance of getting studios and/or financiers to keep giving you lots of money to make films is to have an identifiable “brand” or identity, be it as a peddler of comedy, action or hand-wringing…

The Hollywood Reporter has an exclusive story about Dreamworks’ Martin Luther King biopic project. “The Score” screenwriter Kario Salem has been tapped to write the screenplay; it is stated in the article that he has done three and a half year’s worth of research on the script. Coupled with that amount of work, the film has been in development for years, ever since Dreamworks acquired the life rights to King in 2009. Salem’s other projects include upcoming films “Scarpetta” and “Mavericks”, the latter of which is being directed by Curtis Hanson this summer. Disney’s Touchstone Studios and Warner Brothers are also coming on board to help produce. King’s children–Dexter King,…

The Hollywood Reporter has a bit of interesting news today concerning the impending release of “The Hangover 2″. According to the article, Mike Tyson’s tattoo artist, S. Victor Whitmill, is suing Warner Brothers over the use of the tattoo and also wants an injunction to stop the release of the film over the tattoo used on Ed Helms’ character. The award-winning tattoo artist calls Tyson’s tattoo “one of the most distinctive tattoos in the nation.” The suit further argues the point: “When Mr. Whitmill created the Original Tattoo, Mr. Tyson agreed that Mr. Whitmill would own the artwork and, thus, copyright the Original Tattoo. Warner Bros Entertainment, Inc.–without attempting to…

Disney Pixar has started a new (dubiously tactful) marketing strategy: using the Royal Wedding to promote their upcoming film, “Cars 2″. This is mostly due to, aside from the fact that it’s just plain easy to promote and sell things using the Royal Couple, that the cars in the film go around Europe and Asia in an espionage-meets-”Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift” action-adventure film. The poster, featured below, shows Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) decorated with flowers for the wedding (or for something). Above and around him are streamers and confetti, Big Ben, and other locales in London. This blogger is probably one of the few who actually like the princes–well,…

Title: The Double Hour Director: Giuseppe Capotondi Starring: Filippo Timi, Ksenia Rappoport, Antonia Truppo, Gaetano Bruno, Fausto Russo Alesi, Michele Di Mauro A sort of poison pill for arthouse enjoyers of square-jawed foreign film literalism, Italian import The Double Hour, which scored three top prizes at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, is a woozy and engaging romantic mystery loosely in the vein of Wicker Park, Swimming Pool or even Jacob’s Ladder. It’s not for all tastes, but the movie’s superlative lead performances give it an undeniable hold. The film starts out as a seemingly fairly straightforward drama of lonely hearts disengagment. At a speed-dating event, mousey, unhappy hotel maid Sonia (Ksenia Rappoport) meets the mysterious Guido (Filippo Timi), who turns…

Title: Earthwork Writer-director: Chris Ordal Starring: John Hawkes, James McDaniel, Zach Grenier, Laura Kirk, Bruce MacVittie, Chris Bachand, Sam Greenlee, Brendon Glad Wiry and kind of owlish at the same time, looking a bit like the physical model for the animated character of Scrat from the “Ice Age” films, John Hawkes is a bonafide character actor — someone whose face a lot of filmgoers might recognize, but not quite be able to place. That’s in the process of changing. Hawkes has had success and glowing media notices before (Miranda July’s “Me and You and Everyone We Know” was the darling of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival), but achieved a whole…

Another weekend packed with new movies, another Shockya.com giveaway! Checking out Dylan Dog: Dead of Night or are you just a fan of the Italian comic book? We’ve got something for you! In honor of the film’s release this weekend, we’re giving away a Dylan Dog Dark Horse Film Book as well as a poster signed by star Sam Huntington and director Kevin Munroe. Huntington plays Dylan Dog’s (Brandon Routh) undead sidekick, Marcus, and also starred alongside Routh in Superman Returns. As for Munroe, you might have caught his last film, TMNT, the latest in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle series and the first to be done entirely with CGI….

Today Google celebrated the wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton with a new doodle. Replacing the Google logo on the search engine’s home page, the illustration below features a horse-drawn carriage carrying a newlywed couple through London. A crowd celebrates the wedding in the streets with a cloud of red, white and blue confetti. The royal couple married at Westminster Abbey at 11 am local time. Middleton, who is now known as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, wore a wedding dress designed by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. She choose Burton because she wanted to combine tradition and modernity. The white dress featured a 110 inch train. The wedding reception…

More Gaga news! A few minutes ago, Lady Gaga’s fans, aka “Little Monsters”, unlocked the second sneak peek in HBO’s Countdown to Gaga Facebook App. The special reveal was Gaga singing a rendition of “Born this Way: Acapella in Concert.” Don’t check anywhere else on the internet for this video, as it’s not available anywhere else online, except right here, so this is EXCLUSIVE TO SHOCKYA. You can see the video here. Yesterday, Shockya reported that Lady Gaga fans had the opportunity to Gaga-ize their Facebook profile and unlock the next sneak peek from the upcoming HBO concert event, “Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden”….

Title: Fast Five Director: Justin Lin Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Dwayne Johnson Many action sequels today fail to captivate their audiences because the studios care more about capitalizing on their successful predecessors, instead of further developing their characters or creating any new, original stunts. However, the new action film ‘Fast Five’ proves it’s unique in the fact that the cast still cares about, and relate to, their characters and their stories. The series’ returning director, Justin Lin, who helmed the previous two installments, also honored the original ‘The Fast and the Furious’ by truly focusing on how the characters interact with each…