Title: Big Miracle Director: Ken Kwapis Starring: Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Ted Danson, John Pingayak, Tim Blake Nelson, Kristen Bell, Ahmaogak Sweeney, Vinessa Shaw Well, check your heart at the door but feel free to bring in your selfish urges. Big Miracle uses the back-drop of a heartwarming true tale and blasts you with greedy human nature for the majority of the 107 minutes. And you know what, that’s a pretty admirable approach for the genre. Now eventually the warm-fuzzy stuff eventually does find its way into this adaptation of the 1988 news story that captured the world’s attention. Yet instead of going all Free Willy and/or Dolphin Tale on…

Title: Big Miracle Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Ken Kwapis Screenwriter: Jack Amiel, Michael Begler, from Thomas Rose’s book “Free the Whales” Cast: Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Kristen Bell, Dermot Mulroney, Tim Blake Nelson, Vinessa Shaw, Ted Danson Screened at: Sony Lincoln Square, NYC, 1/30/12 Opens: February 3, 2012 Politics makes strange bedfellows. Who would have thought that so many individuals with different cultures and conflicting ideologies could unify in the remote northern regions of Alaska, all working toward the same goals albeit for different reasons? Ken Kwapis does a great job in recreating what must have been covered in one way or another by the National Geographic Channel, employing…

Drew Barrymore sparkled in a Giles & Brother’s Archer Necklace while she promoted her upcoming drama, ‘Big Miracle,’ on ‘The Colbert Report’ on January 26, 2012. The actress matched the sleek, modern necklace with a tailored black jacket and white shirt. Giles & Brothers is the high fashion costume line of Philip Crangi, and is a favorite among such celebrities as Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, Natalie Portman, Rachel McAdams and Julianne Moore. Crangi is an acclaimed, Swarovski Award-winning designer who launched his company in 2001 with his sister and business partner, Courtney Crangi. Besides Giles & Brother, they also produce a fine jewelry collection, Philip Crangi. The collections are known…

The theme of this week’s Cheat Sheet? Casting. Well, for the most part. We’ve got the best of the best including J.J. Abrams’ hopes to cast Benicio del Toro as his villain in Star Trek 2 as well as a slew of potential recruits for Warner Bros’ Akira. It’s been confirmed that Jennifer Lopez is producing a Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego movie, but now the question is, will she star in it, too? Then there’s Andy Serkis who just earned a solid paycheck for signing on for Rise of the Planet of the Apes 2 as well as subsequent Apes films. Yes, this Cheat Sheet is certainly…

Happy holiday, Shockya.com readers! As you’ve still got a few hours until the fireworks and BBQs begin, why not catch up on your week of movie news? This week’s Movie News Cheat Sheet is absolutely brimming with sequels. Not only is the Toy Story franchise likely to continue, but Thor and Red are poised for seconds, too. As for the sequels already in production, we’ve got a roundup of the latest out of the The Dark Knight Rises set as well as an update on Paramount’s casting effort for G.I. Joe 2: Cobra Strikes. Justifying all of this sequel buzz, Transformers: Dark of the Moon proves that franchises do pack…

Title: Going the Distance Directed By: Nanette Burstein Starring: Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Christina Applegate You’d think it’d be nearly impossible to make a decent romantic comedy with all the genre garbage we get every year. Look at all the junk we’ve already suffered through in 2010: Leap Year, When in Rome, The Bounty Hunter, The Back-up Plan, Killers and more. What it comes down to is that we’ve basically seen it all before and it’s just not funny anymore. Now what we’re left with is exaggerated versions of those overused gags making them even less amusing and more annoying. However, Going the Distance takes a…

After decades of speculation not one, but two new Wizard of Oz films are seemingly coming together. It was recently announced that Robert Downey Jr. could star in the origin story Oz The Great and Powerful and now there are rumblings that Surrender Dorothy is taking a major step forward as well. As reported by Pajiba, Surrender Dorothy will be Drew Barrymore’s second go-around behind the lens. The film was first announced back in 1999 with Barrymore collaborating with producer Robert Kosberg. Then, in 2002, word got out that Barrymore was set to star. The project still calls Warner Brothers and Barrymore’s Flower Films home, but there’s no word on…

The Quentin Tarantino-helmed war movie ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and the hit NBC sitcom ’30 Rock’ were the most honored at the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild (or SAG) Awards ceremony on January 23, which was presented at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony, which is unique in the fact that all winners are voted on by SAG members and only awards actors and actresses, handed the first award for film to Christoph Waltz of ‘Inglourious Basterds.’ He won the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role trophy, which is a statuette of a man holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of…

Here’s the complete winners list for the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards 2010 held on January 23rd, 2010 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role JEFF BRIDGES / Bad Blake – “CRAZY HEART” (Fox Searchlight Pictures) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role SANDRA BULLOCK / Leigh Anne Tuohy – “THE BLIND SIDE” (Warner Bros. Pictures) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role CHRISTOPH WALTZ / COL. Hans Landa – “INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS” (The Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role MO’NIQUE / Mary –…

Check out the latest movie poster from the upcoming comedy “Everybody’s Fine” by director Kirk Jones and starring Robert De Niro (Meet the Fockers Sequel, Machete), Kate Beckinsale (Vacancy, Click), Drew Barrymore (Going the Distance, 50 First Dates, Charlie’s Angels), Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) and Lucien Maisel. Synopsis: “Everybody’s Fine,” a remake of Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Stanno Tutti Bene,” follows a widower (De Niro) who embarks on an impromptu road trip to reconnect with each of his grown children only to discover that their lives are far from picture perfect. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Everybody’s Fine”.