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Click for a classic Lucille Austero moment.

If Arrested Development comes back, Lucille II wants in. That's right. Liza Minnelli, who famously played Bluth family rival/siren Lucille Austero, has told the New York Daily News that she wants to be part of the Arrested Development movie. Who knows if producers will heed her request, but finding a place for her in the movie would certainly be, as Lucille Austero would say, a grand gesture. Let's just hope this project moves forward as planned (stoking the flames of internet buzz...).

• MINNELLI HOPES FOR ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT FILM CAMEO [Contact Music]

What's your favorite Lucille II moment/quote?

I'm not playing a trick — er, illusion — on you. The long-rumored Arrested Development movie has been confirmed by Jason Bateman. Details are still murky (they're witholding. Look at them, getting off...) but according to The Times, it appears as though the Bluth family is coming to the big screen sometime next year. Now, I won't get too excited, as relying on a British paper for a Hollywood scoop can be a bit perilous; however, the mere prospect of this project becoming a reality gives me a case of the Lucille Austero dizzies.

If you haven't jumped onto the Arrested Development bandwagon yet (C'MON!), it's never too late. HDNet airs the reruns every day, and of course, there are the DVDs. Take it from me, a relatively late convert, the more you watch, the better it gets.

• WHAT A 'FUN, SEXY TIME' FOR US: JASON BATEMAN CONFIRMS 'ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT' MOVIE TO SHOOT NEXT YEAR [Defamer]

New York Times film critic A.O. Scott is not a big fan of The Love Guru. Here's an excerpt from his review:

The movie’s takeaway catchphrase is “Mariska Hargitay,” which is used by the title character as a fake-Hindi spiritual greeting. This is almost hilarious the first 11 or so times he does it, but by the time Guru Pitka (Mr. Myers) says “Mariska Hargitay” to Ms. Hargitay herself, it’s somehow less amusing than it should be.

Which might sum up “The Love Guru” in its entirety but only at the risk of grievously understating the movie’s awfulness. A whole new vocabulary seems to be required. To say that the movie is not funny is merely to affirm the obvious. The word “unfunny” surely applies to Mr. Myers’s obnoxious attempts to find mirth in physical and cultural differences but does not quite capture the strenuous unpleasantness of his performance. No, “The Love Guru” is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again.

Ouch. Very ouch.

• Just Say 'Mariska Hargitay' and Snicker [NY Times]

What happens when you take audio from the Woody Allen masterpiece Manhattan and pair it with the video from the Jim Henson masterpiece Muppets Take Manhattan? Nothing less than sheer brilliance.

Via Gawker

If you're a red-blooded Amurican, chances are you devoted a few hours this weekend to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and chances are that you also emerged from it with a strong opinion. About three-quarters of the people I spoke with felt the movie was disappointing, and everyone else was more in my camp: eh, it was fun.

My thoughts after the jump...

It's been a while since I've posted about dead celebrities. This is mostly due to laziness, but a small part of me also didn't like seeing the "death" and "sad" tags having such prominent places in my tag cloud. (IndianJones, meanwhile, is eager to have his name ascend beyond the lower tier, but that's another story). Anyway, the breaking news is that Academy Award winning director Sydney Pollack has died at the age of 73 from cancer.

Pollack directed such classics as Tootsie and Out Of Africa, but beyond that, he was also a gifted actor, clocking in face time in Michael Clayton, Eyes Wide Shut, and Husbands and Wives, among others. The latter movie I just saw for the first time about four days ago; so as you can imagine, there's been a lot of Sydney Pollack on the brain.

For more information, click here.

Is it me, or does Prince Caspian look like his proper title might actually be Countess? And maybe instead of Caspian, his name might be, oh, I don't know, LUANN? I can't help but feel that when this high-cheekboned, cleft-chinned hero isn't slaying dragons and other mythical foes, he's spending his free time playing tennis with Jill and praying he doesn't do anything to upset THE COUNT. At the very least, we know he's certainly not having dinner with his son Noel (as if he would ever DEIGN to participate in Taco Night).

I wish I had a better picture of LuAnn to compare with, but for those who are familiar with her face, don't tell me you don't see her all over Prince Caspian (a.k.a. Ben Barnes). Am I plumb loco?

• Susan Sarandon's skin looks nice.

• Hey, there's the paralyzed guy from Friday Night Lights.

• This is sort of weird.

• I like that random hand-drawn sequence.

• I never watched the original series; so nostalgia is not making this more enjoyable.

• The animé fans are going to be so annoying about this.

• There's something sort of fun about this hyperkinetic, colorful clip. But I don't want to see two hours and fifteen minutes worth of it.

• This sort of looks like Mario Kart.

• I'm gonna buy Mario Kart this weekend.

• I'm sick of fanboy cinema.

What are your thoughts?

Anthony Minghella, Oscar-winning director of the tear-jerker epics The English Patient and Cold Mountain — among others — died today from a massive surgery-related hemorrhage. He was only 54. No word on yet on funeral arrangements, but I'm sure they'll be SWEEPING (and possibly involving Juliet Binoche). For more information on this sad turn of events, click here.

"Bitch, these humans are a hot ghetto mess up in here!"

The Terminator franchise took a bizarre turn when it was reimagined as cute, little cupcakes, and now BWE notes that the brand has stepped into new territory once again. Basically, if you've ever wondered what would happen if Christian from Project Runway and John Connor had a love child, BWE has the answer:

• The Evolution of Terminator's John Connor [Best Week Ever]

The 2007 Oscar nominations were released today, and overall there really weren't too many surprises. Yeah, Sweeney Todd didn't nab Best Picture or Best Director, but that wasn't a total shock. I'm still pulling for No Country for Old Men over There Will Be Blood (which was totally snubbed in the Original Score department). I'm hoping to check out more of the nominated films over the next few weeks, but I have to admit that I'm not totally looking forward to the process. Atonement looks like it might be a chore-and-a-half to sit through, but then again, it might wind up being the best unintentional comedy of the year. I mean, when a movie is full of that much British stuffiness, it can't help but to be a royal romp.

The full list of all the nominees, courtesy of Oscars.org, after the jump...

I was a little bored today; so I decided to make a trailer mash-up of the upcoming Katherine Heigl film, 27 Dresses. I don't want to give away too much more than that, but for those of you who know me, this is the video I've been aching to make ever since I first got into blogging nearly four years ago. Enjoy.

Since it's both raining and the end of the week, I decided to treat myself to an afternoon viewing of the film that many critics are happily plopping on their Top Ten lists like a bucketful of sweet, sweet crude oil. I am, of course, talking about There Will Be Blood, the latest epic feature from acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis in an excellent performance that will surely net him an Oscar nomination (let alone a win), the film focuses on an oil man's rise to power at the turn of the twentieth century and all the dangerous, turbulent drama that comes with it. I won't get into the plot too much, but suffice it to say, at a running time of over two and a half hours, there's plenty of story to go around.

On paper, everything about There Will Be Blood works: the acting is fantastic, the direction is artistic, and the script is full of those academic conceits that get critics going: parallelism, paradoxes, allegories, social commentary, historic reflection, etc. etc. There's no arguing that this is definitely a movie of substance with lots to discuss and debate. The problem, however, is that at the end of the day, it failed to be that most elusive quality in storytelling: engaging. The film's emotional component seemed to be nearly absent, despite several well-drawn and thought-provoking characters. "Thought-provoking," perhaps though, is the central issue. Too often I found myself in a cerebral state: frequently thinking about the director's artistic vision and choices rather than merely being swept away in this fascinating —  but ultimately cold and distant — world. I never was bored, per se, by the film, but I didn't always find myself caring too greatly about the outcome either. And no, it's not that I suffer from some sort of anti-intellectualism that mandates movies be ninety minutes long and clearly spelled out for me. Heck, I loved Magnolia, even with its controversial, amphibious climax. The point is that despite all the hype the nations top critics have been stirring up, There Will Be Blood falls just short of its accolades. It's worth seeing, no doubt, and several hours later, I'm still thinking about it, but would I bestow this film with a Best Picture honor? Sadly, no.

Agree? Disagree? What do you think? (And please remember to warn of spoilers if you're going to talk about, well, spoilers).