James Gandolfini

I wanted The Taking of Pelham 123 to be great, or at least kinda fun — full of thrills and interesting characters with a few little one-liners tossed in. Expecting too much? Maybe. But I was disappointed nonetheless because it turns out this movie is predictable and forgettable. It managed to keep my attention for a while, but mostly it's just blah.

For the most part, what you see in the trailers is what you get, in terms of plot: A crazy guy who wants to be called Ryder (John Travolta) hijacks a subway car in New York and he demands millions of dollars in exchange for the hostages' lives. He tells the dispatcher, Walter Garber (Denzel Washington), that the mayor (played a sleazy New Yorker to a "T") has one hour to get Ryder the money and for every minute they're late after the hour, he's going to kill a hostage. Ryder becomes attached to Garber and he forces Garber's secrets to come to light during their interactions, which everyone in the Garber's room can hear — including his boss and the mayor of New York. Ultimately Ryder wants Garber to deliver the money personally, and then we wait to see whether or not Garber can stop Ryder from continuing on with his plans once he gets the money. For more of my thoughts, read more

The Tribeca Film Festival isn't the only celebration of cinema taking place this week. Right here in San Francisco, the San Francisco International Film Festival is underway, and it's got a long list of great movies lined up.

One of those is In the Loop, a British satire about the run-up to war. The film pokes fun at inept decision making on both sides of the pond, with a midlevel bumbling UK government minister, a self-important US official, a couple of rookie political aides, and a puffed-up Pentagon general combining for a comedy of errors (upon errors, upon errors, upon errors).

Fans of British comedy may already be familiar with one character, Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), the raging, curse-word-happy director of communications, who's a main player on the series The Thick of It (which was actually turned into a US TV pilot with Mich Hurwitz and Christopher Guest a couple of years back). Other cast members include James Gandolfini, Mimi Kennedy, and My Girl's Anna Chlumsky. The film will open in the US in July, and to check out the trailer, just read more

In The Taking of Pelham 123, Denzel Washington plays city employee Zachary Garber who gets tangled up in a dangerous hostage situation when armed men take over a subway train and try to negotiate money in exchange for releasing the trapped New Yorkers. John Travolta plays the mean mastermind behind the whole thing who gets to know Zachary Garber fairly well during their little back-and-forth.

Have you seen the original 1974 film The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw? The trailer for this remake is pretty heart-poundingly intense, actually. I'm curious to see this come June 12. What about you?

To check out the trailer, read more

• Photos from James Gandolfini's weekend wedding! — JustJared
• Tiger Woods and his wife Elin are expecting baby number two! — lilsugar
• Did Pete Doherty OD in Austria? — D-Listed
• Madonna and Guy pose awkwardly — Lainey Gossip
• Kevin Spacey gets frisky with another man — popeater
• Will Emmanuelle Chriqui be part of your Entourage? — Hollywood Tuna
• There may be a Josh Hartnett sex tape — Hollywood Rag
• Helen Mirren has some controversial opinions — IDLYITW
• Michael Jackson is pretty? — cityrag
• Lots more photos of Britney chilling poolside — Egotastic
• Heidi Montag releases yet another single — MollyGood
• Kiefer Sutherland is wet and wild — Pink Is the New Blog

• Sarah Palin confirmed her 17-year-old daughter Bristol is five months pregnant and marrying the father of her child. — CitizenSugar
• Tropic Thunder took the top spot at the box office again this weekend with $14.3 million. Babylon A.D. earned $12 million at number two, and The Dark Knight came in third to cross the $500 million mark on Sunday. — BuzzSugar
• David Duchovny's sex addiction is rumored to be about porn and not an extramarital affair. His wife, Tea Leoni, has canceled her appearance at the Toronto Film Festival. — Fox News
• A man has been arrested in London after attempting to sell intimate photographs of Prince William and Kate Middleton from a camera he says he found but is believed to have been stolen. — The Sun
• Jude Law is visiting Afghanistan to promote Peace Day on Sept. 21. He has been helping director Jeremy Gilley in a documentary called The Day After Peace. — AP
• James Gandolfini married Deborah Lin on Saturday at Central Union Church in Honolulu. — People
• Don LaFontaine, the main voiceover man in Hollywood, died yesterday in Cedars-Sinai hospital following complications from a collapsed lung. — BuzzSugar
• Amy Winehouse might suffer from brain damage after having two major drug overdoses in the past year. She is also facing legal action after canceling her appearance at a French music festival two hours before she was scheduled to perform. — Daily Mail

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• Chris Noth is leaving Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Jeff Goldblum is joining the show in his place, writes Variety.
• Bob Saget is the newest target of a Comedy Central roast, reports Broadcasting & Cable.
• Musicians and fans gathered in London to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, the AP writes.
• Showtime is producing a Dexter-ish drama called Hilary Jones about a female Los Angeles cop who works as a prostitute on the weekends, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
• According to ComingSoon, Marcia Cross's first feature film role since joining Desperate Housewives will be in an indie comedy titled Peck.
• Bravo's Real Housewives series is heading to Atlanta; details are at The Futon Critic.
• James Gandolfini's wardrobe from The Sopranos raised almost $188,000 at a charity auction benefiting soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Associated Press reports.
• Variety has the news that the excellent Korean horror-thriller The Host will be getting a sequel.

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• James Gandolfini is selling his Sopranos costumes to benefit a nonprofit organization that helps severely wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the AP reports.
• Speaking of charity, ABC, CBS and NBC will set aside an hour on September 5 to simulcast a fundraiser for cancer research, according to the AP.
• ComingSoon has the news that Ewan McGregor will be joining Hilary Swank and Richard Gere in the Amelia Earhart biopic.
• According to Billboard, the original members of Simple Minds will hit the recording studio next month for the first time in 27 years.
• Zap2It reports that ABC's comedy pilot Roman's Empire (produced by Ashton Kutcher) found a lead: Kelsey Grammer.
• Brandon Routh, Sophia Bush, Jesse Bradford and several others have been cast in the comedic movie Table for Three, writes Variety.
• Paul McCartney was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Yale over the weekend, Billboard reports.

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