Source: Superhero Hype!

WhySoSerious.com/ItsAllPartofthePlan has been updated!

You can click on the picture of each president to clearly display the name of a city and you get a countdown clock (similar to a doomsday style countdown for a bomb timer, etc.)

The information for each president portrait is:

Boston - Benjamin Franklin ($100 bill)
Los Angeles - Dwight D Eisenhower ($1 coin, issued from 1971 - 1978)
Philadelphia - Thomas Jefferson ($2 bill;nickel)
Chicago - Andrew Jackson ($20 bill)
Dallas - Grover Cleveland ($1000 bill)
Seattle - James Madison ($5000 bill)
New York - Abraham Lincoln ($5 bill; penny)
Kansas City - George Washington $1 bill; quarter)
Toronto - John F Kennedy (Half dollar coin)
San Francisco - Ulysses Grant ($50 bill)
London - Woodrow Wilson ($100,000 bill)
Sao Paulo - Alexander Hamilton ($10 bill

This is the currency info each President is linked to, so something may be going down at a bank, etc. when the countdown expires, maybe a location or other instructions will be posted!

Starring: John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris
Director: Jon Hurwitz and Hay Schlossberg
Release Date: April 25, 2008
Running Time: 102 min
MPAA Rating: R
Distributor: Warner Bros

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Review by Jeremy Welsch

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Man, these guys have had a rough couple of days.

Picking up immediately at the end of the first movie, Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay does not waste any time getting back into the story. Having just professed his affection for his neighbor Maria, Harold (John Cho) decides he and Kumar (Kal Penn) need a vacation. This is a stoner movie, so it makes sense that they end up trying to go to Amsterdam. Each of the guys has his own agenda for wanting to be there. Harold doesn’t want to be apart from Maria, who just happens to be there on business, and Kumar wants to be for the same reason as most of the people who travel there: legal marijuana. So here we are, staring down the barrel of inevitability at the sequel to a story about a couple of pot smokers as they head off to Amsterdam. The very idea is obvious and lame. But lo and behold! Something original happens - they don’t make it there. Why? Because Kumar cannot wait for landing to partake in his favorite herbal enhancement and somewhere along the way they are suspected of being terrorists and get sent to Guantanamo Bay.

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With only one week to go before the release of Iron Man and the official start of the summer movie season, this week's offering of new releases is understandably light on quality. Really, only two films will be fighting for ticket dollars this weekend. Baby Mama should take care of the female audience and on the other side of the coin we get Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. (Hey, I told you it was a light weekend.) It does, however, provide an opportunity to take a closer look at a hit-or-miss subgenre of comedy – the stoner movie.

The American tradition known as the stoner movie is less concerned about providing movies to get stoned to than showing a day in the life and (high) times of the everyday pot smoker. Thematically, they are all cut from the same cloth: a laid-back group of guys are sent on an arbitrarily ridiculous quest of self-described nobility with their drug of choice taking center stage. More often than not, these movies are awful, even to their target audience, but a lot of them seem to gather a cult following anyway. I guess everything is funnier when you’re high. For the record, The Wizard of Oz with Dark Side of the Moon missed the cut… but just barely.

tMF Top Five – Best Stoner Movies
By Jeremy Welsch

Today and every Wednesday, tMF will have a weekly update on The Buzz! Young Actors Making Waves, as a way of spotlighting the amazing talents featured here at tMF, and to update you on their latest projects, awards and more. In this edition, we present these five amazing young actors!

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Top French actor Romain Duris is one of France's most consistent and talented performers. He is simply incredible in both contemporary and period movies - The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Molier, Dans Paris, and The Spanish Apartment, among others. This time, he stars in a film entitled simply Paris. More from the Buzz [ click for the article ]

Andrew Garfield had no expectations that he'd win at the BAFTAS. Apparently, he was wrong! [ click for the article ]

Fans can't seem to get enough of Robert Pattinson! While we await the release of Twilight to see if he is really talented, there's also news that he can actually write music!

“I was doing music before I started acting, so I still have bits and pieces, and I’ve been playing in Portland [during the shoot],” he revealed. “I’ve been trying to write an album for years and years.” [ click for the article ]

Casey Affleck, one of the most amazing actors in 2007, continues to find great roles to further his already great acting career. In this article, we recall exactly what made Affleckv one of last year's most notable actors, and here's just an excerpt:

"I'm not sure exactly when Casey Affleck became such a good actor," wrote critic Manohla Dargis in The New York Times. "One of the unusual things about his performance as Ford was its lack of sentimentality; he didn't plead the character's case or remind us of his own humanity … most actors want you to love them, but Casey Affleck doesn't seem to know that, or maybe he doesn't care." [ click for the article ]

And finally, another tMF favorite and a really, really top Hollywood talent, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This time, it's all fun for Joe, and with Claudia Schiffer, it could even get naughty! [ click for the article ]

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While many have been surprised (or even shocked!) by the apparently huge following of the series, one thing is quite clear - the fans of the book and its sequels are quite diverse and it would be a mistake to say that they are only composed of young females.

To provide viewers with a deeper insight into the Twilight fandom (and a glimpse into the personalities of some of its leading fans), we conducted a series of inteviews where we asked them questions like why the book is such a big favorite, their thoughts about its author, the upcoming movie adaptation, and much more.

Here we present four interviews, showing you just who these Twilight fans are...

The Lexicon Story | A Twilight Mom's Perspective | Kimmy and 'His Golden Eyes' | Ana Speaks!

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Some Inside Stories: We're thrilled that the amazing owners and admins of these leading Twilight sites were willing to talk to us, and once you've read the interviews, you'll appreciate the kind of effort and dedication they have invested in the promotion of Ms. Meyer's books. We also included the perspective of someone who is not affiliated with any Twilight sites, someone who is simply a fan.

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STARmeter rankings provide a snapshot of who's popular based on the searches of millions of IMDb users. Updated weekly, these rankings also graph the popularity of people over time and determine which events affect public awareness.

That's from  IMDb itself and what Starmeter is all about - it lists the most popular movie actors based on viewers' IMDb searches. Films are also ranked according to the same formula, and IMDb refers to the rankings as the MovieMeter.

As of my latest view, Twilight the movie is currently ranked #14. The Dark Knight is ranked higher at #8 while the next Harry Potter movie is at #32. I'm not really surprised that Twilight is ahead of the latest Potter film. Apart from Meyer's latest book outperforming Rowling's, tMF recently closed a poll where the lead actors of these two films, Daniel Radcliffe and Robert Pattinson, were the actors who received the most number of votes. Pattinson emerged as the big winner.

I often used Starmeter to look out for 'emerging talents' - as we like to call these young actors and actresses who seem to be generating a lot of buzz - so that I can write profiles or an article about them. Right now, Taylor Lautner, the new guy playing the role of Jacob Black in Twilight, is currently #1 in the rankings. Kristen Stewart, who plays Bella Swan is at #3, while Robert Pattinson, her leading man is at #5.

At the moment,  the IMDb Starmeter itself is quite getting a share of the buzz!

A recent slashfilm article entitled What Is Twilight? And Is It The Next Harry Potter? is now the subject of a controversy between fans of Stephenie Meyer's book Twilight and regular and most definitely wondering viewers of the famous movie blog. Says slashfilm:

Twilight is actually the 14th most searched movie on the internet according to IMDbPro’s moviemeter. Twilight ranks higher than Sex and the City: The Movie, The Incredible Hulk, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Speed Racer, and even Indiana Jones 4. Even more surprising is that the film’s 18 listed cast members make up most of the top 30 searched stars on the web (look at the numbers to the right on the IMDB screenshot below). How could this be? [ read complete post here ]

One reader who is definitely not a Twilight fan wrote this in part, and I quote:

This website is about movies. Indiana Jones, Terminator, The Hulk. Those are the other blog entries right now. Twilight may be the best damn book on the planet, but what we care about here is the movie. In comparison to the movies I just mentioned, how do you think it will do? From what I’ve seen this thing is going the way of Eragon so perhaps you should more careful of who you hate on, k?

Perhaps part 3 of our Twilight series might be one good reference point? I find the reference to Eragon an open invitation to actually join in the fun, as you might see me commenting on the article itself, and why not?

Starring: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand
Director: Nicholas Stroller
Release Date: April 18, 2008
Running Time: 110 min
MPAA Rating: R
Distributor: Universal Pictures

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Review by Jeremy Welsch

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Forgetting Sarah Marshall is the latest apple to fall from the Judd Apatow family tree of comedy films. For anyone who might have spent the last few years underground preparing for Y2K, this tree comprises a group of friends who take turns writing, directing, and/or starring in each other's movies, all packaged and shipped with the Apatow seal of approval. I guess that makes this movie Knocked Up’s baby brother. Or first cousin. I don’t know which. It’s sort of like the mafia, only instead of getting whacked, we get penis jokes. I'm sure there is a joke in there somewhere but I’m too tired to write it.

Either way, this movie stays true to the golden formula perfected by the Apatow Family over the past few years – focus on a group of men far more immature than their chronological ages, force them to deal with some level of reality in their respective circumstance and see how they react. It is the textbook definition of, well, textbook, but it is also real life in the sense that at some point, every man struggles with his own evolution into adulthood. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is no different.

Mora than just a Pretty Boy
tMF profiles one of Canada’s most talented and appealing young actors, Kevin Zegers.
By Jed Medina

With more than 50 film and TV roles to his credit, 19-year-old Kevin Zegers was about to call it quits and say goodbye to acting. Sounds unbelievable right? How can someone as young as he have done so much work? Well, if you know that Kevin Zegers started acting at the age of seven, then you won’t be surprised at all.

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"It wasn't that I'd had enough. But I sort of said, it's going to get a lot more difficult now that I'm older, now that I'm the age I am - in my early 20s," he says. Then I did Transamerica and it just sort of changed the way I looked at my career. That's when I made the decision - okay, this is what I'm good at, this is what excites me."

Now aged 23, the young actor continues to pursue his acting career, having proven he has what it takes.

In today’s box office dynamics, it’s not the production values or artistic merit of a movie that determine its success. It’s the film studio/distributor’s ability to spend money advertising and promoting the film. That’s why independent movies find it hard to capture a big audience: they simply can’t afford to market their movies.

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How much money are we talking about here? Well, big studios spend millions of dollars promoting big summer blockbusters. If spending $75million on the production of a franchise feature, let’s say for example Spider Man, then a similar amount (or 75 to 80 percent) will probably be funneled towards promoting the movie.

Right now, traditional media outlets (TV, magazines, newspapers & radio) are becoming more and more obsolete as moviegoers start to rely on websites to give them the latest in movie news. With the web’s global reach and the advent of social networking, a number of recently released films, such as Cloverfield, owe their success to the web. Some of the year’s most anticipated movies have already begun to ‘test the waters’ and engaged in what is now known as ‘viral marketing’. The most notable of these are Christopher Nolan’s new Batman movie, The Dark Knight and the latest in the Indiana Jones franchise.

In Part 3 of our Twilight series, we get doubly serious (and hopefully not too boring) as we examine what Twilight’s formula for both box office gold and critical acclaim might be.

[ Author's note: This is the part of the series that I'm most proud of. It's very challenging to do the research and to pick the actors from the supporting cast who will make it big. ]

Twilight fans have been relentlessly emailing tMF for the past two days about doing more interviews with influential Twilighters. We're always willing to go the extra mile and in this case, tMF will aim to exceed your expectations! Here are just two samples, but both interview excerpts are definitely worth your while!

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At first I didn’t want to read the books because vampires aren’t my thing. In fact as a child they terrified me to the point my mother once found her garlic powder on my bedroom windowsill. Lori, however, is really persistent and got me to read the story, and I loved it. The next thing I know, she tells me, “You’re not going to believe this but the author reviewed my fan fiction, I’ve talked to her on the phone, and we had a great conversation about the back stories of the characters.” I think my response was, “Wait. Back-up. You talked to the author?” The next thing I know we are building a website and had plans to meet Stephenie in person about two months later (May 2006) when she was at Book Expo in Washington DC. So we started the website and I remember being amazed at how fast it grew.

Laura Byrne-Cristiano, Co-Owner, The Twilight Lexicon

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I have never been affected by a book like this before. There have been a handful of books that have impacted my life but none that have turned my life upside down. I was never into vampires or fantasy or anything like that. I like realistic stories and lots of romance. What Stephenie Meyer has done is completely recreated the vampire and werewolf as we have known them for hundreds of years. She has made them "real". When I have co workers trying to razz me about my "vampire books" I find myself correcting them. When they mention crosses, or garlic, or fangs my natural response is, "That's just a myth... REAL vampires aren't affected by crosses or garlic. And REAL vampires don't even have fangs... duh!" Stephenie has redefined the vampire and werewolf in a way that we romanticize them in a good "super hero" type of way instead of a dark and scary gothic kind of way. Her characters and stories are believable. They are realistic. It's that sense of reality that has caused a reawakening of that feeling of intense love we felt when we fell in love.

Lisa Hansen, TwilightMOMS.com - Creator/Admin

I really hope it's the last time we hear 'Can't they do an interview with a bona fide Twilighter?"

Stay tuned for the full interview transcripts.

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What does Hollywood have to offer her? Sad to say, it’s more of the same. More often than not, women are relegated to throw-away roles: the Supportive Wife/Girlfriend, the Conniving Bitch, the Damsel in Distress.

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Special report by RJ Keller

1967. My mother, then in her late teens, sat in a darkened theater, awed and enthralled by the spectacle of a Jazz Age woman making her own way in the work place, overcoming body image issues, and generally living her life on her own terms. “Beat the drums,” the heroine sang, “‘cause here comes Thoroughly Modern Millie now.” The drumming came to a sudden halt for my mother shortly before fade-out, however, as Millie--immediately after exposing and taking down a human trafficking ring--murmured these words to her fiancéé: “I don’t want to be your equal anymore. I want to be a woman.”

Starring: Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey
Director: Carter Smith
Release Date: April 4, 2008
Running Time: 91 min
MPAA Rating: R
Distributor: Dreamworks Pictures

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Review by Jeremy Welsch

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Within the horror genre, the idea of young Americans being terrorized while on vacation doesn't break any new ground. This setting has been around almost since the inception of the genre, having been explored as early on as Friday the 13th. What is it about the concept that makes it such a good, if slightly overused setting? Well, at the core of any good horror movie is the idea of playing against people's common fears. Being on vacation automatically puts people on the defensive because they are out of their element. From flying to get there in the first place to simply being around people they don’t know, the vacation setting can be a breeding ground for good horror.

But as with any successfully used screenwriting device, 'young Americans encountering danger on vacation' is becoming clichéd. We’ve seen it used very well (Open Water, Deliverance, and, most recently, The Descent – my vote for the best horror movie of the decade) - and we’ve seen it used poorly (Hostel, Wolf Creek, and Turistas). As much as they all have the commonality of playing against basic human fears, the Hostels of the world have opted to ride the latest flavor of the moment and splatter gallons of blood across the screen in lieu of telling a compelling story. Don’t get me wrong: getting chopped to bits in a foreign country is probably pretty scary if it is happening to you, but for sheer watchability, call me crazy, I need something more.

Ask and you shall receive…

I believe that a number of movie sites and film blogs have received this so-called 'personal letter from Baz Luhrmann'. I think it's a great way to set the tone and launch Australia into a dazzling promotional blitz! Here's more:

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Learn moviemaking from a master.Great movies are full of adventure, and Australia, the next film from Oscar-nominated director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!, William Shakespeare’s Romeo+Juliet), is no exception. But making a movie is an even bigger adventure—an adventure in creativity—and with the Apple Set to Screen Series, you can be a part of it.

Every few weeks through October, a new podcast episode from Baz and his production team will introduce you to another aspect of moviemaking, starting with on-set still photography, then moving on to costume design, cinematography, scoring, and more. You’ll get insights from the artists at work on Australia, watch them in action, view footage the rest of the world hasn’t seen yet, and follow along as the movie comes together. [ click for more! ]

From Cinematical: There are new stills from Australia over on IESB.net as well as a few over on the film's official site.

iTunes and 20th Century Fox have also paired up to bring ten Set to Screen with Baz Luhurman podcasts, which document all aspects of the upcoming film. This actually debuted yesterday, but because I couldn't access the podcast, there wasn't any way to properly write about it. If you're as technologically ill-equipped as I, the podcasts have been put up on MovieWeb.

After the critically-acclaimed Into the Wild, where he was regarded by critics and moviegoers as one of 2007's best performers, Emile Hirsch took a short, relaxing break in Hawaii to be on the cover of Flaunt mag.

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Photgraphed by top fashion lensman David LaChapelle, Hirsch has regained his lost pounds, one of the many sacrifices he did for Sean Penn's movie. One of the mag's highlights mentions Hirsch who spoke out about Milk for the first time.