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The Independent Film Channel's latest list will drive people nuts! Together with nerve, they came up with 50 of the greatest sex scenes in film. Here's an intro of sorts:

"There's a reason that any talk of sex in film comes back around to certain titles again and again. Getting two (or more) attractive actors to mash their faces together and huff and puff for the camera is relatively easy. Shooting a memorable sex scene is hard. "

[ see the full listing ]

What's the coolest news about your favorite actors? Here's what we have (for now!)

Hallam Foe's Jamie Bell and Sophia Myles received nominations in the British Independent Film Awards. David McKenzie's new film, Hallam Foe, a hit at Berlin, is one of the nominated films at the British Indie. Included in the line up for Best Picture are Control, Eastern Promises, And When Did You Last See Your Father? and Notes on a Scandal.

Bell, nominated for Best Actor, will be competing against Sam Riley (Control), Cillian Murphy (Sunshine), Jim Broadbent ( And When Did You Last See Your Father?) and Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises). Myles is up against Anne Hathaway for Becoming Jane, Tannishtha Chatterjee for Brick Lane, Kierston Wareing for It's a Free World and Judi Dench for Notes on a Scandal.

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Carice Van Houten is the lead in a new thriller, Dorothy Mills. Holland's rising international prospect Carice Van Houten plays a psychiatrist sent into a hostile island in Dorothy Mills, the new movie from acclaimed director Agnès Merlet of Artemisia.

"Dorothy Mills tells the story of Jane Morton, a psychiatrist from Dublin who is in deep mourning following the accidental deaths of her husband and son, who has to work on a new case: Dorothy Mills, a 15-year-old teenager in a small village who tried to strangle a baby.

After miraculously surviving a car accident, Jane discovers a village darkened by strange events and meets a very nervous Dorothy, who swears she never touched the baby. After analysing the teenager, Jane makes a diagnosis of multiple personality disorder until the day that Dorothy speaks with the voice of David, Jane’s dead son. "
[ more from Cineuropa ]

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Ben Whishaw takes on Criminal Justice! Having just completed shooting Brideshead Revisited with Matthew Goode, Hayley Atwell and Emma Thompson, Ben Whishaw is about to start filming the central lead role in Criminal Justice, a fascinating 5-part series for the BBC, to be directed by Otto Bathurst.

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Take Two! Heath takes on Terry and Terrence! We're not trying to be funny, but top actor Heath Ledger is reported to be the star in two upcoming and exciting new films from two awesome directors, Terry Gilliam and Terrence Malick.

Terry Gilliam's new film, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, has Heath as one of its leads, together with rising British star Andrew Garfield, among others. But the Hollywood Reporter also has news on the actor:

"Heath Ledger and Sean Penn are in talks to star in "Tree of Life," with River Road Entertainment finally bringing writer-director Terrence Malick's long-gestating drama to life.

Ledger would take the lead opposite an actress to be determined, with Penn in a supporting role.

The film's plot has been closely guarded, but is described by an insider as a complex drama. "New World" lead Colin Farrell was in talks to star in the feature two years ago, with about a third of the shoot set for India, but the star and location are no longer part of the project.

Penn has been a longtime Malick supporter and friend, starring in his war drama "The Thin Red Line." Ledger appears in "I'm Not There" and next summer's Batman feature 'The Dark Night.' "

Speaking of Andrew Garfield, we are thrilled to have his film Boy A in our spotlight review. Garfield is also in the new Robert Redford film, Lions for Lambs.

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Alexandra Maria Lara is Germany's brightest star! We admired her in Downfall (Der Untergang) and in Control, Alexandra Maria Lara proved that she can act and act extremely well, even with the likes of Samantha Morton sharing credits. While the frenzy over the success of Control is not yet over, along comes Lara in yet another new film, this time with Francis Ford Copolla.

Youth Without Youth, the new Copolla film, is based on the novella of the same name by Romanian author Mircea Eliade. It is the first film Copolla has directed since The Rainmaker in 1997. It was reported that after seeing Maria Lara in Downfall, Copolla sent her a letter and invited her to play one of the lead roles in Youth Without Youth.

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Amy Adams is enchanting! We first noticed this gifted actress in Catch Me If You Can, and we're sure you know how much of a delight she was in Junebug.

Now, Adams is all set to enchant us again in Enchanted, the new film also starring Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Rachel Covey and Susan Sarandon. More from USA Today:

"Amy Adams is a little girl's dream come true. She stars as a living, breathing Disney cartoon princess in the romantic comedy Enchanted, a musical combo of hand-drawn animation and live action that opens Nov. 21.

The actress experiences the fantasy of many an older girl as well. Her Giselle, who pops out of a Times Square sewer after being banished from the fairy-tale land of Andalasia by evil Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), is rescued by none other than McDreamy himself — Patrick Dempsey, the hot doc of TV's Grey's Anatomy.

"I grew up watching all the classic Disney movies," says Adams, 32, Oscar-nominated for her wide-eyed optimist in 2005's Junebug. "The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Mary Poppins. Those films are pure fun. To get to do this as an adult is a great opportunity." "

Paul Dano is drawing blood! Right after the success of Little Miss Sunshine, Paul Dano is once again part of the cast of another highly-anticipated film. PT Anderson's There Will Be Blood is being touted as one of the year's best film, if not its best.

There Will Be Blood is partially based on Upton Sinclair's novel 'Oil!'. Paul Anderson has said that in writing the script, the story deviated from the book a great deal and evolved into its own thing. The production had to be delayed for more than a year in order to clear up legal and financial issues before finally being shot in the summer of 2006. The shoot lasted about three months and took place mostly in Marfa, Texas. [ read more ]

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Source: IESB.net - The Movie Reporter

Written by Silas Lesnick

IESB sat down with Heath Ledger this afternoon in New York to discuss his role in the new Todd Haynes Bob Dylan biopic, I'm Not There. We'll have the full video interview up soon, but Ledger briefly discussed his upcoming role in The Dark Knight.

If I had any doubt about Ledger as Joker, it vanished as soon as I saw him in person. His hair was grown out for the role and his eyes darted around the room, never quite making contact with mine. At his side was a clothespin that he handled the entire interview, pinching his fingers as he spoke. It wasn't hard to believe that at any moment he would leap to his feet and kill everybody in the room.

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Slingshot Studios is releasing Cocaine Cowboys in UK cinemas on 23rd November 2007. Cocaine Cowboys is the true story that inspired Scarface and Miami Vice and reveals how drug smugglers were able to forever change the once sleepy retirement community of Miami into the epicentre of a $20 billion annual cocaine business.

Just after the first half of the year and before the holiday season begins, most films vying for awards are in a sort of ‘suspended animation' status - a waiting game of sorts. However, there are some breakthrough performances well worth our attention, and they come from a selection of films shown before the start of the holidays.

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We’re most impressed with six particular young actors, some of whom have already proven themselves and are currently considered future leading men in both mainstream and indie productions. One of the films (Hallam Foe) has yet to be released in America, but seeing as it was one of the more celebrated features at the festivals, we made an exception and included it in our line-up!

Sam Riley, a relatively unknown actor, has taken the industry by storm with his deliberate performance in Anton Corbijn’s Control. His role as Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, was widely praised as being one of the year’s best. Joe Anderson, who is also seen in Control, may not yet be a leading man; nevertheless he is an outstanding actor and definitely someone to watch in Across the Universe.

Two young performers who have appeared in previous critically acclaimed films broke new ground this year - Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale) was awesome in The Hunting Party and carried The Education of Charlie Banks into a different level.

Not to be outdone is young Australian actor Khan Chittenden who appeared in the Australian production West. Chittenden is also in the drama-comedy Introducing the Dwights (aka Clubland) alongside the ageless Brenda Blethyn.

Acclaimed filmmaker and German cinema legend Wim Wenders has a new film! 'The Palermo Shooting’, which boasts an award-winning international cast, is “a romantic thriller that could only be set in Palermo,” according to Wenders.

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What's the Movie About: The film is about Finn, a world-renowed photographer whose photographs appear in museums and magazines around the world. Considered as the 'rock star of the art world', Finn knows that there is something missing in his life. On a photoshoot in Palermo, something surreal happens to Finn that changes his life forever.

The movie stars German rockstar Campino, Dennis Hopper, Lou Reed and Italian top actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno, who is also in the lead for Love in the Time of Cholera.

More of Mr. Nobody: Set in the not-so-distant future, the story follows Nemo Nobody (Leto) who, at 120 years old, is the last mortal surrounded by happy immortals as he relives his real and imaginary years of marriage.

"Nobody" is serving as the English-language feature debut for Belgian director Dormael, who has been trying to get "Nobody" to the screen for the past six years. Dormael's last film was 1996's "Le huitieme jour" ("The Eighth Day"), a Cannes Film Festival Golden Palm nominee. (Borys Kit from the Hollywood Reporter)

Surreal. That seems to be the common consensus about this film. It's the second directorial effort of Hungarian filmmaker György Pálfi, following his acclaimed debut, Hukkle. Says the filmmaker:

"I would like to create a lasting, personal-authorial film, the story of a man tortured by eternal dilemmas, not actual ones. Past exists only in memories."

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What's the Movie About: Taxidermia is: Three stories. Three ages. Three men. Grandfather, father, son. One is an orderly, one is a leading sportsman, and one is a master taxidermist. One desires love, the other success, and the third immortality.

The grandfather lives in his fantasies and on cold winter evenings he warms up his freezing little shed with his feverish dreams. Nothing can stop his fertile imagination. The father stuffs himself. For four years he was the first in his section in the Confectionary Industry. He is still unbeatable in chocolate wafers with an individual record of 2.98 (just as a comparison Igor Vostongonoff was the European champion in Sophia with 3.21.). The son stuffs animals. He was born one and a half kilos. Now he has less than one and a half minutes left. He goes in for something that nobody has ever imagined before.