Few young actors are blessed with wildly eclectic bodies of work, but 29-year-old Ben Foster has utilized his trademark intensity to play a bisexual art-school student (TV's "Six Feet Under"), a drug-addicted hoodlum ("Alpha Dog"), a winged superhero ("X-Men: The Last Stand"), a Wild West sociopath ("3:10 to Yuma") and a wannabe vampire who steals the show in "30 Days of Night." In his juiciest role to date, the Boston-born actor stars in "I'm Not There" screenwriter Oren Moverman's terrific directorial debut, "The Messenger." Foster plays Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery, a jaded Army vet who has just returned to the homefront after being wounded in Iraq.
Paired up with the hard-nosed Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), Will is assigned to be a Casualty Notification Officer, a job that, in its own way, may be more difficult than combat. It's an emotionally authentic story of friendship and coping with unexpected jolts of humor, »
- Aaron Hillis

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Director Brett Ratner has had no involvement with Quentin Tarantino's recent war thriller Inglourious Basterds or with the upcoming films Avatar, The Wolfman or Prince of Persia, but somehow he has managed to get a cameo appearance in all of them, courtesy of some spoof posters on a new website.
Ratnerfilms depicts the filmmaker digitally added to publicity images of Joe Johnston's The Wolfman, James Cameron's Avatar, Mike Newell's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Grant Heslov's comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats (or stare at Ratner in this case), as well as several other releases.
It's not the first time Ratner has popped up imitating other roles. X-Men fans will remember him donning mutton chops, fake metal claws and a leather suit to portray Wolverstein, his version of Jackman's Wolverine, in a spoof publicity shot for X-Men: The Last Stand.
Ratner »
- David Bentley

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Several fans have wondered what "X-Men: The Last Stand" would've looked like with Bryan Singer at the helm as opposed to eventual director Brett Ratner, particularly after the latter filmmaker's recent comments towards his detractors. Well, wonder no more.
In an interview with Slash Film (as transcribed by The Geek Files), "X2: X-Men United" screenwriter Michael Dougherty described his and Singer's unused plans for "X-Men 3."
According to the writer, the film would have focused on Jean Grey's transformation into the Phoenix, albeit much differently than the version ultimately seen in "The Last Stand."
"You found out was that Phoenix was going round the world taking things into her own hands and that she had basically returned as a god," described the screenwriter. "She had viewed herself as above the conflict, that she was here to end things on her terms, she was sick of the fighting and she was going »
- Josh Wigler

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If you've been paying any attention to the news this past few days, then you know that last Thursday an Army psychiatrist fatally shot 12 people and wounded 31 at Fort Hood in Texas. Since the beginning of the Iraq invasion in 2003, 75 Fort Hood soldiers have killed themselves. Nine of them committed suicide this year. Moreover, Army suicides have increased by 37% since 2006. In light of recent events, the release of the film The Messenger, starring Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson, on November 13, could not be more timely.

The Messenger opens with Ben Foster (Pandorum, X-Men: The Last Stand, Alpha Dog) applying medicinal drops to one of his eyes. His character, Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery, has recently returned home from a tour of duty and one of his eyes was damaged during combat in Iraq. Other than a small scar beneath the eye, he shows no other outward physical injuries but, sullen and quick-tempered, »

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If on May 26th 2006 you walked out after seeing X-Men: The Last Stand and thought “well that was disappointing, I wonder what the film would have been like if Bryan Singer directed” then you’re in luck! As 3 years on, your question has finally been answered. Sort of. Michael Dougherty, writer of X2 and director [...] »
- Liam

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Brett Ratner is tired of defending his directorial work in X-Men: The Last Stand, but fans continue to wonder what might have been if Bryan Singer had finished his X-Men trilogy, instead of defecting to Superman Returns. Michael Dougherty, the screenwriter for X2: X-Men United who joined Singer's defection, explained his ideas for X3 to Slashfilm in a recent podcast (transcribed by TheGeekFiles).

You found out was that Phoenix [(Famke Janssen)] was going round the world taking things into her own hands and that she had basically returned as a god, which they did in X3. She had viewed herself as above the conflict, that she was here to end things on her terms, she was sick of the fighting and she was going to take things into her own hands and she did not give a s**t what the X-Men or the Brotherhood had to say about it.
And ultimately »
- Ryan Gowland

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Screenwriter Michael Dougherty has given more details about the ideas he had suggested to Bryan Singer for the third X-Men movie.
Dougherty co-wrote Singer's highly-regarded X2: X-Men United with Dan Harris before all three left the mutant movie series to make Superman Returns.
Fox then hired writers Zak Penn and Simon Kinberg and director Brett Ratner and the result was 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand.
A year ago, I reported on a book called Mutant Cinema: The X-Men Trilogy From Comics to Screen, which included some of Dougherty's ideas for an alternative version of the third film. (Click here to read that earlier article).
Now, in a new interview on Slashfilm to promote the DVD and Blu-ray release of Halloween-themed anthology Trick 'r Treat (pictured), his first directing effort, Dougherty has elaborated on what he wanted to do in the third X-movie had he stayed with the franchise. He speaks on a podcast, »
- David Bentley

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Yeah, so file this one under "Don't Try This At Home," kids. Self-professed X-Men fan Everett Bradford recently posted video of a wrist-mounted flamethrower he created to mimic the powers of Pyro, the Marvel mutant created in the '80s by Chris Claremont and John Byrne.
Able to manipulate flame and hurl it around in much the same way Bobby "Iceman" Drake handles the frozen stuff, Pyro made an appearance in both "X2: X-Men United" and "X-Men: The Last Stand," played by Aaron Stanford. In the case of Bradford's real-life "Prometheus Device," however, the wearer is able to generate large bursts of flame from an assembly that wraps around one's wrist and forearm (sorta like Spider-Man's web-shooters).
According to Bradford's YouTube site, it took him eight months to build the device—but I can't help wondering how much it cost him in burn cream and bandages, too. Owch!


Which X-Men »
- Rick Marshall

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Yankees supporters were out in force last night, and a few Twitter-Wood citizens were right by the field uploading pics. Brody Stevens may have shot the most enviable of the day, apparently getting soon-to-be-mvp Hideki Matsui in the dugout before the game. Jeremy Piven caught another high-quality photo-op, though, standing with his fellow Chicagoan Brian Urlacher.
Poor John Favreau was stuck in the editing room for "Iron Man 2," though, which he noted on his account. Larry King, Eliza Dushku and other added their thoughts after Phillies finally went down. Check out all of their tweets, along with Brett Ratner's pic with Mariah Carey after wrapping her video and Andy Milonakis. They're all in the Twitter-Wood report for November 5, 2009.
Twitter Pic of the Day:
@jeremypiven on the field before last nights game...amazing http://yfrog.com/05worldser...
-Jeremy Piven, Actor ("The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard," "Entourage")
Runner-Up:
@AndyMilonakis http://twitpic. »
- Brian Warmoth

Read the full article on moviesblog.mtv.com

Cow films appear to be the official successor to the unseen prequels tag that was trending on Twitter earlier this week. Both Jon Favreau and Steve Agee made contributions today, while John August offered some criticism of ABC's new "V" series and Brian Lynch commemorated the 40th birthday of "Sesame Street."
In the "Twilight" neighborhood of Twitter-Wood, meanwhile, Peter Facinelli discussed an accidental oversleeping incident that resulted in a late arrival on-set. David Slade responded by thanking him for not ever being late during "Eclipse." Check out all of those tweets after the jump. It's all in the Twitter-Wood report for November 4, 2009.
Twitter Pic of the Day:
@Danny_DeVito Visiting Tracey Walter http://yfrog.com/17u3qej
-Danny DeVito, Actor ("Batman Returns," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia")
@johnaugust Man, the V pilot has more Dutch angles than an Amsterdam protractor factory.
-John August, Writer/Director ("Big Fish," "The Nines »
- Brian Warmoth

Read the full article on moviesblog.mtv.com