Christina Ricci's On the Slab in New 'After.Life' Poster

In the upcoming After.Life - which contains that superfluous period in the title - Liam Neeson plays a funeral director who isn't just creepy on that basis, oh no. In fact, he can talk to the dead, preparing them for their journey to the other side. How comforting to have Aslan guide you through that difficult transition.

Click to see the whole derned thing I like the new poster, especially the Night Shyamalan touch with the red négligée. You can't make it out here because the central image is so small, but that's Christina Ricci, who "wakes up" after a car accident in Liam's funeral home.

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Christina Ricci Set for Porn-ish 'Born to Be a Star'

I don't recall an Adam Sandler script that wasn't also a Happy Madison production, but that's the case with Born to Be a Star, which is described by The Hollywood Reporter as a "porn-tinged comedy" that will star Christina Ricci...but don't let your mind run too wild on that idea.

The movie is about a dweeb from Iowa who discovers that his parents were porn stars back in the 1970s, which prompts him to move to California to take up the family business. Ricci would play his girlfriend, and since The Reporter says she's innocent, we'll assume she's the pre-porn girlfriend in Iowa. Just a hunch, but I'm guessing the subject matter has something to do with why Sandler isn't producing the film. Happy Madison is too big a brand to be associated with the adult industry. Instead, comedian Nick Swarsdon is co-producing along with Miles Deep Productions.

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Movie Trailer - 'New York, I Love You'

Anthology films usually attract more people to be in their casts than in their audiences. For some reason, whether it's the lack of one linear storyline or whatever, movies like Four Rooms and Coffee and Cigarettes routinely star some of the world's best talent and recruit some of its best directors (although Coffee and Cigarettes was directly entirely by Jim Jarmusch). Paris Je t'aime was released in 2006 as a love song to Paris, and included segments directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, Tom Tykwer, Walter Salles, Gus Van Sant, and Wes Craven, among many others. That film inspired the follow-up New York, I Love You, which you can't really call a sequel, but it's not a continuation of the storyline. It's kind of an American reimagining, if I can use my least favorite movie term. I kind of wish this film featured the work of the Paris directors, frankly, although we do get to see the behind-the-camera debuts of Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. Other directors include Shakhar Kapur (Elizabeth), Brett Ratner, Mira Nair, and Allen Hughes, best known as half of the Hughes Brothers (Dead Presidents). The cast, though is absolutely top notch: Julie Christie, Shia LaBeouf, Portman, Ethan Hawke, James Caan, Eli Wallach, Robin Wright Penn, Kevin Bacon, Christina Ricci, and on and on and on. And while I'll admit I don't ever remember seeing the credit "In Post Production" at the end of a trailer before, that's about my only complaint with it. For my money, this trailer captures the spirit and the bustle of the greatest city on Earth pretty well. Hopefully the movie is as well-assembled as the trailer. New York, I Love You will be a Valentine for Manhattan, opening on February 13th.