Denise Richards Butchers the National Anthem

A couple of weeks ago or so, there was a new Funny or Die video with Denise Richards making fun of herself. Now it's our turn.

Richards was the seventh inning stretch guest at Wrigley Field today, and if you know a little bit about baseball, you know that the stretch is more of a tradtion at Wrigley than anywhere else. The Cubs fans are really invested in the "Take Me Out to the Ballpark" singalong, although they haven't had much else to be invested in lately. And by lately, I mean 100 years. So there are guest singers at Wrigley, and today was Denise Richards' day. Unfortunately.

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Jim Carrey: Nice 'Beaver'

A script called The Beaver has been one of the hottest unproduced screenplays in Hollywood, and apparently, it won't stay unproduced for long. The Hollywood Reporter indicates that Jim Carrey is very interested in starring in the project, which is being compared to Being John Malkovich and Lars and the Real Girl.

The script by Kyle Killen was previously on Steve Carell's radar, but those plans, loose though they were, fell apart when Jay Roach did not come aboard to direct. The Reporter says that the producers would like to shoot the film this year, and Jodie Foster, of all people, has apparently had discussions about directing.

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Depp, Bale, International 'Public Enemies' Trailer

Here's a new trailer for Public Enemies with Christian Bale and Johnny Depp or Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. We ranked this as our pre-season number two film of the summer, not too far behind Terminator Salvation. Though not really typical summer fare, it could be the best movie we see in the next few months.

This is the international trailer, and I'm really only showing it for one reason: Check out the music. I don't know if director Michael Mann will use anachronistic tunes in the film as opposed to period music from the 1930s, but his films, like those of Martin Scorsese, are usually expertly soundtracked. That's not a word. But he always finds a way to match the mood with music, like the integration of Groove Armada's "Hands of Time" and Audioslave's "Shadow on the Sun" in Collateral. So I'll be curious to see what Mann and his music supervisor Bob Badami do to liven up Public Enemies. The tunes sure make the trailer stand out a little more, though.

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Movie Review - 'Lymelife'

Lymelife Starring Rory Culkin, Alec Baldwin, and Emma Roberts Directed by Derrick Martini Rated R

I think Swine Flu is made up. I don't know why it popped up now and I don't know who did it, but it smacks of fearmongering more than legitimate, justifiable concern. Compare it to the Spanish Flu pandemic of the early 20th century, which killed somewhere between 40 and 50 million people. Now that's something to be afraid of. In Lymelife, Brenda Bartlett (Jill Hennessey) is a little overprotective of her son, Scott (Rory Culkin), afraid that the teenager will contract lyme disease from walking through the woods near their New York home, especially since there is some cause for concern closer to home. The Bartlett's neighbor, Charlie Bragg (Timothy Hutton), has developed a pretty severe case of lyme disease, and now spends most of his time staring out windows in his basement and hallucinating about deer. Apparently, that's how he contracted it in the first place. The lyme disease isn't the story but the window dressing, and while it's funny to see Culkin duct taped into his clothes so the ticks can't get at him, this is really a coming-of-age story that doesn't come of age. Scott has a strained relationship with his mother and his father (Alec Baldwin).

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Movie Review - 'Is Anybody There?'

Is Anybody There? Starring Michael Caine and Bill Milner Directed by John Crowley Rated PG-13

Michael Caine is a consummate actor. Where he ranks all-time is impossible to say, because Caine has always been open to doing absolutely horrible films for money, whereas you'd never have to worry about Daniel Day-Lewis at the top of his game making Jaws: The Revenge. And in spite of those terrible movies, can you honestly say Caine is ever boring in his performances? He's played everything, most of them a couple of times, and to his great credit, he continues to not just deliver knockouts every now and then but also to raise the bar for everyone in his profession. Caine understands, perhaps better than any other actor, that people go see Jaws: The Revenge, Blame it on Rio, and Miss Congeniality, and that even those roles help him prepare for great work in The Quiet American and his new film, Is Anybody There? Caine portrays Clarence, an aging magician who has come to live out his final days in a family owned retirement center. It's small, understaffed, and mostly miserable. For everyone. That includes Edward (Bill Milner), a restless kid who has become obsessed with tracking ghosts in his house once its residents shrug off their mortal coils. You've seen movies; you know where this is all going. The trick is making the relationship between Clarence and Edward something greater than the plot, which we just pointed out needs very little illustration. Writer Peter Harness crosses the paths of these two characters rather well at the beginning, but it misfires when it's time to pull the trigger. Wish it had a better ending.

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