Film News: Weaving Not Signed on for Hobbit--Yet, Pitt Project Shuttered, and a bit of inspiration for your day

- Despite Guillermo del Toro's comments last week about Hugo Weaving signing on to reprise his role as Elrond in the two upcoming Hobbit movies, Weaving has said that he has not yet been contacted about participating in the films.  In an interview with Moviehole.com, the Lord of the Rings actor says, "I haven't actually talked to anyone about it. Doesn't mean I won't be doing it, [I'm] just not onboard yet.. . . It'd be good to get back together with Andy Serkis and Ian McKellan, and whoever else comes back . . ." [Moviehole.net]

- In a surprising move, Columbia Pictures has shuttered production on Steven Soderbergh's Moneyball only a few days before the baseball movie was scheduled to begin shooting. Brad Pitt was slated as the lead in the film adaptation of Michael Lewis' book about the Oakland Athletics GM Billy Beane, who built a playoff-quality team with a surprisingly small payroll. It's reported that Soderbergh's newest version of the script strayed too far from the kind of movie that Columbia's co-chairman Amy Pascal had supported and the exec was no longer comfortable allowing the project to move forward. [Hollywood Reporter]

- Actor and rapper Common (Terminator Salvation, Wanted) will star opposite Queen Latifah in the sports romance movie Just Wright. Latifah will play "a sports trainer who finds herself falling in love with a professional basketball player [Common] while rehabilitating him from a career-threatening injury." [Variety]

- Phillip Noyce has been tapped to direct Mixed Blood, an upcoming indie police thriller. Samuel L. Jackson is set to co-star as a police detective in the film, which focuses "on an American fugitive being forced to make violent and terrifying choices to protect his family while drawing the attention of murderers, kidnappers, corrupt cops" and Jackson's character. [Variety]

- Cher has signed on for her first movie role in a decade. The singer and actress will costar with Christina Aguilera in Burlesque. Aguilera "will play an ambitious small-town Iowa girl with a big voice who comes of age in a neo-burlesque club on Sunset Boulevard that's run by Tess (Cher)." Cher's character is a fomer dancer who recognizes Aguilera's talent and tries to give her a chance to succeed. Burlesque will mark the first time Cher will sing onscreen in a film in which she is starring. [Variety]

- In news that makes you feel a little better about the human race, a Southern California girl with terminal cancer got her dying wish when Pixar sent an employee to her home with a copy of Up on DVD so the child could have a private screening. Ten-year-old Colby Curtain fell in love with the animated movie after seeing the previews, but was too ill to be taken to a theater to see the film. After a family friend managed to make contact with Pixar, the studio flew an employee to Southern California with a DVD copy of Up, stuffed toys and a movie poster. Colby was already too ill to open her eyes to watch the movie as it played, but her mother narrated it for her, and Colby indicated that she had enjoyed the movie when her mother asked.  Colby passed away seven hours after having her wish granted. [Orange County Register]

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Movie Review: Pixar Picks Moviegoers Up

Warning: this review contains spoilers.

Leave it to Pixar to tackle a story about grief and loss and turn it into a magical family film that adults will love as much as any kid. Yup, Pixar's unbroken string of hits continues with Up, which opened in regular and 3-D movie theaters this weekend.

Seen in 3-D, the lush colors and detail in the film literally pop off the screen. Thankfully, Pixar forgoes any overdone "objects flying out of the screen to scare the audience" gags, instead using the 3-D format to give the settings extra depth and richness. And there's plenty of opportunity for both with this story.

Carl Fredricksen (voiced by the perfectly cast Ed Asner) marries his lively, adventurous childhood sweetheart, Ellie, and in a moving montage, we see the life they share together over the years. Surprisingly, the montage includes both small, day-to-day moments of happiness and the losses that shape Carl's life -- an implied miscarriage and (many decades later) Ellie's death. Both of these moments are handled deftly so children understand that something sad has happened in Carl's life, but they don't get bogged down in the details.

From there, the story takes off with Carl stubbornly holding on to his home and past with Ellie against the forces of change, both good and bad. To escape, Carl inflates thousands of helium balloons to float his home up, up and away to South America, following in the footsteps of a famous adventurer he and Ellie idolized as children. The monkey wrench in this plan comes in the form of Russell, an extremely enthusiastic 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer and unintentional stowaway.

The warmth, heart and humor that Pixar always manages to bring to its features and shorts shines through in the interactions between Carl, Russell and the tag-along critters that befriend them on their trek through the jungle and who stick by them as they battle a villian who bears a striking resemblance to current-day Kirk Douglas (in appearance, not voice). Once again, the Pixar shows that it pays to tell a good story first and let the rest of the movie follow. Don't miss seeing Up in theaters, and shell out extra for the 3-D experience if you can -- it's worth it.

One fun bit of trivia: Fenton's Creamery, the ice cream shop mentioned by Russell in the film and seen in the end credits, is a real place! Fenton's Creamery is located in the Piedmont area of Oakland, California; Pixar Animation Studios is located just one city over in Emeryville.

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