Remember how Clive Owen showed up in The Bourne Identity as a fellow/rival assassin to Matt Damon's butt-kicking amnesiac? After watching the trailer for his new film, The International, I feel like director Tom Tykwer decided that he wanted to make something like that guy's own movie.

Okay, so maybe it's a bit more generic than that, with Owen playing an Interpol agent teaming up with a partner/potential love interest/possible traitor* (Naomi Watts) to take on some big bad bank with ties to all sorts of global espionage, and probably some ridiculous withdrawal fees to boot.

I'm not so hot on the prospect of the February "dumping ground" release date (see: Jumper, Vantage Point), but it'll be nice to have a more testosterone-fueled offering to counter-program all that other Valentine's Day fare. Besides, if Tykwer (Run Lola Run) decides that a big-budget thriller is worth his while, maybe it'll show past the paycheck -- I mean, if the director of Swingers can show us...

*Come on, he's even fed that adage of "Everyone is involved." Think about it...

Funny, too, because my friends and I were just discussing Inside Man last night. My good pal has a thing for when Denzel yells, "This ain't no robbery!" -- and for some odd reason, he's always saying it (in Denzel's voice). Everyone has THAT quote-crazy friend, ya know? But anyway, The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Spike Lee is moving forward with a sequel to Inside Man over at Universal -- a project that's been in the works for awhile now, but took a backseat when Lee decided to make Miracle at St. Anna. The director would return to the film in the same role, with Terry George (Hotel Rwanda, Reservation Road) currently in negotiations to write the screenplay.

Universal and Lee made a killing on the first Inside Man, which, in my opinion, was one of the more enjoyable heist flicks of the past few years, and so it's no surprise they're looking to dive in for more. Though they're not signed on yet, both Denzel Washington and Clive Owen are interested in reprising their roles -- and THR says the sequel will "continue the relationship between the two man characters but in a new high-tension situation." Not a big fan of the "it made $175 million so we have to do the sequel" thought process, but if there's a duo I'd like to see reunited on screen, it would be Clive and Denzel. Both were excellent in the first film.

What do you think? Down for more Inside Man? And where could you see them taking these characters?

If you're a fan of the 1999 BBC series that turned Clive Owen into a movie star, I've got some good news. If, however, you're just an average American who has never heard of Second Sight, then I simply have some news. And here it is:

Universal has decided to turn the series into a movie. Producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford have tapped screenwriter Craig Rosenberg to do the adaptation duty. According to Variety, it's about a cop "who leads an elite unit that tackles high-profile murder cases while suffering from a rare degenerative eye disease that causes hallucinations and increasing blindness." Wait, the whole unit suffers from a rare degenerative eye disease? Because that's either one amazing coincidence or one really inept personnel manager.

For the sort of movie we might expect, let's note that Don Murphy was a producer on Transformers, Shoot 'Em Up, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and (the very underrated) From Hell. For Mr. Rosenberg's part, he's a relative new guy who's done a lot of work on Lost (and he also penned After the Sunset), but he also has The Uninvited on the way.

No word yet on who'll be starring as the optically-challenged policeman, but I'm sure nobody would mind if Clive Owen signed up for the job.

Special Note: This project is in no way related to this film. Shame on you for even remembering this film.

A few weeks ago a DVD of Laurent Cantet's 2000 film Human Resources arrived on my doorstep. I hadn't seen it, but it rung a bell for me, and it took me a little while to remember: the Shooting Gallery series! I couldn't believe I had forgotten about it. It was a huge event in less-than-400-screen lore, successful as well as artistically daring. I poked around and discovered that this brave little distributor had -- of course -- gone out of business. In 2000 and 2001, the Shooting Gallery lined up three series of six movies each, releasing each one for a two-week period, usually on a specific movie screen in selected cities, and then replaced it with the next in the series. If something took off and became a hit, it could play longer. I didn't see all the films, but there were some amazing entries, and certainly some films that otherwise would never have seen the light of day.

The first series unfolded in the spring of 2000. The quirky, dreamy, black-and-white comedy Judy Berlin, starring a then up-and-coming Edie Falco ("The Sopranos"), came first. It didn't exactly break any box office records, but I wouldn't be surprised if it has a small following today. Next up came Peter Mullan's Orphans, which I didn't see, followed by Such a Long Journey, which was yet another story from India about an old-fashioned father balking at the ways of his modern children, but beautifully realized. (The great character actor Om Puri was on hand for a supporting role.) Southpaw was a snappy little boxing documentary about promising Irish fighter Francis Barrett. The sixth film, from Japan, was Adrenaline Drive, a kind of crime story crossed with a drawing room comedy. It seemed ripe for an American remake, which never came.

Like many of the characters he plays, Clive Owen was reserved, astute and insightful throughout his public appearance at the Apple store in downtown Manhattan on Friday. Interviewed by American Psycho director Mary Harron as a part of a series of conversations co-hosted by Apple and indieWIRE, taking place during the Tribeca Film Festival, Owen touched on two of his recent projects while fielding broad questions about his professional interests.

Although not currently starring in any theatrical releases, Owen was in town performing opposite Julia Roberts in the corporate spy thriller Duplicity, the sophomore feature from Michael Clayton director Tony Gilroy (a special guest at the store the following night). "I read the script and thought it was brilliant," Owen said, adding that shooting was halfway done. "I'd met Tony already, and he screened Michael Clayton for me. Obviously, when I saw that, it was a no-brainer." Meanwhile, Owen has another thriller in his queue: He plays an Interpol agent fighting global arms dealing in The International, which finished shooting in New York last January and hits theaters next year. Directed by Run Lola Run visionary Tom Tykwer, The International has provided Owen with "as good a director as I've ever come across. He's incredibly on top of every aspect of filmmaking."

For many, Closer is that Mike Nichols movie where Natalie Portman played a stripper, stripped down, but then had her nude footage destroyed. For me, it's the film that gave me a new-found appreciation for Julia Roberts. Like many of you out there, I've grown tired over the years of the typical Roberts roles, but pitting her against Clive Owen and making her a mellow, wry, and serious photographer was excellent, and it dulled the memory of her monotonous previous work. Was it her own talents, or what Owen inspired within her that made this possible?

Now she's teaming up with Owen again for Duplicity, and I can only hope that they have the magic again. The film stars Roberts and Owen as two corporate spies who conspire to con their bosses, and Just Jared has a whole slew of pics of the two shooting an anger-filled scene. It's all suits, grabbed arms, and arguments for the pair on the streets of New York. So far, so good.

But even if Closer becomes a distant memory and this flick is just classic Julia, it's still looking damned good. It will be an absolute and serious waste if these two, mixed with Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton, and the increasingly impressive Tom Wilkinson can't create a great flick. Are you ready for their Duplicity?

When I first posted about the film back in November, I said that the upcoming Clive Owen and Julia Roberts-starring Duplicity filled me with curiosity and dread. The curiosity (and a little excitement, I must admit) came from the fact that it was re-teaming two stars from Closer -- a film I really enjoy. On the other hand, I hear "Duplicity," and I think of the similar-sounding Derailed. That makes me want to run for my life. (Famous last words said before watching the latter: It's got Owen. It can't be all bad.)

All that said, there's two more great actors joining the cast, which should start to erase those Derailed fears. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Tom Wilkinson and Billy Bob Thornton are looking into joining the cast. (Wilkinson is in negotiations, and THR doesn't say whether BB has officially signed on yet.) This will re-team Wilkinson with Michael Clayton director Tony Gilroy, who also wrote the script, so I imagine he'll sign on the dotted line soon enough -- Tom's role in the film did nab him an Oscar nod for supporting actor, after all.

The thriller focuses on Roberts and Owen's characters, "who are longtime lovers and rival corporate spies who team to pull off an elaborate con." (Sounds like Mr. & Mrs. Smith meets Ocean's 11.) Wilkinson is set to play the CEO of a large company, while Thornton's role is said to be "a more maverick type of CEO." The film will shoot this spring in the Big Apple.

This is yet another slow week for DVD releases, but at least you can fill your violence quota for the week!

Shoot 'Em Up
This is certainly not an epic feat of cinema, nor is it a movie that will gain Oscar buzz. It is, plainly and wonderfully, a movie about lots and lots of shooting in improbable circumstances. Clive Owen's human Bugs Bunny can do it all -- he can slide across the room gunning people down, or even get the job down while having horizontal fun with Monica Bellucci. Delightful in that mindless action sort of way, Shoot 'Em Up follows Mr. Smith (Owen), a "gun-toting badass" who has to keep a newborn, orphaned baby safe. While trying to save the little tyke from the likes of the criminal mastermind (Paul Giamatti), he gets the help of prostitute (Bellucci) whose specialty is people with mommy fetishes. It's completely unbelievable, in that tasty, cinematic sort of way.

There's a decent amount of special features to make this sale even more worthwhile. You can check out a director/writer commentary, deleted/alternate scenes (with optional commentary), a making-of featurette with sub-options from cast interviews to special effects, and finally, an animated clip of the action scenes in the film.

Check out Jette Kernion's Review | Buy the DVD


Resident Evil: Extinction
If you prefer your action to have more of the undead and less of the soon-to-be dead, the third installment of Resident Evil, this week's other big release, might be more up your alley. This time around, Alice (Milla Jovovich) teams up with Oded Fehr and Mike Epps to bring down the Umbrella Corporation and stop a virus that will turn everyone into the undead. Helping her, along with peeps like Ali Larter, is all of the super-human strength and perks that the company had given her. Oh, and this is all happening in the dry and roasty Nevada desert.

This set has a few good nibbles for you -- director/producer/writer commentary, deleted scenes, a featurette covering everything from pre-production to the end of shooting, and a sneak peek at the CGI movie Resident Evil: Degeneration.

Check out Peter Martin's Review | Buy the DVD

Other New DVD Releases (January 1)

War
September Dawn

Check out Peter Martin's Indies on DVD for even more new releases.

I've watched the Extras Christmas Special twice now, and I still can't get through the end without crying. I'm so lame. I know this is TV related, but if you haven't watched Extras yet, do yourself a favor while on holiday break and check out both seasons (and the X-Mas special) of this amazing HBO show. Written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (both of whom brought us the Brit version of The Office), Extras is about just that -- Extras. Folks who spend their entire careers as the guy or girl in the background of a shot. Though it's only two seasons long, the show has a great story arc and while I would've loved for it to go longer, it definitely feels complete.

Aside from an excellent day-to-day cast (special kudos to Ashley Jensen), each episode also includes hilarious celebrity cameos -- all of whom are either obsessed with sex, obsessed with themselves or both. Clive Owen's cameo in the X-Mas special was absolutely friggin' priceless, and the same can be said for folks like Daniel Radcliffe, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and Patrick Stewart, who have all appeared in various episodes as themselves. And speaking of Stewart, below you'll find one of my favorite scenes from Extras -- featuring Stewart -- which appeared in a pivotal episode that changed the scope of the entire show. I adore this scene, and it gives you a good taste of what to expect from the rest of the series. Anyway, I just felt like getting that out there. Go watch Extras. Gervais and Merchant are comedy Gods.

We see guns and violence everywhere. It's on the television, on the big screen, in the papers, in the books. It's always referenced in discussions about sex -- a nipple here, or a butt-cheek there, sexiness almost always gets leashed while violence frolics with its comfy reign. But every once in a while, someone steps in to do something about it. Usually, it's due to the sensitivity of a recent violent act. (Columbine stopped lots of projects, September 11 kept movie ideas at bay for a while, and so on, and so forth.) This is no exception. Variety has reported that posters for Shoot 'Em Up are now under fire themselves.

The ads have been banned by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority, due to rising gun crime in the country. The ads in question -- the first shows Paul Giamatti chatting on a cell phone while pointing a gun, and is teamed with the text: "just another family man making a living." Nice. The second has Clive Owen leaping through the air with guns in his hands as Giamatti holds a sniper rifle. (I presume it's the one to the right.) It seems that the ASA got 55 complaints from the public that "the ads glamorized and glorified gun crime." Well, that's obvious. "Many complainants believed that the posters were offensive and insensitive toward families directly affected by gun crime, in particular the family of Rhys Jones, the 11-year-old who was killed in a shooting incident in Liverpool in August."

Now, I just wonder what they think of that racy clip that made its way online earlier this year...