Would you have ever imagined that Dennis Hopper, the writer and director of Easy Rider, would one day write and direct a seven-minute commercial for an ultra-chic and pricey ladies handbag? No? Me neither.

Above you can check out his short film commercial called Pashmy Dream. Gwyneth Paltrow stars as herself, meeting a sexy journalist for an interview amidst a troupe of clowns and performers. But then the dreaded paparazzi descend upon her and she scurries off without her Tod's Pashmy bag (the horror!), leaving the journalist to rush to get it back to her. Hopper says of the commercial: "Cinderella has her shoe. Gwyneth has her Tod's Pashmy bag." But unlike Cinderella, Gwyneth still gets red carpets versus dirty floors and rags.

If you exchanged the bag for some retro-wear, and added drugs into the mix, it would be slightly reminiscent of Rider, but it's still a fashion commercial. What do you think? Sound off below.

[via Just Jared]

I'll never get tired of a successful trailer mash-up, and this has to be one of my favorites of the year so far. Folks have had a lot of fun with The Dark Knight in 2008 (this scene mash-up featuring President Bush's speech is just tops), and the good times continue with Toy Story 2. Yes, I know there's a Toy Story 2 in realz life, but this Toy Story 2 is set to creepy and works surprisingly well alongside the trailer for The Dark Knight -- so much so that I'm kinda scared of Woody right now. See, in this version Woody plays the villain (aka Joker) and Buzz plays Batman (not to mention that Alfred is played by the green dinosaur, Rex). If it sounds strange, wait till you watch the thing.

Speaking of ...



[via Neatorama]

Stop me if you've heard this one before. It's an American remake of an Asian horror film about ghosts that seek revenge against, or try to pass messages to, the living. And the studio's releasing it in January. But instead of listing the first 20 films matching that description that come to mind, watch the new trailer for The Uninvited, courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes (we've got it embedded below).

The trailer makes the film look relatively promising: Two sisters deal with their father's much-too-young new girlfriend, who it turns out might have murdered the last family she lived with. Casting the marvelous Elizabeth Banks as the potential murderess gets my attention immediately; she can do funny and sexy, but can she do creepy? I bet she can.

By the way, the film apparently has nothing to do with the 1944 movie of the same title. It is, rather, a remake of a 2003 South Korean movie called Janghwa, Hongryeon (or A Tale of Two Sisters, as it was known internationally), which got a very small U.S. release in December 2004. The remake is due Jan. 30. What do you think?

The trailer is after the jump....

As we all know by now, the Poltergeist series brought eeriness both on and off the screen with the Poltergeist Curse. Real human skeletons were used, exorcisms were performed, props malfunctioned, fire blazed, and of course, people died -- the most infamous being the passing of the cute, tow-headed Heather O'Rourke.

And now she's being used to sell DirecTV units. Classy. Craig T. Nelson is back to give the spiel, but the above commercial also uses her famous "They're here!" line and a little girl to pose as O'Rourke to walk to the foot of the bed (O'Rourke's voice is apparently dubbed in).

In a world where even impassioned musical critiques can be turned into patriotic anthems, it's not completely surprising that this is happening. But still -- using a little girl who died way too young to make money -- it's not the best decision, and it certainly isn't a twist that inspires me to want to buy this. But what do you think?

Is this perfectly acceptable, or did DirecTV cross some sort of marketing line?

There's actually a lot of noteworthy geek news today -- but alas, none of it is amazing enough to really warrant an entire post. Believe me, it makes me a sad panda not getting to devote an entire post to Wolverine. So, let's just get right down to it:

• Producer Lauren Shuler Donner talked up X-Men Origins: Wolverine over on Superhero Hype: "It's closer to the first X-Men in tone because it's a little darker, but there's a lot of action. It's his origin story. It's really good. I've been in the editing room the last couple of weeks and I think that it's good and that audiences are going to like it. But it's a little darker ... You haven't seen this side of him. It's darker and sadder and it's kick-ass. There's a ton of action. It's really kick-ass." She also suggested the film borrows from Wolverine's Victorian youth in one of my least favorite series, Wolverine: Origins.

• The troubled Punisher: War Zone has launched its official site, and it's got all kinds of things to click on. The multiplayer game jammed up my computer so I don't know what that's all about. And IGN has the new poster, which will arrive in your local theaters framed in "real" guns. I must say, that is a pretty impressive piece of marketing.

• David S. Goyer, scribe of The Dark Knight, tried his best to end all these Batman 3 rumors. "It's all B.S.," he told MTV News. "ALL of it. Chris and I haven't even talked about it. He quite understandably is taking a long, long vacation and wants to purge himself." This will dampen the "Guess who's playing Catwoman" rumors for approximately 3.5 days.

• Superhero Hype has 5 videos of Kick-Ass filming in Toronto. Mostly people standing around, and cars being driven on platform trucks. And /film has photos up of Dave "Kick Ass" Lizewski's costume, filled out nicely by his stunt double.

"Well, this is the biggest depression since The Notebook." -- Paris Hilton

I'll be the first to bash Paris Hilton on any given day of the week, but I must admit these fake presidential videos starring Hilton have brought us one or three actual laughs. In her latest video, just posted over at Funny or Die (watch it after the jump), Paris Hilton is joined by one of our greatest fake presidents, Martin Sheen, as the two discuss what it takes to become the nation's next fake president. Both take on such issues as the economy, foreign policy (which Hilton calls FoPo) and Iraq. Toward the end even Charlie Sheen makes an appearance, but then bails to take in a jacuzzi. While I'm not so keen on the word 'president' being associated with Hilton in any way, shape or form, part of me wouldn't mind watching her host a debate. The girl has a larger fanbase than either candidate, and I'm sure she'll choose questions that keep them on their toes. "Prada or Gucci ... and why? Senator Obama, we'll start with you." What say you?

Cinematical has just received this exclusive clip from the period drama The Duchess (click image above or head after the jump to view), directed by Saul Dibb and based on Amanda Foreman's best-selling novel. Starring Keira Knightley as Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, the film chronicles the life of a vibrant beauty and celebrity of her time; a woman held prisoner in an unhappy marriage, but one who'd risk it all for the love of a young politician. (Been there, done that -- right ladies?) Also starring Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper and Hayley Atwell, the following clip takes us inside a pretty intense confrontation between Georgiana and the Duke of Devonshire (Fiennes) as they battle one another for the respect each feels they deserve.

The Duchess (which is currently enjoying a limited release) expands to theaters across the country on October 10.

"I'm most excited that it's brought people into comics." -- Dave Gibbons, when asked what his favorite part of this Watchmen journey has been.

Last night, Cinematical was lucky enough to attend a private screening of Watchmen footage hosted by director Zack Snyder and Watchmen co-illustrator Dave Gibbons. There was a reception before and after (where they served this really great sushi), and in a separate room off to the side they set up a sort of Watchmen museum, with costumes worn in the film, as well as drawings, set design stuff, character posters -- the works.

Once inside the theater, Snyder introduced the first twelve minutes of the film by giving us a little background on his past with comics (started reading Heavy Metal as a kid, and was immediately turned off when he read other graphic novels because there wasn't enough "f**king or dying"). His work on Watchmen began while they were still finishing up 300, and originally they wanted to update Watchmen to the War on Terror. Eventually, though, Snyder chipped away and convinced the studio to remain faithful to the source material, which meant a film that took place in 1985, included the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon and all the scary realities which make the graphic novel so intriguing to read.

My thoughts on the footage and notes from the post-screening Q&A after the jump ...

As the description on You Tube reads: "Ever wish songs just sang what was happening in the music video? Well now they do." Indeed ... someone edited one of our favorite music videos of all time to include a whole new set of lyrics that sing about what's actually going on in the video. The song and video in question is A-ha's Take On Me, which has been spoofed before (see this bit from Family Guy). Sure, it's not directly related to a movie, but it's damn funny to watch and might just help you through the remainder of the work day. Enjoy!

[via Justin via Twitter]