I got a chance to sit down for a round table discussion with Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly, two of the stars of Cyrus, which premiered at the 2010 SXSW festival. Hill plays Cyrus, a 21 year old living with his mother (Catherine Keener) who develops an antagonistic and competitive relationship with his mom’s boyfriend played by Reilly.

So do you think the John C. Reilly era of a romantic lead in a comedy is finally here?

John C. Reilly: I hope so. I’m a very romantic type person. I like doing parts like this, and I think that there are a lot of people out there who are not represented in movies, whose stories don’t get told.

You know what I’m talking about (to a male journalist.) Neither of us look like Brad Pitt, let’s not fool ourselves.

Your characters had some similarities and some differences, you both have a co-dependence thing, did that come into play when you preparing as far as how your characters related to each other?

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When you go to as many film festivals and see as many movies as I do, it is refreshing to find a film from out of virtually nowhere that gives you renewed faith in the filmmaking process. During SXSW I was lucky enough to discover such a film: Gareth Edwards’ Monsters.

As I said in my review, Monsters takes several elements and blends them together well to create a director’s singular vision. It was one of my favorite movies from SXSW. I had a chance to sit down with the talented Mr. Edwards during the fest and over a couple of beers discovered the man behind the Monsters.

The Flickcast: First off, let’s talk a bit about your background.

Gareth Edwards: Sure, well, like a lot of people it all began when I saw Star Wars. I basically decided I wanted to join the Rebel Alliance and blow up the Death Star. But then I learned that it was all made up by someone called a filmmaker so I decided I wanted to be one of those instead.

TFC: A lot of directors like to plan out shots, do storyboards, etc. You didn’t even really have a completed script for Monsters, right?

GE: I had a scene by scene outline but I didn’t want to write dialog. Although, it’s funny when you say to an actor “I don’t want to write the dialog” then they say “Well I have to write it then.” But that’s not what I wanted.

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When I went to bed last night, lulled by the barrage of television spots for The Bounty Hunter, I had only one thought — the world needs more romantic comedies! I mean, we only have one coming out this weekend! And then we have to wait an entire week for The Last Song! You’re killing me Hollywood.

Thankfully, Ivan Reitman senses the need, and is coming to the rescue.  According to Variety, Reitman will be helming an untitled romantic comedy for Paramount. He’s lured Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher to star, and it already has a release date of January 7, 2011.

Penned by Elizabeth Meriwether, the script has the working title of Friends With Benefits. (If IMDB is to be believed, it had an even raunchier working title that rhymes with Muckmuddies.  I can’t imagine why they had to change that.) The story is being kept secret, but it revolves around how much easier it is to fall into a sexual relationship over something with emotional bonds.

In other words, friends with benefits. Reitman feels this is untapped territory when it comes to the genre of cute people in love.  “It’s an issue ripe for discussion.”

January 7, 2011. The day when Portman, Kutcher, and Reitman became pioneers in the field of cinematic romance. Mark your calenders. History will be made.

By now, you’ve read a dozen articles proclaiming the past year or so to be the Age of the Vampires. You have probably complained loudly about how many darn vampire movies and television shows there are. I know I have.

I make a few exceptions (you’ll pry my True Blood DVDs out of my cold, undead fingers) but for the most part, I could let most of the movies and television shows pass on by.  But we’re all going to have to make another exception for Sigourney Weaver.

According to THR’s Heat Vision, Weaver has joined the cast of Amy Heckerling’s vampire horror comedy Vamps.   The film centers on two young vampires played by Alicia Silverstone and Krysten Ritter who find their permanent youth, sexiness, and penchant for darkness a boon in the New York club scene.   But when they find true love, they face a difficult choice that threatens their immortality.

Weaver will play Ciccerus, a vicious vampire who turned both girls into bloodsuckers.   She’s also a queen vampire. Move over Evan Rachel Wood!  Weaver will have the power of Zuul at her back. Frankly, that’s why I’m excited to see her embrace her (campy) dark side. No one can play vicious like Weaver, and few have her dry comedic chops.

Even if the idea of a vampire romantic comedy immediately makes your fangs pop out, you have to admit this addition makes Vamps a lot more appealing.

Vamps is eying an April start.   Let’s hope all the blood isn’t drained of the trend before we get to see a goddess like Weaver have some fun with it.

As I was watching the new Eclipse trailer, out of sheer boredom and a hint of curiosity, I found myself wondering why in the world two super-powered boys would fight it out over a girl clad in American Apparel who’s a hell of a downer.

How is there an entire film series devoted to one girl’s delusional obsessions of a fairy tale ending with a born-again killer? Sparkely vampires want to kill you, strapping werewolf shape-shifters want to keep you safe.

Do these Edward fans have a death wish and a yearning for abandonment? Is Bella Swan so heavily marketed as mesmerizing that it erases the history of the brazen blonde that came before her?

A long time ago, otherwise known as the 90’s, there was a series called Buffy the Vampire Slayer where a feisty girl from the southland slayed Urban Outfitted demons. This legendary show paved the way for multi-tasking girls who cheer by day, slay by night, and every once in a while hook-up with a tormented blood sucker.

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When you say the word “history” out loud, it’s usually met with a chorus of groans. “I hated history in school! All those dates and crap! So boring.” It’s depressing.

History, if taught right, is a story.  (That’s why it has “story” embedded into it. No joke.) It’s not names, dates, and places. It’s blood and sex, with a dash of art and higher aspirations. It’s the stuff you pay to watch in theaters or on HBO but with the kicker that it actually happened.

I couldn’t be happier that television has decided to take that idea and run crazy with it. The new trend on cable is taking finding some notorious era of history, populated with sex and swearing, and spin a few seasons out of it. HBO kicked off the trend with Rome and Deadwood (and promptly broke our hearts in the process), and now Showtime and Starz have taken up the gauntlet.

Showtime has been happily running around Renaissance England with The Tudors, which is about to wrap up in its fourth season now that Henry VIII is coming to the end of his wives. While it’s played a little fast and loose with history, it’s been a sumptuous watch, and fans won’t have to look far for a replacement.

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It may not have taken home a lot of Oscar gold, but many might argue that the jangly coins in Avatar’s pocket might mean a lot more to Fox and James Cameron.  But despite the massive success they’ve enjoyed in theaters, Cameron and Fox want a little more of your hard earned cash.

They noticed that the demand in digital 3D immediately went up when the IMAX run was up. They’re concerned that giving up their screens to Alice in Wonderland may have cost them, in Cameron’s words,  “a couple hundred million dollars.” They know people will eat up more Avatar. So they’re planning a summer re-release.

According to The Hollywood Reporter,  discussions are underway to bring the film back this summer with additional footage. Cameron feels that he was forced to rush the film into theaters to make its December 18 date, and had to leave too many scenes on the cutting room floor.

There’s actually some debate as to how much extra footage there is — Cameron claims there’s about 10 to 12 minutes of scenes that he could toss right back into the film, whereas IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond claims there’s 40 extra minutes. However, an IMAX analog theater can’t handle a film over 170 minutes, so even if Cameron has 40 minutes of unused footage, he can only add 10 or 12 to come in under the IMAX limitations.

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As we’ve been doing all week so far in anticipation of the start of the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX we’ve got another preview for you of a film making its world premiere at the fest. The film in question, Cherry, stars Kyle Gallner, Brittany Robertson and Laura Allen and tells the coming of age story of a sheltered college freshman learning about life.

Aaron (Gallner), is said college freshmen and as he embarks on his journey it soon turns out life is more complicated than dorm parties, co-eds and the college’s elite engineering program when Aaron meets Linda (Laura Allen). When Linda invites him home for dinner, Aaron thinks he’s getting lucky.

Instead he meets Beth (Robertson), Linda’s punk, sarcastic and intense 14-year-old daughter who immediately develops a huge crush on him. Once that happpens, Aaron is then caught between these two powerful women and he soon learns that life and love are much harder to calculate than he ever expected.

Cherry will have its world premiere at SXSW. Check out the trailer after the break.

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Remember a couple days ago when we brought you the preview for the first trailer for the upcoming Twilight sequel Eclipse? Good, you can forget that now as we’ve got the whole thing for you today.

And now, once we’ve seen the full teaser, it only adds to what we said earlier in the week about the film. Even if you’re not a fan of the books or the movies you have to give the filmmakers credit for casting some pretty attractive and appealing people in these roles. Plus, they really seem to know how to milk the last little bit of angsty teen emotion from these situations.

Also, director David Slade comes to the table with a rather cool vampire flick to his credit (30 Days of Night) and has shown his ability to put together some pretty nice visuals while also managing to think about character at the same time. Add all this up and I’m not exactly sure what it means but if you look at this teaser, you might be able to figure it out.

Prediction: This film will make even more money than the first two. Anyone want to bet against it?

Check out the teaser after the jump. Eclipse hits theaters June 30th.

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Continuing our recent previews of upcoming SXSW films brings us to our latest, Leaves of Grass. The film, written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson and starring Edward Norton, Kerri Russell, Susan Sarandon, Richard Dreyfuss and Edward Norton, is being released by First Look Studios and we’ve got a trailer and info about the film for you today.

The film concerns Ivy League professor Bill Kincaid who receives news of the murder of his estranged identical twin brother, Brady (both played by Norton), in a pot deal gone bad. He leaves the world of academia to travel back to his home state of Oklahoma. But once he arrives he finds things are not what they seem and reports of his brother’s death are greatly exaggerated.

Soon Bill is caught up in the dangerous and unpredictable world of drug commerce in the Southwest. In the process, he reconnects with his eccentric mother (Sarandon), meets a wise and educated woman who’s chosen the simple life (Russell), and unwittingly helps his brother settle a score with a drug lord (Dreyfuss) who uses Tulsa, Oklahoma’s small Jewish community for cover.

With a cast such as this and under the direction of Nelson, who’s previous films The Grey Zone and Kansas proved his directing talents, Leaves of Grass manages to be at times dangerous, compelling and poignant. It follows a somewhat simple narrative but still provides some potential answers to a complex question: What does it mean to live a happy and constructive life?

Leaves of Grass will be released in New York and LA on April 2nd. Check out the trailer after the jump.

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