Nothing is too supple, I mean subtle, in Rod Lurie’s remake of the 1971 classic, Straw Dogs.

Lurie trades the gloomy fog of the English countryside for the humid, deep south Deliverance style eeriness in his remake. The effect of terror is the same. However, Lurie is going by the new rulebook of horror, the one that boasts a wealth of gore and a lack of character development.

Screenwriter, David Sumner (James Marsden) and his trophy actress wife Amy (Kate Bosworth) decide to leave the Hollywood Hills for a while to return to Amy’s hometown in Blackwater, Mississippi so that David can work on his new screenplay about the Battle of Stalingrad. The couple rolls into town in a vintage Jaguar convertible, blasting old folky tunes, and it becomes clear that these people really don’t know how to fit in.

The deep southern backdrop provides an easy route to conjure the monsters of the film, the uneducated hicks and hillbillies who never left Blackwater. Amy is the former head cheerleader of the town, one of its most prized possessions second to their winning football team. David and Amy hire Amy’s former boyfriend, Charlie (Alexander Skarsgard), an outgrown member of the football team, to work construction on her family’s old house. Charlie’s group of local derelict friends also help him with the construction job.

Automatically we know this is going to be an ultra-violent film. It starts out with a bar fight, basically the same one which occurs in the original but with a lot more blood. Coach (James Woods), the former coach of the football team and a local drunk, and possibly the most raucous and scary character of the film, will not leave the bar when he is refused a drink. After which he smashes a glass, throws a chair, and jumps behind the bar to take matters into his own hands. This is only the beginning of the local town folk taking justice as they see fit.

Meanwhile Amy, for the first half of the film dresses akin to Daisy Duke and prances around her estate nearly naked and after a short time Charlie and his gang’s voracious sexual appetites rise to the surface. Though Susan George, in the original, played the devious little nymph Amy in a role that can’t really be imitated, Bosworth does her best to attract the wrong attention and is subjected to a brutal raping, possibly more disturbing than the 1971 scene. The world’s fascination with torture porn must also be taken into account when comparing the two, but either way, it is difficult to watch.

The misogyny in the town is hard to handle as a viewer. Skarsgard and Woods play a terrific team of terror with their sinister looks and sarcastic winks as they refer to Amy by her old nickname, “Amy Cakes”. The final quarter of the film is startling and extremely visceral. The anticipation involved is evocative of that in Panic Room, and the demonization of Coach and Charlie is reminiscent of DeNiro’s character in Cape Fear, inflicting pain and horror on a fairly innocent family.

Though the acting is semi-decent and the setting is understandable, it is an arduous task to remake a film that has such clout as the 1971 version. Depending on tastes in psychological thriller films and their use of blood versus character development I would say jump for the original. However, not a bad effort by Lurie.

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‘Blue Crush 2,’ the highly anticipated sequel to the 2002 smash ‘Blue Crush’ starring Kate Bosworth and Michelle Rodriguez, was released on June 7 and I had the pleasure of sitting down with some of the cast and the director.

I meet Sasha Jackson and Ben Milliken, two of the film’s stars, and director Mike Elliot at ‘Hotel Le Germaine’ in Toronto. It’s clear they’re doing well for themselves, I mean, the hotel is swanky.

The first thing I tell them is that the movie actually surprised me – it was fun and, unlike many sequels, not horrible.

“Did you like it? Because we haven’t seen it yet,” says Jackson.

That must drive you crazy, I say. Imagine yourself being recorded and broadcast to a global audience without approving it. Terrifying right? To make matters worse, Jackson says she can’t stand to watch herself on screen.

“I don’t watch it as it’s me, I never have. But I will notice when I look like, ugly in a scene,” says Jackson. “I’m not good of an actress.”

Jackson has no reason to be tough on herself, though. The budding actress has appeared in everything from ‘One Tree Hill’ to larger film roles that are in the works.

Milliken, though, seems a little less used to fame. Well, at least according to director Elliot, who jokingly berates him for admitting he’s married. “Ben, you’re not supposed to let the little girls out there know that you’re married. The fantasy has to be maintained.”

“I’m terrible at this whole thing,” Milliken says.

As we continue the chat, Jackson admits that she had never been on a surfboard before the film and found it rather difficult to shoot the scenes she did.

“Every time you see me stand up and come off the board, that’s me. Not fall off the board, but [laughs] yes. Every time you see me fall and nearly die, that’s me.”

You can thank her stunt double, Rosy Hudge, for making her look like a pro surfer. In fact, the two look so alike that Jackson’s then-boyfriend mistook her for Sasha while filming, hugging her from behind. Talk about awkward.

Milliken says he’s been surfing his whole life, though (he grew up on Sydney’s northern beaches), which is funny as he only has one surfing scene in the film. Is he mad he couldn’t do more? You bet.

“It would have been fun to surf more, but I was doing as much actual surfing as everyone else,” says Milliken.

“Yes, he did get in the water a lot, it just wasn’t in the movie,” says Jackson.

I turn my attention to the director, Elliot. With a long resume including films like ‘The Eye,’ ‘Death Race 2,’ and ‘The Devil’s Rejects,’ a surfer movie seems a little out of place. What’s it like jumping from action and horror to a fun sport movie?

“Well, it’s all really pretty formulaic. What we do is take the bullets and the blood, and switch it out for bikinis and babes. And then just put it all in the same storyline, and set in on a beach instead of a race track or hell hole or something.”

As we end our short chat, our conversation is increasingly drowned out by the sound of nearby police sirens. Gotta love the city.

Not missing a beat, Jackson says “meanwhile, the police are coming to get us and we have been discovered… Kate Bosworth is actually gagged back there, because she nearly booked this role and she keeps trying to go to press about it, and I’m like ‘listen, Kate Bosworth, you can’t. What is this?’”

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Looks like Superman has finally found the Lois Lane to his Clark Kent.

E! Online confirmed today, that Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures have announced that 36-year-old Amy Adams has been cast as Lois Lane in the upcoming Superman remake, directed by Sucker Punch director, Zack Snyder. The actress will take on the fast-talking, no-nonsense reporter who nabs the heart of the adorably awkward Clark Kent. The role has previously been portrayed by actresses like Kate Bosworth in Superman Returns, Erica Durance in the television drama Smallville, and of course — the original Lois — Margot Kidder.

Snyder has already tapped Diane Lane and Kevin Costner to play Clark’s parents Mr. and Mrs. Kent, and 27-year-old Henry Cavill to play the legendary DC superhero himself.

Nearly a 10 year difference, huh? Looks like Clark Kent has got himself a sugar-mama.

In a statement, Snyder said that “Second only to Superman himself, the question of who will play Lois Lane is arguably what fans have been most curious about. So we are excited to announce the casting of Amy Adams, one of the most versatile and respected actresses in films today. Amy has the talent to capture all of the qualities we love about Lois: smart, tough, funny, warm, ambitious and, of course, beautiful.”

Almost a decade older or not, I think Adams will fit the role quite well. Her wonderful sense of humour and comedic timing alone puts her ahead of previous Lane incarnation, Kate Bosworth. Bosworth attempted the role in the 2006 film, Superman Returns, alongisde one-time Man of Steel, Brandon Routh. The film, which also starred Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, was a box office hit, but Bosworth’s portrayal of Lane and the seemingly flat romance between she and Routh, recieved mixed reviews.

Roger Ebert went as far as to say that, “Lois Lane has lost her dash and pizzaz,” and  compared the chemistry between original Superman and Lois Lane duo, Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder, observing that the new pair seem “tongue-tied” and “awkward.”

Ouch.

Though some may be skeptical of the age-gap in casting and its resulting effect on the main couple’s chemistry, I’m confident after watching Adams in films like Enchanted and The Fighter, that she has the range to be the perfect Lois Lane. She is, after all, just coming off of an Oscar nomination for The Fighter.

Look up in the sky Zach, ”It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s –”  your next cinematic hit.

Just don’t make another Sucker Punch. Please.

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Actresses Kate Bosworth and Lindsay Lohan were photographed leaving a Tommy Hilfiger party together last night.

The new BFFs were only a couple of many celebs who were invited to the exclusive Tommy party which featured a performance by Lenny Kravitz.

Bosworth also sported new boyfriend, British model James Rousseau, on her arm as she left the party. She broke up with actor and long-time boyfriend Orlando Bloom last month.

Tommy Hilfiger hosted the party to celebrate the opening of his new store in Paris, France.

Photo courtesy of justjared.com.

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On-again-off-again couple Kate Bosworth and Orlando Bloom are off again, reports Entertainment Tonight.

The couple, who have dated over the last four years, decided to go their separate ways as Bloom, 29, is filming Pirates of the Caribbean in Southern California.

Bosworth, 23, and Bloom are scheduled to film a movie, Seasons of Dust, together this fall. The drama is about a young woman whose uncle commits suicide, forcing her to run away with a dashing thief.

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Love is back in style for twenty-something power couple Kate Bosworth and Orlando Bloom.

Bloom, 28, flew to Australia to visit Bosworth on the set of her upcoming Superman flick, Superman Returns, in late June.

“Orlando can?t stay away from Kate,” says a source from the London Mirror. “They?ve tried to be apart but it?s impossible when you are as in love as they are. He?s determined to woo her back.”

Reportedly, once Bosworth, 22, discovered he was flying in, she immediately dumped new boyfriend, model Lundi Shackleton, who is working on the Superman set as an assistant to director Bryan Singer.

Shackleton doesn’t have any hard feelings, though.

An on-set source says of Shackleton, “You can tell [Bosworth] respects him too. It’s all good – Orlando’s even met him.”

Bosworth and Bloom broke up in January because of distance issues.

Rumours flew that Bosworth had left the Lord of the Rings actor because he’d gotten too wrapped up in the Hollywood glitz.

In March, however, Bloom convinced Bosworth to join him at the exclusive Chateau Marmont Hotel to reconcile.

“Now it is a very serious relationship, and getting more serious with each passing day,” Femalefirst quoted an insider as saying.

Engagement rumours have also been circulating since Bloom visited Bosworth during two month hiatus from filming the Pirates of the Carribbean sequels. He supposedly gave her a ring worth $400,000.

Perhaps Bloom swung into action when he heard Tom Cruise was after Bosworth. She was reportedly among the young actresses Cruise had in mind while shopping for arm candy. He was also reportedly interested in Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansson before choosing Katie Holmes.

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