"Departures" is a gentle, transfixing film experience that takes itself on storywise as an elegy for the dead but in some miraculous way, reaching to higher a epiphany, makes you reexamine the spiritual connections in your own life. This Japanese film adopts the themes in awakening enlightenment and following your life’s calling....(more)

By Sean Chavel in Los Angeles Sasha Grey is a porn star of 150-plus titles who has broken into the American mainstream movie business via director Steven Soderbergh who cast her in “The Girlfriend Experience.” The film is a deliberately arty but arresting look at a high-rental call-girl , a black & white classic that had similar themes with a working girl....(more)

"The Girlfriend Experience," about a $2,000 an hour girl, is a movie about sex without ever showcasing sex to its fullest act. It’s most lurid scene turns out disappointing when a client suffers premature ejaculation before he even has a chance to grope the half-naked Chelsea ....(more)

Focus Features has tapped George Clooney to star in "A Very Private Gentleman." Variety reports that Anton Corbjin will direct this feature film adaptation of the novel by Martin Booth....(more)

Kevin Spacey will star in the true story thriller "Casino Jack" where he will play Jack Abramoff. Variety reports that Abramoff was a high-powered lobbyist whose bribery schemes and fradulent dealings with Indian casinos landed him in jail....(more)

Robert De Niro has committed to "Little Fockers," the third film in the "Meet the Parents" series as well as the independent thriller "Stone." Variety reports that in "Stone," De Niro will reteam with actor Ed Norton in this thriller about a correctional officer ....(more)

Al Pacino will play Napoleon in an adaptation of the book "Betsy and the Emperor," says The Hollywood Reporter. "Betsy and the Emperor" is a children's book written by Staton Rabin and will be directed by John Curran ....(more)

Loathsome as it may sound, some people - like the title character "Bob Funk" - exist to make unending complaints to everybody in the room, and if irked, against everybody in the room. Bob is one of those blowhard characters – the kind you find in offbeat independent films – who believes everything he does is right, believes if nobody else has manners than why should he, and believes he is the most interesting storyteller in the room disregard the status of his contemporaries....(more)

Paul Giamatti, Sacha Baron Cohen and Reese Witherspoon will all join Alexander Payne's next film, "Downsizing," which is being described as a social satire. The project is being setup at Fox Searchlight....(more)