Federline to star opposite Keanu Reeves

Britney Spears' ex-husband Kevin Federline is reportedly embarking on a movie career after landing a part in Keanu Reeves' new film.

The dancer/rapper will play a "small but notable" role in the thriller 'Night Watch,' opposite Reeves and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, according to In Touch Weekly magazine.

It is not the 29-year-old's first acting job - he appeared in an episode of TV drama 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,' which aired in America last year.

Keanu Reeves and Jude Law Offered 'Watchmen' Roles, Source Says

Last week, I posted about Keanu Reeves' new movie Night Watch. Its title recently changed from The Night Watchman to Night Watch to avoid confusion with Zack Snyder's upcoming superhero movie called Watchmen. I found it odd at the time that the filmmakers aren't concerned about getting mixed up with Night Watch, Nightwatch, or Nightwatch. Believe it or not, this title hopping is about to get even more complicated -- Keanu Reeves has been offered a role in Watchmen! My head hurts. Sources say Reeves has been offered the role of Doctor Manhattan, AKA Dr. Jon Osterman -- the "big blue superbeing" with god-like powers like superhuman strength, telekenesis, the ability to teleport, and clairvoyance. In the immortal words of Reeves himself: "Whoa!"

Jude Law is expected to take on the role of Adrien Veidt, or Ozymandias -- "the smartest man on the planet." Law is a longtime Watchmen fan, and was expected to get the role, although Chris reported a couple months ago on rumors that fellow fan Tom Cruise was interested. Little Children's Patrick Wilson is expected to play Dan Drieberg -- Nite Owl, a hero similar to Batman. Watchmen is a twelve issue graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, and is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the form. It is the only graphic novel to have been featured on Time Magazine's 2005 list of the 100 best English language novels from 1923 to the present. Zack Snyder is directing Watchmen as his follow-up to the smash hit 300. The star of that film, Gerard Butler, has been linked to Watchmen as well, but now that three of the leads seem to be nearly finalized, that may not come to pass. What do you guys think -- are these good choices?There are still a lot of Watchmen roles up for grabs, who would you want to see round out the cast?

The Ultimate Matrix Collection

We go into the rabbit-hole....For over 40 hours of Matrix maddness. Does this 5-disc collection set the standard for HD DVD?

by Chris Carle

May 18, 2007 - Whenever there is a format war, people look to the big releases to determine a "winner." The sooner this is settled, the better. As the HD DVD/ Blu-ray battle heats up, each side is bringing out their big guns. On the Blu-ray side, Pirates is set to make a statement, and on the HD DVD side, Warner Bros. is offering up the visually-rich Ultimate Matrix Collection.

Since The Matrix was a tipping point for many consumers in the original VHS/DVD square-off, recording insane sales numbers and legitimizing the DVD format to the masses, all eyes are on this HD release. Will The Matrix set the standard once again and give a much-needed shot in the arm to flagging HD DVD sales?

The answer depends on how much people are willing to buy a set merely for better transfers. Most of the extras here have been seen already on the SD version of this collection. In addition, of the five discs in the set, only three of them are HD DVD. Two are standard definition, and even the HD DVDs are standard def on the features side.

As a collection of all existing Matrix materials, the Ultimate Collection delivers. One cannot scoff at the sheer volume of extras here: 35 hours in all. But if you are a longtime fan and already have the SD version, there are only a few reasons to pick this one up: 1) Better audio and video transfers of the films, 2) A compact collection of all previous features, and 3) One new in-movie feature for each of the films in the trilogy.

For a more extensive breakdown of the set's strengths and weaknesses, peruse the specific sections of the review that follow below.

The Movies

The position of The Matrix in the pantheon of film is still in question. When the original came to theaters, the public was still trying to wash away the bitter aftertaste of Johnny Mnemonic, and confidence in Keanu Reeves' ability to open a large-scale special effects film was in question.

But The Matrix proved to be much more than anyone had bargained for. Combining an anime aesthetic with Eastern philosophy, dystopian/apocalyptic visions and a squeaky leather wardrobe, it was both a pastiche of a million ideas… and unlike anything anyone had seen. The term "instant classic" has been rendered almost meaningless with overuse, but in the case of The Matrix, there is no other way to describe it. In the last decade, no single original idea in film has so captivated the populace.

The timing was perfect. Combining the angst of a world moving headlong into rampantly evolving technology with a mythic, spiritual struck a chord with movie-goers and prompted intense excitement for the expansion of this new universe. In the early days of the millennium, when folks were still waiting for The Matrix Reloaded, it looked as if the trilogy would assume an unassailable place in film and pop culture history. The hype and attention leading up to The Matrix Reloaded rivaled that of the Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films.

When Reloaded finally splashed into theaters, it polarized fans. Many found it bloated and unbalanced, with epic action sequences set against lengthy, wordy swatches of exposition.

Here is what IGN's Steven Horn said about The Matrix Reloaded at the time of its release.

Much of the general comments among critics centered on one sequence in particular: the much-maligned Zion rave. However, with a little backwards-looking perspective, Reloaded has established itself as a multi-layered and rich addition to the experience. The philosophy bandied about in the original film is further explained and each of the characters?and the mysteries each are wrapped up in?are developed meticulously.

If response to Reloaded was mixed, but ultimately positive (it boasts a 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes), the final installment of the series, Revolutions, did not meet with as much success (it is currently earning a Rotten rating of 37% on Rotten Tomatoes).

Here is what IGN's Steven Horn said about The Matrix Revolutions at the time of its release.

Full of huge special effects battles, for many the action was not enough to outweigh the illogic of the philosophy, the gaping plot holes and the unsatisfying ending to the series. As a result, the trilogy slunk to the finish line, leaving many proponents wondering what happened to an idea that was at first so promising and beloved.

In retrospect, releasing both Reloaded and Revolutions in 2003 hurt the quality of the ultimate product and the trilogy's legacy. The net result of pushing two movies in such a short time frame is that the effects for both had to be rushed, and although they briefly set a standard for excellence, they could have been much more epic with a little padding between releases.

Luckily, The Matrix's vision extends beyond the scope of three films. Several videogames have been released that explore the mythology further. In addition, the Wachowski Brothers, architects of the entire Matrix world, commissioned nine shorts from the anime community. Entitled The Animatrix, these nine films enrich and explain the original stories, and fill in gaps in the narrative. Taken individually, they are each inspiring and well-crafted, but taken as a whole, they form one of the coolest animation anthologies ever assembled.

Whatever the legacy The Matrix films ultimately enjoy, one thing is certain: they forever changed science fiction and action filmmaking. In addition, although the narrative may have stumbled in the end, the world the trilogy has created will be with us forever.

Score: 7 out of 10

Naomie Harris Joins Keanu Reeves Drama 'Night Watch'

Posted May 17th 2007 12:31PM by Patrick WalshFiled under: Action & Adventure, Drama, Thrillers, Casting, Mystery & Suspense

Okay, bear with me because this is going to get confusing. Keanu Reeves is starring in an upcoming thriller called Night Watch. Its title used to be The Night Watchman, but it was changed, likely to avoid getting mixed up with the upcoming Zack Snyder superhero flick Watchmen. Oh, and this Night Watch has nothing to do with the other Night Watch, the 2004 Russian film that was pretty popular in its own right, and spawned a sequel -- Day Watch -- out this summer. Oh, and it also has nothing to do with the 1997 Ewan McGregor morgue thriller Nightwatch. Which was a remake of a 1994 Danish film...called Nightwatch. So in conclusion, to avoid confusion, they've changed the title to one that will probably cause much, much more confusion. Everybody up to speed? Alright, then let's move on.

Casting news on the film has been dribbling out steadily. In February, Erik told you that Keanu Reeves would star in the film, as an alcoholic LA cop framed by his former mentor. Then Jessica added that the mentor would be played by the always-excellent Forest Whitaker. And now I am telling you that Naomie Harris has joined the cast. Harris is best known for playing Tia Dalma ("Voodoo Lady") in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. She tells mtv Night Watch is "really dark. It's a really great movie, though, and I'm really excited to be part of it." David Ayer will direct the film, which he co-wrote with Jamie Moss and master of LA corruption stories -- James Ellroy. Ayer certainly knows police dramas, having written one of the best recent examples -- Training Day. He made his directorial debut with last year's very effective Harsh Times. Rapper Common, Chris "Flame On!" Evans, and Dr. House himself -- Hugh Laurie -- will round out the cast. I'm not a big Reeves enthusiast, but any movie that puts Whitaker in his "Kavanaugh on The Shield" mode definitely has my interest.

Asia to host 'Point Break 2'

A Singaporean film company is making a sequel to "Point Break", the smash-hit 1991 movie about a gang of bank-robbing surfers that starred Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves.

RGM Entertainment will finance and executive produce "Point Break 2", which will be shot in South East Asia. The company is currently scouting locations in Singapore and Indonesia.

"Point Break 2" will focus on an ex-professional surfer who enlists in the US Navy and is recruited to track down a criminal gang. Audiences will also discover the fate of Swayze's character Bodhi, who was swallowed by a giant wave in the final scene of "Point Break".

The film marks the directorial debut of Peter Iliff, who wrote the original.

RGM is expected to announce the cast in the coming months.

THE SHOOTING STARS

Uber-paparazzi Francois and Brandy Navarre got rich by simply mining the sidewalks, clubs, restaurants and boutiques of L.A. Why shouldn't they live as well as the celebrities they stalk?

(Snipped for Keanu.)

For years every Sunday night, he would sit in the parking lot of the Bank of America near the corner of San Vicente and 26th Street in Santa Monica, haggling. He'd make snap decisions while reviewing pictures on the screens of digital cameras. "Twenty guys were coming and selling me pictures," he says. "I was like, 'OK, I will buy that for $1,500, I will buy that for $10,000.' Craziness. You cannot even imagine." He never paid in cash, he says, only with checks. Sometimes his on-the-fly pricing strategy backfired. One set of Keanu Reeves pictures cost him $10,000 and he never sold a single frame. But usually not: "I was buying stuff for $3,000 and selling it for $30,000."

What goes up ...

How is it that Keanu Reeves can make half a dozen dud films without losing his star status, while Ben Affleck has crashed and burned? Joe Queenan unpicks the mysteries of the Hollywood career nosedive

Friday May 11, 2007
The Guardian

There is a common misconception among laymen that a once luminous movie star's decline can be traced to a particularly dreadful motion picture. Schadenfreude buffs, who revel in the misfortunes of the freshly humbled mighty, will swear up and down that Kevin Costner stopped being a major star immediately upon the release of Waterworld in 1995, but this is not true. After the debacle of Waterworld, a ridiculously expensive but by no means unwatchable vanity project, Costner directed and starred in both Wyatt Earp and The Postman, a pair of nightmarishly awful, ridiculously expensive films that were completely unwatchable. And that's when Kevin Costner stopped being a major, bankable movie star.

Kate Beckinsale (top left) is struggling after several dud movies, as is Ben Affleck (bottom left). However Michael Caine and Samuel L Jackson's careers appear to be impervious to bad reviews.

There is a common misconception among laymen that a once luminous movie star's decline can be traced to a particularly dreadful motion picture. Schadenfreude buffs, who revel in the misfortunes of the freshly humbled mighty, will swear up and down that Kevin Costner stopped being a major star immediately upon the release of Waterworld in 1995, but this is not true. After the debacle of Waterworld, a ridiculously expensive but by no means unwatchable vanity project, Costner directed and starred in both Wyatt Earp and The Postman, a pair of nightmarishly awful, ridiculously expensive films that were completely unwatchable. And that's when Kevin Costner stopped being a major, bankable movie star.

It would be nice, or at least convenient, to believe that a movie star's decline could be traced to one unforgettable jump-the-shark moment, to one film so awful or one role so demeaning that from that point onward there was no returning from the Kingdom of the Damned. But that is rarely true. Taking a bit part in Jaws IV: The Revenge did not hurt Michael Caine's career, any more than appearing in a dreary Goldie Hawn film (Death Becomes Her) in mid-career slowed down Meryl Streep. Epic duds such as The Caveman's Valentine and Snakes on a Plane have done nothing to tarnish the lustre on Samuel L Jackson's crown; he is a star so beloved that no film could ever end his stardom. And it's not for lack of trying. Just take a look at next week's Black Snake Moan. Keanu Reeves has become a legend by appearing in a host of weird or stupid movies that would stop most careers dead in their tracks (Johnny Mnemonic, A Walk in the Clouds, The Replacements, The Watcher) but then quickly bouncing back with a monstrously huge hit. For example, shortly after appearing in the quirky, extraneous indie flick Feeling Minnesota, Reeves started shooting the Matrix series. By contrast, shortly after filming Feeling Minnesota, the gifted but unbelievably annoying Vincent D'Onofrio seems to have stopped waiting for his big break and instead started thinking about a career in television - proving that one man's detour is another man's dead end.

It would be nice, or at least convenient, to believe that a movie star's decline could be traced to one unforgettable jump-the-shark moment, to one film so awful or one role so demeaning that from that point onward there was no returning from the Kingdom of the Damned. But that is rarely true. Taking a bit part in Jaws IV: The Revenge did not hurt Michael Caine's career, any more than appearing in a dreary Goldie Hawn film (Death Becomes Her) in mid-career slowed down Meryl Streep. Epic duds such as The Caveman's Valentine and Snakes on a Plane have done nothing to tarnish the lustre on Samuel L Jackson's crown; he is a star so beloved that no film could ever end his stardom. And it's not for lack of trying. Just take a look at next week's Black Snake Moan. Keanu Reeves has become a legend by appearing in a host of weird or stupid movies that would stop most careers dead in their tracks (Johnny Mnemonic, A Walk in the Clouds, The Replacements, The Watcher) but then quickly bouncing back with a monstrously huge hit. For example, shortly after appearing in the quirky, extraneous indie flick Feeling Minnesota, Reeves started shooting the Matrix series. By contrast, shortly after filming Feeling Minnesota, the gifted but unbelievably annoying Vincent D'Onofrio seems to have stopped waiting for his big break and instead started thinking about a career in television - proving that one man's detour is another man's dead end.The fact is, in most situations, major stars go into decline not because of one or two miscues, but because they appeared in a whole series of very bad or ill-advised films that launched their careers on an irreversible downwards trajectory. Bear in mind that even though the Roman empire finally collapsed for good in 476AD, it had been in the process of disintegrating ever since the Vandals sacked the Eternal City in 410. It was never a question of "if". It was only a question of "when".

There is an obvious metaphorical link between the deposing of the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, in 476 and the release of Gigli in 2003. While it is true that Ben Affleck's official collapse as a movie star (his most recent films are Clerks II, Hollywoodland, Surviving Christmas and Smokin' Aces) was written in stone after the stupendously awful Jersey Girl and Gigli were released a few years back, the process of career atrophy had already begun with his jarring performance as a blind and somewhat silly superhero in Daredevil. Jersey Girl may have been the flower of evil, but Daredevil was the seed. Put another way: those whom the gods would destroy, they first dress in spandex. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as Blunted Affleck.

Two careers that now seem to be going into similarly rather rapid decline are those of Ashley Judd and Kate Beckinsale. Best thought of as Next Big Things That Never Quite Happened, both actresses have recently shot motion pictures in which truly horrible things happen to them in sleazy roadside attractions. In Vacancy, Beckinsale plays a grieving mother holed up in a seedy motel who discovers that the previous occupants of the room were cast as the involuntary leads in a snuff film. In Bugs, Judd plays a woman who holes up in a motel room with a psychotic war veteran who sees insects everywhere. This is no way to run a career: Meryl Streep never appears in films set in bug-infested motels doubling as snuff film sets, and neither do Helen Mirren or Cate Blanchett. For that matter, neither does Goldie Hawn.

Just a few years back, when she first caught the public's eye in Cold Comfort Farm and The Last Days of Disco, Beckinsale looked like a star on the rise. But her bland performance as a perky nurse in the pedestrian, somewhat idiotic Pearl Harbor six years ago did not break her out as a major star, and since then she has mostly appeared in second-tier movies about vampires, vampire hunters, or women who associate with people who almost certainly have shadowy ties to the vampire community. Recently referred to derisively as the "Queen of the Bs" by some Stateside wit, Beckinsale is the kind of actress who too easily gets upstaged by her own clothing, as she did in Van Helsing and the two Underworld films.

She is also the kind of actress who gets reasonably regular work without ever making much of an impression as a performer. The public's attitude seems to be: somebody has to star in Van Helsing, someone has to star in Vacancy, so it might as well be Kate Beckinsale. But it could just as easily be Kate Bosworth. In a recent interview, Beckinsale said that she took the role in Vacancy because she was fascinated by the motivations of the characters. These are the kinds of rationalising interviews that actresses give to dimwit reporters just before they take time off to do volunteer work for the United Nations for the next 40 years.

Be that as it may, it would be a mistake to think that either Judd's or Beckinsale's careers are going into the tank because of these DOA films. Bugs and Vacancy merely certify what has been apparent for some time: that neither of them was ever destined for immortality. Vacancy and Bugs are merely headstones; the careers were already entombed.

Not every career can lay claim to a Gigli or a Jersey Girl or a Bugs as a defining moment; many actors stop being stars without anyone being any the wiser. A few years back, the talented, charismatic Christian Slater was widely thought of as the next Jack Nicholson; then one day he simply went away. Chris O'Donnell started his career by appearing in such high-profile films as Batman & Robin and Scent of a Woman, but was last seen in a minor role in Kinsey, itself a minor film, and is now following in the footsteps of big-screen washout Kiefer Sutherland and discreetly making the transition to television. And while it is still too early to say whether Colin Farrell's shot at the big time has come and gone, if his moment has indeed passed, it is the surfer boy Prince Valiant haircut and slutty miniskirt in Alexander that will be remembered as the jump-the-shark symbols of his destruction.

Is there a limit to the number of bad films an actor can appear in before his or her career implodes? No. Michael Caine has surfaced in 674 terrible movies, as have Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. Sharon Stone has not been in a film of any consequence since Casino, and has not had a bona fide hit since Basic Instinct, but this has not detracted from her lustre as a movie star. More remarkable still, Sandra Bullock has made one dud after another, yet still benefits from the awesome reservoir of goodwill the public feels toward her ever since she drove that bus so adroitly in Speed.

That said, Bullock could finally be getting close to exhausting the public's patience, as she has reached the point in her career where she is not only making one bad film after another, but is making the same bad film over and over again. Last year, she co-starred with the indestructible Keanu Reeves in the paranormal romance The Lake House about a woman who falls in love with a man living in a different time zone. More recently, she starred in Premonition, a paranormal romance about a woman whose husband cannot make up his mind whether he is dead or not. If, at any time in the near future, Bullock stars in a paranormal romance about a woman who falls in love with an eligible bachelor from the fourth dimension, it's lights out for this career.

Common Set To Star Opposite Angelina Jolie, Keanu Reev

Published: Tuesday - May 8, 2007Words by Allen Starbury

Common is diving head first into the film industry, signing on to star in one major film and in talks for another.

According to Reuters, the Chicago rapper has signed on to play opposite Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie in a fantasy film called "Wanted," and is in negotiations for a drama called "The Night Watchman" where he'd join actors Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker.

The film "Wanted" -- being produced by Universal and to be directed by Timur Bekmambetov -- will center around a white-collar worker (played by James McAvoy) who finds out he is the son of the most evil supervillain on Earth. When his father is murdered, he gains his father's powers and begins living among other supervillains (Freeman, Jolie and Common) who secretly control the planet.

Reuters reports that Common will play the Gunsmith, an assassin with an unparalleled knowledge of firearms who is enlisted to help train and transform McAvoy's character into the world's most feared and powerful hit man.

If Common gets the part in "Night Watchman," he will play the part of Coats, a Belize heroin dealer who poses as an undercover police officer. It is based on an original idea by James Ellroy and centers on a disgraced cop who discovers corruption inside the police department and sets out on a mission to redeem himself.

The rapper made his big screen debut in the shoot em up action film, "Smokin' Aces" alongside Alicia Keys who also made her acting debut as well.

Common will also appear in the upcoming film, "American Gangster," starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. And is in the process of preparing the release of his next album, Finding Forever, which is slated for release in July.

c BallerStatus.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without written consent.

The Matrix on top

The Matrix has topped a magazine list of the best science-fiction movies and TV shows of the past 25 years.

The 1999 movie shot in Sydney and starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne, is number one on Entertainment Weekly's top 25 list, with the issue hitting the stands on Monday.

The Matrix is followed by the Sci Fi Channel series, Battlestar Galactica, then the 1982 movie Blade Runner, the cult TV hit The X-Files and another '82 film, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

The 1985 movie Brazil came in at number six, and is trailed in the top 10 by ET, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Aliens and The Thing, starring Kurt Russell.

Directed by the Wachowski brothers

Heading into 1999, there was one movie that was supposed to be the second coming. The culmination of an extended sci-fi moment that had helped hardwire the culture for mythic, stargazing escapism. By all rights, it should be sitting atop this list. But Star Wars: Episode I  The Phantom Menace turned out to be a case study in empty pop idolatry. Fortunately, there was a movie released the same year that was able to play that part, a film as unexpected, groundbreaking, and capture-the-imagination entertaining as the first Star Wars: The Matrix.

Written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski  a pair of hyper-erudite, super-shy comic-book writers-turned-filmmakers who became overnight cult icons for their trouble  The Matrix was one geeky gumbo of brainy mumbo jumbo; a multi-megabyte compression of mythological and theological ideas, Hong Kong action-film aesthetics, and videogame special effects. Somehow, it worked. Brilliantly. Keanu Reeves was Neo, a spiritually numb computer programmer who learns that not only is his life an illusory sham  the world as he knows it is a virtual-reality prison, created by sentient machines who had won an apocalyptic war against humanity  but that he is destined to become a hero-messiah. The Matrix crackled with late-'90s millennial angst and tech-boom delirium  a freaky-fun fable for a ghost-in- the-machine culture. Bottom line: The Matrix was just...whoa.

POP CULTURE LEGACY With its cutting-edge effects, balletic fight sequences, and leather-dusters-andblack- shades wardrobe, The Matrixredefined the look of Hollywood action. It sparked a moviegoing crush on Asian wire-fu (see: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and set the stage for our current moment of superhero pop and thoughtful science fiction (see: Battlestar Galactica, Lost). It also spawned two sequels that sucked. Nonetheless, The Matrix's accomplishment remains undiminished.

THE BEST BIT The moment that brought bullet time to the movies: Neo's rooftop gunfight with a nefarious Agent. Slow motion has never been so kinetic.  Jeff Jensen

Now it's your turn: If you're wondering how on earth (or the cosmos) EW could have possibly left [fill in the blank] off this list, state your case on our PopWatch blog. (Remember, we're only talking about 1982-present here.) Give us enough interesting responses, and we'll create a gallery of EW.com readers' own Sci-Fi 25.

Keanu Reeves was the original choice to play Bob Lee Swagger in "Shooter"

Keanu Cashes In
by Marcus Errico

Fri, 16 Apr 1999 01:10:00 PM PDT As Keanu himself might say, "Whoa." The Gen-X thespian known for his low-key double take has upped his post-Matrix asking price to a whopping $15 million, in the wake of the film's monster box office.

Reeves will likely cash the big-bucks paycheck to star in a thriller titled Shooter, Daily Variety reports. He'll also reportedly get a hefty chunk of the film's profits.

The film is based on a 1992 novel called Point of Impact, about a Vietnam veteran and ace sharpshooter named Bob Lee Swagger who agrees to one last mission--but gets double-crossed and becomes the fall guy in a presidential assassination plot. (The book was originally adapted by Nick Kazan as a Robert Redford vehicle.)

Swagger seems a perfect fit for Reeves (one book reviewer described the character as "dullish"), who tends to score boffo box office in films that require more action than acting (see Speed).

Shooter is slated for an end-of-the-year shoot, and will cap a busy 1999 for Reeves.

He's currently working on The Replacements for Warner Bros. Reeves pocketed $12.5 million plus a percentage of profits for the football feature, Variety says.

The Bill and Ted alum is also signed to play a serial killer in the indie flick Driven, according to the Hollywood Reporter. That film, to be shot before Shooter, will be helmed by Joe Charbanic, a first-time movie director whose previous experience includes directing videos for Dogstar, Keanu's wannabe rock band.

The Matrix' Tops Mag's Sci-Fi List

The best science-fiction movie or TV show of the past 25 years?

As a classic episode of "The Twilight Zone" once so memorably underscored, beauty is in the eye of the beholder _ so the answer is surely endlessly debatable. But, according to a list compiled by the editors of Entertainment Weekly, it's "The Matrix."

"The Matrix Revolutions" cast members Keanu Reeves, left, and Laurence Fishburne gather at the world premiere of the film in Los Angeles, in this file photo from Oct. 27, 2003. The best science-fiction movie or TV show of the past 25 years? As a classic episode of "The Twilight Zone" once so memorably underscored, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so the answer is surely endlessly debatable. But, according to a list compiled by the editors of Entertainment Weekly, it's "The Matrix." (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello-File) The 1999 movie, starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne, is No. 1 on the magazine's top-25 list, in the issue hitting newsstands Monday.

"The Matrix" is followed by the Sci Fi Channel series "Battlestar Galactica," 1982's "Blade Runner," the cult TV hit "The X-Files" and _ another 1982 production _ "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan."

The 1985 movie "Brazil" ranks No. 6, and is trailed in the top-10 by "E.T."; "Star Trek: The Next Generation"; "Aliens"; "The Thing," starring Kurt Russell.

NBC's "Heroes" _ about a group of super-people, including an indestructible cheerleader _ ranks No. 18. The series' cast members are featured on five different covers of the magazine's upcoming issue.

Chris Evans and Hugh Laurie Join Night Watch

Chris Evans and Hugh Laurie have joined forces with Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker in Night Watch.

Variety posted the following regarding the actors,

Hugh Laurie and Chris Evans are looking to work the "Night" shift.

Fox Searchlight and New Regency are lining up Laurie (TV's "House") and Evans ("The Fantastic Four") to join the cast of the James Ellroy-penned crime drama "Night Watch," previously titled "The Night Watchman."

David Ayer is directing; Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker already are onboard to star.

Plot centers around a Los Angeles cop, Reeves, who's become wedded to the bottle after his wife's death and is framed by a onetime mentor, Whitaker, for the killing of a fellow officer. Laurie and Evans would play internal affairs officers.

The film lenses this month.