Keanu Reeves is Comic-Con Cool

Keanu Reeves and his beautiful costar Jennifer Connelly promote their new sci-fi film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, at the Comic-Con 2008 convention on Thursday in San Diego, Calif.The Day the Earth Stood Still is a remake of the 1951 film of the same name. According to Wiki, the film updates Cold War themes like nuclear warfare to more contemporary ones, such as “humans vs. nature” and humanity’s generally violent nature toward itself.Keanu, 43, plays alien messenger Klaatu. Connelly, 37, plays Helen Benson, a microbiologist inducted by the government into investigating Klaatu. The movie opens in theaters nationwide on December 12th.

Patrick Swayze winning pancreatic cancer battle

(What's this?)Dirty Dancing star Patrick Swayze is hot-footing his way back to health.

The Hollywood icon has defied medical opinion in his fight against pancreatic cancer after being given just weeks to live in January.

And his smile and thumbs-up as he made his way through an LA airport will give hope to millions of fans and fellow sufferers.

Looking tanned and fit, the 55-year-old told photographers: "I'm cooking. I'm a miracle dude, I don't know why."

It was claimed part of the reason for Swayze's incredible comeback are the dancing skills that propelled him to stardom.

Pancreatic cancer specialist Professor John Neoptolemos said: "Patrick has a background in dancing and so has been a very fit man for much of his life.

"This will have given him a strong position to start from to fight cancer."

Swayze's appearance was a stark contrast to shots taken in March, in which he looked gaunt and drained as he puffed on a cigarette.

He said last month: "My treatments are working and I am winning the battle. I am juicing every day along with other treatments and all I can say is it's working really well."

Swayze, who also starred in blockbusters such as Ghost with Demi Moore and Point Break with Keanu Reeves, has been having chemotherapy at Stanford University Medical Centre, California.

Medics recently gave him the all-clear to begin filming for his first TV work in years, FBI thriller The Beast.

Bob DiBit-etto, head of TV network A& E, said: "We're thrilled to have Patrick on board. We have a fairly high degree of expectation Patrick will be good to work a full production schedule."

Zack Van Amburg, co-president of Sony Pictures TV, who are to make The Beast, added: "It's amazing, it's inspiring and it's almost unprecedented."

Pancreatic cancer sufferers typically have a survival rate of five per cent.

Swayze has been a 60-a-day smoker for years and research shows addicts are twice as likely to develop pancreatic cancer as non-smokers..

Experts reckon Swayze's massive improvement is down to his response to treatment, his positive attitude... and his passion for dancing.

Prof John Neoptolemos said: "The main reason Patrick looks so much healthier is he has put on the weight he lost when he first developed cancer.

"The positive feeling of being pro-active with the disease and the support he has gathered will be making a big difference too."

Prof Neoptolemos, head of the Institute of Cancer Studies at Liverpool University, added that leading a healthy, active lifestyle helped in preventing and fighting all forms of cancer, so Swayze's decades of dancing may have proved vital.

Keanu will present an exclusive look at The Day The Earth Stood Still

11:30-1:00 20th Century Fox: The Day The Earth Stood Still and Max Payne・/b> Stars Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly, plus director Scott Derrickson and producer Erwin Stoff, present an exclusive look at The Day The Earth Stood Still, Fox's contemporary reinvention of its 1951 classic. Keanu is Klaatu, an alien whose arrival on our planet triggers a global upheaval. As governments and scientists race to unravel the mystery behind the visitor's appearance, a woman (Jennifer) and her young stepson get caught up in his mission預nd come to understand the ramifications of his being a self-described "friend to the Earth." Klaatu Barada Nikto.

WILL KEANU REEVES BE STRETCHING HIMSELF FOR THE WACHOWSKI BROS?

A reader by the name of Ballack writes in from Berlin (one of my favorite cities in the world!) saying that Joel Silver was on German radio recently talking about Ninja Assassin, the James McTeigue-directed, Wachowski-produced martial arts movie. Ballack claims that Silver also spilled the beans on what the Wachowskis would be directing to follow-up Speed Racer* - Plastic Man.

You'll remember that a pre-Matrix Bros W wrote a Plastic Man script, which Ballack claims Silver said would be the basis for this new film. Our scooper also reports that Silver said they want the movie to have a global release at the end of 2009.

And if that's not a big enough story, Ballack further claims that Silver says that Keanu Reeves will be playing Eels O'Brien (the real name of Plastic Man). Apparently this is the start of a new love period between Reeves and the Wachowskis, as Silver (via Ballack) said that the brothers want to work with him on all their future projects.

Is any of this true? I've made a bunch of phone calls to representatives for the Brothers Wachowski and Keanu Reeves, and I've gotten 'no comment' and 'let me look into that' (which is publicist talk for 'Talk to you never'), so take every single word in this story with a massive grain of salt.

But is it possible? Could be, which is why I've run it. The Wachowskis are almost certainly trying to figure out how to follow up the puzzling failure of Speed Racer - a PG-13, accessible but modestly edgy movie could be the thing. It's a property I know they like, and going to Plastic Man could fit into the recent Warner Bros/DC Comics summit, which focused on bringing a wider variety of DC Universe properties to the screen.

I'm still waiting on some people to never get back to me - if they miraculously do, I'll update this story as it happens.

*shame on you all for not going to see this movie in theaters. It was pretty good.