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Hunter S. Thompson took the world of journalism for a wild ride; he uprooted the idea of objectivity, threw respect out the window and drank his way to the forefront of New Journalism.  The new movie, “The Rum Diary,” starring Johnny Depp, is based on Thompson’s first novel, in which he follows the early career of journalist Paul Kemp, who finds his voice in Puerto Rico as an amateur journalist fighting for justice and drinking obscene amounts of rum.

Kemp receives an offer to portray a corrupt real-estate scheme in a good light, and kind of accepts it.  He is brought on lavish trips and provided with great luxuries, until he blows it for unrequited love that never plays out…and Kemp doesn’t seem to care too much.  Maybe it’s the rum.  The plot then turns to Kemp trying to bring justice to his slimy editor at the San Juan Star, which ends up to be another failure.  The novel and movie are based loosely on Thompson’s own time as a reporter in Puerto Rico.

If you have an interest in Hunter S. Thompson, then this is the movie for you.  It’s funny, action packed and explores the self righteousness that journalists love to boast.  However, if you aren’t familiar with the story, then the movie might make little sense.

Little back story is provided, and there seems to be no point.  All of the archetypical themes, such as love and friendship, are cast aside, and the major plot line is abandoned as soon as the main characters face a little bit of trouble.

With prior knowledge of Thomson’s life and career, this movie is a great set up for a sequel.  However, without this knowledge, the movie might seem lackluster or pointless.

The plot doesn’t fail, however, to bring the audience on some hilarious misadventures.  Some are frightening, and others awkward, but laughter always ensues.

Overall, the movie is entertaining and fun, but lacks the historical depth that one might hope for.

Walt Disney Studios has show down the movie adaptation of “The Lone Ranger” due to budget problems, the Associated Press reported.

The long-awaited film, starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer is now in jeopardy, the AP reported, citing an anonymous source close to the production.

Deadline Hollywood first reported on the film’s production halt.

According to the reports, the film had trouble reducing its $250 million budget down to $200 million.

The film had a ton of revenue potential, with its well-known storyline, cast, Gore Verbinski direction and Jerry Bruckheimer production.

Hammer was set to play the ranger, with Depp playing Tonto, the title character’s partner.

Ryan Reynolds was named as this year’s sexiest man alive by People magazine, a title George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp have been named in the past.

The actor told People, “My body naturally wants to look like Dick Van Dyke. When I stop training, I turn into a skin-colored whisper.”

Regarding the title that he got, he commented, “You just have to go with the flow. This gives my family entre into teasing me for the rest of my life.”

He also mentioned his wife Scarlett Johansson, “Now it’s going to be, ‘Sexiest man, take out the garbage.’ That does sound better. The most difficult part is going to be organically working this title into a conversation with random strangers.”

MTV also talks about that he played some sexiest roles in several movies, such as “Definitely, Maybe” “Van Wilder” “The Proposal” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “Green Lantern.”

In “Alice in Wonderland,” director Tim Burton takes Lewis Carroll’s time-honored tale and converts it into a fantastical, eye-popping 3-D joy ride for the attention-deficit “Avatar” loving generation.

The most notable thing about “Alice” is that visual stimulation never stops. First, we meet a wayward, unhappy Alice (Mia Wasikowska) mourning her father’s death on the day that she receives a very public proposal from a ginger lord with digestion problems. Burton doesn’t miss a detail of the prim English countryside or its snobby, corset-wearing inhabitants.

When Alice uncomfortably edges away from the waiting crowd, a rabbit leads her to a large hole, which, of course, she falls into. This scene is 3-D at its best, with Alice swishing past books and chandeliers and bouncing on top of beds.

Fans of the cartoon movie will be confused with what follows. There is an unexpected implementation of plot, and while favorite scenes such as Alice shrinking and growing are left in, the scene where she cries herself a river is left out. Instead of following Alice on a disjointed acid trip of a journey, we soon find out, through the vehicles of the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), Dormouse (Barbara Windsor), and Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum (Matt Lucas) that they are looking for an Alice who has visited before to come and release them from the dominion of the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). There is a bit of dissension about whether this Alice is the same Alice, and this is one of the plot points that gets tedious. Alice, of course, doesn’t remember being here before, and the only person who is convinced she was is the Mad Hatter.

Alice makes her way through Wonderland in an array of fabulous dresses (kudos to the costume designer), making friends with the Bandersnatch, fooling the Red Queen and eventually fulfilling her destiny by slaying the Jabberwocky.

Burton takes liberties with the original story and comes up with a plot that is painfully similar to The Chronicles of Narnia — a young girl stumbles into a world of kings, queens and talking animals. She then finds that she’s “chosen” and must rescue her little friends from a domineering queen and return the power to the benevolent ruler. The mystery of the story that is supposed to keep the audience guessing, whether or not this Alice is the one who will fulfill the prophecy, is at first, confusing (why wouldn‘t she be the right Alice?) and then annoying with repetition.

Wasikowska gives a seamless performance in this, her first major leading role. She is appropriately bold while conveying Alice’s youthful nature. She doesn’t lose herself in the potentially sappy storyline of “Am I just Alice or am I Alice?”

Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter is one of the more anticipated characters — right up there with Stephen Fry’s Cheshire Cat — and he doesn’t diappoint. His clownish clothes and spastic hair fit well with his fluorescent eyeliner and his overwhelming personality. Depp’s only misstep is his accent — is he British? Or Scottish? He had a lisp, but now he doesn’t. What could be attributed to his apparent “madness” just comes off as confusing and inconsistent.

Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter play arch enemies — and sisters. Carter provides a great deal of comedic relief as an evil, yet pitiable, Red Queen who plays crochet with a hedgehog (as the ball), uses pigs as footrests and is wildly jealous of her well-liked predecessor and younger sister, the White Queen. Hathaway brings a quirk to her perfect, gracious character, but overacts in some scenes. For instance, one wonders if she got tennis elbow from holding her arms up like she’s waltzing 24/7.

But the movie works as a whole. It’s visual (the motion capture technology is impeccable — from Stayne’s spindly daddy long legs to the queen’s bulbous head), it’s funny (Alice has a dry sense of humor that is funnier because it’s unexpected…well now I guess I’ve ruined it for you), and it’s heartwarming. Each character is relatable and sympathetic, from the ridiculously brave dormouse to the heart-melting loyalty of Bayard, the hound. And lastly, for those who aren’t fans of 3-D, worry not. This movie isn’t filled with action scenes where things are thrown at the audience ad-nauseum. The 3-D is mostly unnoticeable and only enhances the scenes when it does anything.

Don’t miss this movie — it’s a substantial upgrade from the cartoon, and it’ll leave you wanting more.

Johnny Depp will begin working on a documentary project about Keith Richards next week, Variety reports. The doc will be Depp’s first directorial project since 1997′s “The Brave.”

“I’m very touched that Keith has agreed to show up in front of my cameras,” Depp said. News of Depp working on the documentary first surfaced in an interview with Russia’s Politika, where Depp said his editor was in the process of going through miles of archival footage. Moviefone.com speculates whether or not Depp’s documentary will be an adaptation of his work or perhaps a behind-the-scenes concert film. That remains to be seen, but hopefully the film will take an honest look at the hard-partying hey-day of The Rolling Stones.

It’s well-known that Depp’s portrayal of Jack Sparrow in “Pirates of the Caribbean” was based on the Rolling Stones guitarist. Richards even played Jack Sparrow’s father in “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” Richards and Depp, who have been friends for almost 10 years, appeared in a father-son-like embrace on the cover of Rolling Stone before the film’s release.

"I was almost afraid to meet him for a long time, because there is always a fear that your heroes are going to be shitheads," Depp joked to Rolling Stone.

Variety reports that along with the documentary, Richards’ autobiography, to be published by Little, Brown & Co. in the US, will be released in 2010.

I went into "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" eager to see Heath Ledger’s final curtain call.

That eagerness retreated rather quickly. I think it was right around the time Ledger’s character was introduced, hanging lifelessly from a noose underneath a London bridge. Unfortunately Ledger’s death casts a pall over director Terry Gilliam’s entire film and his patented madcap flights of fancy cannot erase a sense of melancholy that permeates the whole production.

It certainly does not help matters that the film itself is a complete mess.

It’s a shame because the story is certainly promising and right up Gilliam’s alley. Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) has spent his entire immortal life losing bets to the devilish Mr. Nick (Tom Waits). Dr. P’s latest wager is about to cost him his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole), with Mr. Nick poised to collect his prize as soon as she turns 16. Parnassus makes a last desperate wager in the hopes that he can save Valentina and avoid giving the devil his due.

Using his incredible powers, which allow people to literally explore their own imaginations, Parnassus has to "win" five souls before Mr. Nick. The arrival of the mysterious and smooth-talking Tony (Ledger) to his troupe gives Parnassus hope that he can save his daughter and finally beat Mr. Nick at a game that seems perpetually rigged against him.

The film comes alive when Tony is escorting unexpecting patrons through their own imaginations. Due to Ledger’s death, Tony is played by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell in the scenes set in the Imaginarium, which is a shame as they are by far the film’s best. It is rather sad that every time Tony leaps into the Imaginarium and Ledger is replaced with another actor, the film becomes infinitely more fun. Farrell in particular is captivating, easily capturing Tony’s snake-like and sleazy charm as he struts through his scenes with a movie star’s confidence.

Unfortunately Ledger does not prove as capable. Gilliam allowed him to improvise most of his dialogue and it shows. Ledger’s performance seems to be coming from several different directions at once, as if he wasn’t quite sure of what to make of the character. It is sad to see Ledger get upstaged so completely in his last film, but Depp, Law and particularly Farrell simply have a spark that stands in sharp contrast to Ledger’s muddled and confused performance.

Much of the blame should be placed on Gilliam. He seems disinterested in the scenes in the real world. While I can understand his enthusiasm for the more fantastical moments in the film, he forgets to develop a narrative thread. Fantastical images are great, but fantastical images that exist in an engaging narrative are better. Gilliam sadly seems to have forgotten that, and the film veers wildly from scene to scene with no real connection to each other.

While the film doesn’t work, it’s hard not to admire it. It cannot have been easy finishing the film after losing Ledger so tragically and to see Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell work so hard to honor their friend is quite exceptional. It’s not their fault that they upstage him a bit in the process.

If you really want to see Heath Ledger’s last performance, I recommend you stay home instead and watch "The Dark Knight", "Brokeback Mountain" and simply admire how full of life Ledger and his characters are.

News travels fast, but in case you haven’t already heard, Johnny Depp was named “sexiest man alive” by People magazine for the second time.

People descibed the 46-year-old (I know, wow) actor as “the king of cool with killer cheekbones.”

Depp last won the honor in 2003, and this year, he joins the likes of Brad Pitt and George Clooney in winning twice. After Depp, the rest of the top five are Ryan Reynolds at number two, Jake Gyllanhaal at number three, Bradley Cooper at number four, and Robert Downey Jr. at number five.

Rabid Twilight fans might be disappointed to know that Robert Pattinson ranked 15th, but the rest of us will wonder how he ranked so high.

Pick up People magazine to check out the full list.

Disney announced the official title for the fourth movie in the wildly popular “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, MTV.com reported today.

At the D23 fan convention in Anaheim, Cal., Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook looked into a crystal ball to reveal the next title: “Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides.” Johnny Depp was there in character as Captain Jack Sparrow – “sailing” in on a pirate ship and asking for rum.

Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Depp returns to the “Pirates” franchise as part of a deal with Disney ensuring he would also be able to pursue a passion project: “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson.” Whether or not Kiera Nightley and Orlando Bloom, however, still remains to be seen. Both have suggested in the past that they will not be back for a fourth movie.

“Stranger Tides” aren’t the only thing in Disney’s crystal ball.

After an updated performance of “The Rainbow Connection” by the Muppets, Cook announced a new Muppet movie: “The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made.”

Nicholas Cage made an appearance for two reasons:

1. He introduced a trailer for “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”
2. He announced that he would “absolutely” be on-board for a third “National Treasure” movie.

John Travolta arrived, along with wife Kelly Preston and daughter Ella Blue Travolta, to enormous applause. It was their first public appearance since Jett Travolta’s untimely death. Cook then announced that Travolta, Tim Allen and Martin Lawrence would all be involved in “Wild Hogs 2: Bachelor Ride.”

Riding the fresh wave of Beatlemania that followed the release The Beatles: Rock Band, Disney is also planning a “Yellow Submarine” movie. “You’re going to see Pepperland and the Blue Meanies as you never have before,” he said. “And the greatest soundtrack of all time.”

Guillermo del Toro is working with Disney to help them get a little scary in a project called “Disney Double Dare You.” The first of the movies will be called “The Troll Hunters.”

Cook talked about Andrew Stanton’s upcoming, potential trilogy “John Carter of Mars” and called it “a new Disney franchise for years and years to come.”

Other appearences included Robert Zemeckis, Jerry Bruckheimer, Tim Burton and Miley Cyrus, and never-before-seen footage was shown for “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Prince of Persia,” “Tron: Legacy” and a sequel to “Earth” called “Oceans.”

SAN DIEGO — “Edward Scissorhands” director Tim Burton made his first-ever visit to Comic-Con International today and was welcomed with huge cheers from Hall H’s 6000-strong audience. Burton was there to discuss “Alice in Wonderland,” his highly anticipated re-imagining of the classic novel.

The film stars Johnny Depp (who made a brief surprise visit during the panel — Burton later claimed that “Johnny decided to drop by” after having been in the neighborhood “walking around dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow,” though Burton’s grin proved this fan dream false), Mia Wasikowska, Anne Hathaway, and Helena Bonham Carter.

During the presentation Burton and panel host Patton Oswalt showed — three times — a trailer for the March 2010 film. Narrated by Depp’s Mad Hatter, the trailer gave glimpses of the Cheshire Cat (voiced by Stephen Fry), the Queen of Hearts, and a variety of scenes that appeared to be wholly original to this version, including a romp through a forest of mushrooms and a seemingly beefier role for the Mad Hatter, a character that only appears in a few Alice tales.

Certainly the question of how exactly Burton’s “Alice” compares to the source material, that is “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and the sequel “Through the Looking Glass” is on everyone’s mind.

When asked about his motivation to do the film as well as his connection to the source material, Burton said, “Seeing other movie versions of it, I never felt an emotional connection to it. It was always a girl wandering around from one crazy character to another, and I never really felt any real emotional connection. So it’s an attempt to really try to give (“Alice in Wonderland”) some framework of emotional grounding that has never been in any version before. So that’s the challenge to me. You know every character’s weird, but it’s to try and give them their specific weirdness so that they’re all different. All his characters indicate some kind of mental weirdness that everybody goes through, but the real attempt was to try and make Alice feel more like a story as opposed to a series of events.”

A lot of the intrigue with Burton’s “Alice” also has to do with the rumored changes he has made to the original story.

“It’s not a sequel because there are so many stories in Alice in Wonderland,” Burton said. “The goal was to take the randomness of the books, taking elements of the book and making it its own stories. A lot of it is based on the Jabberwocky poem in one of the stories. And that’s not a big part of the story, but we’re just using elements of all the books because that’s the nature of them, and they don’t really follow a specific linear structure.”

There are also a few changes being made to the famous Mad Hatter, which Burton calls an “iconic character.” Some of these changes can also be attributed to Johnny Depp. “(Johnny) tried to find a grounding to the character, something that you feel, as opposed to just being mad. In a lot of versions it’s a very one-note kind of character and you know his goal was to try and bring out a human side to the strangeness of the character. Any time I work with him that’s something he tries to do so that’s no exception.”

Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” is also going to be presented in 3D, though it was originally filmed in 2D and will be converted to 3D.

“We didn’t do it with a 3D camera. We did it where we got all our information from different cameras,” Burton said. “There are maybe three or four reasons for that. One was the time element, where you know we didn’t really have five or six years to make it. Also I felt the techniques we were using — the pure animation, the live action (but manipulating and doing strange things to that), plus the other elements we’re adding into it — it just gave us more freedom to get the depths and layers we wanted in the time we were dealing with. Plus for me I couldn’t really see the difference. This seemed the right technique and the right approach to do it.”

He went on to discuss his personal view of the growing trend of incorporating 3D technology into film.

“I’m personally not out to make it a gimmick. I think it puts you in this world more, plus with the Alice material, the growing and shrinking and the weird kind of spaces and places you’re in, it just kind of helps with the experience. The gimmick elements are kind of falling by the wayside. Now it’s just more about an experience. (We had) “Nightmare” (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”) converted to 3D and I mean, I felt it was almost the way it should have been. You felt the texture of the puppets more, you felt things that you actually felt when you were on the set. I think that that just enhances the experience and makes things — in a lot of cases with the textures and things — the way you wanted it to be.”

In closing, there is also a bit of news about Burton’s future projects. He’s been rumored to be going on to do “Dark Shadows” once “Alice in Wonderland” is complete, and he said once asked that “Dark Shadows is the plan, if I ever finish this one.”

There is also some potential for more original projects like Burton’s acclaimed “Edward Scissorhands.” When asked if he planned on beginning an original project, he said, “Oh yeah, I mean — you know those are always kind of inside. Yeah I’ve got a few lying around and I try to sneak them in somewhere. Yeah, um — yes. Yes. But nothing right at this moment.”

“Alice in Wonderland” hits theaters in March 2010.

These days, with amazing websites like IMDB.com, consumers are permitted to know every detail about a film almost as soon as the producers decide them. ‚ Gone are the days when you had to wait to see a commercial teaser or, God-forbid, a theatrical trailer before you could even know for sure if a movie was coming out.

That’s why we’ve all known and are thrilled about the fact that Director Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, James and the Giant Peach) is throwing together what is sure to be a masterpiece recreating the well-loved children’s book, Alice In Wonderland. The star-studded cast includes actors Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Alan Rickman, Michael Sheen, Helena Bonham Carter and newcomer Mia Wasikowska, who is playing Alice herself.

We’ve known all this for some time, and it doesn’t even come out till March.

But thanks to the wonderfulness of the internets, we have something to keep us entertained until that day comes. ‚ New promotional images of the characters have been released, depicting Alice (Wasikowska), The Mad Hatter (Depp), The Red Queen (Carter) and The White Queen (Hathaway), reports Ryanseacrest.com.

The costumes look great, all the actors seem to fit their roles, but does anyone else feel like the photos were taken by someone who usually takes yearbook pictures? ‚ Could we not find something besides the granite blue backdrop? ‚ Perhaps a natural field setting or perhaps even black and white, but if this is the backdrop, it seems more fitting that the actors should be leaning forward on their elbows and perhaps be smiling awkwardly through braces. ‚ But that’s just me. ‚ Let’s hope Burton finds something different for the film itself.

Remember when “Miami Vice” came out a few years ago? It had everything going for it: a truly accomplished action director, a terrific cast and captivating source material. It promised to be a fun, interesting ride — maybe not an Oscar film, but solid summer fare. Then it came out and we got an overlong, unsatisfying mash of maudlin storytelling and Colin Farrell’s sideburns. Sighs of disappointment could be heard from miles around.

Mann does a little better in his latest, “Public Enemies,” but I do see the signs of a repeat performance. Again we have the truly talented director. We have the fabulous cast (Depp! Bale! Cotillard!) And we have excellent source material: the films follows the rise and fall of John Dillinger, a 1930s bank robber and show-boater who lived fast and died young. And, in general, it’s an homage to every gangland film ever made since Jimmy Cagney was walking. Mann appears to be hoping reignite our fascination with amoral bank robbers who shoot at police while riding the running boards of their getaway cars. And it’s a good time for it — anti-heroes abound in today’s films, and moral ambiguity fits our current sensibilities just fine.

All this would be great, if Mann and Johnny Depp (who plays Dillinger) had created an anti-hero anyone could actually care about. No one’s a bigger fan of Depp than I, but it’s pretty obvious he’s phoning it in here. Dillinger was a fascinating character. He understood the power of the media in shaping history, and he played it to his advantage. He was also fearless, and would walk in and out of police stations and prisons just to show that he could. We see scenes of both these attributes, but the real Dillinger; his motives, his inner life and his personality largely remain a mystery. Depp appears to be under the impression that a twitch of the eyebrow and a a half-smile constitute fine acting, and we know he knows better.

Depp’s supporting case fares much better. I was completely underwhelmed by Marion Cotillard’s performance as Dillinger’s dame, Billie, until a scene late in the narrative when she lets loose with a vicious, spitting, animal soliloquy that stops the show. It’s a version of “Stand By Your Man” with a hell of a lot more chutzpah. Bale does a surprisingly well-shaded performance of FBI Agent Melvin Purvis, assigned to the task force to capture Dillinger. Bale lures us into the belief that we’re watching the normal trope of the relentless, obsessed lawman and then shows us a real human being who loves his job and fears the increasingly draconian methods he has to use to do it. And Billy Crudup shows up doing a pretty damn good impression of a young J. Edgar Hoover — he’s sleazy and insincere in just the right way. Mann also includes a bunch of fine actors who show up, yell “Hey, I’m here!” and then leave again; Lili Taylor, LeeLee Sobieski and Giovanni Ribisi are just a few that make up the carousel. Since this story basically rests on Depp’s shoulders, it’s still pretty disappointing, but at least we have some good people to look at in the meantime.

I always give Mann props for taking chances with his camera work, but he’s doing some weird stuff in here. As with all action films made in the last ten years, the movie suffers a severe case of shaky-camera syndrome. Mann also seems way too fond of extreme close and low shots, sending the audience right up into the actors’ nostrils (an amateur mistake that’s far below what Mann’s capable of).

There is, however, one brilliantly executed action sequence: a shoot-out at a safe-house, followed by a midnight car chase. In this scene handheld cameras are used to their intended effect: a sense of controlled chaos that makes the audience feel as if they too are running through the woods, dodging the sniper fire. The car chase especially is wonderful: two cars barreling down a highway, with shooters firing while hanging on to the running boards for dear life while the night closes in on them. It’s a familiar scene, no doubt; we’ve seen this chase scene since the beginning of narrative film. And it still manages to terrify, exhilarate and take our breath away.

It’s a classic for a reason.