News

• Giving a new meaning to the term “family film,” Angelina Jolie’s children Pax and Zahara Jolie-Pitt will join their mother for small roles in Disney’s live-action fantasy movie Maleficent. The 8-year-old and 7-year-old (respectively) join 4-year-old sister Vivienne, who is playing the young version of Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning). Visual effects and production designer Robert Stromberg is making his feature directing debut. [Deadline]

• Al Pacino, Jeremy Renner, and Julianne Moore are all attached to Imagine, about an aging rock star (Pacino) who tries to right the rocky ship of his life after finding a letter sent to him by...

Here is the trailer for a film called The Dogfather starring Chris Parnell (30 Rock, Archer) as the patriarch of a family that unwittingly takes in a pooch that was until recently the top dog in the mafia.

This is a prime example of a movie that was purely made for the paycheck and one that I will not be seeing. Check out the trailer below and share your thoughts:

Synopsis:

Lovable bulldog Sonny becomes the target of a mafia dog hunt after swallowing a priceless ring, and running off to live with a friendly suburban family in this comedy starring SNL alumni Chris Parnell. Having a mob kingpin for a master gets Sonny plenty of perks, but when the hungry pooch accidentally ingests an irreplaceable ring, he finds out just how disloyal humans can be. Narrowly escaping the wrath of his master’s henchmen, Sonny doesn’t stop running until...

This is something to watch only if you really, really hate Chris Parnell. That means I have to stay far away. For my money, the actor is one of the secret weapons of 30 Rock -- his wildly out of touch Dr. Spaceman is only deployed a few times per season, but those moments are always highlights. So I couldn't even get through the entire trailer for The Dogfather, in which Mr. Parnell plays the patriarch of a family that unwittingly takes in a pooch that was until recently the top dog in the mafia. It's like a movie parody from 30 Rock -- something like Who Dat Ninja? or Cop Out. I have nothing against family films, or even against your average quickie that really just exists to delivery a paycheck to everyone involved. As 30 Rock and Archer point out, Chris Parnell certainly deserves his check. But this one looks like...

A look at what's new on DVD today:

"Buried"

Directed by Rodrigo Cortes

Released by Lionsgate

"Paper Man"

Directed by Kieran and Michele Mulroney

Released by Mpi Home Video

While one can't feel too badly for the future "Green Lantern" star and People's sexiest man alive, Ryan Reynolds' two stabs at glory outside the beaten path went largely unseen, which is particularly a shame in the case of Rodrigo Cortes' "Buried," the thriller where Reynolds has no acting partner but a cell phone as a military contractor who finds himself trapped in a coffin with no knowledge of how or why he got there. A success at Sundance, Lionsgate scrapped expansion plans for the film when it didn't do well in limited release, so home video will be the first chance for many to catch it. Still, that was a considerably bigger success than "Paper Man," which snuck in...