Last we heard from the Farrelly camp, the brothers were cooking up a re-launch of the Three Stooges. Now, in a bit less aggravating news: One of them, Peter Farrelly, is getting into the trend of cooking up a myriad of shorts for one feature -- a la Paris je T'aime. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Farrelly and Charles Wessler are teaming up with Liberty Media to create a comedy-centric mix that could hold as many as 24 shorts.

What names are attached thus far? None, other than Farrelly, who will direct not one, but two shorts. Beyond him, the infamous Brett Ratner, Todd Phillips (Old School), Mike Judge (Office Space), and Blades of Glory directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck are all in talks to write and/or direct. The plan is to score "other actors and directors from across the film world, even some not known for comedy." So far, no city-centric or overriding theme has been given.

Some of the names are good, but some -- *cough* Ratner *cough* -- aren't the first names I'd think of in the world of comedy, which makes me wonder what sort of film they're going for. The plus of the Paris and New York collections is the diversity. So, I can only hope that means we'll get not only stateside names like Tina Fey and Christopher Guest, but also some Guy Maddin, Patrice Leconte, Terry Gilliam, Gurinder Chadha...

Who do you want to see involved?

Michael Marshall is one lucky writer -- he published a well-received trilogy, which was adapted into a comic series by Zenescope, and now The Straw Men are coming to the big screen. According to Variety, Benderspink has snatched the rights to the to the novels and the comic books, presumably in order to adapt some combination of them.

Unfortunately, I can't rustle up a preview of the comic -- but you can check out the gorgeously creepy covers on Zenoscope. I'm not sure I could have these laying beside my bed, they're pretty nightmarish.

It sounds like the book is, too. The story begins with two men calmly opening fire at a McDonald's in Palmerston, Pennsylvania before jumping ahead ten years to meet up with Ward Hopkins, who is convinced the death of his parents was no accident. Elsewhere, a 14 year old girl is kidnapped by a serial killer, and two FBI Agents are on the manhunt to find him. These events are no coincidence, they're the first clues to the nightmarish individuals known as The Straw Men. Marshall's thriller has received nothing but praise -- Publisher's Weekly squeamishly noted its "dismemberment scenes," Stephen King praised it, and Newsarama is calling it "one of the best horror thrillers ever written."

There's no director or screenwriter attached yet -- and Benderspink is adapting every other graphic novel known to man, so this could sit in pre-production for awhile, which gives us all time to read the book. Has anyone out there read it or the comic? Tell us everything (well, not everything, but give us a good review) in the comments below.

It never fails to amuse me whenever parents get all worked up about an occasional f-bomb or a flash of boob, but show 'em a story about child genocide peppered with mild misogyny and presto -- you've got a children's classic! Almost two years ago, it was announced that Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón would be taking on an update of Roald Dahl's The Witches, and it was originally reported that Cuarón was going to direct. Now, though, it seems like things have changed, and Empire has broken the news (in an interview with Cuarón) that Del Toro has not only finished the screenplay, but will also be taking the helm for the fantasy update.

Dahl's original story centered on a conspiracy of witches looking to rid the world of children (great bedtime story, huh?), and received the feature film treatment once before. But, that hasn't stopped the studio from going ahead with a brand new version of the dark children's tale, and by the sounds of it, there are going to be plenty of changes in Del Toro's update. Cuarón told Empire, "It won't be like the original Nicolas Roeg version, which was a beautiful film," because (and this is the very exciting part), Del Toro plans to "do it completely in stop-motion animation."

When Nicolas Roeg's version was released back in 1990, a few changes were made to make the story a little less disturbing for the kiddies (including a much lower body count). But for you purists out there, at least we can rely on the fact that at least Del Toro isn't afraid to play rough with kids on the big screen.

Sound off below, and tell us what you think about Del Toro's plan for the 'kiddie-killing' update...

Maybe all roads do lead to Rome. According to The Hollywood Reporter and creator Bruno Heller, there's actually talk of continuing the brilliant HBO series on the big screen to wrap up all the historical loose ends caused by the series' abrupt cancellation. (Something which HBO now thinks was a big mistake. Between that and passing over Preacher, they're rather low in my esteem right now.)

Heller admits the talk is, at the moment, just talk. "It's moving along. It's not there until it is there. I would love to round that show off." Heller wouldn't discuss movie plot plans, but the next step for Rome was Augustus Caesar having to deal with a certain carpenter from Judea -- with a twist typical of the series.

Fans of the show will probably weep a little at Heller's unrealized plans -- Lucius Vorenus' off-camera fate wasn't as definite as we might have thought, and we would have gotten a whole season of Egyptian debauchery. "I discovered halfway through writing the second season the show was going to end," Heller said. "The second was going to end with death of Brutus. Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt. Fifth was going to be the rise of the messiah in Palestine. But because we got the heads-up that the second season would be it, I telescoped the third and fourth season into the second one, which accounts for the blazing speed we go through history near the end. There's certainly more than enough history to go around."

A Rome movie is probably nothing but a dream -- anything more than a whisper, and it will vanish, it is so fragile. But cancellation is no longer a death knell, and while they can't give me back the lost season of Antony and Cleopatra, I'm always up for more bread and circuses.

While the Material Girl gets back to single life, her brother is getting ready for the big screen. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Madonna's brother Christopher Ciccone will make his feature directorial debut with a new teen thriller called Twist. The script was written by Jay and Karyn Milner, and while no plot details are being released, you can get a taste of the stories they write by clicking on their names -- it's the usual fish-out-of-water stories with strange and dangerous twists. Considering the name of this project, I think it's safe to say that this will be no different.

THR also reports that Maurice Kanbar (Hoodwinked producer) is gearing up for an indie with Daphne Zuniga called The Scene. Aside from reliving her days as Princess Vespa, Zuniga is producing and starring in the black comedy, which is adapted from Theresa Rebeck's (Gossip) play about the "Manhattan party circuit and entertainment industry."

While I wish this meant something of the Whit Stilman oeuvre, this is more modern. Zuniga will play a cynical talk show producer who meets a chameleon social-climber played by Heather Gordon. What happens after that, we'll have to wait and see. Amy Glazer is directing, and this should be a bit of an intimate affair since THR says that sets have been built IN Kanbar's home. Talk about cutting costs!

Could you see Paul Scrader in Bollywood? See, this is much more than merely Hollywood delighting in all things Bollywood. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Paul Schrader, the pen behind Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, is heading to Mumbai to helm a Bollywood action flick called Extreme City.

What's convinced him to head overseas? He says: "I've been getting indie movies made for 20 years. But I take a good look around and what I see is a barren, barren place -- in terms of the financial community, in terms of audiences, in terms of distribution. It's cold out there." So in this non-barren Bollywood, what will he direct? It's the story of an American man who goes to India to aid in the resolution of a kidnapping case for his father-in-law, and gets stuck in a gangster plot. Schrader admits that there will be a mix of dialogue and musical numbers, but it's "not a Masala movie."

I wonder... Will this continue to be a trend? If indie filmmakers can't get love here, will they take it elsewhere? And if they do, imagine the headaches the Oscar committee will get with an influx of overseas projects with mixed dialog by Americans!

If you haven't yet upgraded to some kind of Blu-ray player, and you've decided that this might be the year to do so, then it looks like you're getting up at the crack of dawn this Friday (aka Black Friday) because there are some pretty good deals to be found. Here are a few we uncovered:

Note: Keep in mind that some of these deals are only from 5am till 12 noon, and they may be different depending on where you live.

Best Buy
Insignia Blu-Ray Disc Player - $249.99
Samsung Blu-Ray Player - $199.99
Sony BDP-S35 Blu-ray Disc Player - $249.99

Amazon.com
Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player - $232.07
Samsung BD-P1500 1080p Blu-ray Player - $203.58
Samsung BD-P2500 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player - $299.99

Walmart
Magnavox Blu-ray Disc Player - $128.00 (Best Deal)
Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray Player - $198.00

Sears
Sony Blu-Ray DiscTM player - $179.99
Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray Disc Player - $199.99

Circuit City
Samsung Blu-Ray Disc Player BDP1500 - $199.99

Let us know if you find a better deal than what's above and we'll post it.

It's always fun when some tasty bit of news gets tossed out online, especially when there's only a few tiny little pieces -- like a director, an actor and a title. That seems to be the case with this piece of news, via Production Weekly, who tell us that Sony has picked up the rights for a film called Chef, which will be directed by David Fincher and star Keanu Reeves. That's it. That's all we have to go by. No genre, no premise, no additional cast -- nada.

As far as Fincher and Reeves go, each appears to be available as the former is finished with Benjamin Button and is attached to only direct an animated segment of Heavy Metal, and Reeves just finished The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. The only flick that comes to my mind is the remake of Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe, but the titles are different and it doesn't seem like the kind of project Fincher would direct. So who is this chef? Where does he come from? Tell us more about this movie! If anyone out there has more info on it, definitely let us know.

There's nothing quite like a father incensed with possible harm to his kid and fighting the odds to find and save her. But it's familiar. We've been there, and seen that. So, what would that be like with a French director who freaked out film festival audiences with Martyrs? The Hollywood Reporter posts that Pascal Laugier has been tapped to write and direct a new supernatural thriller called Details. Based on a short story by China Mieville, the film follows a dad obsessed with finding his missing daughter. However, this isn't a simple case of kidnapping -- she disappears after "stirring up dark forces." But if you want something more familiar, the man is also bringing us the Hellraiser remake.

In other news...

Are you ready? Hollywood is bringing us a romcom that will strap us in seats for a full month of romantic comedy! Okay, not quite, but The Hollywood Reporter does say that Lionsgate has picked up a spec by new writer Corinne Kingsbury called 31 Days of Larry. So far, we've got one lone word to describe it: "irreverent." Let's hope that doesn't mean a romcom starring Kevin James, as he's romanced by Adam Sandler. I'm a bit tarnished on the whole "Larry" on the big screen thing. (Not James, just anything that reminds me of that film.)

I love director Anand Tucker's professional trajectory. He dove into music, sisters, and drama with Hilary and Jackie and followed it up with Steve Martin's strange romance, Shopgirl. Then there was some father and son dynamics before grabbing upcoming projects about the Yorkshire Ripper, sex changes, and a CIA spy thriller. So, what does he top this all with?

Variety reports that he's signed on to helm Harry Elfont and Deb Kaplan's upcoming romcom, Leap Year. The one that Amy Adams grabbed last month. The film, which heads into production in Ireland this March, follows a woman who flies over to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend on leap day. Why? Because an Irish tradition says that when men get proposals on that day, they have to say yes. She gets delayed, and surely doesn't want to wait another four years to make her possible marriage a sure thing, so she's got to race across the country to make it.

Good ... or bad? Well, this slightly brings to mind a certain Matchmaker story, which was bad in a sweet sort of way. Harry and Deb brought us Can't Hardly Wait, which rocked, but they also gave us flicks like Made of Honor and The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. But Tucker is involved, and would he sign on for a crappy romcom? Eh, I can't decide. What say you?