I will never forget the first time I visited Austin, TX. My friend, and fellow reject, Luke Mullen and I had driven through the night from Baton Rouge in order to make the noon showing of Grindhouse. By then, it was playing in a dingy dollar theater, but the trailers had gotten me so jazzed about it that I couldn’t have cared less where we watched it. This carefree complacence would incidentally be shattered not three hours later upon my first visit to an Alamo Drafthouse. Being that my cult movie knowledge was less-than-remedial at the time, one would think that I would have gleaned no appreciation from a throwback film like Grindhouse. But Tarantino and Rodriguez shoved the scratches, film warps, and falsely cheap production values down our throats to the point that even a visiting Martian would have been able to recognize the long-form homage. But it wasn’t until the release of Grindhouse spinoff Machete earlier this year, after two years living in Austin had afforded me a crash course in cult cinema, that I really started to understand the complaints my colleagues were voicing about these types of films. Instead of focusing time and energy to beating us over the head with the kitschy throwback facade, why weren’t adoring filmmakers simply making modern movies with that classic grindhouse spirit? For the first fifteen minutes of Faster, that is exactly what I believed we were finally seeing.

Who wants to go Faster? Raise your hand if you want to go Faster! Now is your chance to hope in a car with Dwayne Johnson and get revenge on those who wronged you… or at least watching the big guy do it on screen while you stuff your face with popcorn and candy. FSR will help us forget about films like The Back-Up Plan by hosting an early screening of Faster in Columbus, Ohio.

Many older actors have seen fit to join big studio franchise-style material lately. Sir Anthony Hopkins in Thor, Sir Ben Kingsley in Prince of Persia. Despite the titles, these actors have never been above a paycheck – it’s the working British actor’s philosophy: a job is a job. Now, Sir Michael Caine joins the ranks by joining Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D 2: The Mysterious Island. It’s clear that the old codger can still rock an action scene if he needs to, and he’ll need to here because there are apparently bees (probably giant ones) on The Mysterious Island. Now, we can only hope there’s a fist fight and he takes The Rock down. [THR]

Brendan Fraser was threatening to leave the production of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island even before his latest family friendly flick fell flat, but now that he’s gone for good (since director Eric Brevig left to deliver this magnum opus), the production has decided to go to the man most well known for children’s movies: The Rock. Dwayne Johnson has officially been named as the replacement to star in the film. It’s a great marketing tactic considering his Sesame street cred, and it probably won’t hurt the creative integrity in anyway unless they run out of ways to throw yo-yos at the screen (in 3D!). Josh Hutcherson is reprising his role (as, most likely, a Plan B to missing out on Spider-Man), and as with the first, the movie will take Jules Verne’s work and weave it into a story that mirrors the plot to his novel “The Mysterious Island.” [Cinematical]

Kevin Carr sits his chubbiness down and sees if Tooth Fairy, Legion and Extraordinary Measures can make the grade.

While Neil is off galavanting in Park City, Utah, stocking up on watching movies for the coming year at Sundance TwentyTen, Kevin is left alone in the Magical Studio in the Sky. To help keep him company is Fozzie Bare, stepping into Neil’s sizable shoes as guest host.

Kevin Carr heads out to the movies this week, giving his take on New Moon, Planet 51, The Blind Side and Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

Neil squeals about Team Jacob in his review of the highly anticipated The Twilight Saga: New Moon while Kevin struts around the Magical Studio in the Sky with no shirt on, desperately hoping people will mistake him for Taylor Lautner. There’s also a bizarre discussion of where Somali Pirates might fit into one of this week’s movies… how does that all work? Listen and find out!

Cliche after cliche is piled on top of what looks like dreck aimed at 9-year olds. Time for The Rock to take the checks and face the facts.

Planet 51 may not be an original tale, nor is it a movie from the likes of Pixar or Dreamworks. However, this second trailer is quite a bit of fun.

Lucas and Moore gave us some plot details about Tomorrowland, and it looks like the film won’t include the retro, 60s vision of the future. So which vision should it include?

According to Production Weekly, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is about to join the cast of Disney’s upcoming sea epic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, for which they’ve tapped Terminator Salvation director McG to helm.

The L.A. Times’ Hero Complex blog has revealed this evening that Zac Efron, star of such tween hits as High School Musical and High School Musical 3 has been confirmed for the lead role in the upcoming live-action adaptation of Jonny Quest.

Well, finally a weekend comes along at the Reject Report where my predictions look semi-intelligent. Race to Witch Mountain, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, raced to Number One with a haul of $25 million — pretty much in the ballpark of what most people thought it would get.

Kevin Carr reviews this week’s new movies: Race to Witch Mountain, Last House on the Left and Miss March.

Neil admits to slacking on his movie-watching duties, but Kevin gives him a pass because there’s a lot of prep to be done for the SXSW Film Festival in Neil’s adopted home-town of Austin, TX.

I don’t know either. I just don’t know. Should I be excited about an adaptation of a childhood favorite despite the casting?

For some reason, this year’s Superbowl commercials — at least the movie related variety — all seem to be showing up on the web prior to Sunday’s big game. If you ask me, it just doesn’t seem right. Either way, this new Race to Witch Mountain clip isn’t half bad…

Didn’t The Rock learn anything from Vin Diesel’s foray into the world of family action comedies — I think we all remember how The Pacifier worked out, and Race to Witch Mountain has all the potential workings of a similar fate.

Steve Carell proves once again that while he can be over the top like many of his peers, he is also a master at dead panned, straight faced humor.