Here are some casting bites for the fresh New Year, courtesy of Variety:

• Just over a handful of years since he played the crucial role of the "Terrified Sailor" in Pearl Harbor, and a few less since he was "Bob in 70's Sex-Ed Film" in The Girl Next Door, Nicholas Downs has nabbed a lead role in an upcoming drama called Prep School. This is a follow-up to Downs' and filmmaker Jerome E. Scott's last film, Anderson's Cross. According to Times Colonist, Scott described it as a film like "Dead Poet's Society meets Primal Fear." That's an interesting combination.. Anyway, the paper went on to say that the film follows a smart prep student who befriends the school's outcast, gets in trouble with a dean who has a dark secret, and struggles with the pressures of privilege and conformity.
• Colleen Crabtree, on the other hand, has a much goofier cinematic score. It appears that she just co-starred in the recently-wrapped Opposite Day, which stars none other than ol' comedic names like Pauly Shore and French Stewart. It's a family film, but there's no word on what it's about yet. However, considering the mass amount of children on IMDb's cast list, could it be some sort of school comedy with an opposite theme? Who knows! We should find out some time later this year.
• Michelle Stafford, who has spent the last seven years playing Phyllis Summers Abbott on The Young and the Restless, has grabbed the lead in a new indie project called 3 Days Gone. She'll play a detective in a rather interesting little thriller. The IMDb plot outline says: "Lucas Snow was buried alive and has lost 3 days of his life. His best friend is murdered and the two top crime bosses are hunting him down as well as the police. Will he find out who set him up?" The film will hit theaters this May.
• Finally, T.J. Thyne, otherwise known as Dr. Jack Hodgins from Bones, has nabbed himself roles in two new films. First there is Jada Pinkett Smith's The Human Contract, which Erik first blogged about here, and secondly, there's The Last Full Measure, which stars Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman. The latter is about a bureaucrat who has to decide whether a fallen hero should be given the nation's highest award after 40 years. As if Bruce and Morgan weren't enough to challenge Thyne, there's also John Cusack, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, and Andy Garcia.

A few months ago, I went to dinner with a friend near the beach. A huge burst of noise interrupted our meal, and we walked outside to see what all the fuss was about. Was it a burglary? A riot of some kind? Nope. Turns out it was Stephen Baldwin. Stephen has become a born-again Christian, and he had pulled up to a bar in a van and was preaching the good word to a bunch of drunken college students. It was absolutely insane. The New York Daily News is reporting that Mr. Baldwin spoke with WAWZ (99.1 FM) this morning to discuss the spirituality that brought him to...a van outside a bar... as well as some upcoming acting gigs. I'll tell you about the acting gigs in the next paragraph, but I need to make absolutely certain that you're sitting down.

Alright, here we go. There's no other way to put this, so I'm just going to come out and say it -- Stephen Baldwin is making Bio-Dome 2. Take a deep breath, we'll get through this together. No word on whether this will be a theatrical release (I doubt it), whether Pauly Shore will return (I think it's a safe bet he's available) or why they're making a sequel to a movie that most people can not look directly at. Baldwin also discussed his new Christmas DVD, Midnight Clear, and his own newly launched ministry, called As Salt. (Did no one tell Mr. Baldwin the name of his ministry contains the word "Ass?") He will also appear on NBC's Celebrity Apprentice, which is notable for featuring "celebrities" so off the "A," "B," or even "C" - list, you almost have to add more letters to the alphabet. He can currently be seen in the only clever scene of Fred Claus -- where he appears alongside Hollywood heavyweights Roger Clinton and Frank Stallone.

Bio-Dome 2, friends. The apocalypse is near.

Have you ever had a co-worker who was so terrible that it seemed like he was planted there just to make you miserable? That seems to be the premise behind Mission: Intolerable, a workplace comedy about a temp agency that hires out a "temp from hell" for companies who'd rather have an unwanted employee quit than have to fire him or her. According to the Hollywood Reporter, comedian Katt Williams (Norbit) is set to take the role as the temp (and founder of the agency, I guess). The movie's plot will focus on one job he's assigned where the employee he's supposed to force out stays his ground and fights back. The idea sounds kinda brilliant, actually, in a slightly derivative-of-The Office-and-Office Space sort of way. Unfortunately, the guy in talks to direct is John Whitesell, maker of such unfunny movies as Malibu's Most Wanted, Deck the Halls, Big Momma's House 2 and See Spot Run.

Also, the script received a rewrite from Malibu's screenwriters Adam Small and Fax Bahr (the original was by Steven List and Astrid Neal), who were also responsible for a number of Pauly Shore comedies. But how hard could it be to make a funny workplace comedy that we can all relate to and enjoy? Enough people hate or are at least annoyed by their jobs that any office-set movie could be appreciable by simply exaggerating the usual terrible and annoying work situations. Maybe a few seasons of NBC's The Office have fully mined the territory, though. It's been awhile since I worked at a job like that, so I have no clue what's funny about offices anymore. Of course, I'm not exactly part of the demographic the movie will be for, anyway. Mission: Intolerable is being produced by The Weinstein Co.'s Our Stories division, which means it will be made intently for black audiences. Actually, that exclusivity just makes me want to try to like the movie more.

When I first saw the headline, I thought Marc Forster was remaking the 1995 Pauly Shore classic. But no, fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your position), he is sticking to more serious fare. According to Variety, the director of such melodramatic films as Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland is now attached to an adaptation/remake of the British miniseries The Jury, which first aired in 2002. The original, written by The Queen's Peter Morgan and directed by Pete Travis, is about a murder trial involving a Sikh student charged with killing a classmate. Like a modern, more expansive version of 12 Angry Men, the miniseries focuses primarily on the members of the jury and the process through which they reach their verdict -- though apparently (I haven't seen the miniseries), The Jury bears no resemblance at all to Reginald Rose's play nor either of the films it spawned.

Rather than hiring Morgan to rewrite his own script -- the Oscar-nominee is pretty busy these days -- Fox 2000 has gone with Beau Willimon, who Forster himself recruited based on the playwright's well-received political drama Farragut North. While it seems that Willimon is inexperienced in writing for film, he presumably has a lot of time to work on The Jury, since Forster will next be directing the latest installment of the 007 franchise, tentatively known as "Bond 22". Whenever The Jury gets made, we should expect that it will follow in the tradition of other UK minis-turned-features like Traffic and the currently-in-production State of Play. It will probably have a cast of heavies and a lot of Oscar promise.

Ah, election years. Everybody's talking about politics instead of Paris Hilton for a change. The Daily Show gets really good. And everyone wants to know who's supporting who. As far as Hollywood is concerned, we have some answers. CNN Political Research Director Robert Yoon has looked at the July presidential fund raising disclosures and pulled out the celebrities to see where they stand. You can read the full list over at Deadline Hollywood Daily, but let's take a look at some of the highlights, shall we?

Tom Hanks, Danny DeVito, and Tobey Maguire are some of the big names who contributed to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Will Smith and Jamie Foxx are all about Barack Obama. Oliver Stone digs John Edwards, (but secretly suspects him of starting the Vietnam War). Bill Richardson must contribute to the Director's Guild, he's got Steven Spielberg, William Friedkin, and James L. Brooks on board, in addition to Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer (no word on how The Ghost and The Darkness voted). Rudy Giuliani got some highly coveted Mafia support from The Sopranos' Tony Sirico. John Lithgow surely made an over-the-top theatrical gesture of placing his check in the mail for Chris Dodd. Dennis Kucinich has the lowest profile group of supporters, with Hector Elizondo probably the biggest star of the bunch. Note: This is the first time Hector Elizondo has been the biggest star in anything, including delicatessens.

Now I have a story that I'd like to tell, about this guy you all know -- he had me scared as hell! He comes to me at night after I crawl into bed. He's burnt up like a weenie and his name is... Pauly! ...I can't believe that there's a nightmare on my street! Yeah, I just picked up this story for the chance to recite some Fresh Prince Nightmare on my Street lyrics, but they're also quite fitting. See, TMZ has got their hands on a lawsuit that was filed yesterday in Los Angeles Country Superior Court, one that pits the master of spook, Wes Craven, against the "master" of kook, Pauly Shore.

According to Craven, Shore hasn't been keeping up with his neighborly duties -- he isn't keeping up his yard, or his pool, spa, sprinklers, irrigation, swales, downspouts and slopes. It makes me wonder if he's also got some junker cars up on cinder blocks and waist-high weeds. Anyway, Pauly's carelessness is said to have resulted in water that "intruded and infiltrated" Wes' property, which caused "a slope failure/landslide" in December of last year. But that's not the kicker. Landslides have to suck, but we've all got crappy neighbors that drive us nuts. It seems that this ordeal has had a very bad influence on Wes' head, and the director claims that he "suffered and will continue to suffer severe emotional distress and anxiety." There's something too good to be true about the guy who brought us The Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream claiming emotional distress because someone got lazy with their lawn. Will this become his next scary movie?

Here at Cinematical we don't condone violence -- unless, of course, it's of the cinematic (aka fake) kind where computer generated cars explode or armies of supernatural creatures battle it out for world domination. Unfortunately, in the real world, people are often angry and/or stupid and do things to each other they shouldn't. Such is the case with comedian/actor Pauly Shore this week. What happened?

Well, according to a video going around the net, Shore was working in a club in Odessa, Texas and was trying to make it through his act. A few seconds into the video, some cowboy in a giant hat comes onstage, words are exchanged and the cowboy punches Shore, knocking him to the floor. Then, security grabs the cowboy and takes him off-stage. Little late there guys, don't you think? If the video can be believed, this is a very unfortunate incident. Of course, there's always the possibility it was staged to get publicity and enhance Shore's somewhat sagging career.

It's not impossible to believe Shore would fake something like this -- especially given what happened with Michael Richards recently. The timing is almost too perfect for it to be a random thing. However, if the video is real, this just isn't right. Nobody deserves this -- even Shore. People should be able to do their jobs without fear of violence. I know there are dangerous jobs -- bomb disposal, fisherman, roofer, timber cutter -- Forbes Magazine even has a list of the ten most dangerous ones. Strange, I don't see stand-up comedian on the list. Fake or real, tragedy or hoax -- given the nature of the internet, I'm sure we'll find out the truth any minute now.

1992 was a great year for my high school best friend. She was dealing with a serious Brendan Fraser obsession, you see, and that year saw the release of both School Ties and Encino Man. Because I'm such a good friend, I supported the obsession (it also help that it was summer, and there was seriously nothing to do): I went with her to see the former at a dollar theater every day for a freaking week, and agreed to sit with her and watch the latter, despite the already-odious presence of Pauly Shore.

The thing is, though, that as time went by, my complaining about repeated viewings of Encino Man decreased, while I began to bellyache about having to watch School Ties (Honestly, there's only so much silliness that even Matt Damon and Randall Batinkoff can get you through). And when Encino Man comes on cable, even now? I watch it. I realize most of you aren't going to believe this, but I've realized something: it's a good movie. Seriously! And what it lacks in quality, it makes up for in heart -- I honestly can't think of another movie that so convincingly -- and unexpectedly -- sells the seriousness of friendship and a "Be yourself, dammit!" message without either pandering or sacrificing the silly humor that makes the whole thing work.