Anyway, finally it seems as if this whole sad story has come to an end. Variety reports that a federal judge has sentenced action star Wesley Snipes to the maximum three-year sentence on tax charges.

Prosecutors had requested three years, one year for each of Snipes’ convictions of willfully failing to file a tax return.

Snipes’ lawyers offered three dozen letters from family members, friends and even fellow actors Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington attesting to his good character. They argued he should get only probation, because all three convictions were misdemeanors and the actor had no previous criminal record.

Now, on with the actual news: Variety reports that Kate Winslet will replace Nicole Kidman in “The Reader,” a drama about a teen who falls for an enigmatic older woman in postwar Germany. Kidman dropped out Monday, citing her pregnancy as the reason. Principal photography on the pic began late last year in Berlin and filming was set to continue this month with Kidman, who had yet to shoot any scenes of the film.

Winslet is no stranger to the script: She was the first choice for the role but was unable to do the movie because of a scheduling conflict with “Revolutionary Road,” the film that reteams her with “Titanic” co-star Leonardo DiCaprio and was directed by husband, Sam Mendes.

By the time Kidman withdrew from the project because she and husband Keith Urban are expecting a baby, Winslet was available again, and the film will remain on schedule.

Variety.com writes that on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Microsoft launched its service offering downloads of movies and TV shows for the Xbox 360 through its Xbox Live Internet service. It wasn’t long, however, before message boards were lighting up with complaints of missing films, ultra-slow download speeds and multiple charges for one purchase.

Tech giant responded quickly with posts on its public message boards on Thanksgiving Day letting users know it was aware of and working on the problems. Now Microsoft plans to offer refunds or “make-goods” for those who encountered problems.

Xbox Live director of programming Larry Hryb blamed the problems on “the extremely high number of downloads from the Video Marketplace service over the past 24 hours.”

Obviously Microsoft had a tough time estimating how much demand there would be since movie downloads have never been available through a videogame console before. But it remains to be seen how much of the interest was day one curiosity…

Even though the launch wasn’t that smooth I salute Microsoft for launching its service offering downloads of movies and TV shows for the Xbox 360. Excellent move.

Varitety.com reports that Moby has decided to give away his new music for free – but to a select audience: He’s giving it to filmmakers. Moby – I dig that about you! The multifaceted dance music artist, known for his album “Play,” is offering tracks to indie, nonprofit and student filmmakers for their works via his website mobygratis.com. If the films receive distribution, he asks for a small fee that will be donated to charity.

Currently, Moby is offering 44 unreleased tracks and intends to add another 20 tracks to the site later this month

“The biggest complaint I hear from my friends who are indie filmmakers is that they can’t get calls returned from record companies or that licensing quotes are outlandish,” said Moby, who minored in film at SUNY Purchase. “Whenever I tell anyone about this, people keep expecting a catch. There isn’t one.” “I structured it so that it’s impossible for me to make any money from it,” he said.

Now, isn’t that generous? Moby, what a guy… Tell you what – I hereby nominate Moby to “Moviemind Honorary Member”! Just like that. I have that kind of power you now…

Ok, so what now? Well, vacation is almost over and much has happened in Hollywood. Time for me to get back to my desk and start reporting.  Yes, you heard me. I’m back.

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish one of my good friends (and up until now co-worker) good luck with his own company. All though I’m sure he doesn’t need luck ’cause the man is a genius. He also the founder of a very respectable blog (I’m sure you’ve already paid a visit). Keep in touch maestro!

Even though I haven’t been posting here on Moviemind lately I’ve tried to stay up to date on some of this years releases. That’s right. I’ve been watching movies.  I thought I’d just comment on some of ‘em.

Captivity (IMDb)
Ok actually. I’m not a big fan of modern horror (Hostel, Saw and so on) but this one was actually ok. Not to gruesome.

Mr Brooks (IMDb)
I loved it! Excellent movie. Kevin Costner hasn’t performed like this since… ever?!  He playes his character extremely well. Creepy beyond words. Probably the best movie this year (so far…).

Vacancy (IMDb)
Stay away. I can’t begin to tell you have disapointing it is to see Luke Wilson doing this kind of crap.

Black Snake Moan (IMDb)
Beautiful craftmanship and top notch acting. Sam Jackson is better then ever. But unfortunately it’s a bit… slow. It has so much potential but… it never really takes off. But do see it. Jackson is fantastic.

Premonition (IMDb)
Sandra Bullock is very good and it’s always nice to watch Julian but I get the feeling they didn’t have an end to the story and just winged it in the end. My wife was really upset about the end…

Evan Almighty (IMDb)
Ok, I guess. Had it’s moments but the overall feeling you get is not a positive one. It’s way too long between the laughs. Really.  Steve Carell usually shines much brighter. I blame it on the script. I love Morgan Freeman as God. Perfectly cast.

The Contract (IMDb)
Speaking of Morgan Freeman – he does a good job here too. Morgan always delivers. What a man. John Cusack delivers a so-so performance. An average thriller.

Shooter (IMDb)
Also a good movie. Nice tempo and a decent script. A popcorn movie. Thumbs up.

Die Hard 4 (IMDb)
Better then I hoped it would be. Even though Bruce is ok the credits should go to Justin. Beautiful action in a raging tempo. The action movie of the summer.

The Messengers (IMDb)
It really tries to be scary but fails miserably. It’s just annoying. Any episode of Melrose Place sends more chills down your spine. Honestly, stay away.

1408 (IMDb)
Nice work by John Cusack. He really shines in the role as Mike Enslin. Scary movie. But in a toned down way. The old school way.

I’ve probably seen a couple more but I can’t remember them right now…

I forgot – I saw “A Night at the Roxbury” the other night on TV and I’m not saying this is a masterpiece in anyway but Will Ferrell is trule hilarious in some scenes. If you’ve for some reason missed this (dare I say classic?) movie you really should give a shot. Just the opening credits, when you hear “What is Love” by Haddaway and you see Will and Chris sitting in the car, bobbing their heads to the song. That just cracks me up!

I hope we’ll have a interesting Fall season with lots of movie news. See you soon.

 //The Moviemind Himself

Dark Horizons reports that ABC has agreed with the producers of Tv’s “Lost” and set an end point for the serial drama – with the finale to air during the 2009-10 television season. The producers have stated before that they wanted to finish off the show after five seasons, but the network wanted more – and so a compromise had to be reached.

Rather than two seasons consisting of the standard 24 episodes each, there will be three seasons of 16 episodes. These three 16-episode arcs will run uninterrupted each time, allowing the network to turn it into an ‘event’.

The current third season will wrap up at the end of May, and combined with the 48 new episodes, the show will ultimately air approximately 119 episodes of television.