A behind-the-scenes glimpse of "Cemetery Junction," and proof that Wes Anderson really will work again?

This being a lazy Saturday morning, I really don't have too much, but certainly wanted to pass along this BBC clip from the set of Ricky Gervais' and Stephen Merchant's "Cemetery Junction," easily one of the movies I'm most looking forward to for 2010. It really doesn't reveal a whole lot except that, once again, the two of them just love telling jokes about Ralph Fiennes, and really, who doesn't?



OK, the only other thing I've got is the first photo I've seen from Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox," which will be his first foray into animation when and if it finally comes out (there's still no release date at the IMDB.)

I used to have a lot of love for Wes Anderson, and for his early work, I certainly still do. If you were to put a gun to my head and make me list, say, my 20 favorite films, Anderson's "Bottle Rocket," "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums," each an improvement on the other, would all make the list. But his last two, "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" and "Darjeeling Limited," have just left me more than a little cold.

In other words, Mr. Anderson really needs his mojo back, and though I have serious doubts this flick is gonna get it for him, here's hoping. Enjoy the pic, which comes courtesy of JoBlo, and the rest of your weekend. Peace out.

Aaron Sorkin steps to the plate to revive a baseball flick

Some guy in Idaho just tweeted that I’ve ruined cinema. Already? Had no idea I was so hugely influential. Suck it, Truffaut!

I'm not a tweeter or a tweet follower, and I'm 100 percent certain I can make it through the rest of my life just fine that way, but I saw that post from Diablo Cody yesterday and just thought it was very funny.

And with that, let's get right into what's a pretty full day of good news, capped off by visits from Craig Robinson and Megan Fox, because he's very funny and she's .. well, you know.

First up is what is quickly becoming the best ensemble cast of 2010 in director David Gordon Green's "Your Highness." Though "Observe and Report" was just a muddled mess, I'm still convinced that Green, Jody Hill, Ben Best and Danny McBride are leading a real Southern comedy resurgence (and on a side note, fellow cubicle slave Randy Waters told me yesterday that he bought "Eastbound and Down" but really couldn't get into it at all, so he's gonna give it to me for free ... good times!)

Best and McBride have written the script for "Your Highness," which stars McBride as a lazy prince who must complete a heroic quest to save his father's kingdom, and in a "Pineapple Express" reunion of sorts, James Franco plays his more heroic brother. Natalie Portman is already on board as McBride's love interest, a warrior princess, and just announced is Zooey Deschanel, who plays Belladonna, Franco's character's virginal bride.

I think you'll agree that's just a whale of a good cast. It's all being filmed in Northern Ireland beginning later this month, so you can definitely count this as one 2010 flick I'm thoroughly jazzed for.

In other, especially good, news for fans of "Let the Right One In" (and if you're not, rent it today and I guarantee you will be), Tomas Alfredson, the director of that fantastic coming-of-age horror flick, has set his sights on a great choice for his next movie.

If you haven't seen the '70s miniseries "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," which starred Alec Guinness and also the late, great Ian Richardson, certainly see it if you can, and be happy that Alfredson is now set to turn it into a feature film. Peter Morgan will write the script for the cold-war thriller about a spy-hunt in the British Secret Intelligence Service.

Though I have no time at all for the English language version of "Let the Right One In" being cooked up by "Cloverfield" mastermind Matt Reeves, Alfredson breaking into the Hollywood big time is only great news, so definitely keep your eyes on this one.

And, in the last tidbit before we get to what was supposed to be the main course, "The Hangover" director Todd Phillips has set his next two flicks, and they're both set to star veryfunnyman Zach Galifianakis. Though the plot wasn't nearly as salacious or inventive as it thought it was, I still almost thoroughly enjoyed "The Hangover," and it's certainly a reason to cheer when an at least fairly intelligent R-rated comedy makes such a yachtload of cash at the box office. (As an aside, at $210 million domestic and still counting, "The Hangover" has surpassed "Wedding Crashers" to become the second-highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time - the original "Beverly Hills Cop" is still No. 1 in that subcategory at north of $234 million.)

For their next collaboration, Phillips and Galifianakis will make a road-trip comedy (sense a pattern here?) titled "Due Date" in which an expectant dad and his unlikely travel companion (Galifianakis, natch) race cross country to make it home for the birth of the rugrat. After that, there will be, by sheer force of nature, a "Hangover 2."

Sounds like more than a little bit of a rut to me, but I have to admit, as long as they keep making comedies that are both reliably crude and clever enough, they'll keep getting my money.

But when I started out today, this was supposed to be about the resuscitation of a flick that had been pretty much left for dead. And since it's a baseball flick, that's certainly noteworthy news.

For anyone unfamiliar with the saga so far, director Steven Soderbergh had been plotting a movie based on Michael Lewis' book "Moneyball," about Oakland A's bean counter and big brain Billy Beane, who would be played by Brad Pitt.

All well and good, right? Well, not exactly. Just days before the movie was set to start shooting, Sony pulled the plug because it wasn't impressed with a script retooling Soderbergh had done to a previous version by Steven Zaillian.

In a bit of hyperbole that nonetheless touched on the truth, this prompted the New York Times to opine that this may be a broader danger sign for "tricky but appealing" movies, in a piece you can read here. Even if that's a bit of an exaggeration, the death of a potentially good baseball flick is reason enough to be blue for me.

But now, thanks to Aaron Sorkin, and I'd imagine the pull of Brad Pitt, the project is back on.

Soderbergh is out, but Sony has Sorkin in to do a draft of the script, starting with what Zaillian finished, for Pitt to still star in. Great news all around there for just about everyone except Mr. Soderbergh, I'd say. Everyone knows Sorkin's track record with "The West Wing" and the much-too-brief "Sports Night," but for a recent example of his work to prove he's still got a lot of wit left to work with, I'd strongly recommend renting "Charlie Wilson's War," which would be a great bit of satire if it weren't all based on the even crazier truth.

And though I still can't find a DVD release date for it yet, the single best movie I've seen so far in 2009 (mid-season report card coming after Judd Apatow's "Funny People" drops July 31) just happens to be a baseball movie of sorts, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's "Sugar." See that one as soon as you can.

And anyone who's made it this far certainly deserves a reward, and I've got three of what I think qualify.

First is one of eight teasers (in French, malheuresement) for Jean Pierre Jeunet's next crazy flick, "Micmacs à tire-larigot." Like I said, they're pretty aurally useless for those who don't speak French (and I only barely do at this point), but you can still see from the look of this that the tale of a man and his friends who come up with an intricate and original plan to destroy two big weapons manufacturers will have all the spirit of his best work, "Amelie" and "Delicatessen." You can count this, along with Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are," as the two flicks I'm most looking forward to for the rest of this year, and you can watch seven more of these brief character teasers courtesy of Twitch Film here. Enjoy.



And, next-to-finally, this Funny or Die clip, though it's a little to slow to get going and way too crude to be enjoyed at work without headphones, shows why Craig Robinson is the most underappreciated member of both "The Office" and Apatow's crew. My inner 8-year-old will always appreciate songs about where to post naked pictures of your girlfriend, so in that spirit, enjoy.



And really finally, in something I'm certain Mr. Robinson would enjoy, here's a certain someone known as Megan Fox in the first teaser poster for the Diablo Cody horror-comedy "Jennifer's Body." Enjoy, and have a great weekend. Peace out.

Proof that "Funny People" is filled with exactly that

Actually, before I get to that, it's a full day here, with lots of news that matters to, well, me, and a slew of videos (and even a wild bonus pic) that just made me smile, so let's just get right to it.

The first, and easily most important, news of the day is that Gary Ross, writer/director of "Seabiscuit," "Pleasantville," "Dave" and "Big," among other flicks, has been brought on board to do a rewrite on Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 4."

Just take a second to think of how great that news can be. What it hopefully means is that, with this rather prestigious filter, Raimi can avoid delivering a turd sandwich that's as bloated and boring as "Spider-Man 3." I was very happy to find with a visit to Boxofficemojo.com that that flick has fallen to #16 on the all-time box office list, so apparently crap does float downward over time.

And, to be fair, Raimi has delivered this year easily the funniest movie I've seen in a theater so far with "Drag Me to Hell," so here's hoping Ross' input can give him a winning streak and a thoroughly entertaining "Spider-Man 4."

OK, moving on quickly from that, it seems that Michael Moore has come up with a title for his new documentary, which I'm certainly looking forward to. Though I thought "Sicko" was mostly just a missed opportunity, I'm fairly confident his new one, to be titled "Capitalism: A Love Story" and be about just how in the world we got into our current economic mess, will be a winner when it finally comes out in October.

And, in a simply fantastic bit of TV news, mystery writer Harlan Coben is soon to apply his talents to the small screen. Though this was pitched in the trades as a new gig for "How I Met Your Mother" executive producer Greg Malins, the news that it springs from the mind of Cohen, as did the simply sublime French thriller "Tell No One" (rent it already if you haven't seen it!), makes this one a lock for my DVR when it finally comes to fruition.

The two will team up to create an hourlong series for Fox about a "larger-than-life" private eye who teaches a college criminology class. Bring it on!

OK, as promised, from here on out it's a lot of videos, and I can pretty much guarantee they're all at least slightly worth watching.

First up comes an oddity from Esquire featuring Mary Louise Parker, who I have to confess I've always just had an inordinate crush on, which was only magnified to the breaking point when she played the feminista Amy Gardner on many episodes of "The West Wing." Here, you might be surprised how thoroughly entertaining it is to watch her simply read a few minutes of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." Enjoy.



OK, guys, take a few seconds to recover from that, and next up is a somewhat clever teaser for "Cemetery Junction," the first feature film to be written and directed by "The Office" and "Extras" teammates Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais. The running gag about Ralph Fiennes is one I'm sure that anyone whose seen "In Bruges" (and if you haven't, do it already!) knows is a false one, but it's still pretty funny. Enjoy.



And now, one more before we get to the main course, and it also sort of springs from the Apatow camp, since it stars "Freaks and Geeks" vet James Franco. This clip from Funny or Die purports to be Franco's audition tape for the UCLA commencement address, and though it's a little long and liberally riddled with F-bombs, I guarantee it brings the funny, especially when he goes so far as to compare himself to Barack Obama. Enjoy.

James Franco's Rejected UCLA Commencement Speech from James Franco

OK, finally what was promised at the outset, a second (at least) trailer for Judd Apatow's "Funny People," and be warned that in at least the early part it's rather not safe for work. It does, however, show a lot of stuff not in the first trailer, including a very funny scene with Seth Rogen and the RZA ("OK, I gotta admit, that was humorous.") Enjoy.



And finally, if you actually made it this far, you certainly deserve a reward, and I think this qualifies. It's been far too long since we've seen or heard from Ellen Page, and it certainly looks like "Whip It!" will be a fun return. I love the determined looks on the face of her and Kristen Wiig in this photo from the movie, also featuring director Drew Barrymore. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

Zooey and Joseph meet Sid and Nancy

Though it is easily my favorite current TV drama, I promise I'm not gonna simply report when each member of the cast of "Friday Night Lights" moves on to movies, but this actually sounds like it could be pretty good.

I've always had a thing for surfing movies. I think it's at least in part because I grew up about a half hour away from Ocean City, Md., and though I saw plenty of surfers there, I was never able to master the art myself. A matter of balance, mostly.

For a fairly recent flick that purports to tell the history of the sport (and does a pretty darn good job of it), check out "Riding Giants," which should be readily available on DVD. And now, it seems that Aimee Teegarden, a k a coach Taylor's son Julie (who, since she hasn't graduated yet, I'd assume will be returning to the show), will get to star in her very own surfing movie.

Called "Beautiful Wave," it's set to star Teegarden as a teenager who goes to live with her grandmother (Patricia Richardson, a k a Mrs. Home Improvement) and discovers both the sport of surfing and a "family secret."

OK, I know that's an awful lot about a movie that's probably headed straight to DVD, but I found it interesting, and to me that's all that really matters.

Much better is this rather remarkable "Cinemash" video featuring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt, easily two of my favorite actors, as Sid and Nancy. In that order.

It's pitched as a parody, but as you watch it you'll see that's really not at all the case. They each really get into it, especially the way Levitt captures all the desperate energy of Nancy Spungeon.

Being a "Cinemash," it morphs into a promo for "500 Days of Summer" by the end, another flick which I'll have to wait for on DVD, unfortunately.

And, since I can't think of anything that would brighten a Wednesday more, I've included a bonus video of Gary Oldman doing Sid doing "My Way." Priceless. Enjoy, and have a perfectly bearable Wednesday.

Yes, a shameless glimpse of Jennifer's not-surprisingly-hot body

When you've got nothing but two pretty good trailers for a Tuesday, you might as well go ahead and sell it with a headline like that.

Anyways, first up is a glimpse of what it girl Diablo Cody has been doing since "Juno." Actually, she also wrote a series for Showtime (I think) called "The United States of Tara," which may or may not still be on the air. I watched one episode and just wasn't terribly impressed.

This, however, looks like it has real potential if you like humor and horror, and you can put me down for both. There's not much else I can say to sell this, so here's, yes, Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried and even Adam Brody in the trailer for "Jennifer's Body." Enjoy.



This next one, though it will almost certainly never play anywhere near my little corner of the world, looks even better. Starring Patton Oswalt and written by Robert D. Siegel (who, with "The Wrestler," wrote easily one of my favorite movies of 2008), "Big Fan" is about the danger of being, well, a big fan. I'm not sure this is the right word, but enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Tuesday. Peace out.