Peter Jackson to bust the dam

If you care at all about movies, than news about Peter Jackson is always important, especially when it's this good.

Jackson is producing "Dambusters," a World War II aerial adventure that will mark the directorial debut of Christian Rivers, his animation director on "King Kong."

"Dambusters" is inspired by actual events as well as based on the book "The Dam Busters," by Paul Brickhill, and the 1954 Associated British Picture Corp. motion picture. The movie will chronicle the story of Operation Chastise, a top-secret Royal Air Force bombing mission that took place in 1943, when a group of airmen were assembled to fly Lancaster bombers deep within well-armed Germany at treetop level and, using special "bouncing bombs," destroy three dams essential to the Nazi steel industry.

The visual possibilities for this one are endless, and if it approaches anything close to the spectacle that was Jackson's "King Kong," it's just gonna rock hard.
Before this will ever come out, of course, we'll also get a new movie directed by Mr. Jackson himself. Based on "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Seebold, his next flick, due out some time next year, will be about a 14-year-old girl from suburban Pennsylvania who is murdered by her neighbor. She tells the story from Heaven, showing the lives of the people around her and how they have changed all while attempting to get someone to find her lost body.

This all sounds intriguing, but fit perhaps for Atom Egoyan rather than Mr. Jackson. It does seems to have elements of "Heavenly Creatures" in it, however, so it should be interesting to see what comes out in the end.

"Studio 60" gets a Gilmore

Having already toiled for the best new writer on TV in Amy Sherman-Palladino, it now seems Lauren Graham will get to work with the reigning master, Aaron Sorkin.

According to Michael Ausiello's fantastic blog at TV Guide, Graham will appear in a two-episode arc as host of the show-within-a-show that is the backbone of "Studio 60."

No word yet on when exactly this perfect match will occur, but it should be sometime this fall. I was already pretty amped for "Studio 60," given Sorkin's work on "Sports Night," but this news just makes it all the better.

Lauren Graham, who is quickly becoming the most notable snub in Emmys history, is one of my favorite actresses in any medium, mostly for her work as Lorelai Gilmore but also in movies like "Bad Santa." The new, and probably last, season of "Gilmore Girls" just can't come fast enough for me.

"Pan's Labyrinth" trailer

In the list of movies I'm most looking forward to for the rest of the year, I omitted Benicio Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth." It was a deliberate oversight, not because I have any animosity towards Mr. Del Toro or this potentially great movie, but because I try to only get my hopes up really high for movies that have a chance of playing in the theaters in my little corner of the world.

Then comes a trailer this cool that gets me all geeked up anyway. If you haven't heard, Mr. Del Toro's movie, which played to rave reviews at Cannes and is getting a prime spot at the upcoming New York Film Festival, is about a young girl who invents her own fantasy world to escape the horrors of Franco's Spain.

This too reminds me of "Heavenly Creatures," and the trailer has a distinct look that rivals anything we saw in "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." (P.S. - If I mention a movie twice in one post, that means I love it unconditionally. If you haven't seen Peter Jackson's early "Heavenly Creatures," please stop now and add it to your Netflix queue. I'll be here when you get back.)

Anyways, the good folks at CHUD have posted the trailer for "Pan's Labyrinth," and to me, it's the perfect way to start a Friday morning. Click here to enjoy it for yourself, and let me know what you think.