"The U.S. vs. John Lennon" clip

It's been a pretty good year thus far for documentaries, with "Wordplay" and "An Inconvenient Truth" ranking among my favorites so far. Opening everywhere (well, we'll see about that) on Sept. 29, however, will be one that should blow those two away.

"The U.S. vs. John Lennon" explores the transition of John Lennon from lovable beatle to anti-war crusader, and how it brought on the wrath of Nixon. Just seeing the trailer a few months ago, of course to the tune of "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)," was enough to give me chills.

Though I'm definitely psyched to see this, I know it's gonna be more than a little depressing. Who do we have today that's even remotely dedicated to more than the pop life? Bono? I guess he's about as close as we'll come, but he's only a pale shadow to me.

But back to this flick. The kind folks at Comingsoon.net have posted an exclusive clip. From this footage alone you can see that filmmakers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld did a thorough job of researching their subject. Click to see for yourself here.

Lennon's example is sadly even more relevant today than he was back then, so I hope this one finds a large audience.

Terminator TV taking shape

I've been holding off on this one because I'm just terrified it's gonna suck hard. We'll see about that, but it seems "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" has taken on enough momentum that it just might be unstoppable.

For anyone who missed the recent news, Warner Bros. and Fox TV are developing this project, which will take place between Terminators 2 and 3, and will focus on the relationship between Sarah and John Connor. (Though without, apparently, Salisbury, Md.'s, favorite native daughter, Linda Hamilton. What the hell's up with that?)

I can only get lukewarm at best for this, especially since it sounds like a family drama rather than an action piece. At CHUD today, however, they have an interview with show helmer Josh Friedman in which he shared some details.

“I would like to be able to explore as many different avenues of Terminator mythology as possible,” he told CHUD. “I think to do a show that is a completely Terminator-less environment would probably not be, in the long run, a wise move or the most interesting thing.”

He continues: “I always go back to The X-Files, which I think did a good job of balancing close-ended stories with mythology stories,” Friedman said. “The show will certainly not be a close-ended, procedural adventure of the week show. I would say it’s going to be a hybrid. It’ll be somewhere in between – it’s not going to be a Terminator of the week show, but it’s also not going to be soap opera.”

"I read the talk backs, and people are pissed. They don’t want you to mess with it. The internet has a love/hate thing with the properties they love – they want more and they want it done well, but they hate it if Cameron’s not involved. All I ask is that people withhold judgment until they see it. I think it’s pretty fucking cool."

Well, he is the man with this, at least for now, so we'll have to take his rather emphatic word for it. Friedman is also the screenwriter for DePalma's "The Black Dahlia," hitting everywhere next Friday, so he soon may be catching even more heat.

I'm just hoping against hope that something good comes out of all this mess.