Brewer and Howard, together again

Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Well, luckily for the rest of us, it also appears to be so for Terrence Howard and Craig Brewer. The two are reteaming for a biopic about black country star Charley Pride. After their successful collaboration with "Hustle and Flow," this can only be good news.

When I tried to think if I knew any Charley Pride songs, all I came up with was "man, do I like that song Behind Closed Doors." However, as many of you no doubt know and I soon figured out, that great song was actually a hit for Charlie Rich.

So all I really know about Pride is he was a black man who found great success in what was (and is) definitely a white folks' world, which should play right to Brewer's strengths. I know the movie has its detractors, but count me as amazed at how he infiltrated the world of Memphis rap in "Hustle and Flow." He definitely has a love for Southern music that shows through on screen. (And I'm definitely amped up for his "Black Snake Moan," even if that one just sounds plain insane.)

As for Terrence Howard, even in movies I haven't cared for much at all (like "Idlewild"), I have yet to see a performance by him I didn't like, so this one sounds like an all-around home run to me.

Wright to Die Hard?

Just call this a good day for news about actors I like. Though this one is so far only a rumor, since it comes from Jewreview.net, which proclaims itself to be "the entertainment Web site for the chosen people," I've chosen to believe this.

One of their spies reports that Jeffrey Wright (huzzah!) has been cast as the main villian in "Live Free or Die Hard," the fourth installment in the Bruce Willis action series due out around the Fourth of July.

True or not, this all makes sense. It's being shot on Wright's D.C. home turf, and the big bad in this one, rather than a thug, is the head of a government agency. From what I've heard so far, it still sounds too much like a rip-off of "24" to me, but Mr. Wright should definitely bring a little class to the project.

Lining up as it is directly against "Transformers" and Pixar's "Ratatouille," "Live Free" is gonna need all the help it can get, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Page, Cera in Reitman flick

Ellen Page, the young Canadian star of "Hard Candy," has joined Michael Cera in director Jason Reitman's coming-of-age comedy "Juno."

All I could get about the plot from IMDB is this rather cryptic plot summary: "Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman makes an unusual and bizarre decision regarding her unborn child."

Unusual and bizarre? Beyond being more than a little redundant, it also doesn't reveal much about the actual plot, which is just fine with me. After "Thank You for Smoking," Reitman's directing debut just out on DVD this week, I have faith that whatever comes of it will be very funny and entertaining.

And the casting seems pitch perfect. Page is a definite star on the rise, and Mr. Cera more than held his own with some very funny people as George Michael Bluth on "Arrested Development." I know it's still early in the new TV season, but that one is already sorely missed by me, and so far there's no proper replacement in sight.