Scorsese and Kazan?

This isn't a blog on politics, so I'll just say this and move on: I woke up way too early this morning, as I always do, and for the first time since, well, 9/11, I turned on the TV news first thing. But this time I just had to smile. And if George Allen turns out to lose, I'll be smiling all day.

OK, enough of that. This is about movies, right? And what better to talk about in movies than Martin Scorsese, probably my favorite subject.

After making a Trojan Horse threat to walk away from big-budget flicks while at the Rome Film Festival, Mr. Scorsese has now signed a four-year, first-look deal with Paramount Pictures to direct and produce films, TV, direct-to-DVD pics and digital content. Paramount also has the option to own half of any film the filmmaker directs elsewhere, as well as to co-distribute.

But, what does that mean for us little folk? Well, first it means a not-terribly-exciting Rolling Stones documentary, which I'm hoping he can just wrap quickly and move on to three other projects that are much more appealing.

Leo and Marty go together as well as Martin and Lewis, so why not another collaboration? Mr. Scorsese's next big budget flick should be "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt," with Leo, who was easily the best actor in "The Departed," playing Mr. Roosevelt. Bring it on.

The next, "Silence," based on the novel by Shusaku Endo, is about two Jesuit priests, Sebastião Rodrigues and Francis Garrpe (most likely Javier Bardem and Alan Magee), who travel to 17th century imperial Japan to see how the evangelical mission is going. There they witness the persecution of Japanese Christians at the hands of their own government, which wishes to purge Japan of all western influence. I know it has its detractors, but I simply loved "Kundun," so this just seems tailormade to Scorsese.

But the last project, which I only heard of this morning, is the most intriguing of all. Scorsese, who has made some great documentaries in the past, now has his sights tentatively set on Elia Kazan, and he seems to be a man who gets what he wants fairly often. Kazan's story, with the blacklist politics and his many great films, should just be a blast, so definitely keep your eyes on this one.

Terminator show gets its Connor

To me, Sarah Connor will always be the most famous person (except for the late, great Frank Perdue, my former neighbor) to ever come from Salisbury, Md., Linda Hamilton, so I've included with this post a picture of her.

That said, this news is about an upcoming "Terminator"-based TV show to be called "The Sarah Connor Chronicles." It has landed its own Sarah Connor in the form of Lena Headey.

Who? I had to look up her IMDB credits to answer that one, and I'm still not completely sure, but she's apparently also going to be in Frank Miller's "300," so huzzah to her. As to the show, I can still only say meh.

Six minutes of Tenacious D

Since I'm still in a good mood and I need something to make sure it lasts, here's what purports to (and really seems to) be the first six minutes of "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny."

I've voiced doubts about this novelty act from Jack Black and Kyle Gass before, but for six minutes at least, their movie just rocks. As Ronnie James Dio rightly declares in this clip, "Rock is not the devil's work, it's magical and rad," so enjoy this and feel free to let me know what you think.

Tenacious D Movie - First 6 Minutes!!!