"Lucky You": Worst movie marketing ever?

Raise your hands if you honestly knew that there was another movie opening wide this week the the 500 lb. gorilla known as "Spider-Man 3." Though I obviously can't see you, I can't imagine too many people did.

The movie that suffers this fate is "Lucky You," which, depending on who you ask, is either a romantic comedy starring Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore or an inside look at the world of the tournament poker that has taken over our TV airwaves. The failure to decide between the two in its marketing campaign may have as much to do with the movie's pretty-much-preordained failure as its matchup with Spidey.

Which, given that this is also a Curtis Hanson movie, would be a real shame. Though he's been snakebitten at the box office, Hanson is easily one of my favorite directors. In fact, I can't name one movie of his, starting with "L.A. Confidential" through "In Her Shoes," that I haven't liked quite a bit. "Wonder Boys," in particular, is just a woefully underappreciated flick.

So why should such a good director get such shoddy treatment with "Lucky You"? Well, the movie itself could, of course, just be awful, but I doubt it. The signs are there, however. Its release has already been delayed twice, from one date in 2006 and one earlier this year.

My biggest question in this debacle is how in the world could you not be able to market to the masses a movie about the world of poker? Personally, I can't stand watching poker on TV (and don't get me started on arm-wrestling, which was apparently on my ESPN2 last night as I tried to find out if the Baltimore Orioles were indeed losing yet again.) But from all I've read about Hanson's flick, it has a real "Color of Money" appeal to it, with Bana taking on his mentor, played by Robert Duvall (huzzah!)

Pretty people and high-stakes poker? I'm all in, and I will be this Sunday. And I hope more than a few of you will too, in spite of this marketing nightmare.

P.S.: I guess I shouldn't be surprised that, despite having seen the trailer for it at least twice at my local multiplexes, the late Adrienne Shelly's "Waitress" is not coming to my little corner of the world this week. It still pisses me off, though.

Peter Greenaway's "Nightwatching"

Ever wonder what in the world director Peter Greenaway has been up to for the past several years? Such thoughts often occupy my rather odd brain when I'm supposed to be working.

I actually knew the answer to this one, though, even before I came across this clip from his new flick, "Nightwatching." The movie shares its title with a truly odd multimedia installation the director has constructed at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum about Rembrandt's "Night Watch" painting. It just left me cold, frankly, but the movie that will spring from it might just be a whole lot better.

"Nightwatching" the flick, as you'll see from this clip, is a portrait of Rembrandt in the years surrounding the painting of "Night Watch." It stars Martin Freeman as the master himself. Workplace warning: This being a Peter Greenaway movie, there is a more than a little female flesh exposed even in this short clip, so be careful that you don't get in any trouble watching it. Enjoy!