Wednesday, May 26, 2010

A Greg Mottola movie of "Dog of the South"? Bring it on

Greg Mottola's "Adventureland" is one of those movies that just gets better and better with age. I've seen it three times now, and though the ending seems ridiculously tacked on, it's still just a thoroughly entertaining snapshot of a time we've all been through at some point (though most likely not with Kristen Stewart to pitch woo at.)

He's in "post-production" now on something called "Paul" which, once it comes out, should just be a hoot. It stars British comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" as two geeks who end up picking up an alien voiced by Seth Rogen (naturally) while on a cross-country trip to Comic-Con. I still have no idea when this will be released, but hopefully by the fall, and you can count me as thoroughly amped for it.

Mottola has developed into one of my favorite directors (he also made a little movie called "Superbad"), and he's now eyeing as a future project the Charles Portis novel "Dog of the South," for Bill Hader to star in. If you've ever read the novel, you should know just how funny this could be.

Portis' most famous novel, "True Grit," is getting the remake treatment (though in their hands, I'd really hesitate to use such a dirty word) from the Coen brothers this year, coming as a Christmas day gift and starring Josh Brolin, Matt Damon and the Dude. "Dog of the South," while certainly a lesser Portis work, is still worth reading if you like dry Southern comedy.

As a movie, it should be a great fit for Bill Hader. Simply put, it's about a guy who tracks his ex-wife and her lover through their credit card receipts, mostly so he can get his hands on the car she took with her. It's a lot better than I'm making it sound here, and well worth checking out. Here's hoping the movie comes together fairly quickly.

And speaking of "Adventureland," its star, Jesse Eisenberg, has just signed on to the followup by "Zombieland" director Ruben Fleischer, and it's quickly assembling a great comedy cast.

In the flick "30 Minutes or Less," shooting this summer, veryfunnyguy Aziz Ansari plays a junior high history teacher who is forced to join forces with a pizza delivery guy played by Eisenberg to rob a bank when one of them is strapped to a bomb vest. Throw in Danny McBride and Michael Pena as some of the baddies in this scheme, and you've got me pretty much hooked.

All I've got after that today is a clip from what has to be the one movie I'm most looking forward to seeing this year, assuming it eventually makes it down here somewhere even close to my little corner of the world, Jean Pierre Jeunet's "Micmacs." So far, I know it's playing in New York and L.A. this week, with four more cities promised next week, and only "coming to a theater near you" after that. Here's hoping that's true, because this one really does look like it's thoroughly infused with the Jeunet spirit. Enjoy this clip he introduces for HitFix (and swiped by me for you enjoyment), and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.


6 comments:

Chalupa said...

Even though this is the 2nd film based on True Grit, the Coens keep saying they are doing another adaptation of the novel, not re-doing the original film starring John Wayne. I think that leads to a lot of potential for whatever the Coens create.

Reel Fanatic said...

There's one Coens' remake that almost everyone I know hates, Chalupa, but I really love, "The Ladykillers" ... I haven't seen the original "True Grit" in many years and have no real attachment to it, so I'm confident they'll come up with something original here

Chalupa said...

I thought Ladykillers was kind of lame too the first time I saw it, but on repeat viewings it's pretty hilarious.

Thisishollywood said...

Got it right. It's getting along fine.A tremendously funny and touching coming-of-age story, which he has set in the 1980s with a sprinkling of nicely chosen cultural references.


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Anonymous said...

Dog of the South isn't a lesser work, you dumbass.