OK, I'm still not sold on the need for "Let Me In," but ...

I'm not nearly ready to give in yet, because the necessity of and, for that matter, any possible reason at all for an English-language remake of the simply sublime horror film "Let the Right One In" is still beyond me, but I have to confess that first photo (above) is pretty friggin' cool.

There's still no way in the world anyone should see this without first enjoying the original movie by Tomas Alfredson, which is easily the best horror movie I've seen in the last five years or so, but I'm now willing to concede that they seem to have gotten the casting, at least, just about dead right. And besides, "Cloverfield" was way better than I could have possibly imagined, so I suppose I should have at least a bit of trust in "Let Me In" writer/director Matt Reeves.

All that said, however, the first shot of Chloe Moretz as Abby in the remake highlights just about everything that can go horribly wrong with this. After her performance as Hit-Girl in "Kick-Ass," which not just made the movie but really hijacked the entire operation, I have faith that the rather young lady will at least give this her all, but anyone who's seen the original movie (and again, if you haven't, do it .. it's easily my favorite movie of 2008) knows that she has extremely big shoes to fill in playing the "young" vampire played to perfection (and known as Eli) in "Let the Right One In" by Lina Leandersson. Simply for comparison's sake, here's a shot of her as Eli.


As Eli, she just exuded a great combination of insecurity and blood-starved killer, and was the perfect match for Kare Hedebrant as young, bullied Oskar, who will be known as Owen and played by Kodi-Smit McPhee in the remake. The only thing I can remember seeing that kid in was the recent movie of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," which was a large cut above the usual apocalyptic fare that crowds up our multiplexes and is well worth a rental.

Finish the cast off with definite Reel Fanatic fave Richard Jenkins as Abby's poor "father" and you have the makings of a truly first-rate cast, but let me be clear about this: Though I was always going to see this anyway when it comes out Oct. 1 just out of sheer curiosity, you can still count me as having at best an icy heart toward it, though now perhaps not one completely encased in steel.

And all I have besides that today, before a couple of videos worth watching, is some more intriguing casting news. I still have yet to see "Invictus," but as soon as I finish typing this sentence I'm gonna add it to the Netflix queue, and perhaps move it right to the top. Morgan Freeman won kudos for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in that Clint Eastwood flick, and now another actor, and easily one of my favorites, is ready to step into the rather large role.

Terrence Howard, who just has me for life after "Hustle & Flow," has signed on to play Mandela in "Winnie," a biopic about his even-more-interesting former wife. I'll take more convincing that Jennifer Hudson has the gravitas to play Winnie, the angry heart of the anti-apartheid movement, but you can count me ready to be proven wrong as this movie by director Darrell Roodt comes together in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was locked up. Definitely keep your eyes on this one.

OK, as promised, all that's left now is couple of clips well worth a few minutes of your time. The first is an extended trailer for Christopher Nolan's "Inception," which along with Phillip Noyce's "Salt" I'm expecting to be the sleeper hits of this summer (though I suppose you can't really call a Nolan/Leonardo DiCaprio flick a "sleeper.") It has all kinds of new footage, and just has me thoroughly amped for when this finally comes out July 16 (and besides, isn't the world just a slightly better place with some more Ellen Page in it, especially when she's not schilling for Cisco?) Enjoy.



And finally, I do realize that I'm far too old for the "MTV Movie Awards," so I'll try my best not to watch the whole thing, but with Aziz Ansari as the host when it airs June 6, you can be certain I'm at least gonna watch the beginning. And if you put together a promo that also features Kristen Bell and spoofs "The Hurt Locker"? Yeah, I'm gonna embed that. Enjoy, and have a great rest of the weekend. I'm off to eat some Joe-Bear's barbecue and then watch "Iron Man 2." Peace out.

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