Friday, July 09, 2010

"Let the Right One In" director assembling great spy game

Congrats to my staff on 4 Emmy nominations. This bodes well for the future of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

It's good to know that through it all Conan is, of course, still very funny, but easily the best news in yesterday's Emmy nominations was long overdue acting nods for Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler of "Friday Night Lights." They probably won't win, and the great show somehow still didn't get a best dramatic series nomination, but kudos nonetheless. Bully.

And beyond that today, it's a fairly slow day outside the quartet of clips at the end of this, but there is news about one of my favorite directors. Although Matt Reeves has been garnering plenty of attention for his thoroughly unnecessary English-language remake of the simply brilliant vampire movie "Let the Right One In," the director of the original classic (yes really, classic already, it's that good), Tomas Alfredson, has quietly assembled an A-list cast for what should be a fantastic spy flick, his take on John Le Carre's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy."

Already according to Variety, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman and Michael Fassbender have all signed on, though there's no word yet on which of them will play the main spook, George Smiley. Even better than that is that Peter Morgan, who wrote, among many other things, "Frost/Nixon," "The Queen" and the fantabulous futbol flick "The Damned United" (rent that one already), has penned the script for this, so it should be whip smart.

Le Carre's novel was already made into a seven-part British miniseries starring, among others, Alec Guinness and the late, truly great Ian Richardson (if I can digress for a second, the "House of Cards" trilogy, starring the latter as the nefarious Francis "F.U." Urquhart, is a grand piece of political theater, so watch that as soon as you can find it.) In the story, Smiley is assigned to uncover and take out a double agent implanted in the British Secret Service by Moscow Centre.

Update: A second of research by me reveals that Gary Oldman will indeed be playing George Smiley, so count this as one to definitely keep an eye out for in 2012.

OK, after that all I have today is a quartet of clips, but they're all well worth sticking around for. First up comes the second teaser trailer I know of for David Fincher's "The Social Network," and I have to say both of these have brought new life to that dying art of getting you amped up for a flick without revealing any actual footage. The flick, penned by Aaron Sorkin and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Rashida Jones (of "Parks and Recreation") and one Justin Timberlake, is set to drop Oct. 1. Enjoy.



Next up comes the second full trailer I know of for Robert Rodriguez's "Machete," which of course springs from the faux trailer in "Grindhouse" and is set to come out Sept. 3. There's a gigantic chance this could just be bloody awful, but with Danny Trejo as the lead badass and Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Don Johnson, Lindsay Lohan and even somehow Robert De Niro all starring in this, I'm betting on a lot of silly fun too. Enjoy.



I'm not sure when I'll be able to see Christopher Nolan's "Inception," since I'll be on vacation in Philly next week with mi hermano, but there's no doubt that the marketing machine for his brainy blockbuster set to come out July 16 is operating at full force. Here's just one of the many clips out there today, in which Leo DiCaprio introduces Reel Fanatic favorite Ellen Page to the concept of shared dreaming.


And where in the world would be a better place to end up today than with Warwick Davis discussing his upcoming mockumentary BBC series with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, "Life's Too Short"? No idea when this will manage to cross the pond, but hopefully the wait won't be too long, because with that trio, comedy gold will surely be unearthed. Enjoy the clip, and have a great weekend. Peace out.

10 comments:

Bob said...

Oh man I can't wait for "Life's Too Short!" Cool news about "Friday Night Lights" too even though I still have to see seasons 3 and 4. My real question for the Emmy voters is how have they still never nominated James Roday from "Psych" for Best Actor in a Comedy? He is far and away the funniest person on TV right now.

Reel Fanatic said...

I'm ashamed to say I've never seen "Psych," even though, if I'm not mistaken, it also stars Dule Hill from "West Wing," who I really like ... And you really need to watch season three of "Friday Night Lights," which you can get streaming on your computer at Netflix, if you have that .. Easily the best one, and the best season (yes, better than "Mad Men" for a drama show in the last five years or so

Bob said...

I definitely do plan to get to the last 2 seasons of "FNL" and it will be nice to be able to tear through them when I do.
I really think you would love "Psych." Honestly if it were on NBC it would be the perfect show to pair with "Chuck." And I maintain that James Roday is the closest thing we have to the young Bill Murray. You know that is not praise I would throw around lightly.

Reel Fanatic said...

With your recommendation, I'll definitely check it out .. with so many shows streaming on Netflix, I'm hoping I'll find it there

Madgestic said...

I read a really interesting article in a UK national paper the other day. It looked at the positives of Hollywood remakes of foreign classics.

Obviously my buffalo stance is that of naysayer - I loved the original of 'Let The Right One In'. I loved the original 'Kingdom'. In fact, when it comes to cinema, I'm all about Scandinavia! And I tend to look down on remakes on the grounds of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

But a US-English remake makes money. Lots of money. And some of that money goes to the original foreign creative team, enabling them to make more, and better, movies.

Also, a remake gets more eyeballs for the original. For example (to my shame) I didn't see [REC] until I saw its actually quite decent US remake, 'Quarantine'...

But I'm truly excited about a Scandinavian handline of John Le Carre!

Oops... What a long comment. I just got involved. My bad...

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clapboard said...

Fine video of Mache.While it's well made and Danny Trejo is an amazing presence on screen, the sustained over-the-top violence becomes tiresome.

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