"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.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

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.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog