Will James Gunn's "Super" deliver a cult hit?

Update: James Gunn's "Super" has been picked up by IFC, meaning, I hope, that it will be available on cable on demand as soon as it hits its probably very meager amount of theaters ... bully

Wow. The word is trickling in from Toronto, and so far I've seen two simply glowing reviews of "Let Me In" from sources I trust, HitFix and The Playlist.

In both cases, the reviewers clearly love the original Swedish movie, "Let the Right One In" (my single favorite movie of 2008), as much as I do. Yet they both say Matt Reeves, director of the surprisingly entertaining "Cloverfield," has done the just about impossible: He's made a movie that, while perhaps not better (which really would be impossible), at least lives up to the spirit of the original and soars thanks to its two young leads, Hit-Girl Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee. You can read those two reviews here and here, and keep an eye out for Reeves' flick Oct. 1.

You can now count me as extremely curious, if not excited, about that flick, but there's something else that came through the midnight circuit up north that sounds like even more my thing. James Gunn, though he delivered a winner in my book with "Slither," is sorely in need of a box office one, since that very entertaining humor/horror mix starring Captain Mal Nathan Fillion and Elizabeth Banks took in a rather amazingly disastrous $7.8 million at the U.S. box office (really? Trust me, maybe it's not great, but this movie is well worth a DVD rental.)

Well, I can't imagine his new movie, "Super," will do a whole lot better, but from what I know so far it seems to be tailor-made for me. Rainn Wilson plays a man who becomes a masked vigilante after his wife (Liv Tyler) gets strung out on drugs and runs off with her dealer (Kevin Bacon). If that casting's not enough to get you intrigued, as you'll see from the clip below, Ellen Page plays Wilson's seriously unhinged sidekick, and she should just be a hoot.

Early Toronto buzz has been good for this too, and according to the headline of an article behind a Variety paywall, buyers are now "circling" it, so here's hoping it's picked up by a studio big enough to bring it to my little corner of the world sometime this fall. Enjoy this first clip I know of, but be warned: Page throws around F-bombs with abandon, so if that kind of thing bothers you, please don't watch it. Peace out.

Is it really that friggin hard for people to read?

Actually, the first thing on my mind this morning is that, against rather long odds (and even longer ones that it will last more than a few episodes), Joss Whedon's latest creation, "Dollhouse," is actually going to hit the airwaves on Fox this Friday at 9 (at the same time as the surely superior "Friday Night Lights.")

Speaking of "Friday Night Lights," I can't see any way the show can continue with a new crop of kids after this season, but if you watched last Friday's episode you know the show is certainly at least going to go out on top. Rarely does a character in an ensemble drama get the kind of sendoff that Brian "Smash" Williams (Gaius Charles) was given as he heads off for Texas A&M, and it was easily the finest hour of TV I've seen in the past year or so.

But back to Whedon's "Dollhouse." I was watching two entries in Fox's Sunday night lineup ("King of the Hill" and "American Dad") for the first time in a long while (I have decided to never again watch another new episode of "The Simpsons" because the show's creators have simply been repeating themselves for at least the past three years or so), and even fast-forwarding through the commercials it was impossible to miss the constant promos for "Dollhouse."

So, what is it again? Well, the show will star Eliza Dushku as an "active" or "doll" named Echo, one of a group of government operatives who have their minds wiped clean after they complete each mission. As you can see from the photo and promo clip I've attached at the end, this somehow also stars Ms. Cross (Olivia Williams) and Tahmoh Penikett of "Battlestar Galactica" fame, so if you like Whedon at all tune in for at least a few episodes of this latest entry into the Friday night graveyard (though "X-Files," of course, managed to thrive there for several years.)

And now, finally, the tidbit that sparked the admittedly surly headline for a Monday morning (especially one which I have off) was word that now not one but two of my five favorite flicks of 2008 are being remade for American audiences.

What in the world is going on here? I understand that it makes perfect sense to do an English-language remake of Guillaume Canet's "Tell No One," which it was just announced Luc Besson's EuropaCorp is about to take on, for several reasons. First, it made a fairly impressive $6 million at the U.S. box office, and second, it's just a first-rate thriller from an American source, the potboiler novel by Harlan Coben.

If you have the chance, though (and you will when it hits DVD on March 31), please see Canet's original long before this comes together. What you'll get is a sensational mind-bending thriller that fits solidly in the French tradition while adding a thoroughly modern touch, the best and most natural chase scenes I've seen in many years and just a great performance at its core from Francois Cluzet as the embattled doctor Alexandre Beck.

In an even worse idea, Matt Reeves, director of the surprisingly satisfying "Cloverfield," has signed on to write and direct a remake of the Swedish "romantic horror flick" "Let the Right One In," which I had the sublime pleasure of seeing at the 2008 Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival.

If you missed this one, which is somehow still playing once a night at Atlanta's Plaza Theater on Ponce de Leon Ave., certainly see it in its original form when it hits DVD on March 10. As much as an old-fashioned vampire flick, it's also a great coming-of-age story and just a moving tale about friendship - with your next door neighbor you think is a young girl but just happens to be a vampire. No description from me can describe just how good this one is, so I'll just let director Tomas Alfredson share what he thought when he got word of these dastardly remake plans:

"Remakes should be made of movies that aren't very good, that gives you the chance to fix whatever has gone wrong."

Amen, brother. And now, so I can go do my laundry in preparation for my three-day trek to Ohio to stand in the sleet and watch the American soccer team stomp some Mexicans in a World Cup qualifer, I'll leave you with that promised "Dollhouse" preview. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Monday. Peace out.

Midyear report card: The 10 (well, actually 11) best movies of 2008 (at least so far)

I thought about not doing this because I wasn't sure I'd be able to get to 10 movies I at least mildly liked this year - especially given just how rotten the year started out - but I ended up getting to 14 that were in the running. (UPDATE: I somehow left off Iron Man, which an alert reader brought to my attention, hence the reason this list now goes to 11!)

The biggest surprise was that "Wall-E" didn't end up at or even that near the top, but rest assured that that doesn't mean I love it almost unconditionally. And, yes, the No. 1 spot is held by the movie I've seen most recently, but if you've seen it I'm almost certain you'll agree with me.

So, with only the further proviso that I certainly haven't come close to seeing all the movies that have been released so far this year, here goes:

10. "Hellboy II: The Golden Army"
Just a fun ride from the start, I consider this really to be pulp movie-making, if there is such a thing. Guillermo del Toro clearly just threw at us as many of the magical things he could think of and cooked up a wild story for them, making for a flick almost as good as the original.

9. "Cloverfield"
I almost avoided this one completely because I was so afraid of a "Blair Witch"-style hoax, but I was thankfully wrong (which does seem to happen from time to time.) With a surprisingly steady camera, it really is Godzilla-meets-Youtube, and even though that sounds awful on paper it somehow just works.

8. "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian"
People will surely scoff at me for including this one over, say, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," but I just have a soft spot for the Narnia tales and this one just improves on "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" in almost every facet. The dialogue is smart and funny, and the final battle - while ultimately enough to numb your senses - is just a blast.

7. "Be Kind Rewind"
I wanted to put Michel Gondry's goofy little flick higher on the list, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. If you missed it, you can see it on DVD now, and I think you'll enjoy this silly movie that's all about the love of movies.

6. "The Bank Job"
For once, a heist movie that's at least as much about the characters and the caper as it is the gadgets. This "true" story just keeps getting wilder as it unfolds, and if you like heist flicks, I recommend this one very highly.

5a. "Iron Man"
I don't know how in the world I managed to leave this one off when I first compiled this list, other than that I do it when I first wake up in the morning. Although I loved what Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. did with Iron Man, I'm even more amped to see what happens when the great Terrence Howard dons his own metal suit and Samuel L. Jackson gets in on the action next time.

5. "Wall-E"
Like I said at the outset, I'm surprised this one ended up so low on this list, but looking back it's just been a stronger year thus far for flicks than I thought. Pure magic in its first half hour dedicated to silent robot love, it loses its way just a bit in the middle but still manages to be another Pixar winner (I'd rank it third behind "Ratatouille" and "The Incredibles," respectively, but then I guess I'm just a Brad Bird partisan.)

4. "Son of Rambow"
I really thought this might catch on as the little indie hit of the summer, but it never quite got there. As the titles implies, this is just a smart and funny flick about two English boys who try to create their own version of "Rambo," and it's very well worth a rental when it finally hits DVD (I was surprised to find it wasn't there already.)

3. "The Fall"
Tarsem's second feature film is as much about the power of storytelling as it is about the touchingly odd relationship that develops between an injured stuntman (the great Lee Pace of "Pushing Daisies" fame) and a young girl he meets in the hospital (Catinca Untaru.) It's visually stunning, and even if the story he concocts for her induces some unintended guffaws, this is one I just love.

2. "Under the Same Moon"
Perhaps it's because we had a private screening of this one after it somehow lingered at one of my local multiplexes for six weeks or so, but Patricia Riggen's little movie about immigration and family ties has just lingered with me for a long time. Yes, it's sometimes as sappy as it sounds on paper, but spring for a rental and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

1. "The Dark Knight"
Was there really ever any doubt that this one would clinch the top spot? I've seen it twice in the theater and will surely spring for it one more time before it leaves some time in September. If all the hype has you skeptical, just give in and believe it, because this one is just pretty darn amazing.

So there you have it. And, for the record, here are the four flicks that almost made the 10-movie cut: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," "Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."

With plenty of fun stuff coming later this summer and fall - including new flicks from David Fincher, the Coen brothers and Spike Lee, among others - I'm sure this list will look a lot different when I revise it in January. Please feel free to chime in with anything you might think I've just gotten wrong, and of course let me know if there are any 2008 flicks I just overlooked. Peace out.

Whedon's "Goners" a goner, so what now?

If you like reading about movies, which I do way too much, the MTV movies blog is - rather surprisingly - a must-read. They may not do the the hardest-hitting interviews but, being MTV, they can and do talk with anyone they choose.

This week, the subject was Joss Whedon, who is about to get back in the news in a big way with - finally! - a new show called "Dollhouse" with Eliza Dushku coming to Fox this fall. As a little aside on that, I saw a report from Horizon Media stating that three sci-fi shows - Fox’s “Fringe,” CBS’ “11th Hour” and ABC’s “Life On Mars” - should be the biggest frosh hits this fall, which totally discounts both "Dollhouse" and "Battlestar Galactica" brain Ronald Moore's "Virtuality." (UPDATE: According to MTV, "Dollhouse" has been pushed back to January, new but bad news to me!) Even so, throw "Heroes" back into the mix and it sure is going to be a fun time to watch TV (unless, of course, all the actors go on strike before any of it gets rolling.)

But the more interesting portion of MTV's piece, all of which you can read here, focused on Whedon's movie career or - recently, at least - the complete lack of one. Universal has for years now been kicking around a script he wrote for something called "Goners" which - shockingly enough - would have been about a young woman who gains some powers (well, I guess you should stick with what you know.)

With that going nowhere, however, he does seem to think there will be some real action on another script he wrote with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" alum and "Cloverfield" scribe Drew Goddard called "Cabin in the Woods" (if you haven't seen "Cloverfield," by the way, I found it to be surprisingly fun and can recommend it as well worth a rental.) Assuming this moves forward as quickly as he's hoping, Whedon would also be a producer and, perhaps, the director too. Here's how a rather unmodest Mr. Goddard described it to MTV:

“It’s genius, it’s funny, It’s got a harder and darker edge, but it’s also got classic Whedon qualities. It’ll rip your heart out and be heartfelt at the same time.”

“There’s a reason the title is so straightforward. It’s its own sub-genre, the cabin in the woods, and this is sort of our take on it. It’s fresh and new.”

Sounds cool enough to me if Whedon can manage to keep focused on it long enough to follow through, which doesn't exactly seem to be his strong suit. And, just in case you just can't get enough Whedon, he's also doing something really silly with Doogie Howser and Captain Mal Reynolds called "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog." As far as I can tell, this is some kind of upcoming Web-only silliness that Whedon and his brothers cooked up during the writer's strike (airing July 15, 17 and 19, but I'm not sure exactly where .. more to come on that.)

A three-part musical, it stars Doogie as a supervillian trying to get into the "Evil League of Evil," Captain Mal as his archnemesis, and Felicia Day (a former "potential" on "Buffy") as the girl of his dreams. Goofy? Surely, but hopefully pretty fun too.

That certainly seems like a whole lot for a man who hasn't seemed to actually finish much of anything lately (except for the still-great "Buffy" comic books), but here's hoping he's able to concentrate long enough to deliver both "Dollhouse" in winter and "Cabin in the Woods" as something great for next summer.

A new dose of "Blindness"

After a surprisingly strong summer for movies, this fall should be even more fun, with Spike Lee, David Fincher and the Coens all getting back into the game. Add to that mix Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, who's about to come back with his third flick, a take on the novel "Blindness" by Jose Saramago (which is on my to-read-very-soon list.) It promises to be a rather bleak affair, and I'm not sure I care much for the deliberately bleached out look you find in the trailer, but with Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Alica Braga and Gael Garcia Bernal all on board I'm betting it will be pretty fantastic. Enjoy the newest trailer, and have a perfectly pleasant Tuesday. Peace out.

Demko's DVD shelf

UPDATE: Very alert reader Bob of Bob and Justin's Movie Blog (http://bobandjustin.blogspot.com/)alerted me to a serious omission on my part from this week's DVD listing."Charlie Wilson's War" was a real return to top form for both Mike Nichols and Aaron Sorkin and just first-rate political satire based on truth. Please feel free to insert in the third position on the list.

Man, I didn't think anything would top the first appearance of Robin Sparkles on "How I Met Your Mother," but last night's episode sure came close. A whole season with Robin and Barney as a couple should just be a treat.

But on to the matter at hand. It was a real slugfest this week to determine who would get my title of DVD pick of the week (though I'm fairly certain none of the participants knew they were in the running.) In the end, the presence of Laura Linney in one of my favorite movies of 2007 was just enough to nose out the second season of network TV's best drama. So, here goes:

1. The Savages
I really thought Tamara Jenkins' little movie would become a breakout hit a la "Little Miss Sunshine," but alas that never quite came to pass. I guess dealing with a parent slipping rapidly into dementia just isn't as cute as little kids competing in beauty pageants. Despite its rather depressing subject matter, however, Jenkins' flick is extremely funny in parts and moving in others, and it's a delight to watch Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as a brother and sister dealing (or often not) with life. Fans of "The Wire" should note that Gbenga Akinnagbe, a k a Chris Parlow, has a pretty big part in this as the nursing home attendant Jimmy.

2. Friday Night Lights: The Second Season
Season two of "FNL" got off to a seriously rocky start with the rather silly murder subplot involving Landry and Tara, but luckily wrapped that up pretty quickly and got back to its real strength: A very realistic portrait of life in small-town America (albeit with people a lot better looking than folks - me included - I see in my particular little burg.) Though season two could have used a little more football, the 15 episodes they managed to make, especially when it focused on Coach Taylor and the great Connie Britten, were just about the best thing on TV this year.

3. Cloverfield
Though I had my serious doubts about this one going in, it was pretty darn far from - as one old dude behind me said as the credits rolled - "the worst movie I've ever seen." It's not, for anyone worried as I was, a "Blair Witch Project" kind of fraud, but instead a pretty thrilling little monster movie that manages to keep the adrenaline flowing from start to finish.

4. The Orphanage
At his NYCC appearance last week to promote "Hellboy II," Guillermo del Toro apparently teased fans with the prospect of doing another Spanish horror flick to follow in the footsteps of "Pan's Labyrinth" and the even-better "Devil's Backbone" if he somehow doesn't sign on to do "The Hobbit" (which I thought was a done deal, but apparently not quite yet.) Even if he were to do so, that would be at least a couple of years away, but in the meantime his buddy Juan Antonio Bayona has stepped up with this very stylish and fairly scary flick. The ending, even by horror movie standards, just defies all limits of credulity, but what you see along the way is pretty darn fun.

The most despicable movie ever made?

My brother sent me a link Friday to a Politico.com story headlined "Post-Sept. 11 'comedies' coming." Its main peg was the return of Harold and Kumar this Friday, which I think could be pretty funny, but it also touched on something I had somehow never heard of by Uwe Boll - and I frankly wish I never had.

Boll, already hailed as pretty much the worst filmmaker in the entire world, is about to release a "shock comedy" about 9/11 - with the Soup Nazi as Osama Bin Laden. Mull around in your mind just how bad that might be, but I assure you in actuality it will be even worse than you could possibly imagine.

This opening clip - and remember, I did warn you - of the 9/11 hijackers prattling on in the cockpit about virgins, is just about the most offensive thing I've ever seen. I normally like to post clips here directly, but I just can't bring myself to do it this time, so you'll have to click here to see it.

I offer this only as a public service warning just in case anyone might actually be considering watching the whole movie once it comes out. All I can say is please, please, please just say no. Peace out.

Tyler Perry's ready to cross the color line

The big news out there today, of course, is the Directors Guild of America has reached a contract deal with the studios that averts any possibly labor action that could have come in June. In it, the helmers got much of what their writing brethren have been on the picket lines for for about six months: A new way of being reimbursed for digital downloads of their work.

I don't fully know the details of this, which is really above my pay grade (which is zero), but it can't be anything but good news. I have to assume the writers will come into the fold soon if they're given a similar deal, and maybe TV will be saved after all (and David Milch, as you'll find out below, will have a lot to do with that.)

The only question I had yesterday was this: Were the studios so quick to deal with directors but not writers because of a serious lack of respect for the written word? Given the unscripted excrement that the TV networks quickly scooped up to fill the void I have to believe this is the case, and if so the wounds may well fester long after the strike has ended.

But enough of that. There are three potentially good movies, "Atonement," "Cloverfield" and "Honeydripper," opening in Macon this weekend, and lots of other news to talk about, starting out with, thankfully, Tyler Perry.

His next flick, "Meet the Browns," sounds like standard Tyler Perry fare, not an insult just an observation. In it, Angela Bassett (huzzah!) plays a single mother who takes her clan back to her Southern hometown for the funeral of the father she never knew, where she will surely meet a lot of colorful characters (including Madea.) Tyler Perry movies were just made for reunions like this.

It's with his next project, however, that things could really get interesting. Jennifer Hudson is about to sign on to star in "Tyler Perry's the Family that Preys," which will make his sixth flick for the Lionsgate studio. Sanaa Lathan, Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard and Rockmond Dunbar have already signed on.

And now, for our SAT style question of the day: Which of those names doesn't fit? I you guessed Kathy Bates, take your gold star. The flick is described as being about "two families from different sides of the tracks that become intimately involved in love and business."

That would be one black family and one white family, along with being one rich and one poor. I sincerely wish that weren't such a revolutionary concept, but how many white directors can say they've directed a drama in which up to half of the characters are black? Tyler Perry certainly didn't have to cross the color line, but he's shown himself to be nothing but savvy about business so far, and this just makes sense, but why it doesn't for a lot more people will always be just a bit beyond me.


"Deadwood" fans rejoice: Milch is officially back on HBO

In spite of the one-season-only run of "John from Cincinnati," David Milch, the creator of "Deadwood," is definitely now ready to move on with HBO (which I now pay for to watch "The Wire," so huzzah!)

Milch, one of the main masterminds behind "NYPD Blue," will return to familiar territory for "Last of the Ninth," a gritty drama set in the New York Police Department in 1972.

"It is about an older detective's mentoring of a young detective returned from Vietnam in a department fiscally crippled, under attack by revolutionaries, and which has been brought by allegations of systemic corruption into public disrepute," Milch told the Hollywood Reporter.

So, when will we ever get to see this goodness? Production will begin when the writers' strike ends, so please folks, settle this thing soon.

I know the kids rule the world, but ...

I was ready to skip over this one entirely because, of course, I'm far too old to concern myself with what Zac Efron may or may not be doing. I had to read to just about the bottom of this story, however, to get to the actual good part: The return of Richard Linklater.

Efron will indeed star in and Linklater will direct "Me and Orson Welles," what actually sounds like a pretty cool story from the novel by Robert Kaplow. Set in 1937, it's about a high school student (Efron, natch) who happens upon the yet-to-open Mercury Theatre and lands a bit part in "Julius Caesar," the production that would bring international acclaim to Mr. Welles, who will be played by newcomer Christian McKay.

Making this a Linklater family affair, the script was penned by Holly Gent Palmo, a production coordinator on "Dazed and Confused," and Vince Palmo, first assistant director for many of Linklater's flicks.

There's some other cool stuff out there today, but I have to wrap this up now if I'm gonna make it to the movie theater in time to watch "Atonement" before I have to go to work. Peace out.

A John Sayles movie in Macon? Bring it on!

It seems like forever since I've bothered to review a movie in this space, and there are valid reasons (beyond the most obvious one - sloth.)

Mainly, still not being paid to do any of this, I don't bother to see movies that I know, even before the credits start to roll, I'm going to hate. That usually makes January a very bleak month for me, but this weekend there are actually three that at least slightly peak my interest in Macon, and I'm gonna review them all in this space, starting Saturday (with a day off Monday, probably, for Oscar predictions.)

First up is "Atonement," based on the simply fantastic novel by Ian McEwan. If you haven't read this, I can't recommend it highly enough. Even if, as the always reliable DC Movie Girl says, there is a bit of remoteness to the love story at the movie's core, I'm still confident I'm just gonna fall in love with this one.

Second, but the one I'm least looking forward to, is "Cloverfield." This feels like more of an obligation than anything else, and here's why: With apologies to my friend Chris Stanford, who rather excitedly dragged me to see "The Blair Witch Project" way back when in D.C., I simply hated that movie to its core (and didn't really make that clear immediately, so as to not ruin Mr. Stanford's day.) I could be wrong here, but from everything I've read so far, "Cloverfield" sounds like the same kind of animal: A gimmicky "monster" movie with tons of hype and very little payoff. Here's hoping I'm somehow wrong.

And third, in a real surprise, we're getting a John Sayles movie here in Macon this weekend, at the Regal Rivergate 14. How is this possible? Well, I have a strong feeling that some enterprising students at Clark Atlanta, Florida A&M and other traditionally black colleges are to thank for this. In a "Business of Film" seminar last fall, these lucky students had as their main project to come up with a marketing scheme for Sayles' movie "Honeydripper," which thankfully involves getting it into Southern markets like my little corner of the world. A hearty huzzah to them!

As for the movie itself, well, I passed on seeing it in New York because it looks more than a bit like a Disneyfied view of the South, and specifically the advent of electric blues. Even with those fears in mind, a great, mostly all black cast and the Sayles brand are enough to guarantee I'll turn out for this one now in Macon, most likely Sunday afternoon.

I've always had more than a little soft spot for Sayles because he always seems to do exactly whatever he wants to and because his movies, even when flawed, just have an earnestness to them that is sorely lacking in most of our big-screen fare. Also, his funky and fun "Brother From Another Planet" came along at just the right time in my life to show me there were all kinds of movies out there, if you bother to look hard enough, and for that I'm eternally grateful.

So, in honor of "Honeydripper" and the man himself, here are my seven favorite John Sayles-directed movies (he's actually helmed, written or starred in a lot more than these, including directing at least three music videos for Bruce Springsteen: "Born in the U.S.A.", "I'm on Fire" and "Glory Days".) And, for once, this list is indeed in order of how much I like the movies, but they're all well worth a rental, if you can find them. Here goes:

1. Passion Fish
On the surface, the plot for this one makes it sound like the worst kind of Hallmark tripe, but it's actually one of my all-time favorite Southern movies and a moving look at an odd relationship (everything, in short, that "Driving Miss Daisy" wanted to be but clearly wasn't.) In it, Mary McDonnell plays a former soap opera star who finds herself confined to a wheelchair after an accident, and Alfre Woodard is the only nurse she can stand to have around her back home in the Bayou. David Strathairn even turns up in this 1992 flick to pitch a little woo (if you haven't seen this one, you'll just have to believe me that it's much better than I'm making it sound here.)

2. The Secret of Roan Inish
This odd little "children's" movie actually showed for about a month ago for two weeks at the Cox Capitol Theatre in downtown Macon, and it was just as good as I remembered it being. The Irish fairy tale, based on the Rosalie K. Fry book "The Secret of Ron Mor Skerry," about the magical seal island is just one of my favorite tributes to the power of imagination.

3. Lone Star
Directors just seem to love the task of juggling multiple story lines. Many (Robert Altman, Quentin Tarantino and Alejandro González Iñárritu among them) have succeeded but at least as many (Stephen Gaghan ["Syriana"] comes to mind, at least in my estimation) have failed. Sayles pulls it off with style in "Lone Star," which weaves the stories of many people, played by Kris Kristofferson, Matthew McConnaughey, Elizabeth Pena, Chris Cooper, Joe Morton and many others, into one intriguing piece that sets you right square in the heart of Texas.

4. Sunshine State
This is one of Sayles' angriest and yet also funniest movies, and while its probably more than a little too preachy for its own good, it hit me at just the right time. I had just been to visit my brother in south Florida, where he was toiling for an alternative weekly in Fort Lauderdale, so I could attest that everything Sayles has to say here about real estate developers none-too-slowly killing the state of Florida is dead-on.

5. Brother from Another Planet
Like I said earlier, this one came along at just the right time to show me there were many movies beyond my local multiplex, and despite its clearly low-budget look, a recent reviewing showed that, for me at least, it's sly commentary on immigration stands up well over time. I still smile every time I see Joe Morton's name appear in movie credits, and when I was 15 years old or so I thought that scene where he pulls out his eyeball to spy on the bad guys was just about the coolest thing I had ever seen.

6. Matewan
Chris Cooper may not have gotten mainstream acclaim until his turn as Marine Col. Frank Fitts in "American Beauty," but he's yet to ever put in a better performance than he did as the union organizer Joe Kenehan in this flick about a coal mine-workers' strike and attempt to unionize in 1920 in West Virginia (just Cooper's second big-screen acting credit.) The labor movie is now just about a dead concept in America, but if you ever want to see just how powerful they once could be, you could do a whole lot worse than this Sayles flick.

7. Eight Men Out
Without taking a hard look at the figures I'd have to assume this 1988 flick about the 1919 Black Sox scandal is probably the Sayles movie that's made the most money. It works so well because it's not only a solid historical document, but also shows that Sayles, like me, has an undying love for baseball, even with its many clear problems.

And there you have it. Feel free to check back starting Saturday for reviews of, probably in this order, "Atonement," "Cloverfield" and "Honeydripper." Peace out.

Paramount's 2008 lineup: The winners and stinkers

Even though I'm cautiously optimistic that "The Golden Compass" will live up to my lofty expectations, I'd rather not talk much about that until I get to see it in a couple hours.

Instead I'd love to dish on what's coming next year, which, judging from Paramount's slate, looks like mostly a lot of fun. Here's a look at what the studio has coming up next year:

January 18: Cloverfield
Even in the capable hands of scribe Drew Goddard, this one just has "Snakes on a Plane"-like box office potential as far as I can tell. At the very least, I was happy to hear this won't be a "Blair Witch" affair: We do indeed get to see the giant monster that attacks NYC.

February 1: Strange Wilderness
Steve Zahn and Jonah Hill are very funny guys, so I'm hoping this is a lot less "Daddy Day Camp"-esque than it looks on the surface. In the crude comedy, Zahn and sidekick Allen Covert host a wildlife TV show that's in ratings decline. What can save it? Bigfoot, of course.

February 15: The Spiderwick Chronicles
I went from mildly interested in this fantasy offering to truly psyched when I found out the screenplay was written by John Sayles, who created one of my favorite "children's" movies in "The Secret of Roan Inish." In the story, two brothers and a sister investigate the strange happenings that unfold after the family moves into a secluded old house owned by their great, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick. Seth Rogen somehow figures into this, though I would have to assume not as one of the young siblings.

March 21: Drillbit Taylor
Getting revenge on bullies has to be one of the oldest (and, frankly, most tired) gambits in the movies, but I still can't help hoping this one is going to be genuinely funny. When you've got Owen Wilson as a former soldier of fortune hired to be the schoolyard enforcer, something funny just has to happen, right?

March 28: Stop-Loss
I'm still waiting for a movie about the Iraq War that delivers as much entertainment value as it does politicking, and just maybe this one will be it. You're heading in the right direction when you cast three of my favorite actors in Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ciaran Hinds and Timothy Oliphant ("Deadwood"'s sheriff Seth Bullock.) In director Kimberly Pierce's flick, a decorated Iraq war hero (Ryan Philippe, I believe) returns home to Texas and tries to rebuild his civilian life, only to find he's called back to active duty much sooner than expected.

April 4: Shine a Light
Though Martin Scorsese has made some truly remarkable music documentaries, I just can't get too excited about this one focusing on two concerts by the Rolling Stones. Why? Well, they were already very old when I was in college, and since that was a good while ago, they're obviously just geriatric now, and very hard for me to watch without cringing.

April 11: The Ruins
What is it about flicks where Americans get into trouble just by leaving the country? Is it really all that dangerous to travel these days? In this latest one, a group of friends on holiday in Mexico accompany a fellow tourist on a remote archaeological dig in the jungle, where something evil (of course) lives among the ruins.

May 2: Iron Man
With these next two flicks, I think Paramount might just have the strongest summer slate, Dark Knight be damned. Robert Downey Jr. should make a great Tony Stark, and the supporting cast with Terrence Howard (man, does this guy like to work), Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges ain't too shabby either.

May 22: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Count this as the single summer flick I'm most excited about. Though a visitor to this site (and forgive me please that I can't remember just who) warned me that George Lucas had commandeered the screenwriting reins for this one, which would be simply craptastic, two dudes named David Koepp and Jeff Nathanson are still listed as the scribes, so maybe there's hope. All plot details for this are under tight wraps.

June 6: Kung Fu Panda
I have to admit that, as silly as this animated flick sounds, those little critters doing kung fu were pretty infectious in the trailer. Jack Black is the voice of Po, a rather lazy and rotund panda who's called on to save the day after he is, of course, christened as the chosen one. Black should at least be very funny in this.

June 20: The Love Guru
Mike Myers usually seems to pick his comedies carefully, but I just don't see how this can turn out to be anything but awful. Myers is the titular guru who's called in to repair the estranged marriage of professional hockey player (Romany Malco) so he can get back into top form on the ice. Verne Troyer is apparently in this one, so at the very least we can expect more than a few more midget jokes, if that's your thing.

July 11: Tropic Thunder
If you believe the tabloids (and they do occasionally get things right), it was on the set of this Ben Stiller comedy that things started to go wrong for Owen Wilson, as he started partying too much with funnyman and co-star Steve Coogan. Whether that's true or not, Wilson had to drop out, but still leaves a pretty impressive cast in his wake, including director Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Coogan, Bill Hader and Jay Baruchel of "Knocked Up" fame. In the flick, a group of actors find themselves somehow thrown into a "real, warlike situation." It's possible that this scenario was funny when it starred Larry the Cable Guy, but I have to say I didn't bother to find out.

August 8: Eagle Eye
I just immediately have to be skeptical about any flick in which Shia LaBoeuf somehow gets framed as a terrorist (along with either Michelle Monaghan or, even better, Rosario Dawson, so maybe there's hope.) D.J. Caruso directs this one.

August 22: Case 39
Well, we made it this far (I think) without a Renee Zellweger sighting, but I guess it had to happen eventually. In this flick she plays a social worker who saves an abused 10-year-old girl (Jodelle Ferland) from her parents only to discover that the girl is not as innocent as she thinks. At least the great Ian McShane factors into this one somehow.

September 26: Nowhereland
An Eddie Murphy comedy that's actually funny? Not likely, but we can still dream, right? In this one he plays a financial executive who's invited into his daughter's imaginary world, where he just might find solutions to halt the downward spiral of his career (the executive's or Murphy's? You decide.)

Fall 2008: Ghost Town
Judging from the title of this one I would have assumed it was just one of those bad "horror" flicks that studios dump out at the end of summer, but it's actually a comedy starring Ricky Gervais. In the directorial debut of "Indy 4" screenwriter David Koepp, Gervais plays a dentist who has a near-death experience during routine surgery and gains the ability to see dead people who ask him for help in contacting the living.

Nov. 7: Madagascar: The Crate Escape
Even it did spawn way too many domestic-animals-in-the-wild flicks (and rip the idea off from a few predecessors too), I thought the first Madagascar movie was a hoot, especially those silly penguins, so this should be fun.

Nov. 26: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Even more than "Indy 4," you can count this as the Paramount movie I'm most psyched for next year. David Fincher (resounding huzzah!) takes on the F. Scott Fitzgerald tale about a man (Brad Pitt) who is born in his eighties in 1918 and ages in reverse through the 20th century. Taraji P. Henson of "Hustle & Flow," one of my favorite young actresses, figures into this one somehow too.

Dec. 19: Revolutionary Road
For as long as I've been hearing about this one I just assumed it was coming out at the end of this year rather than next. Sam Mendes directs this tale of a young couple (Leo DiCaprio and Mendes' clearly better half, Kate Winslet) living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s who struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children.

Dec. 25: Star Trek
I have to confess that the whole Star Trek thing is just a tremendous chink in whatever geek armor I still possess. I just never got into it, in any variation, but I'd never knock anyone who does (and there are clearly more than a few of you out there.) All I really know about this is that it's apparently the rather amazing 11th Star Trek flick, it's being directed by J.J. Abrams, and that Zachary Quinto (Sylar on "Heroes") does make a very convincing Spock.

TBA: A Tale of Two Sisters
OK, last one (finally!) and it sounds really odd. In a remake of a Korean horror flick, the rather alluring Elizabeth Banks (who will be making a "porno" with Seth Rogen for director Kevin Smith too) is the cruel stepmother of two sisters who return home from a mental institution. Sounds pretty darn far from my cup of tea.

And there you have it. Feel free to tell me which Paramount (and non-Paramount) flicks you're most excited about for 2008. I'll leave you with this fairly freakin cool pic from "Speed Racer." I'm still more than a little skeptical that this Wachowski brothers flick will be anything but crap, but judging from this pic it should at least look pretty astounding. Peace out.