When you're Will Smith ...

Actually, first off, just in case you're having any doubts, go see "Thor" if you're a fan of big, cheesy and thoroughly fun summer flicks. It's all three, and I loved it.

OK, moving on to the main attraction today, when you're Will Smith, I suppose getting to work with Quentin Tarantino is simply the logical next step, but if he indeed signs on for what QT is cooking up now, as the Hollywood Reporter reports he's likely to do, it should be nothing but cool.

For anyone who needs a catch-up, Tarantino's next flick will be a Western (though, as he himself has said more than once, it's indeed more of a "Southern") titled "Django Unchained." In it, if he takes the part, Smith would play the titular freed slave who teams up with a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz, natch) to reunite with his wife, and the two eventually set their sights on Django's former owner. Samuel L. Jackson is apparently on board to play the house slave of an "evil" plantation owner.

Sounds more than a bit crazy, right? Certainly, but look at the plot for "Inglourious Basterds" on paper, and that seemed ludicrous too, but it turned out to be by a pretty wide margin my favorite movie of 2009, with several scenes that are still permanently burned on my brain. Definitely stay tuned for more on this whenever I find it ...

In one more bit of movie news before what has to be best trailer I've seen all week, Bill Murray will be joined by one of my favorite actresses when he plays Franklin D. Roosevelt in an upcoming movie. Mull over for a second or two just how good Murray as FDR could be ...

The movie is called "Hyde Park on the Hudson," and it focuses on FDR's love affair with his cousin and is set during a June weekend in 1939 when the British King and Queen visited his upstate New York cottage in the first-ever visit to America by a member of the British monarchy. Juicy stuff that, and now comes word that definite Reel Fanatic fave Laura Linney has signed on to play the cousin, with Roger Michell (who back in the day directed still my favorite Jane Austen adaptation, that "Persuasion" starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds) directing.

Sounds like slightly more serious stuff for Murray, but he'd be funny at a funeral, so I'm sure he will be here too.

And finally today, to wrap up a short Saturday morning report, I had never heard of this flick from "Man on a Wire" director James Marsh until I found this trailer this morning, but it looks fantastic. "Project Nim" follows the real-life project in the '70s that set out to teach a chimpanzee sign language and embed him in a family of humans.

As you can imagine from that scenario, it got more than bit crazy (as one of his keepers points out in the trailer, Nim liked "alcohol and driving fast.") It was also an important experiment, however, and it looks like a fascinating flick. Enjoy the trailer, keep an eye out for this in at least some markets July 8, and have a perfectly pleasant weekend. Peace out.

"Jackie Brown" prequel in the works, but so far at least, without QT

In a word, the "Chuck" finale: Awesome. But no Buy More? Sheesh.

And I know I'm probably almost completely alone here, but "Jackie Brown" has always (or at least since it was made, of course) been my favorite Quentin Tarantino movie.

Better than "Pulp Fiction"? Better than "Inglourious Basterds," which I rank as my favorite movie of all of 2009? Yep. There's just something about the writing, the pacing and the characters that make it great, and a movie that I go back and watch on DVD about once a year or so (but it's not the best Elmore Leonard work on the big screen, an honor that will always go to "Out of Sight" in my book.)

So, a prequel focusing on the origin of the relationship of Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara, played in "Jackie Brown" by Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro, would be great news, right? Well, perhaps, but not so fast.

First of all, so far at least, QT has nothing to do with this. The project is an adaptation of the Leonard novel "The Switch," and the screenplay's been written by someone named Daniel Schechter, whose directorial debut, "Goodbye Baby," made the film festival circuit, and produced by Michael Siegel, who, with both "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Be Cool" on his rap sheet, isn't exactly a clean character.

The movie, as is the book it's based on, would be called "The Switch," and Elmore Leonard has signed on as an executive producer, though as yet there's no director or studio attached to this. In the novel, Robbie and Gara meet in prison, and once out, they join forces for one big score that finds them kidnapping the wife of a wealthy Detroit developer. When the husband refuses to pay the ransom for his wife's return, Ordell and Louis are forced to reconceive their plan, and the angry housewife uses the ex-cons to get her revenge.

A Leonard movie set in Detroit, like much of "Out of Sight"? I'm in. So as they seek to recast the younger Robbie and Gara, why not Don Cheadle, who was so great as Snoopy Miller in Steven Soderbergh's flick? As for the young Louis, who knows? As much as I hated "Iron Man 2," I'd still certainly put in a vote for Sam Rockwell.

But who knows if any of this will ever even happen. In the meantime, an ounce of research on my part turned up a bit about "Goodbye Baby," and it indeed doesn't sound half bad. I thought about embedding the trailer from YouTube, but it just has the most obnoxious voice over on it that ruins the whole thing. Instead, I'd recommend visiting the official site and watching the much more enjoyable version there.

Best as I can tell, it centers on a young woman (Christine Evangelista) who wants to make it as a standup comic in NYC, and with co-stars like Kevin Corrigan, Alan Ruck, Jerry Adler and the great Donnell Rawlings from "Chappelle's Show," it has as many funny people in it as Judd Apatow's disappointing movie of the same name.

Anyways, it coincidentally enough is set to come out on DVD next Tuesday, June 1 (at least according to Amazon), and I at least will be renting it from the Netflix. And with that I have to get ready for work. Peace out.

"Crazy Heart" director plotting what would be just about the perfect followup

Though Scott Cooper's "Crazy Heart" isn't my single favorite movie of 2009 yet (that distinction goes to Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds"), I've seen Cooper's movie twice now and it just keeps getting and better in my mind, much like Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" did, so just give it time.

The movie just has such a natural pace and feel to it that it makes the utterly familiar story go down extremely sweetly, and it certainly doesn't hurt that the Dude is so great in it. And now, it seems that Cooper is lining up two other top-notch actors to take on an epic Southern saga.

Making the rounds to promote "Get Low," in which he plays a cranky old man who wants to plan his own funeral party so he can attend it, Robert Duvall revealed that Cooper has been lined up to direct "The Hatfields and the McCoys" for Warner Bros., from a script by Eric Roth (the "Forrest Gump" scribe, so he certainly needs and deserves a chance for atonement). Duvall, who had a small but key part in "Crazy Heart," has signed on to star in it, and he said Brad Pitt is now being courted to join him, though exactly what roles each would play is so far not at all clear.

Cooper, who made his debut with "Crazy Heart," is definitely one to keep your eyes on, so I'll certainly share more about this whenever I find it. And, apparently bored on the junket circuit and wanting to chat, Duvall also took the occasion to tell Movieline something about the status of Terry Gilliam's truly quixotic "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" too.

He revealed that "the Irish guy who was in 'Crazy Heart'," who we have to assume would mean Colin Farrell, was approached to play the role that Johnny Depp tried to the first Gilliam tried to make this movie, but has - probably wisely - turned it down. Duvall, however, said he will be in the movie, playing some kind of "Latin guy," assuming it ever gets made.

And if you've ever been the seriously satisfying - albeit depressing - documentary "Lost in La Mancha," which chronicles the epic failure that was Gilliam's first attempt to make this movie, you know the odds against this ever happening this time are pretty steep. Here's more of what Duvall had to say about the obstacles that remain:

"They [the producers] need a name. He's [Gilliam's] going after two people now, but he doesn’t want to say who they are until after he gets them. But it’s been six months he’s been after people. And it’s a bigger budget than his others. And he doesn’t stick to a budget, they say. He goes on and on. And he’s got locations picked out in Spain. So it’ll be very exciting. And when the time comes — and I know for sure — then I’ll start riding horseback every day … But you know, when the time comes - I can’t really start preparing for it until it’s greenlit. Until it’s really greenlit."

Duvall certainly and understandably has his doubts, and coincidentally enough, this news comes in the same week as the DVD release of Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," which, having seen it, I can say is a movie he probably should never have completed.

When my family goes to New York just after Christmas each year, a big part of the gathering is getting to see movies you wouldn't where we normally reside. My brother usually lets me drag him to one movie I want to see but he's almost certain will suck at least a little bit. Two years ago it was Steven Soderbergh's seemingly interminable "Che," an utter act of hubris, though Benicio Del Toro certainly gave it his all, and this year it was "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus."

Everyone knows by now the saga of how Heath Ledger died during the filming of this flick, and Gilliam turned to three big stars - Depp, Farrell and Jude Law - to finish the job. Well, what I can reveal to you is, after making an oddly entertaining flick during the portion Ledger was around for, Gilliam - predictably perhaps - then just lets his movie go completely out of control to the point that the last 45 minutes or so just make no sense at all. I'm still glad I saw it, but I can't really recommend the experience on DVD for anyone else except as a film oddity.

OK, that all went on a bit longer than I had originally planned, so I'll simply leave you today with a couple of videos. The first is the first full trailer I know of for Irish director John Carney's "Zonad." You may remember Carney from the truly magical musical "Once," but this is something completely different: The story of a mysterious stranger who arrives in an Irish village in the 1950s and passes himself off as an alien. Sounds like exactly the kind of goofball comedy I love, but I'll almost certainly have to wait for DVD to ever see this one. Enjoy.



And finally, I'll leave you with something even odder, the new video from MIA, who we (or at least I) haven't heard from since her "Paper Planes" became an earworm that bore into my skull for most of a year. This song, unfortunately, isn't nearly as catchy, and be warned that the video is 9 minutes long. It has, however, apparently been banned from YouTube because of its extreme violence (don't say I didn't warn you), so "enjoy" it while you can (and be warned, if you're a Ginger, really don't watch this). Peace out.

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

The three craziest rumors you'll hear ... well ... at least today

With a post like this, there's really no better place than to start with Quentin Tarantino, who, if he followed through on everything he mentioned in the media, would have one whale of a great movie canon by now (the one he really has is, of course, pretty darn good as it is.)

This appeared in a New York Daily News item titled "Brad Pitt doesn't smoke pot while acting; I don't smoke pot while directing," so certainly take it with more than a few grains of salt. Even if that headline is true (which I kinda doubt), I'd still have to believe he at least smokes up a bit when he comes up with his movie ideas, like this one he let slip in the Daily News piece:

"I'd like to do a Western. But rather than set it in Texas, have it in slavery times. With that subject that everybody is afraid to deal with. Let's shine that light on ourselves. You could do a ponderous history lesson of slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad. Or, you could make a movie that would be exciting. Do it as an adventure. A spaghetti Western that takes place during that time. And I would call it 'A Southern.'"

Now, he's mentioned making a movie about slavery before, but now that he's made World War II into some kind of crazy revenge fantasy about killing Hitler with "Inglourious Basterds" (and even managed to make it into my single favorite movie of 2009), I'd imagine anything's possible, so we'd better take even his craziest ideas a little seriously. A "Southern" that makes slavery "exciting"? I don't doubt he can do this, but whether he actually does or not ... stay tuned.

OK, these are actually coming in order of how much I'd like to see them happen, and just behind QT's madness comes a potentially fantastic collaboration between Nick Cave and Andy Serkis.

While on tour plugging his Ian Dury biopic "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" (yes, I'll watch that, please), Serkis let slip that he's planning a motion-capture movie version of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's "The Threepenny Opera." Even better, Nick Cave is writing the screenplay with him, and will presumably have a big part in the music too.

The piece, which seems tailormade to Cave's rather odd brain, is based on "The Beggar's Opera," which tells the story of the sociopathic criminal Macheath, who marries the daughter of Mr. Peachum, who controls all the beggars in London. Peachum opposes the match and conspires to have Macheath hanged.

This has, of course, already been made into a movie once - as the simply dreadful "Mack the Knife" - so it's screaming out for a version that people can actually sit through without visibly cringing. Details to come if this actually all comes together, but for now, enjoy this rather sublime clip of Cave performing the song "Mack the Knife."



OK, with that, the goodwill ends, because the next two items fill me with nothing but bile (I did warn you.) It seems that Lars Von Trier, who I've never much cared for (his sole mission seems to be "shock" people into complete boredom, but I concede it's entirely possible I simply just don't get his flicks), ran into Martin Scorsese at the Berlin Film Festival and, perhaps drunk, crazy or both, has challenged the old man to something of a cinematic fist fight.

The story is more than a little odd, so bear with me. According to the Danish mag Echo, he has apparently "challenged" Scorsese to remake "Taxi Driver" (pause a minute or so and let that sink in), with Robert De Niro but also with several "obstacles" thrown in to make things "interesting," as Von Trier apparently did to fellow Danish filmmaker Jørgen Leth in his 2003 doco "Obstructions."

The idea of remaking "Taxi Driver" under any conditions would, I certainly at least hope, just make Scorsese laugh in Von Trier's face, but can you imagine this old dude jumping through all kinds of hurdles just to turn his signature movie into some kind of game? It's ludicrous to the point that it could actually be kind of fun if it were ever actually to happen, but even if I still were a betting man, I wouldn't touch this one with even the longest of odds.

Scorsese, however, apparently isn't immune to incredibly bad ideas. It's fairly certain now that his next movie will be "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," and since I've read that children's book (I read quite a few of those, actually), that makes me nothing but giddy. It's a magical tale about a young boy in Paris who lives in the wall of a train station, where he tends to the clocks, doing the work supposedly performed by his drunken uncle. In the course of the story he eventually encounters Georges Melies and his wild automatons, and it just gets better and better from there.

So, what could possibly be the bad in this? Well, also while in Berlin, Scorsese let it slip that this will be shot in 3D, because, well, I guess everything has to be that way now. Sheesh. Can't I just go to a movie without putting on a second set of glasses? Apparently not, but that's really all I have to say about that potential disaster, because I have to get ready for the job that somehow still pays me enough to keep the lights turned on. I'll leave you with this new teaser trailer for "Despicable Me," which at least looks like it will at least be a lot of fun when it drops this summer. Enjoy, and have a perfectly bearable Tuesday. Peace out.

Just what in the world is "Secret of the Kells," and what will Jason Reitman do next?

Although the Oscar nominations always leave me with as many questions as answers, this was the biggest one I had after yesterday's nominations announcement.

After all, I just assumed that, after a truly banner year for animation, one of my favorites - "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" - would get a nomination, especially since the field grew to five entries this year. Instead, it went to something called "Secret of the Kells," and I can't be the only person who had never heard of that before yesterday.

So, what in the world is it? Well, an animated movie, obviously, from co-directors Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey. As you'll see from the fairly long trailer below (and, even though it labels the movie "Brendan and the Secret of the Kells," I assure it's genuine), it's animated in a charmingly simple style. As far as the story, here's an official synopsis:

In the movie “The Secret Of Kells,” young Brendan lives in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids. But a new life of adventure beckons when a celebrated master illuminator arrives from foreign lands carrying an ancient but unfinished book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers. To help complete the magical book, Brendan has to overcome his deepest fears on a dangerous quest that takes him into the enchanted forest where mythical creatures hide. It is here that he meets the fairy Aisling, a mysterious young wolf-girl, who helps him along the way. But with the barbarians closing in, will Brendan’s determination and artistic vision illuminate the darkness and show that enlightenment is the best fortification against evil?

Sounds like slightly heavy stuff for a children's animated movie, but as you see from the clip below, it will be pretty fun too. Enjoy.



And when will we get to see this? I'd have to imagine that, even with the Oscar love, this will be an arthouse release in the U.S.A., meaning I'll have to drive to Atlanta when it comes out March 10.

As for the rest of the Oscars, I'd have to say the 10 movie field for Best Picture was certainly a success, especially if the goal was to recognize some box office smashes along with the usual suspects. I haven't seen "The Blind Side," but is it really Best Picture material? I doubt it, but that along with "Up," "Avatar" and "District 9" should at least stop the ratings slide.

As for things that made me smile, certainly the fact that Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," my favorite, got eight nominations (second only to the nine nabbed by both "Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker"), including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and of course, Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz (one way to make the interminable broadcast shorter would be to just give him and Mo'Nique their statues now.)

There a few other little things I liked, too. The single best nomination would have to be Armando Iannucci and crew for Best Adapted Screenplay for "In the Loop." That was easily the wittiest movie of the year, and any script that moves that fast without ever faltering certainly deserves the recognition. It was also nice to see Maggie Gyllenhaal get a Best Supporting Actress Nomination for her work in "Crazy Heart." The Dude seems to be the favorite for Best Actor for his role in that flick about an aging country music star of sorts, but you wouldn't care a lick about his character if he didn't have Gyllenhaal's journalist and single mother to play off of and pitch woo at. Huzzah to both of those.

And though it has seemed to be losing steam over the weeks (I tried to see it a second time, but it had already disappeared from theaters), that "Up in the Air" only got six nominations is a bit of a surprise. It did, however, get all the big ones: nominations for all three actors, adapted screenplay, director and Best Picture.

Which brings us to the next topic: What will Jason Reitman do now? Well, according to The Playlist, he let that cat out of the bag in a visit with Roger Ebert. Here, according to The Playlist, is what he had to say:

"The book I'm adapting is 'Labor Day' by Joyce Maynard. I re-read it over the weekend and when I finished the book [on] Monday morning, I was kind of on the verge of tears and I remembered at the moment, 'alright, my job is to make sure the audience feel exactly what I'm feeling right now.' And that's it, thats the gig. The test is with each film, 'can I do that?' and 'is that something the audience wants to feel at the end of the day?' And in this case, I think it is. This ones a very very tricky love story. It's very dramatic."

"I know what actors I want for it. I'll be able to go to them easily and, presumably, it'll be an easier greenlight than my first movie. Or my second movie."

Fair enough, but what in the world is "Labor Day," which I will now be reading soon, about? Here, with some editing, is what it says on Maynard's own Web site:

With the end of summer closing in and a steamy Labor Day weekend looming in the town of Holton Mills, New Hampshire, 13-year-old Henry - lonely, friendless, not too good at sports - spends most of his time watching television, reading, and daydreaming about the soft skin and budding bodies of his female classmates. For company Henry has his long-divorced mother, Adele, a onetime dancer whose summer project was to teach him how to foxtrot; his hamster, Joe; and awkward Saturday-night outings to Friendly's with his estranged father and new stepfamily. As much as he tries, Henry knows that even with his jokes and his "Husband for a Day" coupon, he still can't make his emotionally fragile mother happy. Adele has a secret that makes it hard for her to leave their house, and seems to possess an irreparably broken heart.

But all that changes on the Thursday before Labor Day, when a mysterious bleeding man named Frank approaches Henry and asks for a hand. Over the next five days, Henry will learn some of life's most valuable lessons: how to throw a baseball, the secret to perfect piecrust, the breathless pain of jealousy, the power of betrayal, and the importance of putting others - especially those we love - above ourselves. And the knowledge that real love is worth waiting for.

That all sounds great to me. There's nothing up about this yet on the IMDB, but I'd imagine that as he rather immodestly claims, he can indeed get this greenlit just about whenever he wants to. And, since I'm so enamored of my new laptop, I might just make "Labor Day" the first purchase to read with my new "Kindle for PC" thingie from Amazon.

Except for that, all I have today is a music video from a woman I had never heard of, but since it's directed by Michel Gondry, it's certainly worth a look. The video is for a song called "Open Your Heart" by a chica named Mia Doi Todd. As the title implies, it's a breezy little ditty, and Gondry uses flashes of color in a deceptively simple way that becomes genuinely hypnotic (hyperbole? Perhaps, but that's the effect it had on me at 6:30 in the morning.) Anyways, enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Wednesday. Peace out.

Since the Oscars get 10 best, I do too (actually, I get 11)

Thinking about what to write about this morning, I realized that - with no computer for a month - I never got around to revealing my 10 best movies of 2009. And while it may be far too late for anyone but me to care, here goes anyway, in order only of when they were released (and if you're a fan of the Drive-By Truckers - as everyone should be - stick around 'til the end for a special treat.)

And lest anyone be left scratching their head at the omission of Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air," it just missed the cut, earning honorable mention along with the following flicks: "The Road," "A Single Man," "Crazy Heart," "Avatar," "Broken Embraces" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Now, on to the 11 winners, and please feel free to chime in with your favorites or let me know if you think I'm just all wet about any of these:

Coraline
"Up" is going to get most of the attention as far as animated movies go with this morning's Oscar nominations - since I fully expect it to get a Best Picture nomination - but this little flick from Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman was actually the best animated movie of the year for me (and the only one besides "Avatar" that really made me think it was worth wearing 3-D glasses for the entire movie.) Though, like any story told through the eyes of a child, it really goes out of control by the end, "Coraline" is still a genuinely magical story about the powers - and dangers - of the imagination, my favorite movie subject of all.

Sugar
This flick from directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck spent the first half of 2009 as my favorite movie of the year, and it's held strong in the top five. This portrait of life in modern America through the eyes of an outsider starts out as a low-key sports flick about a Dominican player in the minor league baseball system and pivots deftly about halfway in to become a story about immigration in America without ever losing the natural flow that makes it so entertaining to watch. Rent this immediately if you haven't seen it.

Drag Me to Hell
Has anyone had a worse movie year-or-so than Sam Raimi? First, no one in the world but me (and maybe a few others) went to see this incredibly fun return to his horror roots, and then his "Spider-Man 4" flick implodes to the point that they just scrapped the whole project and started over without him (and, frankly, most likely without me too.) He certainly deserves better. Especially when, if you're a fan of "Evil Dead" and "Army of Darkness," you should love this flick about what happens when poor Alison Lohman denies a mortgage extension to the wrong person (a gypsy woman with the power to curse her - and ingest her poor kitty - of course.) If you can stomach it, watch this on DVD.

Moon
I'd say there's probably no chance at all that Sam Rockwell will get an Oscar nomination for his work in Duncan Jones' sci-fi flick, and in my book that will count as the single biggest snub of the year. He's in virtually every frame of this, a welcome return to the kind of smart sci-fi allegory we haven't seen on the big screen in a long time (though "Battlestar Galactica" did a fine job with that too on the little one.) I saw this one at the Atlanta Film Festival 365, and am thrilled that Charles Judson has invited me back for this year's event too.

The Hurt Locker
Just how much do military members love this Iraq War movie of sorts from Kathyrn Bigelow? Well, as a tiny and random sample, a video store bought an ad in the publication I lay out that serves Warner Robins, GA (proud home of Robins Air Force Base) just to promise that "The Hurt Locker" will "always be in stock." I don't know why, but that just struck me as funny. I do know, however, that Bigelow has crafted the first Iraq War movie I genuinely enjoyed, not just because it has at least three of the best action set-pieces of the year, but also two of the best performances from Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner as it presents the rarest kind of flick - an apolitical war movie that simply looks at combat through the eyes of those who have to wage it.

In the Loop
A small Web cult of sorts has blossomed that's devoted to the singular swearing prowess of Peter Capaldi as political operative Malcolm Tucker in director Armardo Iannucci's wicked sendup of the buildup to the Iraq war, and it's well-deserved. It's hard to keep up with all the jokes that Iannucci packs into this razor-sharp satire - the kind we haven't seen since the days of Peter Sellers, and they've been sorely missed by at least me - but believe me, the effort is well worth it. Watch this now.

Inglourious Basterds
This is my favorite movie of 2009, and just to show I've put it to the test, I've watched it all the way through at least five times now, and it just keeps getting better. Taken individually, the opening gambit with Christoph Waltz and a French farmer, that sensational scene at the French bar that turns into a bloodbath and - of course - the unforgettable finale, are the three best-written sequences of 2009. Add them together and throw in Brad Pitt and his basterds for comedic value, and you get my favorite kind of movie, just wildly imaginative story telling and a thoroughly fun ride.

Passing Strange
Can what amounts to simply the filming of a Broadway musical being performed on stage really be turned into one of the best movies of 2009? In the hands of Spike Lee, yes. He uses the same technique he did with "Kings of Comedy" to make it an intimate experience, and it certainly doesn't hurt that this musical about a black teenager's voyage to Europe to find his artistic self has a genuine energy that radiates from the screen as I'm sure it did even stronger on stage.

The Damned United
I was a little hesitant to see this at first because it's based on the best book I've read in at least the last five years or so, and I was sure there was no way that director Tom Hooper could re-create the manic pace or odd structure of David Peace's piece of historical fiction about Brian Clough's disastrous 44 days or so as the manager of Leeds United. I'm very happy to report, though, that I was once again wrong, because it comes damned close, and more importantly turns this tale of ultimate futility into a winningly witty period piece that will entertain soccer fans as much as those of you who have somehow not become a fan of the beautiful game, and Michael Sheen is perfectly vainglorious as Clough.

Where the Wild Things Are
Probably my favorite joke from "Freaks and Geeks" remains the one about Sam Weir trying to do a book report on "the novelization of 'Star Wars'," but I can report that the novelization of "Where the Wild Things Are" by Dave Eggers (called "Wild Things" and of course at least loosely based on the children's classic by Maurice Sendak) is a tremendously good read. Like Spike Jonze's movie (but without having to create those rather amazing wild things), it deftly dives into the mind and imagination of a troubled child and somehow bundles all these emotions into a moving and simply entertaining tale. And young Max Records, perfectly wild as Max in the movie, delivers my single favorite still of the year, the look of horror on his face when his teacher casually announces that the sun will, indeed, some day die. Priceless.

Precious
It really seems a crime to put Lee Daniels' flick last on this list, but those were the rules I set out. In actual order of appreciation, it would certainly be in the top five, because although I didn't find it as uplifting as many people I know who like this as much as I do, it's still a genuine American story of the kind we very rarely get to see on the big screen. Mo'Nique is a sure winner in the Best Supporting Actress category at the Oscars, but I'm hoping Gabourey Sidibe gets a Best Actress nod too, because she portrays our heroine's wounded but still fierce pride perfectly, as much with her expressions as she does Precious' emerging voice.

So there you have it. And I promised a treat for any Drive-By Truckers fans who stuck around through all of that, so here it is. Yesterday, they debuted a new single, "Birthday Boy," and I'm pleased to report it's a Mike Cooley track that kicks the kind of ass they used to, and hopefully will again when a new album comes out in the next six weeks or so. Just put your e-mail address in the widget (it won't go to me, so don't worry), and the link will be sent to you. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Tuesday. Peace out.

My (and only my) best movies of the decade: The top 10

Quickly before I get into any of that, I was just thrilled to see that "The Muppet Movie," a staple for kids who grew up when I did and hopefully still required viewing in households everywhere there are kids big and small, has been added for preservation to the 2009 National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

The only question that great news gives me is why in the world did it take so long? As you can see from the list below, there are a lot of other great choices this year, and even a music video from Michael Jackson. Hey, why not? Here it is:

1. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
2. The Exiles (1961)
3. Heroes All (1920)
4. Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972)
5. The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
6. Jezebel (1938)
7. The Jungle (1967)
8. The Lead Shoes (1949)
9. Little Nemo (1911)
10. Mabel’s Blunder (1914)
11. The Mark of Zorro (1940)
12. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
13. The Muppet Movie (1979)
14. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
15. Pillow Talk (1959)
16. Precious Images (1986)
17. Quasi at the Quackadero (1975)
18. The Red Book (1994)
19. The Revenge of Pancho Villa (1930-36)
20. Scratch and Crow (1995)
21. Stark Love (1927)
22. The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
23. A Study in Reds (1932)
24. Thriller (1983)
25. Under Western Stars (1938)

So there you have it. But here today, it's all about the final cut. Before I do my top 10 list for 2009, which I'm still putting off until the end of this week because I will finally see "Up in the Air" today, I've decided that the reigning champ isn't going to be dethroned, so I can go ahead and do my top 10 movies of the 2000s. I did, however, see one movie that will probably make the 2009 top 10 list coming Monday, Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces," which is just a wildly fun movie and a valentine to moviemaking (when and if you see it, you'll probably agree that it's really a valentine to making specifically Pedro Almodovar movies, but again, why not?)

OK, with the rules being one per year, here are my best movies of the oughts, or whatever you want to call them, with some video clips thrown in just for fun.

2000: "Almost Famous"
Judging from how Cameron Crown started out the '00s, you would think it would have been the most fruitful creative period of his life, but of course that was not to be. "Elizabethtown" almost made me claw my own eyes out, but this rock 'n' roll road movie chronicling Crowe's own ride as a too-young correspondent for the Rolling Stone is as fun as it is moving, and even made me a fan of Elton John again with one of the best uses of a pop song ever, the band rebonding with "Tiny Dancer." Enjoy that clip below.



2001: "The Royal Tenenbaums"
What made "Fantastic Mr. Fox" so good was that, after two instantly forgettable films in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" and "The Darjeeling Limited," it showed that Wes Anderson had returned to the top form he showed with this flick. At his best, Anderson has a natural gift for storytelling and an artist's eye for details that make you smile broadly if you pay close enough attention, and those two talents just converged perfectly with "The Royal Tenenbaums."

2002: "City of God"
If I had to pick just one, this would be my favorite movie of the '00s, and easily in my top 10 of all time too. Fernando Meirelles' chronicle of street life in Rio de Janeiro focuses on two boys, one who gets caught up in the gang culture that rules the streets and another who escapes to capture its harsh reality with his camera. It works as both a coming-of-age tale or a riveting gangster pic of sorts, and is just packed with searing visual images that are still burned on my brain to this day. Enjoy the clip below showing Lil' Dice transformed into the much more deadly Lil' Ze.



2003: "American Splendor"
Though Paul Giamatti had appeared in plenty of movies before this one from Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, he certainly chose the right flick to make his real impact as the star of the show. The two directors interweave Giamatti's take on the colorful character that is cartoonist Harvey Pekar with insight from the man himself, and its just a joy to watch as the lines between the two interweave. It also turns into a moving romance with Hope Davis as Pekar's love and salvation, Joyce Brabner, and Judah Friedlander is also just a hoot as Pekar's oddball buddy Toby.

2004: "Maria Full of Grace"
Still the only movie I've ever seen from writer/director Joshua Marston, "Maria Full of Grace" was ahead of its time in putting a very human face on the issue of immigration in America. It certainly doesn't hurt that that face here belongs to the simply stunning Catalina Sandino Moreno, or that the story of Maria Alvarez's role as a drug mule from Colombia and her road to redemption just make for a tremendously entertaining flick.

2005: "Hustle & Flow"
Though I enjoy straightforward musical biopics to a certain degree, I'm much more amenable to movies like "I'm Not There," "Cadillac Records" and this flick from director Craig Brewer that take the genre and twist it into something new. "Hustle & Flow" isn't, of course, a biopic at all, but with the character of struggling pimp and aspiring rapper Djay, brought to vivid life by Terrence Howard, Brewer brings all the corny joy of the rock fable to hip-hop, and though his story of dreaming big while often living small just sounds incredibly corny on paper, it works to near perfection on the big screen. In any language, this clip of Djay and Taraji P. Henson's Shug is just one of the great movie kisses of all time. Enjoy.



2006: "Pan's Labyrinth"
In the year of the three Mexicans, this flick from Guillermo del Toro still stands just a notch taller than Alfonso Cuaron's "Children of Men" in my book, though it's nearly a tie. With "Pan's Labyrinth," Del Toro explores the power of the imagination - both it's light and dark side - as our heroine, played by young Ivana Baquero, crafts an elaborate and often harrowing fantasy world to escape the harsh reality of her life in post-Civil War Spain. It revels in this talent that we all used as children but too often forget once we turn into "adults."

2007: "Into the Wild"
Sean Penn could have gone in many directions with his movie about doomed dreamer Christopher McCandless, but by keeping his own politics out of it and just letting the story unfold at a natural pace, he managed to craft a great American road movie. It's as moving as it is frustrating to watch how McCandless, played by Emile Hirsch, could have avoided his fate if he had simply let in one of the many people who reached out to him in his travels. Hal Holbrook should have won the Oscar he was nominated for with this flick, and Catherine Keener should have had her name called that night too.

2008: "Let the Right One In"
Just the other day, my brother and I were discussing the many fantastic scenes in director Tomas Alfredson's flick, and whether or not any of them will have nearly the same impact in "Cloverfield" director Matt Reeves' upcoming American remake, "Let Me In" (we both have rather serious doubts.) Alfredson's movie, based on John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel, is equal parts coming-of-age story and horror flick as it tells the tale of what happens when bullied Oskar meets the new girl next door - who just happens to be a vampire. Among the many things this movie gets rights is the moment at the pool when - after urging Oskar to stand up for himself - Eli takes matters into her own rather lethal hands. Easily the best horror movie scene of the last 10 years and more. Though I strongly watch you watch it in the movie first if you haven't seen it yet, here's a clip of that amazing sequence. Enjoy.



2009: "Inglourious Basterds"
Watching this movie unfold and just get better and better as it goes along drives home the point that Quentin Tarantino really was just treading water with the two "Kill Bill" movies and his half of "Grindhouse," because this was clearly the movie he was meant to make. It should really have a different name, because the titular "Basterds" are the weakest link in this saga that weaves together several plots to kill Hitler. Whether you call it revisionist history or revenge fantasy, it's also just wildly inventive storytelling. Two scenes in particular, the opening gambit with Christoph Waltz and a later one involving some kind of crazy game of celebrity Indian Head poker, are among the best Tarantino has ever written, just perfectly building all the tension that is finally released in that finale that I guarantee you won't ever forget.

So, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed at least some of that, and if you haven't seen any of them, I guarantee they'll all well worth a rental. And with that I'm finally off to see if George Clooney and "Up in the Air" are really worth all the hype. Peace out.

Coming soon to a home near you, the best movie of 2009

Though I'm not naive enough to think it will ever be enough to kill off reality TV, sitcoms have started to make a real comeback in primetime TV. And, amazingly, there's even a few new ones good enough that I tune in each week (at least until they get canceled.)

Two that have caught my eye run back-to-back tonight on ABC, first "The Middle" and then "Modern Family." Sure, "The Middle" is a direct and not quite as good ripoff of that show that had "Malcolm" in it too, but I like seeing Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn together, and the humor is pretty spot on. "Modern Family," as it wades each week into uncomfortable situations, is even better.

And since both of those shows have (I think) gotten at least close to full-season orders already, ABC is ordering up more comedy, and thankfully with veryfunnylady Judy Greer, a k a Kitty Sanchez.

The network has signed her up to star in a series based on the book "I'm With Stupid," which would star her as a Manhattanite who has a fling with a park ranger while on safari in South Africa, and then finds the ranger has tracked her down in New York. Elaine Szewczyk, who wrote the book, is on board as a writer, and it seems like there could definitely be some funny there.

And speaking of definitely funny, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" almost always delivers in the foulest way possible, and we'll soon be getting it a lot more often.

Comedy Central has just snatched up the syndication rights for the F/X show, which is now in its fifth season and is signed for at least two more. And since Comedy Central is apparently paying about $700,000 per episode, I'd imagine they're gonna be showing "Sunny" as often as NBC does that dirty rat Jay Leno. Huzzah to that!

But before I got distracted by all that today, this was supposed to be all about the DVD release of my favorite movie of 2009 so far, which is coming Dec. 15.

Though Kathyrn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" and Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's "Sugar" have each spent time at the top this year, the enduring champ I'm referring to is Quentin Tarantino's wildly entertaining "Inglourious Basterds." It has its faults, for sure, but for vivid storytelling there just hasn't been a better flick this year, and though I don't buy nearly as many DVDS as I used to, I'll definitely spring for the two-disc set of this one (and then watch as probably at least five more "special" editions come out.) Here's what you'll get with the two-disc "Inglourious Basterds":

* Extended and alternate scenes
* Nation's Pride - The film within the film in its entirety
* A roundtable discussion with Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and film historian/critic Elvis Mitchell
* The making of Nation's Pride
* The Original Inglorious Bastards - a salute to the original 1978 film
* A conversation with veteran actor Rod Taylor
* Rod Taylor on Victoria Bitters, the Australian beer
* Quentin Tarantino's Camera Angel
* Hi Sallys - Gag Reel
* Film poster gallery tour with Elvis Mitchell
* Inglourious Basterds poster gallery
* Digital Copy of Inglourious Basterds

Some of that is surely filler, but most of it has to do with QT's love of movies, and I'm sure I'll watch it all at least once. The only thing missing is any kind of featurette about the music, which as usual just fits with the flick perfectly (I find David Bowie's "Cat People" just popping into my head at all the strangest times.)

And I'll leave you today with something from Eli Roth's twitter feed that I found to be pretty funny. The Basterds themselves, and especially the Bear Jew, were easily my least favorite chapter of QT's flick, but I still liked this suggestion for Halloween. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

I knew it! Sam Raimi finally comes clean about "Spider-Man 3"

Somewhere deep in my mind I know that "Spider-Man 3" really wasn't the worst movie I've seen in the last 10 years or so. But it was just about the worst movie-going experience, which for me means pretty much the same thing.

Someone of my age should probably just give up on going to midnight movies altogether, but after the magic that was "Spider-Man 2" (still my favorite superhero flick), I was just thoroughly geeked up for the third chapter, as were the several hundred people who lined up outside our best local multiplex to watch it at the witching hour.

And, though I can't be sure, I'd have to imagine that most of those people were just as disappointed as I was as we made the drive home two-plus very long, boring hours later. It wasn't just that there were too many villians, the most-often heard complaint about "Spider-Man 3," though lack of focus was certainly a problem. Much more than that, it was really just a lack of spirit. Could the man who delivered the blissfully fun "Evil Dead" movies and the great baseball flick "For Love of the Game," among other movies, really spit out something so completely lifeless.

Well now, only about two years or so too late, it seems that even Sam Raimi himself is willing to admit just how bad "Spider-Man 3" was.

In the print edition of DVD & Blu-ray Review, he finally admitted what we all know: "I think having so many villains detracted from the experience. I would agree with the criticism."

More importantly, Raimi claims to have learned (or, I guess, re-learned) some lessons while making this year's best horror film and, next to Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," the second-funnest movie I've seen all year, "Drag Me to Hell." Seriously, if you missed that one in theaters, it's out on DVD this week, and I can recommend it for anyone with a strong stomach who remembers the days when Raimi's movie used to be just wickedly funny. Here's what he said he learned from the experience:

"I think I've learned about the importance of getting to the point and the importance of having limitations, and I'm hoping to take that into a production where I'm actually allowed to explore with more of the tools to pull it off with a little more splendour. I hope I don't lose that edge that I've just found. That would be my approach to Spider-Man 4: to get back to the basics."

Call it "edge," "back to basics" or whatever you want to, but here's hoping he can hold on to it. A look at his IMDB slate shows that, along with just a ton of producing gigs "in development," he's still listed as directing three flicks, "Warcraft," "Spider-Man 4" and - scheduled to somehow come out before either of those - another "Evil Dead" movie for next year, penned by Mr. Raimi himself. If that actually happens (and this is the first I've heard about it), it would be the real test of whether or not the old Sam Raimi is back to stay.

Except for that and before I finally set off to see "Where the Wild Things Are," all I have is the trailer for "Serious Moonlight." It looks like nothing I would ever want to see, but since it was written by the late Adrienne Shelly (actress and writer of "Waitress," among other flicks), directed by veryfunnylady Cheryl Hines at at least co-stars Kristen Bell, maybe I'll give it a chance when it comes out Dec. 4. Anyways, have a great weekend, and if you've seen "Where the Wild Things Are," please feel free to share your thoughts about it, as I hopefully will tomorrow. Peace out.

OK, this is late, but for me QT is the king of summer

As I was wondering how in the world to finally write something about Quentin Tarantino's simply insane "Inglourious Basterds," my easily distracted mind moved to thinking about the possible standards by which you can judge movies.

There are certainly many more than one that are valid, but for me it's always come down to simply this: Is this flick entertaining or not? And by that simple standard, QT's latest, and I think best, movie is wildly and often maddeningly so, and is therefore my favorite movie of 2009 so far.

Much of the praise I've seen for "Inglourious Basterds" (and except for the incredibly arrogant and equally vapid David Denby pretty much calling QT a retard, I haven't seen a lot of criticism) has centered on Christoph Waltz and the opening sequence, and with good reason.

Waltz just approaches his role as Hans Landa, aka "The Jew Hunter," with the most disturbing glee, and the opening gambit, set at a farmhouse in occupied France, is a model of what has always been QT's greatest strength, the ability to write extremely wordy scenes that never feel too wordy, since those words are turned into weapons that slowly and constantly raise the tension. Tarantino clearly knew he had a winner with this scene, since he released the script for it well in advance of the actual movie.

I can't take credit for this myself, but as my Facebook friend and devoted movie fan Ashok pointed out, many of the best scenes in "Inglourious Basterds" take place around tables, the real arena of action here.

And one such scene that I found even more dynamic than the opener comes when the titular Basterds are sent to pick up a German-actress-turned-counter-spy, played by Diane Kruger, at a French bar. The tension is both alleviated and sustained here by a sublimely silly game of celebrity Indian head poker so perfectly that when it all inevitably falls apart it just hits that much harder.

But as great as these and other set pieces are, they would all be wasted if they weren't used in the service of some truly inventive storytelling. I'm gonna have to assume from here on out that almost anyone who wants to see this has done so already (I was positively giddy to see that it came within a whisker of knocking "The Final Destination" from the top spot in week three.)

If you have, you know that what QT has unleashed here is nothing less grand than a revenge fantasy about taking down the Third Reich, and the chapters of "Inglourious Basterds" build as flawlessly as did those of "Pulp Fiction" (yes, I went there) to a grand finale that I guarantee will just be seared onto your eyeballs. I know it makes me more than a little sick, but both times I watched this, I started grinning as soon as I heard the first strains of David Bowie's "Cat People" ("putting out the fire with gasoline") and didn't stop until Shoshanna's face was being projected in smoke over all the carnage like the Wizard of Oz.

Now, all that said, "Inglourious Basterds" is far too ambitious to be perfect, and it certainly has its faults. The titular "Basterds" are just far too cartoonish for even a tale as crazy as this one, so thankfully they get the shortest chapter. Though I normally love Brad Pitt as a comedic actor, his Aldo Rayne just constantly grates as he seems to be channeling Karl Childers through the spirit of John Wayne.

And be warned: As with any QT movie, the violence here is just often way over the top. Even more than the finale, the scalping and, well, let's just say engraving of Nazi soldiers is more than enough to make even the most hardened person squirm.

But none of that was nearly enough to spoil the fun of this one for me. Even more than the dynamic set pieces or wild storytelling, it's just the spirit of this flick that sets it apart from anything else I've seen this summer. As my friend Randy Waters remarked as we were leaving the theater the first time I saw this, why stick to the facts for something as conventional and simply tame as "Valkyrie" when you can use your vivid imagination to twist history to your own ends?

I almost never clap at the end of movies unless the director is somehow in attendance, but I have to admit I did a little each time I heard Pitt utter that "masterpiece" remark, mostly because in spite of the hubris of it, I have to admit he's right: This is indeed Tarantino's masterpiece (at least so far) and thus my favorite movie of 2009 so far. Peace out.

P.S.: As part of my ongoing bid to do my minuscule part to promote glorious, traditional animation, here's the second trailer for "The Princess and the Frog," which just looks more and more like its gonna be a real winner.

Stay in school and follow your dreams? How dare he?!?!

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

From the text of my president's address to returning school children, set for today

OK, I try my best to keep the politics out of this, because it really has no place, but I really think civility in our country is about to take a turn for the seriously worse, so bear with me for a few seconds.

As part of my ever-shifting duties at The Telegraph, I now deal with the letters to the editor, and I have to say it truly tries my patience, especially when the subject is U.S. President Barack Obama (many of the people who I have to hear from daily don't even except that that's even his true title.) I can usually just grin and bear it, but the comments that have come in about Mr. Obama's desire to address kids returning to school have just been a whole new breed of hate, and its very hard to take.

I'm not sure if it's something being coached by Rush, Hannity or anyone else, but I've never had to read the words "indoctrinate," "socialism" and "government schools" as much as I had to late last week. As you read those words, please take a second to compare them to the actual wording of the president's address, an excerpt of which you can read above (and you can read the whole thing here.)

Has there ever been a bigger disconnect between reality and what a seemingly growing segment of the U.S. population now believes is happening simply because we have a black president who's actually following through on exactly what he promised to on the campaign trail? (I used to believe it was more complicated and less hateful than that, but when you really object to the president of the United States urging kids to stay in school, study and follow all their dreams, I really think it's time for you to look pretty hard in the mirror.)

I can't imagine how much of a thrill it would have been if something this historic had happened when I was in elementary school (though it would have been Jimmy Carter then, not anywhere nearly as exciting.) I know I certainly would have paid a lot more attention than I did on a normal day, which was sadly at the time just about next to none.

OK, enough of that. I apologize to anyone who might have been offended by any of that, but sometimes I just wake up in a cantankerous mood and have to let it out somehow. When I went to bed last night, too late after watching the Canes take out the Noles in a truly great game, this was supposed to be about how, after watching it for a second time last weekend, I'm now ready to declare Quentin Tarantino's wild "Inglourious Basterds" the best movie of this summer, and therefore of the year thus far (dethroning "Sugar" and then "The Hurt Locker," the movies in chronological order that had previously held the top spot.)

I'll get to that tomorrow if I can manage to concentrate on it long enough, but in the meantime, I'll leave you with this can't-miss entertainment tip: Even if you didn't watch the first season of "Sons of Anarchy," take a chance and tune in as the show returns to FX tonight. The motorcycle drama slowly just got better and better last year as it built to a genuinely explosive finish, and from what I've read from folks lucky enough to have seen the first five episodes of season two, it's gonna get even better. Bring it on!

Peace out.

Yes, this is really one of my favorite books

I'm well aware that by any standards, I read a lot of trash, but before I get into any of that, it seems that Jay Roach is quickly putting together what might be the funniest cast of 2010.

Roach's "Dinner for Schmucks" is a remake of the French film "Le Diner de Cons," in which guests are expected to bring along the biggest idiot they can find for ridicule. Roach's flick, set to come out in July, was already on the right course by making Steve Carell the principal idiot and also casting seriouslyfunnyman Paul Rudd, and now comes word that Zach Galifianakis is on board too.

Considering that Roach bailed on the "Meet the ..." series to direct this, it can only be considered a case of trading up, and well worth keeping your eyes on.

And speaking of reading on a slightly different subject, Dave Eggers has a great fiction piece in the latest issue of The New Yorker based on Max, the hero of "Where the Wild Things Are." Eggers wrote the screenplay for Spike Jonze's take on the classic Maurice Sendak children's tale, which just happens to be the single movie I'm most looking forward to for the rest of this year (October can't get here fast enough!) You can read Eggers' story here.

But getting back to my reading habits, I work as hard as anyone I know, so when I bother to read a book it's most often for escape or humor. Lately, that's meant Charlaine Harris' sensationally entertaining Sookie Stackhouse novels, and even though the one I'm on now, "Dead as a Doornail," is more than a bit of a dud so far, I'm sure I'll read as many as she bothers to write.

Another, admittedly extremely juvenile, book that just holds a lofty place in my heart is C.D. Payne's "Youth in Revolt." If anyone were to take my recommendation, which it's come to my attention some people occasionally actually do, be warned: The entire premise of this book is the outlandish lengths our 14-year-old hero, Nick Twisp, will go to to have sex with the seductive object of his affection, Sheeni Saunders.

Silly? Extremely, but it's also a scalding satire that writes the teen characters with respect, and now it's somehow being made into movie starring Michael Cera. When I first heard that, I didn't think it could possibly work, because the book isn't just filled with dark humor, it's the blackest of black. But because Cera loves the book too and director Miguel Arteta, who made the simply insane "Chuck & Buck" way back when, isn't afraid of it either, the movie actually got made and is set to come out hopefully everywhere Oct. 30.

And, even more amazingly, the trailer below actually resembles something like what the book looks like in my mind, so count me as psyched. Enjoy the trailer, and have a great weekend. And if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds." Peace out.

Trailer trifecta, and why I feel like Larry David far too often

I considered leading with the rather depressing information (well, I guess I did) that Bryan Singer now has nothing better than to do than a '70s TV update ("Battlestar Galactica," and not the nifty version that just ended on Syfy, or whatever it's called now) and a remake of "Excalibur," because lord know that's just what the world needs.

But I really have nothing to say about that, so since it's Friday, let's just get to a trio of fun trailers and a look at the preview for "Curb Your Enthusiasm." First up is the trailer for Joe Johnston's take on "The Wolfman," which I have to say just looks about 100 times better than I could have possibly expected (especially since I expected it to be a big ball of shite.) It looks like a a real, old-fashioned horror flick, and I'm sure Benicio del Toro will be great, so enjoy.



Next up comes the return of Michael Moore with "Capitalism, A Love Story," which, despite my strong belief that "Sicko" was nearly a complete failure, is a good thing in my book. He's threatened to stop making documentaries after this one, and if so, I guess it's good that he's going out by taking on nothing less than our entire capitalist economy. Enjoy the trailer, courtesy of CNN.



And next is the trailer for James Cameron's "Avatar." I have to say, not being a fan of 3-D in just about any form, I'm not particularly excited about this one, but it is a sci-fi movie from Cameron and his first flick in many years, so I guess I'll be there in December. Enjoy the trailer.



What I am rather excited about is that Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is set to return to HBO on Sept. 20. As the clip below summarizes rather brilliantly, Larry's life is a constant ball of frustration, which I can certainly sympathize with, especially last night when I found out that, even though Macon is a notorious walk-up town, the Drive-By Truckers show was somehow sold out (yes, I know I should have bought a ticket in advance, but I waffled about spending $25 for it until the very end - obviously no one's fault but my own.)

Anyways, enjoy the preview, and have a great weekend. For me, that will mean Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" on Saturday and then catching up on "District 9" on Sunday - my definition of a perfect weekend. Peace out.

Zombie attack? They're on it ... plus Quentin Tarantino's favorite movies

I've often wondered what would really happen if the world were attacked by zombies, especially when it helps me to avoid doing some truly thankless task at work, but I had no idea people could get paid for such flights of fancy. I'm in entirely the wrong business.

Some researchers in Canada, according to the BBC, have actually carried out a "mathematical exercise" to conclude that, as any zombie movie fan knows well, "If zombies actually existed, an attack by them would lead to the collapse of civilisation unless dealt with quickly and aggressively."

Well, I'm glad we cleared that up. There's so many things to like about this, but I think my favorite might be that for their book, "Infectious Diseases Modelling Research Progress" (get thee to Amazon right now), they gave the living a chance by only using "classic, slow-moving zombies as our opponents rather than the nimble, intelligent creatures portrayed in some recent films."

Whew! So, what's their conclusion? Humanity's only hope is to "hit them [the undead] hard and hit them often. It's imperative that zombies are dealt with quickly or else ... we are all in a great deal of trouble."

I really wish I had the ability to make this stuff up, but just in case it all has you actually worried, they finished with this reassuring thought well reinforced by zombie movies of all kinds: "My understanding of zombie biology is that if you manage to decapitate a zombie then it's dead forever. So perhaps they are being a little over-pessimistic when they conclude that zombies might take over a city in three or four days."

OK, as fun as that was, enough, because there's some actual movie news out there today, plus a couple of fun videos at the finish.

First up is word of a remake that doesn't immediately make me want to vomit, at least partly because I've never seen the original it will be based on.

If you haven't seen director Michael Davis' "Shoot 'Em Up," you've missed one of the most fun movies I've seen in the past five years or so. Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti star in the bullet ballet that most often plays out like a Looney Tunes cartoon, and there are very few rentals I can recommend higher.

Now it seems that Davis has set his sights on a remake of "Outland," a 1981 sci-fi movie starring Sean Connery that, like I said, I've never seen. Every description I've seen says it's essentially "High Noon" in space, with Connery's character sent to investigate the mysterious deaths of laborers at a mining colony on one of Jupiter's moons.

With "Moon" already one of my favorites this year, and "District 9" (which I'll be seeing this weekend, along with QT's "Inglourious Basterds") getting nothing but raves, it seems we're really in a good place for big-screen sci-fi right now, and to this new addition I can only say bring it on.

Beyond that today, there are just a couple of casting nuggets out there that make projects I was sure to tune in for anyway just that much cooler.

When "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" veteran Jane Espenson was named an executive producer of Syfy (queer, queer, queer!) network's upcoming "Battlestar Galactica" prequel "Caprica," I suppose it was inevitable that she would bring some old friends along with her.

According to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, the first "Buffy" player to join the fold will be by far the coolest, James Marsters, aka Spike. Marsters will play a dangerous terrorist leader by the name of Barnabus Greeley in a minimum of three episodes. Here's his rather pithy character description: "Driven by desires both moralistic and carnal, Barnabus is as lethal as he is unpredictable."

That's more than enough to have me tuning in when this finally hits Syfy on Jan. 22.

In even better casting news, it seems that Don Draper himself, Jon Hamm, has joined the cast of "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder's first original work, "Sucker Punch." He joins, among others, Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish and (huzzah!) Carla Gugino in the 1950s-set tale of a girl (Browning) confined to a mental institution by her stepfather, who intends to have her lobotomized in five days. She and her friends enter an alternate reality where they begin planning an escape.

No details for Hamm's character are known except this: His name is High Roller. The movie is set to come out March 25, 2011.

And speaking of "Mad Men," which I hadn't yet, I thought the season three premiere was just sensational. The Ken vs. Pete storyline should be great, and that "Can I ask you a question?" moment between Don and poor Sal was just priceless.

OK, after all that, all I have left is two videos, the first of which is just the perfect cure for any kind of workaday blues. I'm an ardent fan of cursing, probably too much so in my own vocabulary, but especially in the movies, and no character has done it better in many years than Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker in "In the Loop." Definitely see Armando Ianucci's razor-sharp satire as soon as you can, but in the meantime, enjoy this highlight reel of some of Tucker's choicest barbs, courtesy of Empire.



And finally today, in honor of "Inglourious Basterds," here's Quentin Tarantino offering his 20 favorite movies that have come out since he started making movies in 1992. I don't want to spoil it for you, but two definite highlights are his passionate defense of Jan de Bont's "Speed" and the inclusion of the seriously funny "Friday." Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Tuesday. Peace out.

Three looks at QT's "Inglourious Basterds," and what have they done with "Friday Night Lights"?

You know, I suppose the "Chuck" fiasco has been settled about as well as we could have possibly expected, with the show returning to its same time slot for the winter midseason - and maybe getting a bit of a bump from following the Winter Olympics.

But buried in NBC's upfronts (or infronts, who knows?) was a surprising note regarding "Friday Night Lights." This year, TV's best drama (by far, in my book) returned to NBC's Friday lineup in January for those of who don't have DirecTV (Jeremy, always a friend to this blog, was kind enough to send me some episodes before they hit NBC - most grateful.)

Now, however, it's been pushed back to summer, so that NBC can air f-in "Southland" instead. I suppose I should be happy that's it's somehow already guaranteed to come back for two more 13-episode seasons, but the wait is just gonna truly be a bitch. In the meantime, the third season - easily the best yet - hits DVD this week, so if you haven't caught on, it's well worth a rental (which I've already put in my queue.)

This grownass man will freely admit that the show would make me almost cry at some point in just about each episode, and I would submit that the episode in which they bid goodbye to Smash (Gaius Charles) is the finest hour of television broadcast in the past year. What else can I say? It's the best thing on TV since "The Wire," so watch it already.

Here today, however, before I got distracted, it was supposed to be all about Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," which it seems he has not only actually finished but apparently also cut to just more than two hours. As I'm writing this, I believe it's already premiered at Cannes, so I suppose we'll get a lot of reaction in the coming days. Some goofball at the Hollywood Reporter (yes, I suppose that's just jealousy) panned it as just a "standard action movie," but you can still count me rather severely psyched to see this when it comes out for the rest of the world in August.

In the meantime, here are a couple of great time-wasters to give you a little taste. The first comes courtesy of CHUD, and for those who like the music QT puts in his movies (of which you can certainly count me one), the site has put together a listing of the songs that will appear on the "Inglourious Basterds" (I seem to spell that differently each time I type it, so maybe I should just stop correcting it) soundtrack, with many of the entries linking to YouTube or Quicktime clips that let you hear the songs. Instead of the usual feast of pop nuggets, this time it's a lot of Ennio Morricone and other film music, but there's still a few fun surprises thrown in. Click here to give it a listen.

Second, and even better, are three short clips courtesy of Trailer Addict. The only real problem I have with any of these is that the more I see of Brad Pitt, the more he just seems to have the most ridiculous accent. I think that's gonna only be a minor distraction, though. Anyways, enjoy the clips and have a perfectly passable Thursday. Peace out.