A behind-the-scenes glimpse of "Cemetery Junction," and proof that Wes Anderson really will work again?

This being a lazy Saturday morning, I really don't have too much, but certainly wanted to pass along this BBC clip from the set of Ricky Gervais' and Stephen Merchant's "Cemetery Junction," easily one of the movies I'm most looking forward to for 2010. It really doesn't reveal a whole lot except that, once again, the two of them just love telling jokes about Ralph Fiennes, and really, who doesn't?



OK, the only other thing I've got is the first photo I've seen from Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox," which will be his first foray into animation when and if it finally comes out (there's still no release date at the IMDB.)

I used to have a lot of love for Wes Anderson, and for his early work, I certainly still do. If you were to put a gun to my head and make me list, say, my 20 favorite films, Anderson's "Bottle Rocket," "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums," each an improvement on the other, would all make the list. But his last two, "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" and "Darjeeling Limited," have just left me more than a little cold.

In other words, Mr. Anderson really needs his mojo back, and though I have serious doubts this flick is gonna get it for him, here's hoping. Enjoy the pic, which comes courtesy of JoBlo, and the rest of your weekend. Peace out.

Can "The Dark Knight" really take out "Titanic"? And will Whedon's "Dollhouse" really ever open?

On the surface, it might seem like a gamble for Warner Brothers to send "The Dark Knight" back to theaters Jan. 23, banking on a bounce from the Oscar nominations being announced the day before.

If you think about it, however, there's really no way the flick can lose at this point. If it snags the Best Picture nomination it clearly deserves (and some posthumous love for Heath Ledger), than a run big enough to net the $77 million domestic take needed to unseat "Titanic" as the U.S. champ becomes inevitable. But even if it doesn't, the chip that will put on the movie's devoted fans' shoulders will only gin up the drive to take the title even further.

And I'm not a "Titanic" fan or much of a hater either. I do know that "The Dark Knight" is a far superior flick, and as a sports fan I love competitions of all kinds, so I can only say bring it on (and I'll certainly contribute my $8 or so to see it again, maybe this time finally in Imax.)

But on a personal note, this weekend is now shaping up as perhaps the best movie weekend of the year. Along with visiting a friend for lunch tomorrow, I'm hitting Atlanta mostly to see two of the movies I've been looking forward to all year: "Slumdog Millionaire" and then "Milk," both at the fantastic Regal Tara theater. I can't wait, and of course feel free to check back for reviews of both soon.

Here today, however, it's mostly about the first review of Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse," which has been in development for more than a year, has gone through at least two pilots and is supposedly still going to hit the airwaves in February on Fox (though I'll believe it only when I see it at this point.)

Well, it seems that Time TV critic James Poniewozik has done exactly that, and had what could be charitably be called a mixed reaction at best.

For those who can't remember (and really, who could blame you at this point), the new show from the creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" will be about a group of people known as "actives" or "dolls" who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new ones to perform missions. It's set to star Eliza Dushku, a k a Faith the vampire slayer, in the lead role of doll Echo, and also Olivia Williams (a k a Ms. Cross from "Rushmore") as the matron of the "dollhouse," Tahmoh Penikett of "Battlestar Galactica" as a FBI agent tracking the secret project and even "Angel" veteran Amy Acker in a recurring role (if it even goes that far) as a doctor who tends to the dolls.

After offering the qualifier that he initially misunderestimated "Firefly" when that great Whedon sci-fi Western hit the air for its far-too-brief run, Poniewozik had this to say about Whedon's new offering:

Yes, this is certainly Joss Whedon trying to do What People Think Works on Broadcast TV Today—the legendary serial-procedural hybrid. But the first episode—in which Echo is imprinted with a kidnapping-negotiator's personality to secure the return of a rich man's abducted daughter—is well enough written to be absorbing. Writing a crime hour doesn't seem like Whedon's thing, but the episode is tight, suspenseful, with intriguing psychological twists and flashes of Whedonesque humor. ...

Now the minus. Dollhouse as conceived (a heroine plays a different "person" every week) is less a series concept than an actress' showcase, a sort of extreme version of an Alias undercover premise. And the actress being showcased is Eliza Dushku. Now, I have nothing against Dushku. I thought she was fine on Buffy. But she's not exactly Toni Collette (who's playing a multiple-personality case on Showtime's The United States of Tara, which I have not seen). Watching her inhabit her imprinted "personality"—a tough negotiator with secret vulnerabilities—I did not see her becoming another person. I thought: Oh, look! There's Eliza Dushku with glasses and her hair in a bun!

If it weren't for Whedon's pedigree, I'm not sure I'd be dying to see a second episode. But for me, the main draw now is not seeing Dushku become a different person every week, but getting to see Joss Whedon become a different writer every week.

I could certainly do without the Dushku hating, but from his assessment I'd say this was just about exactly what I'd expect. Anyone who's seen the rather pedestrian first seasons of both "Buffy" and "Angel, however, knows that Whedon's stuff can often get off to a rocky start but - given the chance - eventually develop into something seriously entertaining.

You can read the rest of what Poniewozik had to say here, and like I said, please feel free to check back for a couple reviews of what are hopefully two of the year's best movies later this weekend. Peace out.

Tidbits: Wes Anderson news, a flashy new Bond trailer and, yes, a poll!

Though I've never bothered to put a poll on here before now, it's not because I don't care about the opinions of the few people who are kind enough to stop by here from time to time. I simply don't like to mess with the template too much because I'm most likely to just screw it up!

However, with the Fall season upon us, I've finally broken down and bowed to my lame duck president's command to spread democracy around the world and do my little part. It's not the most scientific poll, since you can vote for more than one movie, but I hope it provides a few seconds of diversion.

As I made clear in my Fall preview, the three movies that get me the most geeked up would be, probably in this order, "Slumdog Millionaire," "The Brothers Bloom" and "Miracle at St. Anna." I can't wait to see what everyone else thinks.

In other news that's not about, well, me, it seems that Wes Anderson is jumping on the French remake train. Before I slag the man at all, and since I haven't talked about him for quite a while, let me state that I just about unequivocally love Mr. Anderson's first three flicks, with "Rushmore" being just about a perfect comedy and "The Royal Tenenbaums" being even better. (The Criterion edition of "Tenenbaums," by the way, is one of the very best in the collection, and well worth a rental to sift through the extras about how Anderson and his crew concocted the Tenenbaums' weird little world.

His last two flicks, however, "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" and "Darjeeling Limited," just left me pretty cold (though that collection of David Bowie songs in Portuguese by Seu Jorge is still in fairly heavy rotation on my car CD player.) He's listed as being in "post-production" on Roald Dahl's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" because, well, apparently every director in the world gets to make at least one animated movie, and now (in a rather severe case of burying the lead) comes news about a "new project" he's writing and possibly directing for Universal.

And if you're gonna pilfer from the French, I suppose you could do a whole lot worse than Patrice LeConte. I haven't seen the work Anderson is set to take on, "Mon Meilleur Ami," but that will change in a few days when it comes from Netflix (last night I watched "In Bruges," and I can attest that while it's often entertaining in its wordplay, it's just one of the strangest little flicks I've ever seen.)

In LeConte's 2006 film, French everyman Daniel Auteuil plays "a cranky antiques dealer who learns at a dinner with his closest acquaintances that none of them really like him because of his harsh manner and selfishness. When his business partner bets him a valuable vase that he can’t produce a best friend, the dealer tries to get an amiable cab driver to pose as his buddy," according to Variety.

As someone who finds himself fairly cranky as I get older, that sounds like it could be a lot of fun to me, and just might give Anderson the boost he needs to get back in my good graces (because I'm certain he's lost a lot of sleep about that!)

And now, since this has clearly has gone on long enough, I'll close with the promised "Quantum of Solace" trailer, which at a full two-and-a-half minutes is just a lot of fun. It looks like it starts out as a pretty straightforward revenge flick about the death of Vesper (the mesmerizing Eva Green), but of course spirals into a lot more than that, and like "Casino Royale" just looks like an old-fashioned Bond flick in all the best ways. Enjoy, and have a perfectly bearable Thursday.



P.S.: There's also a spot of sad news out there in that writer Gregory MacDonald has died at age 71.

MacDonald, a prolific mystery writer, was best know for his "Fletch" novels, two of which I read and four of which were made into flicks. I love the novels and movies for their goofy spirit and because Fletch, the journalist-turned-globetrotting author, is just a great character (and the last time Chevy Chase was truly funny.)

Before he died, MacDonald apparently collaborated with Harry Stein on the script for another "Fletch" flick, "Fletch Won." Since that one, if it ever were to happen, is rumored to possibly star Joshua Jackson in the role of our hero, it's perhaps best if it just stays dormant (though you'd have me interested with John Krasinski from "The Office".) Rest in peace, Mr. MacDonald.

Pegg and Wright, together again? Frak yeah!

That last bit of juvenilia was, of course, in honor of the premiere of the fourth season of "Battlestar Galactica" tonight (or earlier), but we'll get to more on that later.

The almost-as-good news today is that Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, the comedy masterminds behind "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz," will join forces again for a third film, to be titled "The World's End." Though I don't know anything about the plot beyond the title, judging from their first two very funny films I'd have to guess this one will be a spoof on/valentine to sci-fi flicks.

I just couldn't bring myself to watch Simon Pegg in "Run Fatboy Run," and I don't have very high hopes he's gonna be terribly funny in "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People," due in October, either. I mean, I hate to pigeonhole the man, but he's clearly at his best with his friends, and thankfully he seems to realize that too.

"The World's End" is part of a two-picture deal Wright has signed with Working Title. Before reteaming with Pegg, he'll make something for the studio called "Baby Driver," which is described as "a wild spin on the action and crime genre which will be set in the US." Cool enough.

Even before that, me thinks, Wright will also be making "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" with veryfunnyman Michael Cera based on the graphic novel about a young lad (Cera) who has to do battle with his new girlfriend's seven exes.

That's almost too much funny, but given the mediocre slate of movies we have right now, I really don't think that's possible. Bring it all on!

Remember Olivia Williams?

I have to confess I didn't immediately without seeing her picture, but Williams is, of course, the school teacher hot enough to make Max Fischer try to build an aquarium on a baseball field.

I loved her in "Rushmore" (which I once drove two hours to D.C. just to see), but really haven't seen much of her at all since. A quick look at her IMDB resume reveals that she has been working steadily, but not in a movie that I have managed to see since 1999's "The Sixth Sense."

Now, however, she's back in something I'll definitely tune in for, Joss Whedon's return to TV in the form of "Dollhouse."

On the Fox show about drones programmed to execute various missions (the "dolls," of which Eliza Dushku, thankfully, is the main one), Williams will play the ruthless matron who controls the "Dollhouse." I have to say, I'd do just about anything Olivia Williams asked me to, whether she was being "ruthless" or not.

Actually, looking back at the IMDB, it also says she had an "uncredited" role in "X-Men: The Last Stand" as Dr. Moira MacTaggart. Can anyone remember that? I've just wiped every memory of that awful mess from my mind completely.

The bottom line: The world is certainly a better place with more Rosemary Cross in it.

"Battlestar Galactica" is back!

It would be hard to overstate just how geeked up I am for the fourth season of "Battlestar Galactica," which premieres at 10 tonight on the Sci-Fi Channel or, if you have a fast hookup, even earlier (at noon EST) on line here.

What's so good about "Battlestar"? Well, it's extremely smart science fiction, and also at times very funny. It tries and almost always succeeds to be a biting commentary on our society, and is easily the best show on TV right now (with "The Wire" gone for good.)

Phillip Ramati, a k a the TV Guy, was luckily (and enterprising) enough to get an advance copy and reports that, not surprisingly at all, it's as good as ever. He doesn't reveal any serious spoilers, but for just a tease read what he had to say about it here.

As for me, I'm gonna brave one trip to the multiplex this weekend, but it won't be for George Clooney's "Leatherheads." Against all my better judgment, I'm actually gonna take a chance on "The Ruins" and hope to find something suitably entertaining and creepy. Peace out.

Natalie Portman's bare bum!

OK, that's more than a bit of false advertising, since I have no pictures of Natalie Portman's bottom to share with you (but, of course, one of the many wonders of Al Gore's Internet is you can find one for yourself in about 30 seconds if you want to.)

Instead, that headline is an alert that, if you go see Wes Anderson's "The Darjeeling Limited" this weekend, you will also (provided you get there on time) get to see the short film "Hotel Chevalier," which proceeds and factors into the main flick near the end. And, yes, Natalie's rather attractive derriere does make an appearance, but the short co-starring Jason Schwartzman also has several other charms.

As for the main flick, "Darjeeling Limited," I found it to be ... fairly maddening. Not awful, by any stretch, but a mild disappointment at least.

Let's start with the positives. Like all Wes Anderson's movies, it is simply a delight to look at. He clearly has love for the Indian subcontinent, and that comes across in the vivid colors that flow throughout the journey of the Whitman brothers, played by Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson. What I fear he no longer has enough of, however, is affection for the main characters who inhabit this often fauvist landscape.

I fell in love with Wes Anderson's movies the second I met Jason Schwartzman's Max Fischer in 'Rushmore," one of the great movie underdogs of all time. I felt the same connection to Owen Wilson's Dignan when I quickly thereafter rented "Bottle Rocket" (and then subsequently added it to my video collection.)

But for me, "Royal Tenenbaums" was even better than both of those, because it represented a huge visual leap forward for Anderson but still was populated with equally vivid characters to root for. And then came "Steve Zissou," a debacle he clearly hasn't yet completely recovered from.

I tell you all that to tell you this. I liked "The Darjeeling Limited" a darn sight more than "Zissou," but an equal amount less than Mr. Anderson's first three movies. And the reason lies almost entirely with this: The Whitman brothers are three of the most annoying characters you'll ever meet on the big screen.

And, to make it worse, I'm not talking vividly annoying enough that you even feel some connection to them through hatred. They're just kind of three very selfish twits who happen to be rather aimlessly travelling through India. Anderson never bothers to tell us why, and worse, I found that I really didn't care.

My reservoir of goodwill for Mr. Anderson is far from empty, so I'll be back for "Fantastic Mr. Fox" or wherever else he chooses to go next. But "The Darjeeling Limited," much like Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette," is a very pretty voyage that just goes nowhere at all.

Lovable losers: My favorite movie misfits

I was gonna call this list favorite f***ups, but this blog is, after all, still linked from a family newspaper.

In case anyone wonders where I get the idea for these lists from, it doesn't take much. This morning it was simply thinking of one of my favorite movies that I hadn't seen for several years, the one that happens to top this list. I'm sure there are many other movie freaks and geeks out there that have captured your hearts, so please feel free to add any I have snubbed in the comments (and, for the record, I didn't include "Napoleon Dynamite" because Napoleon is, of course, far too cool to ever be called a loser.

1. "You Can Count on Me"
When, under duress, I'm requested to name a single favorite film, this little Kenneth Lonergan gem has been known to top the list from time to time (though if you ask me 10 times, you might just get 10 different answers.) This charming take on the prodigal son tale introduced me to both Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo, and I can't ask for much more from a movie than that. I thought Kenneth Lonergan had just disappeared, but a visit to the IMDB revealed this welcome fact: He has a new movie, called "Margaret" and starring Anna Paquin, listed as completed. Welcome back, Mr. Lonergan.

2. Jesus' Son
Count this one as both one of my favorite books and movies. The flick by Allison Maclean (another once-promising director who has seemed to just disappear) captures all of the desperation of Dennis Lehane's novel, and Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton and, particularly, Holly Hunter as the angel/savior are all fantastic.

3. Ghost World
Thora Birch may just be the perfect example of a lovable loser. In "Ghost World," her Enid flunks out of art class, tries and fails to find love with Steve Buscemi and then, possibly, commits suicide (I really hope I'm not giving anything away here, but if you haven't seen this great Terry Zwigoff film, do so right away, and the ending is wonderfully ambiguous enough that I'm almost certain you won't be mad at me.)

4. Manhattan
Just how in the world did Woody Allen con so many beautiful women into being pawns in his often-twisted romantic movie world? Though you can argue that even Woody's best flicks follow a familiar path, this one is always my favorite because of just how far his Isaac Davis actually falls: By the time he's standing in that apartment building lobby, rejected for the last time by his 17-year-old muse Mariel Hemingway, it's just movie perfection.

5. Rushmore
It seems wierd to call a character as confident in his geekhood as Max Fischer a loser, but look at what happens to him in this great Wes Anderson flick. He starts by flunking hard out of Rushmore Academy and then is barely even able to make a go of it in the wild world of public high school. Like the best losers, however, Max gets the last laugh (and dance), of course, to the always-welcome strains of the Faces' "Ooo La La."

6. Charlie Brown
You could pick any of poor Charlie's tales, but when I was a kid the one that always got me the most excited was "Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown." I guess it was the idea of kids getting to race down through rapids on rafts, against their pets, no less, that really got me jazzed.

7. Amelie
Can you call someone as adorable as Audrey Tautou a loser? Though Amelie Poulain eventually finds love in this thoroughly charming flick from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, look at how far she had to journey to get there: At the beginning of the movie, she's living all alone in an apartment building full of old folks and is barely a functioning member of society. I know many people find this flick just way too sappy to stomach, but it gets me every time.

8. After Hours
Martin Scorsese has surely made better movies than this silly little flick, but it still remains my favorite of all his works. As Griffin Dunne's Paul Hackett sees his night go from bad to worse to even worse, it's both a valentine to New York City and, even better, Martin Scorsese clearly having fun.

9. Rocket Science
I'll close with one from this year that I'm virtually certain almost nobody saw. As the follow-up to his documentary debut, "Spellbound," Jeffrey Blitz made this autobiographical flick about his experiences as a stuttering teen growing up in New Jersey. Despite the rather horrendous title, it features excellent performances from Reece Thompson and Broadway veteran Anna Kendrick, and co-star Nicholas D'Agosto can currently be seen as Claire's new boytoy on "Heroes." If you missed this one, look for it on DVD soon and enjoy one of my favorite flicks of 2007.

So, there you have it. A fun enough way to begin a Wednesday, I must say. Peace out.

Revenge is a dish best served ... well, many ways

One sure sign that it's the end of August is that the movies that get dumped in these dog days just make me think of better ones that preceeded them.

Even though Kevin Bacon was a reliable soldier on CBS' "Early Show" (or whatever it's called) the other day as he claimed with a straight face that James Wan's "Death Sentence" will seriously explore the dark side of revenge, I think I'll just have to pass. I'll be spending my holiday weekend like most Americans: Watching college football and attending a barbecue or two, and maybe getting caught up on either "Heroes" or "Friday Night Lights" on DVD.

Besides, as with most things I enjoy, I often take my revenge on the big screen with more than a little dose of silly, simply because I like to laugh. Here are 10 flicks, some silly and some not, in which revenge plays a big part and I just can't get enough of (and, though they're numbered, they're indeed in no particular order):

1. Revenge of the Nerds
Because, after all, who in the world deserves revenge more than nerds? As far as I can tell, McG's rather insidious plan to remake this has died, or at least I hope so. To hear someone probably much wiser than me on the subject wax poetic about the virtues of this flick, watch Toby riff on it in "American Splendor." Heck, just watch "American Splendor" anyway if you somehow haven't seen it yet.

2. Oldboy
No director has made a better career out of revenge flicks than Korea's Chan-Wook Park, and this one would have to be my favorite. It can be hard to take at times, but watching Min-Sik Choi find out who held him captive for 15 years and get his vengeance (before they inflict further pain on him) is a one-of-a-kind experience.

3. Jackie Brown
Quentin Tarantino obviously tried his hardest to make a "revenge" flick with "Kill Bill," and mostly succeeded, but I'll still take "Jackie Brown" every time. It's still my favorite of the Tarantino flicks, and watching Pam Grier square off against Samuel L. Jackson will never get old to me.

4. Election
Remember, I did say silly, right? Of all the revenge flicks set in the hell that is high school, this one is still the best, both because it's Reese Witherspoon vs. Matthew Broderick and because, adorable as Reece is, you just want to crush Tracey Flick's head long before the flick ends.

5. Taxi Driver
Though I managed to omit "Death Wish" from this list, you really can't snub "Taxi Driver." Even if it has created a long list of cringe-worthy imitators (including this week's entry, of course), Scorsese's movie stands up well over time, and De Niro was rarely better than as the ball-of-rage that was Travis Bickle.


6. Rushmore
After all, what better to drive a man to vengeance than love? Although this movie has so many charms, my favorite moment might just be the look of relief on Herman Blume's face after Max Fischer calls off his vendetta in front of the barbershop. "I'll take punctuality."

7. The Limey
This is the only movie I can think of, at least off the top of my head, in which I liked Terrence Stamp, though surely there must be more. Not nearly as cool or clever as Steven Soderbergh's "Out of Sight," but it's still a reminder that when he puts his mind to it the man can direct a lean, mean thriller.

8. Get Carter
The Michael Caine original, of course, not the Sly Stallone remake (which I concede I haven't seen.) What I love about this movie is how it unfolds so slowly until the last half hour or so, when Caine's gangster unleashes the bloodbath you knew was coming from the start.

9. Bully
If you're considering moving to south Florida, I'd strongly advise watching this cautionary tale from Larry Clark first. Based on the true story of a group of teens who plot to take out the titular "Bully" (Nick Stahl, if I remember correctly), it's as chilling as it is entertaining. And, finally ...

10. Office Space
Though Ron Livingston is still a fairly young dude, I'm sure he'll never make another movie with the staying power of this one. Just in case you've forgotten just how cathartic watching this flick can be after a long day at work, I've included a YouTube clip of Michael Bolton and friends taking out their frustations on the fax machine, to the soothing strains of the Geto Boys. Feel free to add any revenge flicks that you can watch over and over again, and have an entirely suckfree Thursday.