An "Arrested Development" reunion - of sorts? Bring it on!

Just a quick report today fueled by a large cup of Jittery Joe's java, because I'm soon off to see "Shutter Island" and then go to see Jack McBrayer host a screening of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" as part of the Macon Film Festival (crap film, but should still be fun night.)

Before all that fun, however, there are a couple of bits of intriguing news out there this morning.

Though the "Arrested Development" reunion diehard fans most want to see would have to be the tremendously long-gestating movie, any project that reunites creator Mitch Hurwitz with Will Arnett - a k a Gob Bluth, of course - on TV in the meantime has to be good news.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hurwitz and "Arrested Development" co-executive producer Jim Vallely are close to signing a deal to create a single-camera, half-hour series for Lionsgate TV to be aired on Fox, with Arnett to be the main star. The show, in what sounds rather suspiciously (but welcomely) like the further adventures of Gob Bluth, would be about a "rich Beverly Hill jackass" who falls in love with a charitable tree-hugging woman who can't stand his lifestyle. Come to think of it, it sounds an awful lot like "Curb Your Enthusiasm" too, but either way, it should be just insanely funny.

Hurwitz and Arnett have reunited on TV once before since the end of "Arrested Development," but calling their very-short-lived animated series "Sit Down, Shut Up" a disaster would be far too courteous. Here's hoping this new project comes together and works out a lot better, but doesn't keep Hurwitz and Vallely away from that "Arrested Development" flick for too long.

There's other news this morning about Thomas McCarthy, who, if I were ever to get around to listing my 10 favorite directors (actually, sounds like fun), would definitely make the roster somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Along with starring as that seriously unscrupulous reporter on the final season of "The Wire" (reminder, David Simon's New Orleans series "Treme" premieres on HBO on April 11!), McCarthy has directed two perfectly sublime indie flicks, "The Station Agent" and the even-better "The Visitor." And now comes great word about the cast for the new project he's developing for Fox Searchlight.

Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan (double huzzah!) have joined the cast of "Win Win," which McCarthy is writing and directing as a semiautobiographical tale about a teen runaway who is taken in by a suburban New Jersey couple and joins the local high school's wrestling team (McCarthy wasn't the runaway, but rather one of his teammates.)

If that sounds suspiciously like a white, suburban "Blind Side," so what? I'd have to assume Giamatti will play the wrestling coach and Ryan the mother who takes the kid in, and with McCarthy guiding this it all sounds great to me. Shooting is set to start in the Garden State in April.

And by the way, did you know McCarthy is an Oscar nominee, for his contribution to the screenplay of "Up"? Congrats!

All I have after that today is a slew of clips from "Cop Out," courtesy of Collider.com. I'm still not convinced that Kevin Smith's hired hand flick is gonna be any good, but it should provide the ultimate confirmation that Tracy Morgan really can be funny in anything. Enjoy, and if you're headed to the big Macon Film Festival event tonight with Jack McBrayer at the Cox Capitol Theatre, I'll see you there. Peace out.

So, what's the movie good enough to drag me back to the multiplex?

Before I get into any of that, what in the world is going on at HBO? With Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann already on the roster directing pilots for, respectively, "Boardwalk Empire" and "Luck," it now seems the network has even somehow managed to sign Kathyrn Bigelow too (and they'll have me back too if and when David Simon's New Orleans series "Treme" hits the air.)

I have no idea how they managed to snag Bigelow, but the material she's working with sounds fantastic, though about as different from "The Hurt Locker" as you could pretty much possibly get. Created by Broadway director John Logan, "The Miraculous Year" centers on a charismatic, self-destructive Broadway composer and his family in New York. Bigelow is so far on board as executive producer, but I'd have to imagine she'll at least direct the pilot for this too.

And man does that sound like something I'd tune in for every week.

But before I got distracted today, this was supposed to be about the movie that will finally drag me back to the multiplex to watch a new theater offering. I thought it might be "The Wolfman" or "Percy Jackson ... whatever that movie's called," but I just couldn't bring myself to do it with either of those.

The movie weekend was far from a loss, however, because I went to see "Crazy Heart" again, and I'm certainly glad I did. Though I liked it the first time, the story just seemed all-too-familiar, and that hindered my engagement with it. The second time around, that wasn't an issue, and I was able to dive into just how good a story it is, with sensational acting and even better music by Ryan Bingham (and I bought the soundtrack when I got home - if anyone's listening, this young man just might be able to save country music from itself.) I was thrilled to see a nearly sold out crowd of grownfolks at the 2:30 matinee, and hopefully the theater owners noticed ... we like to go to movies too!

But what will be the movie good enough to finally get me to watch a new release, only the third this year, after "Youth in Revolt" and "The Edge of Darkness"? It's Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," and I'm just thoroughly jazzed for it Saturday afternoon. The early reviews, while trying to be negative, have only amped up my excitement. I mean, really, a B horror movie directed with exceptional style and great pace, as they've all said? I'm definitely there.

And on that note, all I really have this Monday morning is a behind-the-scenes featurette for the flick courtesy of Comingsoon.net. I really don't see any possible way this movie won't just rock. Enjoy the clip, and have a perfectly passable Monday. Peace out.

Take the first short trip to Gervais' "Cemetery Junction"

Actually, let's start with what, at first glance, seems to be the oddest news of the day: Steven Spielberg is eying Spock himself, Zachary Quinto, to play George Gershwin in a new grand biopic.

I say on the surface, however, because it actually makes a lot of sense. Spielberg revels in movies like this, especially when it's about a rather famous Jewish American. Anyone who had to suffer through high school marching band (I played the clarinet myself) has had the pleasure of trying to play Rhapsody in Blue at least once, and it was of course used to perfection in my favorite Woody Allen movie, "Manhattan."

And, judge for yourself with the pic of Gershwin here, but I think the resemblance is there, and though I gave up on "Heroes" a very long time ago (is it really still on the air?), Quinto can really act. Anyways, something to keep your eyes on.

But here today it's really all about the first trailer (that I've seen, at least) for "Cemetery Junction." And what is that? Well, it's the first collaboration of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant since "Extras," reason enough to cheer, and it's a movie that will hopefully open wide enough for me to see it when it drops ... well who knows? It's listed as April 7 for the UK and next fall for much of the rest of the world, but I can't find a release date anywhere for the U.S. Nards!

Anyways, though it's a return to the working world, it's hardly a "The Office" knockoff. Instead, though Gervais plays a role, the focus is on three young chaps who sell insurance in Reading in the early '70s. The accents are indeed a bit hard to understand when you're listening to them five minutes after waking up, but other than that, the trailer looks good to me. Enjoy, and stick around afterward for some big news about the U.S. "The Office" and a couple of more clips.



Next up comes a pretty big spoiler about the U.S. "The Office," so if you don't want to know, just skip down to the next clip. Anyone who'd been watching knows that Dunder Mifflin has been bought out, and now it seems that the buyer has been revealed.

According to movieviral.com (and, as you'll see, they have memo to prove it), Kathy Bates will very soon join the cast for at least a little while as Michael's new boss when Dunder Mifflin is bought by some entity called Sabre Corp. (and we all know he does so well with female bosses, so this should be a hoot.) Bates plays Sabre Corp. CEO Jo Bennett. The new company is apparently a printer selling company (synergy, anyone?).

Lest you doubt this, there's already a Web site for Sabre Corp. you can find here. And, because what would "The Office" be without a memo, here's the one announcing Sabre Corp.'s new acquisition:

FROM: Dunder Mifflin Management

TO: All Dunder Mifflin Employees

SUBJECT: Dunder Mifflin Joins Sabre

Dear Colleagues,

By now you have probably heard stories regarding the ownership of Dunder Mifflin. Allow us to take this opportunity to shed some light on our company's future. We are very pleased to announce that Dunder Mifflin will be joining the Sabre Corporate family. This marks a high point in our company's history. Rest assured that Sabre will do all they can to make this transition as smooth as possible.

At this time, it is important that we keep our focus on our every day activities and continue to deliver the kinds of results that have made Dunder Mifflin what it is today. It is an exciting time, and these are exciting possibilities. We are confident that you, our employees, are the best team to face the challenges and seize the opportunities that lay ahead.

This promises to be a very exciting journey for all of us.

Regards,
Dunder Mifflin Management

Like I said, Michael (Steve Carell) with Kathy Bates as his boss? Sounds like great TV to me. Stay tuned.

Except for that, all I have left today is a couple more clips. First up comes what purports to be a new trailer for Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," which will finally hit theaters Feb. 19. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot new here, but I'm thoroughly psyched for this flick, so enjoy the trailer.

And finally, courtesy of Collider.com come three clips from "Thankyoumoreplease," the writing and directing debut from "How I Met Your Mother" (which I believe has just been renewed for a sixth season) star Josh Radnor. The movie stars Radnor, Malin Akerman and Tony Hale of "Arrested Development," and although the clips below don't really look all that promising for this flick about six New Yorkers dealing with, well, life, this movie did just win the Dramatic Audience Award at Sundance, so what in the world do I know? Enjoy the clips, and have a perfectly passable Monday. Peace out.

My problem with 3-D, and a fantastic film opportunity in Macon

Just in case you thought there might be some end in sight to the 3-D wave of animation (and eventually, I fear, nearly everything else), there was an odd story this morning that shows just how much it's taken over just about the entire world.

It seems that even Frenchies like Patrice Leconte, director of one of my favorite froggy mind-benders in "The Man on the Train" and many other flicks, is getting into the 3-D animated game. Granted, he's making something called "Le Magasin des Suicides" (literally, "The Suicide Store"), a "dark comedy" about a family-owned shop that sells suicide tools to a depressed and suicidal world.

At least the story sounds interesting enough, but as much as I've tried, I just can't get into 3-D animation as anything more so far than a gimmick. I thought Pixar's "Up" would be the movie that finally gets me on board, but I think I can now officially count myself as someone who just doesn't believe the hype.

Now, there was one movie so far that I thought really made fantastic use of the technology, Henry Selick's "Coraline," but that's really it. Every other time I've seen a 3-D movie (and there's been at least "Up," "Monsters Vs. Aliens" and "Nightmare Before Christmas"), the supposed thrill just left me cold, and I think I've finally figured out (after discussing it with my fellow cubicle slave Randy Waters) why.

It's those glasses, which to me just make the whole screen muddy. A big part of the thrill in animated movies for me is to see the vibrant colors used to create something as beautiful as a painting. Think back to when Remy the rat first beheld the cityscape of Paris in "Ratatouille" or when Kiki was flying over Mediterranean Europe in Hayao Miyazaki's "Kiki's Delivery Service." I just can't imagine those unforgettable images would be as magical if they had been run through the 3-D machine.

And beyond the muddiness of the images, I just feel like it removes me from the experience by a level or two, putting this filter between me and the screen that just creates a remoteness that limits my engagement with the movie.

Now, even if I am an increasingly old curmudgeon about this and other things (I listened to the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" the other day to see if I could get into it, but I can't ... I love hip-hop and always will [listening to Dead Prez right now], but I just can't stand that vodaphone crap, another gimmick that just distorts the beauty that is rap music), I am sane enough to realize there's really nothing I can do about it. I was tempted to go back and watch "Up" in 2-D to see if I would enjoy it more, but decided to save my money instead.

But before I go any further on in that longer-than-expected tangent, this was supposed to be a plug for the Macon Film Guild, which is showing what I expect to be a truly great flick this Sunday in "Sugar."

It's been forever since I've seen a great baseball flick in a movie theater, so I was hoping that this one from Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck would get a proper run, but it never materialized. I was bit underwhelmed by "Half Nelson," mostly because by the time I finally managed to see it the flick had been hyped so much that I was just expecting more, I guess.

With "Sugar," however, you can count me as thoroughly amped. The flick tells the story of Miguel "Sugar" Santos, a Dominican teenager who gets scouted as a pitcher and at 19 enters the U.S. minor league system with hopes of hitting it big.

The Macon Film Guild, which consistently shows quality flicks that should find more of an audience, is showing this one at 2, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Douglass Theatre in Macon, so if you're anywhere in the Middle Georgia area, come out and check it out, because it deserves a big crowd. If you're at the 2 p.m. show, I'll see you there.

And I'll leave you today with the first trailer I've seen for Martin Scorsese's next flick, "Shutter Island," which looks, thankfully, like it will be even crazier than I was hoping. Based on a Dennis Lehane novel, it of course stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a U.S. marshall who uncovers a nasty secret at a hospital for the criminally insane. It really looks like Scorsese making a B-movie, and almost a horror flick, and I can't possibly see anything wrong with that. Peace out.

A busy day of news (and a beef about 3D)

"It's so similar to the toilet scene in 'Trainspotting.' "
- Danny Boyle, with feces on his mind in Variety

There's quite a bit of news out there today, but since I like to stand in the way of speeding trains and enjoy my favorite TV shows without getting a headache, can I please first make a plea for an end to 3D gimmicks on TV?

Last night's episode of "Chuck" would have been perfectly enjoyable in the 2D format, but since I was watching it with just my old-fashioned specs on, it did indeed get more than a little on my nerves by the finish. Did anyone actually watch this with the 3D glasses on, and, if so, was there really any reason for this beyond NBC clearly being in constant need of attention?

OK, enough of that. The best thing I could find out there this morning is that Martin Scorsese is finally getting back to making another religious movie, and bringing some big names along to do it. "Kundun" has lasted as my second favorite Scorsese movie (after only the sublimely silly "After Hours"), so this is certainly good news.

"Silence," which will be his next feature film, takes place in 17th century Japan and follows the tale of two Jesuit priests who travel there and face violence and persecution on their mission. Even better, as best as I can tell, Daniel Day-Lewis and Benicio Del Toro will play the two priests, and Gael Garcia Bernal will also be along for the ride.

That all sounds well and good, but Mr. Scorsese will of course have another movie coming out well before this, the recently wrapped "Shutter Island," which should just be a heck of a lot of fun next October. In that one, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, Leo DiCaprio plays a U.S. Marshal who is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote isle. Very cool.

Finally, a movie about the war on terror I might actually enjoy?

Actually, Kimberly Pierce's "Stop-Loss" was pretty good, but since that was about the Iraq war I guess it's at least a slightly different subject.

Now, however, no less than Aaron Sorkin is returning to the military courtroom to pen "The Challenge," which takes on the topic of the prison at Gitmo (and, if Barack Obama actually gets his way, this might oddly enough come out right about the time the Guantanamo Bay prison closes.)

George Clooney is producing, may direct and wants to star in the flick as Navy lawyer Charles Swift, who led the drive to ensure a fair trial for Osama Bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan, who had been held at Gitmo for five years.

Captured in 2001 in Afghanistan while transporting two missiles in a car, Hamdan was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 5 1/2 years by a military commission for providing material support to Al-Qaeda. He was cleared of the terrorism conspiracy charges that would have drawn a much longer sentence.

Any news about Aaron Sorkin writing (and not for television!) is good news in this corner. If you haven't seen "Charlie Wilson's War," you're missing out on a sharp satire, so rent it already. And Sorkin is thankfully keeping very busy nowadays, having already penned "The Trial of the Chicago 7," which Ben Stiller (!?!?) is directing for Dreamworks, and is now also working on a flick about the formation of Facebook, which I am somehow on even though I don't yet even have a cell phone.

Woody's returning to New York, and I might even get to see it

Purely by coincidence, I was watching that great "Seinfeld" episode recently in which Kramer manages to get a line ("these pretzels are making me thirsty!") in a Woody Allen flick before getting fired from the set.

In a case of art imitating reality and coming back around to art, "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David is starring in Woody Allen's next flick, "Whatever Works," which Sony Pictures Classics has now picked up and will hopefully distribute wide enough to reach my little corner of the world when this comes out later this year.

In Woody's return to Manhattan (finally!), here (according to Wikipedia, at least) is what the flick starring Mr. David, Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Begley Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Kristen Johnston and Michael McKean is about: "The film is a dark comedy starring Larry David as an eccentric man from Greenwich Village who gets caught up in a series of love stories which get him tangled up with a young girl from the South (Evan Rachel Wood) and her parents."

Well, I guess Woody casting someone else as the dirty old man rather than himself is some kind of progress, and Larry David is just an extremely funny guy, so I can only say bring it on.

Tidbits

OK, I have to get ready for work soon, so two quick hits and then I'll go. Did you know that Spike Lee unveiled a documentary this year at Sundance? I didn't, until this morning. Called "Pushing Strange," it focused Lee's camera on the final three performances of the Broadway musical of the same name. The show is about a young black musician growing up in Los Angeles in the 1970s and his quest to find "the real." As cheesy as that might sound, I'm betting this will be nothing but cool if I ever get to see it. Besides, with "When the Levees Broke," "The Original Kings of Comedy" and my favorite, "Four Little Girls," on his resume, I'd say Mr. Lee knows a thing or two about making compelling documentaries.

And, finally, Julian Schnabel has tapped Hiam Abbas to star in "Miral," a movie he's making about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Schnabel will write and direct the adaptation of Italo-Palestinian Rula Jebreal's book about the real-life Palestinian woman Hind Husseini, who started the Dar Al-Tifl orphanage in Jerusalem in the wake of the 1948 partition of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel. And, best of all, Abbas, who starred in one of my favorite flicks of 2008 in "The Visitor," will presumable play the lead role, so definitely keep your eyes on this one. Peace, appropriately enough, out.

Actually, to make hopefully any Tuesday a little better, here's that "These pretzels are making me thirsty" clip, still one of my favorite "Seinfeld" bits. Enjoy!

Can Martin Scorsese save Robert De Niro?

First thing first: Last night's "Pushing Daisies," after a rather disastrously long bit of opening exposition to catch everyone up, was just as funny and whimsical as ever, and will hopefully lead ABC to announce later today that the show has received a full season-two order (so far it just has 13 new episodes coming.)

And, in reference to my headline question, does Robert De Niro really need saving? Well, I'm sure his life in NYC is still a whole lot more fabulous than mine down here in Macon, GA, but if its from mediocre movies I'd say the answer is surely an emphatic yes.

I had to go back to 2006's "The Good Shepherd" to find a De Niro movie I really liked unconditionally and much further back to 2000's "Meet the Parents" to find another one (and the second one gets an asterisk in the "like" column because Mr. De Niro isn't nearly as funny as he seems to think he is nowadays).

So, what could bring this formerly great man back to his glory days, to roles in movies such as "Raging Bull" or "Goodfellas," or even in John Frankenheimer's rather severely underrated "Ronin"? Well, either reteaming with Martin Scorses or doing a great movie about the mob would probably do the trick, so throw in both and you'd seem to have just about the perfect project.

Indeed, word comes today that Mr. Scorsese is attached to direct and Mr. De Niro to star in "I Heard You Paint Houses," based on the book about the mob assassin who many believe was involved in the death of Jimmy Hoffa. (And despite my rather heavy diet of mob movies and TV through the years, I had no idea that "paint houses" was mob slang for a contract killing ... yet another rather useless bit of trivia to clutter my brain!)

De Niro will play Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran, who is reputed to have carried out more than 25 mob murders and confessed to "Paint Houses" author Charles Brandt that he also carried out the killing and dismemberment of Hoffa on orders from mob boss Russell Bufalino. On top of my love for mob movies, I also like flicks like "Confession of a Dangerous Mind" in which our "protagonist" makes an outlandish claim that stays in doubt throughout the entire movie, so this should be ideal.

Steven Zaillian, who crafted the crisp script for "American Gangster" but also the rather uneven screenplay for Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" too, will adapt Brandt's book for the big screen.

And Scorsese, I predict, will have one of both the biggest critical and box office successes next year with "Shutter Island," starring Leo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo in his take on Dennis Lehane's novel about the mysterious happenings at a mental hospital on the titular remote island.

And now, since I have no other news to report, I have to get ready for the job that still somehow pays my rent. Peace out.