Read QT's script for "Inglorious Basterds"

What in the world did "Chuck" do to deserve this kind of treatment? No, it hasn't been canceled, but this limbo - which is expected to last perhaps until May 19 - is just the worst kind of excruciating.

According to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, there was a mention of "Chuck" at yesterday's NBC "infronts," but it was far from anything definite. NBC's Ben Silverman simply said that if the show does indeed come back, it will most likely be moved away from Mondays.

Given how busy its time slot is now (with the CBS comedies, "Dancing With the Has-Beens" and "House" all up against it), I have to say that would probably be good news.

And if NBC does ultimately pass, which I really think would incur an outpouring of serious wrath, perhaps the makers of "Chuck" could secure a deal like that that was just inked for "The New Adventures of Old Christine." If CBS passes on a fifth season of that Julia Louis-Dreyfus comedy, ABC has already announced it will immediately scoop the show up, just as it did for NBC's "Scrubs." Kind of an interesting way to bypass creative development there.

However this sordid tale all ends, I'll be sure to let you know, but in the meantime I can share a bit of mostly good news in that the third season of "Mad Men" is definitely on, although it will come a bit later than usual. Though the show normally starts in July, this year it will be pushed back to an as-yet-announced date in August.

Either way, I'll just be happy when my second-favorite TV drama (edged out by less than a nose by "Friday Night Lights") is finally back on the air.

Here today, however, it's all about a tip my friend Randy Waters sent me, which at least purports to be the entire script for Quentin Tarantino's next flick, "Inglourious Basterds." And though I have no way of knowing for sure, I think it's the real deal.

Why? Well, the only solid reason is that the opening few pages match what was recently printed in Vanity Fair. And the other reason is that I'm simply a fairly gullible chap who wants to believe this.

I can't tell you yet if it's any good or not, since I've only read the first 10 pages or so thus far, but I just wanted to go ahead and pass it along to anyone else who might be interested. You can read it here.

I intend to read it all this weekend, and I'll certainly let you know then more of what I think of it. Randy, however, posed an interesting query: Do you really want to read a movie script before seeing the movie, and therefore - of course - possibly spoil things in a rather major way?

For me, if it's a movie I'm looking forward to as much as I am this one, the answer is always yes. I love everything about movies, especially seeing how they come together. With a writer as good as Tarantino, I'll thoroughly enjoy seeing the rough product and then just how much it changes when it finally hits the big screen.

And with that I'll close for today, leaving you with this latest clip from Pixar's "Up," courtesy of Hulu. Though May 29 was shaping up to be perhaps the greatest movie day of 2009 with this, Sam Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" and Rian Johnson's "The Brothers Bloom" all coming out at once, it now looks like Johnson's flick may be released a bit earlier but only in a limited run (damnit!). Anyways, enjoy the clip, which introduces the talking dog, and have a perfectly passable Tuesday. Peace out.

Tyson vs. "Tyson" ... and we have a winner

Just how hot a ticket was James Toback's "Tyson" at the recently concluded Atlanta Film Festival 365? Well, though I can't confirm it, I hear tell that Tyler Perry himself was there, but my own travails simply to get in really set the stage right.

As I was told would be the case, the "press" folk had to line up in a show of just how marginalized we have become, waiting to be seated until everyone who actually bought a ticket or all-access pass had already gone in. There were at least 25 people in front of me in the B-line, so things weren't looking good, and it didn't help matters much at all that the guy directly behind me took it upon himself to - every couple of minutes or so - call a friend who had already gotten in and ask how many seats were left. Believe me, I can't make up anything quite that ludicrous, and it made me rather happy that I have yet to buy a cellular phone of any kind - and as admittedly petty as this is, even happier that I was the very last person given admittance, leaving him to talk on his phone as much as he wanted to.

It was only after getting in that I realized I wouldn't have a seat. Count this as the first time I've encountered the literal definition of "standing room only," but luckily for my feet, Toback's flick is as compelling as it is mercifully short at only about 80 minutes or so.

But of course I digress from the matter at hand. How was the movie itself? Well, considering that it delivers pretty much exactly what the title implies - a whole lot of Mike Tyson talking about Mike Tyson - it's a heck of a lot better than it sounds on paper.

Luckily for viewers, Tyson is a fascinating figure, never stupid by any means but clearly full of contradictions. He veers from surprisingly insightful self analysis to an even more shocking lack of repentance for his most heinous acts (like, say, that little matter of rape.)

The first contradiction, and the one that drives the movie, is that Tyson says early on that he doesn't trust anyone. Well, he clearly does at least trust Toback, and the openness this creates leads to rather amazing moments like Tyson - understandably - tearing up as he describes his mentor and father figure Constantine D'Amato, while at the same time saying that what D'Amato essentially taught him was to live like a savage, about as close as a civilized human being can come to becoming a wild animal.

Even more of a gut punch comes when he describes in very harsh terms and without an ounce of remorse what he still thinks of Desiree Washington, the beauty queen he was convicted of raping (a moment so shocking that it prompted many in the audience to laugh before they caught themselves and realized just how inappropriate it was.)

This is all unveiled with seemingly very little prompting from Toback (and, appropriately enough, often while Tyson is seated on his couch), and the footage that Toback uses to supplement the Tyson interviews will be enlightening both for boxing fans (of which I'm certainly one) and those who find the sport to be a brutal atrocity.

I guarantee you won't be able to take your eyes off of Tyson as his ex-wife Robin Givens, seated right beside him, reveals to Barbara Walters (falsely, the champ insists) that her husband is a manic depressive and much more. And in the footage of Tyson's boxing career, it's fascinating to see, whether you remember this or not, just how much Tyson's first knockout of a heavyweight champ - Trevor Berbick - was a direct passing of the torch from Muhammad Ali.

The only real spot where Toback's approach falls short more than a bit comes near the end, as Tyson tries to describe his simply bizarre actions in and out of the ring after being released from prison (a side of ear, anyone?). An outside voice to offer perspective certainly would have been welcome here.

But overall, what gives Toback's compelling documentary all of its punch is that he never apologizes for the troubled champ, and Tyson never really does either. It's just a fascinating psychological portrait of a clearly troubled soul, and I urge you to see it as soon as you get the chance.

Inside all of us is a Wild Thing!

Being a certified movie addict, I of course went to another flick as soon as I got home from the Atlanta fest on Sunday. And, rather than seeing one of the two movies that champion my dying industry, "State of Play" or "The Soloist," I instead opted for the Disney documentary "Earth," and I'm very happy I did. It's just beautifully shot from start to finish, and there's also just something extremely therapeutic about watching a baby mallard duck trying to fly for the first time. Though it got creamed by Stringer Bell and Sasha Fierce at the Box Office, I was happy to see it still took in an impressive nearly $9 million.

But the most fascinating thing actually happened before the main feature unspooled. A new trailer for Spike Jonze's upcoming "Where the Wild Things Are" (which I've included below because, well, it just rules) hit the screen, and the kids themselves just went wild.

Just the glimpse of one of the creature's horns was enough to prompt at least three of the kids seated around me to blurt out "Wild Thing!", and by the end they were howling along with the beautiful creatures (and believe me, I desperately wanted to join in, but somehow managed to restrain myself.)

I realize this is seriously far from a scientific experiment, but judging from that little sample, I'd have to guess that Warner Brothers will have little to worry about when it finally gets around to releasing this in October (and you can count it, along with "The Brothers Bloom," as one of the two movies I'm most looking forward to this year.) Enjoy the new trailer, and have a perfectly passable Monday. Peace out.

Cannes lineup: Clash of the Titans + the opening of "The Brothers Bloom" "

Though I've thoroughly enjoyed the Atlanta Film Festival 365 and look forward to returning to it tomorrow, there's really just nothing better for daydreaming than imagining spending two weeks or so sunning in the south of France and just watching movies.

Well, I can't deliver you that, of course, but here to perhaps set your mind reeling to far-flung locales are the highlights (as I see it) of the just-announced lineup for the 2009 Cannes Film Festival (the "L'Avventura"-themed poster for which is at right), which kicks off May 13 with the opening night screening of Pixar's "Up" (not too shabby a starting point.)

In the competition, I can't imagine it will win, but the big, loud dog in the room who will attract the most attention will almost certainly be Quentin Tarantino's World War II flick "Inglourious Basterds," assuming he finishes it on time, of course. I don't think he's gonna get hissed like poor Sofia Coppola did a few years ago with "Marie Antoinette," but the reaction to any movie in which Eli Roth is decapitating Nazis with a baseball bat should be fascinating.

Also on the domestic front, Ang Lee will be in competition with "Taking Woodstock," a biographical comedy starring Comedy Central's Demetri Martin as Elliot Tiber, who played a key role in launching the hippie fest. I have a feeling this one will just be goofy as hell but, assuming its get any of proper distribution, I could also easily see it becoming the sleeper hit of the summer.

If I were on the jury or even somehow just in attendance, though, the single competition movie I'd most be looking forward to is Park Chan-wook's vampire movie, "Thirst" Among other crazy things, as far as I can tell, it's about a priest who goes to Africa to participate in a medical experiment but instead, of course, finds himself turned into a bloodsucker. Bring it on! In the same vein (get it?), Sam Raimi will be screening his return to "real horror," "Drag Me to Hell," as a midnight movie, and one I'd certainly stay up well past my school night bed time for.

Joining Tarantino, Lee and Chan-wook will be a lot of heavy hitters, starting with Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces." I know his movies are, well, often extremely gay, but I've always just loved them, and this one - apparently an homage to filmmaking with a puzzling plot and, thankfully, Penelope Cruz - just sounds like a real winner.

Michael Haneke will begin his path of atonement for that "Funny Games" trailer that I must have had the misfortune of seeing 150 times (or at least it certainly felt like it) with his new feature film, "The White Ribbon," about which I know nothing more than that. Also on the prestige front will be the U.K.'s Angry-but-not-so-young-man Ken Loach with "Looking for Eric," which sounds like a surprising amount of fun. Described as a movie about "football fanatics and life," it's apparently about a football-mad postman who gets life advice from Eric Cantona. Wild.

Jane Campion will return with "Bright Star," a suitably high-minded tale about the poet John Keats and his affair with the girl next door, and I can only imagine Lars von Trier will be stirring up all kinds of trouble with something simply called "Antichrist."

And though this has probably gone on well long enough, it's certainly worth mentioning one last oddity, Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," which is screening out of competition and still, rather amazingly, looking for a U.S. distributor. If you've got a movie you can market as Heath Ledger's last that also just happens to star Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell but you still can't get any real distribution, you've either got to have something simply awful or just extremely bizarre. My guess? A mix of the two, tilted to the latter, but either way I can't wait to see this one if I ever get the chance.

The first seven minutes of "The Brothers Bloom"

Anyone who sat through all that certainly deserves a reward, and anyone who's been here before (there are amazingly at least a few of you) knows that I've already christened Rian Johnson's con-men flick "The Brothers Bloom" as the single movie I'm most looking forward to for all of 2009 (nothing like a little hyperbole to start the day, but I'm serious here.)

Knowing it comes from the creator of "Brick" (rent that one already!) and stars Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz and Rinko Kikuchi in a good, old-fashioned con game was enough to get me hooked, and now the first seven minutes - which you can watch below courtesy of the glorious Hulu - just have me salivating for when this finally opens (hopefully very wide!) May 29 against the aforementioned "Drag Me to Hell" and "Up." As expected, the opening sequence, narrated by Ricky Jay, is just a treat to watch, and in spirit it reminds me a lot of Wes Anderson's "Bottle Rocket," never a bad reference point in my book. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Thursday. Peace out.

A great day for comedy

If you like comedy of almost all kinds (and who doesn't?), there's a lot of good news and clips out there today, and at least one simply horrible idea: Having run out of appealing targets to roast well before they hit Larry the Cable Guy last month, Comedy Central is now turning to its worst subject yet: Joan Rivers.

I mean, really, if the person you're roasting is so unfunny that she deserves at least the abuse being hurled at her by her "friends" and more, where's the entertainment value in that? I think I'm just the wrong audience for these to start with, but that just sounds like a whole new low.

In much, much better news, tonight on NBC should just be epicly good. At 8:30, the new show created by "The Office" writers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, "Parks and Recreation," debuts. I can only take Amy Poehler in very small doses, but I thought the same thing about Steve Carell before "The Office" started, so here's hoping I'm wrong.

Even better than that, though, is that it will be sandwiched between two brand spanking new episodes of "The Office" itself. I don't think anyone really believes Michael and Pam have left Dunder Mifflin for good, but it should still be cool to see Michael's big showdown with Charles, played by "The Wire" vet Idris Elba. For just a taste, here's the opening 90 seconds or so courtesy of NBC, featuring Kevin's considerable lack of ability to answer the phone and a very funny kicker:

You're bad at this too!



And in a very good bit of TV news for those who don't mind their humor dark and - as Jody Hill himself puts it - "full of a**holes," HBO has picked up a second season of Hill's series "Eastbound and Down," starring veryfunnyman Danny McBride as a former Major League ballplayer trying to make a comeback (like the mighty Baltimore Orioles, who are now 2-0 at the expense of the dastardly Yankees!)

Director Hill, of course, hits theaters this week with the mall-cop comedy "Observe and Report" starring Seth Rogen. Even with the tired premise, when I saw Associated Press critic Christy LeMire's hyper-ventilating review in which she called it both "vile" and "disgusting" (overkill, anyone?), I knew this would deliver just about completely what I'm expecting and looking forward to.

OK, enough of that. There are three promising trailers out there today that in their own way serve up comedy too. Sometime around August of last year, I put up a poll in which 26 readers voted (not a scientific sample, mind you, but not too shabby, I suppose) for the movie they were most looking forward to for the rest of the year. At the time, I declared that "Slumdog Millionaire" was the single movie I most wanted to see in all of 2008, and we all know what happened to that one.

Well, I don't think it's headed to the same fate as Danny Boyle's flick, but I'm giving the same designation this year to Rian Johnson's "The Brothers Bloom," finally set to open hopefully very wide in a busy May 29 weekend that will also feature at least Sam Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" and Pixar's "Up."

Why so excited for this one? Well, if you haven't seen Johnson's high school noir flick "Brick," rent it now, and you'll see how much potential he has as a director. Plus, I just love goofy movies about a big con, and when it features Rachel Weisz, Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody and Rinko Kikuchi, I'm definitely in. Enjoy the new trailer.

"Where are we going?"
"New Jersey?"
"I'm gonna grab my coat."



Almost as good is the video proof that Mike Judge is returning to the working world for "Extract," hopefully coming to movie theaters outside of L.A. and Austin sometime in August. Starring Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis, J.K. Simmons and a fairly well-disguised Ben Affleck, it's about "the personal and professional problems of the owner of a flower extract plant (Bateman)." I'm laughing about that already.

And if I can digress just a bit before we get to the trailer, as Judge's "King of the Hill" is coming to an end on Fox after a rather remarkable 13-year run, he's about to have a new animated comedy coming to ABC. Called "The Goode Family," the show about a politically incorrect clan will premiere at 9 p.m. May 27. And in a final bit of TV news for all fans of ABC's late "Pushing Daisies," the facts are these: The final three episodes of that fantastic fantasy will indeed hit the air, for three weeks in a row beginning at 8 p.m. June 20.

And now, without further dithering from me, here's the "Extract" trailer:

"They're just hanging there."



And finally, for real, here's a first glimpse of what Robert Rodriguez is cooking up with "Shorts," also set to hit theaters in August. I'm a sucker for what Rodriguez comes up with when he makes movies for kids, especially the first "Spy Kids." This one looks very similar to others in the current crop of mild fantasies being pitched to youngins by Walden Media and other companies, but I'm still betting it will be a lot of fun. Enjoy the trailer, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

"I wish I had telephonesis!"

The joys of summer: Ten (or maybe 13) flicks I'm really looking forward to

Actually, the most important thing happening possibly today for fans of great television is that DirecTV and NBC are expected to announce whether or not they've come to an agreement for a fourth and fifth season of "Friday Night Lights."

Now, I know I talk about this show a whole lot, but you'll just have to believe me that it's that good. It's the best TV drama since "The Wire," and in the interest of full disclosure, it routinely comes very close to making this grownass man cry at its most touching moments.

If you've missed out on the ride thus far, it's easy to catch up, and free too. I was rather amazed to find you can watch the first two seasons and the second half of the current one on Hulu, so I encourage anyone to give it a try.

The final decision, of course, will come down to money, specifically how much DirecTV is willing to pay to air the shows before they hit NBC. I'll definitely pass on what I hear as soon as I can, but here today it's all about summer, and what's in the movie pipeline.

There's actually some pretty good stuff coming before summer, which for argument's sake will start in May, including this week Greg Mottola's "Adventureland" and - if you live in a bigger city than me - "Sunshine Cleaning" and Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's baseball flick "Sugar," and next week Jody Hill's "Observe and Report." For a look at what comes after those that intrigues me, here goes (and please forgive any misspellings, because the Blogger spell check just wouldn't work this morning):

May 21: Terminator Salvation

I really had little to no interest in this one until I saw the latest trailer, but am now fairly convinced that McG will cook up something both genuinely gritty and fun with it. McG? Yes, McG.

May 29: Three definitely worth waiting for

The Brothers Bloom: Memorial day weekend will probably be the single best movie weekend of 2009 if Rian Johnson's sophomore flick actually manages to play wide enough to reach my little corner of the world. It was originally supposed to come out late last year, and I've certainly been ready to see this con man flick starring Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz and Rinko Kikuchi since then.



Drag Me to Hell: If anyone short of Sam Raimi were promising a return to "real horror" I'd probably just laugh and move on, but judging from the trailer above I think he's come up with exactly that. If you hooked her up to a lie detector I bet Ellen Page would reveal she regrets passing on the lead in this tale of an old woman's rather nasty curse and handing the role to Alison Lohman.

Up: Having seen just last weekend what 3D can do in the wrong hands, being thoroughly bored from start to finish by Dreamworks' "Monsters Vs. Aliens," I can't wait to see it used for the forces of good again by Pixar. Everything I've seen and heard about this tale of an adventurous septuagenarian (Ed Asner) and his flying house says it's gonna be yet another Pixar winner.

June 19

Whatever Works: After countless years of casting his muse of the moment, Woody Allen has finally looked in the mirror and turned to a cranky old man as the lead in this one, and thankfully it's veryfunnyman Larry David. Here's hoping the success of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (my favorite comedy of 2009) means this return to NYC for Mr. Allen will play very wide.



Year One: As you can see from the trailer above, the humor in this Harold Ramis flick will be extremely broad but hopefully also on the mark. Jack Black and Michael Cera play the leads in this biblical laugher, which Ramis promises was made in the spirit of Monty Python. I have my doubts, but bring it on so we can find out.

July 1: Public Enemies

Having tried it out on one of my Johnny Depp-obsessed co-workers when she was having a particularly bad day, I can attest that there's just something extremely therapeutic about seeing him tote a tommy gun. Christian Bale will be the lawman who pursues Depp's John Dillinger in Michael Mann's flick, and you've also got Marion Cotillard as Dillinger's mol and Billy Crudup as J. Edgar Hoover, which all sounds pretty great to me.

July 10: Bruno

I'm not sure I'm ready for more of Sacha Baron Cohen's antics, but I laughed through just about every minute of "Borat," so I'll give him another shot. Besides, early word is that his exploits as the Austrian fashion reporter Bruno are at least as outrageous as anything he came up with the first time out, so it should at least never be boring.

July 17: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

It will be interesting to see if Harry Potter mania will still be running strong after such a long layoff. Given what director David Yates did with "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and that this installment is easily my favorite of the books, I'm betting this one will be both a critical and box-office winner.



July 31: Funny People

As you can see from the trailer above (which reveals perhaps too much of the flick's story), there's a whole lot more than stand-up comedy going on in this Judd Apatow movie starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen. Given how often we hear the "Freaks and Geeks" creator's name nowadays, it's surprising (to me, at least) that this will be only the third flick he's actually directed, preceded by "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" (the far superior of the two).

August 7: Julie and Julia

Far too girly for the heat of August, perhaps, but when you've got Meryl Streep and adorable Amy Adams in a movie that's all about food, I'm there. Streep will play master chef Julia Child and Adams a woman who decides to cook her way through Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one year's time in her small kitchen. Sounds like nothing but fun to me.



August 14: Taking Woodstock

Out of some odd misguided loyalty to Dave Chappelle I've thus far resisted watching Comedy Central's latest sketch comedy star, Demetri Martin, but I'm beginning to think I'm really missing out on something good. Should I give in? As you can see from the trailer above, Mr. Martin also plays the lead role of Elliot Tiber in Ang Lee's flick about the famed hippie fest, which looks like it will be as simply silly as it is hopefully entertaining.

August 21: Inglourious Basterds

We finish, fittingly enough, with Quentin Tarantino's version of a World War II flick, assuming he actually both finishes it in time and decides to cut it enough to release it as only one movie. After watching Eli Roth removing a Nazi's head with a baseball bat I have serious doubts that this will be any good, but I'll definitely be there to see how it all turns out.

And there you have it. There are also certainly some pending blockbusters ("GI Joe", "Star Trek" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" among them) that simply don't interest me all that much, but if there are any other summer flicks I've omitted but should put on my radar, certainly let me know, and have a perfectly passable Monday. Peace out.

Alll hail Fall: 12 movies I can't wait to see

With the movie summer officially coming to an end this weekend, it only seems appropriate that "Bangkok Dangerous" with Nicolas Cage is the only movie truly opening wide this week.

I'll probably give that one a chance, and we also get caught up this week at my multiplexes with "Brideshead Revisited" and "Henry Poole Was Here." The latter flick just sounds like the definition of sappy, but The Orlando Sentinel's Roger Moore - who I almost always trust - gave it four out of five stars, so I might just have to give that one a chance.

Today, however, it's all about the Fall, and the potentially great movies it brings with it. We start out, thankfully, with a new Coen brothers flick, and there's even better stuff coming after that, so let's get right to it. (Please note that these opening dates are sometimes only for very limited openings and are always subject to change.)

Sept 12: "Burn After Reading"
The only review I've seen of this one so far was in The Hollywood Reporter, and they panned it as snarky and not terribly funny. I've yet to meet a Coen brothers comedy I didn't like (and yes, I even have time for "Ladykillers"), though, so I'm definitely in - even if it does look like Brad Pitt's gonna go what Robert Downey Jr. described in "Tropic Thunder" as "full retard."

Sept. 12: "Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys"
I've always had tons of time for Tyler Perry, even if he did make a slight misstep earlier this year with the rather pedestrian "Meet the Browns." Here, he's got Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard in his first flick to cross the color line in a big way, and I'm betting it will work just fine.

Sept. 26: "Blindness"
Anyone who's been here before (and hopefully there are a couple of you) knows that I often list, when pressed, Fernando Meirelles' "City of God" as my favorite movie, so I'm certainly looking forward to his take on the novel by Jose Saramago. I read the book earlier this summer, and I have to warn everyone out there, this is going to be a really bleak affair, even with Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Gail Garcia Bernal all on board.

Sept. 26: "Miracle at St. Anna"
There are three flicks on this list that I'd give a gold star because I want to see them even more than all the others, and this is the first. Even if he is motivated at least in part by his squabble with Clint Eastwood, what I've seen so far of Spike Lee's World War II epic leads me to believe this will be among his very best, putting it in rare company indeed.

Oct. 17: "W."
Just because there's a 60 percent-or-so chance that this will just suck beyond all reason doesnt mean I'm not intrigued. Of all the crazy casting in Oliver Stone's deconstruction of our lame duck president, I think the best will be Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice and, even better, Toby Jones as Karl Rove.

Oct. 24: "Synecdoche, NY"
When he had the filter of director Spike Jonze to control him a bit, Kaufman still delivered one of the most delightfully odd flicks I've seen with "Adaptation." Here he takes the reins himself for this tale of a director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) struggling to build a life size replica of New York City and at the same time deal with the various women in his life (Catherine Keener, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michelle Williams and Emily Watson are apparently among them, so I really can't feel too bad for the guy!)

Oct. 31: "Zack and Miri Make a Porno"
What I've seen so far of this Kevin Smith flick starring Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen indicates it will be funnier and have more heart than anything he's delivered in years. That doesn't mean, of course, that it won't be deliriously crude too, so if you watch this redband trailer at work, certainly do so with headphones on!



Nov. 14: "Quantum of Solace"
What can I say about Bond? Not much, but I'll definitely be there to watch when Daniel Craig returns to the role with a bevvy of new babes in tow.

Nov. 26: "Milk"
Harvey Milk certainly seems to be an odd figure to have two competing biopics out there, but this one from Gus Van Sant reaches the finish line first, and I'm betting it will be the superior flick (and I admit I can't even remember who's doing the other one.) Here, you've got Sean Penn as the San Francisco pol Milk, and also Josh Brolin, James Franco, Emile Hirsch and Diego Luna all on board. If I can make one DVD recommendation, you can do a whole lot worse than Van Sant's "Elephant," even if it only has about 12 words of dialogue in total.

Nov. 28: "Slumdog Millionaire"
Danny Boyle is sorely in need of a winner after the simply tired "Sunshine," and I'm giving this one my second gold star as my vote of confidence. Shot all over India, the only thing I know for sure is that it's about a very poor dude who strives to become a contestant on the Hindi version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" so he can win the heart of the gal he's smitten with. If that sounds a bit crazy, I'm hoping the outcome certainly turns out to be that and a whole lot more.

Dec. 19: "The Brothers Bloom"
The inspiration for this list was actually this pic of Rinko Kikuchi as "Bang Bang" in Rian Johnson's sophomore flick, which gets my final gold star. If you haven't seen his first, "Brick," do so ASAP. Here he's got Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo as the titular brothers and con men, Rachel Weisz as their latest target and Kikuchi as their explosives expert. In my mind, I'm already there.

Dec. 25: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The final entry goes to David Fincher's take on the F. Scott Fitzgerald character who ages in reverse through the 20th century. Early word is this will be a very mainstream flick that bears few of Fincher's signature touches, but it takes place largely in Baltimore (and damn well better have been filmed there!) and co-stars one of my favorite actresses in Taraji P. Henson, so I'm definitely in for this one as a Christmas treat.

Honorable mention
Here, in no order of preference or chronology, are the flicks that might have made this list if I had all day to work on it: "Towelhead", "Choke", "Flash of Genius", "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist", "RocknRolla", "City of Ember", "The Road", "Australia", "Frost/Nixon", "Revolutionary Road" and "Valkyrie".

And there you have it. Please feel free to let me know of any I might have missed, and have a perfectly bearable Wednesday.

Everybody must get stoned ... at the movies

For the record (and just in case any of my employers happen to read this), I have smoked pot exactly once in at least the last 10 years or so - in 2006 - and I didn't particularly enjoy it.

I do, however, as do more people than might want to admit it, really like stoner movies. I don't mean movies that are supposedly fun to watch while on drugs (though plenty of those are great.) And I won't include any of the Cheech & Chong flicks, even if they are the gold standard, just because it seems too obvious.

And all of this, of course, is in honor of "Pineapple Express," which I won't be seeing until Friday but which I'm virtually certain I'm just going to love. How in the world Seth Rogen became a bigger star than James Franco I'll never know, but seeing these two Freaks together in what looks like a thoroughly crazy flick should just be a joy.

So, without any further ado, here are six movies I really like that have at least a little bit to do with those funny cigarettes:

Dazed and Confused: Lining up for a free screening of this Richard Linklater flick while I was at the University of Georgia instead of going to class (which I did far too often at that point) with my bud Eric Rayburn is still one of the most fun times I've ever had watching a movie. I certainly never had as much fun as these kids did in high school, but that doesn't make this flick any less enjoyable.

The Big Lebowski: Is there a better stoner icon out there than the Dude? I think not, even if he never actually tokes up at any point in the movie. I've been slow to put this one near the top of the Coen brothers' oeuvre, but while my favorite flick from the bros remains "O Brother Where Art Thou," I've grown to love this one more and more each time I see it.

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle: It was a truly sad moment when I found out I was too old to enjoy "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay." The guys were still entertaining, and Kal Penn is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors, but I just couldn't get into it. The original, however, is almost as imaginative as it is simply crude, and I keep going back to it again and again.

Brick: OK, drugs are just one of the many elements swirling through this high school film noir from Rian Johnson, but it's one of my favorite flicks, so I had to include it. Besides, I just saw the trailer for Johnson's sophomore flick, "The Brothers Bloom" with Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody and Rinko Kikuchi, and I'm convinced it's going to be one of the very best movies of 2008. In similarly good news, the trailer for Spike's "Miracle at St. Anna" played here in Macon over the weekend, hopefully meaning it's going to play everywhere once we finally get to see it.

Whatever: Count this as my candidate for the best movie that virtually no one has ever seen. Filmmaker Susan Skoog delivers a flawed but still seriously entertaining flick about growing up in New Jersey in the '80s in what would unfortunately turn out to be the only movie she ever got to direct (or at least so far, but it's been 10 years now.) If you can manage to get your hands on this one (I'd be willing to lend it to anyone with a VCR), it's worth watching for a fantastic performance from "Gilmore Girls" star Liza Weil and just an engaging little flick.

Super Troopers: This one is just riddled with pot from start to finish, and if I still smoked it, I'm sure I'd laugh even harder than I do when I return to this Broken Lizard flick every couple of months or so as cinematic comfort food. Though I thought "Beerfest" had its silly charms, I'm not sure the Broken Lizard guys will ever be this funny again, but as I just found out at the IMDB they will get another shot in 2010 with a "Super Troopers 2." Now that's a sequel I can get behind.

So there you have it. If you happen to see "Pineapple Express" before I do and want to give me your impressions in the comments, please do, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.