A Wednesday chock full of good movie news

Few movies have stuck longer in my mind and just gotten better and better with age recently than Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are." It's just one of those movies I watch once a year or so, and always find something new and magical in it each time.

So, it's certainly good news that the man is finally ready to get back to work again, and even better that he's working with "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation" co-conspirator Charlie Kaufman. The duo is apparently having some trouble locking down the exact financing for their next project, but given what it's about, here's certainly hoping it happens: Per Deadline, it will be "a satire about how world leaders gather to figure out all the seismic events that will take place in the worlds, from oil prices to wars that will be waged."

Wow. Imagine all that filtered through the warped mind of Kaufman. Whenever this happens, I'm in.

And although the Oscars were an entirely predictable and somewhat surprisingly, at least to me, rather boring affair this year, there was some very good news that broke out afterward. Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" was my favorite movie of 2010, and if the man's to be believed (and he usually is), it seems he's at least finished the script for his next movie. All that's known for sure so far is that it will be a "Western" (who knows what could really mean from QT?), but that's enough to get me intrigued, because the man has yet to steer me wrong so far.

Finally, to close out the news portion of this before we get to some videos, I'm certainly looking forward to Tomas Alfredson's follow-up to "Let the Right One In," and now that Universal has picked it up for a late fall this year release, I should even be able to see it in theaters in my little corner of the world.

What he's cooked up is a big-time take on John Le Carre's classic Cold War spy novel "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," which has already been made into a British miniseries starring Alec Guinness and the late, great Ian Richardson, among many others. Not to be outdone, for his big-screen version, Alfredson has recruited Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and Ciaran Hinds. Oldman plays George Smiley, the spy called out of retirement to root out a Russian spy who has embedded himself in the ranks of Britain's MI6.

Great book, great cast and great director, on a flick to open everywhere? Perfection.

OK, on to the videos portion quickly, because I still want to go swimming before work today. I really think "Rango" is going to be a lot of fun, so I'll be at my local multiplex to see it Saturday afternoon. As reviewer Roger Moore (and probably others) rightly asked, however, just who is a movie with truly odd characters who smoke and (at least occasionally) swear exactly intended for? It's a valid question, and while I can't speak to whether or not it's appropriate for kids, the animated Western featuring the voices of Johnny Depp and the great Bill Nighy looks like it's just right for me. Enjoy this collection of clips/behind the scenes mini featurette.



Next, though the "Toy Story" characters may have retired from feature-length films with "Toy Story 3," it's no secret that they will be in the short that precedes "Cars 2" this summer,"Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation" (and I'm betting the short will be a damn sight better than the main attraction.) Enjoy this very short clip of Ken and Barbie arriving in what they think is the island of dreams, and then stick around for the one thing guaranteed to make this possibly dreary Wednesday much better, a free Buster Keaton movie!



I know that no matter how long I use it, I'll always be more than a bit of a Luddite when it comes to the Internet, and I'm constantly surprised by the array of what's available on YouTube. For example, what could be better than Buster Keaton's "The General," in its glorious entirety? I doubt anyone really has 105 minutes to spare during this workday, but even in pieces, this is an indisputable gem, and this looks great full screen. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

Will there be a great movie about the Iraq war?

Before I delve into anything as serious as war (especially since it's a Friday morning, after all), there are two fairly cool tidbits about upcoming TV projects out there today too.

First, Michael Bluth will be returning to TV, sort of, as director of the Fox pilot "The Inn," which is described as an "Upstairs/Downstairs" kind of thing set at a "hip" New York hotel.

And, much more importantly, Sci Fi Wire has the news that "Battlestar Galactica" executive producer David Eick is creating a new series for the Sci Fi Channel based on the P.D. James novel Children of Men, which was of course already made into easily one of the best movies of 2006 by Alfonso Cuaron. Eick promises his series will be quite different from the flick, saying this at Sci Fi's upfront presentation:

"It's really taking root more in the origins of the novels in that it will focus on the cultural movement in which young people become the society's utter focus. Much like our culture, whenever Lindsay Lohan does something [and] it becomes the headline of every news show, it's about how, when you don't have a responsibility to the next generation and you're free to do whatever you want, where do you draw the line?"

Sounds like he's onto something good here, and - in spite of the "Bionic Woman" misfire - I trust he's capable of creating something well worth watching this fall.

But, onto today's rather weightier subject. It's next to impossible to turn on one of the 24-hour "news" channels nowadays without hearing our current conflict in Iraq being compared to the Vietnam War. While that comparison is too facile to work on many levels, I'm only concerned here today with what kinds of movies have been generated by the two wars, and on that front at least, the Vietnam War still has a rather commanding lead.

The gold standard, of course, is Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," not only for how it delved so acutely into the war psyche but also for the sheer number of stunning images it left permanently seared on the brains of viewers brave enough to make that journey into the heart of darkness.

Two others that came out in the same year and were heated competitors were "The Deer Hunter" and "Coming Home." Vanity Fair recently had a great piece on the two flicks and what it dubbed "The Vietnam Oscars," which, amazingly enough, you can read for free here.

I recently watched them back-to-back (after reading the Vanity Fair piece), and I have to say that, though there both worthy films, I find Michael Cimino's "Deer Hunter" to definitely be the superior of the two. It's just epic American storytelling and a very entertaining flick to boot.

But, fast-forward now to our current conflict in Iraq, and do we have the same caliber of flicks chronicling this battle? I'd have to - so far - answer with a resounding no.

Lumping the war in Iraq together with the greater "war on terror," because the two are of course inextricably linked, I'd count two fictional works I've seen that clearly aren't the match of their predecessors.

First came Robert Redford's "Lions for Lambs," which purported to be a battle of ideas but instead came off about as entertaining and insightful as a high school civics class taught by the wrestling coach (as mine was.)

The second I've seen was Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah," and though it's a vastly superior flick to "Lambs," it still suffered more than a little from Haggis' very heavy hand. That said, Tommy Lee Jones' subtle performance was a worthy Oscar nominee, and I'd grade this one as at least worth a rental if you haven't seen it yet.

I haven't seen the doco "Taxi to the Dark Side" or Brian De Palma's media thesis "Redacted," so I can't say with authority that those aren't the great Iraq war/war on terror flicks I've been searching for, but I have my doubts. And though Paul Greengrass is currently turning his very shaky camera on the subject with "Green Zone," I think we'll get the flick we've been lacking this very weekend with Kimberly Peirce's "Stop-Loss."

If that name doesn't ring a bell, that's probably because Peirce has only made one other movie of note, the great "Boys Don't Cry," and that came way back in 1999.

Why do I have such high hopes for this one? Well, from what little I know I expect it to be, rather than a heavy-handed civics lesson, simply a tale of war told from the perspective of the kids who have to fight it. And, castwise, though the big names are Ryan Phillipe and Channing Tatum, two of my favorite actors - Joseph Gordon Levitt and Ciaran Hinds - have supporting roles in this too.

So, that pretty much sets up my Saturday before I turn my brain over to basketball. A lunch of Ropa Vieja at the exquisite Emilio's Cuban Cafe in Bonaire, and then a 1:30 p.m. screening of "Stop-Loss" at the Galleria in Centerville. Whether you turn out for this one or not, have a great weekend all. Peace out.