A Wednesday clip show, with the Swell Season, J. Edgar and more

Actually, before we get into any of that, there's a bit of news out there this morning, starting off with an "Arrested Development" reunion of sorts ... but no, of course not the one fans have been waiting for.

I'd certainly advise not, if you ever were, holding your breath for any kind of "Arrested Development" movie any time, well, ever, but the entire cast is apparently coming together at the New Yorker Festival for "A Bluth Family Reunion."

If you're lucky enough to be in in NYC, definitely try and snag a ticket for this Oct. 2 event (they go on sale at noon today at the New Yorker's website) that will indeed feature Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, David Cross, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter and series creator Mitchell Hurwitz. Color me jealous.

And along with an "Arrested Development" movie, another thing that I'd like to see that now probably won't happen, or at least not in any form worth watching, is a "Bad Santa 2." I'd think more antics involving Billy Bob Thornton's truly foul Father Christmas, the even funnier Tony Cox and hopefully Lorelai Gilmore too would be an easy sell, but writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa have apparently spurned an offer to do that for something else that could be a lot of fun.

Jumping on an idea from Steve Carell, they've apparently, according to Moviehole, already written the script for "one of these three friends from college, but now they’re in their 40s, movies. They’re going on a European backpacking trip that they never did. And it’s filled with all this middle-aged fun.”

Actually, sounds like exactly the dreadful kind of dreck that would star John Travolta and Tim Allen, but these are some seriously funny writers, so I'll keep an open mind. Stay tuned ...

And in the last bit of news, you can always sell me on Jeremy Renner in a good heist movie, so here's hoping this will be another one. In "King of Heists" (the movie's got to be better than that title, at least), based on the nonfiction book by J. North Conway, he's set to star as the mastermind of "the greatest bank robbery in American history," which took place on October 27, 1878, when thieves broke into the Manhattan Savings Institution and stole nearly $3 million in cash and securities — around $50 million in today’s terms.

OK, now on to the clips, and there's certainly no better place to start than with the first and only trailer I know of for what should be a truly sweet little music documentary about the Swell Season, aka the duo of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. If those names sound at least vaguely familiar to you, they should, since they were the stars of John Carney's thoroughly charming little romance "Once," which you should rent immediately as soon as you can find it. The doco charts their own path from true-life romance to the Oscars and more, and it should be well worth watching if you're lucky enough to catch this when it comes out in October. Enjoy the trailer.



Next up indeed comes the first full trailer I know of for "J.Edgar," director Clint Eastwood's upcoming biopic on the first FBI director with the rather colorful personal life. I've made my distaste for many of Eastwood's directing efforts clear in this space before, so I can't help but thinking in watching this that it's going to be plenty broad, but not much more than skin deep. And besides, with that aging makeup, Leo DiCaprio just looks creepy. It does, however, have a script from "Milk" scribe Dustin Lance Black, so I'd love to be proved wrong when this comes out Nov. 9. Enjoy the trailer.



Coincidentally enough, I have "Rumble in the Bronx" sitting on my DVR, probably for watching tonight. That's the last Jackie Chan movie I can remember just loving unconditionally, and really the last one in which he hasn't seemed to play some silly form of spy/babysitter/supercop hybrid. The trailer below, on the other hand, for a movie titled "1911" which he apparently co-directed, promises something more serious and hopefully still fun, too. A historical epic about the founding of the Republic of China, it's set to open in at least some American cities on Oct. 12, so keep an eye out for it, and enjoy the trailer.



OK, shifting a bit to TV, the MTV Movies site has a short interview with "Games of Thrones" producers D.B. Weiss and David Benoiff from the Emmys red carpet, and while it doesn't reveal much about season two, I'm certainly jonesing for it, so I'll take what I can get. Since season one was so entirely, but still very entertainingly, by the first book by George R.R. Martin, I've avoided reading any more of the books so I can be surprised from here on out. When will we get a season two on HBO? All I know is next spring, but hopefully by March or so. Bring it on already!

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And finally today, though I haven't watched "Today" in any form except on "The Soup" for about 25 years or so, I'm a sucker for any interview with the truly inspiring Roger Ebert, so enjoy this interview he did with Matt Lauer to promote his new memoir, "Life Itself." There's not much I can say about this that Roger himself doesn't say much better, so I'll just leave it at that. Enjoy the clip, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

P.S.: If you really made it this far, you certainly deserve a reward, so here goes: NPR is streaming the new Wilco album "The Whole Love" here, and it's well worth a listen.

Saturday fun: of "Red Tails" and the Gods of Westeros

I've only read the first book in George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of fantasy novels, and though I thoroughly enjoyed it, I've decided to stop so that I can be surprised by what unfolds in season two and beyond of HBO's glorious "Game of Thrones."

Why not read the books and just see how the show differs? Well, because, and I certainly don't mean this as a criticism, but very rarely have I seen a show or movie that stuck so closely to its source material. When you're starting with something this good, there's really no reason to monkey with it too much, and if anything "Game of Thrones" proves it's sometimes perfectly OK to go exactly by the book.

And, not surprisingly since the show seemed to go up in the ratings with each episode, HBO co-President Richard Plepler said this week that, “We told [author George R.R. Martin] we’d go as long as he keeps writing” those books, of which there are now five (including this year's "A Dance of Dragons.")

So, I tell you all this to tell you that the photo above is of the statues of the Gods of Westeros from the filming of season two of "Game of Thrones," but I, like probably many of you, we'll have to tune in to find out exactly what role they'll play in the series, and can't wait to find out.

And after that today, the main event is the first trailer for "Red Tails" from director Anthony Hemingway and Lucasfilm. My first thought upon watching it was how in the world has it taken so long for there to be an epic feature film about the Tuskegee Airmen? (There was, of course, "The Tuskegee Airmen" from 1995, but that was just a HBO movie ... albeit a pretty good one.)

So, will this be the grand treatment these heroes deserve? Well, not surprisingly, it looks fantastic. The cast, featuring Terrence Howard and Bryan Cranston, among others, is solid. The major question is if Hemingway, who up until now has only directed a long string of TV shows (though having honed his skills David Simon's "The Wire" and now "Treme," he's certainly learning from a master) is able to pull this all off.

And along with releasing this trailer, Lucasfilm has also announced just when we'll find out how all this turned out: Jan. 20. Enjoy the trailer, and if you're looking for some good summertime movie entertainment, ignore what a solid majority of critics have said and take a chance on "Cowboys and Aliens." Peace out.