Jonathan Demme and Stephen King teaming up for cool time trip

It seems like forever since I've seen a movie directed by Jonathan Demme, and even longer since I've seen anything that sprang from the over-active mind of Stephen King. I did, however, enjoy Demme's last movie, "Rachel Getting Married," quite a bit, and I have "Something Wild" just sitting in my Netflix streaming queue. And now also comes word that the director, who doesn't work nearly often enough, is teaming up with King for what should be a pretty epicly fun time trip.

Demme is attached to write and direct a feature film based on King's upcoming novel, "11/22/63," which as you can perhaps guess from the title is a science fiction work that centers on the assassination of JFK. Here's the official plot description from King's website:

Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students — a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk. Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane — and insanely possible — mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life — a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.

Sounds like a movie trip well worth taking, so stay tuned for more on this as soon as I see it. And after that today, before a couple of videos, it's all about TV comedy, starting with a show that I was slow to pick up on, but have now become quite addicted to this summer: Psych.

Silly? Sure, but how could a show about psychic detectives be anything else? Luckily, thanks to stars James Roday and Dule Hill, it's also always fast and funny, and it wears its geek flag proudly, especially with the sublime "Twin Peaks" tribute episode "Dual Spires" (get it?), the last one I've managed to catch so far. And now comes word from USA that season six will premiere on Oct. 12 at 10 p.m. Bring it on already!

And in other potentially very funny TV news, Larry David's constant enabler and agent on "Curb Your Enthusiasm," the great Jeff Garlin, has just signed a deal with ABC Studios to write, executive produce and star in a half-hour comedy. No word yet on just what it might be about, but with Kid in the Hall Bruce McCullough on board to co-write this, I'm still betting on something very funny.

Now on to a couple of videos to wrap up an admittedly short report so that I can get some housework done before going to see "The Help," starting with the second trailer I've seen for "50/50," one of the movies I'm definitely most looking forward to for this fall. As you'll see from the trailer, Reel Fanatic fave Joseph Gordon Levitt stars in the comedy of sorts based on Will Reiser's battle with cancer, and he's joined by Seth Rogen and Anna Kendrick, who I'll watch in just about anything outside of the "Twilight" oeuvre. Enjoy the trailer, and keep an eye out for the movie on Sept. 30.

And finally today, I just bought the album "Watch the Throne" by Jay-Z and Kanye West, and though it's gonna take a little while to absorb all that ego, it sounds pretty epicly good so far. Below is the video for the first single, "Otis," which was apparently directed by Spike Jonze, though you really can't detect many signs of that. What is has, however, is a great sample of Otis' "Try a Little Tenderness" and, for some reason, Aziz Ansari failing pretty miserably at dancing. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant weekend. Peace out.

Become an uninvited guest with "Rachel Getting Married"

Before I launch into this review, did anyone else find it more than a little odd that noted thespian Katie Holmes was chosen to give out the best actor in a motion picture award at last night's Screen Actor's Guild Awards? Just a random thought ...

I have to say Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married" might just be the most unpleasant movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. And I can tell you, if you think you've seen every possible kind of movie wedding, think again.

What Demme has accomplished here, with a big assist from screen writer Jenny Lumet (daughter of Sidney), is something as overall as creepy as any horror movie, but instead of the usual gore the horrors here are all emotional and all too real. You never get the sense that you're really supposed to be there, and watching these extremely personal events unfold at a natural pace as an uninvited guest is a singular movie-viewing experience.

But I guess a word or two about the plot is in order, since the fairly straightforward title only gets things started. As the titular Rachel (RoseMarie DeWitt, a k a Don Draper's hippie mistress Midge on the first season of "Mad Men") is indeed getting married, her sister Kim (Anne Hathaway, as you probably know) is returning from nine months of drug rehab to steal some of the spotlight.

The movie is at its best when the two of them come together, and each sister would be a fairly trite cliche (the family success and the black sheep) if the parts weren't so well written and performed. Hathaway's rehearsal dinner toast, after begging her way at the last minute into the role of maid of honor, has gotten the most attention, and it is indeed a simmering pot of desperate neediness. But the reason it works so well is that it comes at the end of a series of wedding tributes full of the usual love and awkward moments, making it all the more jarring when Hathaway's Kim turns the spotlight on herself instead of the happy couple.

Hathaway is indeed exceptional here, but it's when we find out that there's a real tragedy buried among her many secrets and lies (which you won't hear about from me) that the actors around her get to excel. Bill Irwin as the father of the bride is hard to watch as he struggles to keep his face in a perma-grin as the big weekend starts to unravel. DeWitt's Rachel lets her resentment at this last-minute wedding intrusion simmer until it boils over, and at that point every word becomes a sharp dagger. One scene that perfectly captures the mix of bonhomie and real pain comes when Irwin and Rachel's husband-to-be Sidney (Tunde Adebimpe, who just happens to be black, a fact that creates refreshingly little to no drama) try to turn the tedious task of loading the dishwasher into a competitive sport to ease the tension.

I don't want to reveal too much more, but there is indeed eventually a wedding, and the joy it brings is just as real as the trauma, and a desperately needed respite. My only real beef with Demme's film is that he felt the need to lard up the reception a bit with more than a few of his music industry friends, but even here it was really nice to see Sister Carol East of "Something Wild" fame again.

In the end, if you can handle a brutal emotional battlefield, I can highly and almost unconditionally recommend "Rachel Getting Married." In closing, here's a flashback that just made me smile, Sister Carol performing "Wild Thing" for the closing credits of "Something Wild," which should brighten up a bit even the dreariest of Mondays. Peace out.

Indiana Jones and the saga of the rapidly aging man

I apologize up front for that rather unfortunate title if it leads anyone to think I have seen the new Indy movie. It instead reflects that I'm simply too old to stay up until 2:30 a.m. or so on a school night to watch a movie, even one as potentially cool as this. To complete my transition to solidly middle-aged citizen, however, I am going to see it at the much more civilized hour of 11:15 a.m. today and will share all my thoughts about it tomorrow.

In the meantime, there are a few bits of news out there about people I like, starting with seriously "Star Wars"-obsessed Patrick Read Johnson.

For years now I've been reading about a flick called "5/25/77" that was set to star everyone's favorite "Geek," John Francis Daley, but I just assumed it was completed and went straight to DVD. As happens, oh, twice daily or so, I was wrong.

It seems that Mr. Johnson has just landed a $200,000 windfall to complete his flick in time to present it at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (which I won't be attending, but I will be at this year's Savannah Film Festival in October, which I'm already rather jazzed about.)

So, what in the world is this little flick, now simply called "77" to suit our rather limited attention spans, about? Well, the original title matched the release date of the original "Star Wars," and the flick is about how Johnson's obsession with it led him to Hollywood and a career in directing. I haven't seen Daley, a k a Sam Weir on "Freaks and Geeks," in years, so here's hoping this little indie gets some kind of wide distribution after Toronto.

Jonathan Demme, music man

In what I'd have to call perhaps a slight case of trading up, Jonathan Demme has taken the reins of a new Bob Marley documentary from Martin Scorsese, who presumably is too busy working on "Shutter Island."

As many probably know well, Demme has a solid history of making docos, musical or otherwise. The most famous is probably still the Talking Heads flick "Stop Making Sense," but if I had one DVD-viewing recommendation for the day it would be "The Agronomist," his 2003 doco about Haitian radio journalist and human rights activist Jean Dominique.

In any case, this Marley flick is now one that's certainly caught my interest.

All hail the Polish brothers

In an era when truly independent movie studios are rapidly disappearing it's just extremely heartening to hear this bit of news about the Polish brothers, Mark and Michael.

The siblings, known most recently for the somewhat-satisfying "Astrononaut Farmer," have formed their own production company, Prohibition, with plans to start immediately on a pair of new flicks.

They will start with "Manure," a comedy about manure salesmen in 1960s heartland America that reteams them with "Astronaut Farmer" star Billy Bob Thornton. If that idea doesn't make you smile at least a little bit, there's probably nothing I can do to help you.

Immediately after that flick wraps in July, they'll get to work on "Stay Cool," a comedy that will star, oddly enough, Winona Ryder, Sean Astin and Chevy Chase.

I love movies that have a solid sense of time and place, which the Polish brothers always do with America's heartland (whatever in the world that really means.) "Twin Falls, Idaho" and "Northfork," in particular, are two I can't recommend highly enough.

Is Terry Gilliam coming to America?

There's a bit of good news about Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," which I'd have to assume will be the last movie we'll ever see with the late Heath Ledger in it.

His folks at Cannes have sold U.K. rights for the flick to Lionsgate and Japanese rights to Showgate. No word yet on distribution in the U.S., but I'd imagine the presence of Ledger alone might be enough to get this one to my local multiplex at some point.

So, what is Gilliam's rather crazy flick about? Well, it stars Christopher Plummer as the immortal, 1,000-year-old Doctor Parnassus, who leads a traveling theater troupe that offers audience members a chance to go beyond reality through a magical mirror he acquired through a deal with the devil (Tom Waits, naturally.) When Satan comes to collect on his debt and targets the doctor's daughter (Lily Cole), the troupe members must rescue her with the aid of a mysterious outsider named Tony (Ledger.) Actually, after Ledger's untimely demise, "Tony" will now be played by Ledger, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law.

Finding out how they pull that off alone is enough to make me want to see this one if it indeed ever makes it to any kind of movie theater near me.

A look at "Vicky Christina Barcelona"

Phillip Ramati, a rather serious TV and movie fan who shares his thoughts about the boob tube daily here, summed up his opinion on this year's movies thusly yesterday as he passed by my cubicle (and I may be paraphrasing just slightly): "If it doesn't have Indiana Jones or Batman in it, or Scarlett Johansson having sex with Penelope Cruz, I'm really not too interested."

Well, as you might imagine, that last bit did spark my curiosity, so I had to seek out a trailer for Woody Allen's upcoming "Vicky Christina Barcelona," which indeed stars that dynamic duo, Javier Bardem and Patricia Clarkson. And yes, if you watch the trailer long enough, I believe you do get to see some fairly steamy Cruz-Johansson smooching, which is hopefully enough to liven up everyone's Thursday work day. Peace out.

Gondry getting animated? Bring it on!

I'm embarrassed to say that I have yet to see Michel Gondry's "The Science of Sleep." It's just one of those movies that has sat in my Netflix queue for a long time now, just below the mailing line.

That admission aside, Gondry has crafted easily two of my favorite movies with "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" (even if you don't like rap music, just trust me and watch this one as soon as you can if you haven't already.) So, it's easy to get jazzed about any bit of Gondry news, especially when it's this good.

According to the MTV Movies Blog, which has become a surprising daily stop in my reading list, he's teaming up with his son, Paul Gondry, to make an animated flick about their life together. Since Gondry's flicks often take on the dream-like feel of the best animated movies, this can only be a good thing.

I tried to Google Paul Gondry and see what his work might look like, and this still from a comic he did for Filter magazine was all I could find. From what I can tell, he's a teenager who is already following solidly in his father's footsteps, having already directed a music video for the Willowz' "Take a Look Around."

Here's how Michel describe their new project to MTV: “We’re translating our relationship into a futuristic story with a dictator and a rebel. He’s the dictator in the story [and] it will be based on [his] art. - It’s going to be quite amazing.”

Sounds great to me, and of course come January we'll finally get to see Michel's next flick, the guaranteed-to-be-fun "Be Kind Rewind." Sometimes, life really is good.

"Deadwood" not completely dead?

I hesitate to tease people about the possible revival of this great show in the form of movies, but this piece on David Milch's new HBO project did offer one tantalizing tidbit.

Now, I'm only just about to embark on season 3, with the first episode on the viewing menu today, so if this was something that "Deadwood" diehards knew already please forgive me. In James Hibberd's column at TVWeek.com, you'll find this tidbit: The pair of two-hour movies take place after the town of Deadwood is destroyed by fire and floods, thus the sets are unnecessary.

That should read would take place, because the piece goes on to make clear that, even if striking the sets doesn't necessarily mean the end of "Deadwood," HBO has no plans at this time to revive it. And Milch, of course, would have his hands tied with his new HBO project, which sounds pretty friggin' cool itself.

The new series, assuming it gets picked up by HBO, will be set in the New York Police Department in the 1970s and involve the Knapp Commission investigations. The Knapp-era gave rise to the story of patrolman Frank Serpico, whose revelations about corruption within the department were made into the book and flick. If memory serves me correctly, it will be semiautobiographical, and the main character will be a Vietnam vet now serving as a NYPD cop.

As much as I'd love to see the two "Deadwood" flicks, this new work sounds just perfect for Milch, who back in the day was a co-creator of "NYPD Blue" and a major writer for "Hill Street Blues." Here's hoping he works quickly!

Andy Griffith, ladies man?

Even though we moved out of the great republic of Virginia when I was very young, I still consider myself a Southerner of sorts, especially since I've lived down here in Macon for seven years or so now. And with this Southernness, I suppose, comes a required appreciation for the great Andy Griffith.

Seeing him again in earlier this year in "Waitress" just made me smile, and now he's getting involved in a little indie flick that could be hilarious. In "Play the Game," Paul Campbell of "Battlestar Galactica" will school his grandfather, Mr. Griffith, in the fine art of picking up women.

I really have nothing else to say about this, but I thought it might make at least one person laugh.

"Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains" trailer

Another Southerner who should get nothing but love is former President Jimmy Carter. If you can really watch him riding his bicycle in this trailer for Jonathan Demme's new doco "Jimmy Carter Man From Plains" and still have venomous thoughts about the man, there's nothing I can probably say to change your mind.

Enjoy this trailer I found on YouTube, and if this movie somehow makes it to your little corner of the world, go see this doco about a man who may have been a fairly awful president but is still a great American. Enough said.