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.

What will happen when it's Sunny again in Philadelphia?

One of the very few bright spots during this TV summer with no "Psych" and no "Mad Men" has been FX's one-two comedy punch of "Wilfred" and then "Louie" on Thursday nights.

If you've never seen either, I'd recommend giving them a chance tonight starting at 10 p.m. "Wilfred," an Australian import starring Elijah Wood, is as close as I've seen to a real trip on mainstream TV in many years. Co-star and show creator Jason Gann plays the titular "Wilfred," the dog who only Wood's character can talk to (almost always after consuming copious amounts of marijuana) and who becomes his partner in all kinds of depravity. Just trust me, it's much funnier than I make it sound here.

And "Louie" creator and star Louis CK was probably the biggest surprise in this year's Emmy nominations, garnering a much-deserved one in the category of best actor in a comedy. The show mixes CK's often caustic standup comedy with vignettes from his life raising his two young daughters as a divorced dad and getting into all kinds of uncomfortable situations. It's a dry and definitely acquired taste, but one I look forward to every week.

The best of FX's comedies, however, at least for me, will always be "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." It's just the ultimate release after a long day of work, because not only are the characters always constantly trying to undermine each other with petty (and uniformly ridiculous) schemes, but it thankfully has absolutely no conscience at all.

You'd think it would get old, but for me it certainly hasn't yet, and now FX has announced that the show is returning for a 13-episode seventh season beginning Sept. 15. And what will the gang get up to next? Well according to FX, Charlie, Dee, Mac, Dennis and Frank will "prepare for the apocalypse, hit the beach at the Jersey Shore, produce a child beauty pageant and take a walk down memory lane at their high school reunion."

All that has me laughing already, so definitely tune in when "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" once again.

And in a bit of movie news, it seems we may finally get to see what ever became of Joss Whedon's horror movie, "Cabin in the Woods," but I'll believe that when we finally really get to see it.

The movie, co-written by Whedon and Drew Goddard, and directed by Goddard, was originally scheduled to come out in 2009, but got swallowed up in the bankruptcy of MGM and other things that are beyond the rather silly scope of this site.

Now, however, it seems that Lionsgate has acquired the rights to the movie starring Chris Hemsworth, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford and Whedon mainstay Amy Acker, among others, and has set a release date of April 13, 2012.

The title should pretty much make it clear what this is about, but here's how Whedon, in typical modesty, described it: "the horror movie to end all horror movies." I somehow doubt that, but at least now we'll all get to find out for ourselves.

And after that brief report, I'll leave you with this audio-only clip of the new song from Jay-Z and Kanye West because, well, I don't think I'll ever get too old for good hip-hop and because this song, "Otis," just makes truly audacious use of the Otis Redding song "Try a Little Tenderness." Their collaborative album, "Watch The Throne," which will easily set the record for the most ego ever assembled on one record, is set to hit the Web Aug. 1 and then record stores on Aug. 5. Enjoy, and have a perfectly adequate Thursday. Peace out.

Kevin McDonald and the future of movies ... YouTube?

I tried for about a week to make a one-man movement against movies bypassing theaters, and then I found that IFC was putting its always interesting movies on pay-per-view cable at the same time they were opening at a theater, well, nowhere in the world near me.

I've seen several movies this way, and the next one will probably be James Gunn's "Super," unless the presence of Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page will be enough to get this to play everywhere (seriously doubt it.) The flick, set to open April 1, stars Wilson as a man who, after his wife (Liv Tyler) gets hooked on drugs and runs off with the pusherman, dons a cape and turns into an avenging superhero of sorts, with Page as his sidekick. I'm laughing at that already, so definitely keep an eye out for it.

And before that, Kevin McDonald, director of "State of Play" and "The Last King of Scotland," is pioneering another way for movies to get exposure without dealing with movie theaters: YouTube. His new movie, titled "Life In a Day," has some rather lofty aspirations: Drawing from 4,500 hours of footage sent in from 192 countries, it indeed tries to capture a day in the life of this world we all live in.

Sounds like a fascinating idea, and when the movie premieres at 6 p.m. mountain time Jan. 27 at the Sundance Film Festival, it will be simultaneously streaming on the movie's YouTube channel, which you can find here. If you miss that, it will stream again the next day at 7 p.m. in whatever time zone you're in, with subtitles of your choice.

I don't think I'll ever get used to watching movies on a computer, but with YouTube streaming to Blu-Ray players now, the future is certainly here, so I guess we should all just deal with it ... and in this case, embrace it too.

After that today, there's a bit of great movie news and then a Muppets video (because I just can't get enough of them) that surely hasn't been approved by Disney or anyone from the Henson clan.

In movie news, it seems that Robert Pattinson (hate if you have to) has stepped into the lead role of David Cronenberg's "Cosmopolis," which was once to be played by Colin Farrell.

Now, I really have nothing against Mr. Pattinson, and if he helps this flick, based on the novel by Don Delillo, get made, bully, because it sounds just tailormade for Cronenberg.

The book, which I haven't (yet) read, deals with 24 hours in the life of a newly married billionaire (Pattinson) as he cheats on his wife, is pursued by a stalker, gets attacked by a protester and gradually loses his entire fortune over the course of a single day. Adding some serious chops to the cast, Marion Cotillard will play Pattinson’s wife and Paul Giamatti will play one of the two men stalking the billionaire.

All sounds great to me, and we'll be getting another Cronenberg movie some time this year, though as yet I have no idea exactly when. He's wrapped production on "A Dangerous Method," which stars Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud and Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung as they collaborate to come up with the cure for a woman (Keira Knightley) suffering from some kind of psychological issues. That's definitely near the top of my must-see list for 2011, so if you hear anything about when it will be hitting theaters, please let me know.

And with that, it's time to wrap things up so I can go to work, but not before a true bit of inspired madness starring the Muppets performing Kanye West's "Monster." Yes, really. And as you can imagine, this clip has all kinds of language that should never come from the mouths of Muppets, so please don't say I didn't warn you and, of course, watch it with headphones on if you're at work! It's all extremely silly, but also inspired, especially when Miss Piggy hits the screen as Nicki Minaj. Enjoy the clip, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

When Spike met Kanye: Where the Vain Things Are

First off, serious kudos go out to filmmaker Tina Mabry, whose "Mississippi Damned" I had the disinct pleasure of seeing at the Atlanta Film Festival 365 this year.

Now, it seems that Mabry's flick has taken home the top prize, the Golden Hugo for best film, at the 45th annual Chicago International Film Festival over the weekend, and Mabry also nabbed the best screenplay prize.

They really couldn't have gone to a much better movie in my book. Not the easiest flick to watch, "searing" doesn't really begin to convey the story she tells here, about a black family in Mississippi and how their lives become intertwined in increasingly violent ways, mentally and physically. That said, I simply loved it, and it's got easily one of the best ensemble casts of the year, so catch it if you ever can (I looked, and it doesn't seem to yet have any DVD release date I could find.)

Here today, however, it's all about this truly bizarre short film by "Where the Wild Things Are" director Spike Jonze and starring Kanye West, which comes courtesy of Vimeo. It's more than a bit long at 11 minutes, and the sound in the nightclub is often muddled and blaring, but it's still fascinating.

I have no idea if this was supposed to be some kind of music video (there's a song playing in the background that West is very happy to hear, but only being a fan of actual hip-hop, I couldn't possibly tell you if it's his), of which Spike has directed plenty. What it mostly is, before it takes an appropriately odd turn at the end, is West "acting"like a drunken, obnoxious idiot (I say "acting" only because I'd imagine this is what a night on the town with him would be like, and it would be truly be one of the circles of hell.)

I also have no idea if this was supposed to be some kind of apology of sorts from Mr. West for his recent behavior, but I can't help but think it will only reinforce people's generally negative view of him.

Anyways, it's easily the most interesting thing I could find for a Monday morning. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable day. Peace out.

"We Were Once A Fairytale" - Kanye West Dir: Spike Jonze from Yooj‽ on Vimeo.

Please, please, please just say no to Jay Leno

Before I go any further, I just wanted to thank Kanye West for finally proving to the world just how much of an ass he is. Not that it really matters to me, since I've thought that much of him since he was obviously the only person who had no fun at "Dave Chappelle's Block Party," but I am glad the proverbial cat is completely out of the bag now.

But I didn't tune in for much else of MTV's Video Music Awards last night because, first of all, I'm obviously far too old, and more importantly because last night was just such an epicly good night of television in other places.

First up at my house came the two-episode finale-of-sorts for "King of the Hill," a finale-of-sorts because it was really just two really good episodes. I love the fact that, apart from that they all ended up eating Hank and Bobby's steaks, there really wasn't any big closing at all, just two naturally funny Bobby-centric episodes that showed why "King of the Hill" has always been funnier than anything else in Fox's Sunday night lineup - and a heck of a lot better than Mike Judge's latest movie, "Extract." R.I.P. Hill clan.

Next up was the season two finale of "True Blood," and man was that just a wildly entertaining mess. It hit me about five minutes into it that, even though what they had come up with all of Maryann's madness was just crazy enough to work, absolutely none of it came from Charlaine Harris' very popular Sookie Stackhouse novels (of which, since I'm nearing the end of book five, you can certainly count me as a fan.) And the ending (I'm just gonna have to assume that you've seen this by now if you want to)? If Sookie had somehow even agreed to marry Bill it would have just been way too much of a departure from the novels to even stomach, so I'm certainly glad that never happened (at least to his knowledge.)

But, amazingly, episode five of season three of "Mad Men" was still the best thing on TV last night, and by a pretty wide stretch. Poor Bertie giving birth while Don and his new prison guard buddy bonded over a bottle of booze? Priceless. And you can just tell that the schoolteacher is gonna be a femme fatale like Don just hasn't encountered yet. Of all his mistresses so far, Rosemarie DeWitt from season one would have to be my favorite, with Maggie Siff a close second, but you can just tell that the teacher will do more damage than the both of them combined, and I can't wait to see it unfold. And it really is amazing that season three so far is miles better than season two, which was just as much better than season one.

And I tell you all that to tell you this: In your mind, compare all that wild entertainment to what's going to be unleashed on NBC tonight and, for that matter, every weeknight at 10 p.m. or the foreseeable (or should it be "unforeseeable"?) future. Is there really anything worse you could imagine for primetime than FIVE HOURS A WEEK of Jay Leno kissing celebrities' asses? I can't come up with anything, and given the rather amazing amount of reality crap that pollutes most of the airwaves now, that's saying quite a bit.

Tonight will be a test of willpower for me, because I really like Jerry Seinfeld (Jay's first 10 p.m. guest), but I'm gonna stand strong and just say no. If I have any power at all (and, believe me, I'm well aware that I don't), please do me this tiny favor and never, ever tune in to this garbage. I have a feeling from everything I've read so far that, no matter how abysmal Jay's ratings might get, they're unlikely to pull him off the air any time soon because the show is just so cheap to produce, but we can still try, right?

OK, enough bile for a Monday morning. I'll leave you with something much more glorious: A making-of featurette for Wes Anderson's upcoming "Fantastic Mr. Fox." As you can see from this clip, Anderson clearly has the same respect for Roald Dahl and his work that Spike Jonze has for Maurice Sendak and his. Enjoy the clip, and have a perfectly passable Monday. Peace out.

I knew "South Park" was powerful, but ...

If you happened to tune in for Wednesday's "South Park" episode, you know that - as the best ones do - it starts out sanely enough with Jimmy writing "the greatest joke in the world" about fishsticks (on the 8-year-old level from which I sometimes view the world, it was indeed pretty funny) before spiraling all over the place and ending with Kanye West singing about the joys of being a gay fish.

It was pretty inspired satire of someone who surely deserves it, and surprisingly, it seems that Mr. West - in his own way - has sort of gotten the message, which I never would have guessed possible.

In his blog, the "rapper" (quotations added only because I can't stand his music, mind you) had this to say about it:

"SOUTH PARK MURDERED ME LAST NIGHT AND IT'S PRETTY FUNNY. IT HURTS MY FEELINGS BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM SOUTH PARK! I ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN WORKING ON MY EGO THOUGH. HAVING THE CRAZY EGO IS PLAYED OUT IN MY LIFE AND CAREER."

Now, the caps alone (which certainly weren't added by me) show that he hasn't really completely gotten over himself, but I suppose it's a start. The whole thing, which you can read here, is actually a hoot, and this would have to be easily the best line: "I GOT A LONG ROAD AHEAD OF ME TO MAKE PEOPLE BELIEVE I'M NOT ACTUALLY A HUGE DOUCHE, BUT I'M UP FOR THE CHALLENGE."

OK, since he also actually posted the video of South Park's gay fish song, I should probably just stop the hating. Here's the video, in case you missed it:



In another bit of TV news, according to Entertainment Weekly, Aaron Sorkin is actually considering another return to TV, and more incredibly a return to yet another "show about making a show."

According to writer Lynette Rice, along with working on two screenplays (one for a Facebook movie [yawn, but yes, I'm on it] and one for a courtroom drama about Guantanamo Bay that sounds much more promising), he's also considering the idea of a new TV drama that takes a behind-the-scenes look at a cable news show.

Man, does that sound like nothing but meh. Now, don't get me wrong, "Sports Night" was pure gold, but his second attempt, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," was just almost completely devoid of any heart or soul, and lasted much longer than it should have. Given the set of this new show, if it were to happen, I'd imagine the politics he would cram down our throats week after week might be just about unbearable.

And in "The Office"-related news, it seems that Jan (Melora Hardin) is getting a starring role in an upcoming FX series that actually sounds really promising. Called "Lights Out," it will be about a former heavyweight boxing champion (Holt McCallany) who suffers from pugilistic dementia and is forced to take a job as a mob legbreaker to support his wife and three daughters. Hardin will plays his wife, an orthopedic surgeon. That all sounds great to me.

Two promising trailers

I have to admit that this one caught me just about completely off guard. I really like Sam Rockwell and love old-fashioned sci-fi (which Danny Boyle tried to fashion with "Sunshine" but just failed spectacularly), so "Moon" looks like it will be right up my alley. It's being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, which hopefully means it will somehow play wide enough to reach my little corner of the world when this hits theaters June 12. Enjoy.



And finally, here's the international trailer for Michael Mann's "Public Enemies," which looks much, much better than the teaser he put out earlier this year. You can tell from this clip that what he's cooking up will be as much an epic romance between Johnny Depp's John Dillinger and his mol Billie Frechette, played by Marion Cotillard, as it will hopefully be just a really fun gangster pic. Enjoy, and have a great weekend. Thanks to the largess of two of my old friends, Cory and Kaori, I'm going to watch the Braves beat down the evil Nationals Saturday night (yes, Facebook can really be great sometimes), and before that see Jody Hill's "Observe and Report." Peace out.

When Michel Gondry met ... "The Green Hornet"?

Actually, the best news I found out there today is that Andy Richter and Conan O'Brien are going to be reunited again when Conan takes over "The Tonight Show" on June 1.

Though it was purely by coincidence, when Richter left "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" in 2000 was just about the same time I stopped tuning in loyally almost every night (having nothing to do with him, but instead because increasingly grumpy, clearly middle-aged men simply shouldn't be up that late.)

In his new role, Richter will serve as announcer but also, thankfully, participate in a lot of the sketches too. I'd much rather see him back as a traditional on-the-couch sidekick a la Ed McMahon or, well, Andy Richter, but this still will be enough to make me stay up a little later for at least the beginning to see what Conan cooks up in his new time slot.

And the weirdest thing is easily that the Humane Society gives out movie awards, including Best Picture, for flicks that it thinks address animal issues well. And the nominees (none of which I've seen) are:

"Bolt"
"Marley & Me"
"Red"
"Saving Luna"

Actually, that "Red" is one I'd like to see, and will instantly watch on Netflix soon, because I like Brian Cox in just about anything. And for one that they missed, though it just moved way too slow for my tastes, no 2008 movie better addressed the perils of dog ownership when you don't have a home for yourself than "Wendy and Lucy," which starred Michelle Williams.

But easily the coolest news out there is that Michel Gondry is now attached to direct "The Green Hornet." Take a minute to let that sink in.

It may seem odd that the director of such mind-bending flicks as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "The Science of Sleep" would take on something as silly as a superhero flick, but I think this could really work well, because if you look at two other recent flicks from Mr. Gondry, he clearly also just likes to have fun.

I own a copy of "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" on DVD, and that Gondry flick delivers just what its title promises (with some sensational music to boot.) And anyone who's seen "Be Kind Rewind" (and if you haven't, why not?) knows that he can be just as goofy as anyone when he wants to be.

So, what's up with "The Green Hornet"? Well, amazingly enough, it's set to star Seth Rogen as the titular hero (yes, really) and - even better - Stephen Chow as his loyal sidekick Kato (the role made famous by one Bruce Lee.) Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the team behind "Superbad," wrote the script. Chow was attached to direct at one point, which would have been even more bizarrely entertaining, before pulling out over "creative differences."

I know that's a lot about a movie that isn't even set to come out until June 25, 2010, so I'll just wrap this up with a clip from the "Block Party" featuring probably my favorite rap act of all, Dead Prez. If you like hip-hop, R&B (Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Dead Prez, Kanye West, the Roots and even the Fugees all show up to perform here) or the humor of Dave Chappelle, I can't recommend a rental higher than I can this great little concert flick. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.