A Greg Mottola movie of "Dog of the South"? Bring it on

Greg Mottola's "Adventureland" is one of those movies that just gets better and better with age. I've seen it three times now, and though the ending seems ridiculously tacked on, it's still just a thoroughly entertaining snapshot of a time we've all been through at some point (though most likely not with Kristen Stewart to pitch woo at.)

He's in "post-production" now on something called "Paul" which, once it comes out, should just be a hoot. It stars British comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" as two geeks who end up picking up an alien voiced by Seth Rogen (naturally) while on a cross-country trip to Comic-Con. I still have no idea when this will be released, but hopefully by the fall, and you can count me as thoroughly amped for it.

Mottola has developed into one of my favorite directors (he also made a little movie called "Superbad"), and he's now eyeing as a future project the Charles Portis novel "Dog of the South," for Bill Hader to star in. If you've ever read the novel, you should know just how funny this could be.

Portis' most famous novel, "True Grit," is getting the remake treatment (though in their hands, I'd really hesitate to use such a dirty word) from the Coen brothers this year, coming as a Christmas day gift and starring Josh Brolin, Matt Damon and the Dude. "Dog of the South," while certainly a lesser Portis work, is still worth reading if you like dry Southern comedy.

As a movie, it should be a great fit for Bill Hader. Simply put, it's about a guy who tracks his ex-wife and her lover through their credit card receipts, mostly so he can get his hands on the car she took with her. It's a lot better than I'm making it sound here, and well worth checking out. Here's hoping the movie comes together fairly quickly.

And speaking of "Adventureland," its star, Jesse Eisenberg, has just signed on to the followup by "Zombieland" director Ruben Fleischer, and it's quickly assembling a great comedy cast.

In the flick "30 Minutes or Less," shooting this summer, veryfunnyguy Aziz Ansari plays a junior high history teacher who is forced to join forces with a pizza delivery guy played by Eisenberg to rob a bank when one of them is strapped to a bomb vest. Throw in Danny McBride and Michael Pena as some of the baddies in this scheme, and you've got me pretty much hooked.

All I've got after that today is a clip from what has to be the one movie I'm most looking forward to seeing this year, assuming it eventually makes it down here somewhere even close to my little corner of the world, Jean Pierre Jeunet's "Micmacs." So far, I know it's playing in New York and L.A. this week, with four more cities promised next week, and only "coming to a theater near you" after that. Here's hoping that's true, because this one really does look like it's thoroughly infused with the Jeunet spirit. Enjoy this clip he introduces for HitFix (and swiped by me for you enjoyment), and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

Warning: This is one movie I'm gonna be seriously obsessed with for the next year or so

OK, I get way too obsessed about movies that won't come out for a long while around here far too often, but you can officially pair this one with Danny Boyle's "127 Hours" as the two I'm most looking forward to in the somewhat near future.

Clint Eastwood has just signed on to direct the biopic of J. Edgar Hoover that is being developed by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment, from a script by "Milk" scribe Dustin Lance Black.

When I first heard that news, my first thought was wouldn't it be fun if Dirty Harry played Hoover, but of course he's far too old by now. It certainly would have been amazing, though. As for who can do it now, Billy Crudup did a much more than passing job in Michael Mann's rather criminally underrated "Public Enemies," so he should certainly be a candidate, but my money would be on them going with a relative unknown to play at least the young Hoover.

As for the subject himself, there can't be many more fascinating - albeit widely reviled - figures of the 20th century, on the one hand creating the FBI and taking on all kinds of gangsters while on the other hand, well, apparently cross-dressing at homosexual orgies (not that there's anything in the world wrong with that.) A complicated dude to say the least, and after what Black did with the life of Harvey Milk, I'm confident he's given this the full treatment it requires.

And, frankly, I have to admit that Eastwood's never been one of my favorite directors, mostly due to his complete aversion to subtlety. That said, I've seen "Gran Torino" three times now and like it more each time (though, and if you still haven't seen this but want to, PLEASE SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH, did he really have to die in the shape of a cross? Sheesh.) I'm fairly certain the man has at least one more great movie in him, so here's hoping this is it.

In much lighter and hopefully funnier news, though I gave up actually smoking pot at least 15 years or so ago (though mi hermano and I tried it during a stop in Amsterdam during the 2006 World Cup, just to make sure I never need to again), I've always loved stoner movies, and I think I always will, especially with this cast.

Jason Segel of "How I Met Your Mother" (and, of course, "Freaks and Geeks," which I try to mention at least once every day) and Ed Helms of "The Office" have signed on to star in "Jeff Who Lives at Home," a stoner comedy from the Duplass brothers, Mark and Jay, which will begin shooting next month in Louisiana.

The flick chronicles a day in the life of two brothers, one a stoner who lives at home (Segel, natch) and the other a dude who has things more together but is very overbearing (Helms, natch again.) Just in case that wasn't enough funny for you, Judy Greer is about to join in too as Helms' character's wife. Nice.

Like I said, I'll always be hooked on good stoner flicks, so certainly count me in for all of that. And all I have after that today is a trio of videos (actually, that's not quite true, because some genuine "Mad Men" madness turns up at the end too.)

First up comes the music video for the Runaways' song "Cherry Bomb," performed by the movie's stars, Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart. Actually, I have no idea if Stewart actually learned to play the guitar, but that's certainly Dakota singing, and as anyone who's been here before knows, you can count me as being in the camp that thinks "The Runaways" is somehow not going to completely suck when it finally comes out April 9. Enjoy.

Dakota Fanning featuring Kristen Stewart - New Music - More Music Videos

You know, I've met more than a few Canadian people in my already fairly long life, and I say this with the utmost respect and kindness, but Canadians really are some odd birds. Just in case you needed further proof, check out this trailer for "Suck," which unfortunately looks like it will live up to every ounce of its title's promise. It does, however, somehow star Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins, Alice Cooper and, yes, even, Moby, so it's at least worth watching the trailer. Not too oddly at all, I checked the IMDB but was unable to find any kind of release date for this, which is probably on DVD in some form already. Enjoy.



And finally (well, before the "Mad Men" goodness, at least), here's the newest trailer for Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood," which will be out to assault all your sense and sensibility on May 14. I still can't yet see any way this is going to be any good, but I've been wrong at least once today already I'm sure, so enjoy the trailer.

And, really finally, even though I'm far too old and, well, everything to ever play with dolls, who could resist at least looking at these Mattel creations based on the characters from "Mad Men"? If you have more disposable income than me and want something funny to put on your mantel, you certainly could do a lot worse. They go on sale in July for a rather ridiculous price of $75 each! Anyways, enjoy the photo, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

More "Futurama" soon? Yes, please! Plus some more fun news

For all its faults (and farms and mafias and whatever the hell else people waste their good time with), Facebook can - extremely rarely - actually be the source of really good news, as is the case here.

And yes, call me a geek, goober, gleeb or whatever else you might want to, but I am a fan of "Futurama" on Facebook, and really, why not? It rarely produces anything worth reading, but yesterday came these two back-to-back posts:

Futurama Heads up, Futurama fans! All new episodes of Futurama begin this June on Comedy Central!
Futurama Oh, and one more thing: we're bringing back the ENTIRE original cast.

Now, anyone who's followed the saga of the show's return to Comedy Central knows that the second part has news that's at least good as the first. When Fox started on reviving the delightfully fun animated sci-fi series, it originally fired all the voice actors after they asked for a raise, and planned to proceed with a roster of scabs, meaning anyone with any kind of conscience would have to boycott this.

Well, as you can tell, common sense (or more likely pocketbook sense) eventually prevailed, and so "Futurama" will indeed be back in the only form it should in June, so huzzah to that!

OK, after that today, there's a lot of silly stuff, surely starting with this:

"Police Academy" to enroll new class

Before I write anything else about that, I should probably punctuate it right away with a yes, really.

And does anyone wanna guess how many "Police Academy" movies there have been already? I guessed seven before checking at the IMDB to find out that, sadly enough, I was indeed right.

So does the world really need another one? Certainly not, but admit it: You all watched at least the first three of these, and at the beginning, they were insanely funny. They also, however, became less and less so as they went on, which makes this not terribly welcome news at all.

It seems that original producer Paul Maslansky is now hoping to revive what has to the be longest-running film franchise yet with a new class of cadets, but no writer or director has been attached yet (so there's still hope!)

"It's going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV," Maslansky said. "It's going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. It'll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it. And we'll most probably retain the wonderful musical theme."

I suppose that means that, beyond a cheeky cameo, Steve Guttenberg and that guy who makes all the funny noises will have to look elsewhere for work. And please remember, I'm really just the messenger here.

Carell and Gosling to team up on big screen

Man was last night's "The Office" good. The first half hour or so was the funniest it's been in a couple of years, and poor Pam trying to breast feed her youngin was almost too sweet to take.

And though I certainly enjoy Steve Carell in full manic mode as Michael Scott, I like him in movies when he plays it a lot more low key, as in "Little Miss Sunshine," still his best movie work to date.

What he's signed on for now sounds like something in the latter category, so I'm intrigued. He'll play a father dealing with a marital crisis and his children in an as-yet-untitled comedy for Warner Bros., and, even better, Ryan Gosling will play a suave friend of his who tries to help him through at all (though I've never thought of Gosling as particularly "suave.")

So, what else makes me think this could be really good? Well, it's being directed by the "Bad Santa" team of John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (whose nest movie will be "I Love You Phillip Morris" with Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor), from a script by Dan Fogelman, who I saw way back when on Broadway as the fat guy (I'm one too, so I can say it) in "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." Keep your eyes on this.

Stone sets sights on "Savages"

I really had no desire at all to see the sequel "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" until I saw the trailer a few weeks back, and it looked really good (yes, trailers really do work sometimes.)

I could certainly be wrong there, and we'll all find out soon enough on April 23. And after that, it seems that director Oliver Stone will next set his camera on Don Winslow's upcoming novel "Savages."

The book is apparently about two friends from Laguna Beach who share a girlfriend and a business selling incredibly good pot. As is probably always the case, that attracts the attention of a Mexican cartel who, after they resist its offer of muscle, kidnaps the girlfriend and holds her for ransom. Certainly sounds like some juicy material for Stone, who can still have wicked fun when he wants to.

Del Toro to play FBI chameleon

I'll still watch Benicio Del Toro in just about anything, but if I ever have the chance to meet the man, I'm gonna demand the five or so hours of my life that I spent watching "Che" back. He was, of course, incredible in it, but what a waste of film.

Now, however, he's set to team up with Steven Soderbergh again for something that sounds much more enjoyable. Soderbergh will executive produce "Making Jack Falcone," which will star Del Toro as Cuban-American FBI agent Joaquin "Jack" Garcia, who successfully infiltrated the Gambino crime family. Man, does that sound like nothing but cool.

OK, to close things out today, I've just got a trio of trailers, starting with an upcoming Jay-Z concert documentary you can actually watch for free (with Facebook again, I guess I'm their pimp today.)

I've been known to tell anyone who will listen that Jay-Z's "The Black Album" is not only the best rap album ever made, but probably the single greatest record of any kind. That may be a bit of exaggeration, but I also really do hold it to be true.

So if all you have to do is become fan of Absolut vodka on Facebook by March 22 to watch a new Hova concert documentary, I suppose I can do that much (and if the vodka adverts become too annoying, simply defriend them later, of course.) The movie will be streaming for free on the Absolut page starting on that date, and here's the trailer (which, unfortunately, really doesn't show too much.) Enjoy.



I had never heard of "Legend of the Guardians" until this trailer popped up on Yahoo yesterday (I just assumed that Zach Snyder's next movie was going to be "Sucker Punch," but I guess I'm wrong again.) After watching this, two thoughts popped into my head: Owls are a heck of a lot cooler than penguins, and here's hoping this will avoid the 3-D bug (which "Sucker Punch" apparently won't) when it comes out in September. Enjoy the trailer.

And finally today comes a new theatrical trailer for "The Runaways," starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, and set to come out hopefully everywhere on April 9. In spite of the understandable and valid concerns voiced by semi-regular Reel Fanatic visitor Cullen and other people I've talked to about this, as a big Joan Jett fan, I'm still holding out hope that this is somehow really gonna rock. Enjoy the clip, and have a great weekend. Peace out.

A "Prime Suspect" remake? Terminate with extreme prejudice!

It's probably good for my fairly under control blood pressure that as I'm first hearing about this idiocy, it also comes with word that NBC has - for now at least - shelved this monstrosity, and for the best possible reason.

Yes, the network whose last big brilliant idea was putting Jay Leno in prime time five nights a week (how'd that work out, guys?) was actually considering a remake of the sublime BBC police procedural "Prime Suspect."

And I can certainly understand the temptation. For sheer intensity matched with characters you actually care about, only "The Wire" and - at its best - "NYPD Blue" have even come close to matching "Prime Suspect" on this side of the pond, and almost all of the credit for that has to go Dame Helen Mirren.

Of all the characters of the last 20 years or so, on big screen or small, very few have been taken over as completely as Helen Mirren dived directly into the role of Jane Tennyson and made it entirely her own. And it's apparently their belated realization of just how impossible it would be to replace her that finally led NBC to abandon this madness.

Unable to find the right actress for this, NBC has now shelved it until at least June, and here's hoping forever. If I had to name one actress who could pull this off, the only name that even comes to mind is Anjelica Huston, but as great as she is, I can't even see that working, if God forbid she'd even be interested.

And if you've somehow never seen "Prime Suspect," I can't recommend it highly enough. If you want to get started, the beginning would be best, but if you only want to watch one, No. 3, with David Thewlis and Ciaran Hinds in a truly tawdry tale about child murder and serious police corruption, is the best of all in my book.

Here's hoping that this NBC "idea" gets aborted for good, and from now on today it's all about a trio of clips that at least managed to catch my eye this morning.

First up comes a clip from the upcoming flick "Date Night" featuring Tina Fey, Steve Carell and, in this clip, a shirtless Marky Mark. Even though NBC's current king and queen of comedy would seem to make a dream team on the big screen, I somehow just can't get all that excited about this. I just get the sinking feeling it's gonna lack any of the truly manic appeal of "After Hours" in chronicling a supposedly "wild" night in NYC. Anyways, enjoy the clip.

Next up comes a TV spot for something I'm much more excited about, "The Runaways." On paper, the idea of Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning playing rockers Joan Jett and Cherie Currie just sounds dreadful, but the buzz about this out of Sundance was mostly positive, and it really does seem music video director Floria Sigismondi has come up with something that will rock when this finally comes out March 19. Enjoy.



And finally today comes a surprise that made me genuinely laugh out loud. I've never found Jimmy Kimmel all that funny at all, but Tracy Morgan can really do no wrong in my book (yes, I'm really gonna go see "Cop Out" just to see how funny he can manage to be in it, even though the reviews are dreadful.) In this clip I have to assume appeared on Kimmel's show sometime this week (after my school-night bed time, of course), he and Morgan make a rap video, and it's absolutely as silly as you might imagine. Here's hoping that Kimmel's turn as Lil' Jim puts the final nail in autotune. Enjoy, and have a perfectly bearable Thursday. Peace out.

Cheer up, kids ... It will be Sunny in Philadelphia again!

I was beginning to wonder if FX had somehow given up on, in my book, its two best shows in the blissfully disgusting "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and the motorcycle gang drama "Sons of Anarchy." Well, thankfully, apparently not.

Instead, it seems they're just moving them to the fall to take on the networks, and with shows this good, why not?

First up will be "Sons of Anarchy," which stars Charlie Hunnam, Katey Segal and Ron Perlman and will move to Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. beginning Sept. 8. If you like intense TV dramas I can't recommend this one high enough, and with Adam Arkin and Henry Rollins coming up as guests in season two, it can only get better.

"Sunny," which has made an art of piggybacking on NBC's Thursday night comedy lineup, will do so again, timing its fifth season to begin at 10 p.m. Sept. 17, the same night that "The Office" and other NBC shows make their return. Season five will be 12 episodes, which means they're already contracted for at least another 27 after that. Bring it on!

And in a final, odd TV note, Alia Shawkat, the extremely funny Maeby Funke on "Arrested Development" has somehow ended up in the cast of the upcoming biopic about the Runaways. Take a second to ingest that one.

I can't say I see any way this will be terribly good, but it at least looks like there's no way it will be boring. So, with video director Floria Sigismondi at the helm, here's the band roster for this imminent disaster: Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett, Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie, Scout Taylor-Compton as Lita Ford, Stella Maeve as Sandy West and now Maeby as some kind of fictional composite bass player. I can guarantee you I'll watch that.

And to round it out today, here's a couple of pretty good clips, one of which comes from the so far very funny viral marketing campaign for Judd Apatow's next flick, "Funny People," scheduled to drop July 31. They seem to be giving a Web site and fake career to even the most minor of characters, and Aziz Ansari is the latest to get the treatment.

You may know him for his work on NBC's "Parks and Recreation," but this is something completely different, a standup comedian that gleefully revels in the lowest common denominator. So, of course his Web site, where you can watch several rather seriously not safe for work clips, is called Laugh Your Dick Off.

I've included here a clip of him performing as the character, Randy, at Athens, GA.'s fabulous 40 Watt club, describing how he likes to freak out CVS employees. Enjoy.



And finally, here's the trailer for a new Steven Soderbergh flick coming in September that I have to confess I had never heard of until seeing this clip. Starring Matt Damon, it's called "The Informant" and appears to be a screwball comedy about corporate espionage, which all sounds good to me. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

Mottola, Pegg and Frost assembling A-list comedy

After the pure disaster that was Mitch Hurwitz's "Sit Down, Shut Up" (though out of loyalty, I did watch every episode that made it to air, hoping against all evidence that it would somehow get better ... it didn't), I could certainly use a smart and funny animated offering for my summer viewing slate. And I have a feeling Mike Judge has just the right thing with "The Goode Family," coming to ABC at 9 tonight.

According to Variety: What "King of the Hill" did for Texas rednecks, Mike Judge and crew accomplish with Prius-driving tree-huggers in "The Goode Family" -- a smart, wryly funny animated comedy that's going to need a strong word-of-mouth campaign to flourish.

Sounds great to me, and it also features wannabe freak Lindsay Weir, a k a Linda Cardellini, so I'm definitely in.

But the coolest news I saw this morning is about what Greg Mottola, who's quickly becoming one of my favorite directors, is cooking up starting very soon.

But first a look at his track record. As for this year, I'd say there have already been a surprising amount of good-to-great movies, with my list so far being: "Coraline," "The International," "Watchmen," "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail," "Duplicity," "Sin Nombre," "Moon" and "Tyson," with the best two of all being "Star Trek" and Mottola's "Adventureland." Though it thoroughly tanked at the box office, that flick starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart and a very funny Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig was just a real charmer that moved at a naturally entertaining pace.

And before that, of course, he made for my money the best comedy of 2007 with "Superbad." I just watched that one again with that instant "play" feature on Netflix (man, is that addictive), and I have to say the B story about the cops played by Hader and Seth Rogen, which I initially thought was the far weaker of the two, has really grown on me. And, coincidentally enough given what's to follow here, I'm now waiting for "Spaced," starring Simon Pegg, to arrive in my Netflix mail, hopefully today.

Now to finally get to the main course, Mottola is next directing veryfunnyguys Pegg and Nick Frost in something called "Paul," from a Pegg/Frost script. The road trip flick is about two British geeks (Pegg and Frost, natch) who set out on a road trip from Comic Con to Area 51 and manage to encounter an actual alien named "Paul." And the flick, set to start shooting in June, is quickly attracting an A-list cast.

Rogen will provide the voice of Paul, and he'll be joined by Wiig, Hader, Jason Bateman and the seemingly ubiquitous Jane Lynch. As I said earlier, Mottola is rapidly becoming one of my favorites, and with this crew I don't see how this can be anything but extremely funny, so keep your eyes on it. And with that, I have to get ready for the job that still actually pays me a little scratch each week. Peace out.

Take a familiar but fun trip to "Adventureland"

A film that rates right up there with Hollywood's best romances. Kristen Stewart deserves an Oscar nomination, as does writer-director Greg Mottola.

I offer that little bit of hyperbole from a Rotten Tomatoes critic who shall remain nameless as entry to discuss Greg Mottola's "Adventureland," a movie that's refreshingly and almost thoroughly entertaining as much for what it is as for what it isn't.

Despite the sentiments expressed above, it certainly isn't a grand romance. And neither, despite the very funny bits you've probably seen in advance from Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, is it a straight-out comedy that will often have you laughing out loud.

But, at its best, it is a sweet little slice of life, reflected through the romantic lens of memory, and for that it stands out from the current crop of R-rated comedies even as it embraces many of its conventions.

In what I believe is at least a semi-autobiographical tale, Mottola takes us to the titular theme park, where James Brennan (a pensively scruffy Jesse Eisenberg, in a role not removed much at all from what he played in "The Squid and the Whale") is forced to seek employment the summer after college when his parents (Jack Gilpin and Wendie Malick) inform him they won't be able to fund his planned trip to Europe or, well, much of anything.

If we all haven't been exactly there, we've probably been close. For me it was a job at a "Mexican" restaurant ("Mexican" in quotes because, though we did indeed serve something close to Mexican cuisine, it was a joint called Nacho Pete's owned by and almost exclusively staffed by gringos) where, like our hero here, I did rather remarkably crappy work and still had a blast with some seriously fun people. It's the kind of job you know you don't want now, but that had little charms (like drinking 50-cent Mexican beers each night when we closed) that make it a whole lot better in retrospect than it probably ever was.

But I digress a little, all in the hopes of setting up just what makes Mottola's movie so charming. When it works, which is very often, it's because what he delivers is exactly what the premise promises, a truly terrible job where you find the kind of people you'll remember for the rest of your life, and it's all (at least until the rather rushed ending) told at a natural pace that (for me at least) lingered in all the right places.

Though the movie opens and just about closes with 'Mats tunes (never a problem in my book), it gets its heart and tone from Lou Reed, and specifically the Velvet Underground song "Pale Blue Eyes." Like that tune, it has a melodic appeal that masks some serious dysfunction that's simmering just below the surface, much of which comes from the aforementioned Ms. Stewart, who is indeed the strongest player here. As an NYU student who also works at the park and is dealing with some serious family issues while at the same time making the kind of mistake (with Ryan Reynolds as the park mechanic) that she seems to already know will take her nowhere good, she just tells you more with a look than she ever did as she spent the entirety of "Twilight" (yes, I did see that) with a vacant stare.

And it's one scene set to "Pale Blue Eyes" that gives the movie a needed sense of urgency, or at least longing, as it's playing in the background when Stewart's Em gives Eisenberg's James a ride home and he can't took his eyes off of her (and who can blame him?) If their bumbling romance (which I won't tell you too much more about) gives the movie it's heart, the supporting amusement park players give the flick a kind of genuine sweetness that we see far too rarely in movies nowadays.

Hader and Wiig (as an aside, if you want to see a very funny supporting performance from her, rent "Ghost Town" now) are as funny as advertised, but as a married couple who run the park, they also just fit together perfectly, and all of their bits meld organically into the movie rather than stand out as forced hilarity. Martin Starr (who among all the Apatow players certainly deserves his own starring role by now, right?) is painfully dead-on as the kind of intellectual misfit who will actually use Gogol to try and pitch woo. And Margerita Levieva, as the park temptress Lisa P., provided the only moment when I laughed so loud that people turned around and stared at me, when you see how exactly she lures people onto riding the Musical Express.

Now, like probably this review, Mottola's movie does go on a bit too long, and it's ending feels more than a bit tacked on. Even so, it's easily the best movie I've seen this year (with the other four that I'd consider very-good-to-great being "Coraline," "Watchmen," "The International" and "Duplicity.") And not surprisingly, I suppose, it's just getting mauled at the box office, taking in a measly $2 million Friday compared to an astonishing $30 million in one day for "Fast & Furious."

But if you can handle a movie that takes it very sweet time getting to a familiar but entertaining place, please go see "Adventureland," and if you've visited there already, please feel free to share your impressions with me. Peace out.

The definitive word about "Watchmen"? And a thankfully foul trip to "Adventureland"

Actually, the funniest thing I could find out there is possible proof that even Eliza Dushku knows that Joss Whedon's thoroughly contrived "Dollhouse" is gonna end soon, and maybe very soon.

Making plans for what she will do next, Dushku has acquired the rights to the life story (however one actually does that) of late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, which she will produce, and has hired director Ondi Timoner to helm the project. This could certainly be cool, but its really just the timing that intrigued me.

But here today, as it has been for many, many days now, it's all about "Watchmen," and a new Web site I found that's a must-bookmark for movie geeks. Called Hitfix, it's run by a dude who used to write for Aintitcoolnews under the name Moriarty, but sometimes went and now goes by the name Drew McWeeny.

The site is as crammed with movie news and gossip as any, but it has two other things going for it, both courtesy of the creator himself. The first is a compilation of newsy links called The Morning Read, which in its most recent incarnation contained the news from E!'s Kristen Dos Santos that lone holdout Michael Cera has dropped his opposition to appearing in an "Arrested Development" movie, and shooting on the project should begin by the end of the year (I would have gladly dedicated an entire post to this welcome news, but I'm more than a little burnt out on the subject, and also still not thoroughly convinced the project will ever actually come together.)

And the second great thing, also part of Mr. McWeeny's (or whatever his actual name is) Motion Captured blog on the site, is that he reviews movies, and to give credit where its surely due, does so extremely well. Most of the reviews at Aintitcool are just the most unreadable sort of drivel, but his were always not only thoroughly enjoyable but also very informative, with a clear opinion at their core.

As devoted (and probably much more so) a "Watchmen" fan as me, he released his assessment this week, and I was extremely happy to see that it's a rave. Though it's more than a bit long, it's also a great read. Here's the final paragraph, for the time-challenged out there:

But more than anything, what I found most bracing about the experience of finally seeing this onscreen is that it pushes the genre further than it's ever been pushed before. It demands more of viewers than any superhero movie previously released. It sets up a moral question at the end of the film that can't be easily answered, and it doesn't even try. It expects you to have your own reaction, and it treats viewers like adults, a rarity from any Hollywood film, much less one featuring characters with names like Nite Owl and Hooded Justice. And, amazingly, it works as a movie. It has its own rhythm, taking its time to lay out this complicated story, but it constantly delights with details both small and grand, and the cumulative impact is far more emotional than I would have expected. This isn't a case of a film being "good enough," and I'm not "just glad there's some version of it finally." It is a triumph, a movie that amazes on its own terms, and a major jump forward for Snyder as a filmmaker.

Wow. I already couldn't wait to see this, but now it's guaranteed to be just about the only thing on my brain for the next week-and-a-half or so until I finally get to see it for myself. To read the rest of Mr. McWeeny's review, click here.

The Dude and the art of obsession

Being someone who gets up every morning and spends an hour or so reading whatever movie news I can find, I certainly can appreciate obsession, and very few people have taken it to the gloriously high level that Chalupa, a k a Ben Ranfeld, and his wife, Liz, have at the Lebowski Podcast.

And as the name clearly implies, this site is all about Chalupa's favorite movie, "The Big Lebowski," and the Coen brothers in general. Along with the podcast itself, he also pens a regularly updated blog on all things Coen and, well, just about anything else that crosses his mind.

But the podcast is easily the best thing here, and amazingly, it celebrated its 2-year anniversary (back in January, like I said, I'm late) with the 25th episode, a review of "Pineapple Express" and, of course, a look at how it's similar to "The Big Lebowski." You can click here to hear the whole thing, which I highly recommend, but a couple of highlights are a discussion of how to pronounce the word "Apatow" and Liz raving about easily the funniest scene in any movie from 2008, that notorious fight scene in Red's apartment.

It's just a fun way to waste (and I certainly mean no disrespect by that, because I love nothing more than wasting time) some time, and can quickly become addictive, so definitely check it out if you haven't already.

And finally, a glimpse of "Adventureland"

With, of course, "Watchmen," "I Love you, Man" (March 20) and this comedy (March 27) from the director of "Superbad" all coming out this month, I have to say the beginning of 2009 as a movie year is getting off to a whole lot better start than 2008 did.

The flick, written and directed by Greg Mottola, is the semi-autobiographical tale of a summer he spent as an employee at the titular theme park. It stars Jesse Eisenberg from "The Squid and the Whale" (remember him?), "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart, the very funny Bill Hader and the even funnier Martin Starr, a k a Bill Haverchuck from "Freaks and Geeks."

The redband trailer you can watch below should certainly be watched with headphones on if you're at work, because it isn't just chock full profanity, it revels in it. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Thursday. Peace out.

I love Joan Jett, but really?

Even if there really is no hope that the Baltimore Orioles will be nothing but awful for the foreseeable future (and, even worse, they're gonna be worse than the Nationals next year!), there are still plenty of great things that come from Charm City.

I've extolled the virtues of "The Wire," simply the greatest cop show of all time, in this space many a time. And even if he is more than a bit of a pervert, Baltimore's John Waters has made some seriously funny movies over the years (just the other night I was watching "Pecker" with Christina Ricci and Edward Furlong - a real hoot.)

And I always thought, when it comes to music, that Joan Jett was from Baltimore too, but it turns out you can add another thing to the growing list of things I was wrong about. She apparently grew up in Wheaton, Md., before dropping out of high school and joining the Runaways. But no matter where she's from, Joan Jett is just cool in my book.

About once a day or so, my cubicle mate Renee Martinez gets a call on her cell phone that plays Jett's first (and still best) solo single "Bad Reputation," which a few of you may know as the theme song for my beloved "Freaks and Geeks." As sad as this is, it is one of the dependable highlights of my predictably boring work day.

And I tell you all that to tell this, there's a biopic of Jett's all-girl punk supergroup of sorts, The Runaways, in the works, but it's quickly starting to stink so bad you can smell it already. In what can only be an ominous sign, it's being made a woman named Floria Sigismondi, who may indeed turn out to be a great movie director but so far has specialized in music videos for Sheryl Crow, Christina Aguilera and the like.

But, in much worse news, they've now seemingly just botched beyond belief the casting of Joan Jett by jumping on the "Twilight" train and grabbing Kristen Stewart. No offense to her, but I just can't see it,

The Runaways, for the four years they lasted, were exploited for sure but were all about fun and attitude, and Stewart just doesn't have it. The first question that came to my mind when I first read this this morning was whatever in the world ever happened to Ellen Page? She has to be up to something, right? A quick IMDB search finds she's playing the lead of "Whip It!," Drew Barrymore's flick about roller derby queen Bliss Cavendar, and then starring in some kind of psychological thriller called "Peacock." Surely she could make time to get in on "The Runaways" action if anyone bothered to ask.

And now I have to get ready for work, but I'll leave you with something that should make any Wednesday at least a little bit better, a clip of Jett's "Bad Reputation" playing behind one devoted fan's rather well-edited tribute to "Freaks and Geeks" (and be sure to stay until the end for Joe Flaherty attempting to give his "Korea" speech - priceless.) Peace out.

Video troika: Three things that caught my eye this morning

Did anyone notice that Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" has come out, 13 years in the making? I would think not, but according to Variety, at least the Chinese government took notice - and offense.

In an article Monday headlined "American band releases album venomously attacking China," the Global Times said unidentified Chinese Internet users had described the album as part of a plot by some in the West to "grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn."

Call me crazy, but if the Great Wall does somehow come tumbling down, I'm confident it won't be Axl Rose leading the charge. As for the album, I think I'll just say meh.

There were, however, three other things that caught my fancy this morning, starting with the equally odd fact that Universal is about dump some rather serious bucks on a biopic of the late French pop star Serge Gainsbourg. Which would, of course, be in French.

Even so, I'm still convinced this could be both very cool and possibly a hit too, because Mr. Gainsbourg was just the definition of a bad dude. Along with recording silly '60s pop songs that always told you exactly what you were gonna get in the title - "Bloody Jack," "Docteur Jekyll and Monsieur Hyde," "Ford Mustang" - he also lived hard enough to make Keith Richards look like an amateur and shacked up along with the way with Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin and other beauties.

And, in easily his oddest move, shortly before his death in 1991 he recorded an album with daughter Charlotte titled "Lemon Incest." It's fairly tame by today's standards, but it delivers exactly what the title promises - a series of mushy father-daughter love duets that just get exceedingly creepy (and yes, I can attest to that, because I own a copy - how could I resist that?) Charlotte, of course, would go on to become a well-known actress herself, and if I can make one DVD recommendation, watch one of her earliest roles in Claude Miller's "The Little Thief" (which I was rather sad to find you can't find on Netflix, though I know it's out on DVD.)

As for the movie about her papa, Eric Elmosnino will play the singer himself, and graphic novelist Joann Sfar will direct the flick. And for his bevvy of babes, French model Laetitia Casta will play Bardot, Mylene Jampanoi will play Gainsbourg's last paramour, Bambou (I can't make this stuff up), and Anna Mouglalis will play French singer Juliette Greco, who collaborated with Gainsbourg for many years.

OK, I concede that's a lot about a flick that no one may care about one lick, but for a taste of just how sublimely silly Gainsbourg's best songs were, here's a mashup of his "Bonnie & Clyde" duet with Bardot, mixed with visuals from the film starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Enjoy.



A glimpse of "Adventureland"

I can't imagine this will be nearly as good as "Superbad," but director Greg Mottola looks like he has something pretty funny in the works for his next flick, "Adventureland." An at least semi-autobiographical tale about the summer he had to work at the titular theme park after graduating college, it stars Jesse Eisenberg (remember him from "The Squid and the Whale"?), la Bella Kristen Stewart of "Twilight" fame, Bill Hader and even Martin Starr (who will of course always be known to us Freaks and Geeks as Bill Haverchuk.) Here's the trailer for the flick, which is set to come out next spring, methinks.



And yes, "Battlestar Galactica" will be back!

It seems like forever since "Battlestar Galactica" has been on the air, and it finally returns to Sci-Fi for the final 10 episodes beginning Jan. 16. Episode 4.11 will be titled "Sometimes a Great Notion."

I'm gonna have to rent the first half of season four when it comes out soon just to get reacquainted, but I can with confidence tell you this: For a show that mixes seriously geeky sci-fi with a smart topical edge, you can't even come close to doing better than this show. Here's Sci-Fi's promo reel for the last 10 episodes, which indeed promise an action-packed sprint to the finish. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Tuesday.

An often grumpy, clearly middle-aged man attempts to review "Twilight"

I tell you all that as a qualifier, so take this review with a big grain of salt but also know this from the outset: Despite its serious flaws as a vampire tale I really had a lot of fun watching Catherine Hardwicke's "Twilight."

I had almost decided to just act my age and skip it altogether, but instead opted to latch on to two friends who are fans of the series who were headed to a Saturday matinee (conveniently making me look like much less of a perv than I might have going to a movie intended for teen girls all by myself.) At my urging, we sat fairly close to the front and therefore away from the twittering masses, who as best as I could tell were very well behaved anyway.

Things didn't get off to the best of starts as the projector malfunctioned during a promising trailer for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," and we were subjected to a 10-minute delay. Theater manager Wes Clark, who knows me well by my frequent theater visits, said he was afraid he might soon have a riot of "Twilighters" on his hands.

But once it finally got going, I found a lot more to like than I expected going in. First and foremost, Hardwicke gives the town of Forks, Washington, (a real place, evidently) a genuine sense of time and place (even though it was for whatever reason actually filmed in Portland, Oregon.) And she does so without resorting to any forced quirks to induce laughs, instead just letting the scenery speak for itself.

Second, apart from the vampires (which we'll deal with later), all her characters have a natural feel to them, starting with young lead Kristen Stewart. She already gets a gold star in my book for her turn in last year's "Into the Wild, and she makes a genuinely engaging lead. And Billy Burke as her clearly in-over-his-head single father gives the movie most of its intentional laughs, especially when he finds a vampire (though he doesn't know that) has shown up to take his daughter to the prom.

Finally on the very good side, the high school our heroine Bella attends is filled (again, minus the vampires) with the kind of kids you'd expect to find in an American high school in a small town. The main quartet (Anna Kendrick, Michael Welch, Justin Chon and Christian Serratos) are refreshingly geeky and insecure, and were an entertaining bunch to watch.

OK, so far so good, but this is a vampire story of sorts, right? Of course, and that's where it starts to fall apart more than a bit because the vamps themselves are (by design, but still) just way too corny.

I mean, I know this is a story for teens and tweens rather than a horror movie, but vampires that play baseball (I'm not kidding) and scurry after woodland creatures rather than feast on the blood of humans? Give me a break (and let's not even get into whether this actually makes them any better on the morality scale.) And what in the world is Dr. Cullen supposed to be, some kind of Noah of the undead? It was just creepy, and not even slightly in the fun, horror movie kind of way.

By the time we get any real action involving any actually menacing vampires there's only about 20 minutes left in the flick, and we've been subjected to so much treacle at that point that it just drains most of the tension right out of it.

So, if it doesn't really work as a vampire movie, does it work as a love story? Well, for its intended audience, I'm fairly certain it was just about right, but for the rest of us it gets more than a little bit ridiculous. As my two fellow moviegoers and devoted "Twilight" fans (and anyone who's read 2,000 pages of anything is "devoted" in my book) pointed out, the book is much more about character and dialogue than plot, which wouldn't necessarily translate all that smoothly to the big screen.

OK, fair enough, but what that leaves us instead is a lot of vacant staring between Bella and her vampire hunk Edward, played by Robert Pattinson. I'm sure this was intended to convey longing, but more than once just made me laugh out loud (and once earned me a sharp elbow to the ribs.) I'm really not sure what else Hardwicke could have done with this, but it just really doesn't work too well in movie form. (And if you haven't seen Hardwicke's flick "Thirteen," which was co-written by "Twilight" vamp Nikki Reed, rent it now and thank me later.)

But all that said, I left the theater with a smile on my face thanks to a sweet ending that adroitly sets up the next chapter, and that's more than I can say for a lot of flicks out there this year. Peace out.