Thursday tidbits about people I like to watch, plus a trio of clips

In case you somehow haven't seen it, that really is Maggie Gyllenhaal in the trailer for "Nanny McPhee Returns." Just plain odd. And though I have no obligation to go see that flick and so won't, I certainly would go see her in the project she's been talking up while making the press rounds for the "Nanny McPhee" sequel.

It was announced a while back that hubby Peter Sarsgaard would be playing bluegrass legend Bill Monroe in a biopic, and while that's enough to catch my eye, it gets infinitely more interesting when she's joining him in the flick. Here's what Gyllenhaal had to say about the project.

“Bill Monroe, who invented bluegrass music had a kind of Sid and Nancy style affair with this woman Bessie Lee Mauldin throughout his life and T-Bone Burnett’s going to do the music and Callie Khouri — who wrote Thelma & Louise — wrote the script so we’re going to do that together.”

Sounds like nothing but cool there, especially with Burnett doing the music (on a completely tangential note, those adorable little Peasall sisters from "O Brother Where Art Thou," no longer so little and probably no longer too fond of being called "adorable," are coming to play at a Macon church next week - yeah, I'm gonna check that out.) No idea when this will all come together, but it's certainly something worth keeping an eye on.

And in other news about an actor I really like, I've always wondered why Hollywood can't seem to find good roles for Stringer Bell, aka Idris Elba (Tyler Perry being the exception - that "Daddy's Little Girls" starring Elba is still his best flick, and if you've never seen a Tyler Perry movie, a great introductory rental.) Otherwise, it seems like he most often gets cast as some kind of bank robber in generic heist flicks (in fact, there's another one coming very soon, "Takers.") Racism? Who knows, but this guy is a seriously good actor, so there's got to be more out there for him to do, right?

Well, according to Deadline, he's finally getting a role that sounds meaty enough to work with, following in the footsteps of Morgan Freeman as Dr. Alex Cross, from the series of novels by James Patterson. Freeman played the character in two crime thrillers, "Along Came a Spider" and "Kiss the Girls" that, while by no means being great movies, were still pretty far from awful.

In "Cross," based on Patterson's 12th novel in the series, Dr. Cross has left the FBI and now works for a private practice, consulting to stop a serial killer called The Butcher who may be connected to the murder of Cross' wife. Juicy stuff that, and this will be directed by David Twohy, who made "Pitch Black" and the much less enjoyable "Chronicles of Riddick" movie, among others. I have no idea, of course, if anything good will come from this, but it's just nice to see Stringer finally getting some respect. 'Nuff said on that.

OK, all I have after that today is a trio of clips, starting with the first trailer I know of for director Doug Liman's "Fair Game," which if you scroll back a couple of days will see managed to make my top 10 for fall list. Judging from the clip below, this seems to lack the claustrophobic feel that made the true spy tale "Breach" so engaging (I think I just might be the only person in the world that loves that Billy Ray movie), but the story of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, should still be a winner when it comes out in November. Enjoy.

While on vacation in Philly with mi hermano, we of course went to a lot of movies, and it seems like the trailer for Mesrine appeared before each one. The French gangster saga of Jacques Mesrine, played by Vincent Cassel, instantly rose to near the top of the flicks I'd go see on opening day if I lived in New York or L.A., but I had no idea that it's actually two movies.

Mesrine, from what I can gather, was one seriously bad dude, robbing, kidnapping and murdering his way across several continents, and breaking out of several prisons along the way before his death in 1979. He was helped along the way a la Bonnie and Clyde by Jeanne Schneider, to be played in the movies by Cecile de France.

The first chapter, "Mesrine: Killer Instinct," is set to hit at least some theaters Sept. 27, to be followed the next Friday by part two, "Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1." From what I've read, these are very violent flicks that are made worth watching by Cassel's intense performance. "Enjoy" the clip from chapter one, but be warned that it's a violent one, and if you speak French or can read English subtitles, a profane one too, so be careful watching it at work.



Now, where better to end up today than with the trailer for "Wu-Tang Revealed," the movie about the rap collective directed by the GZA himself. Though I have serious doubts this will ever play in a theater anywhere near me, I'll definitely check it out on DVD, because it looks to be a whole lot more "behind the music" than anything that's ever appeared on VH1. Be warned, of course, that they throw around the N-word and all kinds of other profanities often enough to make even Dr. Laura blush, but there's just something serenely entertaining about watching the Wu-Tang crew bicker in a pristine kitchen with pink flowers on the table. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

Billy Ray's back, so scandal is the order of the day

Just a few quick notes today, because in a moment truly right out of "Office Space," we have to go through 18 hours of training starting today to learn a new program that changes the way we do .. well .. just about everything.

Even if it goes smoothly, a newspaper changing its operating system about three weeks before the election is just as crazy as it seems. But, since that's not really my concern, I'd much rather traffic in the more pleasant realm of movie trivialty.

Billy Ray, who makes his living primarily as a screenwriter, has also managed to direct two of my favorite movies, and now he's back with something that sounds right up his alley.

The two movies that Ray has managed to direct, "Shattered Glass" and "Breach" (easily one of my favorite flicks of 2007), are psychological dramas of the first order that paint very claustrophobic portraits of very troubled people. If you haven't seen the former, starring Hayden Christensen as journalistic fraud Stephen Glass and a stellar Peter SarsGaard as his "New Republic" editor, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Now, Mr. Ray is set to write and direct "How to Rig an Election," based on the memoir of the same name by disgraced G.O.P. political operative Allen Raymond (see a pattern here)? His plot: To jam phone lines at Democratic Party headquarters in an effort to swing a 2002 Senate election in New Hampshire.

"This is the story of Raymond’s rise to power alongside his friend in the party, Jim Tobin, and how their lives intersect in a way that forces Allen to choose between his ambition and his integrity," Ray said. "He makes the wrong choice at first, and by the time he makes the right one, his wife and kids are affected and his life is going up in flames."

Mr. Ray, who specializes in the motivations of petty schemers, should just have a blast with that.

Murderous muppets? I'm there

The big news in Muppet world, of course, is that Jason Segel and writing partner Nicholas Stoller are developing a new - and hopefully very old-fashioned - Muppet movie (though I can't find anything about it on either of their IMDB profiles.)

At the house of Henson, however, they're also now more actively involved in something made just for me: A puppet show for adults.

The Jim Henson Co. has launched development of the feature "Happytime Murders," a puppet comedy in the film noir detective genre (yes, I did make a little geek squeak the first time I read that.) Jim Henson offspring Brian and Lisa Henson will produce the flick, which will mix humans and puppets and center on a puppet detective forced to solve a string of murders around the Happytime Gang, the cast of a popular children's show.

In my mind, I'm already there. Like I said, short report today, since I have to do my actual job along with a half-week's worth of training (though it does mean a lot of overtime, so I really shouldn't complain.) Peace out.