Fast forward: 10 movies I'm amped to see this fall

Since it's still hot as, well, August outside, what better time than now to look ahead to a time when the weather is cooler and the movies are reliably better, fall.

And just to clarify, on my movie calendar, fall starts in September and ends in November, no matter what the calender says. That said, here are 10 movies I'm definitely psyched to see this fall.

9/1: "The American": George Clooney stars as a hitman who's given one final, inevitably complicated, assignment to complete in Italy in this sure-to-be-cool thriller from director Anton Corbijn, who made the Ian Curtis biopic "Control."

9/3: "Machete": Whether or not Robert Rodriguez's revenge pic starring Danny Trejo (developed from the fake trailer of the same name that appeared in between the two halves of "Grindhouse") is any good, with a cast that also somehow includes Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Don Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal and even Lindsay Lohan, it should be anything but boring. Enjoy the latest trailer.



9:15: Never Let Me Go: Here's one case where I'm definitely glad I haven't read the book first, because Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, which has been made into a movie starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield, is about students at a boarding school with a mysterious secret, and I don't want to already know what that is going in.

9/17: Easy A: I'm surely too old for teenie adaptations of classic works, but this take on Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" just looks extremely clever, and star Emma Stone is a natural comedienne. Enjoy the trailer below.



9/17: "The Town": Ben Affleck's directing followup to "Gone Baby Gone" features a stellar cast - including Jeremy Ritter, Reel Fanatic fave Rebecca Hall and Don Draper - in a Chuck Hogan novel about bank robbers in Boston and the FBI man who's out to get them.

9/24: "It's Kind of a Funny Story": Co-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who made last year's seriously satisfying baseball/immigration drama "Sugar," return this time with the story of a teenager who checks himself into a mental institution and ends up getting housed in the adult area, where he meets Zach Galifianakis and all kinds of other colorful characters. The one movie I'm most looking forward to seeing this fall. Enjoy the trailer below.



10/1: "Social Network": The creation of Facebook may not exactly sound like a riveting story of American ingenuity, but I'm betting that in the hands of director David Fincher and with a script from "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin, this flick starring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake will be a real winner.

10/1: "Freakanomics": If too many cooks don't spoil the soup, this documentary based on the best-selling book about the often bizarre rules of causality from six directors - Heidi Ewing, Alex Gibney, Seth Gordon, Rachel Grady, Eugene Jarecki and Morgan Spurlock - should be a surprise hit this fall.

11/5: "Fair Game": Spy games are always best when they're based on a true story, so even if it's clearly old news by now, you can count me in for director Doug Liman's take on the story of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts), with her husband being played by Sean Penn.

11/5: "127 Hours": Director Danny Boyle kind of snuck up on Oscar voters to take the top prize with "Slumdog Millionaire," and I think he just might do it again with the story of mountain climber Aron Ralston, played by James Franco, who survived the titular 127 hours trapped under a boulder in a Utah canyon.

So there you have it. Please feel free to let me know of any I've snubbed (and remember that there will be some great ones in December, but that's not on this list) or any you're really amped to see this fall, and have a perfectly passable Tuesday. Peace out.

For Saturday, three or four bits of news about people I like

Quick, before I get into any of that, think: How many versions of "Law & Order" are there, and when's the last time you watched a new episode of one?

For me, the answers to those are I have no idea and for at least 10 years or so. It's not that I have anything against "L&O," simply that I prefer them with the late Jerry Orbach. Now, however, I think they've packed a new version with just the right stars to get me to tune in.

Two of my definite favorites, Terrence Howard and Alfred Molina, will rotate on the new "L&O" version "Law & Order:Los Angeles" as, respectively, a deputy district attorney and a prosecutor. Great news on the "Law" side, and though I have no idea who's gonna keep the "Order," you can bet that that's enough to get me to tune in for at least a few episodes when this premieres on NBC presumably some time this fall.

And in related TV news, just about the only possibly positive thing about the demise of the wickedly funny Starz show "Party Down" is that its cast members keep popping up in good shows. Adam Scott will be a regular on "Parks and Recreation" this fall to presumably pitch woo at Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope, and now comes word that Lizzy Caplan has also found a new gig, and a starring one on HBO.

Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Gary Sanchez production company is developing Julie Klausner's memoir "I Don't Care About Your Band" for Caplan to star in as a HBO series. Though I had never heard of her, Klausner is a comedy writer/comedienne, and her book, as the title implies, is a comedic look at her dating life in New York City with men trying to make it "in bands, as comedians, writers, or worse, as actors." Sounds not too far removed from Caplan's character on "Party Down," and like something I'll definitely tune in for.

And finally, in some actual movie news, it seems that "Precious" director Lee Daniels may have lost - at least temporarily - one movie and picked up another one that sounds at least as good.

For a while now, he's been working on a piece of historical drama called "Selma," which, as you can probably guess from the title, involves the American civil rights movement. Had that come together, it would have (and probably still will) have a pretty epicly good cast, including Liam Neeson as President Lyndon B. Johnson and Robert De Niro (maybe) as George Wallace (try and imagine that). While that was set to start shooting in August, the financing has at least been delayed, and in the meantime, Daniels has jumped onto something that sounds equally up his alley.

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Daniels has now signed on to rewrite and direct something called "The Butler," based on a series of articles by Wil Haygood on Eugene Allen, a White House butler who worked for eight presidents in the 20th century and, of course, had to be witness to some rather amazing events.

The script that Daniels will be working on comes from Danny Strong, a name that may be familiar to fans (like me) of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Gilmore Girls." After having long recurring roles on those shows, he went on to write the seriously good HBO movie "Recount," about the shenanigans that lead to George W. Bush becoming president. Along with a sublime performance from Laura Dern as Katherine Harris, it also just delivered a whipsmart story, so I can't imagine Daniels will have to do a thorough rewrite here.

And though this wouldn't start shooting until the end of this year, what makes it a lock to get made before "Selma"? One Denzel Washington has been approached to play the titular butler, and I can't imagine he'd turn it down.

Either way, though I'd love to see Daniels branch out a bit and move beyond matters of race, he's a very talented director to keep your eyes on no matter what comes next.

OK, I really have to get a move on today so I can work a hopefully happy viewing of "Dinner for Schmucks" into a busy Saturday, so I'll just leave you with the perfect closing gift, the Comic-Con panel for "Chuck," in its entirety. I don't know if anyone will bother to watch the whole thing, as I did, so I'll go ahead and tell you now: It doesn't contain the best news of all about the new season coming Sept. 20, that "Terminator" badass and Salisbury, Md., native Linda Hamilton will play Chuck and Ellie's mom (I can't wait to see that!) It does feature the entire cast having a good time, and for fans of the show it's well worth watching. Enjoy, and have a great weekend. Peace out.

"Let the Right One In" director assembling great spy game

Congrats to my staff on 4 Emmy nominations. This bodes well for the future of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

It's good to know that through it all Conan is, of course, still very funny, but easily the best news in yesterday's Emmy nominations was long overdue acting nods for Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler of "Friday Night Lights." They probably won't win, and the great show somehow still didn't get a best dramatic series nomination, but kudos nonetheless. Bully.

And beyond that today, it's a fairly slow day outside the quartet of clips at the end of this, but there is news about one of my favorite directors. Although Matt Reeves has been garnering plenty of attention for his thoroughly unnecessary English-language remake of the simply brilliant vampire movie "Let the Right One In," the director of the original classic (yes really, classic already, it's that good), Tomas Alfredson, has quietly assembled an A-list cast for what should be a fantastic spy flick, his take on John Le Carre's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy."

Already according to Variety, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman and Michael Fassbender have all signed on, though there's no word yet on which of them will play the main spook, George Smiley. Even better than that is that Peter Morgan, who wrote, among many other things, "Frost/Nixon," "The Queen" and the fantabulous futbol flick "The Damned United" (rent that one already), has penned the script for this, so it should be whip smart.

Le Carre's novel was already made into a seven-part British miniseries starring, among others, Alec Guinness and the late, truly great Ian Richardson (if I can digress for a second, the "House of Cards" trilogy, starring the latter as the nefarious Francis "F.U." Urquhart, is a grand piece of political theater, so watch that as soon as you can find it.) In the story, Smiley is assigned to uncover and take out a double agent implanted in the British Secret Service by Moscow Centre.

Update: A second of research by me reveals that Gary Oldman will indeed be playing George Smiley, so count this as one to definitely keep an eye out for in 2012.

OK, after that all I have today is a quartet of clips, but they're all well worth sticking around for. First up comes the second teaser trailer I know of for David Fincher's "The Social Network," and I have to say both of these have brought new life to that dying art of getting you amped up for a flick without revealing any actual footage. The flick, penned by Aaron Sorkin and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Rashida Jones (of "Parks and Recreation") and one Justin Timberlake, is set to drop Oct. 1. Enjoy.



Next up comes the second full trailer I know of for Robert Rodriguez's "Machete," which of course springs from the faux trailer in "Grindhouse" and is set to come out Sept. 3. There's a gigantic chance this could just be bloody awful, but with Danny Trejo as the lead badass and Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Don Johnson, Lindsay Lohan and even somehow Robert De Niro all starring in this, I'm betting on a lot of silly fun too. Enjoy.



I'm not sure when I'll be able to see Christopher Nolan's "Inception," since I'll be on vacation in Philly next week with mi hermano, but there's no doubt that the marketing machine for his brainy blockbuster set to come out July 16 is operating at full force. Here's just one of the many clips out there today, in which Leo DiCaprio introduces Reel Fanatic favorite Ellen Page to the concept of shared dreaming.

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And where in the world would be a better place to end up today than with Warwick Davis discussing his upcoming mockumentary BBC series with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, "Life's Too Short"? No idea when this will manage to cross the pond, but hopefully the wait won't be too long, because with that trio, comedy gold will surely be unearthed. Enjoy the clip, and have a great weekend. Peace out.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

"Jackie Brown" prequel in the works, but so far at least, without QT

In a word, the "Chuck" finale: Awesome. But no Buy More? Sheesh.

And I know I'm probably almost completely alone here, but "Jackie Brown" has always (or at least since it was made, of course) been my favorite Quentin Tarantino movie.

Better than "Pulp Fiction"? Better than "Inglourious Basterds," which I rank as my favorite movie of all of 2009? Yep. There's just something about the writing, the pacing and the characters that make it great, and a movie that I go back and watch on DVD about once a year or so (but it's not the best Elmore Leonard work on the big screen, an honor that will always go to "Out of Sight" in my book.)

So, a prequel focusing on the origin of the relationship of Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara, played in "Jackie Brown" by Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro, would be great news, right? Well, perhaps, but not so fast.

First of all, so far at least, QT has nothing to do with this. The project is an adaptation of the Leonard novel "The Switch," and the screenplay's been written by someone named Daniel Schechter, whose directorial debut, "Goodbye Baby," made the film festival circuit, and produced by Michael Siegel, who, with both "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Be Cool" on his rap sheet, isn't exactly a clean character.

The movie, as is the book it's based on, would be called "The Switch," and Elmore Leonard has signed on as an executive producer, though as yet there's no director or studio attached to this. In the novel, Robbie and Gara meet in prison, and once out, they join forces for one big score that finds them kidnapping the wife of a wealthy Detroit developer. When the husband refuses to pay the ransom for his wife's return, Ordell and Louis are forced to reconceive their plan, and the angry housewife uses the ex-cons to get her revenge.

A Leonard movie set in Detroit, like much of "Out of Sight"? I'm in. So as they seek to recast the younger Robbie and Gara, why not Don Cheadle, who was so great as Snoopy Miller in Steven Soderbergh's flick? As for the young Louis, who knows? As much as I hated "Iron Man 2," I'd still certainly put in a vote for Sam Rockwell.

But who knows if any of this will ever even happen. In the meantime, an ounce of research on my part turned up a bit about "Goodbye Baby," and it indeed doesn't sound half bad. I thought about embedding the trailer from YouTube, but it just has the most obnoxious voice over on it that ruins the whole thing. Instead, I'd recommend visiting the official site and watching the much more enjoyable version there.

Best as I can tell, it centers on a young woman (Christine Evangelista) who wants to make it as a standup comic in NYC, and with co-stars like Kevin Corrigan, Alan Ruck, Jerry Adler and the great Donnell Rawlings from "Chappelle's Show," it has as many funny people in it as Judd Apatow's disappointing movie of the same name.

Anyways, it coincidentally enough is set to come out on DVD next Tuesday, June 1 (at least according to Amazon), and I at least will be renting it from the Netflix. And with that I have to get ready for work. Peace out.

Exactly the right man to play Fela on the big screen, and a welcome visit from exactly the wrong Mexican

At the same time that the Broadway musical "Fela!" has received 11 Tony nominations, Focus Features has announced even better news about who will play the Afrobeat legend in a long overdue biopic - and it's easily the perfect choice.

First, as for the musical, which I had the pleasure of seeing last winter, it would be a worthy winner in any category, but especially for the dynamic performance of Sahr Ngaujah as the man himself. I was ready for the show's first half, more than a bit too heavy on audience engagement for my liking, to end, but it just gets better and better in act two as the story of Fela Kuti just gets crazier and crazier.

And if you're unfamiliar with his saga, it's a truly unique one. Along with creating a mad musical style that fused jazz, funk, West African drums and often 27-minute-or-so-long songs, he also drove the Nigerian government mad to the point that they ... well, you'll have to find out what they did to the poor man's mother for yourself, but it's just plain insane. He also took 27 wives along the way.

Which all makes for what should be an amazing biopic in the hands of director Steve McQueen (no, not the dead one) and (yes, I know I'm rather ashamedly burying the lead here) easily the perfect star in Chiwetel Ejiofor, who has quickly risen to become one of my favorite actors. He certainly has the intensity to pull this remarkable story off, and if you haven't seen McQueen's directing debut "The Hunger," the second-best movie ever made about IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands is well worth a rental (the best, Terry George's "Some Mother's Son" starring Dame Helen Mirren, is somehow still not out on DVD. What the hell's up with that? And if I may digress further for just a sec, the Macon Film Guild is showing "The Last Station," starring Mirren, Christopher Plummer and James McAvoy, this Sunday at 2, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. at downtown Macon's Douglass Theatre. I'll be there, and if you're in Macon, you certainly should too.)

The film, though separate from the Broadway hit, has secured the rights to Fela's music, so along with being extremely political this should also just be an outright party. In my mind, I'm there already.

OK, after that today, just a couple of tidbits, and then the promised return of Robert Rodriguez's "Machete," and I can confirm that Danny Trejo is an even badder MF in the real trailer.

But first up comes the official synopsis for "Brick" and "Brothers Bloom" director Rian Johnson's next flick, "Looper," which will be a reunion with "Brick" star Joseph Gordon-Levitt. To clear up the confusion that has surrounded the "dark sci-fi" project thus far, here's what he had to say to Cinematical:

Looper is a time travel movie, set in a near future where time travel doesn’t exist but will be invented in a few decades. It’s pretty dark in tone, much different from Bloom, and involves a group of killers (called Loopers) who work for a crime syndicate in the future. Their bosses send their targets hogtied and blindfolded back in time to the Loopers, and their job is to simply shoot them in the head and dispose of the body. So the target vanishes from the future and the Loopers dispose of a corpse that doesn’t technically exist, a very clean system. Complications set in from there.

I'm sure they do. Like I said yesterday, that plot certainly sounds like it could be for the kind of tired "sci-fi" flicks that seem to appear for about a week each February, but here's hoping this one goes against the grain.

And in a bit of very good TV news, the makers of "Futurama" have just announced that the first two new episodes of the animated sci-fi comedy will air back to back on Comedy Central at 10 p.m. June 24. I have no idea how in the world the Matt Groening and David X. Cohen show has survived this long, but I'll certainly be tuning in when it somehow returns again. Enjoy this first still from the rather cleverly titled first return episode, "Rebirth."


And finally today, when Robert Rodriguez's "Machete" finally hits theaters Sept. 3, it will probably be as big a box-office flop as "Grindhouse," the movie in which it first appeared as a fake trailer, but I know I'll at least certainly be watching. As you can see from this trailer rather cleverly tailored to Arizona's current immigrant purge, it does indeed flesh out the original faux trailer as a pretty straight-forward tale of revenge, but with a truly eclectic cast that includes Trejo, of course, as Machete, but also Jessica Alba, Don Johnson, Lindsay Lohan, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez and even Robert De Niro. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

What in the world ever happened to Brad Bird?

You know, when a dude has managed to direct two out of three of my favorite animated movies in "The Iron Giant" and "Ratatouille" (with only Hayao Miyazaki's "Kiki's Delivery Service" sandwiched in between), it really is odd to watch him pretty much just disappear, but that seems to be exactly what's happened to Brad Bird.

For the last few (or maybe more) years, he's been trying desperately to mount a live-action take on the novel "1906," which would just be a blast. Actually, I didn't really care for the book by James Dalessandro, but it's subject matter - the politically corrupt world of San Francisco in the titular year, and the great earthquake that brought it all crumbling down - is just ripe for Bird's natural gift for storytelling.

Though that's still somehow listed as a "2012" project at the IMDB, it still has no cast that I know of, and I'm fairly certain that Warner Bros. has balked at putting up the scratch Bird would need to pull it off - or apparently, even really get started.

Now, however, it seems that J.J. Abrams and Tom Cruise (it apparently does help to have friends in high places) might step in to give him something almost as fun to work with. With a May 27, 2011, release date already set and filming set to begin this summer on "Mission Impossible IV," the duo have yet to settle on one minor question: Who should direct this?

Well, it seems they've already talked with "Zombieland" director Ruben Fleischer and Edgar Wright, who has "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World" coming this summer (bring it on, already!), and now you can add the most intriguing choice, Bird, to that list too.

I know that's a lot to write about a movie that's so far off, but I really just adore spy movies, and once this one finally comes together it should just be nothing but fun - especially in the hand of Brad Bird or Edgar Wright.

OK, after that today, it's all about Tyler Perry and Lee Daniels (well, until we get to the finale, at least.)

Because the man feels it's both his right and duty to direct at least two movies every year, Tyler Perry has a new movie, "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?", coming out next week. And though I've seen and at least somewhat enjoyed every movie the man has made so far (how many directors can you really say that about?), this is the first one I'm really just not looking forward to, because it's - obviously - the sequel to what I think was his worst movie so far.

But here today, it's not about any of that, but instead what's happening with his next movie, which should just be epicly good. His take on the play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" by Ntozake Shange is set to shoot in New York this June, for a January 2011 release (meaning, rather amazingly, the man will only have one movie in theaters this year), and it's not surprisingly attracting some big names.

Mariah Carey, who proved she can really act in Daniels' "Precious," and "Why Did I Get Married" star Janet Jackson are the latest big names to join a cast that already has Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Jurnee Smollett, Kimberly Elise (aka Perry's "Mad Black Woman"), Loretta Devine and singer Macy Gray. He apparently wanted Beyonce, Oprah and Halle Berry, too, but perhaps even Tyler Perry can't get everything he wants.

One of Perry's greatest strengths has always been his ability to write strong, well-rounded parts for women, so this flick should be a dream fit, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

And Daniels, a Perry protege of sorts, is also putting together a pretty fascinating cast for "Selma," which will be his followup to "Precious" and be about Martin Luther King Jr.'s pivotal 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.

Already announced are Hugh Jackman as Sheriff Jim Clark, "Precious" vet Lenny Kravitz as Andrew Young and British actor David Oyelowo as Dr. King himself, and now you can add to that Liam Neeson as Lyndon Johnson and Cedric the Entertainer as King cohort Ralph Abernathy. Robert De Niro had earlier been rumored to be playing George Wallace, which would have been remarkable, but that apparently isn't happening. Even so, that's a pretty wild cast for this epic saga, so definitely keep your eyes on this one.

And finally, I'll leave you today with easily the funniest thing I found online this morning. Though as a matter of habit I usually go to bed by 11 p.m., on those occasions when I happen to be up later, I always go out of my way to watch Conan O'Brien, wherever he might be. For folks who make a whole lot more money than I do, he's on a live tour this summer, and hopefully headed back to late night as soon as this fall on Fox, but in the meantime singer/songwriter/comic Ben Sheehan has come up with this little tribute that fits this spirit of CoCo perfectly. Set to the tune of Diddy's "I'll Be Missing You" (which of course is already a grand pilferation from the Police), "I'll Be Watching You (Miss You Coco)" is as genuinely funny as it is simply bizarre. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

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A new Wizard of Oz? You've got to be f%$#ing kidding me! Plus, a new Drive-By Truckers album

I've been pretty much amazed by the reaction to Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," with critics pretty much split right down the middle. Well, you can certainly count me in the pro category, something you can rarely say about Burton's remakes.

Unlike "Planet of the Apes," which was just a lifeless mess, and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," which he just made into a perverted pile of trash, I found "Alice in Wonderland" to be nothing but charming, largely because Burton restrained all his worst impulses. I was a little worried when Alice first managed to walk out into Wonderland (or, as he calls it, Underland) and there were those two little flying creatures battling, but he mostly managed to resist cluttering the world with too many oddities and just let the story tell itself.

What comes next, however, just might be way beyond the pale. This is just at the beginning of rumor stage, but when it's this bad, I feel duty bound to spread it around (as if I would really have any power to stop it.)

There really does seem to be no limits to what will be engulfed by the 3-D beast, so someday I should probably manage to stop being surprised by this lunacy, but I just assumed no one would have the hubris to think they could remake "The Wizard of Oz," right? Apparently not.

According to the Los Angeles Times, with Harry Potter set to end soon and considering the rather amazing opening weekend for "Alice," Warner Bros. is seriously eyeing jumpstarting one of two updated "Wizard of Oz" scripts knocking about to make it a 3-D spectacle. Remember, I'm just the messenger here.

One project, called "Oz," is being pushed by Temple Hill, the folks behind a little series called "Twilight," and has a script by Darren Lemke, a writer on the upcoming "Shrek Forever After." OK, bad, but maybe not awful. But wait ...

The second potential project, which seems to be paralyzing my fingers so I have trouble even writing it, skews a lot more twisted, with "A History of Violence" scribe Josh Olson penning a version that focuses on - yes, really - a granddaughter of Dorothy who returns to Oz to somehow fight evil. Not surprisingly. "Spawn" creator Todd MacFarlane, who has had a twisted Dorothy fetish for years now, would be involved in this in some kind of producing capacity.

Now, I can certainly understand the temptation here. A potential tentpole with the perfect heroine, and all that nifty 3-D to boot, but really? Where to start ...

My main beef with all of this - and believe me, I could go on for quite a while - is that the original "The Wizard of Oz," in an admittedly antiquated way, is plenty twisted itself already. It certainly doesn't need to be any darker or odder or anything else than it already is.

If anyone has a lot more power than me, please stop this as soon as possible. And from here on out today, it's all good news, I promise, including two simply sensational musical offerings at the end.

De Niro to play Vince Lombardi

If you're gonna do a grand sports biopic, you probably can't find a better match in my book than Robert De Niro and Vince Lombardi, the Green Bay Packers coach who led his team to five NFL titles. De Niro has signed on to play the role on the big screen for ESPN Films, with a script to come from Eric Roth, who wrote the screenplay for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

Now, I've made clear my pretty intense dislike (not hate, note) of that David Fincher flick, but I seriously doubt Roth will be able to "Gump" this up the way he did Fincher's movie.

And as for ESPN Films, I've tuned in for their TV film series when the subject interests me. The Len Bias flick was pretty great until it veered off course at the end to proselytize about the legalization of drugs, and that little movie about the U. of Miami was nothing but fun. The flick about Jimmy the Greek was intriguing, but that ridiculous voice over that was supposed to represent the voice of the oddsmaker almost made it unwatchable.

What all the TV offerings have had in common, however, is that they're about as shallow as a half-filled kiddie pool, but I'd have to think Roth will get into a much more fleshed-out portrait of Lombardi here, and I'll certainly turn out to see it when this hits in that dead weekend before the Super Bowl in 2012 (great timing there.)

Two seriously funny ladies returning to TV

The only thing missing from the great news that Will Arnett was reteaming with "Arrested Development" co-creators Mitchell Hurwitz and Jim Vallely for a Fox sitcom to be called "Wilde Kingdom" was word of who would have the rather onerous task of being subjected to his obnoxious advances.

Well, it seems that Felicity herself, Keri Russell, is about to sign on to play the co-lead, which would be nothing but cool. In the show, Arnett would play a Beverly Hill jackass (natch) who falls in love with a charitable, tree-hugging woman (Russell) who can't stand his lifestyle or values.

Sounds like fun, and really, just the further adventures of Gob Bluth, and what could be wrong with that?

In other TV news at least tangentially related to "Arrested Development," Judy Greer has been tapped to star opposite David Krumholtz in another Fox comedy pilot, "Tax Man."

In the show, Greer is set to play a former Morgan Stanley secretary, nicknamed "the Terminator," who joins an IRS office in Fresno, Calif., staffed by enthusiastic eccentrics.

Greer is seriously funny in just about anything she does, and though Krumholtz has made a steady living for years now on "Numbers," which I've never seen, you may remember him from way back when as Neal Schweiber's big brother Barry on "Freaks and Geeks," so this is definitely one worth keeping an eye out for next fall.

New music video from She & Him

I know at least one semi-regular visitor to this site, Bob Connally, is jazzed about there being a second She & Him album out this week, and I am too.

For anyone who doesn't know, She & Him is a nifty little collaboration between Zooey Deschanel and plugged-in folkie M. Ward, and their first album, "Volume One," was just thoroughly charming, so I'm looking forward to more of the same with "Volume Two," which is due out March 23 (not yesterday, as I was hoping before an alert reader corrected me.) In the meantime, enjoy this first music video for the song "In the Sun," which with Deschanel and friends dancing their way through high school hallways is just a perfectly sweet diversion. Enjoy.



And, much better, next week will bring the release of a new Drive-By Truckers' album, "The Big To-Do." Even better than that is that it's currently streaming for free, and all you have to do to hear it is click on the player below. My first impressions? It's a solid rock record that falls somewhere between good and great. It could certainly use more Mike Cooley and less Shonna Tucker, but the Cooley song "Birthday Boy" and Patterson Hood tracks "Drag the Lake Charlie" and "The Wig He Made Her Wear" are first rate. Enjoy, and have a perfectly endurable Wednesday. Peace out.

The three craziest rumors you'll hear ... well ... at least today

With a post like this, there's really no better place than to start with Quentin Tarantino, who, if he followed through on everything he mentioned in the media, would have one whale of a great movie canon by now (the one he really has is, of course, pretty darn good as it is.)

This appeared in a New York Daily News item titled "Brad Pitt doesn't smoke pot while acting; I don't smoke pot while directing," so certainly take it with more than a few grains of salt. Even if that headline is true (which I kinda doubt), I'd still have to believe he at least smokes up a bit when he comes up with his movie ideas, like this one he let slip in the Daily News piece:

"I'd like to do a Western. But rather than set it in Texas, have it in slavery times. With that subject that everybody is afraid to deal with. Let's shine that light on ourselves. You could do a ponderous history lesson of slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad. Or, you could make a movie that would be exciting. Do it as an adventure. A spaghetti Western that takes place during that time. And I would call it 'A Southern.'"

Now, he's mentioned making a movie about slavery before, but now that he's made World War II into some kind of crazy revenge fantasy about killing Hitler with "Inglourious Basterds" (and even managed to make it into my single favorite movie of 2009), I'd imagine anything's possible, so we'd better take even his craziest ideas a little seriously. A "Southern" that makes slavery "exciting"? I don't doubt he can do this, but whether he actually does or not ... stay tuned.

OK, these are actually coming in order of how much I'd like to see them happen, and just behind QT's madness comes a potentially fantastic collaboration between Nick Cave and Andy Serkis.

While on tour plugging his Ian Dury biopic "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" (yes, I'll watch that, please), Serkis let slip that he's planning a motion-capture movie version of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's "The Threepenny Opera." Even better, Nick Cave is writing the screenplay with him, and will presumably have a big part in the music too.

The piece, which seems tailormade to Cave's rather odd brain, is based on "The Beggar's Opera," which tells the story of the sociopathic criminal Macheath, who marries the daughter of Mr. Peachum, who controls all the beggars in London. Peachum opposes the match and conspires to have Macheath hanged.

This has, of course, already been made into a movie once - as the simply dreadful "Mack the Knife" - so it's screaming out for a version that people can actually sit through without visibly cringing. Details to come if this actually all comes together, but for now, enjoy this rather sublime clip of Cave performing the song "Mack the Knife."



OK, with that, the goodwill ends, because the next two items fill me with nothing but bile (I did warn you.) It seems that Lars Von Trier, who I've never much cared for (his sole mission seems to be "shock" people into complete boredom, but I concede it's entirely possible I simply just don't get his flicks), ran into Martin Scorsese at the Berlin Film Festival and, perhaps drunk, crazy or both, has challenged the old man to something of a cinematic fist fight.

The story is more than a little odd, so bear with me. According to the Danish mag Echo, he has apparently "challenged" Scorsese to remake "Taxi Driver" (pause a minute or so and let that sink in), with Robert De Niro but also with several "obstacles" thrown in to make things "interesting," as Von Trier apparently did to fellow Danish filmmaker Jørgen Leth in his 2003 doco "Obstructions."

The idea of remaking "Taxi Driver" under any conditions would, I certainly at least hope, just make Scorsese laugh in Von Trier's face, but can you imagine this old dude jumping through all kinds of hurdles just to turn his signature movie into some kind of game? It's ludicrous to the point that it could actually be kind of fun if it were ever actually to happen, but even if I still were a betting man, I wouldn't touch this one with even the longest of odds.

Scorsese, however, apparently isn't immune to incredibly bad ideas. It's fairly certain now that his next movie will be "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," and since I've read that children's book (I read quite a few of those, actually), that makes me nothing but giddy. It's a magical tale about a young boy in Paris who lives in the wall of a train station, where he tends to the clocks, doing the work supposedly performed by his drunken uncle. In the course of the story he eventually encounters Georges Melies and his wild automatons, and it just gets better and better from there.

So, what could possibly be the bad in this? Well, also while in Berlin, Scorsese let it slip that this will be shot in 3D, because, well, I guess everything has to be that way now. Sheesh. Can't I just go to a movie without putting on a second set of glasses? Apparently not, but that's really all I have to say about that potential disaster, because I have to get ready for the job that somehow still pays me enough to keep the lights turned on. I'll leave you with this new teaser trailer for "Despicable Me," which at least looks like it will at least be a lot of fun when it drops this summer. Enjoy, and have a perfectly bearable Tuesday. Peace out.

R.I.P. John Hughes, viva Machete and the continuing amazing glory that is "Where the Wild Things Are"

I'm not sure there's anything terribly profound I can say about the fact that John Hughes died of a heart attack at the far-too-young age of 59 while out on a walk yesterday, but it's certainly a cautionary tale. I never thought the man was a terribly out-of-shape-looking guy, but to only make it that long in our world is just thoroughly depressing (and, yes, you can thank me for stating the obvious.)

I was surprised to see from his IMDB resume that, although he wrote or produced a ton of movies, he actually only directed eight flicks. But when your first four directing gigs are, in this order, "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," "Weird Science" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," in the space of only three years from 1984-'86, you clearly know what you're doing. The man just got exactly what it was like to be a teenager in the '80s, which I was, and for that I can only say thanks.

Of those four classic flicks, I know many people would pick "The Breakfast Club" as the best, but for me it was always "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." It was one of the first movies that taught me how directors can give their movies a sense of place, which Hughes did so perfectly with Chicago, and it was just so much fun to watch Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara and Alan Ruck romp their way through it.

For me, however, Hughes made just as much of a mark with his music selections, specifically for "Pretty in Pink" and "Some Kind of Wonderful," two movies he wrote and produced.

There might not be a finer movie soundtrack than the one for "Pretty in Pink," and I just wore a hole through my cassette copy of it in the '80s (sadly, I tried to buy it on iTunes this morning, but it's somehow not even available.) Starting with OMD's "If You Leave" and continuing through Suzanne Vega and Joe Jackson's "Left of Center" (my favorite track) and the Psychedelic Furs' title track, and then, of course, finishing up with "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" by the Smiths, it had just enough angst but was mostly just an aural confection I couldn't put down for at least six months straight or so.

"Some Kind of Wonderful" was in so many ways just a pale knockoff of "Pretty in Pink," but in terms of the soundtrack it stands up pretty well over time on its own too. "The Hardest Walk" has always been one of my favorite Jesus and Mary Chain songs, and to this day I still can't get that crazy Lick The Tins version of "I Can't Help Falling In Love," later used in Stephen Frears' "The Snapper," easily one of my favorite comedies, out of my head.

Rest in peace indeed, Mr. Hughes.

OK, enough of that. This is the last post I'm going to do for more than a week because I'm headed to Mexico City with my brother and the rest of the Minnesota Volunteers to watch the U.S. men's soccer team hopefully not get crushed in a World Cup qualifier at El Azteca, and just goof off for a solid week in that crazy city, so nothing but good news from here on out.

And speaking of crazy, I'm now certain it's not gonna get much better than what Robert Rodriguez is cooking up with "Machete."

The movie itself, of course, springs from the I-guess-no-longer-fake trailer that was sandwiched between "Planet Terror" and "Death Proof" in "Grindhouse," and it was easily the best of the intermission fare (except for maybe that great use of the Danger Doom/Talib Kweli track "Old School" over the be right back titles.)

And now the actual movie about a Mexican federale who takes revenge on a U.S. Senator who has framed him for murder is attracting just a wild cast. Danny Trejo, of course, will play Machete himself, and Variety now confirms he'll be joined by no less than Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, Don Johnson and even Lindsay Lohan. Take a second to take that all in.

Shooting is gearing up now in Austin, with Rodriguez's longtime editor Ethan Maniquis serving as co-director, and this will be out sometime next year. Even if it somehow turns out to be awful, which I really can't see happening, you can at least probably be guaranteed it won't be boring, so I can only bring it on.

OK, before I head off south of the border, I'll leave you with the best three videos I found this week, and yes, we will eventually get to "Where the Wild Things Are," and you just have to believe me that it's well worth the wait.

First, though, comes this little bit of thorough cuteness from "(500) Days of Summer" director Marc Webb, featuring his two almost unbearably charming stars, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. As you'll see and hear, the dance they perform is to a tune from She & Him, the great collaboration between Deschanel and M. Ward, and if you don't own their album "Volume One," I really can't recommend it highly enough. Enjoy.



Next up comes the fairly promising trailer for "The Vampire's Assistant," the first movie based on books from Irish author Darren Shan's "Vampire Blood" trilogy. While I'm growing just about as tired as anyone of stories of young vampires (though not of "Let the Right One In," which the Macon Film Guild will be screening twice on Oct. 30 in honor of Halloween, huzzah!), I don't think you can go wrong when the elder vamp in this case is played by John C. Reilly and the "Cirque du Freak" contains, among other performers, Salma Hayek as the bearded lady and Patrick Fugit as the snake boy. This is coming out Oct. 23 and is being directed by Paul Weitz. Enjoy the trailer.



OK, I've definitely saved the best for last, because this second, third or whatever it is trailer for Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are" is truly just a wonder to behold. You get to hear a lot more of James Gandolfini as one of the main wild things, and we finally get to see young Max (Max Records) bellow "Let the wild rumpus start." He also gets another fantastic line, but I won't spoil it for you, because this two-and-a-half minute bit of goodness is just the perfect way to start off a Friday. I can't wait until this finally comes out in October. Enjoy.



And with that I'm off to Mexico City until Aug. 15, and in my mind I'm already there. Peace out.

Oscars on the brain, and Watchmen, Watchmen everywhere!

I guess the biggest non-Oscar news out there today is that Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and Owen Wilson are set to star in "Little Fockers," which will of course revolve around the youngins. Hardly a high-brow movie, but I always at least give it a chance when De Niro goes for comedy.

But here today, it's all about the Oscars, a return to lists and - of course - "Watchmen"! Please feel free to stick around until the end for what I think are the first three clips of actual footage from the movie.

I'm set to record an Oscars video presentation (are those "vodcasts"? I have no idea) with my co-worker Phillip Ramati this afternoon, so they're definitely on my brain, and over my morning coffee I was perusing Wikipedia's list of all the Best Picture winners and nominees (and hoping it's accurate), which prompted these few brief thoughts:

Biggest snub

This is, of course, completely subjective, and for my purposes I restricted it to movies that actually were nominated rather than the almost infinitely broader category of worthy movies that didn't even get the nod.

In the former set, three jumped out at me, with the last one being the most amazing slight in my book. First up is "Dances With Wolves" over "Goodfellas" in 1990. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm not sure I've ever seen Kevin Costner's film in its entirety, but I did try at least once. I have, however, probably seen Scorsese's gangster epic at least 10 times on DVD, so I think I can say with authority that this was just the definition of a dis.

Next up is "Forrest Gump" over "Pulp Fiction" in 1994, probably the biggest gap in quality between a winner and a nominee I can think of. I've made my hatred for "Forrest Gump" crystal clear here before, and while I know in my heart that, say, "Norbit" or "The Hottie or the Nottie" are probably worse movies, I still think "Gump" stands the test of time as the worst "good" movie of all. Along with the love of Zemeckis' flick, this vote just showed that the Oscars really weren't ready for something as innovative as Quentin Tarantino's breakthrough flick.

But the biggest goof in my mind goes back much further, all the way to 1939. Now, I have seen "Gone With the Wind," albeit not until it was re-released in theaters sometime in the 1990s. I really liked the overall experience, complete with intermission, so I can't knock anyone who is a devoted fan of the adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's grand Southern saga, but I still have to ask how in the world could this have beaten out "The Wizard of Oz"? Like most American kids of my era, there were two movies that we all gathered around the TV for year after year as events: "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Sound of Music." The former is still the one movie that I think would cause me to resort to actual rather than just threatened violence if I ever heard of plans for a big-screen remake, and for flicks that combine wild storytelling with sheer artistry and innovation, they just don't get much better at all. Hence, the winner in this category for me, but please feel free to add any others that jump out at you.

Favorite Best Picture winners

Nothing terribly surprising here, especially in the confirmation that the mid-1970s were indeed the golden age of American cinema, but just thought I'd share my 10 favorites anyway, arranged only by order:

1949: "All the King's Men"
1954: "On the Waterfront"
1965: "The Sound of Music"
1972: "The Godfather"
1974: "The Godfather Part II"
1975: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
1976: "Rocky"
1977: "Annie Hall"
1987: "The Last Emperor"
And, finally, 2007: "No Country for Old Men"

Favorite Best Picture losers

This, of course, took a bit longer, but it's always better to complain about who got hosed rather than congratulate the winner, right? I was gonna try to keep this to 10 also, but it soon became clear that would be impossible. So, here goes, my favorite nominees who failed to take home the big prize:

1939: "The Wizard of Oz"
1956: "The King and I"
1961: "The Hustler"
1962: "To Kill a Mockingbird" (probably my favorite movie of all time, but I suppose you can't gripe too much, since it lost out to "Lawrence of Arabia")
1964: "Dr. Strangelove"
1967: "Bonnie and Clyde" and "The Graduate"
1970: "MASH"
1971: "The Last Picture Show"
1976: "All the President's Men" and "Taxi Driver"
1979 (truly a banner year): "Apocalypse Now," "Breaking Away" and "Norma Rae," with "Kramer Vs. Kramer" somehow beating all of those
1980: "Raging Bull"
1984: "A Soldier's Story"
1987: "Hope and Glory"
1990: "Goodfellas"
1991: "Beauty and the Beast"
1992: "The Crying Game"
1994: "Pulp Fiction"
1995: "Babe"
1996: "Fargo"
2000: "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
2001: "Gosford Park"
And, finally, 2006: "Little Miss Sunshine"

Were the Oscars always so "snobby"?

I put that in quotes because I'm not thoroughly convinced they are now, but the backers of "The Dark Knight" (and you can count me firmly among them) could certainly make that case.

So, were the Oscars always so averse to rewarding movies that combine artistry with extreme box-office appeal? The biggest example that proves they weren't would have to be "Titanic," which took home the big prize and 9 other statues, among 13 nominations.

There are other instances, however, that better show that the Oscars once (and fairly recently) took the wishes of fans and real geeks to heart. Here goes, with some Best Picture nominees:

1975: "Jaws"
1977: "Star Wars"
1981: "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
1982: "E.T. the Extra Terrestrial"
and 2001-2003: "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy

And, finally, "Watchmen"!

Anyone who actually made it through all that certainly deserves a reward, so here it is: As far as I can tell, the first three clips of actual footage from the movie "Watchmen," for which you can count me just thoroughly geeked up.

First up is a clip of Dan Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson) talking with Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode) about the Comedian's murder:



Next up is a snippet of that great scene in which Nite Owl (Wilson) and Laurie Jupiter (Malin Ackerman) take the Owl ship out for a spin and rescue some folks trapped in a burning building.



And finally, my favorite of the three, which features an unmasked Nite Owl and Rohrschach (Jackie Earle Haley). I think this is the first time I've heard Rohrschach speak, and it's just nothing but cool.



So, there you have it. Our Oscars video should be up some time tonight, so please feel free to check back, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

The grand art of the epic movie

I have serous doubts that Baz Luhrmann's "Australia" will ever end up on this list, but I'm still fairly certain that any attempt to create the Australian "Gone With the Wind" should at least be maddeningly entertaining when I get to see it tomorrow (since Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire," getting perhaps the slowest rollout of all time, won't even hit ATL until next week.)

Even though I'm certain that most of the rest of the world surely has better things to do than sit in front of a computer on the day after Thanksgiving, I have to work a half day so I thought I'd spend a little time on this beforehand.

And before anyone point out that my definition of epic is just too loose to even be considered (or that I almost completely omitted war movies, which just aren't my cup of tea in general), remember that this is my list, so I make the rules. So, in honor of the return of Baz Luhrmann (surely a reason to cheer in my little corner of the world), here are my 10 favorite "epic" movies of all time. Please feel free to add any of the many, many, many I have omitted.

"The Godfather"
Though I certainly have respect for the "The Godfather: Part II," the inclusion on this list ends with the first movie, which is still simply the best movie about a crime family ever made (though you'll soon see another on this list too.)

"The Last Emperor"
There's so much to recommend in Bernardo Bertolucci's tale of Pu Yi, the titular last emperor of China, but what I enjoy most each time I go back and watch it again is the humor that comes in the proposition of handing the supposed reigns of a crumbling empire to a child. Priceless.

"Seven Samurai"
If the traditional epic has to have at least one hero, I'd argue (and be far from alone) that Toshiro Mifune's Kikuchiyo is still the best of the bunch. And though it brings me no pleasure whatsoever, it's still my duty to share that the IMDB still has a "Seven Samurai" remake listed with this rather ominous synopsis: A town in Northern Thailand recruits seven Blackwater-type paramilitary contractors from around the world to defend against an imminent attack. Don't get me started ...

Once Upon a Time in America
My parents surely wish I wouldn't share this story, but when I was 14 (old enough, probably) and my brother 11 (surely not), they took us to see Sergio Leone's rather amazing but more than occasionally tawdry gangland saga in the theater. We ended up leaving as Robert De Niro's Noodles was raping Elizabeth McGovern in the limo, a fact which still shames me to this day, because there are very few better American crime stories on film, if you're old enough to appreciate it.

"Apocalypse Now"
"The Deer Hunter" almost made this list too, but as far as Vietnam movies go this one is rightly heralded as the best because no other war movie showcases the futility and - of course - madness of war quite like it.

"Boogie Nights"
Paul Thomas Anderson drew what I felt was at least slightly more acclaim than he deserved for last year's "There Will Be Blood," certainly an epic American tale in its own right, but one that just left me a little cold. A well-made movie for sure, and both Daniel Day Lewis and an underrated Paul Dano were exceptional, but I'll take the fun of those tawdry "Boogie Nights" (and Don Cheadle selling stereo equipment in Western attire) every time.

"Bonnie and Clyde"
Though it at first comes close to romanticizing a truly notorious pair of criminals (and how could you not with Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty on board?), but by the end Arthur Penn manages to craft probably the best movie about America's obsession with violence. And just still a lot of fun to boot.

"Malcolm X"
If you haven't seen Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna" yet, I'd still recommend watching it on DVD, even though it's a maddeningly uneven movie. It shows touches of Spike throughout, but they were all harnessed into a single movie three times: For "Do the Right Thing," "When the Levees Broke" and here, in the movie that still stands as the single biggest Oscar snub ever in my book.

"The Fifth Element"
As long as we've been hearing the name Luc Besson, I was amazed to find he only has 15 finished or coming feature films to his credit as a director (though tons more as a producer), four of which are in the "Arthur and the ..." children's series he's now fixated on. I can still remember seeing "The Big Blue" in a French movie theater and falling for it instantly, but this goofy space opera that combines just about everything I love in movies is still my favorite Besson flick (with "Nikita" and "Leon" getting a very stylish honorable mention.)

"Nashville"
For a story that takes place over just a few days in one city, the late Robert Altman's flick captures America in a certain time and place as well as any I can think of, and though his skill at weaving multiple story lines into a single quilt is often imitated, it's never been close to re-created. Rest in peace, Mr. Altman.

So, there you have it. Please feel free to add any that hold a place in your movie heart, and have a great weekend.

Can Martin Scorsese save Robert De Niro?

First thing first: Last night's "Pushing Daisies," after a rather disastrously long bit of opening exposition to catch everyone up, was just as funny and whimsical as ever, and will hopefully lead ABC to announce later today that the show has received a full season-two order (so far it just has 13 new episodes coming.)

And, in reference to my headline question, does Robert De Niro really need saving? Well, I'm sure his life in NYC is still a whole lot more fabulous than mine down here in Macon, GA, but if its from mediocre movies I'd say the answer is surely an emphatic yes.

I had to go back to 2006's "The Good Shepherd" to find a De Niro movie I really liked unconditionally and much further back to 2000's "Meet the Parents" to find another one (and the second one gets an asterisk in the "like" column because Mr. De Niro isn't nearly as funny as he seems to think he is nowadays).

So, what could bring this formerly great man back to his glory days, to roles in movies such as "Raging Bull" or "Goodfellas," or even in John Frankenheimer's rather severely underrated "Ronin"? Well, either reteaming with Martin Scorses or doing a great movie about the mob would probably do the trick, so throw in both and you'd seem to have just about the perfect project.

Indeed, word comes today that Mr. Scorsese is attached to direct and Mr. De Niro to star in "I Heard You Paint Houses," based on the book about the mob assassin who many believe was involved in the death of Jimmy Hoffa. (And despite my rather heavy diet of mob movies and TV through the years, I had no idea that "paint houses" was mob slang for a contract killing ... yet another rather useless bit of trivia to clutter my brain!)

De Niro will play Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran, who is reputed to have carried out more than 25 mob murders and confessed to "Paint Houses" author Charles Brandt that he also carried out the killing and dismemberment of Hoffa on orders from mob boss Russell Bufalino. On top of my love for mob movies, I also like flicks like "Confession of a Dangerous Mind" in which our "protagonist" makes an outlandish claim that stays in doubt throughout the entire movie, so this should be ideal.

Steven Zaillian, who crafted the crisp script for "American Gangster" but also the rather uneven screenplay for Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" too, will adapt Brandt's book for the big screen.

And Scorsese, I predict, will have one of both the biggest critical and box office successes next year with "Shutter Island," starring Leo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo in his take on Dennis Lehane's novel about the mysterious happenings at a mental hospital on the titular remote island.

And now, since I have no other news to report, I have to get ready for the job that still somehow pays my rent. Peace out.

All hail the Coens: A video tribute

Like just about everyone else in the world, apparently, I didn't bother to turn out for Nicolas Cage's "Bangkok Dangerous," but believe it or not, it looks like there will be three potentially very good movies opening wide this week.

Robert De Niro and Al Pacino (heard of them?) team up for "Righteous Kill," a novelty that's probably enough to net my $6 for a matinee (though the Rolling Stones music in the commercial does raise rather serious fears that this will just be a tired Scorsese knockoff.) And secondly, Alfre Woodard, Kathy Bates and Taraji P. Henson (pictured simply because I like to look at her and I write this) join the Tyler Perry train in "The Family that Preys," which I'm betting will turn out to be a winner.

But, most importantly, it's also the return of the Coen Brothers with "Burn After Reading," which looks like it will be odd enough to fit just right in their body of work. I know they're not for everyone (though I certainly don't know why), but how many directors can you name who have made 10 movies that you either like or outright love? The Coens have accomplished this in my book (out of 13, including "Burn After Reading," which I of course haven't seen yet), so they've certainly earned at least the eyes of the few people who happen to stumble by here. So here, in order of just how much I like them, are my 10 favorite Coen brothers movies, with video enhancement where possible.

10. "Ladykillers"
Yes, "Ladykillers." I realize this remake is almost universally derided as the brothers coasting with nothing new to offer, but I find it to often be very funny. Sure, Tom Hanks is even more annoying as a "Southerner" here than he was in "Forrest Gump," but I submit that J.K. Simmons, Marlon Wayans and, most of all, Irma P. Hall are all fairly great in it, and I offer this clip from the Waffle Hut as proof.



9. "Miller's Crossing"
If anyone wants to quibble with this or any other flick not being higher on the list, remember that everyone on it is a winner to me. The best Coen flicks create a world to escape to for a little while, as it did here with this flick about Irish mobsters. Albert Finney just tore through this one, but believe it or not, that is director Sam Raimi in this brief shootout clip from the flick.



8. "Barton Fink"
If I'm not mistaken this was the first movie that had John Turturro as its principal star, and the first he made with the Coens. It's a portrait of a Hollywood writer suffering a rather severe case of writer's block (and wrestling movies and all kinds of other oddities.) Here's a clip of Turturro and the very funny Tony Shalhoub as a movie producer.



7. "Raising Arizona"
On paper this movie would just seem extremely stupid, and it occasionally is, but in all the best ways. The tale of H.I. and Ed and their quest to have a baby is just the silliest kind of fun, and having watched it last year on the big screen again I can attest that it well stands the test of time. Enjoy this clip of H.I. and Ed trying to oust the Snoats from their home so they can enjoy the company of some "decent folk."



6. "Blood Simple"
The ratings from here on out are kind of arbitrary since I love all of these. There have been very few more straightforwardly entertaining directing debuts than this "Simple" film noir, which introduced Frances McDormand to the world in 1984. Enjoy this opening bit of narration by M. Emmet Walsh, which ends with McDormand's opening line.



5. "Fargo"
The Coens really should have won their first Best Picture Oscar for this one, which in its mix of comedy, violence and intrigue really captures their spirit as well any other. It's also probably the best performances from both William H. Macy and Ms. McDormand. Here's what Siskel and Ebert had to say about it back in the day.



4. "No Country for Old Men"
Call it a "meditation on violence" or any other kind of high-falutin' terms that apply to Best Picture winners, but it's also just a chilling movie and a perfect example of the Coens taking the work of another, here Cormac McCarthy, and making it truly their own. Here's a clip of Woody Harrelson and Josh Brolin, who's been on a real roll since.



3. "The Big Lebowski"
Many people would rank this as the best of the Coen brothers' flicks, and I really can't argue with them. At it's best, when its not just fall-down funny, the dude's story works best as a wild dream, as this clip of Jeff Bridges just tripping balls to Bob Dylan's "The Man in Me" surely proves.



2. "Hudsucker Proxy"
Yes, "Hudsucker Proxy." Many would consider this oddity to be one of the lesser Coen flicks, but I just love it. There's just a sweetness to the tale of Norville Barnes that you don't find in too many Coens flicks, and Tim Robbins and Jennifer Jason Leigh play into it perfectly. Here's a clip of Norville's invention, the hula hoop, hitting the street.



1. "O Brother Where Art Thou"
This flick probably gets shown on Saturday afternoons on TBS more than just about any other in the world, and that just proves a key point about the Coens. Though they often poke fun at the people they paint, it's always in good fun, which is why Southerners (of which I claim to be one) love this movie just as much as I'd imagine Minnesotans do "Fargo." It's also just about the only flick I can think of where you can sit and listen to the great soundtrack and play back every scene from the movie in your mind. Here, to finish this off, is a clip of George Clooney and the boys performing "Man of Constant Sorrow."



So there you have it. For the record, the only two Coen flicks I left off of this list are "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "Intolerable Cruelty," neither of which I have much time for. I hope the clips served as a fun time-waster, and that "Burn After Reading" will be as oddly entertaining as all of these. Peace out.

Remake madness hits fever pitch

I had originally intended to list the 100 or so things I'd rather do with Elisha Cuthbert than torture and abuse her (like perhaps take her to a nice movie that's not about torture porn), but I'm afraid I'm just not feeling that ambitious. All I can do is once again say please, please, please don't go see "Captivity" this weekend!

Or I could bemoan the fact that Kevin Spacey is set to return as Lex Luthor in "Superman: Man of Steel." Really the only bad thing about Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns" was that he was more than a tad too worshipful (is that even a word?) of Richard Donner's work, with Lex being a big part of that. Even in this bad news, however, there's a silver lining: Singer will be doing both "Valkyrie" and "The Mayor of Castro Street," his Harvey Milk biopic, before getting to work on another Superman flick.

No, what really grated my cheese this morning is the news that they're actually gonna try and remake "Footloose." I'll give you all a second to ingest this madness before we proceed ...

This sickening project will star Zac Efron of "High School Musical" in the Kevin Bacon role, taking the six degrees of Kevin Bacon game to a whole new generation. The only thing that makes this even a little palatable, and I can't stress enough the word little, is that they're at least gonna transform it into a full-blown musical, like it was on Broadway.

What's it gonna take to end this madness? I think I've found the Earth-shattering, soul-dissolving event that just might bring us to the brink: Michael Bay's "The Birds." It's just a rumor at this point, but I'm sure Bay would love to see himself as Hitchcock (as another director who will be mentioned here shortly already did.) If he actually decided to try this, with the birds transformed into gigantic CGI critters, we finally might have the nerve to stand up and say enough is enough.

In the meantime, there is of course no end in sight. In honor of Mr. Efron and his co-conspirators, here are the five worst movie remakes I've ever seen. Please take into consideration that there are so many worthless remakes out there that it was hard to make the cut, and that I make it a rule to almost never see anything that has gone from a TV show to a movie. And please feel free to sound off with any that just make you vomit in your own mouth in the comments.

1. "Cape Fear"

Martin Scorsese has made very few bad movies, but this is certainly one of them (the only other ones I can think of off the top of my head were "Bringing Out the Dead" and "Gangs of New York," but neither of those are anywhere near as bad as "Cape Fear.") Robert De Niro following in the footsteps of Robert Mitchum? No thanks. He simply isn't scary at all, and so neither is this thoroughly craptastic flick.

2. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Planet of the Apes"

OK, I'm gonna break the rules from the start by making this list have six titles, but Tim Burton deserves the double shot for these two felonies. The worst thing about his "Charlie" is that the first 20 minutes or so, before they enter the factory, are pure magic. Then Johnny Depp appears as some kind of vaguely menacing pedophile and the whole operation goes right into the toilet. As for "Planet of the Apes," he knew he couldn't top Charlton Heston's big moment on the beach, so what did he do? Just drop it completely. Pathetic.

3. "Point of No Return"

This one probably wouldn't make the list if Luc Besson's "Nikita" wasn't easily one of my favorite movies. The problem here, as with "Cape Fear," starts with the leading player, Bridget Fonda. In Besson's movie, Anne Parillaud was, as TLC put it best, crazysexycool. Fonda was sexy at least, but in this case one out of three definitely is bad.

4. "Psycho"

I (and the rest of the world) have piled so much abuse on poor Gus Van Sant for this one that it's just getting sad, so I'll keep it short: How can you have any suspense in a shot-for-shot remake of this masterpiece from the master of suspense? 'Nuff said.

5. "Poseidon"

Every time I think this summer at the movies kinda sucks (with a few very bright exceptions, of course), I just have to think back to last summer and how rotten I felt after watching this Wolfgang Petersen turd. Andre Braugher already had a firm grasp on the title of most criminally under- and misused actor in Hollywood, but Petersen really upped the stakes here by casting him as the ship's captain, giving him maybe two lines and then killing him in about five minutes. I'm sorry if that spoils anything for you, but if that somehow keeps you from seeing this disaster you should only be thanking me.

And, just in case you thought the end of all this madness just might be in sight, here's a little video proof you're wrong. The first clip of is of Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart in the upcoming "Get Smart" remake. From the trailer alone you can tell that the very funny Mr. Carell has already crossed the line into just parodying himself, and that's just sad.



Next up comes the trailer for "Hairspray." I'd be easier on this one if John Waters' original movie weren't one of my favorites. I've seen the Broadway musical too, and it is, in its own way, almost as good. So, why make a third version? Beats me. Christopher Walken should just be a delight to watch in this, but I smell a big fat Razzie in John Travolta's not-too-distant future. Enjoy, and have an entirely suck-free Wednesday.



P.S.: I'm beginning to get the strong suspicion that this post is itself a remake in that I rail against this subject quite a bit, but there is no bigger problem in the movie industry today, so please forgive me if I repeat myself.