Who should play Frank Sinatra?

Before we get into the main orders of business, I have to say that Sports Illustrated has just conducted what has to be the most thoroughly unnecessary poll in history.

As I was driving home from work yesterday, the first thing I heard was Freddie Coleman saying "Oriole fans deserve so much better." While that statement could very easily be applied to any number of developments, in this case it was the news that Sports Illustrated had conducted a poll to determine that Peter Angelos is the worst owner in baseball.

My only thought about that was, were there really any other competitors? I mean, if the question were "worst world leader," I'd imagine Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot would all have their partisans, but in baseball there has never, ever been a worse owner than Angelos.

I'd go so far, in fact, to go ahead and call him the worst owner of all time, in any sport. A few members of my small Facebook cabal have posited that the Raiders' Al Davis is even worse, but I have to differ. Davis at least has the excuse of being certifiably insane, but Angelos is just mean, cheap and stupid, and there can't possibly be a worse combination.

Anyways, enough about that. At least we're not the Nationals. And since I haven't mentioned the fate of "Chuck" in a while, it's certainly worth an update. Although I had heard NBC wouldn't announce anything until May 19 (next Tuesday), the Hollywood Reporter seems to think that NBC will finalize its lineup by tomorrow.

I still have no idea which way this will go, but there was one promising sign this week as the network passed on "Legally Mad," a new pilot from David E. Kelley, giving it one more prime-time hour that hasn't already been swallowed up by that glutton Jay Leno. Here's one other possibly promising nugget from the Hollywood Reporter article:

And of course, Peacock is still mum on "Chuck," "Medium" and "Law & Order," although no one would be surprised to see all three return. "Chuck" is already appearing on schedules being floated.

Keep hope alive, of course, but here today it's supposed to be all about what would have to be called the ultimate harmonic convergence when it comes to music biopics: Martin Scorsese and Frank Sinatra.

It seems that Universal Pictures and Mandalay Pictures are teaming up for "Sinatra" and have brought on Scorsese to direct and produce. There's no question that it's a perfect fit, given the clear affection of each for both music and the Mafia. The big question, which Variety said has yet to be settled, is who would play Ol' Blue Eyes himself.

Now, the obvious choice would, of course, be Leonardo DiCaprio, who has played the lead in Scorsese's last four features: "Gangs of New York," "The Aviator," "The Departed" and the upcoming "Shutter Island." I'm sure Leo would be just fine in this, because he's proven to be great in anything Scorsese pitches at him, but I have one more name in mind that would be even better: James Franco.

Now, anybody who's been here probably knows that, thanks to "Freaks and Geeks" and everything he's done since, I have something bordering on an unhealthy heteromancrush on Mr. Franco, but I just can't help it. He's just that good, and he certainly has that wildness in his eyes that would be perfect for capturing Frank.

There was a time a few years ago when we were just impaled with a seemingly never-ending series of music biopics, but now that that has cooled down considerably, I'd certainly say the time is right for this, and I'll be sure to pass it on as soon as I hear anymore about the casting.

Jekyll and Hyde vs. ... Jekyll and Hyde?

When the news broke a few days ago that Keanu Reeves was gonna star in a new version of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson tale "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" I just let it pass without comment because the best I would have been able to come up with would have been meh.

But as with any odd Hollywood story, these things always come at least in pairs, as with the dueling "Sherlock Holmes" flicks. On that front, Guy Ritchie is prepping his version for a Christmas release starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, while some wing of the Apatow camp is at least beginning plans for its own, sure-to-be-much-sillier take with Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen.

Now, with Jekyll and Hyde, there's likewise rival projects in the works as well. To the already announced Reeves-starring take to be adapted by Justin Haythe ("Revolutionary Road"), you can now add one from the truly odd Abel Ferrera to star Forest Whitaker and 50 Cent, presumably as the two sides of the bad doctor's personality.

Even though Ferrera plans to "contemporize" the tale, with Forest on board my money's still on the latter project to be the much more interesting.

Trailer two-fer

And now, for anyone who's made it this far, a couple of trailers as a reward. The first is just a teaser featuring a bit of vintage Madea ("I don't want no po po at my do do") from Tyler Perry's fall flick, "I Can Do Bad All By Myself," which along with Madea is set to star Taraji P. Henson (huzzah!), Mary J. Blige and even Gladys Knight. I concede that Madea is just a thoroughly silly character, but "Madea Goes to Jail" was a surprisingly entertaining affair, and Tyler Perry has yet to make a movie that I didn't enjoy, so I'm definitely still on board.



The second trailer is for a much grander undertaking, Rob Marshall's take on "Nine," the musical based on Frederico Fellini's autobiographical "8 1/2." With Penelope Cruz, Daniel Day Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Dame Judy Dench and many more starring in what you can see from the trailer will be a truly epic production, when it finally comes out at Thanksgiving, I'll certainly say bring it on!



And finally, a parting gift

This one comes from Wilco to me to you. After it's new, self-titled album, leaked onto the Internets last night, the band decided to go ahead and let it out themselves for free streaming on their Web site. To give it a listen, click here. I've only listened to it once, and will need several more spins to offer my true opinion, but my instant verdict is that it's unsurprisingly a pop classic. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Thursday. Peace out.

It's Tuesday morning, so let the hate flow

I normally try not to get in the business of telling people not to see movies that I haven't and won't, but the fact there's only one this week - and what it is - just has me in a fairly cranky mood to start the day, so bear with me.

I always knew this week was going to be a hole in what otherwise is just a sensational month for movies. Already, of course, there's "Star Trek," which I'm almost certain to see again this weekend. Next week comes "Terminator: Salvation," for which you can count me thoroughly jazzed, and then Pixar's "Up" and Sam Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" (but not, apparently, dammit, Rian Johnson "The Brothers Bloom.")

In between, however, all we get is "Angels & Demons." Now, for reasons I'll keep to myself, I will never, ever read a Dan Brown book or see one of his movies, but let me see if I have this plot summary right. After the Pope is murdered, the four Preferiti, or candidates to replace him, are also slain. Is this really anyone's idea of pleasant Summertime entertainment? Sheesh. Here's hoping against hope that this somehow makes a grand total of about $100 worldwide.

And, in the spirit of hating, which can actually be more than a little fun, here's a word or two about one I did see last weekend, so I guess you can call this a cautionary tale. Here goes:


I should have known "Next Day Air" was going to be a disaster when I saw it called, in separate places, both "the black Pineapple Express" and "the black Lock, Stock and Two Smokin' Barrels."

Now, I guess the bigger question would be why we would need either of those, but for right now, I can just tell you "Next Day Air" just falls miserable short of both. Not even Donald Faison, Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale on "The Wire") and Mos Def (who wisely only spends about five minutes total in this train wreck), all of whom I like a whole lot, were enough to give this flick either an ounce of comedic charm or dramatic urgency. Lacking both, it's a grim affair, and much more importantly, just incredibly boring. Avoid this one at all costs. I sure wish I had.

Actually, I guess just about everyone already has since it made a grand total of about $4 million. I give it one more week, and the filmmakers only have themselves to blame, because I really can't think of a movie I was looking forward to more that's just so completely lacking in anything that could even come close to being called entertainment value.

The premise, which I knew going in, can only generously be called tired. Faison, playing a spliffed-out delivery guy, delivers a package of narcotics to the wrong address. To that, the movie adds almost no comedy and really no further story, hence why it has no relation AT ALL to "Lock, Stock" and even less to "Pineapple Express." Debbie Allen shows up for about two minutes and tries very hard to be funny, as does Mos Def, but they both wisely bail very quickly. I guarantee that if you do somehow manage to see this, Mos' line in the commercial, "I like your outfit," is just about the only one that will make you even snicker.

And you can call me a devoted fan of "stylized violence," but the bullet ballet that closes out "Next Day Air" forgot one key element: Any kind of style. It just mercifully puts this instantly forgettable flick to bed in just under 90 minutes, which in my book amounts to a mercy killing. Peace out.

Disney's return to 2-D animation? Color me (so far) impressed

When I first heard the news that Pixar was going to do all of its movies in vaunted 3.D, I have to admit it made me more than a little sad.

It wasn't just that this extremely broad embrace was more than a little bit of exaggeration. It's also that this just seems like a loss of innocence, of animated movies containing old-fashioned magic and being aimed - as corny as this sounds - at the kid in all of us.

So you can count me as rather psyched for Disney's "The Princess and the Frog," coming at Christmas and starring "Dreamgirl" Anika Noni Rose. As you can see from the trailer below, after a thoroughly unnecessary intro listing the various accomplishments of Disney (in case we somehow all didn't know already), it indeed makes New Orleans look like a magical place.

My only beef with any of what I've seen or heard so far is that they couldn't find anyone but Randy Newman to do the score. Having just bought a copy of Allen Toussaint's first strictly "jazz" album, "The Bright Mississippi," I can attest that that great pianoman or, for that matter, any number of other New Orleans musicians, would have been a much more inspired choice.

Anyways, enjoy the trailer, and continue after that if you wish for two more clips that deliver varying degrees of funny.



Sacha Baron Cohen and the limits of funny

Anyone who's seen "Borat" knows that for Sacha Baron Cohen there really isn't even anything like an "envelope" to push, but from what I've seen of his upcoming flick, "Bruno," I think it's gonna still manage to shock (and hopefully make people laugh too.)

Below is a clip from his "Meinspace" page in which Bruno talks about recruiting "Friends," and describes the specific kinds he's looking for (and talks about, just to warn you, his bleached ******* and how he's a chocoholic.)

After that is the first trailer for "Whatever Works," which is Woody Allen's movie starring Larry David but unfortunately seems to contain the broadest and easiest kinds of jokes about Southerners and gay people. Here's hoping this is just an attempt to get this to play as wide as possible (maybe even in my rather Southern little corner of the world), and that the movie itself will prove to be a whole lot more satisfying. And with that short report, I'm out.

Meinspace Vassup!

"Star Trek": Not bold, but still brilliant

As I was waiting for J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" to start last night (I showed up plenty early, expecting, frankly, a much bigger crowd), I was trying to remember the last time I had even bothered to watch a movie based on an old TV show, and I really couldn't think of one.

"Bewitched"? Why bother? And despite the presence of both adorable Anna Friel and veryfunnyman Danny McBride, I really can't see myself getting into Will Ferrell's upcoming "Land of the Lost."

In most cases, even if its called a "reimagining," it usually just means adding tired jokes about all the anachronisms. What Abrams has accomplished with "Star Trek," however, is something entirely different. By embracing the best elements of the original animal but adding a fresh and almost uniformly appealing cast and enough of his own touches to give the series a big jolt of new blood (and adrenaline), he's created something so entertaining that it should relaunch the series and have it thriving (or, if you must, prospering) for a long time to come.

Though our 7 p.m. showing was only a little more than half full, I could tell from the crowd that we were in for something thoroughly fun. Despite the absurdity of a local country station giving out Trek t-shirts (to the only two people who bothered to come in costume), all the good-natured "Star Wars" jokes ("I should have come dressed as Vader") just set the stage perfectly.

So, what about the movie itself? Well, after a superb opening sequence that simultaneously features the birth of Kirk and introduces the movie's big bad, the Romulan Nero (Eric Bana, not really all that menacing except for the fact that - with all the Romulan facial tattoos - he looks a lot like Mike Tyson), Abrams and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman wisely spend a lot of time introducing the new members of the Enterprise crew-to-be.

And though the types are already well set in stone, the new players are all just about perfectly cast (with the glaring exception of Simon Pegg, but more on that later.) The only thing I could remember seeing Chris Pine in was the mildly disappointing "Bottle Shock," but here he captures the combustible mix of anger and potential that makes the young Kirk intriguing, and though I gave up on "Heroes" during the disastrous second season, Zachary Quinto finds the soul of Spock rather than making him the cartoon it would have been easier to become.

Among the supporting crew, Zoe Saldana smolders just enough as Uhura, and gives the movie its most tender moment along with Quinto. Karl Urban's McCoy (a truly eerie dead ringer) and Anton Yelchin's Chekhov are mostly there for very effective comic relief, but my favorite crew member of all was John Cho's Hikaru Sulu, perhaps mostly just because it was so much fun to see him do something besides get incredibly stoned.

The main (and just about only) beef I had heard from the minority of critics who at least kind of panned this was that the story was lacking, but I have to disagree. Though it is indeed a fairly standard revenge tale with enough wrinkles thrown in to keep it interesting until the end, I have to wonder, just how intricate could you really expect what amounts to the first mission of Kirk's Enterprise crew to be?

As it is, Abrams keeps the tale moving at a very fast but fluid pace, enough so that - for once - I really didn't mind the occasionally shaky camera work because it really does set up some simply stunning set pieces. Kirk and Sulu get the best one of all, as they dive from the Enterprise to take out a crazy giant drill that Nero is using to assault the Vulcan planet. I guarantee it will be the best action sequence you'll see this summer (or at least I welcome the challenge from "Terminator: Salvation" trying to top it in two weeks or so.)

My only quibble (and I hesitate even to bring it up, because the movie really was just about perfect summer fare) was that, after producing a script that set up the natural dynamic of the young Enterprise crew, it really felt like they went back at the end and crammed in the catchphrases that any Trek fan (and even a casual admirer like me) expect to hear. They're very funny at first, but exceedingly just a little annoying as it feels like Abrams and crew are working from a checklist.

And the introduction of Pegg's Scotty unfortunately feels right in this vein too. You know going in that he can't be a member of the Star Fleet Academy class with Kirk and company, but he just feels tacked on when he's finally brought in, and it doesn't help matters that Pegg - shockingly - just doesn't seem to fit the part at all. It's the first time on the big screen that I just really haven't much liked him at all.

But all that said, the bottom line is that this is a thoroughly fun flick that will thrill "Star Trek" devotees and newcomers alike. And with that, I have to go pay $70 to keep from having my power cut off and then to the job that pays me just enough to put me in that admittedly rather sorry position. Peace out.

Instant opinion: "Star Trek" rules

That's all I can say for tonight, but go see it as soon as you can, and feel free to check back some time tomorrow for a full review.

Like "Robot Chicken" for people not suffering from adult ADD?

Actually, the biggest news out there today, of course, is that J.J. Abrams and folks are rolling "Star Trek" out tonight "Iron Man"-style, with hourly Thursday night screenings that come well before midnight (thank God he remembered us old folk!) I still haven't decided if I'm gonna brave the madness for a 7 p.m. show, but I'm leaning toward yes.

And the funniest, at least in my book, is that even though Kal Penn supposedly works for the White House (actually, I'm sure he does, and probably works quite hard), they're still gonna let him do another Harold & Kumar movie. I can't believe anyone with that much power thinks this would be a good PR move, but even so, "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas" (I'm laughing at that already) has been penciled in for a Nov. 5, 2010, release. They may be thoroughly puerile, but the first two Harold & Kumar flicks are also just extremely funny, especially "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" (and don't forget, of course, that Harold himself, John Cho, is the new Hikaru Sulu.)

And in perhaps the oddest, what could only be called an A-list cast has been assembled for a movie about ... raccoons? Elizabeth Banks, James McAvoy, Laura Linney and Anna Friel (all of whom would make any list of my favorite actors, with Laura Linney easily No. 1) are all set to star in a black comedy called "The Details" about a couple (Banks and McAvoy) who discover an infestation of raccoons in the backyard. More than a little bizarre, but I'm betting on funny, too.

And as I write this, it strikes me that the headline for this post is more than a little fitting, because these posts sometimes (like today) often do seem like they're written by someone with a rather severe case of ADD (which may well be the case, but I really have no idea.) Anyways, fans of "Robot Chicken," and I'd imagine there have to be quite a few of you out there, should rejoice, because Seth Green and his crew are getting another Adult Swim show to do in their stop-motion style.

Now, "Robot Chicken" certainly isn't without faults, the biggest being that it indeed has the attention span of a 2-year-old on meth. For fifteen minutes of late-night funnies, however, it really doesn't get much better than what these guys have been cooking up for the past four years or so.

And for their new project, "Titan Maximum," they're trying something a little novel: An actual, perhaps even coherent, plot, with a storyline that actually continues from episode to episode. Shocking.

Per the Hollywood Reporter: "Titan" is set 100 years in the future, when Saturn's moon Titan is defended by an elite squadron of young, brash pilots whose spaceships combine to form the giant robot Titan Maximum. Because of budget cuts, the team has been disbanded but must hastily reassemble when a former team member turns rogue and tries to conquer the solar system.

"Titan," which will launch in September with an initial order of nine episodes, was created by "Robot" co-head writer/producer Tom Root and co-creator/exec producer Matthew Senreich.

All that sounds great to me, especially since Seth Green will voice the show's villain and "Robot Chicken" players Breckin Meyer, Rachael Leigh Cook, Dan Milano and Eden Espinosa will all be along for the ride. Tom Root summed up the spirit of the thing pretty good with this quote, also from THR:

"There were always teams of extraordinary young people with the fate of the universe in their hands. In reality, that would end terribly. The last thing you want when giant monsters attack is a bunch of teenagers in charge of defending you. 'Titan Maximum' is about what would really happen if a team of idiot kids was in charge of a 6-story-tall robot."

Ha! A new, possibly even half-hour long show to watch this fall? Sounds perfect to me, and fans of "The Office" should take note: It's entirely likely that Jim and Pam might get married tonight, so you'll definitely want to tune in. All the episode summary from NBC said was that they take a "secret trip," but given that we're almost at the end of the season, I'd have to imagine nuptials are in the air. Enjoy this deleted scene from last week's "Casual Friday" episode (I'm still trying to wipe that vision of Meredith's outfit out of my mind, but it's just kind of stuck there), and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. And please, if you go see "Star Trek" tonight, feel free to let me know what you thought of it. Peace out.

It's official: David Simon hits New Orleans, and, yes, the X-men will go on forever

Actually, before we get into all that, there are two bits of news out there that offer varying degrees of promise.

First of all, there was apparently a screening last night for movie executives of Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" in an attempt to finally find Heath Ledger's last flick an American distributor even before it screens out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. This is easily bordering on pathetic, but at this point, whatever it takes to get this into a theater anywhere near my little corner of the world will be welcome. Stay tuned ...

And in great TV news, Mindy Kaling, a k a Kelly on "The Office," has signed her own deal with NBC. Kaling, who along with playing Kelly has been writing for "The Office" for years now, will continue to work on that show next season as she simultaneously develops a new comedy in which she would also star.

Among the episodes she's responsible for is the one that's still my single favorite, "Diwali," a k a the "Hindu Halloween." Here's hoping this leads to something seriously funny, because TV could certainly use it.

But here today it's mostly about the return of David Simon to HBO, which has been kicked around for awhile but is now official as it has picked up his pilot for "Treme" and will be taking it to series.

Though Simon has stressed this won't be making " 'The Wire' twice," it's clear that what he's cooking up with fellow "Homicide" scribe Eric Overmyer will be just as political and probably just as often maddeningly entertaining as that scarring portrait of Charm City was. Per Simon:

"It will be uplifting at points, and may make viewers a little angry at points," Simon said. "And at another point it will make viewers a little depressed."

And best of all, the cast will prominently feature two vets of "The Wire" and even a former "Homicide" beat cop. New Orleans native Wendell Pierce, a k a Bunk Moreland, will play a struggling trombonist and Khandi Alexander - who starred on Simon's "The Corner" - will play his ex-wife, who owns a bar. Amazingly enough, Clarke Peters - a k a Lester Freamon - will play the leader of a Mardi Gras Indian tribe. And rounding out the cast will be Steve Zahn as a DJ with "anger management issues," and even Melissa Leo as a civil rights lawyer.

So, now that it's going to series, when will we get to see any of this? Well, in a uniquely New Orleans twist, though the pilot has been shot, work on other episodes can't begin until after hurricane season, meaning the show probably won't hit the air until next spring.

Here's hoping it's not delayed any more than that (though that at least puts off the date I have to start paying for HBO again), since as anyone who watched "The Wire" - easily the best cop show ever - knows, Simon and company will have a lot to say, and about more than the Crescent City itself. Again, per Simon:

"Look at what happened down there after Katrina. A lot of things in which New Orleans depended on and trusted turned out to be wholly undependable and untrustworthy. The governing institutions were supposed to monitor things of actual construct like the levees and the pumping stations. That could be an allegory for what we Americans presumed about our financial institutions, and the governing bodies that were supposed to monitor them."

Amen, brother.

"X-Men Origins: Deadpool"? Yawn

Given how much mad cash "Wolverine" scooped up in its opening weekend, I guess the question really wasn't whether or not Twentieth Century Fox would make another "Origins" spinoff, but which mutant?

Well, the answer is in, and unfortunately it isn't Taylor Kitsch's "Gambit." Instead, Ryan Reynolds will get to be the star as the company has greenlit a "Deadpool" movie instead.

Now, I have no problem at all with the concept of a Deadpool flick. The character, a mercenary who submits himself to the Weapon X genetic alteration experiment as he's dying of cancer, is certainly a worthy movie subject. My only beef is with Reynolds himself.

And it's not really just that he can't act, but instead that to me he's pretty much a "nonpresence," if that's even anything resembling an actual word. Floating through good movies like "Adventureland" and simply wretched ones like "Smokin' Aces," he usually just makes no impression at all, though I have to concede he was very funny in the underrated Watergate spoof "Dick."

And just in case you doubt that the "X-Men" will continue to rule the universe, along with "Deadpool" there's also already a Japan-set "Wolverine" sequel, a "Magneto" movie starring Sir Ian McKellen, and Josh Schwartz's sure-to-be-cheeky "X-Men: First Class" all in varying stages of development. Sheesh.


Several looks at "Ponyo"

Though we won't get to see Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo on the Cliff By the Sea" in the U.S. until at least August 14 (and with its heavily Disney voice cast, hopefully EVERYWHERE), the picture above and several other stills you can find here just make me - and hopefully someone else - smile. You can tell from all the vibrant colors that this one is clearly intended for the kids, and that's just fine with me. Bring it on already!

And finally, in sticking loosely with the theme of the day and just because I like it, I'll leave you with this clip of the Treme Brass Band performing "I'll Fly Away" in a jazz funeral procession through the streets of New Orleans. Peace out.

Read QT's script for "Inglorious Basterds"

What in the world did "Chuck" do to deserve this kind of treatment? No, it hasn't been canceled, but this limbo - which is expected to last perhaps until May 19 - is just the worst kind of excruciating.

According to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, there was a mention of "Chuck" at yesterday's NBC "infronts," but it was far from anything definite. NBC's Ben Silverman simply said that if the show does indeed come back, it will most likely be moved away from Mondays.

Given how busy its time slot is now (with the CBS comedies, "Dancing With the Has-Beens" and "House" all up against it), I have to say that would probably be good news.

And if NBC does ultimately pass, which I really think would incur an outpouring of serious wrath, perhaps the makers of "Chuck" could secure a deal like that that was just inked for "The New Adventures of Old Christine." If CBS passes on a fifth season of that Julia Louis-Dreyfus comedy, ABC has already announced it will immediately scoop the show up, just as it did for NBC's "Scrubs." Kind of an interesting way to bypass creative development there.

However this sordid tale all ends, I'll be sure to let you know, but in the meantime I can share a bit of mostly good news in that the third season of "Mad Men" is definitely on, although it will come a bit later than usual. Though the show normally starts in July, this year it will be pushed back to an as-yet-announced date in August.

Either way, I'll just be happy when my second-favorite TV drama (edged out by less than a nose by "Friday Night Lights") is finally back on the air.

Here today, however, it's all about a tip my friend Randy Waters sent me, which at least purports to be the entire script for Quentin Tarantino's next flick, "Inglourious Basterds." And though I have no way of knowing for sure, I think it's the real deal.

Why? Well, the only solid reason is that the opening few pages match what was recently printed in Vanity Fair. And the other reason is that I'm simply a fairly gullible chap who wants to believe this.

I can't tell you yet if it's any good or not, since I've only read the first 10 pages or so thus far, but I just wanted to go ahead and pass it along to anyone else who might be interested. You can read it here.

I intend to read it all this weekend, and I'll certainly let you know then more of what I think of it. Randy, however, posed an interesting query: Do you really want to read a movie script before seeing the movie, and therefore - of course - possibly spoil things in a rather major way?

For me, if it's a movie I'm looking forward to as much as I am this one, the answer is always yes. I love everything about movies, especially seeing how they come together. With a writer as good as Tarantino, I'll thoroughly enjoy seeing the rough product and then just how much it changes when it finally hits the big screen.

And with that I'll close for today, leaving you with this latest clip from Pixar's "Up," courtesy of Hulu. Though May 29 was shaping up to be perhaps the greatest movie day of 2009 with this, Sam Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" and Rian Johnson's "The Brothers Bloom" all coming out at once, it now looks like Johnson's flick may be released a bit earlier but only in a limited run (damnit!). Anyways, enjoy the clip, which introduces the talking dog, and have a perfectly passable Tuesday. Peace out.

"Wolverine": Damned if you do?

Even though Nicki Finke is claiming, at her as-often-wrong-as-right Hollywood Deadline Daily site, that "Chuck" has indeed been renewed for a third season, almost everyone else who claims to know anything about it is saying the decision will be delayed for a week or more, so let's talk about something else entirely instead.

Actually, one more note about that, and then I'll move on, I promise. How cool would it be if Zachary Levi were to drop in through the ceiling, superspy style, to announce "Chuck" was back during today's NBC "infronts"? It won't happen, but one can dream, right? The one good and sure thing I can tell you about TV this morning is that ABC will begin burning off the last three episodes of the too-brilliant-to-survive "Pushing Daisies" on May 30 for three weeks in a row.

But here today, it's all about "Wolverine," which given that it only got about 37 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes, could have turned out a whole lot worse in my book. Which isn't to say that Gavin Hood's mutant movie isn't without its faults.

In fact, the first half or so was just so boring that I'm fairly certain, judging from the rather sharp elbow to the ribs I got about a half hour in, that I actually fell asleep at least once. But to be fair I'm really not sure what he could have done any differently, since we're all by now terribly familiar with the saga of the origin of Wolverine.

Even so, I also can't imagine he could have made the opening half any more passionless or by-the-numbers. Though the brotherly banter of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Liev Schrieber's Victor Creed/Sabretooth is often clever, and Dominic Monaghan makes a touching turn as Chris Bradley/Bolt, there were two specific things about the beginning that just bugged me beyond all reason.

First, did we really need to be introduced to the cliched older couple who welcome Wolfie into their home despite the fact that he shows up naked, only to see them blown away five minutes later by Stryker's assassins (sorry if that's spoiling anything, but it's not much of a spoil anyway, and with "Wolverine" having already made north of $85 million I'd imagine just about anyone who wants to see this has done so by now already)? It was just as insulting as it was thoroughly unnecessary. And secondly, how many times did we really need to see a closeup of Wolverine unleashing his steel claws? The payoff in the dick joke with Scott Adkins' Weapon XI near the end is indeed pretty damn funny, but the claws just got old way before Hood seemed to realize.

All that said, however, something happens to "Wolverine" about halfway in or so that manages to turn it into at least a satisfyingly entertaining little popcorn flick, which before "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man" used to be about all we could honestly ask for from summer superhero flicks. Gavin Hood seemed to wake up at just about the same point I did.

And coincidentally or not, it happens with "Wolverine" thanks almost entirely to Taylor Kitsch's Gambit/Remy LeBeau, who arrives and stays all too briefly (couldn't they have given him some of Will I Am's thoroughly unnecessary time?) but still manages to liven things up just in time (though a big part of me wishes this were the last of the "Origins" movies, I have to say a Gambit movie starring Tim Riggins would be far from the worst thing imaginable; indeed, details are scant, but there is a listing at the IMDB for a 2011 "Gambit" movie.)

From Gambit's arrival on out, Hood manages to turn "Wolverine" into a still terribly familiar but equally thrilling tale, culminating with a three-way battle between Wolverine, Sabretooth and Weapon XI that takes place on top of a nuclear reactor on Three Mile Island. And the ending neatly sets up what I would really rather see than any more "Origins" flicks: The possible cast of a "X-Men: First Class" flick, which "Chuck" and "Gossip Girl" mastermind Josh Schwartz is supposedly cooking up right now.

If that doesn't happen, the wild success of "Wolverine" should at least set up a "Magneto" flick starring Sir Ian McKellen, to which - thanks to the presence of Sir Ian himself - I can only say bring it on. And here's what Taylor Kitsch had to say to MTV about the possibility of a "Gambit" movie:

"I want to go into the Thieves Guild part of his story [the union of thieves that Gambit was raised in]. How cool would it be to see him stealing things to survive because the stakes are so high? Come on, Fox, let's do it."

Amen, brother. So, the verdict? "Wolverine" is terribly slow to kick into gear, but once it does, it's probably worth at least a matinee for fans of the X-Men, which is a damn sight better than anything you could possibly say about "The Last Stand." And with that I'll leave you with this teaser for the new season of "True Blood," which returns to HBO June 14 and for which you can count me thoroughly jazzed. If I'm not mistaken, it contains the new Bob Dylan song "Beyond Here Lies Nothing," which just sounds great. Enjoy, say a prayer for "Chuck," and have a perfectly passable Monday. Peace out.

When will "Chuck" 's fate be decided?

Because my mind has little more to do than wrap itself around such questions, I've been trying to figure that out for days now, and have finally - I think - found the answer, sort of.

In a story at the Hollywood Reporter, it was reported that NBC Vice President for Drama Development Nora O'Brien suddenly dropped dead on the set of a pilot based on the 1989 movie "Parenthood" (even with Peter Krause as the star, there's just about zero chance I'm gonna tune in to that.) Anyways, buried under this tragic news was that the network was in the process of screening its potential pilots this week and readying for its "infront" announcement (is it just me, or did these things used to be called "upfronts"?) on Monday.

Now, with this development, there's some doubt about whether the unveiling of the network's fall lineup will go ahead as planned or delayed, so stay tuned here to find out. As for the prospects of "Chuck," the article didn't have too much enlightening to say.

With that soulless time-snd-space-sucker Jay Leno snatching up five hours a week to faun over celebrities, the real chances for "Chuck" will probably rest on just how many new shows NBC decides to pick up. Although it's nearly impossible to tell at this point, the networks execs seem to be considering nine potential new shows. all the article had to say specifically about "Chuck" was this: And to the delight of staunch "Chuck" supporters, the chances of survival for the quirky soft-rated series have improved slightly. Thanks for not much at all there, guys.

Here's hoping that at least a few of the potential pilots just suck huge donkey balls, because if NBC cancels "Chuck" now that he's about to become a seriously superspy with evolving and revolving abilities, it would be the biggest TV crime since, well, the greatest single-season show of all time, "Freaks and Geeks." As soon as I hear any firm word, be it Monday or later next week, I'll surely pass it on. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to see "Wolverine," thought I can't say it's with terribly high hopes. Peace out.

"Rudo Y Cursi": Good fun, but wither the footie?

Though, because like Emily Gilmore I simply "don't find forensic work quite as fascinating as the rest of the world" I've never seen any of the 15 or so versions of "CSI," I can only heartily second this sentiment from Viacom and CBS boss Sumner Redstone about Jay Leno: " 'CSI' will beat the hell out of him." Here's hoping he actually loses every single night, especially if he messes with the future of "Chuck"!

And before I get on to the main event today, there's two bits of news out there today, one insanely good and the other rather predictable but still just extremely sad.

Starting with the great, Adult Swim, which I thought only showed cartoons (silly me!) has now apparently acquired the rights to the two seasons and the Christmas special of the original U.K. "The Office." I know that only adds up to about 13 episodes or so total, but since I don't have them on DVD, to that I can only say huzzah!

But on the downside, even though I knew this was coming, seeing it as a definite happening is just thoroughly depressing. The French thriller "Tell No One" was not only easily one of the best movies (Top five on my list) I saw in all of 2009, but also an extremely accessible and mainstream entertaining flick. All it requires is that people do a little bit of READING as they watch the action, but I guess that's too much to ask.

Europa Corp. and Kathleen Kennedy have indeed just announced firm plans to do an English-language remake of the flick based on the equally sensational Harlan Coben novel, with a tentative start date of Spring 2010. Oh well. Since I suppose there's nothing I can really do to stop this, I simply urge everyone to rent the original flick, which is indeed out on DVD now.

But now on to what I was supposed to talk about, Carlos Cuaron's mostly satisfying "Rudo Y Cursi," which I had the pleasure of seeing as the closing night film of the Atlanta Film Festival 365. Before you can really get into that, however, this one really just calls out for a word about its pedigree.

Remember those Mexican directors who in 2006 (was it really that long ago?) earned the rather unfortunate nickname of the "three amigos"? Well, since then, it seems like there's been nothing much but silence from Alfonso Cuaron, Ajejandro Inarritu and Guillermo del Toro.

Alfonso Cuaron's next flick is likely to be "A Boy and His Shoe," which will be about a group of young people (Charlotte Gainsbourg among them, huzzah!) who are on a road trip through England and Scotland. It's set for release sometime in 2010. We're likely to hear from Inarritu before then, since he's wrapping up something called "Biutiful," which stars Javier Bardem as a man who's involved in shady dealings of some kind when he runs into a childhood friend who's now a cop. That one's set for a December release this year.

And we all know that Mr. del Toro is working on a little flick called "The Hobbit." Luckily, in the meantime the three good pals also formed a production company, Cha Cha Cha, and perhaps at least partly through the power of nepotism, Cuaron hermano Carlos gets the first release with this flick.

So, finally, what's it about? Well, anyone who's seen "Y Tu Mama Tambien" will be thrilled to know that it's the first big-screen reunion of Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal, and that they've only developed further the natural rapport they enjoyed in that flick from Alfonso.

Here, they play brothers who toil on a banana farm until they are discovered by a soccer talent scout who needs a new player. And there's the rub: At first, at least, he only needs one.

Like "Y Tu Mama Tambien," "Rudo Y Cursi" mines most of its humor and all its humanity from the struggles of regular Mexicans with daily life. And as the titular brothers Beto and Tato (Rudo and Cursi are their nicknames, but I'll get into more about that later), Luna and Bernal bicker in the refreshingly and naturally foul way that only brothers can. It's snappy dialogue that will feel familiar and at the same time open a window to Mexican life that few of us ever get to see.

OK, that's the good stuff, of which there is quite a bit. So, what's the problem? Well, as a rather big soccer fan (I'm headed to Chicago in June to watch U.S.A-Honduras and, assuming they get that pesky pig flu under control, possibly to Mexico City in August to watch U.S.A.-Mexico), I was excited to see this one because even the director himself, in introducing the flick, described it as a "soccer movie." Unfortunately, that just falls way short of the truth.

Though our heroes do indeed play professional soccer in Mexico (for fictional teams, oddly enough), there's almost zero action on the pitch in "Rudo Y Cursi." In fact, all there really is in that department is a pair of penalty kicks that frame the story. So, if you don't like soccer, is that a problem? Yes, because instead of using sport to add any urgency to his tale, Carlos Cuaron (who also co-wrote the screenplay for "Y Tu Mama Tambien" with Alfonso) manufactures drama in the form of a gambling problem for one of the brothers and a nasty turn by the agent that just doesn't fit at all. Worst of all, because there's no real soccer angle to the story, we never really find out just how the two brothers earned their colorful nicknames.

However, though that's more than a minor quibble, the humor that Carlos Cuaron mines in everyday Mexican life and brotherhood is indeed enough to make his debut feature film very enjoyable, and I guarantee that you will just laugh right out loud when you see Bernal, who apparently just has no shame, sing Cheap Trick.

And with that I have to get ready for what is still my paying job, but I'll leave you with the trailer for what I think will be one of the surprise very big hits this summer, Nora Ephron's "Julie & Julia," which stars adorable Amy Adams (with a seriously unfortunate hair cut) and Meryl Streep as the master chef. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

Two great movie tidbits and my belated thoughts on "Chuck"

Before I get into my thoughts about the present and possible future of "Chuck," there's some great news out there today about easily two of my favorite people in film.

First and most importantly, according to the always informative Blackfilm.com, director Kasi Lemmons is solidly at work on an adaptation of the Langston Hughes gospel musical "Black Nativity," which as the title makes clear is a retelling of the nativity story with an all-black cast and featuring traditional carols sung in gospel style. Doesn't sound much like my kind of thing at all, but Ms. Lemmons has yet to steer me wrong, so I'm in (if you somehow haven't seen her first flick, "Eve's Bayou," rent it immediately.)

Fox Searchlight is apparently fasttracking this for, appropriately enough, a possible Christmas release this year.

And for fans of "short, fat, sweaty" people everywhere, there's big news about Ricky Gervais. Unbeknownst to me, he's apparently penned a series of children's books titled "Flanimals," and now they're being turned into a 3-D animated feature.

Now, I fully realize I have no power to stop the 3-D express, but I have to say my experiences with it so far have been mixed at best. It brought nothing at all to Henry Selick's "The Nightmare Before Christmas," and I also thought it was thoroughly wasted on "Monsters Vs. Aliens" (though, to be fair, I was so bored by that one that even fantastic 3-D effects wouldn't have been enough to suck me back in.) On the other hand, I thought it was mesmerizing with Selick's "Coraline," easily one of my favorite flicks so far of 2009, and I can't wait to see what Pixar does with the technology for "Up."

But getting back to the Gervais flick, it unfortunately won't be penned by Gervais himself, but instead by "The Simpsons" scribe Matt Selman ("The Simpsons" hasn't been funny for many years now, so that can't be a good sign.) The book series, according to Variety, is about "a world inhabited by 50 species of creatures so ugly and misshapen they become cute and endearing." And Gervais, who will voice a "pudgy, perspiring, purple creature," described the project with his signature self-deprecation.

"It will be great to play a short, fat, sweaty loser for a change," Gervais said. "A real stretch."

To that I can only say bring it on, but getting to easily the most important matter of the week (since I can't think of anything even remotely enlightening to say about the fact that people now have something actually called "pig flu"), a belated assessment of the season two finale (and hopefully not series finale!) of "Chuck." In a word, to quote one of our heroes, it was simply "awesome."

The "game-changing" punch that creator Josh Schwartz promised was certainly that, but I have to admit it wasn't what I was expecting. I was hoping that Chuck would have bitten on Gen. Beckman's offer early in the finale and become a real spy (she said analyst, but we knew he wouldn't simply be that) and he and Sarah could travel the world as partners and just kick all kinds of ass.

What Schwartz and co. came up with instead, however, promises to be at least as much fun for next season, which damn well better come to fruition. Chuck as a Kung Fu badass, as I at first understood it, would have been fun enough, but according to Schwartz in this interview with TV guide.com, the new and improved intersect in his head could lead to a whole new level of awesome:

TVGuide.com: These new flashes that give Chuck an ability, how long will each one last? Like, could he "forget" kung fu in the middle of a fight?
Schwartz: What I will say is that people who are concerned that these new powers will somehow change the tone of the show or of our guy, don't be. There is a plan in place, and the tone of the show and Chuck's underdog quality will remain intact.

TVGuide.com: Will he flash on, like, a foreign language one week? And then safe cracking skills the next? That kind of a thing?
Schwartz: There are a lot of options, a lot of opportunities for us to go down different paths.

That indeed just sounds radically cool. And I know there should be a lot more important things in life, and even in mine there certainly are, but I haven't gotten attached to a TV show so quickly in a very, very long time. I was admittedly a latecomer, only jumping on the ship early in season two at the urging of several of my entertainment-savvy co-workers, but now it's easily my favorite show that's still running original shows this year (which gives me an out to leave room for the only current shows I like more than "Chuck," coincidentally enough another little NBC offering known as "Friday Night Lights" and, of course, AMC's "Mad Men.")

But what about the most important question hovering around "Chuck"? I tried to find some ratings numbers for the finale or, even more importantly, info on when NBC might make up its mind about next season, but couldn't find anything solid. Here's what Schwartz had to say in the TV Guide interview, the rest of which you can read here:

TVGuide.com: But what is NBC thinking these days?
Schwartz: Well, NBC has always really loved the show. They have been very supportive of the show, and they really do love and support the show. It's not lost on them, the fan reaction, the critical support, and this grassroots movement that's taken hold. All of that is very significant in indicating momentum for the show, growth for the show, and a really loyal and fervent fan base for the show.

TVGuide.com: So you feel like it's a genuinely difficult decision NBC is facing?
Schwartz: They have a very tight schedule this year, so...

Really not much to go on there at all, so I guess we'll just have to wait. At the urging of fellow "Chuck" devotee Stephanie Hartley I did buy a footlong Subway sub recently, though I'm not sure what good that did beyond giving me a rather satisfying supper.

My good friend Kaori Sekine-Pettite sent me a link via Facebook (which I'm somehow on, though I still don't even have a cell phone) that lets you make your own Buy More Nerd Herd badge, which I of course just couldn't resist. I certainly hope Chuck, Casey and even Morgan somehow end up working there next year, and in spirit I can too. If you want to enjoy this perfectly blissful little time-waster, click here, and keep hope very much alive for the future of "Chuck." Peace out.

"Sit Down, Shut Up" ... well, the latter immediately, please!

Alright, I gave it two episodes as a courtesy to Mitchell Hurwitz, but my verdict is certainly in (and apparently shared by much of the world): The only possible word to describe "Sit Down, Shut Up" is awful.

And not even gloriously awful in ways that can be celebrated and mocked. It's just generically awful in all the worst ways, a random collection of thoroughly boring characters telling off-color but also uniformly unfunny jokes. How in the world did this garbage spring from the mind of the creator of "Arrested Development"?

Well, it seems that Fox is acting quickly to move it toward oblivion. Taking away its plum post-"Simpsons" time slot, Fox is moving "Sit Down" to the 7 p.m. graveyard and, in what would have to be described as some kind of ironic justice, giving that 8:30 slot back to the remaining episodes of the still-simply fantastic "King of the Hill." I'd give "Sit Down" a month at best, and can't say I will miss it one bit.

There is, however, deliriously better news out there on the animation front today, and it comes in the form of a two-fer from Aardman Features, the fine folks who created Wallace and Gromit. I had the chance to see the latest Wallace flick, "Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death'," as part of a collection of animated shorts at the recently concluded Atlanta Film Festival 365, but am rather ashamed to say I passed simply because it ended too late for this aging man on a Sunday school night.

Unfortunately, neither of the two new Aardman flicks, being produced with Sony, will star Wallace or Gromit, but here's hoping they're still tons of fun. The first, "Pirates!", is based on the book "The Pirates! (in an Adventure with Scientists" by Gideon Defoe, and will be filmed in Aardman's signature stop-motion style. It's apparently about a hapless band of pirates trying to win the Pirate of the Year Trophy (how can I get into that game?) It will be directed by "Chicken Run" helmer Peter Lord.

The second flick, to be filmed in CGI, will be titled "Arthur Christmas" and will apparently reveal the secret of just how Santa Claus manages to deliver all those gifts in one night. Sounds like nothing but fun to me.

And I'll leave you today after a short report with the trailer for Alexis Bledel's upcoming flick "Post Grad" because, well, it's Alexis Bledel, and I've always just had a ridiculous crush on both of the "Gilmore Girls." Given how far removed I am from the target demographic for this fluff, there's really no other possible reason I should probably go see it when it comes out in August, but it does also star former "Friday Night Lights" QB1 Zach Gilford and veryfunnywoman Jane Lynch, so maybe it will be surprisingly good. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Tuesday. Peace out.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Tyson vs. "Tyson" ... and we have a winner

Just how hot a ticket was James Toback's "Tyson" at the recently concluded Atlanta Film Festival 365? Well, though I can't confirm it, I hear tell that Tyler Perry himself was there, but my own travails simply to get in really set the stage right.

As I was told would be the case, the "press" folk had to line up in a show of just how marginalized we have become, waiting to be seated until everyone who actually bought a ticket or all-access pass had already gone in. There were at least 25 people in front of me in the B-line, so things weren't looking good, and it didn't help matters much at all that the guy directly behind me took it upon himself to - every couple of minutes or so - call a friend who had already gotten in and ask how many seats were left. Believe me, I can't make up anything quite that ludicrous, and it made me rather happy that I have yet to buy a cellular phone of any kind - and as admittedly petty as this is, even happier that I was the very last person given admittance, leaving him to talk on his phone as much as he wanted to.

It was only after getting in that I realized I wouldn't have a seat. Count this as the first time I've encountered the literal definition of "standing room only," but luckily for my feet, Toback's flick is as compelling as it is mercifully short at only about 80 minutes or so.

But of course I digress from the matter at hand. How was the movie itself? Well, considering that it delivers pretty much exactly what the title implies - a whole lot of Mike Tyson talking about Mike Tyson - it's a heck of a lot better than it sounds on paper.

Luckily for viewers, Tyson is a fascinating figure, never stupid by any means but clearly full of contradictions. He veers from surprisingly insightful self analysis to an even more shocking lack of repentance for his most heinous acts (like, say, that little matter of rape.)

The first contradiction, and the one that drives the movie, is that Tyson says early on that he doesn't trust anyone. Well, he clearly does at least trust Toback, and the openness this creates leads to rather amazing moments like Tyson - understandably - tearing up as he describes his mentor and father figure Constantine D'Amato, while at the same time saying that what D'Amato essentially taught him was to live like a savage, about as close as a civilized human being can come to becoming a wild animal.

Even more of a gut punch comes when he describes in very harsh terms and without an ounce of remorse what he still thinks of Desiree Washington, the beauty queen he was convicted of raping (a moment so shocking that it prompted many in the audience to laugh before they caught themselves and realized just how inappropriate it was.)

This is all unveiled with seemingly very little prompting from Toback (and, appropriately enough, often while Tyson is seated on his couch), and the footage that Toback uses to supplement the Tyson interviews will be enlightening both for boxing fans (of which I'm certainly one) and those who find the sport to be a brutal atrocity.

I guarantee you won't be able to take your eyes off of Tyson as his ex-wife Robin Givens, seated right beside him, reveals to Barbara Walters (falsely, the champ insists) that her husband is a manic depressive and much more. And in the footage of Tyson's boxing career, it's fascinating to see, whether you remember this or not, just how much Tyson's first knockout of a heavyweight champ - Trevor Berbick - was a direct passing of the torch from Muhammad Ali.

The only real spot where Toback's approach falls short more than a bit comes near the end, as Tyson tries to describe his simply bizarre actions in and out of the ring after being released from prison (a side of ear, anyone?). An outside voice to offer perspective certainly would have been welcome here.

But overall, what gives Toback's compelling documentary all of its punch is that he never apologizes for the troubled champ, and Tyson never really does either. It's just a fascinating psychological portrait of a clearly troubled soul, and I urge you to see it as soon as you get the chance.

Inside all of us is a Wild Thing!

Being a certified movie addict, I of course went to another flick as soon as I got home from the Atlanta fest on Sunday. And, rather than seeing one of the two movies that champion my dying industry, "State of Play" or "The Soloist," I instead opted for the Disney documentary "Earth," and I'm very happy I did. It's just beautifully shot from start to finish, and there's also just something extremely therapeutic about watching a baby mallard duck trying to fly for the first time. Though it got creamed by Stringer Bell and Sasha Fierce at the Box Office, I was happy to see it still took in an impressive nearly $9 million.

But the most fascinating thing actually happened before the main feature unspooled. A new trailer for Spike Jonze's upcoming "Where the Wild Things Are" (which I've included below because, well, it just rules) hit the screen, and the kids themselves just went wild.

Just the glimpse of one of the creature's horns was enough to prompt at least three of the kids seated around me to blurt out "Wild Thing!", and by the end they were howling along with the beautiful creatures (and believe me, I desperately wanted to join in, but somehow managed to restrain myself.)

I realize this is seriously far from a scientific experiment, but judging from that little sample, I'd have to guess that Warner Brothers will have little to worry about when it finally gets around to releasing this in October (and you can count it, along with "The Brothers Bloom," as one of the two movies I'm most looking forward to this year.) Enjoy the new trailer, and have a perfectly passable Monday. Peace out.

This time, the f***ed with the wrong Mexican"

If you ever wake up thinking the odds are stacked against you, which I do fairly often, I've got a rather amazing TV story to share with you, but first a word or two about the still surprising Baltimore Orioles.

Sure, they're only at .500 (8-8), but apart from a rather disastrous four-game sweep at the hands of the dastardly Boston Red Sox, the Orioles have won all four of their other series this year, by a count of 2-1 in each one. Tonight has Japanese import Koji Uehara facing off against Vicente Padilla, his 9.64 era and the Texas Rangers. Keep hope alive!

And the fact that hope is still alive at all for a ninth season of "Scrubs" is even more incredible. Given how this first season on ABC has unfolded, with almost all the new doctors being instantly forgettable, and Zach Braff already eyeing the exit, I just assumed the end was coming in a few weeks or so.

But, when the show has focused on its core characters, it has often been just as funny and plain silly as ever, and it seems that ABC has taken notice. Though no deal is complete yet, the network is said to be seriously looking at a way to lower the license fee and bring back just about the entire cast (including the weakest link, Braff, for at least a few episodes) for a ninth season next year.

Here's hoping it happens, because I can count the non animated TV half-hours I watch on just more than one hand: "How I Met Your Mother," "Scrubs," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (the best of them all), "My Name Is Earl," "Parks and Recreation," "The Office" and "30 Rock." Are there any other sitcoms out there that I should be tuning in for?

The news that "Scrubs" may still somehow be on life support is, however, far from the strangest TV news out there this morning. It seems that Pedro Almodovar, one day after it was announced that his new flick, "Broken Embraces," will be in competition at Cannes, is now getting into the U.S. TV game too.

And believe me, I'm not making this up. Fox TV is apparently adapting an hourlong series to be extremely loosely based on Almodovar's first big hit (and still his funniest flick) "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown."

Though Almodovar will be an executive producer and says he will stay involved, I still can't see this being anything but bland assuming it actually comes together. Why? First of all, the plot, as described by pilot author Mimi Schmir, seems to have little to do with the original movie: According to Schmir, it's "a suburban drama about a group of women who have known each other for a long time, perhaps from college, who are in the middle of their lives and looking at the second half of their lives."

OK, I watch plenty of shows intended for women (and yes, even one, in "Gossip Girl," clearly intended for girls), but that just sounds like nothing but boring. The original movie got all its spirit from its rapid-fire dialogue and the screwball humor inspired directly by '50s Hollywood comedies. I suppose there's a chance they can keep all that alive, but count me as a skeptic.

Oh well, that's probably more than enough about that. On to the main event. Robert Rodriguez's Machete character, played by Danny Trejo in the best faux trailer from "Grindhouse," seems to be even more resilient than my Orioles.

Even though "Grindhouse" can't even generously be called anything but a box-office disaster (though still tons of fun in my book, with Tarantino's second half being even better than Rodriguez's first) after taking in only $25 million in the U.S. and costing $67 million to produce, Trejo's blade-wielding Mexican day laborer and former Federale Machete is seemingly somehow about to rise again with his own feature film.

Rodriguez says he is eyeing a June start for the flick, which he will co-direct with longtime editor Ethan Maniquis, to begin shooting in Austin.

And for anyone who has managed to block Machete from their mind by any number of things that would have to be much more important, I've included the trailer from "Grindhouse" at the bottom of this post (and be warned that, if you watch it at work, along with rather spectacular cartoon violence, it does feature some rather bare breasts.)

Rodriguez has several other irons in the fire, but "Machete" is certainly the one that I'm most interested in. And with that, I'm off to the second weekend of the Atlanta Film Festival 365, to hopefully squeeze my way in to both James Toback's "Tyson" and Carlos Cuaron's "Rudo Y Cursi." Enjoy the trailer, and have a perfectly pleasant weekend. Peace out.

Cannes lineup: Clash of the Titans + the opening of "The Brothers Bloom" "

Though I've thoroughly enjoyed the Atlanta Film Festival 365 and look forward to returning to it tomorrow, there's really just nothing better for daydreaming than imagining spending two weeks or so sunning in the south of France and just watching movies.

Well, I can't deliver you that, of course, but here to perhaps set your mind reeling to far-flung locales are the highlights (as I see it) of the just-announced lineup for the 2009 Cannes Film Festival (the "L'Avventura"-themed poster for which is at right), which kicks off May 13 with the opening night screening of Pixar's "Up" (not too shabby a starting point.)

In the competition, I can't imagine it will win, but the big, loud dog in the room who will attract the most attention will almost certainly be Quentin Tarantino's World War II flick "Inglourious Basterds," assuming he finishes it on time, of course. I don't think he's gonna get hissed like poor Sofia Coppola did a few years ago with "Marie Antoinette," but the reaction to any movie in which Eli Roth is decapitating Nazis with a baseball bat should be fascinating.

Also on the domestic front, Ang Lee will be in competition with "Taking Woodstock," a biographical comedy starring Comedy Central's Demetri Martin as Elliot Tiber, who played a key role in launching the hippie fest. I have a feeling this one will just be goofy as hell but, assuming its get any of proper distribution, I could also easily see it becoming the sleeper hit of the summer.

If I were on the jury or even somehow just in attendance, though, the single competition movie I'd most be looking forward to is Park Chan-wook's vampire movie, "Thirst" Among other crazy things, as far as I can tell, it's about a priest who goes to Africa to participate in a medical experiment but instead, of course, finds himself turned into a bloodsucker. Bring it on! In the same vein (get it?), Sam Raimi will be screening his return to "real horror," "Drag Me to Hell," as a midnight movie, and one I'd certainly stay up well past my school night bed time for.

Joining Tarantino, Lee and Chan-wook will be a lot of heavy hitters, starting with Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces." I know his movies are, well, often extremely gay, but I've always just loved them, and this one - apparently an homage to filmmaking with a puzzling plot and, thankfully, Penelope Cruz - just sounds like a real winner.

Michael Haneke will begin his path of atonement for that "Funny Games" trailer that I must have had the misfortune of seeing 150 times (or at least it certainly felt like it) with his new feature film, "The White Ribbon," about which I know nothing more than that. Also on the prestige front will be the U.K.'s Angry-but-not-so-young-man Ken Loach with "Looking for Eric," which sounds like a surprising amount of fun. Described as a movie about "football fanatics and life," it's apparently about a football-mad postman who gets life advice from Eric Cantona. Wild.

Jane Campion will return with "Bright Star," a suitably high-minded tale about the poet John Keats and his affair with the girl next door, and I can only imagine Lars von Trier will be stirring up all kinds of trouble with something simply called "Antichrist."

And though this has probably gone on well long enough, it's certainly worth mentioning one last oddity, Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," which is screening out of competition and still, rather amazingly, looking for a U.S. distributor. If you've got a movie you can market as Heath Ledger's last that also just happens to star Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell but you still can't get any real distribution, you've either got to have something simply awful or just extremely bizarre. My guess? A mix of the two, tilted to the latter, but either way I can't wait to see this one if I ever get the chance.

The first seven minutes of "The Brothers Bloom"

Anyone who sat through all that certainly deserves a reward, and anyone who's been here before (there are amazingly at least a few of you) knows that I've already christened Rian Johnson's con-men flick "The Brothers Bloom" as the single movie I'm most looking forward to for all of 2009 (nothing like a little hyperbole to start the day, but I'm serious here.)

Knowing it comes from the creator of "Brick" (rent that one already!) and stars Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz and Rinko Kikuchi in a good, old-fashioned con game was enough to get me hooked, and now the first seven minutes - which you can watch below courtesy of the glorious Hulu - just have me salivating for when this finally opens (hopefully very wide!) May 29 against the aforementioned "Drag Me to Hell" and "Up." As expected, the opening sequence, narrated by Ricky Jay, is just a treat to watch, and in spirit it reminds me a lot of Wes Anderson's "Bottle Rocket," never a bad reference point in my book. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Thursday. Peace out.

Mississippi Damned: A searing success

In choosing what to talk about from the movies I had the privilege of seeing at the Atlanta Film Festival 365, I started with Duncan Jones' "Moon" because it was just much easier to wrap my mind and words around.

Sunday afternoon, however, I saw Tupelo, Miss., native Tina Mabry's feature film, "Mississippi Damned," and what I got was something a lot more challenging and - in it's own very stark way - extremely satisfying.

Drawing on her own knowledge of Mississippi life to tackle a rather seriously depressing true story, Mabry uses a lot of what in Tyler Perry's movies gets called "drama" to tell her tale, but doesn't settle for any of the easy humor and sweetness that make his movies go down so smoothly. By instead simply telling the stories of a (sometimes too large to follow) clan of friends and family in somewhat-rural Mississippi, Mabry has instead managed to make an American horror movie of sorts, one that uses the demons of real life rather than imaginary monsters to cut extremely deep.

But before I get into all that, a word or two about what the movie is about is in order, since almost no one in the world has had the pleasure yet of seeing it. Mabry's movie opens in the mid-1980s with a scene most Southerners know well: the Saturday night card game. The bawdy jokes and bonhomie can hardly mask the pain that clearly lurks just below the surface, but it's a genuine moment of bliss that perfectly sets up all the trauma that's to come.

At the heart of Mabry's story are the fortunes of three siblings (I think - the relations in "Mississippi Damned" are all so believably entangled that it's hard to be sure), all of whom in varying ways bear the lingering scars of their upbringing surrounded by abuse - verbal, sexual and otherwise - as they try to break free of the downward spiral that seems to be their fate. Sammy Stone (Malcolm David Kelly and then Malcolm Goodwin) is an exceptionally talented high school basketball player who dreams of playing in the NBA. Kari Peterson (Kylee Russell and then Tessa Thompson) is an equally talented pianist who is waiting to hear if she has been accepted to NYU. And Leigh (Chasity Kershal Hammitte) has a seemingly simpler aspiration - to move to Memphis and live with her girlfriend, Paula - which will be very hard to attain.

From the outset, Mabry never flinches from showing the odds stacked against them, and in that comes the only real fault I could find with her movie. As we very quickly learn about all the baggage their parents and other relations are dealing with - in short order, there's murder, cancer, horrible abuse of all kinds and much more - it can be numbing, but thankfully it's leavened not with sweetness but instead with just exceptional acting from even the most minor players on this stage but especially from its stars.

The kids, and even more so the older actors who play them as young adults, just perfectly capture the mix of despair and just-out-of-reach hope that drives their lives. And among the adults who should be their role models, Mabry has put together a stable of actors that make up easily the best ensemble I've seen this year (and last year it was another black drama of sorts, "Cadillac Records," that had my best ensemble cast of 2008, so read into that whatever you want to.) Many of the cast members and Mabry herself, second from right in the middle row, are in the photo at the top of this post.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "24" fans will recognize D.B. Woodside, who plays an serially unemployed man who still somehow thinks he's better than the wife he treats like garbage, but it's the unknown (at least to me) women who are the movie's real emotional core. As they deal with all the vagaries of life, it's their bond that sustains the movie and offers any real hope the kids will have.

And if all this sounds extremely bleak, it is, but there is at least the glimmer of that hope still standing in one of the kids' stories (you'll have to see the movie to find out which one), and it delivers an emotional reward that's much needed by the end of Mabry's flick.

Congratulations to her for winning the Narrative Breakthrough award from the jury of the Atlanta Film Festival 365. The top award went to Scott Teems' "That Evening Sun," which I didn't get to see because "Mississippi Damned" ran into it, but the breakthrough award is certainly a fitting one for Tina Mabry. She's a talented filmmaker who will hopefully get to make more movies very soon, and if you get a chance to see this one (it's showing again Thursday at the Atlanta fest) certainly do so, but be ready for a searing vision of American life that will leave you scarred for quite a while afterward but also, I think, very satisfied by the experience. Here's hoping "Mississippi Damned" eventually gets a proper theatrical release. Peace out.

A visit to the "Moon" with Sam Rockwell

Is there really any chance that "Chuck" is on the cancellation bubble? Even if one of every four or five people in the world (or at least California) is a Fulcrum agent, it's still just about the funniest and smartest thing on TV now, so here's hoping the Hollywood Reporter story listing it as only 50-50 to return isn't the beginning of the end. ("Dollhouse" is on the list too, but even though that show has gotten remarkably better through the weeks, it wouldn't surprise me to see it end.)

The thing that would really kill me is that if "Chuck" does die, it will be at the hands of that dastardly Jay Leno (no, I'm not a fan), who is getting five hours of primetime space a week and taking it directly from both more and less worthy shows.

Oh well. I don't really have any power over that, so instead I'd like to talk about some things I saw at the Atlanta Film Festival 365, which is continuing through Saturday at the fabulous Landmark Midtown Art Cinema in, of course, Atlanta. For the schedule and how to get tickets for movies (including "500 Days of Summer" tomorrow night), click here.

I saw seven movies in three days (well, eight, but I paid for the first one, "Sin Nombre," because I was just dying to see that ... yes it's a disease), and I'd like to start today with Duncan Jones' "Moon," the one most likely to play anywhere near people who might read this site when it opens in limited release June 12.

First, I suppose, a bit about what it's about. Sam Rockwell (and you'll see A WHOLE LOT of him) stars as a man who lives alone on a remote lunar outpost where he harvests helium, which has become our primary energy source.

And before I get to the good stuff, of which there's quite a bit, a word about the movie's limitations is in order. First, the plot is simply wafer thin. You won't hear any more about it from me, but you'll probably figure it out extremely early, and if not it's revealed about halfway in anyway.

But like any great science fiction, which Duncan Jones' film almost manages to be, it's much more about the allegory than the principal story, and in that department it's the best example yet of capturing the "zeitgeist" (man, do I hate that word, so I apologize) of our troubled times. I'll just say that for anyone (like me) who toils in an industry in which uncertainly looms everyday, what the story by Jones and screenwriter Nathan Parker has to say about the expendability of human life will definitely hit home.

Now, I didn't bother to see "Castaway" because I was just certain I couldn't take that much Tom Hanks (and I've never had any regrets about missing it), so I really have nothing to compare to exactly how well Sam Rockwell carried this movie. As you can probably tell from the storyline, he's in just about every frame of this movie, with only brief interruptions from his wife via satellite and the input of his helpful station computer Gerty, voiced in comforting monotone by Kevin Spacey (and yes, it bothered me at first that this was a direct ripoff of Hal, but two thoughts: First, who the heck else was he supposed to talk to out there, and second, the way the computer plays into the story just gives it more power.)

But back to Mr. Rockwell. I've always liked him quite a bit, but worried that seeing that much of him would grow old pretty quickly. Wrong. As he slowly deteriorates both mentally and physically, I can guarantee you will be riveted, and his reaction to everything that happens is natural and believable in what turns into a pretty intense psychological profile.

The remote moonscape is also beautifully filmed and plays into the theme of isolation perfectly. And if you'll excuse me, I have to cut this off rather abruptly and get ready for work, so I'll leave you with just one more odd thought: Duncan Jones is the son of David Bowie. Hopefully that and the fact that this is being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics will get it a pretty wide run in June, because I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it again. Peace out.