Thursday, March 11, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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



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



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

2 comments:

Bob said...

I'm definitely more of a Clint fan than you are (for my money "Unforgiven" is the most badass movie on the planet) but I'm glad to see we're both excited about what he's working on next. Should be a good'n.

Reel Fanatic said...

That is indeed a great one, Bob ... I think the one of his that bugs me the most is Million Dollar Baby .. How in the world did that snag best picture?