"Crazy Heart" director plotting what would be just about the perfect followup

Though Scott Cooper's "Crazy Heart" isn't my single favorite movie of 2009 yet (that distinction goes to Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds"), I've seen Cooper's movie twice now and it just keeps getting and better in my mind, much like Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" did, so just give it time.

The movie just has such a natural pace and feel to it that it makes the utterly familiar story go down extremely sweetly, and it certainly doesn't hurt that the Dude is so great in it. And now, it seems that Cooper is lining up two other top-notch actors to take on an epic Southern saga.

Making the rounds to promote "Get Low," in which he plays a cranky old man who wants to plan his own funeral party so he can attend it, Robert Duvall revealed that Cooper has been lined up to direct "The Hatfields and the McCoys" for Warner Bros., from a script by Eric Roth (the "Forrest Gump" scribe, so he certainly needs and deserves a chance for atonement). Duvall, who had a small but key part in "Crazy Heart," has signed on to star in it, and he said Brad Pitt is now being courted to join him, though exactly what roles each would play is so far not at all clear.

Cooper, who made his debut with "Crazy Heart," is definitely one to keep your eyes on, so I'll certainly share more about this whenever I find it. And, apparently bored on the junket circuit and wanting to chat, Duvall also took the occasion to tell Movieline something about the status of Terry Gilliam's truly quixotic "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" too.

He revealed that "the Irish guy who was in 'Crazy Heart'," who we have to assume would mean Colin Farrell, was approached to play the role that Johnny Depp tried to the first Gilliam tried to make this movie, but has - probably wisely - turned it down. Duvall, however, said he will be in the movie, playing some kind of "Latin guy," assuming it ever gets made.

And if you've ever been the seriously satisfying - albeit depressing - documentary "Lost in La Mancha," which chronicles the epic failure that was Gilliam's first attempt to make this movie, you know the odds against this ever happening this time are pretty steep. Here's more of what Duvall had to say about the obstacles that remain:

"They [the producers] need a name. He's [Gilliam's] going after two people now, but he doesn’t want to say who they are until after he gets them. But it’s been six months he’s been after people. And it’s a bigger budget than his others. And he doesn’t stick to a budget, they say. He goes on and on. And he’s got locations picked out in Spain. So it’ll be very exciting. And when the time comes — and I know for sure — then I’ll start riding horseback every day … But you know, when the time comes - I can’t really start preparing for it until it’s greenlit. Until it’s really greenlit."

Duvall certainly and understandably has his doubts, and coincidentally enough, this news comes in the same week as the DVD release of Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," which, having seen it, I can say is a movie he probably should never have completed.

When my family goes to New York just after Christmas each year, a big part of the gathering is getting to see movies you wouldn't where we normally reside. My brother usually lets me drag him to one movie I want to see but he's almost certain will suck at least a little bit. Two years ago it was Steven Soderbergh's seemingly interminable "Che," an utter act of hubris, though Benicio Del Toro certainly gave it his all, and this year it was "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus."

Everyone knows by now the saga of how Heath Ledger died during the filming of this flick, and Gilliam turned to three big stars - Depp, Farrell and Jude Law - to finish the job. Well, what I can reveal to you is, after making an oddly entertaining flick during the portion Ledger was around for, Gilliam - predictably perhaps - then just lets his movie go completely out of control to the point that the last 45 minutes or so just make no sense at all. I'm still glad I saw it, but I can't really recommend the experience on DVD for anyone else except as a film oddity.

OK, that all went on a bit longer than I had originally planned, so I'll simply leave you today with a couple of videos. The first is the first full trailer I know of for Irish director John Carney's "Zonad." You may remember Carney from the truly magical musical "Once," but this is something completely different: The story of a mysterious stranger who arrives in an Irish village in the 1950s and passes himself off as an alien. Sounds like exactly the kind of goofball comedy I love, but I'll almost certainly have to wait for DVD to ever see this one. Enjoy.



And finally, I'll leave you with something even odder, the new video from MIA, who we (or at least I) haven't heard from since her "Paper Planes" became an earworm that bore into my skull for most of a year. This song, unfortunately, isn't nearly as catchy, and be warned that the video is 9 minutes long. It has, however, apparently been banned from YouTube because of its extreme violence (don't say I didn't warn you), so "enjoy" it while you can (and be warned, if you're a Ginger, really don't watch this). Peace out.

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

I didn't think it was possible, but yes, there is a limit to what I consider "free speech"

I know this is supposed to be about movies, and has for the last few days or so, but I run things around here, and something I read in the paper (which everyone should do, dammit!) this morning just set me off, so I'm afraid you'll have to bear with me.

Up until this morning, I really thought I indeed had no limits for what I would consider "free speech." I've not once been offended by anything I've seen in a movie. Now, mind you, there certainly have been some sickening things in the early movies of John Waters, but they were still far too silly to be anything I'd ever consider "offensive."

But of course, one of the chief glories of living in a truly free country is that people are free to do just about anything they want and, sometimes unfortunately, to most often put that to film.

Why am I getting into all of this? Because I almost vomited up my Cheerios (no product placement intended) this morning when I read what our Supreme Court has now said it's OK to do in this country, as long as you have the good sense (according to them, mind you) to film yourself.

The specific case, which I don't have the name of in front of me, springs from a man in Mississippi who was reportedly making "educational" movies about dog fighting. Let that sink in for a second before I get into the roots of all this, which are, believe it or not, even weirder.

In the mid-'90s, President Clinton wisely signed into law a ban on making so-called "crush" movies. I feel extremely dirty just writing this, so I'll get through it as quickly as possible. There are apparently people in this weird world of ours who get off on watching women crush mice or other small creatures with their feet, usually while wearing stiletto heels.

That we live in a world in which such a law is needed in the first place is almost as disheartening as the fact that yesterday, by a rather amazing vote of 8-1, the Supreme Court says this has to be allowed as a matter of FREE SPEECH. Like I said, the specific case involved the dog-fighting videos, which if anything is even more repulsive, but this madness all originates from the apparent RIGHT to watch small animals die for your pleasure.

Now that I've laid all that out, I'm not sure what else to say except that it just makes me completely sick that hurting animals in any way could ever be construed as anything even approaching free speech.

And thus endeth anything remotely serious here today, I promise. And just to keep the subject away from movies for a bit longer, it's a pretty epicly good day in TV news out there, with two shows I adore announcing their return and an official date for when we'll finally get to see "Mad Men."

It starts for me with the announcement of a second season of NBC's "Parenthood," which will be coming this fall. I don't know yet if it will be a full 22-episode run, but frankly, I've gotten to the point where I enjoy shows more in the 13-episode cable-style run anyway.

And if you're not watching "Parenthood," I can only say you're missing out on what TV can be when it really tries to produce a smart, sexy and funny drama (I refuse to use the word dramedy) for adults. With a cast led by Lauren Graham, Peter Krause and Dax Shepard, it indeed deals with the issues of "Parenthood," including having a child with autism (or some version of it) and finding you had a child that you weren't told about until you were in your 30s and he's about 5 years old (or so, I have no idea how old kids actually are, never having had one to deal with myself), and it does so in a universally entertaining way that even I can relate to.

You'll have plenty of chances now to catch this show created by "Friday Night Lights" mastermind Jason Katims, and I can only urge anyone who happens to stop by here today to do so on Tuesday nights.

Even better than that, and given the fickle but brilliant mind of Larry David just as unlikely, it's also been announced that "Curb Your Enthusiasm" will return for its eighth season beginning in 2011.

I was a little disappointed by the "Seinfeld" anti-reunion that took place last season, but even weak "Curb" is still funnier than just about anything else on television. And now that David Simon's "Treme" and the third season of "True Blood" have me indentured to HBO for the next six months or so, I'll probably just stick around now long enough to welcome back the delightfully cynical Mr. David, who should finally reunite with TV wife Cheryl Hines unless, which is just as likely, he once again manages to screw things up.

And in the best possible relief to the summer TV doldrums, AMC has announced that "Mad Men" will return for its fourth season beginning July 25 at 10 p.m., meaning we won't have to wait as long as we did last year.

I think I'm far from alone in thinking that the show has gotten better season by season, and the end of season three, with Don Draper and his chosen few breaking off to create a new firm as Bertie is breaking away from him, was just perfection. Bring on some more, already.

And even better is that shortly after the return of "Mad Men," AMC will be premiering something called "Rubicon" which sounds like exactly the kind of political thriller I dig.

The show, which will premiere with back-to-back episodes on Aug. 1 from 8-10 p.m., is about a NYC-based government intelligence agency where "nothing is what it seems" (of course.) I'm not making that sound at all appealing, I know, but I've read more about this show that makes me think it will be a real winner.

OK, I suppose this should be at least a tad about movies, so I'll close with this DVD-only clip from "Crazy Heart," easily one of my favorite movies of 2009. In the clip, Bad Blake (very worthy Oscar winner Jeff Bridges) meets his son, who in the actual movie only brushes him off over the phone. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

So, what's the movie good enough to drag me back to the multiplex?

Before I get into any of that, what in the world is going on at HBO? With Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann already on the roster directing pilots for, respectively, "Boardwalk Empire" and "Luck," it now seems the network has even somehow managed to sign Kathyrn Bigelow too (and they'll have me back too if and when David Simon's New Orleans series "Treme" hits the air.)

I have no idea how they managed to snag Bigelow, but the material she's working with sounds fantastic, though about as different from "The Hurt Locker" as you could pretty much possibly get. Created by Broadway director John Logan, "The Miraculous Year" centers on a charismatic, self-destructive Broadway composer and his family in New York. Bigelow is so far on board as executive producer, but I'd have to imagine she'll at least direct the pilot for this too.

And man does that sound like something I'd tune in for every week.

But before I got distracted today, this was supposed to be about the movie that will finally drag me back to the multiplex to watch a new theater offering. I thought it might be "The Wolfman" or "Percy Jackson ... whatever that movie's called," but I just couldn't bring myself to do it with either of those.

The movie weekend was far from a loss, however, because I went to see "Crazy Heart" again, and I'm certainly glad I did. Though I liked it the first time, the story just seemed all-too-familiar, and that hindered my engagement with it. The second time around, that wasn't an issue, and I was able to dive into just how good a story it is, with sensational acting and even better music by Ryan Bingham (and I bought the soundtrack when I got home - if anyone's listening, this young man just might be able to save country music from itself.) I was thrilled to see a nearly sold out crowd of grownfolks at the 2:30 matinee, and hopefully the theater owners noticed ... we like to go to movies too!

But what will be the movie good enough to finally get me to watch a new release, only the third this year, after "Youth in Revolt" and "The Edge of Darkness"? It's Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," and I'm just thoroughly jazzed for it Saturday afternoon. The early reviews, while trying to be negative, have only amped up my excitement. I mean, really, a B horror movie directed with exceptional style and great pace, as they've all said? I'm definitely there.

And on that note, all I really have this Monday morning is a behind-the-scenes featurette for the flick courtesy of Comingsoon.net. I really don't see any possible way this movie won't just rock. Enjoy the clip, and have a perfectly passable Monday. Peace out.

Since the Oscars get 10 best, I do too (actually, I get 11)

Thinking about what to write about this morning, I realized that - with no computer for a month - I never got around to revealing my 10 best movies of 2009. And while it may be far too late for anyone but me to care, here goes anyway, in order only of when they were released (and if you're a fan of the Drive-By Truckers - as everyone should be - stick around 'til the end for a special treat.)

And lest anyone be left scratching their head at the omission of Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air," it just missed the cut, earning honorable mention along with the following flicks: "The Road," "A Single Man," "Crazy Heart," "Avatar," "Broken Embraces" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Now, on to the 11 winners, and please feel free to chime in with your favorites or let me know if you think I'm just all wet about any of these:

Coraline
"Up" is going to get most of the attention as far as animated movies go with this morning's Oscar nominations - since I fully expect it to get a Best Picture nomination - but this little flick from Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman was actually the best animated movie of the year for me (and the only one besides "Avatar" that really made me think it was worth wearing 3-D glasses for the entire movie.) Though, like any story told through the eyes of a child, it really goes out of control by the end, "Coraline" is still a genuinely magical story about the powers - and dangers - of the imagination, my favorite movie subject of all.

Sugar
This flick from directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck spent the first half of 2009 as my favorite movie of the year, and it's held strong in the top five. This portrait of life in modern America through the eyes of an outsider starts out as a low-key sports flick about a Dominican player in the minor league baseball system and pivots deftly about halfway in to become a story about immigration in America without ever losing the natural flow that makes it so entertaining to watch. Rent this immediately if you haven't seen it.

Drag Me to Hell
Has anyone had a worse movie year-or-so than Sam Raimi? First, no one in the world but me (and maybe a few others) went to see this incredibly fun return to his horror roots, and then his "Spider-Man 4" flick implodes to the point that they just scrapped the whole project and started over without him (and, frankly, most likely without me too.) He certainly deserves better. Especially when, if you're a fan of "Evil Dead" and "Army of Darkness," you should love this flick about what happens when poor Alison Lohman denies a mortgage extension to the wrong person (a gypsy woman with the power to curse her - and ingest her poor kitty - of course.) If you can stomach it, watch this on DVD.

Moon
I'd say there's probably no chance at all that Sam Rockwell will get an Oscar nomination for his work in Duncan Jones' sci-fi flick, and in my book that will count as the single biggest snub of the year. He's in virtually every frame of this, a welcome return to the kind of smart sci-fi allegory we haven't seen on the big screen in a long time (though "Battlestar Galactica" did a fine job with that too on the little one.) I saw this one at the Atlanta Film Festival 365, and am thrilled that Charles Judson has invited me back for this year's event too.

The Hurt Locker
Just how much do military members love this Iraq War movie of sorts from Kathyrn Bigelow? Well, as a tiny and random sample, a video store bought an ad in the publication I lay out that serves Warner Robins, GA (proud home of Robins Air Force Base) just to promise that "The Hurt Locker" will "always be in stock." I don't know why, but that just struck me as funny. I do know, however, that Bigelow has crafted the first Iraq War movie I genuinely enjoyed, not just because it has at least three of the best action set-pieces of the year, but also two of the best performances from Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner as it presents the rarest kind of flick - an apolitical war movie that simply looks at combat through the eyes of those who have to wage it.

In the Loop
A small Web cult of sorts has blossomed that's devoted to the singular swearing prowess of Peter Capaldi as political operative Malcolm Tucker in director Armardo Iannucci's wicked sendup of the buildup to the Iraq war, and it's well-deserved. It's hard to keep up with all the jokes that Iannucci packs into this razor-sharp satire - the kind we haven't seen since the days of Peter Sellers, and they've been sorely missed by at least me - but believe me, the effort is well worth it. Watch this now.

Inglourious Basterds
This is my favorite movie of 2009, and just to show I've put it to the test, I've watched it all the way through at least five times now, and it just keeps getting better. Taken individually, the opening gambit with Christoph Waltz and a French farmer, that sensational scene at the French bar that turns into a bloodbath and - of course - the unforgettable finale, are the three best-written sequences of 2009. Add them together and throw in Brad Pitt and his basterds for comedic value, and you get my favorite kind of movie, just wildly imaginative story telling and a thoroughly fun ride.

Passing Strange
Can what amounts to simply the filming of a Broadway musical being performed on stage really be turned into one of the best movies of 2009? In the hands of Spike Lee, yes. He uses the same technique he did with "Kings of Comedy" to make it an intimate experience, and it certainly doesn't hurt that this musical about a black teenager's voyage to Europe to find his artistic self has a genuine energy that radiates from the screen as I'm sure it did even stronger on stage.

The Damned United
I was a little hesitant to see this at first because it's based on the best book I've read in at least the last five years or so, and I was sure there was no way that director Tom Hooper could re-create the manic pace or odd structure of David Peace's piece of historical fiction about Brian Clough's disastrous 44 days or so as the manager of Leeds United. I'm very happy to report, though, that I was once again wrong, because it comes damned close, and more importantly turns this tale of ultimate futility into a winningly witty period piece that will entertain soccer fans as much as those of you who have somehow not become a fan of the beautiful game, and Michael Sheen is perfectly vainglorious as Clough.

Where the Wild Things Are
Probably my favorite joke from "Freaks and Geeks" remains the one about Sam Weir trying to do a book report on "the novelization of 'Star Wars'," but I can report that the novelization of "Where the Wild Things Are" by Dave Eggers (called "Wild Things" and of course at least loosely based on the children's classic by Maurice Sendak) is a tremendously good read. Like Spike Jonze's movie (but without having to create those rather amazing wild things), it deftly dives into the mind and imagination of a troubled child and somehow bundles all these emotions into a moving and simply entertaining tale. And young Max Records, perfectly wild as Max in the movie, delivers my single favorite still of the year, the look of horror on his face when his teacher casually announces that the sun will, indeed, some day die. Priceless.

Precious
It really seems a crime to put Lee Daniels' flick last on this list, but those were the rules I set out. In actual order of appreciation, it would certainly be in the top five, because although I didn't find it as uplifting as many people I know who like this as much as I do, it's still a genuine American story of the kind we very rarely get to see on the big screen. Mo'Nique is a sure winner in the Best Supporting Actress category at the Oscars, but I'm hoping Gabourey Sidibe gets a Best Actress nod too, because she portrays our heroine's wounded but still fierce pride perfectly, as much with her expressions as she does Precious' emerging voice.

So there you have it. And I promised a treat for any Drive-By Truckers fans who stuck around through all of that, so here it is. Yesterday, they debuted a new single, "Birthday Boy," and I'm pleased to report it's a Mike Cooley track that kicks the kind of ass they used to, and hopefully will again when a new album comes out in the next six weeks or so. Just put your e-mail address in the widget (it won't go to me, so don't worry), and the link will be sent to you. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Tuesday. Peace out.