Great things coming for the kid in all of us - especially me - from Scorsese and Aardman

Actually, the photo above is one of six or so album cover creations by Next Movie in honor of the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," which you may have heard of by now. You can see them all by clicking here, but I just chose the Snape/Elvis because it's an easy classic and Alan Rickman just rules.

And before we get into the aforementioned great things for kids, both in spirit and in actuality, there's some news out there today from 24 Frames that, while it does involve Santa Claus, really couldn't have less to do with younguns. And if you've seen the original movie, you already know what I'm talking about.

We've been on a pretty solid winning streak for R-rated comedies lately ("Bridesmaids" and "Bad Teacher" have been my favorites this summer), but for me, "Bad Santa" is really just about the best one of the last 10 years or so, mostly because of its joyously unfiltered and thoroughly funny filth, with a genuine holiday spirit somehow still running through the whole thing.

And now, this morning, comes word that Dimension Films has commissioned two competing scribes, Johnny Rosenthal and John Phillips (neither of whom I know anything about), to pen scripts for a "Bad Santa 2," with the winner hopefully getting made and the other one, if it's not just horrible, possibly saved for a "Bad Santa 3." Sequels can often turn my stomach as much as anyone, but I'm a true "Bad Santa" believer, so I can just say bring it on. And every day is really a little bit better with a little "Bad Santa," so here's just a taste of veryfunnylittleman Tony Cox and the late, great Bernie Mac (in, don't say I didn't warn you, a truly and blissfully foul-mouthed clip) before we move on to today's main courses. Enjoy.



OK, moving on to today's main clips (and just about as far away from "Bad Santa" as you can get), the honor of following up that truly foul bit goes to Martin Scorsese, who has really delivered a winner with this first trailer for "Hugo," even if he has obnoxiously shortened the title of one of my favorite books from "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" (was that really too long? Sheesh.)

I'm hardly a moralist, even when it comes to kids' movies, and I wouldn't be a very good one if I ever wanted to be, but along with less fart jokes, what they could really use is much less product placement and more of the three W's, wonder, whimsy and wacky. Well, when it comes to the first two, I haven't been as psyched for a young folks' movie as I am for "Hugo" since Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are," which I still watch a couple of times a year and will never tire of. Except for the awful music, this trailer for Scorsese's Thanksgiving flick starring Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Jude Law and Sacha Baron Cohen gets just about everything else right, and I can promise it will be the only time in the foreseeable future that I'll spring for anything in 3-D. Enjoy.



And when it comes to the wacky, it really doesn't get much better than the claymation offerings from Aardman, best of all the "Wallace & Gromit" collection. For anyone who may not know, a fire struck the main warehouse storing most of Aardman's best stuff in 2005, wiping out, as Nick park put it at the time, the studio's "entire history."

Since then, however, and with a big assist from Sony Pictures Animation, Aardman has rebounded in a big way, and soon (well, March 12 in the U.S. of A., so fairly soon) will be back on the big screen with "The Pirates! Band of Misfits." As you'll see from the first trailer below, it's as loopy as ever, and somehow stars Hugh Grant as the voice of Pirate Captain. Enjoy, and have a great weekend. And if you'll excuse me, I'm off to do some swimming and then try to squeeze into a matinee of that "Harry Potter" flick. Peace out.

Quick hits: The funniest thing I've seen today, and then the creepiest, too

I really have nothing at all against Adam Sandler. The man's clearly having a lot of fun, and his movies entertain many, many people who aren't me, so bully.

That said, I couldn't even have brought myself to watch the trailer for his next movie, "Jack and Jill" (he plays both parts, natch) unless some clever soul hadn't managed to splice it together with this clip of George C. Scott from the 1979 movie "Hardcore." This treatment is sure to be given to tons of trailers after this, but this is the first time I've seen it, and it's a hoot. Enjoy, and if "Jack and Jill" is your kind of thing, keep an eye out for the movie Nov. 11.



And secondly today, I just find Steven Soderbergh one of the most maddening of directors. He's clearly a very talented man, and has made some movie I adore ("Out of Sight" and "The Limey" are just a couple that come to mind), but the cool detachment that proved so fitting for those flicks doomed other to be simply unwatchable (if, like me, you sat through all five hours or so of his "Che" movie, which I conned mi hermano into doing with me, you have my condolences.)

You do have to give him credit, however, for trying all kinds of things, and next up will be the rather epic horror movie with a very self-explanatory title: "Contagion." And the trailer for this outbreak flick coming out Sept. 9 is indeed thoroughly creepy, at least to me. As you'll see below, the rather star-stocked flick stars Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Bryan Cranston and even Reel Fanatic fave John Hawkes, too. Enjoy the trailer, and have a great weekend. For me, it will mean seeing both "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" and probably "Winnie the Pooh," too. Peace out.

Wednesday news, of Spike Lee, Errol Morris and a small clip show

Actually, let's start with the photo above, which I'm sure everyone can tell is a photo of Woody Allen and Penelope Cruz on the set of his new film, "The Bop Decameron," in Rome. Why? Because I always like seeing Penelope Cruz, and with Woody's "Midnight in Paris" being my second-favorite movie so far of 2011 (behind only Thomas McCarthy's "Win Win"), you can certainly say I'm psyched to see what he cooks up on the next stop of his late-in-life European tour.

And after that, though the news about Spike Lee returning in a big way may be a bit old now, so am I, and besides, to me it's easily the biggest story of the week, and there's something new to report about his "Oldboy" remake.

Before he makes that, in better news, Mr. Lee is apparently already at work on a low-budget flick that will have him playing Mookie once again. Think for a minute about just how good that could be. The movie, called "Red Hook Summer," is about "an adult from Atlanta who comes and spends the summer in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, NY."

That doesn't say a whole lot about where this might go, but as Lee fans will certainly know, the last time he made a big splash in Brooklyn in a very hot summer was with a little movie called "Do the Right Thing," so certainly stay tuned for more on this as soon as I can find out.

And Mr. Lee, apparently eager to get busy after his too-long hiatus from making big-budget feature films, has also signed on to direct Mandate Pictures' "Oldboy" remake, and there's good news today about how that might just come together.

Twitchfilm was the first to correctly report that Mr. Lee was going to direct this (the best way it could happen, since there's clearly no way to stop it), and the site is now reporting that Josh Brolin is being pursued for the main role. Without spoiling too much for anyone who somehow hasn't seen the original (do so, please!), he would play the American version of Oh-Dae Su, who is locked in a hotel room for 15 years before he finally gets to seek revenge on his unknown captors.

Perfect casting there, I'd say, so here's hoping it actually happens.

And there's other news out there this morning about another of my favorite directors who likes to move between the worlds of documentary and feature films, Errol Morris. In theaters in at least some corners of the world, he'll soon have a new documentary, "Tabloid," with the rather juicy subject matter of a model who allegedly kidnapped a Mormon to sex him up. I'm sure it's all more complicated than that, and it's just a great match for Morris.

For his next project, however, he'll be venturing into the world of feature films with a movie about cryogenics based on a the book "We Froze the First Man" by Robert F. Nelson and a "This American Life" segment titled "You're Cold as Ice." For me, Morris has always been at his best when he delves into the truly odd, as with "Mr. Death" and "Fast, Cheap and Out of Control," so this should be a real treat.

And now comes word that Paul Rudd has signed on to play the lead in this as-yet-untitled flick. It's unclear yet if he'll play the first man to be cryogenically preserved or Nelson, who helped invent the technology in the 1960s. Either way, this should be nothing but fun, so stay tuned.

OK, now on to the videos, and where better to start than with something new from Studio Ghibli, especially since, in Japan at least, it's coming out very soon. "From Up on Poppy Hill," directed by Goro Miyazaki from a screenplay by his father, one Hayao Miyazaki, it tells the story of a group of Yokahama teens who try to save their school's clubhouse from being torn down in preparation for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The real treat from Studio Ghibli will be "Porco Rosso 2," which the elder Miyazaki is at work on now, but in the meantime enjoy this teaser for his son's flick, which looks like a real winner too.



As far as the clips go, it's almost all about cartoons here today, but that's the way I like it, and I'm the author here, so deal with it. Next up comes the most thorough trailer I've seen yet for "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn." I still say that Tintin just looks way too modern in this, but it should still be a pretty good Christmas gift from Steven Spielberg to finish up this year. Enjoy.



OK, I know this weekend is all about "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," and I'll certainly go see that, probably on Friday, but there's also a "Winnie the Pooh" movie opening this weekend, and even though I don't have any little kids to drag with me, I think I'll sneak in to see that, too. After all, with two or three new songs from Zooey Deschanel and a good, old-fashioned story about Pooh and all his friends, what's not to like? Enjoy this trailer, and don't be afraid to unleash your inner little kid this weekend.



And where better to end up on a Wednesday morning than with a free movie, especially when it's "Repo Man," not to be confused with that "Repo Men" flick from a couple of years ago. That's right, this is the one with Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Esteves and all kinds of punky fun, so enjoy it, and have a perfectly endurable Wednesday. Peace out.

A Wednesday clip show, with "Harry Potter," "Torchwood" and more

OK, a lot of clips to get through today and not a lot of time to do it, so let's just jump right into it, and where better to start (at least in my book) then with the first trailer I've seen for "Gainsbourg"?

Based on the life of the legendary French pop singer Serge Gainsbourg, whose love life was at least as colorful as his musical one, it's directed by Joann Sfar, who also adapted the screenplay from her own graphic novel about the singer. Any movie about his rather wild life would both have to make Gainsbourg out to be more than a bit of a gangster, and also have some flights of fancy to fit his persona, and it looks like this will have both. Enjoy the trailer, and keep an eye out for this in at least some American markets on Aug. 31.



Next up, though I really couldn't stand John Sayles' last movie, "Honeydripper," that was the first one of his I didn't enjoy pretty much unconditionally, so I'm certainly looking forward to whatever he comes up with next. Well, it's apparently something called "Amigo," which as you'll see below, gets him back to rightly serious material to work with, the U.S. occupation of the Philippines in 1900. The flick starring Garret Dillahunt, D.J. Qualls and Chris Cooper, among many others, opens in at least limited release on Aug. 20. Enjoy the first trailer I've come across.



I was very late coming to the "Torchwood" game, but thanks to the head's up from my fellow cubicle slave Renee Corwine, I'm now finally catching on and up. I'm only on episode three of the second season right now from Netflix streaming, and at the rate of one episode per night, there's no way I'll be able to catch up in time for the season 4 premiere on Starz on July 8. If, as I believe, however, Starz (which I don't get) puts its new stuff up on Netflix almost immediately, I soon will be all caught up, and you should too.

If you've never seen the "Doctor Who" spinoff, it's a nifty little show that sort of crosses "X-Files" with a good police procedural. And as you'll see from the season 4 preview below, only Captain Jack and Gwen are left from the original cast as they embark on the new season, "Miracle Day." Enjoy.



I got a bucket of swag at work to try and lure me to see "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" in Imax 3D, but I don't think I'm going to take the bait. While I'm glad we finally have the Imax technology here in Macon, I wish a) it weren't coupled with 3D (and I don't know if it always has to be, which would be rather limiting), and b) there were a better movie to check it out with. Well, I just might take the chance with the second half of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which will finally bring the young wizard's saga to a close on July 15. If, like me, you don't quite remember exactly where part I left things, you'll enjoy this handy assist courtesy of Comingsoon.net, which offers a quick refresher course. Enjoy, and then stick around finally for a free movie, and one I dearly love.



And what better way to close a Wednesday morning post than with a free movie, and with one of my favorites of recent years, too? I first saw "Moon" at the Atlanta Film Festival a few years back, and was instantly hooked. Sam Rockwell was clearly robbed at Oscar time for his work in this flick about a man who gets stranded at his work outpost on the moon. Enjoy the movie, and have a perfectly endurable Wednesday. Peace out.

Is 3-D finally dying? The signs increasingly say yes

Change never comes easy.

And, I suppose, there are certainly more pressing issues today than the soul-sapping power of 3-D in movies, but if you're a fan of them (like me, of course), it's at least a real problem, especially during the height of the movie summer.

For movie fans, though, this summer's developments may actually be key in bringing about the insidious gimmick's demise, and for that Hollywood would have no one to blame but itself.

Quick, think, when was the last time that the addition of 3-D to a movie really dazzled, much less even mattered? For me, you have to go all the way back to Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," and there have been a whole lot of 3-D movies released since then (for which many I refused to put on those silly glasses on top of the ones I need simply to see what's in front of me.)

And beyond the sheer glut of 3-D movies (16 of them between May and September of this year, with two big, upcoming titles being "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" and "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"), there's the fact that (for me at least) it just adds nothing to the movie-watching experience, instead just draining the screen of color and often energy, too.

The problem is particularly galling with animated movies, which are now almost universally released in 3-D. In this, if I can exaggerate what I really think is only slightly, movie studios reveal themselves to be little more than pusher men, getting kids hooked on this shiny trick before they can figure out just how little they really get out of it. Luckily, however, unlike drug addicts who are truly too far gone, moviegoers do still have a choice, and the signs, according to numbers from the New York Times (and pointed out to me by always-welcome reader Jeremy Jirik), are finally starting to point to us just saying no to unnecessary 3-D.

One 3-D flop this summer was "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," which made just 47 percent of its domestic box office take from 3-D ticket sales in week one (as a rule, successful 3-D blockbusters are expected to make about 60 percent of their first-week take from 3-D sales). Add to that last week's debut of "Kung Fu Panda 2," which made only 43 percent of its long Memorial Day weekend, $53 million take from 3-D ticket sales, and got absolutely trounced by "The Hangover: Part II," which pulled in about $118 million from Thursday-Monday.

But nothing this well entrenched will die easily, and the 3-D pushers have to take heart in its overseas performance, where fans flocked to the latest "Pirates" movie in 3-D in huge numbers. Is it, to be blunt, because they're simply dumber than we are? Of course not. It's just because 3-D hasn't been around as long or been as prevalent in some parts of the world as it has here, so there's still the thrill of the new. Eventually (I hope), everyone will see this emperor's clothing of movie gimmicks for exactly what it is.

Do I want movies to die? Certainly not. I just want them to stop leaning on this crutch which has by now much more than worn out its welcome. But what can we do aid in its demise? Well, when they're good, go see genuine, old-fashioned 2-D movies, be they big (like this week's "X-Men: First Class") or small (if you're here in Macon, check out the simply sublime "Of Gods and Men" with the Macon Film Guild on June 12.)

And in the meantime, just keep hope alive that 3-D will soon be something we can look back on with disgust. Peace out.

Summer of sequels: Is there anything good left on the menu?

I'm sure it's happened before, but it's been particularly galling that for the past two weeks we've had nothing but sequels in wide release.

And of course, that's not going to change any time soon, so rather than complain about something I can't do anything about (though anyone who knows me knows I do plenty of that, too), let's just take a look at what's on the sequel menu this summer to see if there will be anything worth ordering.

"Kung Fu Panda 2"
What's not to love about a panda that does kung fu? Of the two sequels opening this weekend, I'm definitely in for this one.


"The Hangover Part II"
When someone pointed out to director Todd Phillips that the story of this one looked exactly like the one for the first "Hangover," he basically said, "so what, it's just a comedy." He's right, I guess, and I certainly laughed at No. 1, so I'm up for one more round with the guys, this time out in Bangkok. Opening Friday.

"X-Men: First Class"
Matthew Vaughn will probably never make a movie as cool as "Kick-Ass," but from what I've seen so far, this prequel (not a sequel, I know, but bear with me) about the origins of the "X-Men" should be great. My only complaint: Between the trailers and every other kind of clip, it certainly seems like I've seen most of the movie already, so here's hoping there's something left to surprise us. Opening June 3.

"Cars 2"
The cars as international super spies? Sounds too silly even for me, who sees far too many animated movies, so I think I'll just say no to this one (which would make it the first Pixar movie I've skipped.) Opening June 24.

"Transformers: The Dark of the Moon"
No one spreads mass destruction better than Michael Bay, if that's your thing, and the third installment in his giant robot saga should be the loudest one yet. I'm not sure I can take any more myself. Opening June 29.


"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2"
Not just a sequel, but the second half of a sequel? It's getting hard to keep all this straight, but the end to J.K. Rowling's wizarding tale should be the best movie in wide release for the rest of this summer, so I'm definitely in. Opening July 15.

"Final Destination 5"
This one just raises too many questions. If I skipped the first four of these (which I did), won't I just be confused if I start now? How can there already have been four, if No. 1 was supposed to be the "Final Destination"? And wasn't that actually supposed to arrive last Saturday? Now my head just hurts. Opening Aug. 12.

"Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World"
This one looks like its squarely aimed at kids, and what in the world is wrong with that? Robert Rodriguez usually has a lot of fun when he makes movies for younguns, and I loved the first of these movies, but I think I'll just have to skip this course unless it gets some incredibly good buzz. Opening Aug. 19.

And to close, if I can, a plug for a non-sequel that I finally managed to catch up with last weekend, and may well be out of theaters by now, "Soul Surfer." Yes, it's a Christian movie, but a fairly subtle one at that, and who can't be inspired by the story of Bethany Hamilton, the professional surfer who lost an entire arm in a shark attack? The surfing action is beautifully shot, the acting (especially from young AnnaSophia Robb as Bethany) is solid, and it's just a genuine feel-good story well told. So, catch it if you still can (it was still playing at the Galleria in Centerville last weekend), and keep an eye out for it on DVD if not. Peace out.