What will Wes Anderson's next movie look like?

I guess it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that with Wes Anderson about to get busy on a new movie, there are plenty of stars ready to sign up for it. And in even better news, unlike the disastrous "Darjeeling Limited," it seems like this one might even have a proper story behind it.

Anderson is expected to start shooting his next film, "Moonrise Kingdom," in the spring, and he's apparently in negotiations with regular partner in crime and funniest man alive Bill Murray, plus Frances McDormand, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton and even Bruce Willis.

And even though he's again working with co-writer Roman Coppola, who was with him for "Darjeeling Limited" (sorry to keep bringing it up, but I really hated that movie), it indeed sounds like this flick will have something actually going on in it.

In a story set in the late 1960s, two young adults fall in love and run away, and leaders in their New England town go in search of them. Norton will play a scout leader who brings his charges on a search. Willis is in talks to play the town sheriff who’s also looking, and who is having an affair with the missing girl’s mother, the role McDormand is in talks to play. Murray will play the girl’s father, who has his own issues.

Oooohh, drama. Since Anderson has managed to make four movies I have nothing but love for with "Bottle Rocket," "Rushmore," "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (and also two real duds, but enough about that), I'll definitely be keeping track of this one, so stay tuned for more on this soon.

A fairly short report today because, after all, I am on vacation (but, of course, watching movies, since I'm at the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival.) The only other real bit of news before a couple of clips today is something that just makes me giddy: The Muppets movie taking shape painfully slowly is finally starting to line up some seriously funny people.

Along with writing the movie, Jason Segel, of course, gets to cast himself as the main human in this operation, and it's already been announced that he'll be joined by Amy Adams, as his girlfriend (rough gig for Segel, eh?), and Chris Cooper as the big bad, an oil man who wants to drill below the Muppets' theater. But now surrounding them is when things are starting to get really good.

Lady Gaga will make an appearance (why not?), and her entourage will be made up of veryfunnyguys Ed Helms, John Krasinski and Eric Overstreet (a recent Emmy winner, and deservedly so, for "Modern Family"). Also in the mix will be Jack Black, Paul Rudd and "Community" uberfunnyman Donald Glover in unspecified roles, Jane Lynch as a prison guard and Danny Trejo as her prisoner (why a prison guard would have a personal prisoner I don't know, but anything can happen with the Muppets!), and Zach Galifianakis as Hobo Joe.

Whew. Is that enough funny for you? The flick, being directed by James Bobin of "Flight of the Conchords," isn't set to come out until two Christmases from now, but you can already count me as thoroughly psyched for this.

OK, that's all the real news I have today, so here are couple of clips to wrap things up. First up comes the first trailer I've seen for "Barney's Version," based on the comic novel by Mordechai Richler and, thankfully, starring Paul Giamatti. The story is about the life of the titular Barney, or at least his version of it, which includes three wives, two continents and any number of possibly true adventures. It's probably much better than I'm making it sound here. Enjoy the trailer and keep an eye out for this in at least some corners of the world Jan. 14.

And I'll leave you today with the trailer for a magical movie I saw last night here in Rehoboth, a 2009 Indian movie titled "Harishchandrachi Factory." Directed by Paresh Mokashi, it's a humorous look at the life of impossible dreamer Dabasaheb Phalke who, in 1913, made "Raja Harishchandra," thus launching India's feature film industry. It really is a movie made for people who love movies, and though I have no idea if it's coming to DVD in the Western world any time soon, definitely see it if you get a chance. Unfortunately, this trailer was the only one I could find that has the English subtitles, but it also has a truly unfortunate voiceover. It still gives you an idea of the spirit of this great movie, so enjoy the clip, and have a great weekend (and if you happen to live in Macon, of course, please go see the Macon Film Guild's presentation of my favorite flick of 2010, "Winter's Bone," Sunday at 2, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. at the Douglass Theatre.) Peace out.

Who are the two dissenters raining on David Fincher's parade?

Actually, before I get into that, there are two tidbits about creative folk whose work I often enjoy out there today.

Though he certainly hit a rough stretch in my book with "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" and "The Darjeeling Limited," Wes Anderson has also made four movies I truly adore in "Bottle Rocket," "Rushmore," "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox," so any word of the man getting back to work is welcome around here, even if that info comes in the form of the skimpiest of details.

According to Production Weekly's twitter feed, the title of his next movie will be "Moonrise Kingdom" and, best of all, he has plans to shoot it next spring. The only other detail available right now is that he's looking for two 12-year-olds, a boy and a girl, to play the leads.

So, something for children (and not completely jaded adults) like "Fantastic Mr. Fox"? Perhaps, but this will apparently be a live-action affair instead. No matter what, this is good news all around, so stay tuned for more about is as soon I can track it down. ...

In TV news, when it was revealed that "Pushing Daisies" mastermind Bryan Fuller (who also had a big hand in the early stages of "Heroes," before that show completely derailed) had signed a new deal with NBC, that was certainly a promising development. If you've never seen the show that ran for 22 episodes on ABC a few years ago, it was just the definition of whimsy and a perfect little bit of escapist TV.

So I was really looking forward to finding out what he would sink his teeth into next, but according to the always reliable Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly, it's just a remake of "The Munsters," and while that certainly has a little potential in his hands, it mostly just sounds extremely tired.

Even with Ausiello saying the series has been described as "Modern Family meets True Blood," and I have a lot of time for both of those, I just can't say much but meh to this idea so far. ...

And finally today, having given in long ago to any notion that I would somehow boycott Matt Reeves' "Let Me In" on general principles, I've set my viewing schedule for what really should be one of the best movie weekends of the entire year: David Fincher's "The Social Network" on Saturday afternoon, followed by "Let Me In" on Sunday afternoon.

And while Reeves' still thoroughly unnecessary remake of the perfect Swedish vampire coming-of-age tale "Let the Right One In" is doing a more than respectable 83 percent positive at Rotten Tomatoes, Fincher's flick was approaching the perfect score achieved by "Toy Story 2" until a couple of holdouts spoiled the party and knocked "The Social Network" down to 97 percent.

So, who are these two flies in the ointment? Well, they, not surprisingly, have brought their own opinions about much more than the movie itself (and that's their right, of course) into their attempts to judge it.

First up is Armond White of the New York Press, who if he wanted attention, has certainly gotten it this time, with more than 6,000, often very harsh, comments on his review posting at Rotten Tomatoes.

White has earned the reputation as more than a little of an iconoclast for trashing movies like "The Town" and "The Kids Are All Right," and while I can't go with him completely on either of those, I do have to agree that they were both at least a little overrated.

Where he really stepped in it this year, however, was in his completely wrongminded thrashing of "Toy Story 3," calling Pixar's best movie since "Ratatouille" simply "besotted with brand names" (it's about toys, after all ... sheesh.)

So, what's his beef with "The Social Network"? Well, I encourage everyone to read his full review here to find out, but my reading of it is that he just generally finds Hollywood to be a morally bankrupt kind of place, and while that may or may not be true, letting that generality cloud your view of specific films is a sad approach to take. Here's a sample:

Like one of those fake-smart, middlebrow TV shows, the speciousness of The Social Network is disguised by topicality. It’s really a movie excusing Hollywood ruthlessness. That’s why it evades Zuckerberg’s background timidity and the mess that the Internet has made of cultural discourse.

There's much more like that proving that White craves, along with attention, easy answers in his movies, something I've never had much time for.

The second holdout (and there may indeed be more by the time I finish writing this) is someone named Prairie Miller (yes, really) of a conservative blog NewsBlaze, who, perhaps predictably, has a problem with Hollywood's "in-your face cocky" portrayal of Harvard culture, therefore managing to trash both of this country's supposedly elitist coasts without - much like White - saying much at all about the movie itself. Read the whole thing here, but here's a sample:

Though according to filmmaker David Fincher, who seems to already have an experienced handle on scrutinizing budding sociopaths with Fight Club, Se7en and Zodiac, and as mapped out in a series of legal depositions inserted into this film, Zuckerberg had a flair for ripping off both ideas and profits from fellow matriculated collaborators in this venture. Cavalier when not in your face cocky, the gabby snob navigates a Hollywood notion of Harvard in what seems less brainiac boot camp than an Ivy League Club Med where nobody does homework.

Now, both of these writers have a lot more readers than I do, and perhaps rightly so, but is it all surprising that the only two dissenters from what has been almost universally hailed as a great movie have done so due to preconceived notions they clearly took into the movie with them?

Everyone's welcome to their opinions though, of course, and if I have time before I, sadly, have to work on Sunday, you'll get mine on David Fincher's "The Social Network." And with that, have a great weekend, and go see lat least one new movie if you have the time. Peace out.

Coming soon to a home near you, the best movie of 2009

Though I'm not naive enough to think it will ever be enough to kill off reality TV, sitcoms have started to make a real comeback in primetime TV. And, amazingly, there's even a few new ones good enough that I tune in each week (at least until they get canceled.)

Two that have caught my eye run back-to-back tonight on ABC, first "The Middle" and then "Modern Family." Sure, "The Middle" is a direct and not quite as good ripoff of that show that had "Malcolm" in it too, but I like seeing Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn together, and the humor is pretty spot on. "Modern Family," as it wades each week into uncomfortable situations, is even better.

And since both of those shows have (I think) gotten at least close to full-season orders already, ABC is ordering up more comedy, and thankfully with veryfunnylady Judy Greer, a k a Kitty Sanchez.

The network has signed her up to star in a series based on the book "I'm With Stupid," which would star her as a Manhattanite who has a fling with a park ranger while on safari in South Africa, and then finds the ranger has tracked her down in New York. Elaine Szewczyk, who wrote the book, is on board as a writer, and it seems like there could definitely be some funny there.

And speaking of definitely funny, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" almost always delivers in the foulest way possible, and we'll soon be getting it a lot more often.

Comedy Central has just snatched up the syndication rights for the F/X show, which is now in its fifth season and is signed for at least two more. And since Comedy Central is apparently paying about $700,000 per episode, I'd imagine they're gonna be showing "Sunny" as often as NBC does that dirty rat Jay Leno. Huzzah to that!

But before I got distracted by all that today, this was supposed to be all about the DVD release of my favorite movie of 2009 so far, which is coming Dec. 15.

Though Kathyrn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" and Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's "Sugar" have each spent time at the top this year, the enduring champ I'm referring to is Quentin Tarantino's wildly entertaining "Inglourious Basterds." It has its faults, for sure, but for vivid storytelling there just hasn't been a better flick this year, and though I don't buy nearly as many DVDS as I used to, I'll definitely spring for the two-disc set of this one (and then watch as probably at least five more "special" editions come out.) Here's what you'll get with the two-disc "Inglourious Basterds":

* Extended and alternate scenes
* Nation's Pride - The film within the film in its entirety
* A roundtable discussion with Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and film historian/critic Elvis Mitchell
* The making of Nation's Pride
* The Original Inglorious Bastards - a salute to the original 1978 film
* A conversation with veteran actor Rod Taylor
* Rod Taylor on Victoria Bitters, the Australian beer
* Quentin Tarantino's Camera Angel
* Hi Sallys - Gag Reel
* Film poster gallery tour with Elvis Mitchell
* Inglourious Basterds poster gallery
* Digital Copy of Inglourious Basterds

Some of that is surely filler, but most of it has to do with QT's love of movies, and I'm sure I'll watch it all at least once. The only thing missing is any kind of featurette about the music, which as usual just fits with the flick perfectly (I find David Bowie's "Cat People" just popping into my head at all the strangest times.)

And I'll leave you today with something from Eli Roth's twitter feed that I found to be pretty funny. The Basterds themselves, and especially the Bear Jew, were easily my least favorite chapter of QT's flick, but I still liked this suggestion for Halloween. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.