First look at Meryl Streep as the Iron lady and, oh yeah, Sarah Palin too

No, none of those are either Sarah Palin, Meryl Streep or Margaret Thatcher, but the dwarves are what really make "The Hobbit" my favorite of Tolkein's novels, so I couldn't resist. They actually are, in full costme from Peter Jackson's upcoming flick, the dwarves Dori (Mark Hadlow), Nori (Jed Brophy) and Ori (Adam Brown). Bully.

And before we get into the two videos that make the title, there's a bit of news about what exactly Judd Apatow's next directing effort will look like, and since it involves veryfunnywoman Melissa McCarthy, here it is.

The flick, fortunately apparently known as "This is Forty," picks up five years after "Knocked Up" and looks at the lives of Debbie and Pete, played by Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd. And joining them along with McCarthy will be "Knocked Up" vet Charlene Yi (always very funny), "Bridesmaids" co-star Chris O'Dowd, Lena Dunham and Albert Brooks, among others.

Here's what I know: O’Dowd and Dunham will play employees at the record label that Pete now runs, while McCarthy will play the Mom of "Super 8" star Ryan Lee, whose character attends the same school that Pete and Debbie’s kids (aka Judd Apatow's kids) go to.

I'm fairly certain I've never used the word ironic correctly, but it's at least odd that Apatow, who pretty much launched the R-rated comedy renaissance we're now enjoying (mostly), risks being left behind with more serious work such as "Funny People" (which I really didn't care for much at all) and possibly now this. But since he's stocking this new one, tentatively due out in June 2012, with genuinely funny people, here's hoping it's a winner. Stay tuned ...

And now on to, as promised, a couple of trailers, the first of which features Meryl Streep doing, not surprisingly, a rather uncanny impression of Margaret Thatcher. Her performance in "The Iron Lady," which chronicles Thatcher's rise to power and is due out in the U.S. of A. on Dec. 16, will surely do more than that, but for now enjoy this brief glimpse and then stick around for, yes, Sarah Palin.


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As pure, shameless propaganda, which I always respect, this trailer for "The Undefeated," in some theaters now and apparently expanding, is pretty first-rate. I'll keep most of the commentary to myself and just let you decide, except for this: when "DAUGHTER," "WIFE," "MOTHER" and then "WARRIOR" came on the screen, I kept waiting for "QUITTER" to be added to the end, but I guess they left that part out. Anyways, "enjoy" the trailer, and have a perfectly great weekend. Peace out.

The Undefeated Teaser Trailer from Dain Valverde on Vimeo.

AMC's Dead walking again

That's all I really have today, but when a photo's that good, just run with it.

Of all the shows returning this fall, I think I just might be most excited for Frank Darabont's "The Walking Dead," which will offer 13 episodes this fall after just six in season one. Above is the first photo I've come across from season two, just to whet your zombie appetite, and with that I'm off until at least Tuesday to visit my family in Minnesota. Have a great weekend, and by all means, go see J.J. Abrams' "Super 8." Peace out.

Macon movies: "Of Gods and Men" with the Film Guild, and Magnetic Fields too

Though we're smack in the middle of the movie summer, and in the world of wide releases we've now got the seriously satisfying "X-Men: First Class" and, this week, J.J. Abrams' "Super 8," here in Macon there are also great movies coming up outside of our multiplexes.

And that starts this Sunday with the French drama "Of Gods and Men," being presented Sunday at the Douglass Theatre by the Macon Film Guild. The movie, a quiet thriller of sorts by director Xavier Beauvois, center on the lives and sacrifices of a group of Trappist monks living in harmony with Muslims in Algeria in 1996, until they find their very existence threatened by extremist forces in the Algerian Civil War.

In giving his very moving movie the slow but absorbing rhythm of the monks' daily lives, Beauvois draws viewers deeply into their world and gives the movie a sense of peace, even as that peace itself is besieged on all sides by the modern life around it. And it's in this constant conflict, best captured in a scene in which the monks gather to share in a Gregorian chant as the terrorists' helicopters swarm around their compound, that Beauvois manages to give his movie at least as much urgency as a good Hollywood action flick.

He's certainly helped in this endeavor by the actors who play the monks at the story's core. Led by the French actors Lambert Wilson as the head of the monastery and Michael Lonsdale as a doctor who reaches out to the Muslim community, they all imbue their performances with a quiet grace, and in their faces show the humanity that give this movie its compelling drive.

In the end, without ever directly preaching, "Of Gods and Men" is ultimately about what it means to be a Christian in extremely trying circumstances. And the mix of hope and sadness with which it examines both the simultaneous power and futility of faith make it well worth checking out with the Macon Film Guild at 2, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Douglass Theatre.

A magnetic movie offering

The folks behind Macon's Second Tuesday Rock 'n' Roll Picture Show have been doing a great job of bringing us movies that move to all kinds of beats, from the pounding metal of "Lemmy" to the delightfully insane world of the Wu Tang Clan with "Rock the Bells."

June 14 at the Cox Capitol Theatre, they'll slow things down for the documentary "Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields." Merritt, who's been called "the Cole Porter of his generation," specializes in beautiful little ditties about all kinds of love, and this portrait by directors Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara should be an enlightening and entertaining glimpse into his creative process.

The fun begins with happy hour at 6:30 p.m., complete with dinner catered by Saralynn Harvey and her cooks from Good to Go, and then the movie at 7:30 p.m. Admission is just $5, or $3 if you wear a rock 'n' roll T-shirt, meaning that if I manage to make it I'll be wearing my T-shirt featuring an armadillo emblazoned with the logo of the Heartless Bastards. Hope to see you there. Peace out.

Wednesday clip show: Will there be anything good on TV this fall?

Actually, before we get into any of that, just a bit of movie news, because anyone who's been here before knows that "The Other Guys" was my favorite comedy of 2010, and now comes word that stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg will be teaming up again.

This time out it will be for something called "Turkey Bowl," a Warner Brothers comedy in which they will play rival football coaches of small-town teams whose big showdown is a Thanksgiving Day game.

Sounds like pretty typical Ferrell sports-related fare and a chance for Marky Mark to shout a whole lot, but out of love for "The Other Guys," I'll probably spring for a matinee ticket for that.

And now rather quickly on to the clips today, since I'm already behind (it is Wednesday, after all), starting with a couple of movie clips and then, as promised, a look at some of what's coming to TVs this fall (and a warning, even though Zooey Deschanel appears, it isn't all pretty).

First up comes the first trailer I've seen for "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn," the first, I believe, in at least a planned trilogy and set to come out just in time for Christmas. This is just a teaser, but it does raise hopes that Steven Spielberg has indeed come up with a pretty grand adventure for the young Belgian detective, but I have at least one quibble: Does the kid at the end of this clip look anything like the beloved cartoon character created by Hergé? I think not. Enjoy the clip, anyway.



I have to say, of all the wide-release offerings coming this summer, I think J.J. Abrams' "Super 8" has risen to the top for me. Perhaps its clever marketing or I'm must feeling nostalgic for some good, old-fashioned '80s-style (dare I say Spielbergian?) fun. Anyways, enjoy this clip from the movie, which sets up the big crash that unleashes ... well, I don't know, but I can't wait to find out on June 10. Enjoy.



OK, moving on to TV, I try against steep odds to remain optimistic, so let's start with the good and work our way down. Keeping with J.J. Abrams, though he's not directing the pilot, his Bad Robot company is behind Fox's "Alcatraz," starring Jorge Garcia, Sam Neill and somehow Parminder Nagra of "Bend It Like Beckham," too. As you'll see from this promo clip, it involves the titular prison, time travel and some really bad dudes. Sounds like the perfect mix for escapist TV, so I'm in. Enjoy the promo.



I haven't watched "Napoleon Dynamite" for years, but I'm fairly confident that in movie form, at least, it will stand up over time. As an animated series? Not so sure. I have, however, given up on almost all animated offerings now on TV ("South Park" is the lone holdout, but I don't think I'll ever really be able to quit that), so there's a potential hole to fill. Anyways, as you'll see from this Fox promo clip (didn't realize until now that it's all Fox today), all the original cast members return for this, so I guess everyone needed the work. Enjoy the clip, and then stick around for something that never, never should have happened to poor Zooey Deschanel.



OK, instead of saving the best last, I've just put the worst off as long as I could (and hey, I did suffer through a Helen Mirren-less "Prime Suspect" clip, too, but I spared you that). If you told me Zooey Deschanel would be getting her own sitcom and that her character would sing a lot, I'd be hooked. Until I saw this. It just looks excruciatingly (sp?) awful, even though she's a game player in it. "Enjoy" this promo clip for the upcoming Fox show "New Girl," and have a perfectly endurable Wednesday. Peace out.

A fun Wednesday morning clip show

Actually, before we get into any of that, there's great news out there today for fans of "Mad Men," and given what all's been happening in the past few weeks, we certainly need some.

In the latest small step in its plan for world domination, it seems that Netflix has paid almost $1 million per episode to begin streaming the first four seasons of "Mad Men" beginning July 27. Yeah, I'll watch that. Even better, the site has also scooped up the syndication rights for the next three upcoming seasons too, taking us to the planned end of Matthew Weiner's run for the show. Bully.

And after that tidbit today, I've got a quartet of clips, starting with, if not the best, certainly the funniest one. A warning, however: everything you need to know about this clip is in its title: "Danny McBride & David Gordon Green talk monster balls." It's even more foul than that, thankfully (in fact, I wouldn't just watch this with headphones at work - it's visually raunchy too, so be careful). Actually, this is the first great movie weekend of the year. Since I'm going to see the Braves and Phillies on Sunday, I'm gonna try and squeeze in a double feature of "Hanna" and either "Arthur" or "Your Highness" on Saturday, leaving the left out one and "Soul Surfer" for next weekend. Four movies I want to see in one weekend? Nirvana. Enjoy the clip.

Danny McBride & David Gordon Green Talk Monster Balls from Danny McBride

Next up comes a TV spot for J.J. Abrams' "Super 8," set to drop June 10. Few movies in recent memory have managed to change my opinion so much with its preview clips. I've gone from not much interested at all to wanting to see this, mostly because of the kids making movies angle, so here's hoping it doesn't disappoint. Enjoy.



HBO has been on more than a bit of a roll lately. I haven't watched "Mildred Pierce" yet, but simply because I'm saving all five episodes to watch all at once. I did, however, watch that Douglass McGrath documentary about Jerry Weintraub that aired Monday night, "His Way," and that was a minor delight. And better than all that, "Game of Thrones," with at least the pilot directed by the great Thomas McCarthy, is finally set to begin April 17 (on a Sunday, naturally.) If, like me, you really can't wait that long, however, you can watch the first 14 minutes or so below. You're welcome.



And finally today, definitely saving the silliest for last, I sincerely hope that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stan Lee know just how funny this is, because it really does look like the height of cheese. Below is the full trailer for their "The Governator," coming to some kind of TV in 2012, apparently. "Enjoy," and have a perfectly endurable Wednesday. Peace out.

David Simon on America's most unnecessary war

You often hear the phrase "life imitates art" or vice versa, but rarely do we get a case of art actually being life, as we did for four great and one not-so-great seasons of "The Wire."

Which makes the arrest of Felicia "Snoop" Pearson all the more depressing. For anyone who doesn't know, she played a female hitman of sorts for drug kingpin Marlo Stanfield, and like many of the stars of that show, was never far too removed from the world that "The Wire" portrayed. At age 14, she was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of another young girl, and ending up serving 6.5 years in prison.

Since then, things had certainly seemed to turn around with her appearance on "The Wire." She's also written a memoir, "Grace After Midnight," and having read it, I can tell you she tells her troubling story very well.

But yesterday, it all came undone, or at least regressed quite a bit with this Baltimore Sun headline forwarded to me in the morning: "More than 60 people, including 'Snoop' of 'The Wire,' arrested in drug raids."

If you haven't, you can read all about it here, but there's a much larger picture here, of a city and its people in crisis. That Snoop hasn't been able to escape this bottomless spiral is only the biggest headline-grabber about a truly sad situation in a city I love and will be visiting with mi hermano in August (for a couple or Orioles games, of course).

Here's what David Simon, much more eloquently than me, had to say about it all when contacted by Slate, and then stick around for something much more fun with a trio of Friday morning videos.

First of all, Felicia's entitled to the presumption of innocence. And I would note that a previous, but recent drug arrest that targeted her was later found to be unwarranted and the charges were dropped. Nonetheless, I'm certainly sad at the news today. This young lady has, from her earliest moments, had one of the hardest lives imaginable. And whatever good fortune came from her role in The Wire seems, in retrospect, limited to that project. She worked hard as an actor and was entirely professional, but the entertainment industry as a whole does not offer a great many roles for those who can portray people from the other America. There are, in fact, relatively few stories told about the other America.

Beyond that, I am waiting to see whether the charges against Felicia relate to heroin or marijuana. Obviously, the former would be, to my mind, a far more serious matter. And further, I am waiting to see if the charges or statement of facts offered by the government reflect any involvement with acts of violence, which would of course be of much greater concern.

In an essay published two years ago in Time magazine, the writers of The Wire made the argument that we believe the war on drugs has devolved into a war on the underclass, that in places like West and East Baltimore, where the drug economy is now the only factory still hiring and where the educational system is so crippled that the vast majority of children are trained only for the corners, a legal campaign to imprison our most vulnerable and damaged citizens is little more than amoral. And we said then that if asked to serve on any jury considering a non-violent drug offense, we would move to nullify that jury's verdict and vote to acquit. Regardless of the defendant, I still believe such a course of action would be just in any case in which drug offenses—absent proof of violent acts—are alleged.

Both our Constitution and our common law guarantee that we will be judged by our peers. But in truth, there are now two Americas, politically and economically distinct. I, for one, do not qualify as a peer to Felicia Pearson. The opportunities and experiences of her life do not correspond in any way with my own, and her America is different from my own. I am therefore ill-equipped to be her judge in this matter.
Very true all that, but way too heavy for a Friday morning, right? So, on to some fun clips. Until now, I haven't been able to get terribly excited about JJ Abrams upcoming alien flick "Super 8," but this first full trailer really does effectively change everything. In revealing that the incident was recorded by kids making monster movies on their super 8 camera, and seeing Coach Taylor of "Friday Night Lights" back in action, it has convinced me that this could be something really pretty great when it comes out June 8. Enjoy the trailer.



Next up, although very few people are apparently watching, FX is doing some truly entertaining things on television. I'm a devoted fan of "Sons of Anarchy," and though it lasted only one short season, "Terriers" was a fun little show, too. On the air now, I'm really getting into season two of "Justified," and the boxing drama "Lights Out" just keeps getting better and better with each episode. And now, to complement it's darkly funny "Louie" with Louie CK, the network is adding another truly odd-looking comedy this June, "Wilfred," starring Elijah Wood. As you'll see from the trailer, it's based on an Australian show about a lonely, introverted dude who becomes friends with his neighbor's dog, who just happens to be able to talk to him. Looks like very fun stuff, so enjoy this preview, and keep an eye out for the show.



And finally, truly saving the best for last, College Humor has definitely hit the mark with this mashup of Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox," easily one of my favorite animated movies of the last 10 years or so, and the video game "Star Fox." It's just wicked fun that needs no further explanation from me, so enjoy, and have a great weekend. (I'll be spending mine with mi hermano going to see two concerts by the Baseball Project .. huzzah!) Peace out.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

First look at John Cameron Mitchell's "Rabbit Hole"

Actually, before I get into that, two bits of news in what will be a short report today because I've got some errands to run before going to see "The Town" today and most likely "Easy A" tomorrow (now that's a good movie weekend.)

Though I'd be more interested to find out what happens to the stunningly talented Connie Britton once the "Friday Night Lights" go out, which will be after next season (coming in spring again to NBC, I believe), her TV hubby has already snagged a new gig.

Kyle Chandler, aka Coach Taylor, and young Elle Fanning are the first two stars announced for writer/director J.J. Abrams' "Super 8." What else do we know about the project? Not too much - just that it's most likely some kind of alien thing (shocking, I know) and it's shooting this fall for release next year. Here's the extremely unrevealing teaser trailer that debuted earlier this year.



In other news, the one thing that would make me finally break down and order BBC America is perhaps about to happen soon. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, creators of "The Office" and "Extras," are officially turning their pilot for "Life's Too Short" into an at least six-part series for BBC2.

So, what is it? Well, it stars (and I'm not making this description from the Hollywood Reporter up) "Britain's pre-eminent little person actor" Warwick Davis, and it is indeed about his life, with some appearances from Gervais and Merchant too.

Here's hoping they don't bully Davis as badly as they do poor Karl Pilkington on their very funny podcasts, but I don't think that will be the case. Here's how Gervais himself describes it:

"Third in our trilogy of TV sitcoms, Life's Too Short is another naturalist observational comedy, dealing with everyday problems, human foibles and social faux pas... but with a dwarf," said Gervais.

Sounds like nothing but funny to me, so keep an eye out for it, and let me know if you ever find it.

But on to the main event today, and it really has to be just about the opposite of funny, but it should still be fairly great - and with the buzz around Nicole Kidman's performance maybe even playing wide enough by the end of this year that even I'll be able to see it at Macon's one (for now at least) movie theater.

If you've never heard of John Cameron Mitchell, he's the director of the crazy little punk rock/sex change operation gone wrong gem "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," which would make a perfect Saturday night rental if you've never seen it. He also made a sex romp called "Short Bus," but I've never seen that one (not because it would possibly offend me in any way, just because I haven't gotten around to it yet.)

And now he's back with something pretty much completely different, "Rabbit Hole," which has been picked up by Lionsgate. The movie stars Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as a married couple dealing with the death of their 4-year-old son (I said the opposite of funny, right.) Dire stuff, that, but I can't think of the last time Nicole Kidman picked a role that made me say "that was just awful" (yes, I even liked "Margot at the Wedding" quite a bit), so I'm really looking forward to this. Enjoy these two scenes from the movie, and of course, go see at least one movie this weekend. Peace out.