Fall/winter movie preview

Before I jump right into this, a couple of notes.

First off, though I've recently moved from Macon, GA., back to Salisbury, MD., I still only get movies that open in the widest possible release, so that's what will be included. Although I'm fairly certain Roman Polanski's "Carnage" and Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" will play wide enough to reach my little corner of the world, I couldn't be sure, so they didn't make the cut.

And second, of course, these are only my picks, so please do feel free to add any at the end that you think I may have snubbed. And with that, let's get right to it, starting with what should be a great one today.

Today: "Drive"

I couldn't tell you what exactly a Nicolas Winding Refn is, but the marketing machine is certainly in full force for what will be the first of his movies I've managed to catch, and why not? Arthouse faves Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan in a movie about a stunt driver who just happens to double as a getaway car artist? I'm there. Enjoy this trailer.



Sept. 23: "Moneyball"

When it comes to sports movies, my two favorite genres are boxing and baseball. In the former (well, MMA, actually), "Warrior" is already a real winner (see it already, people, sheesh), and I'm betting "Moneyball," starring Brad Pitt as Oakland A's bean counter Billy Beane with a script by Aaron Sorkin, will be too. Enjoy this trailer.



Sept. 30: "50/50"

On paper, this one should be pretty dour, and some early reviews I've seen have pegged it as exactly that, but based on the cast I'm thinking I'll still really dig it. In this flick based on writer Will Reiser's battle with cancer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the character based on Reiser, Seth Rogen is his best bud, and definite Reel Fanatic fave Anna Kendrick, who I'll watch in anything without the word "Twilight" in it, plays a shrink. Enjoy this trailer.



Oct. 7: "The Ides of March"

If it's fall, it's the season of George Clooney, and he stars in (and directs) this one and also stars in the aforementioned "The Descendants" too. Clooney has an underappreciated flair as a director, and even though this tale of political operatives and dirty tricks (in which Clooney plays a candidate for president, natch) apparently takes a pretty jaded view of our world, I do too right now, so bring it on. Enjoy this trailer.



Oct. 7: "Real Steel"

If you're going to make movies based on video games, why not Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots? That seems to be exactly what director Shawn Levy has done here for this flick starring Hugh Jackman about, yes, boxing robots. Silly? No doubt, but I'm still betting on a ton of fun too. Enjoy this trailer.



Nov. 4: "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas"

Though the rest of October looks pretty bleak, things will light up again (pun fully intended) as John Cho and Kal Penn return for their third adventure as America's favorite stoners. This time out, Harold (Cho) appears to finally be too old for all this nonsense (though I hopefully never will be), being happily married with children until Kumar (Penn) shows up to drag him away for more ganja-fueled games. And yes, of course, NPH comes back from the dead. Enjoy this trailer.



Nov. 11: "Immortals"

Of all the movies on this list, this one has the biggest potential to simply be awful, but I still have a lot of time for Tarsem, so I'll take a chance on it. If you've never seen his "The Fall," it's a true visionary wonder, and there are few rentals I can recommend higher. This time out, things are a lot more epic as Mickey Rourke (yes, really) plays a king ruling Greece with an iron fist until Theseus (Henry Cavill) leads an uprising against him. Keep your fingers crossed for this one, and enjoy this trailer.



Nov. 11: "J. Edgar"

A complete stranger to subtlety, Clint Eastwood is just a maddeningly uneven director in my book, but there's no denying the pedigree of this grand biopic. With a script from "Milk" scribe Dustin Lance Black, one Leo DiCaprio will play the FBI founder and longtime director who just happened to enjoy wearing dresses. The only trailer I could find for this was a short teaser in which Leo just lights a cigarette, and all the clips I could locate (with funny effect) laid a fart track over it, so no trailer for this one.

Nov. 23: "Hugo"

Even though he's shortened the title from "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" and filmed this in surely unnecessary 3-D, I still can't wait to see what Martin Scorsese comes up with from one of my favorite books, by Brian Selznick. Asa Butterfield stars as our hero, a young boy who lives in the walls of a train station and discovers one of Georges Melies' amazing automatons. Definite Reel Fanatic fave Hit-Girl Chloe Moretz co-stars. Enjoy this trailer.



Nov. 23: "The Muppets"

Everyone who is, like me, of a certain age, remembers Jim Henson's beloved puppets with nothing but fondness, and has probably (also like me) been lapping up everything that's been released already by the Disney marketing machine. The key to a great Muppets movie is an entirely fun spirit, and everything I've seen so far indicates that writer Jason Segel and director James Bobin have just about nailed it, so here's hoping. Enjoy this trailer.



Dec. 9: "The Sitter"

Though as mentioned above I have nothing but love for a good stoner flick, director David Gordon Green proved with the simply awful "Your Highness" that, if you try hard enough, you can certainly make one of those that just sucks. This time out, however, he's playing it much more safely, pretty much combining "Superbad" with "Pineapple Express" for this flick starring Jonah Hill as quite possibly the world's worst babysitter. I'm a sucker for movies starring foul-mouthed kids (the vastly underappreciated "Role Models" gets me every time), so I'm hoping this will be very funny. Enjoy this red band trailer (and be warned, it's plenty foul).



Dec. 9: "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

Director Tomas Alfredson's "Let the Right One In" is easily one of my favorite movies of the last 10 years or so (and definitely the best one with vampires), so you can count this follow-up as the one movie I'm most looking forward to seeing this fall. For his take on John Le Carre's novel about the hunt for a Russian mole who has infiltrated Britain's house of spooks, he's assembled a cast that somehow includes Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds and even Sherlock himself, Benedict Cumberbatch. Enjoy this trailer, and let the spy games begin.



Dec. 16: "Young Adult"

Director Jason Reitman has yet to make a movie that I haven't mostly loved, and for this hopefully very dark comedy he's reunited with scribe Diablo Cody. In it, Charlize Theron, who proved on "Arrested Development" that she can be extremely funny, plays a writer of teen novels who returns to her small hometown to try and pitch woo with her now happily married former high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). No trailer for this one either yet, but keep an eye out for it soon, most likely right here.

Dec. 21: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

Having been burned once already recently by Matt Reeves' extremely by-the-book and just as unnecessary remake of "Let the Right One In," you can color me extremely skeptical about this one, but it certainly fits right in director David Fincher's wheelhouse. Rooney Mara will attempt to step into the shoes of hacker extraordinaire Lisbeth Salander, already perfected on screen by Noomi Rapace in the Swedish original, as she aides Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig, this time) as he tracks down Nazis and other unseemly happenings. Enjoy this trailer.



"Dec. 23: The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn"

What are the odds that even Steven Spielberg can release two movies in the space of six days that are both real winners? Not likely, but this year, on paper at least, it looks like it could happen. In this first one, Hergé's beloved young Belgian detective looks more than a bit odd with the modern touch, but I'm still hoping this will be an old-fashioned tale at least in spirit. Enjoy this trailer.



Dec. 23: "We Bought a Zoo"

After what seems like at least 10 years off, director Cameron Crowe is back this year in a big way, with, first, his documentary about Pearl Jam and then this tale that seems tailormade to his very humanity-heavy style of storytelling. Matt Damon and no-longer-never-nude Scarlett Johansson star in this flick with easily the most "Snakes on a Plane" title of the fall season. Enjoy this still very new trailer.



Dec. 28: "War Horse"

Spielberg's second entry of the week is just the kind of epic movie you'd expect, telling the story of a boy and his horse and their adventures in World War I. And with that, finally, there you have it. Enjoy this final trailer and, as stated above, please feel free to add any movies you're looking forward to that I have somehow snubbed. Peace out.

"Community" wins an early Emmy ... and it's a great one

It's still a pretty major - though thoroughly unsurprising - bummer that "Community," easily one of the funniest shows on TV right now, wasn't even nominated in any of the major categories at this year's Emmys, but this early award is well-deserved and certainly honors a bright spot in the network TV landscape.

If you managed to miss last year's Christmas episode, "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas," you missed a real winner. It was, as usual, fun, funny and completely irreverent, but also, as you can see above, was rendered in rather glorious stop-motion animation.

And for that, character animator Drew Hodges has won one of the Emmys for Individual Achievement in Animation. Huzzah, kudos, bully and anything else you can think of to that!

In other news, and in keeping with animation, one of my favorite animation studios, Laika, is coming back with what should be an entirely fun project. The studio has just optioned "Wildwood," the children's novel written by Decembrists frontman Colin Meloy (a band that every smart person I know tells me I should listen to, but that I juat haven't gotten around to yet.)

According to Comingsoon.net, "the first book in an epic middle-grade fantasy series full of magic, wonder and danger set in an alternate version of modern-day Portland, tells the story of Prue McKeel, whose ordinary life is changed forever when her younger brother is abducted by a murder of crows and taken to the Impassable Wilderness, an enchanted and forbidding forest on the edge of the city."

Bring it on for sure. And though Laika may have lost stop-motion mastermind Henry Selick to the behemoth known as Pixar, what they can do with the medium is still very impressive, so stay tuned for more on this as soon as I can find it.

And in other movie news, if you managed to miss Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet," I'd recommend you correct that oversight ASAP with a rental. While it's not quite the French "Godfather," as many people have called it, it is an engaging tale about one man's encounter with the mafia as he searches for his own identity while in prison. A can't-miss pick.

And now comes word that Audiard is ready to get back to work, and he's bringing the thoroughly beguiling Marion Cotillard along with him. The French charmer will star in Audiard's next movie, "Rust and Bone," to be based on a short story collection by Craig Davidson.

In the book, also according to Comingsoon.net, Davidson "conjures a savage world populated by fighting dogs, prizefighters, sex addicts and gamblers. The 27 bones of the title story are the bones in a boxer's hands; once broken, they never heal properly, and the fighter's career descends to bouts that have less to do with sport than with survival: no referee, no rules, not even gloves. In "A Mean Utility" we enter an even more desperate arena: dogfights where Rottweilers, pit bulls and Dobermans fight each other to the death."

A savage realm indeed, and if you saw "A Prophet," you know Audiard will be up to the job.

And finally, I'll leave you today with a nifty featurette for probably the single movie I'm most looking forward to seeing this fall, Tomas Alfredson's take on "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy." The novel by John Le Carre is about George Smiley's (this time out, Gary Oldman) attempts to ferret out a Russian mole in the ranks of Britain's spooks. With the cast also featuring Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds and even Sherlock himself, Benedict Cumberbatch, I can't see anyway this will be anything but a sure winner when it comes out Dec. 9 in the USA (and early festival reviews have confirmed it as exactly that.) Enjoy the featurette, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

Friday news, with Catwoman, Kenneth Lonergan, Jonah Hill's foul-mouthed "Sitter" and more

That, of course, is Anne Hathaway in costume as Selena Kyle/Catwoman in Christopher Nolan's upcoming "The Dark Knight Rises," riding a motorcycle with an apparently monstrously large front wheel. And I have to say, now that we've seen Bane and Catwoman, nothing about the slow reveal for this flick so far has me thinking it will be anywhere near as good as "The Dark Knight," but I live to be proven wrong (and manage to accomplish it almost every day.)

And moving on, in other movie news, does anyone remember the name Kenneth Lonergan?

If not, I wouldn't be terribly surprised, but before he pretty much disappeared completely from the world of movies, he managed to make easily one of my favorite flicks of the '00s (and really, of all time) in "You Can Count on Me." If you've never seen that little movie starring Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo as an estranged brother and sister trying to, well, simply deal with life, I'd recommend tracking it down as soon as possible.

And with that movie being a pretty solid arthouse hit, Fox Searchlight signed writer/director Lonergan to make a followup titled "Margaret." Here's what, at least when Lonergan began shooting the movie in 2005, it was to be about, courtesy of AICN:

MARGARET centers on a 17-year-old New York City high-school student who feels certain that she inadvertently played a role in a traffic accident that has claimed a woman's life. In her attempts to set things right she meets with opposition at every step. Torn apart with frustration, she begins emotionally brutalizing her family, her friends, her teachers, and most of all, herself. She has been confronted quite unexpectedly with a basic truth: that her youthful ideals are on a collision course against the realities and compromises of the adult world.

Sounds like pretty heady stuff, and looking at the cast list, I'm fairly certain that Anna Paquin, way back then, played the teen at the movie's center. It was also set to (and still does) also star Matt Damon, Ruffalo, Rosemarie DeWitt, Allison Janney, Jean Reno, Krysten Ritter and, from "You Can Count on Me," Matthew Broderick and Kieran Culkin.

But between then and now, a number of odd things happened, most importantly that Lonergan had no idea how to end his own movie. It clocked in at three hours-plus, and he ended up in court with studio folks about his inability (or unwillingness) to shorten it.

Well, I tell you all that to tell you this: Lonergan's "Margaret" is now finally set to come out in at least some corners of the world and in some form on Sept. 30. And even with such a tortured past, I'll be there to see whatever comes out of all this.


And in news of a movie that should turn out to be much more fun, Louis Leterrier is cooking up a first-rate cast for his magical police tale "Now You See Me," which is about, according to Variety, "a crack FBI squad in a game of cat and mouse against a super team of the world's greatest illusionists, who pull off a series of daring bank heists during their performances, showering the profits on their audiences while staying one step ahead of the law."

Sounds like nothing but big fun to me, and now comes word that Ruffalo and Amanda Seyfried are about to join a cast that already features Melanie Laurent of "Inglorious Basterds" and Jesse Eisenberg. Not sure exactly which roles the latter two will play, but I do know that Ruffalo will play the head FBI agent and Seyfried an expert at building the criminal team's magical devices.

I hope I never get too old to enjoy this kind of thing, and in the same vein, thanks to the recommendation of always-welcome reader Jeremy Jirik, I've also just started reading "Midnight Riot" by "Doctor Who" scribe Ben Aaronovitch, and it's exactly what the title promises. Highly recommended summer reading.

And to segue into today's clips, I'm also sure I'll never get too told for seriously raunchy R-rated comedies, when they're done right (which I'm certainly not expecting from "The Change-Up," so I think I'll just say no to that.) Even if David Gordon Green's "The Sitter" indeed just looks like a mix of "Superbad" and "Pineapple Express" with foul-mouthed kids, it still also looks like exactly the kind of comedy I can dig. Here, courtesy of IGN, enjoy this first red-band trailer, with an appropriately foul introduction from Jonah Hill and his young co-stars, and keep an eye out for the movie on Dec. 9.

More The Sitter Videos

And finally today, here's the second trailer I've seen for the single movie I'm most looking forward to for this fall, Tomas Alfredson's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy." Just as the director made wintery Sweden, the setting of his simply fabulous vampire tale of sorts, "Let the Right One In" (still streaming on Netflix, if you've somehow never seen it), such a key part of the story there, you can tell from this UK trailer that he'll drop us fully right in the middle of cold-war era Britain for the spy games in Le Carre's novel. The movie's rather amazing cast features Gary Oldman (as the mole hunter George Smiley), Colin Firth, Mark Strong, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch (from the BBC's "Sherlock"), so keep an eye out for this in the USA on Nov. 18, and enjoy this new trailer. And if you'll excuse me now, I'm off to do some swimming and then catch a matinee of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes." Peace out.

The art of the funny, with "Bridesmaids," "Party Down" and, yes, a sneezing panda

Actually, to start things off, there's nothing at all funny about the above trailer, which is for "Let the Right One In" director Tomas Alfredson's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," which is certainly right near the top of the list of movies I want to see for the rest of this year.

The flick, based on the novel by John Le Carre, stars Gary Oldman as George Smiley, the spy charged with uncovering a Russian mole who has infiltrated the ranks of British intelligence. It also rather remarkably stars Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ciarán Hinds, among others, so definitely keep an eye out for this when it drops in the U.S. of A. hopefully very wide on Nov. 18.

After that today, it's all about laughs, starting with the I suppose inevitable movie to be based on quite possibly the cutest YouTube clip of all time (I wouldn't be the right judge of that).

If you haven't seen the clip of the sneezing baby panda by now, I just have to assume you've also never seen a computer. It is indeed just about the cutest thing you'll ever see, and has been on "South Park" and "30 Rock," among countless other places. Now, it seems that the folks responsible for filming it are making a hopefully very funny mockumentary, "The Life and Times of Sneezing Baby Panda."

Australian wildlife documentarians Lesley Hammond and Jenny Walsh came across the panda while making a 1999 film about the giant pandas of China. And now, for this potentially very fun project, they've got some grand plans.

The $1.3 million co-production, set to start shooting in China in October with Zhejiang Roc Pictures of Hangzhou, will follow an Australian zoologist whose zoo faces financial difficulties she thinks she might solve if she travels to China to save the real-life sneezing panda.

And Hammond has some big ideas for telling the family story of her adorable meal ticket. Per the director:

“One panda’s a terracotta warrior. Another’s on the Long March. You know the famous photo of Nixon sitting with Mao? Using visual effects, we’ll replace the woman interpreter sitting between them with a panda.”

Sounds like nothing but potentially very mawkish fun to me, but now on to some actual good news, this about the summer smash "Bridesmaids," which I'm far from alone in having big love for. And now, not only is it a big comedy hit this year, it also has just become the biggest movie from the directing/producing cult of Judd Apatow, and that's really saying something.

Here are the numbers: Through Tuesday, the domestic take for "Bridesmaids" was 148.1 million, putting it right behind big Apatow hits "Knocked Up" ($148.8 million) and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby ($148.2 million), and well within sight of passing them both last night.

And it's all well-deserved. The movie is almost as insightful as it is just fall-down funny, especially when Melissa McCarthy is the center of attention. In fact, I might just go see it again this weekend before it disappears from theaters.

OK, moving on quickly to the clips, one of the real shames about being such a rapidly aging dude is that I'm rarely up late enough to watch Jon Stewart's "Daily Show." Which means I miss gems like this: Louis CK breaking down, in perfect detail, the allure of the fart joke. If you missed the season two premiere of his FX show "Louie" last week, it did indeed include a rather epic bit of flatulence from the guest star who played his pregnant sister, and it was very, very, very funny. Tune in for episode two tonight at 10:30, after "Wilfred," and in the meantime enjoy this clip of him on "The Daily Show."

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And to close today with a bit about a TV show that was even funnier, the cast and creators of "Party Down," the much-missed (at least by me) Starz comedy about a catering company populated by wannabe actors and writers, had a reunion recently at Austin's Alamo Drafthouse. I would have loved to have been in the room for the whole thing, but here's just a tantalizing tidbit in which they tease the unlikely prospect of a "Party Down" movie. That's even more unlikely, of course, than an "Arrested Development" movie, but enjoy the clip anyway, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

A short Thursday report long on fun news

If you skipped Derek Cianfrance's "Blue Valentine" last year, either because of its mind-boggling NC-17 rating or simply because the subject matter sounded so depressing, fix that right away with a rental, because in many ways the movie is a real joy to watch.

It is indeed about a marriage that's imploding in front of our eyes, but the acting from Michelle Williams (rightly nominated for an Oscar) and Ryan Gosling is nothing short of amazing to behold, and the story goes on a journey well worth exploring that will make you smile and laugh more than it will make you blue. The "future room" alone makes this movie well worth renting (it's out on DVD now, so check it out).

And even better comes big casting news about Cianfrance's next movie, the crime drama "The Place Beyond the Pines," which reunites him with Gosling. He will play a biker who, after having a child, begins robbing banks to support the baby. And now comes word that Bradley Cooper will play a rookie cop who's on his trail.

Filming will start in July, and Cianfrance is a real talent to keep an eye on, so stay tuned for more on this whenever I find it.

In other news about a director I can't get enough of, it's now guaranteed that even people in my little corner of the world will get to see Tomas Alfredson's follow-up to the simply sublime "Let the Right One In" (still streaming on Netflix), a remake of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy."

The news is that Focus Features has taken over distribution from Universal and has set an awards season U.S. release date of Nov. 18, and best of all, will apparently do so in glorious "wide release."

Bully to that, because Alfredson has compiled a stellar cast for the Cold War spy saga based on the John Le Carre novel, starting with Gary Oldman as George Smiley, the British spy charged with uncovering a Russian mole in his ranks, and also featuring Colin Firth, Ciaran Hinds, Tom Hardy and Mark Strong.

Bring it on already, even for people like me, who live in tiny burgs!

And finally (and inevitably) today, Paramount is finalizing an option deal to develop a movie based on "Furious Love," an account of the public love affair of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and is ready to hand it off to one Martin Scorsese to direct.

Scorsese is currently wrapping up "Hugo Cabret" starring Chloe Moretz and Asa Butterfield (based on one of my favorite novels, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," so bully to that) for a Nov. 23 release, and after that he has a number of potential projects on his plate. Included among those are "Silence," a tale of two Jesuit priests (potentially Daniel Day Lewis and Benicio Del Toro, imagine that) in 17th century Japan, the hitman drama "The Irishman" and a Frank Sinatra biopic.

Though any of those would be a natural fit, I'd imagine he would gladly put them all on hold to jump on this, given his interest in Hollywood history and how simply juicy the story is. Burton and Taylor were both married when they met on the set of "Cleopatra" in 1960, and began a public romance that inflamed the paparazzi. They eventually married in 1964, divorced in 1974, remarried in 1975 and separated for good in 1976.

And with that, I'm off to the job that still pays my bills, so have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

A Wednesday chock full of good movie news

Few movies have stuck longer in my mind and just gotten better and better with age recently than Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are." It's just one of those movies I watch once a year or so, and always find something new and magical in it each time.

So, it's certainly good news that the man is finally ready to get back to work again, and even better that he's working with "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation" co-conspirator Charlie Kaufman. The duo is apparently having some trouble locking down the exact financing for their next project, but given what it's about, here's certainly hoping it happens: Per Deadline, it will be "a satire about how world leaders gather to figure out all the seismic events that will take place in the worlds, from oil prices to wars that will be waged."

Wow. Imagine all that filtered through the warped mind of Kaufman. Whenever this happens, I'm in.

And although the Oscars were an entirely predictable and somewhat surprisingly, at least to me, rather boring affair this year, there was some very good news that broke out afterward. Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" was my favorite movie of 2010, and if the man's to be believed (and he usually is), it seems he's at least finished the script for his next movie. All that's known for sure so far is that it will be a "Western" (who knows what could really mean from QT?), but that's enough to get me intrigued, because the man has yet to steer me wrong so far.

Finally, to close out the news portion of this before we get to some videos, I'm certainly looking forward to Tomas Alfredson's follow-up to "Let the Right One In," and now that Universal has picked it up for a late fall this year release, I should even be able to see it in theaters in my little corner of the world.

What he's cooked up is a big-time take on John Le Carre's classic Cold War spy novel "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," which has already been made into a British miniseries starring Alec Guinness and the late, great Ian Richardson, among many others. Not to be outdone, for his big-screen version, Alfredson has recruited Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and Ciaran Hinds. Oldman plays George Smiley, the spy called out of retirement to root out a Russian spy who has embedded himself in the ranks of Britain's MI6.

Great book, great cast and great director, on a flick to open everywhere? Perfection.

OK, on to the videos portion quickly, because I still want to go swimming before work today. I really think "Rango" is going to be a lot of fun, so I'll be at my local multiplex to see it Saturday afternoon. As reviewer Roger Moore (and probably others) rightly asked, however, just who is a movie with truly odd characters who smoke and (at least occasionally) swear exactly intended for? It's a valid question, and while I can't speak to whether or not it's appropriate for kids, the animated Western featuring the voices of Johnny Depp and the great Bill Nighy looks like it's just right for me. Enjoy this collection of clips/behind the scenes mini featurette.



Next, though the "Toy Story" characters may have retired from feature-length films with "Toy Story 3," it's no secret that they will be in the short that precedes "Cars 2" this summer,"Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation" (and I'm betting the short will be a damn sight better than the main attraction.) Enjoy this very short clip of Ken and Barbie arriving in what they think is the island of dreams, and then stick around for the one thing guaranteed to make this possibly dreary Wednesday much better, a free Buster Keaton movie!



I know that no matter how long I use it, I'll always be more than a bit of a Luddite when it comes to the Internet, and I'm constantly surprised by the array of what's available on YouTube. For example, what could be better than Buster Keaton's "The General," in its glorious entirety? I doubt anyone really has 105 minutes to spare during this workday, but even in pieces, this is an indisputable gem, and this looks great full screen. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

Oscar predictions: Who should and will win

Actually, the main question that pops into my mind about the Oscars this morning is why in the world do they wait so long between announcing the nominees and declaring the winners? Rather than building suspense, it really just sucks a lot of fun out of it as all the other awards get to go first, adding up to kudos overkill.

Still and all, they are the Oscars, so I'll tune in. And here are my predictions of who will win - and my picks of who should win - on Sunday night's broadcast.

Best Supporting Actress
The nominees: Amy Adams, "The Fighter"; Helena Bonham Carter, "The King's Speech"; Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"; Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit"; Jacki Weaver, "Animal Kingdom".
Should win: Jacki Weaver. If you haven't seen this gritty Australian gangster flick, definitely rent it if only to see how Weaver runs her family of two-bit crooks with her unique version of a mother's love.
Will win: Amy Adams and Melissa Leo should cancel either out here, with Hailee Steinfeld emerging as the winner, and why not? She really should be in the Best Actress category, but she was funny, fierce and fragile all at once in the Coen brothers' flick.

Best Supporting Actor
The nominees: Christian Bale, "The Fighter"; John Hawkes, "Winter's Bone"; Jeremy Renner, "The Town"; Mark Ruffalo, "The Kids Are All Right"; Geoffrey Rush, "The King's Speech".
Should win: John Hawkes, who as uncle "Teardrop" held all the cards he had about the movie's main mystery very close before playing them with perfect precision to help his niece find out the truth about his brother.
Will win: Unless he gets steamrolled by the "The King's Speech" express and Geoffrey Rush, who should really be a Best Actor nominee anyway, Christian Bale will run away with this for throwing himself so completely into the role of crack-addicted boxing trainer Dickie Eklund.

Best Actress
The nominees: Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right"; Nicole Kidman, "Rabbit Hole"; Jennifer Lawrence, "Winter's Bone"; Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"; Michelle Williams, "Blue Valentine".
Should win: Michelle Williams. Along with Ryan Gosling, a major omission from the Best Actor field, she made up one half of the doomed couple at the center of Derek Cianfrance's great movie, and made her heartache surprisingly compelling - if not exactly fun - to watch.
Will win: This is easily the strongest category of the night, but in a battle mainly between Annette Bening and Natalie Portman, Portman will prevail for her portrayal of Nina, the ballerina driven way beyond the brink of madness in "Black Swan."

Best Actor:
The nominees: Javier Bardem, "Biutiful"; Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"; Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"; Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"; James Franco, "127 Hours".
Should win: James Franco, who is the co-host of this year's Oscars broadcast with Anne Hathaway, took us on the full ride of emotions in Danny Boyle's exhilarating "127 Hours", even as he was trapped in a hole for most of the movie.
Will win: There's no stopping the king here, so Colin Firth will prevail for his pitch-perfect performance of stammering monarch George VI.

Best Director
The nominees: Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"; David O. Russell, "The Fighter"; Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"; David Fincher, "The Social Network"; Joel and Ethan Coen, "True Grit".
Should win: Darren Aronofsky turned what easily could have been a schlocky B-movie (and often still is) into a superb psychological thriller with "Black Swan," and for that he should be rewarded.
Will win: There's nothing people hate more here than a Best Director/Best Picture split, but I think that's what we'll have, with David Fincher winning Best Director for turning Aaron Sorkin's whip smart script about the creation of Facebook into an equally fun movie.

Best Picture
The nominees: "Black Swan", "The Fighter", "Inception", "The Kids Are All Right", "The King's Speech", "127 Hours", "The Social Network", "Toy Story 3", "True Grit", "Winter's Bone".
Should win: Debra Granik's "Winter's Bone", a coming of age tale/film noir set in the Ozarks, has long been my favorite movie of 2010, and time has done nothing to change that.
Will win: The early buzz was for "The Social Network", but the late mojo is behind "The King's Speech", which will prevail, and as a period piece that has managed to become the people's champ without being stodgy, I can certainly live with that.

And there you have it. Please feel free to let me know of any of these you think I just got completely wrong and, for an awards list that's always much more fun (and a lot shorter) than the Oscars, check out the Bob Awards here. Always a great read. Peace out.

Men of the year: My favorite male movie performances of 2010

I waited to compile this list until seeing "Black Swan" and "The Fighter" as a truly odd double feature last Saturday, and that day yielded one entry here I expected and one that caught me by surprise.

It's still dangerous to do it before The Dude surely abides this week in "True Grit" and without having seen the performance of Oscar favorite (if I'm reading the cards right) Colin Firth in "The King's Speech," but I'm fairly confident that with those two exceptions I've seen most of the best movies of 2010, so here goes: My favorite male performances of 2010, in order only of release date until the very end, for which I've saved my vote for the best.

Leonardo DiCaprio, "Shutter Island": Sure, Leo played pretty much the same constantly stressed out character in both this and "Inception" this year, but he was better here as FBI agent Teddy Daniels in this flick based on the Dennis Lehane novel, which is so good that it will likely end up on my overall best movies of 2010 list, too.

Ricardo Darin, "The Secret in Their Eyes": In this Argentinian film noir, Darin's character undergoes a rather epic journey, returning to both the scene of a brutal crime from his career as a legal inspector and reuniting with an unrequited but still smoldering love, and his performance carries us every step along the way.

John Hawkes, "Winter's Bone": The key to this Debra Granik movie, another film noir of sorts and, like "The Secret in Their Eyes," also shown this year by the Macon Film Guild, is the mysterious motivations of all the characters Jennifer Lawrence's Rhee Dolly encounters while searching for her missing father - and the most important of those is Hawkes' Teardrop (yes, really), who plays his cards close until the end and makes this my vote for the best movie of 2010.

Steve Carell, "Despicable Me": Can a voice-only performance really be one of the best of the year? When it's as good as Carell's as the criminal mastermind with a heart Gru, absolutely, and besides, even though "Toy Story 3" will rightly get most of the animated kudos this year, this was just a thoroughly charming flick.

Kevin Kline, "The Extra Man": I was expecting the worst from Kline in this, and so was that much more pleasantly surprised by how restrained he was as the "gentleman" Henry Harrison, whose sole job is squiring wealthy widows around NYC. Both Kline's performance and the movie overall, out now on DVD, are winning portraits of the kind of eccentric New York that's now all too rare.

Kieran Culkin, "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World": Comedy rarely gets is just due in awards season, and for my money, no one was funnier this year than Culkin as Scott Pilgrim's gay roommate who constantly pops up to provide a snarky commentary of sorts in the best movie that virtually no one saw in 2010.

Kodi Smit-McPhee, "Let Me In": Matt Reeves' "Let Me in" would have been a completely soulless remake of the clearly superior vampire movie "Let the Right One In" if it weren't for the performances of the two kids at the story's core. McPhee and Chloe Moretz draw us deep into the doomed world of young Owen and Abby and, against steep odds, improve on the performances of the kids in the original movie.

Vincent Cassel, "Black Swan": The two things that surprised me about Darren Aronofsky's movie is just how much of a B-movie schlockfest it really is (albeit about the ballet, of course), and just how good Vincent Cassel is as the ballet director who expertly manipulates his young dancers, never with overt menace but an equally dangerous charm.

Christian Bale, "The Fighter": Bale's extreme measures - and weight fluctuation - to get into his roles would be easy to mock if there clearly weren't more than madness to his method. Here, he's on the very gaunt side as Dicky Eklund, the crack-addicted brother of Mark Wahlberg's titular "Fighter" and the main thing that helps David O. Russell's movie rise above the pack of standard sports underdog flicks.

James Franco, "127 Hours": As I said, the best for last, and this year it's by a pretty wide margin. As Sam Rockwell did last year in the seriously smart sci-fi flick "Moon," Franco dominated almost every frame of Danny Boyle's movie, and never once lets the viewer get bored of watching him. From the exuberance of the beginning of Aron Ralston's perfect day to the extreme desperation of being trapped under a rock for the titular "127 Hours," Franco takes us along every inch of this often very hard to watch journey, making the payoff all the more rewarding at the finish. Just an all-around excellent performance.

And there you have it. Please feel free to let me know of any I may have snubbed (in the honorable mention, I've already got Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station", Michael Nyqvist in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"/"The Girl Who Played With Fire" and George Clooney in "The American"), and have a perfectly endurable Monday. Peace out.

Review: Danny Boyle's exhilarating "127 Hours"

As hokey as it sounds, "127 Hours" is the kind of movie that makes you (or at least me) think about what constitutes a "perfect day," and for me the day I saw Danny Boyle's fairly amazing new flick was one of them.

For a brief replay, here goes: A rare Friday off beginning with a mile swim (about as close as I'll ever get to the kind of extreme sports Aron Ralston likes), a trip to Atlanta to see "127 Hours" and eat at the Original Pancake House (a Texas crepe - excellent), then home again to watch "Winter's Bone" on the Blue Ray, which on second viewing still stands up as the best movie of 2010.

I tell you all that to tell you this: One of the many charms of Boyle's movie is that we are dropped right into the middle of what we can tell is at least at the beginning Ralston's perfect day, and Boyle dives into it with every trick in his bag (and a few too many, but I'll get into that later.) It's the energy that flows throughout the flick, before, during and after the nightmare we all know is coming, that makes this not just watchable but often a real joy to behold, even when it's only James Franco on screen alone for long stretches.

It's both Franco and Boyle that give this flick, right from the start, the trademark of Boyle's best movies, unvarnished - yet always unsentimental - optimism. Filmed (rather amazingly, given its cohesive feel) by two directors of photography, Enrique Chediak and Anthony Dod Mantle, the Utah landscape Ralston gleefully rides into comes to vibrant and beautiful life, and Franco embraces it with all the goofy energy he can muster.

And just when you're thinking Ralston's ideal day couldn't get any better, he runs into two beautiful young women, played by Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara, who just happen to be lost (yes, if this weren't certainly a true story, it does often seem completely unbelievable), leading to one of the movie's best - and most prescient - scenes: When the three of them do a several hundred foot freefall between two rock walls into a clear blue pool of water. This moment just perfectly captures the mix of fear and exhilaration that drives "127 Hours."

But as sunny and fun as all this is, we know it's all just a 30-minute-or-so setup for what we know is coming (I'm going to have to assume anyone reading already knows), the moment when Ralston, having left his new friends behind, falls into a very narrow valley and gets his arm pinned under a boulder for the titular "127 Hours." Now, I've never seen "Castaway," because I just couldn't bring myself to watch Tom Hanks on screen alone for nearly two hours, so I can't make any comparison, but I can tell you that for several reasons, "127 Hours" doesn't become any less engaging once it's Franco all alone for a very long stretch.

First up is the work of Boyle's two cinematographers, who take us right into the hole with Franco, and with acute use of camera angles, make it feel just as uncomfortable for us as it was for Ralston. And Boyle himself makes a wise choice in not using anything approaching standard flashbacks as Ralston's mind inevitably starts to wander when left to its own devices. Instead, we get several arresting flights of fancy, including a vision of Ralston's future and, best of all, a feel-good montage of soda pop commercials that take his mind away for a little while.

Inevitably I suppose, Boyle does occasionally get bored with this scenario, and lets his hunger for camera tricks get the better of him on a few occasions, particularly with the use of water. Yes, we get it, when water flows it can look really cool on screen, but by the fourth or fifth (or yes, maybe as many as 10th) time, it just gets extremely old.

But what really holds this all together as a cohesive work is Franco himself, and after watching him and thinking about it, I really couldn't think of anyone else who could have pulled this off. I saw an interview with him in which he said Boyle almost didn't hire him because the director thought he was high. That's funny in itself, but it also perfectly captures the mood Ralston is in when this adventure begins.

Once its just him on screen, Franco lets his performance naturally turn more introspective, always leavened with enough humor to make this all go down so well, especially when he interviews himself and lays out exactly why the trip was so ill-fated to begin with. He makes it a coming-of-age tale that's at times very poignant, and unless Colin Firth manages to swipe it away from him, will most likely have co-host Franco (with Anne Hathaway - enough pretty for you?) celebrating on Oscar night.

And, of course, there's one more thing to deal with, and if you don't know what happened to Ralston, please DON'T READ THIS PARAGRAPH. Knowing what Ralston had to do to get out of that hole, I had my sweater in my hands, ready to cover my eyes (and it did at several points - yes, I'm just a big wuss.) Though Boyle certainly could have made it more bloody, he nonetheless makes it very hard to watch as Ralston methodically saws off his own arm with the smallest of pocket knives. Grueling to watch, for sure, but the payoff when Ralston finally works his way out and back to the light of day is more than worth the squirming in your seat.

The bottom line: This isn't Danny Boyle's best movie (for me those are still "Trainspotting' and "Shallow Grave"), but it's one brimming with energy and great storytelling. Highly recommended for a perfect movie day. Peace out.

Is there no end to the foreign-remake madness?

A guy said to me today: 'I want to get your autograph before one of us dies.' I smiled and said :'You first I hope.'

That's really apropos of nothing, but that missive from the great (and no longer so omnipresent) Michael Caine was easily the funniest thing I read this morning, so I had to pass it on.

And before I spill any bile over the plans of a director whose work I normally really dig, let's continue the good vibes with some news that, while ancient by Internet news standards, still just makes me smile: Emma Stone will indeed be in "500 Days of Summer" director Marc Webb's reboot of the "Spider-Man" franchise as Gwen Stacy.

Nothing but great news there. If you haven't seen "Easy A," do yourself a favor and do so while it's still in theaters, because while it's lighter than air and too silly by at least half, it's also often wickedly funny, and I guarantee you won't be able to take your eyes off of Emma Stone in this clearly star-making turn.

Now, with "The Social Network" star Andrew Garfield signed as Peter Parker and Stone in the mix, all that's left is to sign Mia Wasikowska as Mary Jane Watson, and this still almost completely unnecessary endeavour will at least be cast perfectly.

And speaking of unnecessary, that brings us to today's main event, and though I love the two movies that most-often-screenwriter Billy Ray has managed to direct, "Shattered Glass" and "Breach," today's news about him is bleak indeed.

I can't even bring myself to ask any more if Hollywood ever learns anything, because the answer is just so resoundingly no. You would think that after the rather epic failure of "Let Me In" ($5 million or so in week one - and reviewed by me yesterday, if you're interested in scrolling down), Matt Reeves' completely pale imitation of "Let the Right One In," there would be at least a brief pause in the stampede to remake foreign-language films only a year or so after they leave theaters.

Apparently not, because today comes word that Ray has now signed on to direct a remake of the Argentinian crime thriller "The Secret in Their Eyes," which won this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Take a second to think about just how bad an idea this is.

If you've seen the original, you know that it's not a flawless film, but director Juan Jose Campanella's tale of a retired investigator (the simply sensational Ricardo Darin) who reopens an old rape and murder case as he simultaneously relights an old flame with a former co-worker (Soledad Villamil) goes in all kinds of unexpected directions as it delivers a solidly mindbending film noir of sorts.

And anyone who's seen this (as I have now three times - it's that good) also knows that's its steeped in the twisted politics of Campanella's Argentina, and that presents the biggest (though far from the only) problem with Ray's plans here. Inevitably, I suppose, he will update the story and move it to the United States, almost certainly losing a lot in translation.

The only things I can say in Ray's defense are that he doesn't get offered directing opportunities very often (the aforementioned films are the only ones he's directed so far, I believe, a real shame), and that he's far from alone in spreading this Euro-remake cancer.

The most prominent case, of course, is "The Social Network" director David Fincher's remake of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," currently shooting, I believe, in Sweden. I have full faith in Fincher, but the original "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is just about perfect as both a literary adaptation and just as a brutally efficient and entertaining thriller, so the stakes here are very high.

And, unfortunately, now that one of my favorite movies of 2008 has been shat upon by Matt Reeves, the other one is now getting the same treatment. "The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford" writer/director Andrew Dominik is now apparently writing a version of the first-rate French thriller "Tell No One," perhaps with an eye on directing it himself too.

I would continue on with this rant, but I'm still rational enough to know no one who can do anything about it is listening, so let's just move on to a couple of bits of good news instead.

Apparently, like much of the world, ready to move on quickly from what Matt Reeves has done to his nearly flawless horror movie, "Let the Right One In" director Tomas Alfredson has lined up a new project to direct once he wraps up his take on the John Le Carre classic "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy."

After that espionage thriller, filming now with an all-star cast that includes Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Jared Harris, Mark Strong and the great Ciaran Hinds, he's signed on to direct "Larklight," a bit of steampunk from author Philip Reeve.

The story is set in a Victorian-era alternate universe in which mankind has been exploring the solar system since the time of Isaac Newton and revolves around a brother and sister who team with a band of renegade space pirates to save the world from destruction at the hands of a madman.Steve Knight (“Eastern Promises”) is rewriting the script for this, which sounds like nothing but fun to me.

Alfredson is certainly a director to keep your eyes on, so stay tuned for more on this as soon as I can find it.

And finally today, before a video or two, comes simply fantastic news that really may only be of interest to me and Bob Connally, but it's still just incredibly cool.

In a news bit about Steve Coogan's possible upcoming return to British TV as Alan Partridge for a six-part series, great news in itself, the real lead was buried. Coogan is now apparently already shooting a 12-part Alan Partridge Internet series, which will begin appearing online Nov. 5 (I have no idea where yet, but as soon as I know that, you will too.)

If you've somehow never seen Coogan as the TV host Partridge, it's almost always exceptionally funny. He's played the character for a long time now, through multiple radio and TV series, and here's a video sample of just how funny he can be. Enjoy.



And finally, since this has clearly gone on more than long enough, I'll leave you today with what I believe is the first full trailer for John Landis' upcoming graverobbing comedy "Burke and Hare," starring Andy Serkis and Simon Pegg. I believe Landis has wrapped shooting on this, but I have no idea when it will be getting a U.S. release, or how wide that will be. Enjoy the trailer, and definitely keep an eye out for this one. Peace out.

"Let the Right One In" director assembling great spy game

Congrats to my staff on 4 Emmy nominations. This bodes well for the future of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

It's good to know that through it all Conan is, of course, still very funny, but easily the best news in yesterday's Emmy nominations was long overdue acting nods for Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler of "Friday Night Lights." They probably won't win, and the great show somehow still didn't get a best dramatic series nomination, but kudos nonetheless. Bully.

And beyond that today, it's a fairly slow day outside the quartet of clips at the end of this, but there is news about one of my favorite directors. Although Matt Reeves has been garnering plenty of attention for his thoroughly unnecessary English-language remake of the simply brilliant vampire movie "Let the Right One In," the director of the original classic (yes really, classic already, it's that good), Tomas Alfredson, has quietly assembled an A-list cast for what should be a fantastic spy flick, his take on John Le Carre's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy."

Already according to Variety, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman and Michael Fassbender have all signed on, though there's no word yet on which of them will play the main spook, George Smiley. Even better than that is that Peter Morgan, who wrote, among many other things, "Frost/Nixon," "The Queen" and the fantabulous futbol flick "The Damned United" (rent that one already), has penned the script for this, so it should be whip smart.

Le Carre's novel was already made into a seven-part British miniseries starring, among others, Alec Guinness and the late, truly great Ian Richardson (if I can digress for a second, the "House of Cards" trilogy, starring the latter as the nefarious Francis "F.U." Urquhart, is a grand piece of political theater, so watch that as soon as you can find it.) In the story, Smiley is assigned to uncover and take out a double agent implanted in the British Secret Service by Moscow Centre.

Update: A second of research by me reveals that Gary Oldman will indeed be playing George Smiley, so count this as one to definitely keep an eye out for in 2012.

OK, after that all I have today is a quartet of clips, but they're all well worth sticking around for. First up comes the second teaser trailer I know of for David Fincher's "The Social Network," and I have to say both of these have brought new life to that dying art of getting you amped up for a flick without revealing any actual footage. The flick, penned by Aaron Sorkin and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Rashida Jones (of "Parks and Recreation") and one Justin Timberlake, is set to drop Oct. 1. Enjoy.



Next up comes the second full trailer I know of for Robert Rodriguez's "Machete," which of course springs from the faux trailer in "Grindhouse" and is set to come out Sept. 3. There's a gigantic chance this could just be bloody awful, but with Danny Trejo as the lead badass and Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Don Johnson, Lindsay Lohan and even somehow Robert De Niro all starring in this, I'm betting on a lot of silly fun too. Enjoy.



I'm not sure when I'll be able to see Christopher Nolan's "Inception," since I'll be on vacation in Philly next week with mi hermano, but there's no doubt that the marketing machine for his brainy blockbuster set to come out July 16 is operating at full force. Here's just one of the many clips out there today, in which Leo DiCaprio introduces Reel Fanatic favorite Ellen Page to the concept of shared dreaming.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

And where in the world would be a better place to end up today than with Warwick Davis discussing his upcoming mockumentary BBC series with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, "Life's Too Short"? No idea when this will manage to cross the pond, but hopefully the wait won't be too long, because with that trio, comedy gold will surely be unearthed. Enjoy the clip, and have a great weekend. Peace out.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog