A Friday clip cache, aka when will it be safe to go the movies again?

I know this is always the time of year when movies just suck, but am I the only one who thinks that, so far in 2011, the stench has been even stronger than usual? It seems like forever since I've bothered to see a new movie in a theater, and though the Macon Film Festival was a very nice diversion, there has to be some relief in sight in the feature film arena.

And luckily, though there's no chance I'll be seeing either "Hall Pass" or "Drive Angry" this weekend, there is some good stuff right on the horizon. The one I'm most looking forward to in the coming month, as evidenced by the retro poster at the top of this post, is Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch," which while it may indeed be imagination overkill, I'll take whatever genuine imagination I can get at this point. It opens March 25.

Before that, in fact as soon as next week, there are two entries that will get me to the multiplex for the first time in at least a month: "The Adjustment Bureau," a sci-fi/romantic thriller of sorts starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and even Roger Sterling too; and "Rango," the animated Western with Johnny Depp as a chameleon (yes, I have fairly low standards this time of year.)

And the week after, that, I'll certainly take a chance on the "Goth" retelling of "Red Riding Hood" with Amanda Seyfried, and if it somehow plays wide enough, "Sin Nombre" director Cary Fukunaga's take on "Jane Eyre" starring Mia Wasikowska.

So, if you're looking for potentially good movies in wide release again, keep hope alive, and here are two more new trailers for movies coming in the next month or so that I'll bite on. First up comes the first red band trailer for "Paul," and as you'll see, it earns its red status mostly because of the foul-mouthed, titular alien, voiced by Seth Rogen. This will all be extremely silly, but with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost starring in a movie written by them and directed by "Superbad" director Greg Mottola, about the duo discovering the titular (yes, I just like saying that) alien on a road trip to Comic Con, I'm definitely in when this opens March 18 (director Thomas McCarthy's "Win Win," which I'm certainly looking forward to, also opens this day, though I can't see it being wide enough to reach my little corner of the world.) Enjoy the clip.



Next up comes Duncan Jones' followup to "Moon," and though it looks like potentially a pretty generic thriller, I like "Moon" more than enough to take a chance on "Source Code" on April 1. As you'll see from this new trailer, Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a soldier who finds he has the ability to step into the identity of another man for eight minutes in the hopes of stopping a Chicago train bombing. Like I said, time-clock thrillers really aren't my thing, but I'll check this out with somewhat high hopes. Enjoy the trailer, and stick around for some further video odds and ends.



OK, looking further into the future, "The Hangover Part II" is set to come out May 26, and all you can gather from this first teaser trailer is that Todd Phillips at least knows his first "Hangover" movie was very funny (and it was). What it doesn't tell you is that this time the boys (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis) head to Thailand for Helms' character's wedding (I have to assume to the hooker played by Heather Graham in the first movie, but her name's not in the IMDB credits for the new flick, so who knows?) Anyways, enjoy the clip, and keep hope alive that, since they really don't show us much of anything new, they're hiding some really good jokes.



I've been reading George R. R. Martin's first "Game of Thrones" book, and though it's sensational, it's a very complicated realm that should be a challenge to pull off right for TV. But that hasn't stopped HBO, thankfully, from trying, and the "Game of Thrones" series is set to debut on the channel beginning April 17 (bring it on already!) In this, the longest featurette I've seen yet, Martin, show creators David Benoiff and D.B. Weiss, and others explain a bit of what you'll be getting into with this, and just trust me, it's going to be epicly good. Enjoy.



And finally today, if you're lucky enough to live in UK you may have had a chance to see Benedict Cumberbatch (aka Sherlock Holmes in "Sherlock") and Johnny Lee Miller on stage in director Danny Boyle's production of "Frankenstein" at the National Theater. Here, for the rest of us, is the trailer for a version that is coming to at least some theaters in March, and I have to assume will be heading to PBS as soon as this summer or so. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant weekend. Peace out.

The first video game movie I'll pay to see?

Well, that's not quite right, since I certainly loved "Tron," if that counts. Of the recent stream of movies based on video games, however, I can't think of a single one I've bother to see, at least until now.

It seems that producer Samuel Hadida has purchased the rights to "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" and handed the reins to ... Roger Avary? Yes, that Roger Avary. Adding the writer of "Pulp Fiction" as director might be enough to hook me, but on top of all that "Wolfenstein" is simply an insanely entertaining game.

To sum it up briefly, you play Army Ranger B.J. Blazkowicz (if there's a better name for a character in a first-person shooter game, I haven't found it), who, in the course of investigating Himmler's SS Paranormal Division, gets trapped in Castle Wolfenstein. Your mission? To blast your way out and, of course, stop Himmler from developing a massive army of Nazi undead and other creepy creatures.

It's even more fun than I make it sound here, and Avary, who also penned the script for the upcoming "Beowulf," clearly has the right spirit to take all this on.

“I’ve been playing the character of B.J. Blazkowicz since the epic ‘Wolfenstein 3D’ first bruised my brain and have ever since wanted to bring his adventures to life on the bigscreen,” Avary said. “It’s time to bust some dams, storm some bunkers and blow up some bridges.”

Amen, brother. And in the course of all that, you might just finally create a video-game movie I can fully endorse.

Jack Black, archeologist?

Though I'm aware Jack Black has a growing number of haters for his Nickelodeon attention-craving antics, I still stand behind the man for one reason: He's extremely funny. I'll take "School of Rock" and, yes, "Nacho Libre" as timekillers on any rainy Sunday afternoon.

And while I'm as excited as anyone for Indy 4, the rogue archaelogist concept is certainly ripe for spoofing, and now Mr. Black is taking it on.

According to Variety (and perhaps old news by now, but I did take yesterday off), Mr. Black will star in and produce "The Lost Adventures of Stone Perlmutter Jr.," which is described as "a faux documentary made from recently "discovered" footage from 1979 chronicling the disastrous journey of a self-styled Indiana Jones-type adventurer who traveled the world trying to find the Yeti, El Dorado, the lost tomb of Jesus and other great mysteries."

I was laughing already from reading that, and the script for this is definitely in good hands, with writers Peter Huyck and Alex Gregory having contributions to "The Larry Sanders Show" and "King of the Hill," among others, in their body of work.

Besides, who wouldn't want to be chasing the yeti instead of, say, going to whatever actual job you have to do today?

Michael Imperioli grabs star-making role

It seems odd to even write that, since he recently nabbed his fifth Emmy nomination, but I'd have to imagine Mr. Imperioli isn't exactly a household name yet, though he certainly should be.

Now, however, having finished his Mob days as Christopher Moltisanti (sp?) on "The Sopranos," he's crossed over to the side of law & order to take on the role of detective Len Fenerman in "The Lovely Bones," being directed by someone you just may have heard of, Peter Jackson.

And being Peter Jackson apparently gives you the power to hire just about whoever you want to star in your movies. Already, "Bones" has attracted Rachel Weisz as the mother of a young girl who is murdered but continues to observe her family on Earth after her death, Ryan Gosling as her husband, Stanley Tucci as the killer and newcomer Saoirse Ronan as the young girl at the center of it all. Add Mr. Imperioli into the mix, and you've got a solid contender for best cast ever.

And, in my conscious effort to read more books before they hit the big screen, I've added Alice Sebold's novel to my reading list, just after the two latest Harry Potter books (right now I'm close to page 400 of "Half-Blood Prince," so please don't tell me anything about what comes next!)

Duo sign on for 'Young Victoria'

This flick already had quite the royal pedigree, with Martin Scorsese involved, but one sure way to get my attention is to add two of my favorite people to the cast.

Jim Broadbent and Miranda Richardson (double huzzah!) have joined the cast of "The Young Victoria," which is being produced by Mr. Scorsese. Broadbent will play King William, Victoria’s uncle, while Richardson has been cast as the Duchess of Kent, Victoria’s mother. They join the simply radiant Emily Blunt, whose picture I've of course included as a public service to everyone, as Victoria and Rupert Friend as her husband, Prince Albert.

This should be a star-making turn for the lovely Ms. Blunt, especially with Julian Fellowes of "Gosford Park" writing the script for French-Canadian director Jean Marc Vallee. And with a cast like this, I can now only say bring it on.

Poster for Tyler Perry's latest

Sure, Tyler Perry's movies are often sappy tripe, but I like them, and to me at least, that's all that matters. Besides, there are few more therapeutic movie moments than watching the great Idris Elba beating the hell out of a drug dealer at the end of "Daddy's Little Girls" to the tune of Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come."

I doubt we'll get anything nearly that dramatic in Mr. Perry's next flick, "Why Did I Get Married?" The romantic comedy, set to star Mr. Perry, Janet Jackson and Jill Scott, is about a group of couples undergoing marriage counseling (not terribly promising, I know), and it's set to be released Nov. 16. Tyler Perry certainly doesn't need support from the likes of me, but I'll still be there to see it, even if this rather bland poster does little to inspire me.

Two doses of YouTube fun

Both of these come directly from the floor of Comic-Con, so please excuse the rather shaky camerawork. The first clip is of Kevin Smith responding to a heckler, and as should be expected, his response is hardly PG-rated, so please, please, please don't play this clip at work unless you have headphones on! It does, however, provide assurance that Mr. Smith isn't going to grow up anytime soon, and I can only say thanks for that.


Next comes something much, much better: The trailer for the upcoming straight-to-DVD "Futurama" movie. The show will eventually be returning to Comedy Central with new episodes (not sure when, but I'll definitely be keeping my eyes on that), but first we get this movie, for which the trailer, at least, is friggin hilarious. You have to put up with a lot of cheering from the audience, but who wouldn't riotously cheer the return of "Futurama"?


And now, unfortunately, I have to go to work. Peace out.