Easily the funniest thing I've seen so far today (though it's only 7 a.m.)

OK, David Fincher's "The Social Network," about the invention of Facebook and set to come out Oct. 1, is certainly one of the five or so movies I'm most looking forward to this fall.

After all, I love movies about American ingenuity (and have a probably way-too-lofty spot in my heart for Francis Ford Coppola's "Tucker"), and with a script by Aaron Sorkin you're pretty much guaranteed it will be whipsmart. And the trailers so far have been pretty universally brilliant, especially the clip featuring that piano-based cover of Radiohead's "Creep."

Now, having said all that, why not make fun of it? After all, what exactly was invented here anyway? Though I'm on it and check it fairly often, Facebook certainly has its mockable features (can anyone explain to me exactly what "Farmville" is?), and the clip below jumps all over it with a faux trailer for "Twitter: The Movie." It's funnier than any more words from me could make it, so enjoy the clip and then the original trailer it so sharply skewers, and if you're so inclined, stick around for the trailer for what should be a first-rate documentary. Enjoy.





I have to admit that I've never read "Freakonomics," the bestseller by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, but I've read selected chapters, and it does have some interesting things to say about causality. I particularly enjoyed the chapter about corruption in sumo wrestling (certainly a burning issue for our times), and the segment on abortion and crime rate is as enlightening as it is simply disturbing. So, you can certainly put the six-segment documentary based on it, which will feature those two chapters, on my fall list too. It's a collaborative effort from directors Heidi Ewing, Alex Gibney, Seth Gordon, Rachel Grady, Eugene Jarecki and Morgan Spurlock, and here is the first trailer I know of. Enjoy, have a great weekend, and certainly go see "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World." Peace out.

Will there be a great movie about the Iraq war?

Before I delve into anything as serious as war (especially since it's a Friday morning, after all), there are two fairly cool tidbits about upcoming TV projects out there today too.

First, Michael Bluth will be returning to TV, sort of, as director of the Fox pilot "The Inn," which is described as an "Upstairs/Downstairs" kind of thing set at a "hip" New York hotel.

And, much more importantly, Sci Fi Wire has the news that "Battlestar Galactica" executive producer David Eick is creating a new series for the Sci Fi Channel based on the P.D. James novel Children of Men, which was of course already made into easily one of the best movies of 2006 by Alfonso Cuaron. Eick promises his series will be quite different from the flick, saying this at Sci Fi's upfront presentation:

"It's really taking root more in the origins of the novels in that it will focus on the cultural movement in which young people become the society's utter focus. Much like our culture, whenever Lindsay Lohan does something [and] it becomes the headline of every news show, it's about how, when you don't have a responsibility to the next generation and you're free to do whatever you want, where do you draw the line?"

Sounds like he's onto something good here, and - in spite of the "Bionic Woman" misfire - I trust he's capable of creating something well worth watching this fall.

But, onto today's rather weightier subject. It's next to impossible to turn on one of the 24-hour "news" channels nowadays without hearing our current conflict in Iraq being compared to the Vietnam War. While that comparison is too facile to work on many levels, I'm only concerned here today with what kinds of movies have been generated by the two wars, and on that front at least, the Vietnam War still has a rather commanding lead.

The gold standard, of course, is Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," not only for how it delved so acutely into the war psyche but also for the sheer number of stunning images it left permanently seared on the brains of viewers brave enough to make that journey into the heart of darkness.

Two others that came out in the same year and were heated competitors were "The Deer Hunter" and "Coming Home." Vanity Fair recently had a great piece on the two flicks and what it dubbed "The Vietnam Oscars," which, amazingly enough, you can read for free here.

I recently watched them back-to-back (after reading the Vanity Fair piece), and I have to say that, though there both worthy films, I find Michael Cimino's "Deer Hunter" to definitely be the superior of the two. It's just epic American storytelling and a very entertaining flick to boot.

But, fast-forward now to our current conflict in Iraq, and do we have the same caliber of flicks chronicling this battle? I'd have to - so far - answer with a resounding no.

Lumping the war in Iraq together with the greater "war on terror," because the two are of course inextricably linked, I'd count two fictional works I've seen that clearly aren't the match of their predecessors.

First came Robert Redford's "Lions for Lambs," which purported to be a battle of ideas but instead came off about as entertaining and insightful as a high school civics class taught by the wrestling coach (as mine was.)

The second I've seen was Paul Haggis' "In the Valley of Elah," and though it's a vastly superior flick to "Lambs," it still suffered more than a little from Haggis' very heavy hand. That said, Tommy Lee Jones' subtle performance was a worthy Oscar nominee, and I'd grade this one as at least worth a rental if you haven't seen it yet.

I haven't seen the doco "Taxi to the Dark Side" or Brian De Palma's media thesis "Redacted," so I can't say with authority that those aren't the great Iraq war/war on terror flicks I've been searching for, but I have my doubts. And though Paul Greengrass is currently turning his very shaky camera on the subject with "Green Zone," I think we'll get the flick we've been lacking this very weekend with Kimberly Peirce's "Stop-Loss."

If that name doesn't ring a bell, that's probably because Peirce has only made one other movie of note, the great "Boys Don't Cry," and that came way back in 1999.

Why do I have such high hopes for this one? Well, from what little I know I expect it to be, rather than a heavy-handed civics lesson, simply a tale of war told from the perspective of the kids who have to fight it. And, castwise, though the big names are Ryan Phillipe and Channing Tatum, two of my favorite actors - Joseph Gordon Levitt and Ciaran Hinds - have supporting roles in this too.

So, that pretty much sets up my Saturday before I turn my brain over to basketball. A lunch of Ropa Vieja at the exquisite Emilio's Cuban Cafe in Bonaire, and then a 1:30 p.m. screening of "Stop-Loss" at the Galleria in Centerville. Whether you turn out for this one or not, have a great weekend all. Peace out.

Snow White and the seven ... shaolin monks?

When I first heard this I had to assume it was a joke, but perhaps not. And, after all, doesn't just about everything in life go better with kung fu?

According to Variety, Disney has signed Francis Lawrence ("Constantine") to helm the fantasy-adventure "Snow and the Seven." The live-action project inspired by the "Snow White" fairy tale focuses on a British girl raised in 19th-century Hong Kong who realizes her destiny is to conquer an evil force. She then prepares to fight by training with seven Shaolin monks.

Stop laughing if you can and imagine this. The "seven" concept may be more than a little tired, but the more I think about this idea (rather than anything having to do with the day ahead of me) the more it just sounds like the perfect kind of fun.

Why? Well, for one, Hong Kong fight choreographer extraordinaire Woo-ping Yuen, who oversaw the action for, among many others, "Fearless," "Kill Bill" and, perhaps most importantly, "Kung Fu Hustle," is already on board for this.

Now, if they can get Stephen Chow's acrobatic running mates, and maybe Mr. Chow himself, to play the seven monks, I'll definitely be on board. Besides, no matter how silly this all turns out to be, no kid should live too long without learning at least a little karate, so I can just say bring it on.

"Godfather IV"? What could have been

No one comes out looking out too good in this rather sad story.

According to the IMDB, when Mario Puzo was very sick and nearing death, Francis Ford Coppola approached Paramount Pictures with a pitch for a Puzo-written "Godfather IV" to give his old friend some much-needed cash. Paramount, understandably after the rather disastrous "Godfather III," balked at investing lots of money in a new chapter, and therefore passed.

Coppola, so desperate to help the ailing Puzo, apparently went to Paramount in 1999 with the offer to help Puzo write a final chapter for free. He said, "He and I cooked up an idea for what there would be for The Godfather IV and we went to Paramount... and we said, 'Look, Mario is not well. Hire him to write this Godfather IV script, I will help him, do it for nothing...' Mario was very concerned to leave his kids some money and they just never made the deal... Mario died and it was heartbreaking."

Now, there have certainly been worse reasons to make a movie, but I don't see how you can possibly blame Paramount for this. Who would have taken on a "Godfather IV" at that point? Either way, I guess we're all just left to imagine our own ending, which may be for the best.

Does Hollywood fear the black superhero?

Given that John Singleton has directed what I have quite often cited as my least favorite film of all time, I have to take this one with a huge grain of salt, but I fear the man may have a point.

Along with bankrolling some fairly great flicks ("Hustle & Flow" among them, so thanks!), Singleton has been struggling for a while now to direct one of two superhero flicks. The first is "Luke Cage," which is set to star Tyrese Gibson as a man who, wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn't commit, escapes from prison to become a superhero mercenary. That one has, according to Singleton himself, undergone several script revisions already and is slow to get started.

Another possibility for Singleton is "Black Panther," the black Marvel superhero created by Stan Lee who made his first appearance in the "Fantastic Four" comics. That's admittedly all I know about the character who is largely credited as being the first black superhero.

Which got me to thinking ... have there been any black superheros on the big screen? I can only think of Samuel L. Jackson's Frozone in "The Incredibles," but I'm talking about in a starring role. I certainly can't think of any, and Mr. Singleton thinks he may know why. Here's what the director had to say to
blackfilm.com:

JS: There's scripts on it. Hollywood has a very limiting view on what makes a pop culture picture. If you put a black face on it, they think it's black thing; but yet we have all these movies that have come up and whenever they any black people in it, they make all this money. That's the thing that's holding 'Luke Cage' up. They think it's a small superhero movie. It's not going to be a small stupid movie like 'Meteor Man'. I'm trying to make 'Luke Cage'.

Amen brother. I'm definitely pulling for him on this one, even with my doubts about his directing skills. So, what was that Singleton movie I just hate so much? "Higher Learning." Just typing out the words gives me painful flashbacks!

Two posters worth drooling over

The first of these comes courtesy of the great Froggy film site Cinempire.com, which despite being in French is simply one of the best movie resources on the planet. Want proof? It's the only place I could find this utterly cool poster for "Hellboy 2" this morning. After "Pan's Labyrinth" I'll follow Guillermo del Toro just about anywhere, and I could definitely do with more Hellboy. The art for this was done by Mike Mignola and presented at Comic-Con.


Next comes a simply cool poster for that J.J. Abrams monster flick that's apparently not called "Cloverfield" or "1/18/08," but actually "Overnight" (yawn.) I'd be more quick to dismiss this as the next "Snakes on a Plane" flop waiting to happen if it weren't written by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" vet Drew Goddard. This poster is swiped directly from Aintitcool, where you can go to see more pictures from the movie set.


R.I.P Michaelangelo Antonioni

I have to confess that I know very little about Italian director Michaelangelo Antonioni, but I was still sad to hear that he had passed away Monday at age 94.

In fact, the only Antonioni movie I have seen is "Blow Up," but that alone is enough to make him a legend to me (yes, I know, I should see "L'Aventurra" asap.) "Blow Up" was such an odd movie that it just stuck in my mind much longer than most flicks do. What made it so memorable was that, despite Antonioni's clear hatred of the modern world, he still managed to craft something so singularly cool.

Here, in his honor, is one of its best scenes, in which David Hemmings stumbles into an underground party only to find the Yardbirds tearing things up and bringing (in Antonioni's eyes) the world down with them. Enjoy!