Saturday fun: of "Red Tails" and the Gods of Westeros

I've only read the first book in George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series of fantasy novels, and though I thoroughly enjoyed it, I've decided to stop so that I can be surprised by what unfolds in season two and beyond of HBO's glorious "Game of Thrones."

Why not read the books and just see how the show differs? Well, because, and I certainly don't mean this as a criticism, but very rarely have I seen a show or movie that stuck so closely to its source material. When you're starting with something this good, there's really no reason to monkey with it too much, and if anything "Game of Thrones" proves it's sometimes perfectly OK to go exactly by the book.

And, not surprisingly since the show seemed to go up in the ratings with each episode, HBO co-President Richard Plepler said this week that, “We told [author George R.R. Martin] we’d go as long as he keeps writing” those books, of which there are now five (including this year's "A Dance of Dragons.")

So, I tell you all this to tell you that the photo above is of the statues of the Gods of Westeros from the filming of season two of "Game of Thrones," but I, like probably many of you, we'll have to tune in to find out exactly what role they'll play in the series, and can't wait to find out.

And after that today, the main event is the first trailer for "Red Tails" from director Anthony Hemingway and Lucasfilm. My first thought upon watching it was how in the world has it taken so long for there to be an epic feature film about the Tuskegee Airmen? (There was, of course, "The Tuskegee Airmen" from 1995, but that was just a HBO movie ... albeit a pretty good one.)

So, will this be the grand treatment these heroes deserve? Well, not surprisingly, it looks fantastic. The cast, featuring Terrence Howard and Bryan Cranston, among others, is solid. The major question is if Hemingway, who up until now has only directed a long string of TV shows (though having honed his skills David Simon's "The Wire" and now "Treme," he's certainly learning from a master) is able to pull this all off.

And along with releasing this trailer, Lucasfilm has also announced just when we'll find out how all this turned out: Jan. 20. Enjoy the trailer, and if you're looking for some good summertime movie entertainment, ignore what a solid majority of critics have said and take a chance on "Cowboys and Aliens." Peace out.

The first extended look at what should be the craziest movie of 2011

Though plenty of people I know heaped scorn on Zack Snyder for what he did with "Watchmen," considering his options with what should have probably remained an "unfilmable" funny book, I thought he did a first-rate job, even without a giant squid.

So I've been looking forward to "Sucker Punch" quite a bit. Coming in March 2011, it will be Snyder's first original idea turned into a movie. Well, as you'll see from the first full trailer below, not entirely original. The story of a teen girl who uses her imagination to escape from a mental institution owes a heck of a lot to both Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" and Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth."

That said, however, it still seems that what our heroine (Emily Browning) dreams up will be a rather amazing trip, all thankfully made in glorious 2D and somehow co-starring both Reel Fanatic fave Carla Gugino and Jon Hamm, so enjoy the trailer (which looks great full screen) and stick around for a couple more clips just silly enough to be perfect for a Thursday morning.



Of all the things that happened with Tuesday's election, none of them terribly encouraging to me, the single oddest would have to be that Californians voted for the return of Gov. Moonbeam while simultaneously rejecting Prop 19, which dealt with legalizing some marijuana use. Having used the stuff only once (on a side trip from the 2006 World Cup to Amsterdam with mi hermano) in the last 10 years or so, I really don't have any opinion either way, but I do know that this clip of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara discussing "marihuana" is nothing but funny. Enjoy.



And finally today, given how protective George Lucas is of his creations, I suspect this clip won't be around for long, but you've got to appreciate the effort that Bryan Theiss put into this mashup of Lando Calrissian and R. Kelly's "Real Talk." Nothing but awesome, and with that, I'm off to the job that somehow still pays my bills. Peace out.

"Star Wars" in 3D? I'll take half of that, if it ever gets that far

OK, I've never watched "Dancing With the Stars," and have no plans to, but I did see a tidbit about it that left me with a question: With Michael Bolton getting the boot after delivering what someone named Bruno Tonioli called "probably the worst" performance in the show's 11 (really? sheesh) years, does that now officially sanction him as a no-talent assclown? (sorry, there was no way I could resist that.)

After that, it's mostly all good movie news today, so let's get right to it, starting with the biggest of big dogs (in his own mind still, at least), George Lucas, and his plans to gussy up all six of his "Star Wars" movies in 3D (and before anyone who's been here reads on and wonders why, as usual, I'm not just railing against all 3D - for something like "Star Wars" I'll make a rare exception, because this should be thoroughly cool.)

To the "last" three of those, now unfortunately known as episodes IV-VI, I'll certainly say huzzah. They're great movies (yes, even episode VI), and time certainly doesn't change that. And if there's one good thing you can still say about Lucas, he certainly will spend whatever money he can throw at these to make them look spectacular.

There is, however, a real big problem with all of this, and that's that he plans to do these in order, starting with "The Phantom Menace" in 2012 and then releasing one each year after that. Now, I have no intention of seeing that, "Attack of the Clones" or "Revenge of the Sith" ever again, and especially not with any kind of 3D premium attached to the pain of actually sitting through them again.

And the 3D mountain of movie stench emanating from those three releases, if this gets that far, may actually prevent us from seeing the actually good "Star Wars" in 3D, because, at least according to the report I saw at the Hollywood Reporter, the subsequent 3D conversions would depend "on how well the first rerelease does."

My prediction? Jar Jar Binks is gonna kill this enterprise long before it gets to "A New Hope," where it should really start in the first place, which will be a genuine shame.

OK, enough of that, since there's plenty of other, better news out there today, starting with an unlikely but thoroughly deserved kudos for "Anvil! The Story of Anvil," easily the funniest documentary I've seen in the last five years or so and one of the best, too.

Katie Couric, Brian Williams, Bill Moyers and other actual news people may have been the big winners at the 31st annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards this week, but "Anvil!" snuck in too and took home a major award, an Emmy for Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming (it was eligible after airing on VH1).

If you've ever seen this great little film you'll know just how funny that is, but still well deserved, so a hearty huzzah to that. And if you've never seen the movie about Canada's hardest-working heavy metal band, I recommend it extremely highly as a rental.

In other news, Guy Ritchie's inevitable "Sherlock Holmes" sequel is shaping up to be much better than the first take, at least in terms of cast. Well, that's not really fair, because the real problem with the first flick wasn't its performers, who all clicked well, but the extremely weak story. Here's hoping that gets a whole lot better for "Sherlock Holmes 2."

We now know, however, that the cast will be first rate. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law will of course be returning as Sherlock and Watson, and now comes word that they'll be joined by Jared Harris as archnemesis Professor Moriarty.

This role was originally rumored to be going to Brad Pitt, who would have been just fine, but anyone who's watched Harris as Lane Pryce on "Mad Men" knows he'll be great in this. And if you watched the latest episode, you know his character now has the dubious distinction of both using the term "jungle bunny" and also getting a savage beating in the same episode.

And the good casting news continues beyond those lead roles. Stephen Fry has joined the cast as Sherlock's older brother, Mycroft Holmes, and even better, the original "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," Noomi Rapace, will play a French gypsy and, I'd have to assume, inevitable love interest for Sherlock. Now, if they could only come up with a much better story this time ...

And speaking of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," if you haven't seen the original Swedish version, it's out on DVD now, and it's pretty uniformly great. So great, in fact, that it enticed me to read the 700-plus pages of the late Stieg Larsson's second book in the series, "The Girl Who Played With Fire," and it's a pretty sensational work, too. I'm fairly certain David Fincher, who has a little movie coming out this week you may have heard of called "The Social Network," will do just fine with his American remake of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," but if you can handle it's often-brutal story, the original is excellent viewing.

Now comes word that Niels Arden Opley, director of the original "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," has signed Tobey Maguire for his next project, "Good People," based on a book I haven't read by Marcus Sakey. The story, about a Chicago couple who find nearly $400,000 and go to extraordinary lengths to try and keep it, seems to follow directly in the footsteps of Sam Raimi's "A Simple Plan" and Danny Boyle's "Shallow Grave" (still probably my favorite of his movies), so it should be right up my alley.

OK, all I have left for the big finish today is just a short video, but since it's our first look at the Dude as Rooster Cogburn, I'd say it's a good place to end up. The Coen brothers' take on "True Grit," starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross, is certainly one of the movies I'm most looking forward to for the rest of this year, so definitely keep an eye out for it on Christmas day, enjoy this teaser trailer, and have a perfectly bearable Wednesday. Peace out.

Is "Toy Story" now the best movie trilogy of all time?

Actually, before we get into any of that, I saw an update on a contender for the title of movie I'm most looking forward to for the rest of this year, and it's one I had almost forgotten about.

If you haven't seen Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's minor league baseball/immigration drama "Sugar," there really are very few rentals I can recommend higher. It was easily one of my favorite movies of 2009, so it's certainly only good news that they're coming back this fall, especially when they've got such a good cast in tow.

Their next movie, set to be released Sept. 24 by Focus Features, will be called "It's Kind of a Funny Story," adapted from the Ned Vizzini novel of the same name. It's about a teen (Keir Gilchrist) who checks himself into a mental institution only to find himself stuck in the adult unit, where he encounters a bunch of colorful characters.

The supporting cast somehow includes Zach Galifianakis, Emma Roberts, Lorelai Gilmore, Viola Davis and Aasif Mandvi of "The Daily Show," and it was described in Entertainment Weekly by producer Kevin Mischer as being like a "teen version of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' but the tone is more similar to 'The Breakfast Club,' it's funny." OK, I'm in.

But before I got distracted by all of that. this was supposed to be all about movie trilogies, spurred by a comment from one of my fellow cubicle slaves, reporter Phillip Ramati: "So, is 'Toy Story' now the best movie trilogy ever?"

Having thought about it for a couple of days, I'd have to say yes, and with no hesitation. Think about it. The first "Toy Story" was as groundbreaking as it was simply entertaining, the second one was just miles better in terms of story and humor, and the third installment was the best of all, just a fun ride from the start to a finish that's making grownass people around the world cry (yes, me too.)

For that consistency, I'd have to say that yes, it certainly is the best movie trilogy ever made. Below are the eight others that were in contention in my mind, but before that a bit of a digression about the third installment in a trilogy that, while it will almost certainly never make anyone's best of list of any kind, certainly brings the funny.

Kal Penn has quit the White House to reteam with John Cho for the third "Harold & Kumar" flick, "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas," coming as the perfect Christmas day gift next year. The story finds Harold as a suburban dad who's awakened from his new world by the return of stoner buddy Kumar. We've already learned that, thankfully, Neil Patrick Harris will somehow be revived and veryfunnyguy Patton Oswalt will be involved in this somehow too. And now comes word that Thomas Lennon of the late "Reno 911" (and, rather amazingly, the co-writer of the "Night at the Museum" movies too) has joined the cast as Harold's neighbor.

That's a whole lot of funny for one movie, so here's hoping the duo goes out on a very high note (sorry, I couldn't resist.)

And here, without any further digression, are the eight movie trilogies that, in my mind, could even enter the same conversation with the "Toy Story" saga. As usual, please feel free to add any at the end that you think I've snubbed.

"Back to the Future": For sheer fun, there probably isn't a trilogy that delivers more than Robert Zemeckis' flicks starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. 'Nuff said.

"Evil Dead": I've sung the virtues of Sam Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" here, well, probably way too many times, but the reason it's so good is it was a return to the form Raimi was in when he made these priceless zombie flicks.

"Goal!":I may well be the only person in the world who holds these movies in such high esteem, but the the soccer series about Mexican futboler Santiago Munez and his journey from L.A. to Newcastle United to Real Madrid and then, of course, to the 2006 World Cup (hey, this is a fantasy, after all), really is just about my favorite sports underdog tale.

"The Godfather": Though the first two movies in Francis Ford Coppola's epic saga get regular and unconditional love, I'd like to take a second to clear up a misconception about the third installment: It's really not a bad movie at all. Not nearly as good as the first two chapters, but a solid ending to the story, especially when you compare it to the simply awful third chapters of, for example, "Spider-Man" and "X-Men."

"Lord of the Rings": I have no idea what's going on with "The Hobbit," which may or may not somehow going to be directed by "LOTR" helmer Peter Jackson, but my favorite moment in the whole Rings trilogy shows just why a "Hobbit" movie would be so amazing. Of the entire nine hours or so, the best stretch for me is still the first 20 minutes or so of the first movie, which take place with the hobbits in the Shire. I'm probably the only person in the world that thinks the rest of Jackson's flicks fail to reach that high point, but there it is.

"Major League": Really? Yes, really. And rather amazingly, writer/director David S. Ward, who's responsible for the first two installments of this baseball comedy epic, says he has a script ready for a fourth chapter, and has even had at least primary talks with Wild Thing Charlie Sheen about it. How could you make another "Major League" perfect? Make it about a winning season for my beloved Baltimore Orioles, because at this point, nothing would be funnier than that.

"Star Wars": Just in case anyone needs any clarification (which I rather seriously doubt), I'm talking here of course about what I believe, thanks to George Lucas, are somehow now called chapters IV-VI. But the abortions that were I-III have been wiped from my mind, so these are really the only three "Star Wars" flicks, and even with the Ewoks at the end, they're all three great.


"Blue," "White" and "Red":
Nothing like saving the artsiest for last. I actually Netflixed and watched all three chapters of Krysztof Kieslowski's sublime trilogy over a recent weekend (yes, I live a wild life), and I think the second chapter, "White" with Julie Delpy, is my favorite, though they're all sensational. Though it appears last on this list somehow, this is the movie trilogy I'd put right behind "Toy Story" in terms of overall appeal.

And there you have it. Please feel free to add any you think I've snubbed, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Actually, I'm gonna leave you with easily the funniest picture I saw this morning, which really needs no explanation from me. Peace out.

Three or four things that hopefully bring the funny this morning

You know, I get a lot of movie reviews that cross my desk (well, appear on my computer, anyway), but rarely these days do I get one that surprises me as much what we got re "Date Night."

It was about noon Tuesday, and there were so far no reviews, never a good sign. But then exactly one showed up, from McClatchy Newspapers critic Christopher Kelly, and he gave it three-and-a-half stars. Exaggerating? Surely, but he made a good case, and I still have enough faith in critics that, even though I was on the fence about this one, I'm now gonna give it a couple hours or so of my Saturday afternoon. And later today, courtesy of Collider.com, come eight or so clips that show the movie starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell (and somehow James Franco, J.B. Smoove and even Taraji P. Henson, a definite Reel Fanatic favorite, too) should have more than a little funny going for it.

But before that today, there were a few other things that caught my eye this morning or perhaps yesterday (speed has never been all that important to me.) First up, what has to be the best premise for a movie I've heard in the last few years or so.

Though mi hermano lives in the land of 10,000 (or however many there actually are) lakes, I have never had the pleasure of going to the Minnesota State Fair or any other such Midwestern variant, and so have never experienced firsthand the glory of butter sculpture, but it has always fascinated me. I would not, however, have been clever enough to somehow tie it to the 2008 presidential election, as a screenwriter named Jason Micallef has apparently done.

The movie, "Butter," will star Jennifer Garner as the wife of a reigning butter-sculpting champion who attempts to follow in his footsteps after he steps down, only to have her path to power blocked by a young black girl with prodigious butter-sculpting talents (I'm laughing at that already.) The rival will be played by a young lady named Yara Shahidi, and Kate Hudson and funny guy Rob Corddry will factor into this somehow too.

Genuine political satire, which this certainly seems to be, is a rapidly dying art, so definitely keep your eyes on this flick set to begin filming later this month. (And for a pitch-perfect recent example of the genre, rent "In the Loop" if you somehow haven't seen it yet.)

And next up today comes up the first trailer I know of for "Dinner for Schmucks," which, given the Steve Carell connection, I have to presume will debut this weekend before "Date Night." The French movie it's based on "Le Diner De Cons," has sat near the top of my netflix queue for many months now, and having just checked, I find it's now actually No. 1, so I'm gonna return something today in hopes of getting it back in time for that to arrive in my mailbox Saturday afternoon. In the meantime, the remake starring Carell and Paul Rudd is set to drop in July, and judging from the trailer, the Jay Roach flick should deliver some pretty serious funny. Enjoy the trailer.



And coincidentally enough, George Lucas has apparently given Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, creators of "Robot Chicken," the green light to pen some further "Star Wars" adventures with a comic touch. That's pretty amazing news given that I just assumed Lucas had no sense of humor at all (or rather the kind that found Jar Jar to be funny), but in the meantime, I laughed right out loud at this "Star Wars"/"Arrested Development" mashup, and hopefully you will too. The best thing about this poster created four years ago or so to promote the Fox show when it was actually still on the air instead of just a constant reunion rumor has to be David Cross, but it's all pretty darn funny. Enjoy.

To wrap things up today, why not something from a movie that actually comes out this week, rather than a show that sadly died quite a while ago? As promised, here are about 7 minutes or so of "Date Night," which will be getting my $6.50 or so Saturday afternoon. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pain-free Wednesday. Peace out.

The 10 (or 11) best things I missed in the past month

You know, just because this January has been just about the worst movie month on record (though "Edge of Darkness" was a surprisingly taut and entertaining thriller) doesn't mean there's not a lot of movie news out there (even if I wasn't there to read it.)

This was intended as a list of the 10 best or simply oddest things I had missed in the last month or so, but there's something new too, and it's definitely good news.

At Saturday's Director's Guild of America awards ceremony, Kathyrn Bigelow beat out the biggest box office champ of all time and three other competitors to take home the group's top prize for "The Hurt Locker," and it's well-deserved. Though my personal favorite would still have been Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," Bigelow's movie was a close second in my book, and a very worthy winner.

She becomes the first woman to win the DGA's top prize. The other competitors this year, all very good films, were Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air," Lee Daniels' "Precious" and a little movie you may have heard of called "Avatar." Here's hoping this at least mild upset of "Avatar" means the Oscars are a wide-open race rather than simply Avatar's to claim in a runaway.

OK. Now, here are the 10 best or oddest things I missed in the last month, though not really in any order except for that the first item is certainly the best news in my book.

1. "Conchords" ' Bobin to direct Muppet movie

It seems like forever since the news first broke that Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller were writing a new Muppet movie for Walt Disney Pictures, but little seemed to be happening in the way of progress until last week or so, when the project finally landed what I think is the perfect director.

James Bobin, co-creator of HBO's delightfully dippy "Flight of the Conchords," has signed on to direct the new Muppet movie, with production set to start in late summer of this year.

Apparently now a man in high demand, Bobin at the same time turned down directing "Bridesmaids," a comedy from the Judd Apatow camp and written by veryfunnywoman Kristen Wiig. Since, like Segel, you can call me a certified "Muppet freak," I can certainly say he made the right choice here.

2. "Scott Pilgrim" set to take off Aug. 13

Did any one in the world except me see "Youth in Revolt"? Though it failed to quite capture the anarchic spirit of C.D. Payne's book, it was still very funny, even if Michael Cera was clearly - even with his baby face - way too old to play the lead.

I'd have to imagine Edgar Wright's "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" will do a whole lot better when it finally drops on Aug. 13, a good, usually slow spot for his follow-up to "Hot Fuzz." The flick, based on the funnybooks by Bryan Lee O'Malley, will also star Cera as the titular hero, who just wants to win back the heart of Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), but must battle her seven exes to do so.

The movie, which will surely be a lot better than I'm making it sound here, also stars Anna Kendrick, a definite favorite around here, as Scott Pilgrim's sister, and for further proof it will be good, take this hint from Wright himself:

"When I hired [cinematographer] Bill Pope to be DP — amongst his many films and TV shows he's done [are] "Freaks and Geeks" and "The Matrix." And I said to Bill: Imagine this film is equidistant between those two projects. Imagine the film is slap-bang in the middle of "Freaks and Geeks" and "The Matrix"." Here's hoping it's more of the former than the latter, but either way it should just be a fun mix to behold.

3. "Parks and Recreation gets third season"

Though it is the lowest-rated entry in NBC's stellar Thursday comedy lineup, "Parks and Recreation" is the first one to get another season pickup. The others - "Community," "The Office" and "30 Rock" - are sure to be picked up very soon also, but P&R got the early nod simply because NBC had to lock up the actors' contracts. I mean, does anyone really think NBC would ever get rid of "30 Rock" unless Alec Baldwin finally actually quit?

Personally, I like "Parks and Recreation" as much as "Community," and almost as much as I do the other two. It's even drier than "The Office," but often sweeter too, and everyone in the cast is very funny (especially Aziz Ansari, and Amy Poehler in the lead just keeps getting better too.)

4. Fincher headed to HBO for crime pilot

When I was compiling my best movies of the past decade (which you're certainly welcome to go back and read), I came very close to naming David Fincher's "Zodiac" as the best movie of 2007, but it lost out by just a nose to Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" (which just keeps getting better and better with age.)

So it's certainly good news that Fincher is about to get back in the crime game to direct at least the pilot of a potential new HBO series called "Mindhunter," with a script from "Dexter" scribe Scott Buck. Set to star Charlize Theron (I guess I sort of buried the lead there), the series would be about the FBI's elite serial crime unit.

I recently canceled my HBO to pay the power bill instead (you gotta have priorities, I guess), but I'm certainly gonna re-up as soon as either Martin Scorsese's "Boardwalk Empire" or David Simon's "Treme" finally hit the air, so with another "True Blood" season coming in June and possibly this Fincher work too, I guess I'm gonna be hooked again for quite a while.

5. "South Park" creators off-Broadway bound

Anyone who has seen "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" knows that Trey Parker and Matt Stone are a surprisingly natural fit with musicals, so I guess this news isn't quite as odd as it seems on the surface.

It seems the duo are teaming up with "Avenue Q" composer-lyricist Robert Lopez on a new musical set for the 2010-11 season at the New York Theater Workshop. Though details so far are scant, speculation is that the subject matter will be Mormons, who have been fairly frequent targets for Parker and Stone already.

If that's the case, it's the only thing about this that sounds like a bad idea to me. The Mormon jokes on "South Park" are very mean but not funny, and mean by itself just doesn't work in my book. That said, I've seen "Avenue Q" and loved it, so definitely keep your eyes on this.

6. George Lucas producing musical ... with fairies?

Anyone who endured the agony of George Lucas' "The Phantom Menace" and "Battle of the Clones" surely knows that when it comes to CGI shenanigans, the man really knows neither limits or shame, but this next nugget still seems to be a special brand of crazy.

It seems that for past few months at Skywalker Ranch, "TMNT" director Kevin Munroe is busy directing a CGI-animated musical about ... wait for it ... fairies. Believe me, I can't make this stuff up, because if I could I'd probably be getting paid a whole lot more than the zero I do now to do this.

There's always the chance, I suppose, that something spectacular will come out of this madness, but for now let's just chalk it up as pending further proof that George Lucas is sorely in need of occasionally hearing the word "no."

7. Sarah Polley books next flick

OK, for at least a little while, you can call this the end of the crazy section of this post, 'cause here's some genuinely good news. Along with all the movies being shown at Sundance, it's of course also a site for making deals, and it seems that's where Sarah Polley locked down the cast and financing for her sophomore writing/directing effort, called "Take This Waltz."

It took me a long time to see Polley's first directing project, the nearly flawless "Away from Her," but I'm glad I finally did, because it's sublimely entertaining. She's also known as the star of Atom Egoyan's "The Sweet Hereafter," a role that I still have burned on my brain.

Her new movie will star Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen and start shooting in Toronto in July. Williams will star as Margo, a 28-year-old married woman who just happens to meet the man who lives across the street from her while on a business trip. I'd have to imagine sparks will fly, and that Rogen will play the neighbor (especially since the character is apparently named Seth.) The Playlist blog, a must-read around here, says the script starts off on some wrong notes, but eventually turns into the kind of sad/sweet romantic drama that should fit Polley - though perhaps not Rogen - perfectly.

8. John Carney lands new flick and has one already in can

Since his little flick "Once" was easily one of the best - and the single most charming - movies of 2006, it's certainly good news that John Carney is directing a movie that might actually play wide enough to reach my little corner of the world in its theater run.

According to the Irish Times, he'll direct the comedy "Town House," set to start shooting in August with stars Amy Adams and Zach Galifianakis. Based on the book by Tish Cohen, it's about a man who "lives with his teenage son in a historic Boston townhouse that he inherited from his rock star father. With royalties from his father's work dwindling, the man is forced to come to terms with his life ... and a call girl strikes up a friendship with the man."

The Adams/Galifianakis news is a bit old and may change, but this certainly seems like the kind of relationship flick that should fit Carney perfectly. And in even better news for DVD, it seems that Carney has also already shot another flick in Ireland.

Co-written with his brother Keiran, the low-budget comedy "Zonad" is about a man who visits the town of Ballymoran and is thought to be an extraterrestrial. Variety has described the '50s set film as equal parts "Pleasantville," "The Quiet Man" and old "Carry On" films, which all sounds good to me. It's set to open in Ireland on March 19, but here in the U.S., it sounds like a pretty quick straight-to-DVD affair, and I'll certainly let you know when I know more.

9. Tim Burton chosen to head the Cannes Grand Jury

That one speaks for itself, but to make the next two items very New York-centric, I can report that the Tim Burton exhibit on display at the Museum of Modern Art into April is well worth a visit if you can stand the company of many excitable children (they really tried the patience of this known curmudgeon.) If you can, it's a really cool show, featuring sketches and props from many of his films, along with other paintings by the filmmaker. And by the way, if you can find Avril Lavigne's truly god awful song from Burton's upcoming "Alice in Wonderland," its worth a listen just to see how truly awful it is, but don't try and say I didn't warn you.

10. Original "Red Riding" trilogy premiering in New York

Though sitting through all five hours of Steven Soderbergh's "Che" at the IFC Film Center last year was a truly agonizing experience I never need to relive, this IFC movie marathon sounds like one I would truly dig.

Starting Friday, Feb. 5, IFC will be showing all three installments in the UK true crime "Red Riding" trilogy back-to-back-to-back, with two intermissions and only credits at the very end.

So, what are those? well, they're based on three true crime novels by David Peace, also author of the simply fantastic "Damned United," which was itself turned into an almost-as-good flick you can watch on DVD beginning Feb. 23. Having read the first "Red Riding" installment, "1974," I can report that it's a truly gritty affair, and before it goes off the rails completely at the very end, would certainly make the basis of a great true-crime movie in the "Prime Suspect" vein.

But of course, I don't live anywhere near New York City, so I take this mostly as a hopeful sign that all three of the "Red Riding" flicks will be available sometime very soon on DVD in the U.S. Which finally gets us near the finale of this admittedly very long opus, a trio of clips. The first is the trailer for the "Red Riding" trilogy. The rather amazing cast includes Sean Bean, Rebecca Hall, Eddie Marsan and Paddy Considine, among many others. Enjoy.



Next up comes seven clips, courtesy of Collider.com (for which I sometimes contribute), from "The Wolfman," starring Benicio Del Toro and set to drop Feb. 12. I suppose there's a pretty big chance this could just suck, but I'm a sucker for horror in the classic style, so this is a remake I'll definitely check out.



And finally (yes, we're at the end, really) comes a delightfully silly and thoroughly profane mashup of James Gandolfini's work as Tony Soprano and his voicework as Carol in "Where the Wild Things Are." I love Spike Jonze's flick, and if I had a vote, I'd push Gandolfini for a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Oscars. Here, however, as you might imagine, in this clip he's not only "not safe for work," he's about as foul as you can get, especially in the final two words, which I won't give away. If your sensibilities can take it. Enjoy.

World War II all around: Valkyrie, Miracle and Red Tails

I've been rather shocked at the mostly negative reviews that have piled up so far for Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna" (30 percent positive at Rotten Tomatoes, and even those were only really lukewarm.)

The main complaint I've read is that Mr. Lee has just bitten off too much to deal with here and lets his movie sprawl over the place and never really focuses on a single story line. Even if that is the case, I'm perfectly willing to sacrifice a rather whopping 2 hours and 46 minutes of my life to see what he's cooked up, because the only Spike Lee movie I can think of that I just had no time for at all was "Crooklyn," and most of the rest of them are movies that I just love. I'm gonna see it this afternoon, so please feel free to check back either tomorrow or Sunday to find out what I thought of it.

(As an aside, there's one scene in "Crooklyn" that just makes me cringe more than just about anything else I've ever seen on the big screen [and I'm really not exaggerating]. It's been a long time since I've seen it, but the stretch comes when the kids get shipped to my Maryland for a while, and apparently to make some kind of swipe at my homeland, he films the whole thing with some kind of gauzy haze. I still have no idea what he was going for, but it was just bloody awful.)

OK, I'm back. Along with releasing his own movie this week, Mr. Lee made news earlier in the week when he apparently disclosed to Roger Ebert the name of the director for "Red Tails," the upcoming Tuskegee Airmen flick being produced by Georgia Lucas. Here's what he had to say:

It was like eight men at the roundtable. And two of ‘em, Lee Archer and Roscoe Brown, was the 8th pilots of the Tuskegee Airmen, which I might add, this spring George Lucas is finally doin’ his Tuskegee Airmen film, “Redtails." He’s gonna produce it and a young African-American director, Anthony Hemingway, is gonna direct it. He’s done several episodic TVs, and is a young director so I’m looking forward to that and hopefully “Miracle” with “Redtails” coming’ up will generate more films to show the untold story about the participation.

You can read the rest of Mr. Ebert's interview here, and it's well worth spending a couple of minutes on. Mr. Hemingway's TV work covers everything from a few episodes of shows I love, "Battlestar Galactica" and "The Wire," to scattered episodes of other blockbusters like "ER" and "CSI NY." Screenwriter John Ridley, who came up with the uneven but still very funny "Undercover Brother" among other films, is scripting the tale of the pioneering airman, so this is one well worth keeping your eyes on when it comes out next spring or so.

And, finally, out today is also the first trailer (that I know of) for Bryan Singer's "Valkyrie," which if I'm not mistaken will finally come out in January. Tom Cruise stars as the main agent in an operation to kill Adolph Hitler, and though the movie supports a rather astounding supporting cast (Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Carice Van Houten, Stephen Fry, Terrence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson and Eddie Izzard, among others), I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that Cruise is the only name that appears in text in this rather kinetic trailer. Enjoy, and have a great weekend. Peace out.

This just in - Indy mostly rocks hard!

Is it really fair to give "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" a pass on something as key as plot?

Well, it may not be the most professional of standards for reviewing movies, but I say in this case yes, because it delivers just about everything else you're looking for in an Indiana Jones movie in spades.

Besides, in every Indy movie so far, the story has always been delivered with a wink, like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas are elbowing you in the ribs as they deliver the spectacle that just keeps getting crazier and crazier in front of your eyes. The only time I wasn't really too in on the joke was with "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," but this time I was laughing right along with them until the last 15 minutes or so, when the flick just falls to pieces.

The easiest way to describe it might just be to tell you what you'll get this time around. The signature set piece, a thrilling jeep chase through the jungles of Peru, is as fun as anything that's come before it in Indy flicks. My office mate Ryan Gilchrest said it lost him when young Shia LaBoeuf went all "George of the Jungle" (you'll see what I mean), but I was laughing so hard at that point (apparently to the annoyance of the young man in front of me) that it didn't really bother me much at all.

And this wouldn't be Indy if there weren't some creepy crawlers to make you squirm in your seats. Though much of the flick has a comfortably familiar feel, the main critters here aren't snakes (but my favorite moment in the entire movie came when one of Indy's dreaded asps came into play.) I really can't tell you what they are this time, but trust me that it will have you cringing and cackling as they attack and devour the evil Russkies.

And the performances here are all-around solid, mostly because everyone was clearly in on the joke. Harrison Ford still has the chops to be a pretty serious bad ass, but he plays it with enough humility that you don't mind that he's really 67 years old (yes, 67 years old!) Mr. LaBoeuf, who I don't always particularly care for, is plenty dorky enough to play "Mutt" (I thought he was saying his name was "mud," but really, aren't they just equally as silly?) And if you don't smile as broadly as Indy when Karen Allen makes her return as Marion Ravenwood, well, why in the world did you come to this movie in the first place? Cate Blanchett vamps it up to the max as evil Russkie Col. Irina Spalko, and John Hurt (who I almost always manage to confuse with Sir Ian McKellen), is equally good as the befuddled Dr. Oxley.

So, what's the problem? As I said, it's not much of one, but I guarantee that when you hear the secret behind the "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" you'll be left scratching your head and saying, quite possibly out loud as I almost did, "nah, really?" Though David Koepp puts his name on the script, I blame George Lucas - who also gets a writing credit - for trying to make us swallow this whopper.

But, like I said, I think any die hard Indy fans will be smiling so broadly at that point that you won't mind being hoodwinked more than a little bit. Given the unbelievable hype I'd say this one almost manages to measure up, and I guess you can't ask for much more than that.

And as for my movie weekend, I'm finally gonna break down and see the little Fox Searchlight drama "Under the Same Moon," which has somehow managed to be playing at one of our Macon multiplexes for at least six weeks or so now and is hanging on for one more. Feel free to check back Sunday for my impression of that one, and have a perfectly pleasant weekend. Peace out.

Oliver Stone finally heads back to Vietnam

Although I was really hoping he would jump into the middle of the hunt for Osama bin laden, Oliver Stone has apparently changed course and is now heading back to familiar territory. And that could surely be a good thing.

He is apparently closing a deal with United Artists to finance "Pinkville," a drama about the investigation of the 1968 My Lai massacre that he would direct. Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum will star.

This would be Stone's fourth foray into Vietnam (well, fifth, of course, if you count his actual war service.) Of the the three he's already made, I'd rank "Heaven & Earth" as the best, with "Platoon" a close second and "Born on the Fourth of July" trailing rather badly.

In the new flick, Willis will play Army Gen. William R. Peers, who supervised the investigation into the massacre by U.S. soldiers of as many as 500 My Lai villagers, most of them unarmed women, children and elderly. It's good to hear that, unlike Sly Stallone, Mr. Willis may finally be starting to act his age and not taking to the battlefield.

Tatum will play Hugh Thompson, a helicopter pilot who, upon realizing what was happening below, put a stop to the killing by placing his craft between gunmen and the few villagers who were left, and telling his two shipmates to fire on the soldiers if they shot any more people. They airlifted the survivors and reported the carnage to superiors.

Although they really need to work on that title ("Pinkville" is apparently the description on a military map for the region where My Lai is, but so what?), this could be a welcome return to meaty material for Stone. I enjoyed "World Trade Center" enough as an ode to heroism, but it's been way too long since Oliver Stone challenged anyone or anything on screen, so I can only hope he jumps rights into "the shit," as Max Fischer put it so well, with this one.

Lucas to make two good movies?

OK, that may be a bit harsh, but I'm counting on the Lucas-produced "Indy 4" being fantastic, and this news about a World War II flick sounds almost as good. When's the last time you could really associate George Lucas with two good movies?

The latest, "Red Tails," is a World War II movie he apparently came up with the story for some time ago. The flick, which will center on the Tuskegee Airmen and be produced through Lucasfilm, will be scripted by John Ridley, who is definitely on a roll of late.

Ridley has already written the very funny but underappreciated "Undercover Brother" and the story for "Three Kings," among other flicks, and he came to Lucas' attention after the producer read his script for a movie about the L.A. riots, which Spike Lee will hopefully someday soon finally get around to making instead of toying with more "Inside Man" nonsense.

I really hope Lucas is finally committed to this. What may finally make him follow through with it could be ego. Lord knows what Peter Jackson will do after he wraps "The Lovely Bones," but if it's his long-rumored World War II aviation flick "Dambusters" a fun race to the finish could be on between these two titans.

Paul Giamatti channeling Karl Rove?

The marketing for "Shoot 'Em Up," which has never once shied away from the fact that this movie will be nothing more than an unapologeticly silly hail of bullets, has been just about brilliant.

The latest installment I found was a column by director Michael Davis at MTV Movie News in which, among other amusing things, he reveals the inspiration for Paul Giamatti's hitman in the upcoming flick:

He (Giamatti) says he'd like his character to be based on Karl Rove — a seemingly bookish guy who exercises power behind the scenes. I like it. His character turns out to be way more flamboyant than Rove ... but I like how our free-flowing conversation started making the character better than what is on the page.

If you didn't know it was written by a promising new director, you might think he was just an extremely eager fanboy as he describes meeting Giamatti, Clive Owen and the ravishing Monica Bellucci for the first time, but it's genuinely entertaining reading. And coupled next week with the "3:10 to Yuma" remake, his flick will hopefully blast us right out of the movie-muck that has flowed forth after "Superbad."

TV tidbits

Though I spent probably too much time yesterday fantasizing about the return of Eliza Dushku as Faith the vampire slayer, it seems Tim Minear has other plans in mind for his next TV project. Minear, who was a co-creator of "Angel" and had a big role in the creation of "Firefly," will reteam with his "Wonderfalls" partner Tim Holland for "Miracle Man." It centers on a disgraced former televangelist, a man of no faith, who finds that God is using him to perform real miracles and change lives, starting with his own.

"It's about losing everything and starting over and finding that there is a higher purpose in life," Minear said. "It's about a man who says, 'I don't know how to be good, but I'll try to be better.' "

The premise, frankly, doesn't sound terribly promising, but after the disastrous treatment of "Drive," Mr. Minear needs and deserves a winner, so I'll at least give it a chance.

And, apparently it pays off big to draw extremely crude and smart cartoons. Assuring we will get "South Park" until at least 2011 (huzzah!), Trey Parker and Matt Stone have signed a new $75 million deal with Comedy Central.

The unique deal gives them a 50-50 split on any digital ad revenue. In my fairly many years on this planet I've yet to see anything approaching $75 million, and I really can't even imagine what it might look like, but these guys definitely deserve it. Fifteen years of "South Park"? Bring it on.

OK, it's a long post today, but I'm almost finished, so bear with me. In the mail a few weeks back I got the DVD for the final "Prime Suspect," which I will dutifully review before its Sept. 11 release (but, having already seen it on TV, I can tell you now that it's as good as any entry in the series, and therefore better than at least 90 percent of what passes for entertainment on TV now.)

But "Prime Suspect" does indeed appear to be over, and creator Linda LaPlante is moving on too. She's signed with NBC to pen "Mafia Wives," which revolves around mob wives who take over the business in their husbands' absence. Sounds fairly promising, and it's definitely in the right hands.

And anyone who actually made it this far deserves a reward. Here's the latest trailer for "American Gangster," Ridley Scott's take on the saga of Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas. Peace out.