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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

The Undefeated Teaser Trailer from Dain Valverde on Vimeo.

For Friday, a small cache of clips

Actually, there's some pretty big movie news out there, too, so let's get right to it: Judd Apatow is finally going to direct another movie, and even though it will have a familiar feel, it sounds like potentially a lot of fun.

Not a lot of details are available yet about the still-titled "Untitled Judd Apatow Project," but we do now know it will focus on the characters played by Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann (aka Mrs. Apatow) in "Knocked Up."

Despite the potential sequel/prequel feel to this, it could still be great, because they were easily the two most interest characters in that flick (and here's hoping that Katherine Heigl has NOTHING to do with this.) And besides, in a tidbit Apatow shared with HitFix, he promised it wouldn't be either of the dirty words at the beginning of this paragraph. Here's what he had to say:

"It is neither. It is just a story from Pete and Debbie's current life. People really responded to their characters and problems. I felt like there was a lot of ground I could explore with them, so we'll be shooting in July and will come out the following June."

June 1, 2012, to be exact, but given the increasing rarity of Apatow bothering to write and direct anything anymore, this is definitely something worth keeping an eye on.

OK, enough of that, on to the clips, and where better to start than with the seriously funny first full theatrical trailer for "Paul"? I didn't realize until this morning that, along with starring as the two geeks at the story's core, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost also wrote the script for this Greg Mottola flick due out March 18, but that just makes this all the more promising. And with "Your Highness" due shortly after this, it should be a better-than-usual Spring for good comedies. Enjoy the trailer.



If I knew what the next "Ice Age" movie - which if I'm not mistaken will be the fourth one - was about, I'd probably tell you, but since I haven't seen any one of them after No. 1, it just really doesn't interest me all that much. I can tell you, however, that it's called "Ice Age: Continental Drift", and it's set to come out July 13. And even better is this animated short film from Blue Sky Studios which explains exactly how Scrat, that crazy squirrel just trying to get a nut, was actually responsible for splitting the Earth into seven continents. Enjoy the clip.



Best of all today, however, is this short preview for season three of "Parks and Recreation," which is FINALLY coming back to NBC's Thursday night lineup at 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 20 (does that mean the end of "Outsourced"? One can only hope.) While not quite as funny as "Community," it still has a fun and funky spirit that nicely sets it apart from the sitcom pack, and with Adam Scott and Rob Lowe now regular players, this should just be even more fun. And with that, I'm out, for a movie weekend that will include a second viewing of "Black Swan" (because I just don't think I can bring myself to watch "Season of the Witch" or "Country Strong") and then most likely the Macon Film Guild's offering of the Cold War spy flick "Farewell" on Sunday. Peace out.

"The Ugly Truth" about Katherine Heigl

What in the world does Terry Gilliam have to do to get "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" even screened in America?

Though I don't have to pleasure of being at the world's greatest geek fest, Mr. Gilliam was at Comic-Con yesterday for the first time, with hat in hand begging for even the smallest movie company to give him some kind of U.S. distribution. In what was about-an-hour-or-so show, he apparently showed a highlight reel/trailer that was, of course, heavy on the late Heath Ledger and the three men who stepped in to replace him, Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp and Jude Law.

And yet, at the end of the report I read, it said that the movie will get a few international screenings but, in spite of all this promotion, still doesn't have any U.S. distributor.

Now, I know Gilliam isn't perfect. He seems to more than a bit of an obstinate fool, and his last movie, "Tideland," was simply unwatchable (though I did soldier through to the rather painful end.) But does he really deserve this? I've only seen about 10 minutes or so of assorted "Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" footage, but it all looks pretty fascinating to me.

But before I got sidetracked by all that, this was supposed to be about Katherine Heigl, who though she is a rather seriously beautiful woman, has turned out to be at least as disagreeable than Mr. Gilliam on many occasions.

Her constant complaining about her character on "Grey's Anatomy" (which I don't watch) is well known, but here today it's about what she once said about Judd Apatow's "Knocked Up," which in movies anyway, pretty much made her career.

Waiting to get all she could from it before biting the hand that fed her, she went on to tell Vanity Fair that, "It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys. It was hard for me to love the movie."

Well, fair enough. It's certainly true that different people, men and women, black and white folks look at movies differently. Though I try my best to no longer live like that, I could certainly identify with the guys of "Knocked Up," and found Seth Rogen's trajectory, while perhaps a bit of a fantasy, a believable enough attempt (at least in movie terms) to finally become a little bit of an adult.

And besides, before I read what she had to say, I really liked her character and Leslie Mann's too (and just to take this to its further possible point, Charlyne Yi certainly seemed to be having as much fun as she could as one of the guys.)

But there's a bigger point here, and I'm finally about to get to it. Now, perhaps it's not the best-informed point since I won't have to so won't be going to see her new film "The Ugly Truth," co-starring Gerard Butler (I have no idea why, but every time I type that it first comes out as "Trugh" before I go back and fix it.)

Now, for someone who complains about being sexist, let's take a look at what her new movie is apparently about. As best I understand it, she's again a TV producer, this time for a station that hires Butler's character, an advice show host whose tips to women are as enlightened as this gem about pitching woo: "It's called a stairmaster. Get on it!"

And of course, rather than just being repulsed by him, she apparently enlists his help "Cyrano"-style to help her win the heart of a doctor and later, I'm going to have to assume, just ends up knocking boots with the creep instead.

OK, fair enough. In its defense, that really doesn't sound much more noxious than the plots of many "romantic comedies," but how in the world is all this garbage not sexist too?

Men are pigs. Women, if they work hard enough, can make them just less piggy enough to make them tolerable. With what I'm going to have to assume is about one-tenth of the laughs or the heart of "Knocked Up," it even kinda sounds like broadly the same storyline, sans the pregnancy.

The difference? Though I don't have the exact figure in front of me, I'd imagine Heigl must have made $6 million-$10 million for "The Ugly Truth," which I suppose would cloud my world view at least a bit if I had that much scratch too.

Well, enough of that. It probably isn't terribly professional to rant about a movie I won't see, but I don't get paid for this, and just wanted to let it spew. And I certainly have no beef at all with genuinely romantic movies - in fact, I love them. In less something comes up, I'm gonna sidle up the road and see "500 Days of Summer" with Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt this weekend in Atlanta, and I'm really looking forward to it. And if you somehow made it to the end all of this, please feel free to tell me if I'm just all wet about it, and have a great weekend. Peace out.

Nine clips of some seriously "Funny People"

Not a whole lot of time this morning, since I worked last night and have to be right back this morning, but I would be remiss if I didn't offer kudos to Tina Mabry.

Mabry's "Mississippi Damned," while more than a little hard to watch because of the family and life issues it deals with, was easily one of the best movies I had the pleasure of seeing at this year's Atlanta Film Festival 365. It's just an extremely compelling drama, and it features the best all-black cast I've seen since Darnell Martin's "Cadillac Records."

No word yet on when it might be hitting DVD, but it seems that over the weekend Mabry and her movie won the grand jury award for outstanding dramatic feature at Outfest. Huzzah!

And after that, all I've got is these nine clips from Judd Apatow's "Funny People," all courtesy of Collider. The movie, starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill and many other "Funny People," is set to come July 31, and it's certainly on my must-see list. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Monday. Peace out.