Amazing music movie news for Coen brothers' fans, and some Muppety goodness too

Coincidentally enough, I was thinking just the other day, "Man, it's been a long since I've heard of the Coen brothers working on anything" (yes, I really do think things like that, but - yet, at least - not usually out loud.) Well, according to the always reliable 24 Frames blog from the L.A. Times, the wait is apparently over, and judging by what they've come up with, it sounds like it could well be worth it.

Music has always been key to the Coens' movies, especially with my favorite, "O Brother Where Art Thou," and they've never encountered a genre they couldn't conquer (actually, noir is a mixed bag - "Blood Simple" was sensational, but I loathe "The Man Who Wasn't There), so turning now to a music biopic seems like a natural move, especially when the subject definitely sounds odd enough to suit their outlook.

The subject for their next movie will apparently be Greenwich Village blues singer and activist Dave van Ronk. I don't know much about him myself, but that should just make the movie more fun. He died in 2002, and his memoirs, "The Mayor of McDougal Street" (going to the top of my reading list now), were published posthumously and will be used for material in the new film, which will document the Greenwich Village folk and music scene.

That should give them plenty of colorful characters to work with, and in the folk vein Joel Coen says the film will contain musical performances "pretty much all performed live, single instrument. I have to say, the thing we’re doing now, we’re not writing specifically for any of the parts, which is unusual for us."

From that brief description, and given their track record, I'd expect that this approaches "The Big Lebowski" in form much more than any traditional music biopic. Truly amazing news to start off a Monday morning, and though little is known now beyond that, I can only enthusiastically say bring it on!


OK, keeping with music but moving on quickly because I'm somehow already late at 7:08 a.m., the buildup to the release of "The Muppets" this Thanksgiving will continue in August with the release of "Muppets: The Green Album," which will contain Muppet favorites covered by the likes of Weezer, My Morning Jacket and OK Go.

I've always thought the guys from OK Go were pretty much just living their live as Muppets anyway, so it's a natural fit for them to take on the "Muppet Show Theme." As good as this sounds, however, and I can almost guarantee I'll buy it, the one musical thing that would be much better is a re-release of the soundtrack for the original "Muppet Movie."

We wore a hole right through our cassette copy on family trips when I was a kid, and I'd certainly spring for a great CD copy now. Just sayin'. In the meantime, here's the track listing for "Muppets: The Green Album":

01 OK Go: "Muppet Show Theme"
02 Weezer and Paramore's Hayley Williams: "Rainbow Connection"
03 The Fray: "Mahna Mahna"
04 Alkaline Trio: "Moving Right Along"
05 My Morning Jacket: "Our World"
06 Amy Lee: "Halfway Down the Stairs"
07 Sondre Lerche: "Mr. Bassman"
08 The Airborne Toxic Event: "Wishing Song"
09 Atreyu's Brandon Saller and Good Charlotte's Billy Martin: "Night Life"
10 Andrew Bird: "Bein' Green"
11 Matt Nathanson: "I Hope That Something Better Comes Along"
12 Rachael Yamagata: "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday"

And, to close today, though I'm mildly excited about the existence of the season four premiere of "True Blood" on my DVR, which I'll probably watch tonight, much better will the upcoming second season of "Boardwalk Empire," which given HBO's tendencies, will probably unspool just as soon as the new "True Blood" season ends. Below is the teaser trailer for season two, and the best thing you can say about it is it promises more of the same, but when a show's this good, that's very far from a complaint. Enjoy the trailer, and have a perfectly endurable Monday. Peace out.

Season 2 Tease

Rather than thinking about a workday Wednesday, I've got Lisbeth Salander on the brain

You'll have to forgive me if I have Stieg Larsson and his "Girl" novels just tattooed on my brain at the moment.

You see, since the last Harry Potter novel, I haven't bothered to take on a 700-page novel until now, and Larsson's "The Girl With Who Played With Fire" has drained a lot more out of me than I could have imagined it would, but with the end finally just a tantalizing 15 pages or so away and in sight later today, I can say it's been well worth it, because it's just a first-rate police procedural with the benefit of starring - without exaggeration - one of literature's greatest heroines of all time in the goth hacker extraordinaire Lisbeth Salander.

I don't know how soon I'll have the energy to take on the the final chapter, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest," but coincidentally enough (and not at all by design), I've managed to finish up "The Girl Who Played With Fire" just as the Swedish movie made from it hits DVD, and I can assure you it will be on my weekend viewing slate in some form. In fact, I just checked, and it's available from Netflix streaming, so right to my brand new Blu Ray player for Saturday night. Huzzah!

I was surprised to find that the first two Swedish movie installments were helmed by different directors, because if you haven't seen Niels Arden Opley's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," starring the unforgettable Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander, it's a thriller so good that it really stands alone as an example of how to flawlessly transfer a great novel into a great movie thriller. Rent them both this weekend for what I guarantee will be a wicked good viewing time.

The sequel coming this week was directed by someone named Daniel Alfredson, who also stuck around to direct the upcoming third and final chapter "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" (though there are all kinds of rumors swirling about a posthumous Lisbeth Salander coming out - stay tuned for more on that as soon as I hear it.)

And there's news, appropriately enough for Halloween week, about Opley being offered by CBS Films a project that could turn into a super horror movie.

The studio has bought the rights to Jennifer Egan’s 2006 best-seller "The Keep," and is in final negotiations to acquire the adapted screenplay written by "The Skeleton Key" scribe Ehren Kruger.

So, what's it about? Well, according to what I've read, it's "a story within a story about two cousins with a shared secret who reunite to renovate a legendary haunted medieval castle that turns dreams and nightmares into reality."

That could easily turn into high cheese or something truly creepy in all the best ways, and after watching what Opley did with "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," I'm betting on the latter. Definitely stay tuned for more on this as soon as I can find it.

OK, that's really most of what I have time for this morning, but since Zach Galifianakis is now rumored to be one of the humans getting a cameo in Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller and James Bobin's "The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made," it made me think of this OK Go video which is pretty easily the funniest Muppet clip I've encountered in recent years. All I'll say is that it's a staring contest between OK go drummer Dan Konopka and Muppets drummer extraordinaire Animal. Who wins? You'll have to find out yourself, and it's well worth watching. Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

Free and funny? Two of my favorite things

Actually, before I get into that, now that Joaquin Phoenix's sabbatical from acting appears to be over and his "I'm Still Here" freakout exposed as a hoax (albeit, from what I've heard, a very entertaining one), it's good to know he's quickly going to jump into things that should be fascinating.

First up, if some financing issues are resolved, will be an indie oddity titled "Big Shoe," about a foot fetishist (Phoenix, presumably) who doubles as an amazing footwear designer. Ingenue Mia Wasikowska, who has yet to make a movie I haven't liked quite a bit (especially the Southern drama "That Evening Sun," out on DVD now, so watch it already), has been cast as the female lead in this craziness.

Sound like an odd subject for a feature film? Well, it comes from director Steven Shainberg, who has been missing for about five years, but when he makes movies enjoys rather lurid subjects. He made his debut with the S&M flick "Secretary" starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, and also made "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus," which starred Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr.

Here's hoping that somehow comes together, but more likely and even better would be if he takes the part that Clint Eastwood has reportedly offered him in Eastwood's upcoming J. Edgar Hoover biopic.

With a script from "Milk" scribe Dustin Lance Black and Leonardo DiCaprio hired to play Hoover, this was already shaping up to be pretty great, but now with Phoenix being offered the role of Hoover's protégé and reputed paramour Clyde Tolson, who was Hoover's longtime associate director of the FBI, it just gets much better.

It's a fascinating subject now apparently to be paired with an equally great cast, so this 2012 flick is definitely one to keep your eyes on.

OK, now on the titular offer of free and funny, which comes in two doses (actually, I suppose the latter is actually more cute than funny, but it's still pretty great.)

First up comes the new Louis CK standup flick "Hilarious," which fortunately both lives up to its boastful title and is being streamed for free at Epix. I've watched about half of it so far, and even if CK's often morose humor isn't for everyone, it certainly is for me, and this is really good stuff. To see it, go here and sign up by entering your e-mail (yes, you have to), and then enjoy.

And finally today, what OK Go is doing with music videos is really something not to be missed. The band's actual music is just the breeziest brand of pop, but as visual artists, they clearly put a lot of effort in to their work and have a lot of fun doing it.

If you've never seen their giant Mousetrap game video for the song "This Too Shall Pass," I've included that too at the end, because it really is a pretty amazing visual feat (and apparently all real - no computer tricks.)

But first up comes their new video for the song "White Knuckles," which, while not as visually ambitious, is guaranteed to make you smile. It features an adorable and remarkably trained cast of rescue dogs doing all kinds of tricks on cue. And, best of all, OK Go is donating a portion of any profits they make from this to the ASPCA. To learn more about that, go here. Enjoy the videos, and have a perfectly bearable Wednesday. Peace out.