Joss Whedon's a Gleek, and I am too

Actually, before we get into any of that and another video that caught my eye this morning, I'm starting to worry that at my advancing age I have somehow developed super powers and can predict the future.

About a week ago, when it was first announced that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would be reteaming with director Rian Johnson for the sci-fi flick "Looper," I said the plot - roughly about hit men who are sent their victims from crime organizations in the future - sounds rather unfortunately like something Bruce Willis would star in for about one week or so in a February.

Well, either I have a lot more power than I thought (which was, of course, none at all), or by some other cosmic force out of my hands, Willis has indeed now just signed on for the movie, and he and Gordon-Levitt will be playing the same character at different time periods.

That alone already makes this sound a little better, and since rewatching "The Brothers Bloom" last week has me convinced it's a minor masterpiece, I'm certainly willing to give Johnson the benefit of the doubt as this comes together.

And just in case you think I really can see the future, go ahead and place a bet on Calvin Borel and Super Saver to win the best jewel in the Triple Crown today.

OK, enough of that. Before I got distracted, this was supposed to be all about "Glee," which, in case you hadn't heard, is being directed Tuesday night by Joss Whedon, with a guest appearance by Neil Patrick Harris. If, hearing all that, you somehow still don't plan to tune in, just move on today, because this clearly just isn't for you.

But, with "Glee," it almost always is for me. I've heard the complaints from some of my co-workers that the show is just too cheesy, and that the extremely poorly lip-synced songs are just annoying. I get all that, and it's not that I ignore it or don't care, it's that all that adds into what makes "Glee" so deliriously entertaining to watch.

It is indeed a big ball of cheese, and it very often wears its heart right on its sleeve and defies you to not latch on to it. But so what? Along with that, there's consistently a wicked streak of black humor to it all, and when you mix it all, it's like nothing else on TV, and just the perfect guilty pleasure (though I really don't feel guilty about liking it one bit.)

And, as Whedon points out in this promo video, the kids all just throw so much energy into it that it's impossible not to give in to it. Like him, I think Heather Morris' Brittany is my favorite character, and still the funniest line so far (with all apologies to Jane Lynch's zinger-flinging Sue Sylvester) has to be her gem "Did you know a dolphin is just a gay shark?" I'm probably getting that slightly wrong, but even so, it's just funny.

But enough words from me. Enjoy the video, stick around for a bit from Aziz Ansari, and if you like Joss Whedon and NPH, by all means watch Tuesday night's "Glee," even if it will be for the first time.



OK, I should probably find better things to do with my time than be a shill for MTV, but as long these MTV Movie Awards promos keep being funny, I'm gonna keep sharing them. And besides, since the water-skiing squirrel was at the Georgia State Fair here in Macon, of course he's an international superstar. Enjoy the clip also featuring Sarah Silverman (who unfortunately just had her Comedy Central show canceled) and somehow Zac Efron too. Peace out.

MTV Shows

"Brick" team reuniting for something really crazy, but hopefully great

If the survival of "Chuck" was really contingent on the ratings for last night's episode, as Deadline Hollywood and other sources claim, the creators at least put up a real winner.

With guest stars Swoozie Kurtz and Fred Willard, plus a mean Bengal tiger, it was just good, old-fashioned goofy, with more than enough romance thrown in to sweeten the deal. And the kicker with Ellie and Awesome in Africa points to a fantastic finish.

Word should come very soon on whether or not there will be a fourth season, but in the meantime, NBC has already made, in its first new series pickup, what would make the perfect leadin to "Chuck" for a spytastic Monday night.

J.J. Abrams of "Lost" and "Alias" has pitched a show called "Undercovers," about a married couple who just happen to be former top spies with the CIA. They get called back into duty (by Gerald McRaney, naturally) after a former co-worker goes missing while on the trail of a Russian arms dealer. Actually, it's probably too much like "Chuck" to pair the two, though I seriously doubt this new show will bring the funny as regularly or as well as "Chuck" does.

In other good TV news, FX has just announced that it has picked up a second season of "Justified," the series based on an Elmore Leonard short story and starring Timothy Olyphant as, well, pretty much the same character he played in "Deadwood," just in modern-day Kentucky (which, oddly enough, isn't all that far removed from the Old West.)

The show, like another new one I'm really digging, "Treme," is certainly on a slow boil when it comes to a running storyline, but it has plenty of personality, and I'll definitely keep tuning in to see where this all goes. The finale of season one, by the way, comes June 8.

All I've got besides that today, as the headline promised, is news about just what director Rian Johnson and co-conspirator Joseph Gordon-Levitt are up to now, and then a nifty George Clooney trailer to finish things off.

The duo first teamed up for easily one of my favorite films of the last 10 years or so, the high school film noir "Brick." If you haven't seen this one, just rent it already, and I guarantee you'll enjoy it. Next for Johnson came "The Brothers Bloom." The first time I saw this in the theater it just left me cold, but coincidentally enough, I just red boxed it again last weekend, and while the plot still doesn't quite add up, there's more than enough style along the way to make it at least an enjoyable failure (and Rinko Kikuchi is just an adorable hoot as Boom Boom.)

Now, he and Gordon-Levitt seem to have something entirely different in the works for their next movie, "Looper." The plot details so far are more than a little confusing, but as far as I can tell it's a piece of "dark sci-fi" about hit men who are sent back in time to find their victims. Sounds more than a little like the average Bruce Willis movie that will appear in February and make exactly no impression at all, but here's hoping that in the hands of these two, it turns into a whole lot more.

And finally, in an admittedly brief report because I'm just running way behind today, I'll leave you with the first trailer I know of for a flick I had never heard of until this morning, Anton Corbijn's "The American." Starring one George Clooney, it's about an assassin who gets one final case in Italy, and judging at least from this brief glimpse, it looks like the old-fashioned, low-tech kind of thriller that I can really get into. Enjoy the trailer for this one, keep an eye out for it in September, and have a perfectly passable Tuesday. Peace out.

Everybody must get stoned ... at the movies

For the record (and just in case any of my employers happen to read this), I have smoked pot exactly once in at least the last 10 years or so - in 2006 - and I didn't particularly enjoy it.

I do, however, as do more people than might want to admit it, really like stoner movies. I don't mean movies that are supposedly fun to watch while on drugs (though plenty of those are great.) And I won't include any of the Cheech & Chong flicks, even if they are the gold standard, just because it seems too obvious.

And all of this, of course, is in honor of "Pineapple Express," which I won't be seeing until Friday but which I'm virtually certain I'm just going to love. How in the world Seth Rogen became a bigger star than James Franco I'll never know, but seeing these two Freaks together in what looks like a thoroughly crazy flick should just be a joy.

So, without any further ado, here are six movies I really like that have at least a little bit to do with those funny cigarettes:

Dazed and Confused: Lining up for a free screening of this Richard Linklater flick while I was at the University of Georgia instead of going to class (which I did far too often at that point) with my bud Eric Rayburn is still one of the most fun times I've ever had watching a movie. I certainly never had as much fun as these kids did in high school, but that doesn't make this flick any less enjoyable.

The Big Lebowski: Is there a better stoner icon out there than the Dude? I think not, even if he never actually tokes up at any point in the movie. I've been slow to put this one near the top of the Coen brothers' oeuvre, but while my favorite flick from the bros remains "O Brother Where Art Thou," I've grown to love this one more and more each time I see it.

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle: It was a truly sad moment when I found out I was too old to enjoy "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay." The guys were still entertaining, and Kal Penn is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors, but I just couldn't get into it. The original, however, is almost as imaginative as it is simply crude, and I keep going back to it again and again.

Brick: OK, drugs are just one of the many elements swirling through this high school film noir from Rian Johnson, but it's one of my favorite flicks, so I had to include it. Besides, I just saw the trailer for Johnson's sophomore flick, "The Brothers Bloom" with Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody and Rinko Kikuchi, and I'm convinced it's going to be one of the very best movies of 2008. In similarly good news, the trailer for Spike's "Miracle at St. Anna" played here in Macon over the weekend, hopefully meaning it's going to play everywhere once we finally get to see it.

Whatever: Count this as my candidate for the best movie that virtually no one has ever seen. Filmmaker Susan Skoog delivers a flawed but still seriously entertaining flick about growing up in New Jersey in the '80s in what would unfortunately turn out to be the only movie she ever got to direct (or at least so far, but it's been 10 years now.) If you can manage to get your hands on this one (I'd be willing to lend it to anyone with a VCR), it's worth watching for a fantastic performance from "Gilmore Girls" star Liza Weil and just an engaging little flick.

Super Troopers: This one is just riddled with pot from start to finish, and if I still smoked it, I'm sure I'd laugh even harder than I do when I return to this Broken Lizard flick every couple of months or so as cinematic comfort food. Though I thought "Beerfest" had its silly charms, I'm not sure the Broken Lizard guys will ever be this funny again, but as I just found out at the IMDB they will get another shot in 2010 with a "Super Troopers 2." Now that's a sequel I can get behind.

So there you have it. If you happen to see "Pineapple Express" before I do and want to give me your impressions in the comments, please do, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.