Baseball still on the brain, with Bennett Miller's next and more

It may be a slight exaggeration to say, as my friend Bob Connally did very well, that Wednesday night was "The Greatest Night of Sport You Will Ever See" except that for fans of certain baseball teams, it really was.

Even if you had no dogs in that fight, the final American League playoffs spot being decided in two dramatic games finishing three minutes apart showed just why baseball is not just America's pastime, but also its greatest sport, even if football is king for the moment.

And really, there's no better way to follow up that glorious night (especially for fans of one seriously cursed team from Charm City) than by going to see "Moneyball" if you missed it in week one, since it's the best baseball I've seen in many years, and one that thanks to Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and just some whip-smart writing will appeal just as much to people who somehow don't understand the allure of baseball as it will to diehard fans.

There's a solid chance that, though personally I'll be giving my money to "50/50" with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, "Moneyball" could finish in the top slot in week two given the baseball buzz, and that would certainly be well-deserved.

And I tell you all that to tell you this: "Moneyball" director Bennett Miller has just signed Steve Carell to star in his next movie, which will tell one of the truly odd stories to come out of my old and now new again corner of the world, that of John du Pont.

That name may not mean anything to lots of people, but certainly the Du Pont chemical company does. John, the heir to its sizable fortune, was a rather serious amateur wrestling fan, to the extent that he built a training facility called Foxcatcher on his Pennsylvania estate that attracted many of the country's top wrestlers. Until, that is, Du Pont, a paranoid schizophrenic, shot and killed Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler David Schultz (Du Pont died last year in a Pennsylvania prison at age 72.)

Just as with "Moneyball" and baseball, this is clearly an intriguing tale even if you don't care at all about wrestling (as a never terribly good former high school wrestler, I do, and coincidentally, Thomas McCarthy's wrestling movie "Win Win" still stands as my favorite movie of 2011 so far - rent it now.)

I have to assume that Carell would be playing Du Pont, but there's no confirmation on that just yet ... stay tuned.

There's also news out there about two of my other favorite filmmakers, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, who also coincidentally enough happened to make another of my favorite baseball movies, 2008's "Sugar." After that they made "It's Kind of a Funny Story," which while more than a bit uneven, was exactly the kind of human story that I look for in small-scale movies, and either one is well worth a rental.

For their next movie, the duo will direct (and I assume, as with their past movies, write, too, but not certain of that yet) something described as a "character drama" and titled "Hate Mail." It will be about the interweaving stories of several New Yorkers who receive said types of deliveries, and while that doesn't sound like the most intriguing of premises, they haven't let me down yet, so I'm in.

And finally today, before I close with one video clip, think of all your dream candidates to play James Bond. Daniel Craig is indeed pretty good, and he should be great as Mikael Blomkvist in Fincher's take on "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," but just think how amazing it would be if the role were to go to Stringer Bell.

That's apparently an old rumor, but being a now fairly old dude, I heard it for the first time this week as Idris Elba was making the promotional circuit for season two of "Luther," which premiered on BBC America (and my DVR) this week. Far from simply the first "Black Bond," which Elba rightly dismissed the significance of in interviews, what he would instead be, as fans of "The Wire" know, is someone who would give the character even more of an edge than Craig did, and a welcome boost of new energy.

In the meantime, police procedurals don't get much better than "Luther," in which Elba plays the titular lead detective. Season one is available now streaming from Netflix, and it's well worth tracking down.

And I'll leave you today, before I go swimming, help my dad spread some gravel for a greenhouse and then go see "50/50," with this clip for Roman Polanski's "Carnage," definitely one of the movies I'm most looking forward to for this fall/winter. Having seen the play it's based on by Yasmina Reza, I can tell you that it's one seriously wicked war of words, and with the movie starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly, it should be just as great. Enjoy this clip of Reilly describing his past experience in a "gang," and have a perfectly pleasant weekend. Peace out.

Fall/winter movie preview

Before I jump right into this, a couple of notes.

First off, though I've recently moved from Macon, GA., back to Salisbury, MD., I still only get movies that open in the widest possible release, so that's what will be included. Although I'm fairly certain Roman Polanski's "Carnage" and Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" will play wide enough to reach my little corner of the world, I couldn't be sure, so they didn't make the cut.

And second, of course, these are only my picks, so please do feel free to add any at the end that you think I may have snubbed. And with that, let's get right to it, starting with what should be a great one today.

Today: "Drive"

I couldn't tell you what exactly a Nicolas Winding Refn is, but the marketing machine is certainly in full force for what will be the first of his movies I've managed to catch, and why not? Arthouse faves Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan in a movie about a stunt driver who just happens to double as a getaway car artist? I'm there. Enjoy this trailer.



Sept. 23: "Moneyball"

When it comes to sports movies, my two favorite genres are boxing and baseball. In the former (well, MMA, actually), "Warrior" is already a real winner (see it already, people, sheesh), and I'm betting "Moneyball," starring Brad Pitt as Oakland A's bean counter Billy Beane with a script by Aaron Sorkin, will be too. Enjoy this trailer.



Sept. 30: "50/50"

On paper, this one should be pretty dour, and some early reviews I've seen have pegged it as exactly that, but based on the cast I'm thinking I'll still really dig it. In this flick based on writer Will Reiser's battle with cancer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the character based on Reiser, Seth Rogen is his best bud, and definite Reel Fanatic fave Anna Kendrick, who I'll watch in anything without the word "Twilight" in it, plays a shrink. Enjoy this trailer.



Oct. 7: "The Ides of March"

If it's fall, it's the season of George Clooney, and he stars in (and directs) this one and also stars in the aforementioned "The Descendants" too. Clooney has an underappreciated flair as a director, and even though this tale of political operatives and dirty tricks (in which Clooney plays a candidate for president, natch) apparently takes a pretty jaded view of our world, I do too right now, so bring it on. Enjoy this trailer.



Oct. 7: "Real Steel"

If you're going to make movies based on video games, why not Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots? That seems to be exactly what director Shawn Levy has done here for this flick starring Hugh Jackman about, yes, boxing robots. Silly? No doubt, but I'm still betting on a ton of fun too. Enjoy this trailer.



Nov. 4: "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas"

Though the rest of October looks pretty bleak, things will light up again (pun fully intended) as John Cho and Kal Penn return for their third adventure as America's favorite stoners. This time out, Harold (Cho) appears to finally be too old for all this nonsense (though I hopefully never will be), being happily married with children until Kumar (Penn) shows up to drag him away for more ganja-fueled games. And yes, of course, NPH comes back from the dead. Enjoy this trailer.



Nov. 11: "Immortals"

Of all the movies on this list, this one has the biggest potential to simply be awful, but I still have a lot of time for Tarsem, so I'll take a chance on it. If you've never seen his "The Fall," it's a true visionary wonder, and there are few rentals I can recommend higher. This time out, things are a lot more epic as Mickey Rourke (yes, really) plays a king ruling Greece with an iron fist until Theseus (Henry Cavill) leads an uprising against him. Keep your fingers crossed for this one, and enjoy this trailer.



Nov. 11: "J. Edgar"

A complete stranger to subtlety, Clint Eastwood is just a maddeningly uneven director in my book, but there's no denying the pedigree of this grand biopic. With a script from "Milk" scribe Dustin Lance Black, one Leo DiCaprio will play the FBI founder and longtime director who just happened to enjoy wearing dresses. The only trailer I could find for this was a short teaser in which Leo just lights a cigarette, and all the clips I could locate (with funny effect) laid a fart track over it, so no trailer for this one.

Nov. 23: "Hugo"

Even though he's shortened the title from "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" and filmed this in surely unnecessary 3-D, I still can't wait to see what Martin Scorsese comes up with from one of my favorite books, by Brian Selznick. Asa Butterfield stars as our hero, a young boy who lives in the walls of a train station and discovers one of Georges Melies' amazing automatons. Definite Reel Fanatic fave Hit-Girl Chloe Moretz co-stars. Enjoy this trailer.



Nov. 23: "The Muppets"

Everyone who is, like me, of a certain age, remembers Jim Henson's beloved puppets with nothing but fondness, and has probably (also like me) been lapping up everything that's been released already by the Disney marketing machine. The key to a great Muppets movie is an entirely fun spirit, and everything I've seen so far indicates that writer Jason Segel and director James Bobin have just about nailed it, so here's hoping. Enjoy this trailer.



Dec. 9: "The Sitter"

Though as mentioned above I have nothing but love for a good stoner flick, director David Gordon Green proved with the simply awful "Your Highness" that, if you try hard enough, you can certainly make one of those that just sucks. This time out, however, he's playing it much more safely, pretty much combining "Superbad" with "Pineapple Express" for this flick starring Jonah Hill as quite possibly the world's worst babysitter. I'm a sucker for movies starring foul-mouthed kids (the vastly underappreciated "Role Models" gets me every time), so I'm hoping this will be very funny. Enjoy this red band trailer (and be warned, it's plenty foul).



Dec. 9: "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

Director Tomas Alfredson's "Let the Right One In" is easily one of my favorite movies of the last 10 years or so (and definitely the best one with vampires), so you can count this follow-up as the one movie I'm most looking forward to seeing this fall. For his take on John Le Carre's novel about the hunt for a Russian mole who has infiltrated Britain's house of spooks, he's assembled a cast that somehow includes Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds and even Sherlock himself, Benedict Cumberbatch. Enjoy this trailer, and let the spy games begin.



Dec. 16: "Young Adult"

Director Jason Reitman has yet to make a movie that I haven't mostly loved, and for this hopefully very dark comedy he's reunited with scribe Diablo Cody. In it, Charlize Theron, who proved on "Arrested Development" that she can be extremely funny, plays a writer of teen novels who returns to her small hometown to try and pitch woo with her now happily married former high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). No trailer for this one either yet, but keep an eye out for it soon, most likely right here.

Dec. 21: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

Having been burned once already recently by Matt Reeves' extremely by-the-book and just as unnecessary remake of "Let the Right One In," you can color me extremely skeptical about this one, but it certainly fits right in director David Fincher's wheelhouse. Rooney Mara will attempt to step into the shoes of hacker extraordinaire Lisbeth Salander, already perfected on screen by Noomi Rapace in the Swedish original, as she aides Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig, this time) as he tracks down Nazis and other unseemly happenings. Enjoy this trailer.



"Dec. 23: The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn"

What are the odds that even Steven Spielberg can release two movies in the space of six days that are both real winners? Not likely, but this year, on paper at least, it looks like it could happen. In this first one, Hergé's beloved young Belgian detective looks more than a bit odd with the modern touch, but I'm still hoping this will be an old-fashioned tale at least in spirit. Enjoy this trailer.



Dec. 23: "We Bought a Zoo"

After what seems like at least 10 years off, director Cameron Crowe is back this year in a big way, with, first, his documentary about Pearl Jam and then this tale that seems tailormade to his very humanity-heavy style of storytelling. Matt Damon and no-longer-never-nude Scarlett Johansson star in this flick with easily the most "Snakes on a Plane" title of the fall season. Enjoy this still very new trailer.



Dec. 28: "War Horse"

Spielberg's second entry of the week is just the kind of epic movie you'd expect, telling the story of a boy and his horse and their adventures in World War I. And with that, finally, there you have it. Enjoy this final trailer and, as stated above, please feel free to add any movies you're looking forward to that I have somehow snubbed. Peace out.

First look: Three clips from Sarah Polley's "Take This Waltz"

If you haven't seen Sarah Polley's directorial debut, "Away From Her," I'd recommend a rental right away. Yes, it's a movie about Alzheimer's disease and therefore by force not the most upbeat of movies, but the chronicle of its effects on an elderly couple is one of the best flicks I've seen in the last five years or so, and just an all-around astonishing debut.

And now, Polley is back at this year's Toronto Film Festival with her directing follow-up, the romance of sorts "Take This Waltz." (As an aside, Canadians really are infatuated with Leonard Cohen. ... Along with giving this flick its title, his music runs throughout "Barney's Version" starring Paul Giamatti, just out on video, and also well worth a rental.)

But I digress. "Take This Waltz" stars Reel Fanatic fave Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen in a story of a young Toronto couple dealing with issues of fidelity as a new man enters the picture. Newcomer Luke Kirby plays said Lothario, and as you'll see from the clips below, Sarah Silverman also appears in this, though looking much more serious than usual.

I'm not sure when this might be coming out in theaters in at least some corners of the world, but definitely keep an eye out for it, and enjoy the clips. Peace out.

A Wednesday clip show, with "Curb," cancer as comedy and much more

Actually, before we get into any of that, there's some intriguing movie news out there today, so let's get right to it.

Though he hasn't made a traditional feature film since 2008's "Miracle at St. Anna," which was really just a well-intentioned mess, Spike Lee has nonetheless been doing some of the best work of his career lately, largely in the shadows. His two New Orleans documentaries, "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" and "If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise," are both sensational, and his movie of the Broadway musical "Passing Strange" was easily one of my favorite movies of 2009.

And now it seems that Mr. Lee is finally ready to get back to big-time moviemaking, and with a project that couldn't be stopped even if we wanted to, so why not? Given that Hollywood remakes even thoroughly average foreign movies all the time, it's only inevitable that Park Chan Wook's excellent revenge flick "Oldboy" would get that treatment, and now Mr. Lee's name has been attached as the possible director for it.

This project has been gestating for a while now, but in some earlier form it was being eyed as a vehicle for Will Smith to star in, and since he turned down the lead role in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" (HUGE mistake, that), he may still be interested.

No matter how this all turns out, here's hoping that the part about Spike at least turns out to be real, because he's been gone for far too long.

OK, to transition into the videos, let's start with news about one of my very favorite funnymen, J.B. Smoove of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." He'll return with the show this Sunday on HBO, and after that now comes word that he'll be starring in Sacha Baron Cohen's latest prank, "The Dictator." It's at least supposedly "inspired" by Saddam Hussein's novel "Zabibah and the King," and is about a despot who "risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come the country he so lovingly oppressed," according to Paramount.

I don't know anything else about what Smoove will have to do with this except that his character is called "Usher," but with this being directed by "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Borat" helmer Larry Charles, I'm expecting some truly inspired madness this time out.

And keeping with "Curb," which I'm thoroughly jazzed for, the eighth season finally comes to HBO this Sunday, and it will bring Larry David where he belongs, back to New York, along with guest stars Ricky Gervais and Michael J. Fox, among others. Enjoy this final preview clip, and tune in Sunday for the return of Larry "yelling for society," as we all should.



OK, continuing with the clips, the first trailer today is for a flick that I had forgotten all about, but looks like it could be a real sleeper hit this fall. Once known as "I'm With Cancer," I believe, the flick, now known as "50/50, stars Reel Fanatic faves Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anna Kendrick, plus Seth Rogen and many others too, in a movie based on Will Reiser's battle with cancer. The movie, due out Sept. 30, is at least kind of a comedy, and a thoroughly human one at that, so just my kind of thing. Enjoy.



"The Help" is going to be an extremely chicky movie, and probably one that will have people reaching for their hankies, but I'm still betting it will be a lot of fun, too. After all, it's based on Kathyrn Stockett's mostly great but not perfect novel "The Help" and features Emma Stone in the role that should finally make her a bona fide big star. Stone plays Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a young woman who organizes the black maids of Jackson, Miss., of the '60s to tell their stories. Keep an eye out for this as counterprogramming to the standard slate of late summer comedies on Aug. 10, and enjoy this second trailer made for the UK.



I've already seen Kevin McDonald's "Life in a Day" when it premiered earlier this year on YouTube, but it was definitely good enough that I will again on the big screen if I get a chance when it hits at least a few theaters starting July 24. For the documentary, McDonald, director of "The Last King of Scotland" and other movies, gave people around the word cameras and asked them to describe what happened in their lives on July 24, 2010. The result is fascinating to watch, so definitely go see this if you can, and enjoy this trailer.



I'm about halfway through season two of "Torchwood" now on my Netflix streaming, and the "Doctor Who" spinoff about an alien hunting agency remains pretty spectacular summer TV viewing. What will happen when the show crosses the pond for season four and premieres on Starz on Friday night with many new cast members? It could very well be a disaster, but I'm hoping not, of course, and hoping that Netflix's deal with Starz will put the new season on streaming very soon. Enjoy this clip from the new season, "Miracle Day," featuring Bill Pullman.



And finally today, where better to leave off than with a free movie, especially when it's "Easy Rider," the perfect way to escape from thinking about your actual Wednesday morning. Enjoy the movie in its entirety, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

A Will Ferrell kinda Friday

I know the man has his haters, but I've always been more than a bit of a Will Ferrell fan. Certainly, he can be annoying in excess, but he had the best comedy of 2010 in my book with "The Other Guys" (with Emma Stone and "Easy A" in a close second), and I'm really looking forward to his short stint on "The Office" beginning next week. More on that in a bit.

Here today, he's the common element in a trio of videos that are all I have time to post because my power went out for about 30 minutes this morning. No fun, but I know people who had it off for days this week, so really nothing to complain about.

First up today, Jack Black, Ferrell, his protege, John C. Reilly, Danny McBride, Elijah Wood, Seth Rogen, Rainn Wilson, Will Arnett and others all appear in "Party for Your Right to Fight," a two-minute teaser of sorts for the upcoming Beastie Boys album "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two," due out May 3. The real moral of this is this many white dudes should really never try to act so black, but there's just something truly entertaining about watching Ferrell break dance.



And after that today, all I have is two clips from Ferrell's debut as the short-term replacement for Steve Carell's Michael Scott on "The Office," which begins Thursday. He should be really funny in this, but won't be the new permanent boss next season, who will apparently be one of these five: Arnett, Ricky Gervais, Catherine Tate, James Spader or Ray Romano. An eclectic bunch, so bring it on. Enjoy the clips, have a great weekend, and go see at least one movie this weekend, since we seem to have four opening that might just not entirely suck. Peace out.

A Friday clip cache, aka when will it be safe to go the movies again?

I know this is always the time of year when movies just suck, but am I the only one who thinks that, so far in 2011, the stench has been even stronger than usual? It seems like forever since I've bothered to see a new movie in a theater, and though the Macon Film Festival was a very nice diversion, there has to be some relief in sight in the feature film arena.

And luckily, though there's no chance I'll be seeing either "Hall Pass" or "Drive Angry" this weekend, there is some good stuff right on the horizon. The one I'm most looking forward to in the coming month, as evidenced by the retro poster at the top of this post, is Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch," which while it may indeed be imagination overkill, I'll take whatever genuine imagination I can get at this point. It opens March 25.

Before that, in fact as soon as next week, there are two entries that will get me to the multiplex for the first time in at least a month: "The Adjustment Bureau," a sci-fi/romantic thriller of sorts starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and even Roger Sterling too; and "Rango," the animated Western with Johnny Depp as a chameleon (yes, I have fairly low standards this time of year.)

And the week after, that, I'll certainly take a chance on the "Goth" retelling of "Red Riding Hood" with Amanda Seyfried, and if it somehow plays wide enough, "Sin Nombre" director Cary Fukunaga's take on "Jane Eyre" starring Mia Wasikowska.

So, if you're looking for potentially good movies in wide release again, keep hope alive, and here are two more new trailers for movies coming in the next month or so that I'll bite on. First up comes the first red band trailer for "Paul," and as you'll see, it earns its red status mostly because of the foul-mouthed, titular alien, voiced by Seth Rogen. This will all be extremely silly, but with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost starring in a movie written by them and directed by "Superbad" director Greg Mottola, about the duo discovering the titular (yes, I just like saying that) alien on a road trip to Comic Con, I'm definitely in when this opens March 18 (director Thomas McCarthy's "Win Win," which I'm certainly looking forward to, also opens this day, though I can't see it being wide enough to reach my little corner of the world.) Enjoy the clip.



Next up comes Duncan Jones' followup to "Moon," and though it looks like potentially a pretty generic thriller, I like "Moon" more than enough to take a chance on "Source Code" on April 1. As you'll see from this new trailer, Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a soldier who finds he has the ability to step into the identity of another man for eight minutes in the hopes of stopping a Chicago train bombing. Like I said, time-clock thrillers really aren't my thing, but I'll check this out with somewhat high hopes. Enjoy the trailer, and stick around for some further video odds and ends.



OK, looking further into the future, "The Hangover Part II" is set to come out May 26, and all you can gather from this first teaser trailer is that Todd Phillips at least knows his first "Hangover" movie was very funny (and it was). What it doesn't tell you is that this time the boys (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis) head to Thailand for Helms' character's wedding (I have to assume to the hooker played by Heather Graham in the first movie, but her name's not in the IMDB credits for the new flick, so who knows?) Anyways, enjoy the clip, and keep hope alive that, since they really don't show us much of anything new, they're hiding some really good jokes.



I've been reading George R. R. Martin's first "Game of Thrones" book, and though it's sensational, it's a very complicated realm that should be a challenge to pull off right for TV. But that hasn't stopped HBO, thankfully, from trying, and the "Game of Thrones" series is set to debut on the channel beginning April 17 (bring it on already!) In this, the longest featurette I've seen yet, Martin, show creators David Benoiff and D.B. Weiss, and others explain a bit of what you'll be getting into with this, and just trust me, it's going to be epicly good. Enjoy.



And finally today, if you're lucky enough to live in UK you may have had a chance to see Benedict Cumberbatch (aka Sherlock Holmes in "Sherlock") and Johnny Lee Miller on stage in director Danny Boyle's production of "Frankenstein" at the National Theater. Here, for the rest of us, is the trailer for a version that is coming to at least some theaters in March, and I have to assume will be heading to PBS as soon as this summer or so. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant weekend. Peace out.

A behind-the-scenes look at "True Grit," plus four new clips

Actually, the very best thing I could find this morning was this rather awesome photo of Seth Rogen, Elijah Wood and Danny McBride as the Beastie Boys. Although it's pretty much a trip by itself, what's even better is that it's from a short that Beastie Adam Yauch has cooked up for next year's Sundance Film Festival titled "Fight For Your Right Revisited."

Best as I can tell, the short film will be about the making of the Beasties' video for "Party for Your Right to Fight," and will somehow also star Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Jack Black too. There will surely be better movies at Sundance next year, but I'm betting there will be a very few that are more fun.

And after that today, the second best thing is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Coen brothers' "True Grit," plus four great clips from the film, set to open, I believe, on Christmas day. It's not terribly surprising, but I was still struck by how real it all is in this world of CGI-3D crap, and it's certainly the movie I'm most looking forward to seeing for the rest of this year, most likely when I hit NYC for the end of the year with my family. Enjoy the clips, and stick around for the the end for some truly inspired hilarity.