What in the world could be better than classic free movies?

I suppose I'll be a Luddite for the rest of my life, because I just assumed there were copyright laws and such that would keep certain things off of YouTube. Blissfully, I'm once again wrong.

While for sheer fun, there really is nothing better than the Muppets channel, for movie lovers, there's at least one that's better: crazeclassics.

I stumbled across it after one of the two movies below was in a recent edition of the Ebert Club newsletter (a must-read for me), and had to check out the source. It turns out that whoever is putting this channel together has already put up 116 movies, all of which can be considered classics of some degree.

There's "M," "The Man With the Golden Arm" and many more, so it's well worth subscribing to the channel you can find here, and for your viewing pleasure (and mine, during my next several lunch breaks), I've included today the two best he had there.

I'm rather ashamed to say that until it was playing last year at the Film Forum in NYC, I had never seen Carol Reed's great "The Third Man," but now that I have, I can make this completely ridiculous statement: It's better than "Casablanca." Yes, really. With a screenplay from novelist Graham Greene, the tale of what unfolds when American pulp Western writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) turns up in post-World War II Vienna in search of his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) is film noir at its very best. Enjoy.



Now, I don't believe, as some Southerners actually do, that you can learn everything you need to know about life from "To Kill a Mockingbird," but that doesn't stop it from being just one damn fine film. And in fact, when pressed to name one favorite movie, I often fluctuate back and forth between this and Fernando Meirelles' "City of God." Enjoy the movie in its entirety, and stick around at the end for something completely wild.



I have to take the word of whoever posted it that this is indeed Guillermo del Toro getting all wolfy in a Mexican Alka Seltzer, and you can decide for yourself. If so, it's very funny, and really needs no more words from me, so if you'll excuse me now, I'm off to the job that still somehow pays my bills. 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.

Oh, the horror

Really, how hard of a sell could a smart sci-fi movie directed by Alfonso Cuaron be? I'd certainly buy a ticket, especially since his take on "Children of Men" was my second-favorite movie of 2006 (second only to Guillermo del Toro's sublime "Pan's Labyrinth").

His "Gravity," however, has had a heck of a time even getting off the ground. Though Robert Downey Jr. is still solidly attached in a supporting role, the lead role has already been turned down by Angelina Jolie, but now it looks like there might be a new candidate (and a clear case of trading up in my book.)

Natalie Portman, who stars in Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" this fall, has been offered the role, and is now reading the script, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

So, what's the movie about? Co-written by Alfonso and Jonas Cuaron, the 3D (I guess I should just accept it by now) survival story is about a woman (Portman, if she wants it) stranded on a space station after satellite debris slams into it and wipes out the rest of the crew. Sounds great to me, so here's hoping this actually gets going sometime soon.

OK, after that today it's all about horror and humor (at least until the clips), two things that, when done right, just go so well together.

And one recent movie that got the mix just about perfect was "Zombieland." The director of that flick, Ruben Fleischer, is now shooting "30 Minutes or Less" with Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari and "Zombieland" star Jesse Eisenberg, who shared a juicy tidbit about a possible "Zombieland 2" with Shock Till You Drop.

Eisenberg said a first draft of the script for the sequel has been completed by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (the writers of the first flick) and turned into Sony, although he hasn't read it yet. According to Shock Till You Drop, Fleischer has read the script. Here's what he had to say:

"Yeah, I read it. I mean, it's an early draft and we have plenty more to do to work on it, but I think it's going to be amazing, I'm really excited about it."

I am too, but Fleischer apparently has a lot of options for what comes next. Here's hoping it's "Zombieland 2," because, let's face it, zombies are just a heck of a lot funnier than vampires will ever be.

And speaking of humor and horror, Bruce Campbell knows a lot about both, and at least wants to unleash something on the world that would by force have to be a little bit fun. Though most every one I know loathes "My Name Is Bruce," I kind of liked it for the little humor/horror flick it was without ever attempting to be anything more. Well, he says he's now plotting a sequel of sorts, "Bruce Vs. Frankenstein," for which I suppose the plot would have to be rather obvious. Here's what he had to say about it to the L.A. Times, via Screen Rant:

“Yeah, The Expendables, or more like the It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World of horror. I want to get so many horror movie stars that people can’t possibly not see the movie. I want to give them other stuff to do. I want to have Kane Hodder be very particular about what he eats. I want Robert Englund to be a tough guy, like he knows tae kwon do or something. I want to find out the hidden sides of all these people. Some will play themselves, some will play alternate characters as well. I may approach Kane Hodder to play Frankenstein. He could be Kane Hodder himself fighting himself as Frankenstein. It could be crazy. It’s a silly concocted story that we hope to do maybe in a year or so. My breaks between Burn Notice have been getting tighter because they’ve been adding episodes. They’re trying to trap me like a rat in the TV world, and I might just let them. There’s a script, it just kind of blows right now, so no one’s really seeing it. We gotta work on it. Definitely shoot in Oregon all on a stage. It’s like the 300 of horror comedies. We want to make it a whole world. Someone’s gotta take Frank down for good.”

Sounds like a straight-to-DVD kind of thing, clearly, if it ever happens, but one that will probably make me at least pony up for a rental.

OK, moving into the clips, let's keep the horror streak going a little longer. But first, if you happen to be a fan of "Mad Men," I think many people will agree with me that last Sunday's Don and Peggy episode was just about the show's finest hour. I can't wait to find out if Don has finally hit bottom or if there's further to fall. Just about when "Mad Men" wraps up again or shortly after, AMC will be premiering Frank Darabont's six-episode (so far at least) zombie series "The Walking Dead," which was filmed just up the road from me in Atlanta. Enjoy this latest TV promo, and certainly tune in when the show debuts, naturally, on Halloween.



And to close with something a little different, I can't say I've been particularly interested in the upcoming action-comedy "Red," but that's simply because I'm unfamiliar with the DC Comics graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer. However, when you put together a cast that somehow includes Dame Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker and even the great Brian Cox, you've got my attention. In the flick, Mirren, Malkovich, Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman play top CIA agents who get framed for an assassination and must join forces to break into CIA headquarters and "uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history." Sounds like awfully fun stuff if they accent the humor, and judging from this first clip featuring Mirren and Willis, it looks like they will. Enjoy, keep an eye out for the movie Oct. 15, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.

Peter Jackson taking over "The Hobbit?" Plus the first look, sort of, at Fincher's "Social Network"

After a whole lot of complicated studio stuff that's just way beyond my (gratis) pay grade, it does seem like "The Hobbit" can go home again.

Long before Guillermo del Toro took on and was forced to abdicate the mammoth project (two movies? really? why?), think of who would be the only natural person to make this, assuming he was interested. Peter Jackson, of course, and now that might actually be about to happen.

Jackson is indeed in negotiations to direct the two movies, with talks centering on a time frame that would let him fast-track these for release in 2012 and 2013, with the shaky financial shape of MGM, which owns the "Hobbit" rights, always a hovering concern.

Beyond the other obvious reasons, Jackson would be a natural fit for this because he had been working on the script all this time with his professional partners, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh, along with del Toro. And with Middle Earth being reconstructed from the ground up in his home of New Zealand, it only make sense that Warners/New Line didn't apparently go too hard after any other directors to take this over.

Solid word should emerge in the next few days, so stay tuned ...

And all I have after that today is a couple of videos that caught my eye this morning. After a way beyond wretched start to this summer, things have certainly picked up with the utterly charming "Toy Story 3" (I'm debating over whether to go see it again today or finally see "The A-Team" - and leaning toward the latter), and I'm hoping the good mojo will be continued with "Despicable Me" on July 9 before Christopher Nolan's "Inception" finally drops July 16. It could very well turn out to be a thoroughly generic 3-D mess, but with a voice cast that includes Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Kristen Wiig, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, Mindy Kaling, Ken Jeong, Jack McBrayer and even Danny McBride, I'm still cautiously betting on at least slightly twisted and hopefully funny. Here, courtesy of Collider.com, are 10 clips that will take up slightly more than seven minutes of your life if you watch them all. Enjoy.



And, in what would have to be a definite case of saving the best for last, here is the first teaser trailer for David Fincher's "The Social Network," the story of Facebook as written up by one Aaron Sorkin. This is one of the movies I'm most looking forward to for the rest of this year (with perhaps only Danny Boyle's "127 Hours" starring James Franco rivaling it for that title.) Being only a teaser, this doesn't have any actual footage from the movie in it, but it's very well done (and if you somehow have never heard of Facebook, well, you're probably better off, though, yes, I'm on it, and this will reveal some crucial plot points.) Enjoy the trailer, watch the U.S.A. take on Ghana today at 2:30 EST in the knockout round of the World Cup, and have a great rest of the weekend. Peace out.

Has "The Hobbit" found its new director? Perhaps so

I'm not afraid to admit when something is just too maddening to wrap my often way-too-occupied mind around, and the sad saga of Guillermo Del Toro and "The Hobbit" is a perfect example of that.

How a director that talented could give what seems like 10 years of his life to something and then just have to abandon it all still confounds me, but even if the MGM mess will continue to be beyond my pay grade (nothing), it seems "The Hobbit" is closing in on a replacement for Del Toro, and it's a natural choice.

David Yates has directed the last four (if you count the two-part "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" as two movies, which I suppose you have to) Harry Potter movies, and before that made the sublimely entertaining little flick "Girl in the Cafe" (rent that one immediately if you haven't seen it.) And now Production Weekly is reporting that an offer has been made to Yates to direct "The Hobbit" next.

"Deathly Hallows," the first installment of which is set to drop in November, finished shooting just this week, so the timing would certainly be ideal. And apparently in the actually only two years he spent on this, Del Toro wasn't just sitting idle; there are apparently sets and designs that have Del Toro's vision of Middle Earth pretty much ready to go whenever Yates, or whoever ends up taking this on, is ready to go.

Now an offer is only exactly that, and who knows if he'll actually accept it, but that would certainly be good news, because "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" was solid, and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," both directed by Yates, was the best in the movie franchise so far.

And "The Hobbit" has always been my favorite of Tolkein's tales, mostly because it is so naturally a story for children, and one that I adored when I was one. Heck, I even liked that Jules Bass/Arthur Rankin Jr. animated musical, as admittedly silly as it was, and learned to play the piano to its songs.

But what will happen to Guillermo Del Toro? He seems to have at least 10 options on his plate, but the picture is about to get a lot clearer, especially if you're going to Comic Con next week, where he will announce what he'll direct next. I have no idea what that might be, but will certainly be tuning in to find out. If I had my druthers, it would be an original tale set in Spain to complete the "Devil's Backbone"-"Pan's Labyrinth"-whatever might come next trilogy, because those are still easily his best movies.

OK, enough of that. All I have after that is a trio of videos and, be warned, yes there is some "Saved By the Bell" at the end. Yes, really, but first up is the first trailer for Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere," which could either be something really intriguing in the vein of "Lost in Translation" or just a sappy mess. I really had little time at all for "Marie Antoinette," which was just a ton of style signifying much less than nothing, but "Lost in Translation" and the even-better "Virgin Suicides" are winners in my book, so I'll certainly be there to see this as soon after it opens on Dec. 22 as I can. As you'll see from the trailer, "Somewhere" stars Stephen Dorff as a star leading a fairly empty existence until he's reunited with his young daughter, played by Elle Fanning. Like I said, plenty of room for schmaltz here, but I'm still holding out hope for something more. Enjoy.



Next up, and keeping it a family affair, here's the trailer for the second season of HBO's "Bored to Death," which stars Coppola's cousin (I think) Jason Schwartzman as a would-be private eye in NYC. If you missed the first season last fall, you missed out on some serious funny, especially in Ted Danson, who plays an out-of-control magazine editor. The show, which also stars Zach Galifianiakis and was created by Jonathan Ames, is set to return in September, so definitely give it a chance. Enjoy.



OK, how better can you wrap things up than with some "Saved By the Bell"? I'm not ashamed to admit that I love the extremely silly NBC Saturday morning show (which may still be on the air with some kind of "Saved By the Bell: Next Generation" or something, for all I know.) There's really nothing funny about the BP oil spill, but whoever put together this mashup of the show and "There Will Be Blood" clearly knows this simple fact: You really can learn just anything you need to know about life from "Saved By the Bell." Enjoy, and have a perfectly passable Tuesday. I'm off now to watch some World Cup. Peace - and futbol - out.

My (and only my) best movies of the decade: The 2001 edition

I should probably just drop the years from this thing altogether, because today's list will actually contain not one, as I had hoped, but two movies that actually came out in late 2000.

My only two excuses are that I write this very early in the morning, and well, I sometimes confuse when a movie came out with when I actually got to see it. And, to paraphrase the great Lewis Grizzard when people complained about errors in the Atlanta Constitution, "hey, it don't cost but ... well, nothing."

Anyways, here are the nine movies that made today's list, and though that's only seven actually from 2001, I really love all of these, so enjoy, and please feel free to add any you think I may have overlooked.

"O Brother Where Art Thou"
I fluctuate from week to week as to whether this or "The Big Lebowski" are my favorite Coen brothers flick, but for now let's just put them both on top as co-conspirators. Thanks to Bob for politely pointing out this should have been on my 2000 list, because no other Coen brothers flick better combines their talent for establishing a strong sense of place with simply wicked (and in this case delightfully silly) humor. It's a major strength of this flick that, although it clearly pokes fun at Southerners, I have yet to meet one who doesn't look back on it with love.

"Memento"
Nothing like getting your errors out of the way right up front, so here's another one that was apparently released in late 2000 but was misplaced by me (though, in my defense, it didn't get its U.S. debut until the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.) You can trace all the themes from Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" to this mindbender starring Guy Pearce. I love a movie that I have to watch more than once just to make sure it all adds up (and there's another one coming later on this list), especially when it's good enough - like this gem - to make you want to invest the trouble of watching it again.

"Spy Kids"
Yes, really. Though the franchise got worse and worse with the subsequent movies in this series, the original from Robert Rodriguez was just great escapist fare for kids and adults - like me - who like to act like them fairly often. I haven't seen "Shorts" yet, but I will on video, because I just appreciate that Rodriguez - when he's not grindhousing out gloriously gross fare like "Planet Terror" - makes movies he thinks his own kids will enjoy.

"Amelie"
You can count Jean Pierre Jeunet as one of my very favorite directors in the world, and I was just a sucker for this lighter than air romance starring a simply adorable Audrey Tautou. I'm really hoping Jeunet's "Micmacs à tire-larigot," as best as I can tell a goofy tale about a group of misfits who band together to take on a weapons manufacturer, is somehow playing at the end of the year when I make it to New York City, because when he's on top of his game - as with "Amelie" - Jeunet just makes movies that look like nothing else you can find in theaters, and you really can't say that about very many directors.

"Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
I love movies in which the music is at least as good as the movie itself, which is clearly the case with this flick that John Cameron Mitchell wrote, directed and starred in - as the truly unforgettable creation Hedwig. Yes, if there's a scale of somewhat gay to extremely gay, this flick clearly belongs on the latter end, but it's also just a giddy punk-rock romp and tons of fun.

"Ghost World"
This has developed - along with "Office Space" and "Super Troopers" - into one of those movies I can pop into the DVD player after a nightmarish day at work to make it all float away. What in the world ever happened to Thora Birch, who as Enid just made the perfect (anti-?) heroine? I love that, to this day, if I find the right person to talk to, we can still debate just what happened to her at the end - AND IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS FLICK BASED ON THE GRAPHIC NOVEL BY DANIEL CLOWES, PLEASE SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH SO I WON'T SPOIL IT FOR YOU - in which I've always thought Enid commits suicide. No matter how you read it, this is just a bittersweetly askew view of the world, and easily one of my favorite flicks.

"Devil's Backbone"
I watched this Guillermo del Toro movie again this year for Halloween when I was petsitting for a friend of mine (yes, I have a rather boring life sometimes), and though it takes its time telling the tale, it's just a wickedly entertaining ghost story. On a side note, if you want to see a more recent horror flick endorsed by del Toro, please see Juan Antonio Bayona's "The Orphanage" ("La Orfanato") on DVD before it gets the inevitable English-language remake next year.

"Donnie Darko"
Will Richard Kelly ever make a great movie again? I sat through all of "Southland Tales" and this year's "The Box" simply out of love for this flick, but they were both just serious duds. "Donnie Darko," however, took me multiple viewings to truly appreciate, but as twisted tales go, this one about Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his giant furry friend Frank is as good and ultimately absorbing as the best work of David Lynch.

"The Royal Tenenbaums"
Nothing like saving the best for last. Though all these flicks are winners for me, the best movie of 2001 was also Wes Anderson's best (though by just a nose over his first two, "Rushmore" and "Bottle Rocket.") No other of his movies better combines his artist's eye for detail with a great knack for storytelling, here about the Tenenbaums, a family of doomed geniuses who live in some kind of alternate vision of New York City. From all I've heard, he and co-writer Noah Baumbach have recaptured this magic with "Fantastic Mr. Fox," which I can't wait to see this weekend. In the meantime I'll leave you today with one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a movie, Royal Tenenbaum's epitaph.

"Died tragically rescuing his family from the wreckage of a destroyed sinking battleship."

So there you have it. As I said, please feel free to add any movies you think I may have snubbed, and have a perfectly pleasant Tuesday. As a bonus, here's the second trailer for "Youth in Revolt," which - despite the ridiculous voiceover pitching it as a routine teen comedy - I'm hoping will be one of my 2010 favorites, because the book by C.D. Payne is just a fantastic farce. Peace out.


Youth in Revolt Trailer #2

Trailer Park | MySpace Video

The Coens as "Serious" men? Well, sort of, and here's a look

Actually, there's some great TV and other movie news too, but before I get into any of that, there's a quiet little thing going on in New York City on Monday morning that's certainly worth a mention.

Remember Adrienne Shelly? She's best known now as the writer/director/star of the thoroughly charming movie "Waitress," but she was also the star of several great Hal Hartley movies early in her career and other flicks. And she was also murdered in her New York apartment in 2006, before "Waitress" even came out.

Now she's about to get a small tribute, thanks to her husband, Andy Ostroy - a memorial garden in Manhattan's Abingdon Square Park, across from where she used to live. Perhaps not very important to many people in the world, but it's interesting to me, so there it is.

But enough of that depressing stuff, 'cause there's a lot more fun news out there. I know there are vampires everywhere, but I'm certainly not immune to them, so I can only call this great stuff.

It seems that joining the thoroughly campy but entertaining "True Blood" sometime soon will be a TV series based on the Guillermo Del Toro/Chuck Hogan novel "The Strain," to be masterminded by none other than Marti Noxon, one of the big brains behind "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

"Strain," which I've just started reading, is a much more serious (well, as serious as this stuff can really get) affair than "Buffy," however. It tells the story of an outbreak in the U.S. of a virus that either kills those who are exposed to it or turns them into vampires, and I can tell you that so far it's an engrossing read. The plan, apparently, is to shop the TV project, envisioned as an event series unfolding over three seasons, early next year after the second book in a planned trilogy is released.

Noxon has also signed on to create, along with professional partner Dawn Parouse Olmstead, a series for HBO revolving around a feminist icon who launches a sex magazine for women. Diane Keaton is slated to star in it, which could be really funny, but I don't think it's enough to keep me from dropping my HBO again once "True Blood" winds up season two.

And in one other bit of really good TV news, "Veronica Mars" creator Rob Thomas has re-upped to create a second show for Starz to go with his comedy series "Party Down."

If you missed "Party Down" during its bitter but extremely funny first season, I believe Netflix subscribers can watch the entire season on their computers, as I did. It's about a bunch of wannabe actors who work at a catering company, and it gets my good show guarantee.

And now, Thomas has signed to develop another hourlong show for Starz titled "Waterloo," which will follow a struggling rock band and be based on his own youthful experiences trying to launch a music career in Austin (and please keep any Matchbox 20 jokes to yourself.)

If we're never gonna get "Veronica Mars" back in any form, which looks increasingly likely to be the case, I'll certainly give a chance to anything else Mr. Thomas has to offer.

OK, we're almost to the main attraction, but one movie note about a flick that's quickly attracting what could be the best small cast of 2010 so far. I mentioned recently that Ben Affleck has set his second directorial effort as "The Town," based on the novel "Prince of Thieves" by the aforementioned Mr. Hogan, and that it had already attracted Jon Hamm of "Mad Men" and the simply stunning Rebecca Hall to join the cast.

Well, now Jeremy Renner, who is just outstanding in Kathyrn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" (if you have any chance at all, please see that right away!), has also joined the fray. In the flick, Affleck plays a bank robber who becomes infatuated with the manager (Hall) of a bank he's robbing. Renner will be a member of Affleck's gang, and Hamm will be the lawman on their trail.

And finally, as promised long ago, the first trailer I've seen for the Coen brothers' next flick, "A Serious Man," and just from this two-minute glimpse or so it looks like they have a real winner here. As best as I can tell, it's about, among other things, a Midwestern college professor who finds his life falling apart when his wife threatens to leave him because his annoying brother won't move out of the house. It doesn't feature any of the Coen regulars, but you'll get a glimpse of Richard Kind as said brother and, even in this short bit, the dark humor that marks the Coens' best work. Keep your eye out for this one on Oct. 9, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

Truly dastardly news about "Futurama" and a video trifecta

I really don't believe this news about Guillermo del Toro's "The Hobbit" is true yet, but I figured I'd pass it on anyways.

It's already out there that James McAvoy (who would be my choice), Doctor Who David Tennant and Daniel Radcliffe are the three finalists to play Bilbo Baggins. Now, this report in London's Telegraph claims that Tennant has landed the lead role, but their sourcing (nonexistent) and logic are extremely shady. They're essentially concluding that since Peter Jackson (for "District 9") and Tennant (For "Doctor Who") are going to be in San Diego for ComicCon next week, they must be planning to make the big announcement there.

Well, that's obviously much more than a leap. I think there's more than a 50-50 chance they'll turn out to be right in the end, but it will just be a matter of luck.

But that's not the news that really set me off this morning, which is much more ominous. It seems that Twentieth Century Fox, which is still producing the planned new episodes of the great "Futurama" even though it's going to be on Comedy Central, is trying to recast almost the entire show because they are, as Bender would surely agree, cheap bastards.

You could have counted me as thoroughly psyched and planning to tune in to (well, DVR) every episode, but certainly not on these terms. In a dispute over money, the studio is now recasting the parts played by Billy West (Fry, the professor and Doctor Zoidberg), Katey Segal (Leela), John DiMaggio (Bender) and everyone else in the cast.

Now, I realize that TV shows change cast members all the time, but I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like this. You might as well just call a scab a scab, and I really can't see anyway I'll be watching any of these now. Stay tuned.

OK, on to much sweeter stuff. Here are a trio of videos that just made me smile. My co-worker Woody Marshall likes to get me to call this theater in North Carolina where the old guy who owns it likes to do mini-reviews as he reads the week's showtimes, but he's not nearly as funny as this Irish dude who really has his knickers in a bunch over "Bruno." Enjoy.



Next up comes an oddity that will surely be of interest to fans of "Where the Wild Things Are," of which you can certainly count me a devoted one. Long before Spike Jonze set his sights on making what is sure to be the sensational live-action version coming in October, it seems that Disney owned the rights to Sendak's short classic, and John Lasseter toyed with making an animated version of it. That never came to fruition, and Lasseter was fired before obviously getting his sweet revenge at Pixar, but at the end of this clip you can see a bit of what he had in mind, which looks pretty friggin' terrible. Enjoy.



And finally, just so you can't say I didn't warn you, this next clip is really, really gay (not that that there's anything wrong with that.) Courtesy of the great froggy film site Allocine, here's the first trailer I know of for "I Love You, Phillip Morris," the directorial debut of "Bad Santa" scribes Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, which, as you'll see, stars Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor in what should be a truly odd tale. It's not set to come out until next February, I think, but enjoy the trailer and have a great rest of the weekend. Peace out.

"Rudo Y Cursi": Good fun, but wither the footie?

Though, because like Emily Gilmore I simply "don't find forensic work quite as fascinating as the rest of the world" I've never seen any of the 15 or so versions of "CSI," I can only heartily second this sentiment from Viacom and CBS boss Sumner Redstone about Jay Leno: " 'CSI' will beat the hell out of him." Here's hoping he actually loses every single night, especially if he messes with the future of "Chuck"!

And before I get on to the main event today, there's two bits of news out there today, one insanely good and the other rather predictable but still just extremely sad.

Starting with the great, Adult Swim, which I thought only showed cartoons (silly me!) has now apparently acquired the rights to the two seasons and the Christmas special of the original U.K. "The Office." I know that only adds up to about 13 episodes or so total, but since I don't have them on DVD, to that I can only say huzzah!

But on the downside, even though I knew this was coming, seeing it as a definite happening is just thoroughly depressing. The French thriller "Tell No One" was not only easily one of the best movies (Top five on my list) I saw in all of 2009, but also an extremely accessible and mainstream entertaining flick. All it requires is that people do a little bit of READING as they watch the action, but I guess that's too much to ask.

Europa Corp. and Kathleen Kennedy have indeed just announced firm plans to do an English-language remake of the flick based on the equally sensational Harlan Coben novel, with a tentative start date of Spring 2010. Oh well. Since I suppose there's nothing I can really do to stop this, I simply urge everyone to rent the original flick, which is indeed out on DVD now.

But now on to what I was supposed to talk about, Carlos Cuaron's mostly satisfying "Rudo Y Cursi," which I had the pleasure of seeing as the closing night film of the Atlanta Film Festival 365. Before you can really get into that, however, this one really just calls out for a word about its pedigree.

Remember those Mexican directors who in 2006 (was it really that long ago?) earned the rather unfortunate nickname of the "three amigos"? Well, since then, it seems like there's been nothing much but silence from Alfonso Cuaron, Ajejandro Inarritu and Guillermo del Toro.

Alfonso Cuaron's next flick is likely to be "A Boy and His Shoe," which will be about a group of young people (Charlotte Gainsbourg among them, huzzah!) who are on a road trip through England and Scotland. It's set for release sometime in 2010. We're likely to hear from Inarritu before then, since he's wrapping up something called "Biutiful," which stars Javier Bardem as a man who's involved in shady dealings of some kind when he runs into a childhood friend who's now a cop. That one's set for a December release this year.

And we all know that Mr. del Toro is working on a little flick called "The Hobbit." Luckily, in the meantime the three good pals also formed a production company, Cha Cha Cha, and perhaps at least partly through the power of nepotism, Cuaron hermano Carlos gets the first release with this flick.

So, finally, what's it about? Well, anyone who's seen "Y Tu Mama Tambien" will be thrilled to know that it's the first big-screen reunion of Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal, and that they've only developed further the natural rapport they enjoyed in that flick from Alfonso.

Here, they play brothers who toil on a banana farm until they are discovered by a soccer talent scout who needs a new player. And there's the rub: At first, at least, he only needs one.

Like "Y Tu Mama Tambien," "Rudo Y Cursi" mines most of its humor and all its humanity from the struggles of regular Mexicans with daily life. And as the titular brothers Beto and Tato (Rudo and Cursi are their nicknames, but I'll get into more about that later), Luna and Bernal bicker in the refreshingly and naturally foul way that only brothers can. It's snappy dialogue that will feel familiar and at the same time open a window to Mexican life that few of us ever get to see.

OK, that's the good stuff, of which there is quite a bit. So, what's the problem? Well, as a rather big soccer fan (I'm headed to Chicago in June to watch U.S.A-Honduras and, assuming they get that pesky pig flu under control, possibly to Mexico City in August to watch U.S.A.-Mexico), I was excited to see this one because even the director himself, in introducing the flick, described it as a "soccer movie." Unfortunately, that just falls way short of the truth.

Though our heroes do indeed play professional soccer in Mexico (for fictional teams, oddly enough), there's almost zero action on the pitch in "Rudo Y Cursi." In fact, all there really is in that department is a pair of penalty kicks that frame the story. So, if you don't like soccer, is that a problem? Yes, because instead of using sport to add any urgency to his tale, Carlos Cuaron (who also co-wrote the screenplay for "Y Tu Mama Tambien" with Alfonso) manufactures drama in the form of a gambling problem for one of the brothers and a nasty turn by the agent that just doesn't fit at all. Worst of all, because there's no real soccer angle to the story, we never really find out just how the two brothers earned their colorful nicknames.

However, though that's more than a minor quibble, the humor that Carlos Cuaron mines in everyday Mexican life and brotherhood is indeed enough to make his debut feature film very enjoyable, and I guarantee that you will just laugh right out loud when you see Bernal, who apparently just has no shame, sing Cheap Trick.

And with that I have to get ready for what is still my paying job, but I'll leave you with the trailer for what I think will be one of the surprise very big hits this summer, Nora Ephron's "Julie & Julia," which stars adorable Amy Adams (with a seriously unfortunate hair cut) and Meryl Streep as the master chef. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

Enter the enchanting world of "Coraline"

Before seeing Henry Selick's rather amazing "Coraline," I was convinced that 3-D, be it in movies or television, was simply a gimmick to catch our extremely short attention spans for a few seconds. Now, however, at least when it comes to animation, you can count me as a true believer.

Actually, I was caught up in the magic of it even before the movie started, when for the first time I got to see the trailer for Pixar's next flick, "Up," for the first time in 3-D. It looks amazing, and I'm betting it will easily be one of this summer's best movies.

As for "Coraline" itself, this was only the second time I had bothered to don those goofy glasses (the first, oddly enough, being for another flick associated with Selick, the re-release of "The Nightmare Before Christmas"), and this was the first time that the 3-D effect felt perfectly organic to the story and only added to the world it was painstakingly used to create.

But as amazing as the stop motion animation/puppetry was, it all would have felt more than a little empty if it weren't for the strength of the story, adapted by Selick from the children's novella by Neil Gaiman with healthy doses of "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland," "The Wizard of Oz" and "Pan's Labyrinth" thrown in as inspiration.

Like Ophelia in Guillermo Del Toro's flick, our heroine Coraline constructs an elaborate fantasy world to escape the reality of her surroundings, here simply an old house in the middle of nowhere rather than the Spanish Civil War. In exploring her new abode, Coraline discovers a small door that's been painted over and, once opened, reveals in reality only another layer of bricks.

It's once she drifts off to sleep, however, that magical mice lead her through the door to an alternate universe in which she encounters an "other mother" and "other father" who, as opposed to her benign but somewhat neglectful real folks, offer her all the thrills that her own mind can conjure, plus some creepy creations that make this about as close as you can come to a horror movie for children (and not-yet-grown-up adults like me.)

I don't want to reveal any more than that about the story, but it's in this alternative universe that Selick's stable of animators/puppeteers get to really shine, most magically in Mr. Bobinsky's (voiced by Ian McShane) circus of bouncing mice (which you have to see to believe), but also in a pack of Scottie dogs who turn into bats at Coraline's command. Perhaps the most inane thing I've read in the past year was a debate at Aint It Cool News over whether these rather amazing mice were a feat of animation or simply CGI gimmickry; if you can't simply sit back and behold the visual feast that unfolds in front of you, I have to wonder why you go to the movies in the first place.

Selick/Gaiman's tale starts to unravel a bit as Coraline's dream world becomes more of a nightmare, but even here it's kept afloat as the vision of our young heroine, voiced with surprising spirit by Dakota Fanning (who, frankly, until she becomes a young adult instead of a kid trying desperately to be one, is better heard but not seen in my book, hence I won't be going to see her play an alcoholic in "Push" this weekend.) I loved watching her use the everyday objects around her to construct her elaborate fantasy world and the fact that as impudent as young Coraline can often be, the single thing that appears to irk her the most is that people in the real world too often address her as "Caroline."

In case you can't tell by now, I rather unconditionally loved this flick, and it was only after taking off those goofy glasses and returning to my own reality that I began to wonder just who this movie was intended for. Enchanting enough for kids but perhaps a tad too scary, it's probably aimed mostly at grown-up geeks like me, and I'm not sure that's enough of an audience to make this anything approaching a box-office winner.

In fact, a quick visit to Box Office Mojo revealed that on Friday it took in a respectable-but-not-great haul of about $4.5 million, far behind the $10.5 million or so of "He's Just Not That Into You" but thankfully a full million ahead of Steve Martin's latest attempt to crap all over the career of Peter Sellers.

My advice is simply that if you like going to the movies to escape for a little while and be thoroughly enchanted by a movie that's as visually stunning as it is simply entertaining, go see "Coraline," and if you can, certainly see it in 3-D. Peace out.

"Hancock": A tale of three movies, none of them any good

Well, I guess it had to happen eventually. After a summer in which I've liked just about everything I've seen since "Iron Man" (with the caveat that I simply skipped several flicks on general principle), I've finally found a true stinker in "Hancock."

I mean, even M. Night's "The Happening" kept me laughing throughout at just how bad it is in stretches and therefore, I must confess, made me enjoy watching it a lot more than I could have possibly expected, but this one is just a lifeless - and pretty much soulless - creation.

I suppose my opinion doesn't matter too much since Will Smith+the Fourth of July still=mad money in the bank ($41.3 million BEFORE the actual holiday), but that doesn't mean I won't sound off anyway.

So, who's to blame for making this an almost singularly unwatchable mess? There's plenty to go around, but it has to start at the top with Mr. Smith himself this time.

I've had my bones to pick with him through the years, but I never really thought it would come down to him not being enough of an asshole to make a movie work.

However, after spending his entire career crafting his image as the black guy so nice that even the late Jesse Helms (sorry, but he's on my brain after reading his obituary) might invite him home to dinner, he simply doesn't have the edge - no matter how hard he tries - to play a character as innately unlikable as the seriously flawed hero "Hancock." So what you get is Will Smith walking around looking surly for 90 minutes or so, telling all the jokes you've already heard in the trailer and no more of any note. What a waste.

I suppose I would have been able to forgive this if director Peter Berg and writers Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan had been able to choose which direction they wanted to go in with this one. Either unable or unwilling to turn the once-promising premise into a real satire on the nature of heroes and our expectations of them, they instead let the movie just get more and more boring as Hancock is rehabilitated, until it reaches a "twist" ending that will just make you want to scream "wtf!" at the screen (I managed to refrain, but it took a whole lot of self-control!)

It certainly felt like they just reached a point where, after putting together 70 minutes or so of footage that goes absolutely nowhere, they all huddled and came up with the most ludicrous way possible to bring this to its mercifully quick end (though sequels are definitely already on the way.)

Jason Bateman does his best to wrest some laughs from his part as Hancock's PR man, and indeed succeeds at a few points, but he's just fighting a losing battle here. Charlize Theron, however, just looked even more confused by this maddening flick than I was.

And, as much as it pains my heart to say it, Berg's direction here is almost as bad as the story itself. Unsure where to point his camera at many points, he simply lets it spin around at least 360 degrees, never for any apparent reason. And lest anyone who's never been here before think I just had it in for "Hancock" from the start, that's simply untrue. I have nothing but love for Berg's "Friday Night Lights" and even more so the nearly perfect TV show that followed in it wake. But "Hancock" is simply an awful movie from start to finish.

Even so, there are surely great things to come very soon in superhero land, with Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" coming next week and then a little movie you may have heard of called "The Dark Knight" right after that, so keep hope alive. Peace out.

AFI's top 10 genre flicks: Fantasy or folly?

There's nothing better to spark a debate than a Top 10 list that purports to have some authority, as anything with the American Film Institute's stamp of approval certainly would.

The AFI has been making a habit of compiling such lists in recent years, but its most recent endeavour - the Top 10 movies in 10 different genres - is its most intriguing one so far. And man, is there plenty to pick apart. To name two notable snubs at the start, "Serenity" somehow doesn't make the sci-fi list, and neither "Ratatouille" or anything at all by the great Hayao Miyazaki find a home on the animation list.

You can read the complete list here, but today I'm just gonna focus on the fantasy selections, 'cause I still do have to go to my actual paying job at some point. Here are the AFI's selections:

1 THE WIZARD OF OZ 1939
2 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING 2001
3 IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE 1946
4 KING KONG 1933
5 MIRACLE ON 34th STREET 1947
6 FIELD OF DREAMS 1989
7 HARVEY 1950
8 GROUNDHOG DAY 1993
9 THE THIEF OF BAGDAD 1924
10 BIG 1988

I certainly can't argue with the top two spots or the inclusion of the glorious "Thief of Bagdad," but just for argument's sake (and maybe to offer some viewing ideas, I'd offer the following (admittedly much more modern) substitutions for the remaining spots:

3. Pan's Labyrinth
I went back and watched Guillermo del Toro's fantastic flick about a month ago to see if it had lost any of its sheen, and the welcome answer is no. The story that our heroine Ophelia concocts to deal with the surroundings around her during the Spanish Civil War is just the definition of fantasy, which after all is meant to take you away from the real world for a moment or two.

4. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Note, that's "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" starring Gene Wilder, not Tim Burton's rather soulless and sadistic remake. This is one story that I - like kids today hopefully still do - grew up loving, and this version just captures all the giddy goofiness of Roald Dahl's tale.

5. Raiders of the Lost Ark
This one could also have easily found a home on the AFI's "epic" list, but since they snubbed it there too I've decided to give it a home here. Is there any better fantasy tale for a young dude who wants to see the world and be a total badass while doing it? I think not.

6. Kiki's Delivery Service
I hate to be redundant, but since I have no idea how much longer Hayao Miyazaki will be with us, I had to include my favorite of his flicks on this list. If your mind doesn't float away for a while as you watch the young witch in training soar over Miyazaki's European dreamscapes, you've probably lost the kid in you for good. By the way, I don't know the details of any American release yet, but Miyazaki's "Ponyo on a Cliff" is set to drop in Japan in July, so definitely keep your eyes on that one.

7. A Little Princess
One for the girls here, but still one that's dear to my heart too. If I'm not mistaken, it's also the first Alfonso Cuaron flick I ever saw, which is certainly reason enough alone to cheer. The tale that springs from the pen of Frances Hodgson Burnett is just a powerful testament to how the power of imagination can overcome even the most dreary of situations, here a very repressive boarding school.

8. Big Fish
This one is solid proof that fantasies don't always have to be for kids and that, when he wants to, Tim Burton is an incredibly inventive director. If you've never seen this tale about a son confronting his dying father about the tall tales he has spun about his life, I can't recommend it highly enough.

10. Time Bandits
And why not end with one from probably still my favorite fantasy director, Terry Gilliam? Essentially a Monty Python for kids penned by Gilliam and Michael Palin, it really just skips randomly through time but never fails to delight.

And there you have it. There are surely plenty of flicks I have snubbed here, so please feel free to add your favorites, and have a perfectly bearable Wednesday. Peace out.

Weekend update: What - if anything - is worth watching?

I suppose I'd be extremely remiss if I didn't lead off today with the news that Guillermo del Toro is now officially going to be making "The Hobbit," even if the news does now seem more than a little anticlimactic.

He'll be moving to New Zealand for the next four years because, I suppose, it's now written law that any Tolkein movie with Peter Jackson involved has to be filmed there (and I can certainly think of a few worse sacrifices to have to make.)

The somewhat dubious move, of course, is that they're actually making two movies, one that's the real "The Hobbit" and then a sequel that somehow bridges the gap between that work and the first of the "Lord of the Rings" novels. Since this rather extreme act of hubris means they certainly can't call the sequel "J.R.R. Tolkein's 'The Hobbit'," how about "Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson's imaginary bridge to 'The Lord of the Rings' "? I kid, of course, but I bet they'll both turn out to be simply uber-cool.

Though no release date has been set, Variety - with the four-year window - bets it will be one in 2011 and one in 2012, which seems to make sense.

And, before we move on to this week's movies, two bits of TV news, one nothing but bad and one that could turn out to be surprisingly good.

Just to get the ugly out of the way quickly (it is Friday, after all), NBC has definitely traded down in announcing Jimmy Fallon will take over Conan O'Brien's show when the latter moves into the "Tonight Show" chair. I've been wrong at least once before, and to be honest I rarely manage to stay up until 12:30 a.m. very often any more anyway, but I just can't see any scenario in which I'll do so for Jimmy Fallon. Sheesh.

In better news, Nathan Fillion - a k a Captain Mal from "Firefly" and "Serenity" - has signed on to star in a pilot for ABC called "Castle." Despite that rather mundane title, the premise - a "comic procedural" about a famous mystery novelist (Fillion) who helps the NYPD solve crimes - does hold some promise.

But enough about that ... now lets take a look at this week's offerings (which are all really just filling space until the arrival of "Iron Man" anyway), with the added bonus of a trailer for a flick that should probably have made my previous Summer Top 10 list.

1. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
I realize that I'm far too old to watch this one in a theater, and I can't with good conscience recommend that anyone else take a chance on anything this juvenile, but I will indeed be there Saturday afternoon. My inner snob led me to pass on "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," but once I saw it on DVD it's just become one of those silly little comfort movies - like "Office Space" or "Super Troopers" - that help erase my mind after a particularly dreary work day. Besides, here's what critic Nell Minow, an always reliable friend to this site, had to say:

Cheerfully offensive, cheekily raunchy, happily outrageous, and often just plain disgusting, the movie avoids the usual sophomore slump by ramping up the political jabs while keeping it all unpretentious and moving quickly.

Sounds right up my rather juvenile alley, so this time, I'll be there for the first round.

2. Deception
I had never heard of this until it showed up at our multiplexes this week, but with a cast that includes Michelle Williams (hearty huzzah), Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman, I might have been willing to take a chance. A quick peek at the Rotten Tomatoes, however, shows it only managed a 6 % positive rating, which seems rather astonishing. Granted, that's only with a few reviews, but the words "predictable potboiler" are enough to stop me (and besides, even "Harold & Kumar" managed to garner 51 % positive.)

3. Baby Mama
I have nothing but love for both Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, but I just can't shake the suspicion that this one just won't have enough funny to sustain a feature-length movie. Besides, in the commercial, there's a litmus-test joke, methinks, when Maura Tierney actually wipes something brown off the face of youngun and tastes it to decide if it is "chocolate or poop" (I may be paraphrasing just a bit, but you get the gist.) It's hypocritical I know since I support the often just disgusting "Harold & Kumar," but that joke just kind of makes me sick enough to wait for DVD on this one.

And finally, as promised, the extended trailer for "Hancock," which made its premiere on the TV last night, probably during the rather great "Office" episode with the coke-addled Ryan, but since I fast-forward through the commercials I would have missed it anyway. For anyone else who did the same, here's a look at Peter Berg's July 2 flick about an alcoholic superhero (Will Smith) in need of a makeover from a PR expert (the always funny Jason Bateman.) All those ingredients sound right to me, and the trailer is indeed pretty darn funny. Enjoy, and have a perfectly enjoyable weekend. Peace out.

Demko's DVD shelf

UPDATE: Very alert reader Bob of Bob and Justin's Movie Blog (http://bobandjustin.blogspot.com/)alerted me to a serious omission on my part from this week's DVD listing."Charlie Wilson's War" was a real return to top form for both Mike Nichols and Aaron Sorkin and just first-rate political satire based on truth. Please feel free to insert in the third position on the list.

Man, I didn't think anything would top the first appearance of Robin Sparkles on "How I Met Your Mother," but last night's episode sure came close. A whole season with Robin and Barney as a couple should just be a treat.

But on to the matter at hand. It was a real slugfest this week to determine who would get my title of DVD pick of the week (though I'm fairly certain none of the participants knew they were in the running.) In the end, the presence of Laura Linney in one of my favorite movies of 2007 was just enough to nose out the second season of network TV's best drama. So, here goes:

1. The Savages
I really thought Tamara Jenkins' little movie would become a breakout hit a la "Little Miss Sunshine," but alas that never quite came to pass. I guess dealing with a parent slipping rapidly into dementia just isn't as cute as little kids competing in beauty pageants. Despite its rather depressing subject matter, however, Jenkins' flick is extremely funny in parts and moving in others, and it's a delight to watch Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as a brother and sister dealing (or often not) with life. Fans of "The Wire" should note that Gbenga Akinnagbe, a k a Chris Parlow, has a pretty big part in this as the nursing home attendant Jimmy.

2. Friday Night Lights: The Second Season
Season two of "FNL" got off to a seriously rocky start with the rather silly murder subplot involving Landry and Tara, but luckily wrapped that up pretty quickly and got back to its real strength: A very realistic portrait of life in small-town America (albeit with people a lot better looking than folks - me included - I see in my particular little burg.) Though season two could have used a little more football, the 15 episodes they managed to make, especially when it focused on Coach Taylor and the great Connie Britten, were just about the best thing on TV this year.

3. Cloverfield
Though I had my serious doubts about this one going in, it was pretty darn far from - as one old dude behind me said as the credits rolled - "the worst movie I've ever seen." It's not, for anyone worried as I was, a "Blair Witch Project" kind of fraud, but instead a pretty thrilling little monster movie that manages to keep the adrenaline flowing from start to finish.

4. The Orphanage
At his NYCC appearance last week to promote "Hellboy II," Guillermo del Toro apparently teased fans with the prospect of doing another Spanish horror flick to follow in the footsteps of "Pan's Labyrinth" and the even-better "Devil's Backbone" if he somehow doesn't sign on to do "The Hobbit" (which I thought was a done deal, but apparently not quite yet.) Even if he were to do so, that would be at least a couple of years away, but in the meantime his buddy Juan Antonio Bayona has stepped up with this very stylish and fairly scary flick. The ending, even by horror movie standards, just defies all limits of credulity, but what you see along the way is pretty darn fun.

The most despicable movie ever made?

My brother sent me a link Friday to a Politico.com story headlined "Post-Sept. 11 'comedies' coming." Its main peg was the return of Harold and Kumar this Friday, which I think could be pretty funny, but it also touched on something I had somehow never heard of by Uwe Boll - and I frankly wish I never had.

Boll, already hailed as pretty much the worst filmmaker in the entire world, is about to release a "shock comedy" about 9/11 - with the Soup Nazi as Osama Bin Laden. Mull around in your mind just how bad that might be, but I assure you in actuality it will be even worse than you could possibly imagine.

This opening clip - and remember, I did warn you - of the 9/11 hijackers prattling on in the cockpit about virgins, is just about the most offensive thing I've ever seen. I normally like to post clips here directly, but I just can't bring myself to do it this time, so you'll have to click here to see it.

I offer this only as a public service warning just in case anyone might actually be considering watching the whole movie once it comes out. All I can say is please, please, please just say no. Peace out.

Did Joss Whedon cause the writers' strike?

Just kidding with that, of course, but it did seem more than a little coincidental that the rather tremendous news last October that Joss Whedon was coming back to television came just days before the writers officially took to the picket lines.

And, after all, Whedon has had his share of TV bad luck. We all remember "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," of course (fondly, I would hope), but there was also the just tremendously shoddy treatment given to "Firefly" by Fox, which managed to only show 11 of the 14 episodes produced - and out of order, at that - before cancelling the whole thing. (It would live on, though, with the space Western flick "Serenity," which, if you somehow haven't seen, do so immediately.)

So when it was announced that Whedon would indeed give TV another try with something called "Dollhouse," on Fox no less, it only seemed natural that the strike and maybe other difficulties would get in the way. Now, however, through only one sentence buried in a Variety article about CBS picking up three drama pilots, comes word that it's not only back on but becoming a big "Angel" family reunion.

But, since it's been so long since I've mentioned it, a word about just what "Dollhouse" is might be in order. "Buffy" fans will be happy to know it stars fellow vampire slayer Eliza Dushku, who apparently wooed Whedon back to TV at a lunch where they hatched the idea. Here, as far as I can tell, is the plot summary:

"Dollhouse" follows a top-secret world of people programmed with different personalities, abilities and memories depending on their mission. After each assignment - which can be physical, romantic or even illegal - the characters have their memories wiped clean, and are sent back to a lab (dubbed the "Dollhouse"). Show centers on Dushku's character, Echo, as she slowly begins to develop some self-awareness, which impacts her missions.

Sounds more than a little familiar, but still ripe with possibilities. And, even better, it's got "Angel" mastermind Tim Minear (late of the very short-lived "Drive," another Fox catastrophe) on board, and now the writing team of Sarah Fain and Elizabeth Craft, who served as executive story editors for "Angel" and co-wrote eight episodes.

I realize this is more than a bit of info (and gushing) about a show that's only received a 7-episode pickup and won't be seen until autumn (at the earliest), but Joss Whedon and TV are just the perfect combo to me.


Viva Mexico, once again?

Remember when Mexican directors seemed to rule the world (it was only a year or so ago, so I certainly hope so.) After the big three - Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - received so much simultaneous acclaim, they formed a production company called Cha Cha Cha, which is finally bearing some fruit.

But before I get into that, what are they each up to? Cuaron, my favorite of the three, is listed at the IMDB as being in preproduction of an "Untitled Alfonso Cuaron Project" described as "a drama about a family set in 1971 in Mexico." Cool enough.

Del Toro has "Hellboy II" set to come out July 11 and then most likely will turn his attention to not one but two "Hobbit" movies, which he's been christened to direct for producer Peter Jackson.

Inarritu is simply listed as also having an "Untitled" project in the works, with no plot details available but with shooting tentatively set to begin in May. I'll be curious to see what he comes up with after breaking with writing partner Guillermo Arriaga, who's moved on and is now filming a drama titled "The Burning Plain" and starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger.

But what brought all this to mind was something Variety had about three interesting Mexican films now in the pipeline. The first, and by far the most interesting to me, indeed will be the first flick put out by Cha Cha Cha. Here are the details about the three, all listed as being in post-production:

"Rudo y Cursi"
Carlos Cuaron, brother of Alfonso, is directing this flick which reunites "Y Tu Mama Tambien" (one of my favorite flicks) stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna as two brother who play for competing Mexican soccer teams. Sounds uber-cool to me.

"Los Bastardos"
This second flick from writer-director Amat Escalante follows Mexican immigrant workers in a U.S. city who are hired by an American to kill his wife.

"Insignificant Things" ("Cosas insignificantes")
In writer-director Andrea Martinez's first feature, secrets unfold from the ordinary treasures an adolescent girl guards in a box.

They all sound like potential winners to me, and even if I only get to watch most Mexican movies on DVD, I can only say bring it on. Peace out.

Del Toro set to do "Hobbit" double-take

Before I get to what can only be called rather insanely good news, I have a question: Is there any way a baby being thrown to its death in a pit can be funny? Judging from the poster for "Meet the Spartans," at least, I have to assume someone thinks so, since the central image does indeed appear to be a woman with a shaved head (making her Britney, of course) being thrown into a pit with her newborn child. And this beat "Rambo" at the box office? Sheesh.

But I didn't bother seeing either of them, so enough of that. There's much better news in the world, starting with the fact that just about everyone's top choice (I would have taken Alfonso Cuaron too) has stepped forward and is about to sign on to direct two "Hobbit" movies for producer Peter Jackson.

With Jackson passing on the director's chair to focus on "The Lovely Bones" and then "Tintin," the honor is indeed about to go to Guillermo del Toro. The final piece of the puzzle will be to name a writer if and when the strike ends, after which both del Toro and Jackson will also be heavily involved in the writing.

And, of course, that means New Line and friends are set to shell out some mad cash to make this happen. The films, which will be shot simultaneously in 2009 for releases in 2010 and 2011, will have a combined budget of about $300 million.

The only question this doesn't resolve is why in the world do we need two movies? If I have this right (and, for once, I'm pretty sure I do), the first movie will tell the entire tale of Bilbo, Gandalf, the dwarves and Smaug. The second movie, which sounds much more iffy, will apparently attempt to fill the gap between the end of "The Hobbit" and the beginning of "The Lord of the Rings," which Tolkein would write 17 years later.

This just sounds like an extreme act of hubris, but I guess if they were really to pull it off and make something entertaining the accomplishment would be all the more remarkable. And, assuming this deal gets signed, I couldn't think of any more capable hands for it to be in.

More Miyazaki on the way (slowly)

It seems like the great Hayao Miyazaki has been working on his latest movie, "Ponyo" (or maybe "Ponyo on a Cliff"), for many years now, but an end is finally in sight.

According to Variety Japan, the release date in Japan has been set for the middle of July, most likely the 19th. It doesn't say when the usual English voice-over version will be ready, but hopefully fairly soon after that.

So, what in the world is "Ponyo" about? As far as I can tell, the plot centers on a goldfish princess named Ponyo who desperately wants to be a human. In pursuing her goal, she befriends a 5-year-old human boy, Sōsuke (based on Miyazaki's son, Goro, when he was 5.)

All I know beyond that so far is that the animation will be done in watercolor style, as the photo at left shows. More details are expected to spill out after the Tokyo Animation Fair at the end of March, so definitely stay tuned.

"Mad Men" back in business!

According to TV Guide, thanks to an interim deal between the WGA and Lionsgate, writers for AMC's "Mad Men" are now set to get started on scripts for season 2.

"This is excellent news for us," Rich Sommer (Harry) told TV Guide. "It means that on Monday the writers' room opens. It was supposed to open Nov. 7, and now it’s opening Jan. 28. It means we’re going to be back before anyone else."

Well, maybe not anyone else. At least 12 studios (including the Weinsteins and Marvel) have struck their own deals with the writers, which can only raise hopes that an overall deal will soon be in the works. Even if not, the fact that AMC's extremely smart and entertaining show is headed back to the airwaves can only be good news.

Who's the coolest chick in the world?

Although there's probably a much more polite way to put that, the answer at this point certainly has to be Marion Cotillard.

Not only is she, of course, nominated for an Oscar (for "La Vie en Rose," which I haven't had the pleasure of seeing yet), but now she gets to be John Dillinger's moll, Billie Frechette, in Michael Mann's "Public Enemies." Which of course means she'll be draped on the arm of Johnny Depp.

Mann has now pretty much assembled all the members of Dillinger's team. Channing Tatum will play Pretty Boy Floyd, Giovanni Ribisi will be Alvin Karpis, Stephen Dorff will play Homer Van Meter and Jason Clarke will be John "Red" Hamilton. Already announced as their chief pursuer will be Christian Bale as FBI man Melvin Purvis.

Finally, a superhero I can believe in

After this summer's "Wall-E," which is shaping up to be pretty cool itself, Pixar will release "Up" and unleash on the world the first (as far as I know) septuagenarian superhero. Since I almost always eat dinner before 5 p.m., I can certainly get inspired by this tentative tag line: "Our hero travels the globe, fights beasts and villains, and eats dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon." Here's a pic that's on display at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Fla. Enjoy, and have an entirely bearable Monday. Peace out.