Here is the trailer for the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. I still have no idea what that title means.

I guess this was posted a few days ago in anticipation of Wall-E's release but I just came across it. It's Vulture's list of the best Pixar films to date, with an unconventional choice at number one.

1. Monsters, Inc.
2. Finding Nemo
3. Toy Story 2
4. Ratatouille
5. Toy Story
6. A Bug’s Life
7. The Incredibles
8. Cars

For my opinion (and thats what you are here for, right?) I would ahve Monster, Inc. at the bottom of my list. Its the only Pixar film I have not watched multiple times. It might be a better movie than Cars but for some reason I never have a desire to see it. I pressed and had to make a list, I guess mine would go this way:

1. Finding Nemo
2. Toy Story 2
3. The Incredibles
4. Toy Story
5. Ratatouille
6. A Bug's Life
7. Cars
8. Monsters, Inc.

Any of those top five could be pretty much rearranged and I would be fine with it, I love all of those films. As Vulture says "which is actually the best? And which is the worst? And what does "worst" mean when you're talking about Pixar?"

Jason Schwartzman will star in HBO's comedy pilot Bored to Death. In the show he'll play a thirtysomething writer in Brooklyn who, plagued with alcoholism, money woes, and a failed romance, decides to emulate the heroes of the Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler mysteries he loves and poses as a private eye. He takes on real cases, solving some and bungling others.

Amy Ryan, whose Holly Flax character replaced Toby Flenderson as the Dunder Mifflin Scranton-branch human resources officer, will return to The Office for at least five segments this fall.

Flax and dimwitted branch manager Michael Scott seemed to take a romantic interest in each other in the shows 4th-season finale, but that blossoming romance seemed mowed down by unexpected news from Scott’s ex-girlfriend Jan.

Ryan also earned an Oscar nomination last year for Gone Baby Gone.

Letterman loves Heath Ledger's Joker performance.

Tilda Swinton has Nicolas Cage and Pierce Brosnan in Roman Polanski's political thriller The Ghost, an adaptation of the Robert Harris book.

Swinton will play the wife of the former prime minister (Brosnan). Her marriage is crumbling, and she falls for the writer

Pierce Brosnan and Nicolas Cage will star in director Roman Polanski's political thriller The Ghost.

The film, based on Robert Harris' novel of the same name, centers on a ghostwriter who is hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister. He uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.

Brosnan would play the prime minister, Adam Lang, and Cage the ghostwriter.

Most of the story takes place in an oceanfront house during the middle of winter.

A bit of a rip off.

Zach Galifinakis (who was great in Into the Wild) has joined Michael Cera in the coming-of-age dark comedy, "Youth In Revolt." The film already stars Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta, Jean Smart, and M. Emmet Walsh and new additions also include Erik Knudsen and Mary Kay Place. The film is being directed by Miguel Arteta, the filmmaker behind the very excellent The Good Girl.

Hilary Duff has joined the very 80's centric cast of the Polish brothers comedy Stay Cool., which stars Winona Ryder, Jon Cryer, Sean Astin, and Chevy Chase(thank God somebody is finally putting him in another movie). The story is about a successful author (Mark Polish) who faces his unrequited high school crush (Ryder) when he returns home to deliver a commencement address to graduating seniors. Duff plays a high school hottie who asks the author to the prom when he visits her school. Mark and Michael Polish wrote the script and are producing, and Michael is directing. The Brothers made very excellent 1999 film Twin Falls Idaho and the strange, fascinating 2003 film, Northfork.

Posted yesterday on CHUD's List of Dumb #25.



Taken with my phone about six months ago at North East Mall and sent to Max as a joke.

This is a clip from season 9 of Roseanne, its like they weren't even trying anymore. Part of me wants to go back and re-watch the final couple seasons of the show just to see how bad it got and then a bigger part of me really doesn't want to subject myself to that horror.

George Clooney's Smoke House production company has set up the half-hour dark comedy The Fall of Bob at Showtime. The show sounds interesting and will follow the lead character, Bob, who jumps from a building and then narrates his life as it flashes before him.

David Gordon Green hearts Steven Seagal.

Michel Gondry has a website. Well, sort of. It's just a holding page for now with promises of more to come.

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Finally got around to seeing this last night. Altogether fascinating if a bit slow in the middle parts, this creates the most even handed and in depth report on the crimes that Polanski were charged with. Enough with what I though, I'll pass this on to two people who know much more about the events shown in the film, as surprisingly one of them shows up as an interview subject.

A one time Fort Worth disk jockey turned comedy legend, George Carlin is dead.

This aired a few nights ago but I finally got around to watching it last night. Here in its entirety is AFI's 10 Top 10. Their favorite films from 10 genres. I'll post a few thoughts after each list.

Animation

10. Finding Nemo (2003)
9. Cinderella (1950)
8. Shrek (2001)
7. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
6. Toy Story (1995)
5. Fantasia (1940)
4. The Lion King (1994)
3. Bambi (1942)
2. Pinocchio (1940)
1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

All of these are Disney movies except Shrek, which lampoons Disney movies.

Fantasy

10. Big (1988)
9. The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
8. Groundhog Day (1993)
7. Harvey (1950)
6. Field of Dreams (1989)
5. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
4. King Kong (1933)
3. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
2. The Lord of the Rings (2001)
1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

A strange category. Groundhog Day, Big, and Field of Dreams all in the same genre as Lord of the Rings and The Wizard of Oz?

Sci-Fi

10. Back to the Future (1985)
9. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
8. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
7. Alien (1979)
6. Blade Runner (1982)
5. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
4. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
3. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
2. Star Wars (1977)
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

This list features the biggest omission. Where the Hell is Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

Sports

10. Jerry Maguire (1996)
9. National Velvet (1944)
8. Breaking Away (1979)
7. Caddyshack (1980)
6. The Hustler (1961)
5. Bull Durham (1988)
4. Hoosiers (1986)
3. Pride of the Yankees (1942)
2. Rocky (1976)
1. Raging Bull (1980)

I thought Million Dollar Baby should have been included here. Shouldn't Jerry Maguire be in the Romantic Comedy section? Breaking Away needs to be higher on the list.

Westerns

10. Cat Ballou (1965)
9. Stagecoach (1939)
8. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
7. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
6. The Wild Bunch (1969)
5. Red River (1948)
4. Unforgiven (1992)
3. Shane (1953)
2. High Noon (1952)
1. The Searchers (1956)

Glad that McCabe & Mrs. Miller made the lest. Where is The Good The Bad and The Ugly? That kid in Shane is still annoying.

Gangster

10. Scarface (1983)
9. Little Caesar (1931)
8. The Public Enemy (1931)
7. Pulp Fiction (1994)
6. Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (1932)
5. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
4. White Heat (1949)
3. The Godfather, Part II (1974)
2. Goodfellas (1990)
1. The Godfather (1972)

Thank God some revisionist thinking didn't make Scarface appear higher on the list, that is one film I can't sit through.

Mysteries

10. The Usual Suspects (1995)
9. Dial M for Murder (1954)
8. Blue Velvet (1986)
7. North By Northwest (1959)
6. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
5. The Third Man (1949)
4. Laura (1941)
3. Rear Window (1954)
2. Chinatown (1974)
1. Vertigo (1958)

Yeah, I guess. When thinking of genres I hardly think of mysteries.

Romantic Comedies

10. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
9. Harold and Maude (1971)
8. Moonstruck (1987)
7. Adam's Rib (1949)
6. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
5. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
4. Roman Holiday (1953)
3. It Happened One Night (1934)
2. Annie Hall (1977)
1. City Lights (1931)

No real complaints, could have probably just been a list of all Woody Allen movies. Harold and Maude made it, so that is enough for me.

Courtroom Dramas

10. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
9. A Cry in the Dark (1988)
8. In Cold Blood (1967)
7. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
6. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
5. A Few Good Men (1992)
4. The Verdict (1982)
3. Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)
2. 12 Angry Men (1957)
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Courtroom dramas, really?

Epics

10. The Ten Commandments (1956)
9. Reds (1981)
8. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
7. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
6. Titanic (1997)
5. Spartacus (1960)
4. Gone With the Wind (1939)
3. Schindler's List (1993)
2. Ben-Hur (1959)
1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

It seems like they just tried to cram in all the rest of the movies in this final category. Why not have a separate list just for war films?

Not a damn thing happening today in terms of movie news but the more I look at this photo of Steven Spielberg the more he starts to look like my dad. Maybe I am just seeing things but its all in the eyes and nose area.



I realize it would have been nice to have a photo of my dad up to compare to but I was unable to find one that I thought did the comparison justice. So you will either have to use your memory of the Don Allen looks like or drive to Weatherford and buy a car.

With Brad Pitt's name below on the best poster so far this year, I will now present his moving body in what is the best trailer of the year (so far), David Fincher's next, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

And a new trailer.

Best poster of the year (so far) and best Saul Bass rip off go to the Coen Brother's next film.

Kevin Spacey has signed on to play the title role in Shrink, a star-studded independent drama that recently started production in Los Angeles. The two-time Academy Award winner will portray a depressed, pot-smoking Hollywood therapist with a range of clients played by Robin Williams, Gore Vidal, Saffron Burrows, Griffin Dunne, and Robert Loggia, among others. Jonas Pate, a veteran TV writer and director (Surface, Friday Night Lights, Battlestar Galactica), will direct.

Sam Raimi will develop a movie adaptation of the forthcoming historical novel The Given Day by Dennis Lehane. Columbia recently acquired rights to the book, due to be published in September, with Raimi attached to direct and produce. The sweeping story is set in Boston in 1919, during a time of post-World War I turmoil.

Spike Lee with cowrite and direct Time Traveler, an adaptation of a memoir by Ronald Mallett, a professor at the University of Connecticut who was one of the first African-Americans to earn a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. Mallett's book, Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality, recounts his journey from poverty to wide academic acclaim — and his lifetime obsession with inventing a time machine. (Mallett was 10 years old when is father died, and his goal has been to go back in time to save him.)

CHUD caught up with Danny McBride recently and learned about a new project that he and David Gordon Green have been working on, as well as their next project together, Your Highness.

Last week I ran into the beloved Danny McBride, star of Foot Fist Way (what, you haven't seen it yet? What's wrong with you? Get out there now!), and I took the opportunity to ask him about some of his upcoming films, including one that has not yet been announced (yeah, I'm cool like that), Mr. Machine, which Danny co-wrote with the amazing David Gordon Green (his director in the upcoming classic Pineapple Express).

"We're turning that [script] in to Universal next week," he told me. "It's our take on those old Amblin films - it follows around these science fair geeks that construct this robot that get a life of its own. It's like... I don't know, a Short Circuit zombie movie."

Danny didn't say if there was a role for him in the movie - maybe Mr. Machine himself? - but he did say that David's involvement may extend past the script stage. "[It's] something we wrote before all of this happened, and we went back and dug it out and reinvented it. David originally had no interest in directing it, but now after where we've gotten this puppy, he has more interest in it."

Meanwhile, the two have another film in development, Your Highness. Danny told me that unlike the film he's working on now, Land of the Lost, Your Highness would try to keep the budget down. "We're trying to make it not too big so we can keep it as lame as we want to make it and make it rated R and everything," he said.

So what exactly is Your Highness going to be? "We want to do our take on a movie like Krull or Dragonslayer," Danny explained. "I battle with a hula hoop. The Hoop of Doom is his weapon of choice, a big metal hula hoop."

But it's not a spoof movie by any means. "We're not making fun of the genre, we're making a movie that looks like that and feels like that, and uses those old special effects. David, I think, is great about hitting tones like that. It's what's so amazing about Pineapple Express - it feels like an 80s action movie without making fun of 80s action movies. He embraces the tone on another level. I think it would be funny for him to make his Clash of the Titans. It would probably be the dumbest movie ever made."

Special effects and makeup guru Stan Winston passed away on Sunday, June 15th in Los Angeles, Clifornia. Winston was best known for his work for the Terminator, Jurassic Park and Predator series, and Edward Scissorhands. The 4-time Oscar winner most recently worked on Iron Man and was special effects supervisor on the upcoming Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.

One more The Dark Knight trailer.

Kung Fu Panda

Saw this last night at the Brazos Drive In. Nowhere near the quality of the Pixar films but it had a couple of amusing moments. Oddly, for an animated film not a lot happens and the supporting characters are relegated to the sides lines for the majority of the running time. I can't even remember the monkey talking.

The best part of the film was the other feature, Indiana Jones. A film I loved the first time, it actually grew in my mind with a second viewing. Past all the hype and expectations I was able to simply enjoy it is, a 1950's style adventure film. None of the plot twists or story elements seemed out of place and it really seemed to fit into the canon of all the other Indy films. It may now be my second favorite of the bunch, after Raiders of the Lost Ark.

A little more news is beginning to trickle out about The Office spin off. Will it even be a spin off? Here is an excerpt from the Variety article announcing Aziz Ansari has joined the cast.

Despite early speculation that at least one "Office" character will segue to the new show, that's unlikely at this point.

Instead, the show could potentially be a "planted spinoff," in which characters are first introduced on "The Office" before moving on to the new series (think "Mork & Mindy," which morphed from one episode of "Happy Days"). It's just as possible that the show won't be a spinoff at all (which could impact who's involved with the show), but a wholly separate series in the same comedic vein as "The Office."

In recent weeks Daniels and Schur have been busy mapping out the show, which is set to bow this winter in the plum Thursday night 9:30 p.m. timeslot behind "The Office."

The two have narrowed the show's premise down to a handful of ideas but haven't yet zoomed in on a specific concept.

"We're focusing on making the best show we can make as a companion to 'The Office,'" Schur said. "We're trying to come up with the best concept and hire the funniest writers. In the next couple of weeks, we'll be making the final move to one specific idea."

The new show has already started putting together a writing team, including "Everybody Loves Raymond" alum Tucker Cawley, "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" vet Dan Goor and "South Park" scribe Alan Yang.