After the gut-wrenching terror of No Country for Old Men (I haven't been that tense in a movie theater since, well, ever), I can safely say that I am incredibly relieved that the Coens' next film, Burn After Reading, looks like it is going to be a lot more fun. First Showing now has some stills from the Coens' black comedy, and it would appear that the brothers are returning to what I like to call their 'Raising Arizona roots.'

Burn is the story of a CIA agent (played by George Clooney) who is assigned to investigate the case of a former agent named Ozzie Cox (John Malkovich) who has taken his revenge on the agency by writing a tell-all memoir. When Cox's ex-wife (played by Tilda Swinton) steals the only copy and leaves it behind at her gym, the gym's owner (Frances McDormand) and star personal trainer (Brad Pitt) see an opportunity to engage in a little blackmail.

The Coen flick just got the nod to open the Venice Film Festival this year, but Burn will not be making an appearance at Cannes this year (which is a little strange considering the luck they had at the French festival last year). This makes it zero for two for Pitt now that his other high-profile film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, also failed to make the list for Cannes. Burn After Reading is scheduled for wide release on September 12th, 2008.

The pounding beat of a headache, or the sear of a migraine, is something I rarely have to face. That makes me lucky, for the most part, but it also means that when one hits, like today, all I can think of is heads and brains like a zombie in training. Naturally, this has me thinking of movies that focus on the stories of the noggin. Should I go for The Man with Two Brains or other similar brainy fare? Nah.

Instead, I'm going to focus on a man behind the camera, one who brought us two of the best stories of the mind to date: Mr. Charlie Kaufman. It all started with a little Malkovich Malkovich, and then continued with the overwhelming urge to erase love from the mind -- two stories that make a little headache seem like nothing. On this warm Friday, I give you: Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ...

Even though a lot of fans of The Coen Brothers haven't been all that happy with the results of their collaborations with George Clooney (I think I was one of the eight people in the world who actually enjoyed Intolerable Cruelty.), I've still got a good feeling about their CIA comedy, Burn After Reading. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Focus Features will release the dark comedy on September 12th of this year.

Burn has an all-star cast including Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, and Tilda Swinton. I would guess that it's been like 'old home week' on set; we all know that Clooney and Pitt are buddies, and Swinton could be an honorary member of the boys club after her Oscar winning performance in Michael Clayton (and judging by her acceptance speech, she seems comfortable with a little verbal rough-housing).

The comedy stars Malkovich as Ozzie Cox, a CIA vet who gets fired for being an alcoholic, and writes out his revenge in a memoir. His soon-to-be ex-wife (Swinton) accidentally leaves the memoir at a gym, where it falls into the hands of a trainer, Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt), and the gym's owner Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), who want to exploit the discovery. It sounds like a pretty 'fluffy' flick, but I think we could all use a break from the Coens' more "intense" point of view, wouldn't you agree, friendo?

One might not expect a sweet, funny and warm-hearted crowd-pleaser from the man who wrote movies like Sexual Roulette, Sonic Impact, and Venomous, but I guess filmmaker Sean McGinly has spent the last eleven years churning out schlock flicks just so he could get to something good. And I'm very pleased to report that his newest offering, a smoothly, strongly appealing comedy called The Great Buck Howard, is definitely the "big break" that McGinly's been working for. Backed by a fantastic performance by John Malkovich -- and some really fine work from young actors Colin Hanks and Emily Blunt -- The Great Buck Howard might be the most affectionate look back at old-school entertainment since Peter O'Toole boozed his way through My Favorite Year.

Hanks is a law student who despises law school, so (directly against his father's wishes) Troy Gable bails on higher education and lands a job as a road producer for a serious has-been of a magician. Formerly quite famous (he's been on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show over 60 times), Buck Howard is a relic of a more innocent time. Magician, mentalist, musician and comedian, Mr. Howard is "old-school entertainment" at its most sincere -- and sincerely forgotten. Troy and Buck strike up a professional friendship, although obviously their relationship is due for a few rocky moments.

George Clooney is one of the busiest men in Hollywood. He's currently promoting his excellent new legal drama Michael Clayton. He's wrapping up acting and directing duties on Leatherheads, a 1920's football romantic comedy with John Krasinski and Renee Zelwegger. He's shooting the Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading, a CIA comedy co-starring Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton (so great in Clayton), John Malkovich, and Frances McDormand. In addition to all that, he's got to fly around the world in a jet made of gold and make the women of the world swoon 24/7. So yeah, the guy's got a lot going on. In fact, he's just decided that he has too much going on.

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Clooney has just dropped out of Joe Carnahan's White Jazz, a gritty tale of police corruption set in 1950s Los Angeles. Clooney was set to star in the independent film, which is based on the James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential) novel. White Jazz was expected to begin filming early next year, and was scheduled for a 2009 release date. Grant Heslov, Clooney's producing partner, says "It just simply came down to scheduling. George continues to believe in the project and in Joe." Clooney was set to be a producer on the film, and whether he'll remain involved in that capacity has not been announced. And those of you excited about the film, myself included, might not be too happy with this last sentence. According to a spokesperson at Warner Independent, where the film was set up -- White Jazz has dropped off its slate. Currently, there's no word from Carnahan, who, as of a couple days ago, was pretty pumped about starting production in January.

More folks have joined Angelina Jolie in Clint Eastwood's The Changeling, and pics of a 1920s Jolie have arrived online. (You can begin your happy dance ... now.) The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Jeffrey Donovan, Colm Feore and John Malkovich will join Jolie in this drama based on a real-life tale for Universal and Imagine. In the flick, Jolie plays a woman whose son goes missing in 1920s Los Angeles. When the wrong child is returned to her, she naturally freaks on law enforcement who then throw the gal into an insane asylum for disagreeing with them. And you think Britney Spears has it rough! Eventually, the kid admits to fraud, and the woman goes after the cops, the mayor and the city seeking changes in the insanity legislation. I'm sorry, but shouldn't a mother know who her child is? Weird.

Donovan will play the police captain, with Feore as the chief of police and Makovich as a reverend. Additionally, the first pics of Jolie on set in 1920s garb have arrived online, courtesy of Just Jared (who have roughly 15 shots of the gal). I'd say she looks pretty damn authentic (love the red lipstick), but that's me. The role seems like a perfect fit for Jolie, who won a best supporting actress Oscar for her role as a girl in a mental hospital in 1999's Girl, Interrupted. So we know she can play nutty. It also looks like they're prepping this one for a late Oscar run (it has Clint Eastwood's name on it -- why the heck not?), as it's currently set to be released on November 7, 2008.

Because how can you go to sleep tonight without checking out at least one picture of Brad Pitt. I know I can't, and I'm sure you ladies out there are thinking the same thing. Unfortunately (for some), this image is of Brad Pitt all bloodied up -- or, as Peter Griffin (as Han Solo) would say: "Looking all penisy." And is it just me, or does Pitt look to be doing his best Val Kilmer impersonation? This photo showed up in (I believe) the NY Post today (although it could be the Daily News; not sure, the guy reading it next to me on the train was being "all penisy" with his paper), and it's a scene from the Coen Bros. new film Burn After Reading.

In case it's tough to see in the pic to the right (click on it for a larger version courtesy of Just Jared), Pitt's nose is bloody and he's holding a bike helmet. And as much as I'd like to say he's doing his best "I'm George Clooney, and I just got run over by a 1999 Mazda in Jersey," something tells me that's not what this scene is about. Coincidentally, Clooney is co-starring alongside Pitt in Burn After Reading, which tells of a CIA agent ( John Malkovich) whose soon-to-be ex wife ( Frances McDormand) steals a disc containing his memoirs, but accidentally leaves it at the gym where Pitt, a trainer, finds it and thinks he can use it to blackmail Malkovich. Clooney, on the other hand, plays an assassin hired by the CIA to "clean up" the mess. Burn After Reading will most likely hit theaters sometime next year.

After Polar Express, you've got to gore things up a bit. Robert Zemeckis is soon to return with Beowulf, and now we've got another trailer to feast on at the official website -- one safely housed behind one of those age verification pages. This time around, we've got lots of Beowulf ranting, merged with lots of blood and death. Well, what looks like animated blood that is. With this trailer, we get to see some of Grendel's victims, plus some slow-mo, blood-filled action during a Grendel attack. At the very least, you can expect this to be completely over the top.

Stylistically, I think I prefer it's predecessor, Sturla Gunnarsson's Beowulf & Grendel, which came out last year. It's far from flashy, but it's got the fighting and the drama -- just in a less-sensational package. That being said, it's pretty hard to resist the names attached to this sucker. Beyond Zemeckis, there's Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary responsible for the screenplay, and then there's the cast. Angelina Jolie has seemed to make the biggest splash so far seeing that she's pretty nude as Grendel's Mother, but there's also Beowulf -- Ray Winstone from my loved Proposition, Anthony Hopkins as King Hrothgar, Robin Wright Penn as Queen Wealtheow, Alison Lohman as Ursula, John Malkovich as Unferth, and of course, Crispin Glover as Grendel. We'll finally get to see the whole package on November 16, but if you want some epic adaptations before then, check out Gunnarsson's version.

It's been a great year for celebrity short films. Often, you hear about some celeb offerings that you imagine to be all sorts of great due to the talent involved, but then your expectations rarely live up to reality. Sometimes they're fun, and sometimes they're truly terrible. Recently, I gave you a heads up about shorts from Jennifer Aniston and Maggie Gyllenhaal, but there are also some others that you should keep an eye out for as you lurk the web, itching for a something brief to make you laugh.

First, there's a little short called Lance is a Jerk. Rainn Wilson stars as an over-eager personal assistant who just got the job of his life -- working for the famous Tour de France winner. There's lots of slapstick, and staying true to its title, lots of jerky Lance Armstrong, who is not too shabby as the demanding star. But of course, the real spark comes from Wilson, who makes some typical gags seem fresh. Secondly, for all of you Family Guy fans lurking about, there is a short called Life is Short (you can check out a trailer here). Warning: it isn't the greatest of shorts, and is pretty goofy with all sorts of typical jokes. However, it's worth the 12 minutes to see all the bits with the main man himself, Seth MacFarlane, who guest-stars as the short guy's shrink. (There's also a pretty good surprise cameo from a Buffy alum to boot.) Finally, there's a really brief short that is all sorts of wonderful for its simple, clever premise: Specialized Technicians Required: Being Luis Porcar. Luis is a man who does the Spanish dubbing for John Malkovich movies, and in this short, which is only 2 minutes long, he explains his job, while John Malkovich does the English dubbing. It's simple, and much less intricate than Being John Malkovich, but it's definitely funny and I imagine it will hit the net at some point.

Though we're only a few short weeks away from the debut of the new Coen Bros. pic, No Country for Old Men, at the Cannes Film Festival, all the talk of late has surrounded the casting of their next project, Burn After Reading. Following the news that George Clooney, Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt had signed on to star, comes word from The Hollywood Reporter that John Malkovich is in talks to star as Ozzie Cox, a CIA agent who loses the very important computer disk that holds his memoir. This will mark Malkovich's first-ever appearance in a Coen Bros. flick; personally, I feel this collaboration is long overdo.

With shooting to begin this August, plot details have been kept under wraps. However, word has it that McDormand will play Malkovich's estranged wife, and the person who steals the disk before accidentally leaving it at the gym. That's where Pitt's character (a personal trainer) comes into play; he attempts to use the disk to blackmail Cox. Meanwhile, Clooney will play a hitman hired by the CIA to "clean up" the entire situation. Based on this premise, it sounds like another fabulous Coen Bros. dark comedy, and the cast is as good as they come. No word yet on whether Coen favs Steve Buscemi and Billy Bob Thornton will make an appearance, but there's still plenty of time to announce more names as we creep closer to the pic's start date.

While you could probably question some of John Malkovich's choices when it comes to movie roles, you can't help but notice that he usually manages to walk away with his reputation intact. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Malkovich has joined the thriller Afterwards; a film that also stars Romain Duris and Evangeline Lilly (who probably needs no introduction to you Lost fans, as she is the show's star). This is Lilly's big-screen debut, and will be a return home for the Canadian-born actress when the film starts shooting in Montreal, and then in New York later this summer.

Based on the novel "Et apres...." by Guillaume Musso, the story centers on Duris' character, "a workaholic lawyer drifting away from his ex-wife (Lilly) and daughter, who meets a mysterious doctor (Malkovich) who claims to have the power to predict people's deaths". Director Gilles Bourdos -- who has some experience with suspense having already given us the 2003 Ruth Rendell adaptation Sight for Sore Eyes (Inquiétudes), also helped co-write the screenplay. The film is a French and Canadian co-production and features the cinematography of Mark Lee Ping-bin; fans of Wong Kar-Wai might recognize him as the cinematographer for In the Mood For Love. Afterwards is set for release in 2008; by then I'm sure Malkovich will be on to the next job in his ever-growing list of film commitments.

Hollywood "Brit Girl" Emily Blunt has just signed on to play Queen Victoria in The Young Victoria. The movie is reported to chronicle the turbulent early years of Queen Victoria's rule, as well as her romance with Prince Albert, which yielded nine children. Martin Scorsese is producing the film with Graham King. (King accepted the last Oscar of the night this year, as producer on Scorsese's The Departed). Julian Fellowes wrote the screenplay, he's no stranger to Oscar himself, having won for his script for 2001's Gosford Park. Blunt was nominated for a Academy Award Golden Globe for her cute turn in The Devil Wears Prada -- perhaps seeing Helen Mirren clutching that trophy for The Queen drove her into the regal role?

I'll be Blunt with you -- Emily Blunt's in a lot of damn movies. Next month you can see her in the horror flick Wind Chill. This Christmas she'll be in Mike Nichols' Charlie Wilson's War, with indie darlings Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks. She's also in The Jane Austen Book Club, (Zzzzzzz!), cool-sounding magician pic The Great Buck Howard with Hanks again and John Malkovich, Dan in Real Life with friend of comedy Steve Carell and foe of comedy Dane Cook, and the independent Sunshine Cleaning with Alan Arkin and the adorable Amy Adams. Whew! In conclusion, if you go to see a movie in the next couple years, there's a 50% chance Emily Blunt will be in it. No studio is attached just yet to The Young Victoria, but it sounds like a very classy affair. King, Scorsese, Fellowes, there's a lotta Oscar folks working on this thing! Might we have a contender?

Time to put a smile back on your face. Whether it's the state of world affairs or that looming car payment that's got you down, fear not for there are laughs on the horizon, or so these previews would have you believe. It's mirth week on Trailer Park.


The Ten
Hmm. Lots of quick flashes featuring the likes of Famke Janssen, Jessica Alba, Winona Ryder and veterans of the comedy troupe known as The State, all set to an Amy Miles song. Normally, I think a trailer should give the viewer at least some idea of what the movie is about, which this one does not, but I'm intrigued all the same. The film (which was favorably reviewed by Cinematical's own Scott Weinberg after it played Sundance) is a series of vignettes each based on one of the ten commandments. Something about this weird ensemble comedy appeals to me.

Everything's Gone Green
My first thought was, "isn't that the guy who played Matt LeBlanc's nephew on the ill-fated Friends spin-off Joey?" Indeed that's Paul Costanzo and he's playing a young man who after losing his girl and his job becomes part of a money laundering scam in this capitalistic comedy. Looks to be the standard rags to ill-gotten riches story, but Costanzo has appeal as what the film's official site is calling "a twenty-something uberslacker." Everything's Gone Green was first mentioned by Cinematical's Jessica Barnes here.

Year of the Dog
"Maybe your dog died so your love life can live," says the friend of Molly Shannon's character, which seems to sum up the movie's premise. Peter Saarsgard plays the animal shelter employee who brings another dog and perhaps romance back into her life. Shannon's character seems similar to lonely depressives she's played before, but she does it so well it's hard to argue, and this looks like an enjoyable romantic comedy. Scott Weinberg saw this one at Sundance and here's his review.

You have to give credit to a man who takes his desire to a new level (without being fatal). Eddie Jablowsky loved deception -- so much so that he not only changed his name to the punning Alan "Conn" and then "Conway," but he also decided to take it a step beyond run-of-the-mill bamboozling. In the 1990's, while Stanley Kubrick steeped in seclusion, Conway became a living dedication to the man. He pretended to be the famous director throughout London, fooling producers, actors and practically everyone in-between, including New York Times reviewer Frank Rich. It didn't matter whether the people had met him or not, and it didn't even matter that the deceiver didn't look like Kubrick. They bought it...suckers.

Naturally, it is the sort of story to make a movie about, and Brian W. Cook did, which Martha Fischer reviewed last May from the Tribeca Film Festival. While this is Cook's directorial feature debut, he actually worked with Kubrick on his last film, Eyes Wide Shut. Colour Me Kubrick: A True...ish Story is a collection of scenarios that has Conway conning his way, pardon the pun, through London -- all played by the lusciously campy John Malkovich. (Although Martha says that the film was stolen by controversial British conservative Jim Davidson, who plays Conway's lover, Lee Pratt.) Either way, I'm itching to see more pink-infused Malkovich, and strangeness. While there is no trailer online for the film, there is a terribly, aggravatingly short teaser up on the official website. The movie will be released in theaters and through HDNet Movies on March 23, with a DVD release to follow on the 27th.

Here's a list of things I never again need to see in a movie:

• A wizened old mentor teaching a young pupil to let something "flow" through him.
• A scene in which someone rides the back of a dragon while whooping and cheering.
• A young hero rushing off to save his friends despite being warned that such actions spell d-o-o-m.
• An explanation from a henchman to a villain detailing why he came back empty-handed.

...basically, all 90-some minutes of Eragon represent a list of things I need never see again in a movie. Why? Because I've already seen them 1,332 times and there's very little chance that such redundant and tiresome cliches will ever be sufficiently polished to make them feel fresh again. Again, Eragon is 99 minutes of this paint-by-numbers, oft-regurgitated genre blather.