A good comeback is like a great third act in American lives; it's the triumphant return, the end of the story. James Cagney retired in 1961, then made a triumphant comeback in 1981 with Ragtime. But a good movie never deals with the aftermath of the comeback. Just as often as not, the comeback leads to nothing. Cagney died a few years after the hubbub. Though we all love a good comeback, the following is a list of comebacks that weren't the end of the story, and didn't provide the inspiring coda that they could have.

1. Sylvester Stallone in Cop Land (1997)
Stallone's is one of the most fascinating, dramatic careers in cinema. His fame is so huge that his name and face -- or at least his characters -- are known the world over. He had a fairytale rise to fame with Rocky (1976), complete with tales of writing it in a weekend. He has a lot of charisma, and earned an Oscar nomination for acting. He has directed eight feature films and contributed to the screenplays for nearly twenty. People whisper about how smart and savvy he is behind the scenes.

Nothing fancy this week. I'm tossing darts at the latest trailers and writing up whichever ones I hit. Time now for a random sampling.

Righteous Kill
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino doing a cop movie together? Sounds like a license to print money. The last police drama I saw was the tepid We Own the Night which really soured me on a genre that has already been beaten to death on television, but the star power behind this one sets things at a whole new level (despite some of the uninspired comedies with which De Niro has padded his resume). Our two stars play a pair of world weary police detectives who have no sympathy for the scum who make a mockery of the justice system. Apparently they aren't the only ones who feel this way, because our heroes are soon on the trail of a vigilante killer. As with most teasers it's hard to get a feel for the movie. We get the basic idea of the plot followed by lots of quick cuts set to The Stones' "Sympathy For the Devil." I'm still probably going to see this, but more for who's in the film than what's in the trailer. Here's Monika's take on the trailer.

The Incredible Hulk
The onscreen representation of Marvel Comics' jade giant has come a long way. I first saw him as a crappily animated character who barely moved in the Marvel Superheroes animated series in the 1960s, then as a body builder wearing grease paint and green tights (easier than applying makeup to his shins, I suppose). And let's not forget the 80s animated incarnation whose clothes would magically reappear when he returned to human form. The all CGI version seen in Ang Lee's Hulk made many mistakes, but I think the biggest one was to make his face too sympathetic. The Hulk is not a superhero, people, he's a monster and should look like one. That problem appears to have been addressed in this latest incarnation. This is one badass Hulk, and his foe -- the equally gamma irradiated Abomination -- looks pretty cool too, though his head is tiny. I never thought Eric Bana had much screen presence, and what we see of Edward Norton as the new Bruce Banner has a lot more appeal.

I was already taken with the idea that Burt Reynolds was going to star in an upcoming theater film called A Bunch of Amateurs, which I told you about earlier this month. The film focuses on aging action star from Hollywood (Burt) who joins a Shakespearian theater company thinking that its the Royal Shakespeare Company. Instead, he's surprised to discover that it's a group of amateurs in Stratford St. John. Due to marketing and charity, he has to stick with it and be King Lear on the amateur stage.

Now the film has just gotten 100% irresistible. Variety reports that Charles Durning (who got a hugely-deserved lifetime achievement award from SAG recently) has joined the cast as "a sleazy Hollywood agent" who tricks Burt's character into the theatrical company. I wish he was going to be one of the players, so we'd get more screen time and Charles doing Shakespeare, but I'll take what I can get.

The character actor is a total scene stealer, as Jette Kernion blogged about back in 2006. He has been in a slew of great films, but to me, he'll always be the angelic Charlie from Two of a Kind. Yes, I realize I have weird tastes sometimes. So... What's your favorite Durning role?

I suppose that reviewing an Uwe Boll film is a lot like having a fancy restaurant critic do a write-up on McDonald's new McGristle sandwich -- but I'm not "fancy" by any definition of the word, and I've grown madly in love with Uwe Boll's enthusiastically slipshod filmmaking techniques. So to those who thought miracles were actually possible, I have some disappointing news: Boll's latest, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, is every bit as consistently awful as the director's earlier offerings -- only it's 126 minutes long. And that's just not fair.

Also unfair is the stunningly blatant way in which Mr. Boll tries to rip off the Lord of the Rings trilogy in this chintzy little epic. Every other sequence has a musical cue, a costume, a bit of dialog, or a background character that just fell off the Hobbit truck. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Uwe Boll just spent 126 minutes telling Peter Jackson how thin, talented and gorgeous he is. To be completely fair, I did notice a few components (mainly the action scene editing and a few moments of strangely effective cinematography) that manage to improve upon films like Alone in the Dark, House of the Dead and BloodRayne -- but really, you could probably improve upon those three movies using only a cell phone camera and a powerful flashlight.

For a flick that runs two hours, the plot is distressingly skimpy: Villains are ransacking the countryside, so a farmer called Farmer takes up arms, grabs a few sidekicks, and heads out to destroy the evil and perpetually cackling Boss Villain. That's it, really. But we're not going to see an Uwe Boll video game adaptation for the plot, are we? No. We're usually watching his flicks for the sheer unintentional hilarity of it all, but King is even better because it's an ensemble piece! We've got...

What kind of amateurs could Burt Reynolds be joining? He's had a lot of roles in his almost 50 years in the business. Considering his past career, perhaps it would be an amateur group of cops, football players, bandits, porn professionals, judges, or even thieves. Nope! The reality is so very much better. Believe it or not, he's going to be joining some amateur Shakespearian actors. Variety reports that he's heading to Blighty this February to star in A Bunch of Amateurs. To be helmed by Andy Cadiff, from a script by Jonathan Gerschfield, John Ross, Ian Hislop, and Nick Newman, this is the first movie to come from the new production shingle, CinemaNX.

The film is being described as a fish-out-of-water comedy about "an aging Hollywood action star who accepts an invitation to play King Lear at Stratford, in the hope of reviving his career. When he arrives, he discovers that the play is not being staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon, as he thought, but by an amateur dramatic society in the rural village of Stratford St. John." I am a man. More sinned against than sinning! He wants to back out, but it's a charity performance with lots of marketing, so he has to stick with it. Yes, that's right, he's going to be King Lear. I have to say, that's something I never thought I'd see. Reynolds' amateur co-stars will include the likes of Samantha Bond (Goldeneye), Derek Jacobi (The Golden Compass), and Imelda Staunton (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). Are you ready for the Bandit to take on Lear?

With Father's Day coming up this weekend, a film geek's thoughts turn to watching movies with her Dad. I miss the days when we would stay up late watching something attractively awful on TV that had my dad laughing his head off while simultaneously deriding the film. Dad likes a slightly dirty comedy -- something he can watch while saying, "Thank God your mother's not in the room," or even "You shouldn't be watching this," not that I was ever asked to leave the room, mind you. He is also fond of telling you how terrible a movie is, but then not changing the channel, particularly if buxom young females are onscreen.

I've seen very few movies in a theater with my dad, especially after we were old enough that he didn't have to sneak us off to the movies when my mom was holding some kind of meeting at home. Most of the movies I've seen with my dad have been on videotape or more interestingly, on non-cable TV (often UHF channels at odd times). He usually falls asleep in the exact same parts -- it has to be a pretty lively movie to keep my dad from catching a quick nap at some point or other.

I intended to write a Cinematical Seven that recommended movies anyone might watch with their fathers this weekend, movies that Dad has so much fun watching that you can't help liking the movie yourself, even if it's something you wouldn't watch on your own. I started brainstorming a generic list from The Great Escape to The Empire Strikes Back to Grumpy Old Men and then realized that everyone's dad is different, of course -- I have no idea which movies your father might prefer. So the following list includes movies I would like to watch with my dad this weekend if we weren't living 525 miles apart. If your father is like mine, this will be a perfect list for you. If not, I hope you'll share some of the movies you've liked watching with your dad, grandfather or father figure in the comments.

Look out, America: The country music stars are coming! Both Tim McGraw (Flicka) and Toby Keith (Broken Bridges) have movies coming out this fall, and Paramount Classics is planning to sell the hell out of Keith and his film. According to this morning's Variety, Paramount is teaming with Ford Trucks (which is sponsoring the whole thing), Big Screen Concerts and CMT Films for a big fancy world premiere on September 7.

For the small fee of $12.50, fans in about 100 cities (as well as soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, who one assumes will get in for free) will get to see a special screening of the film, preceded by a 30-minute feature consisting of "taped performances by Keith and his co-star Lindsey Haun" and red-carpet interviews with Keith, Kelly Preston, Willie Nelson, Burt Reynolds, as well as other cast members. (The red carpet is outside a theater in Tennessee, where I guess the movie is being show. Or maybe they're all going to see a concert -- is Madonna playing Nashville?)

While this fan-friendly premiere successfully targets Keith's current audience, one wonders how necessary it actually is -- won't his fans go see the movie, even without all these bells and whistles?

Even with its three main stars bailing on the franchise as if it were infected with a career-ending disease, The Dukes of Hazzard will indeed be returning ... to a much smaller screen. However, instead of a traditional sequel, it appears as if they're going with a prequel for their sequel. Yee-haw!  According to Cinema Blend, the casting notice for the film also lists it as "straight to DVD."

So, will we find them Duke boys strutting around in diapers? Almost. The plot for the film is said to focus on the boys as teenagers, while we follow them through their first wild confrontations with Boss Hogg. There's something in there about Uncle Jesse and the origins of Daisy's dukes but, in the end, does anyone really care what this movie will be about? As Martha stated previously, Johnny Knoxville, Sean William Scott, Burt Reynolds and Jessica Simpson will have nothing to do with the prequel. Such a shame, seeing as the first one was just so entertaining. Oh well, perhaps Jessica wants to move onto bigger and better things. Either that, or she's just swapping out the Dukes for a bathing suit.

I must confess up front that, to my great shame, I haven't seen Sharky's Machine. I am, however, adding to my Netflix queue as we speak, if only because, well, it's Burt Reynolds. Even in 1981 -- nearly a full decade removed from his Deliverance glory -- there was very little wrong with Burt Reynolds. Sorry, I got distracted there. The point is that I can oppose this particular planned remake on principle alone, so here goes: A remake? Of a semi-classic cop movie? Come ON! (How was that?)

For those of you who have seen and love the original, here's some fodder for your personal disgust: First of all, Warner Brothers' remake will probably NOT be set in Atlanta. Second, the screenplay -- which has been written and rewritten without, one guesses, even a look at the novel on which Reynolds' film was based -- will "vary in places from the original." Which probably means the woman won't be a prostitute, and Sharky will be flawless. Who's excited now? Finally, the remake might well star Mark Wahlberg (it's "being set up" as a vehicle for him). Personally, I like Marky Mark, but it's awfully hard for me to see him, based on what I've read, as Sharky. Thoughts, please.

I wondered last week whether the Vegas/poker frenzy that has been gripping the US was finally coming to its end - ratings are down for the endless tournaments on TV, and some are wondering about the effectiveness of new, poker-based advertising. I never came up with an answer, but since there is at least one more poker flick on its way, we need to add a small production company and their cast and crew to the list of those who are fervently hoping the answer is "no."

As far as I'm concerned, even if poker is dead in the water the film, entitled Deal, has a chance for one reason and one reason only: it stars Burt Reynolds. Oh hell yes. Disappointingly, however, the plot sounds incredibly cliched, not to mention exactly like the one that drove the trying-really-hard-but-incredibly-boring ESPN series, Tilt. In the movie, Reynold's character - an ex-gambler - "teaches a hot-shot college student how to 'play the player,' vs. just the cards." You'll be stunned, I'm sure, to learn that the two have a falling out which eventually finds them "competing against each other in the World Poker Tour championships." Shocking.

The film also stars Shannon Elizabeth and Charles Durning, and is expected to start shooting in New Orleans early next week.