I Am Link

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--- Who And How - Back in January we heard that Michael Cera and John Hawkes were going to star in Charlie Kaufman's (yes that Charlie Kaufman) half-hour pilot for FX called How and Why, which is about a children's science show host who loses his job and stumbles upon the supernatural. I think that's probably the most succinct way to describe what it's about, I guess. You know Charlie! Anyway as if that wasn't already enough to take our little brains and mash them into balls and kick them across the room, now comes word that the show will also star Catherine Keener and Sally Hawkins. I'm trying to keep myself from going ablutely nuts here, FX still has to pick the series up, this could all end up a big zero. On the other hand, KABOOM.

--- Dragon Breath - I know it's cliche to whine about George RR Martin doing anything - breathing, sleeping, moving - that isn't writing the final two books in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, but seriously I don't care he drives me crazy crazy crazy. So I didn't bother reading this new interview with him, but I guess he talks a bunch about there being movies made or something. That's nice, George - go home now!

--- Splinter Off - Doug Liman, the director of Go who has never been able to top that early success even though he's made some stuff that's been decent enough (I really enjoy Mr. & Mrs. Smith), has been trying to get a movie made with Tom Hardy - any ol' movie! He just wants to spend six months in close quarters with Tom hardy, and who can blame him? They were trying to make an Everest movie but now Jake Gyllenhaal's bare ass is making an Everest movie so the two of them are moving on to adapt the video game Splinter Cell. I haven't ever played it, I guess it's about a black-ops unit fighting terrorists and things going boom and so forth. One assumes Tom Hardy will wear tight black pants, so I'm in!

--- Gonna Call - The pair of guys who directed The Lego Movie are of course the same pair behind both Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and both 21 Jump Streets - they kind of own mainstream comedy right now. So we shouldn't be surprised that their names are at the top of the heap for the third Ghostbusters film, which strangely seems to have developed real heat in the wake of Harold Ramis' death. Ivan Reitman is a definite no.

--- Spinning Girls - Ryan Gosling is going to produce and probably star in a bio-pic about famed director and choreographer and visual-magician Busby Berkley. I didn't realize that Busby himself actually led all that interesting a life, but I suppose who cares if you can re-stage all of those spectacular dance routines of his. And hey maybe Ryan will slip all this into just a dance-belt at some point. The world can dream.

--- The Other Man - I don't understand why they only opened Jake Gylenhaal's film Enemy on one screen here in NYC last weekend (and at the shit-hole Angelika at that) but it's spreading to at least a few more screens tomorrow thank goodness, so maybe y'all can see the best movie I've seen in 2014 for yourselves. And hey maybe one of these days I will write up those spoilery thoughts I promised. Til then here's an interview with the director Denis Villeneuve to check out. He gives some info on what he's up to next, both of which sound promising. (Chastain!)

--- Manly Aggression - I really thought that Guillaume Canet's film Blood Ties with Clive Owen and Matthias Schoenaerts had come and gone already and I'd just missed it, but here's The Playlist rolling out a new clip from it and saying that it comes out in theaters and on demand tomorrow. The clip involves Clive and Matthias hugging and then Clive beating the shit out of Matty, so adjust your fetishes accordingly. (I really wish they were re-creating Clive's scene with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in Bent, personally.)

--- Beast's A Burden - It seems that Kelsey Grammar will be making a cameo in the new X-Men movie reprising his role as the old version of Nicholas Hoult's Beast - the thought of Nicky growing up to be Kelsey always makes me break out in hives. What a horrible thought. Take care of yourself, Nick! Good good care.

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