A teaser for Uncle Festus and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be viewable in theatres on Friday, 2.14, attached to prints of The Spiderwick Chronicles. The spot will be online “shortly thereafter,” says Variety. If no one leaks it prior to 2.14, it will be pretty much essential to troop down to the Grove or the Arclight for the first Spiderwick show that day.
Just like Star Wars fans and journalists did, come to think, when the first teaser for The Phantom Menace played in front of Ed Zwick‘s The Siege on that film’s opening day — 11.6.98. (Or was it later in the run? Memory fails.)
I was there at Mann’s Village along with everyone else. The crowd was yelling “Siege! Siege! Siege!” like they were being directed by Anthony Mann doing a crowd scene for El Cid. Free Enterprise director Rob Burnett was there. Drew McWeeny was there. I spoke briefly to Paul Thomas Anderson in the lobby. Every hip person in the known Los Angeles universe with any interest or investment in film-geek culture was there.
And then the trailer hit the screen — cheers and whoo-woos (little did they know!) — and then it was over, and almost the entire crowd was gone ten minutes later.

“I wish I could bet on things like ‘Hillary will cry, nearly cry, or talk about crying between 10am and 3pm on Monday, March 3′” — Jason, a Politico reader referring to the day before the Ohio Democratic primary — posted today at 4:19 pm.

Do I look like I’m negotiating, friendo? I’m already pregnant so what kind of milkshake-slurping could I get into? Except for ruining the love life of my older sister and her lower-class boyfriend by bearing false witness? I am Sheba, the reincarnation of Shirley Booth!

During an interview today with Hardball‘s Chris Matthews, former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said the science hasn’t been proven on global warming and that it’s “arrogant” to say that climate chance is “man-made.” He also said there could be absolutely no circumstance that could justify the restriction of the availability of certain firearms. Seconds later my stomach was swimming in acid and doing somersaults. Some people are flat-out evil.

One definition of a good movie-reappraisal piece is that it makes you want to see the film in question again, even though your own aesthetic determinations for the last couple of decades have steered you away from this. Mark Harris‘s 2.5 Slate article about the 40th anniversary DVD of In The Heat of the Night is such a piece of writing.

Norman Jewison‘s 1967 police thriller put me to sleep with I first saw it, and I’d be hugely surprised if it didn’t have the same effect again. But thanks to Harris, I’ll be giving it a go. Despite Rod Steiger‘s cracker accent, which is pretty close to chalk on a blackboard. Despite the stacked-deck plot. Despite the rectitude of Sidney Poitier, which can be difficult to take. I would actually love to see it remade as a ’60s period comedy costarring Will Ferrell as Police Chief Bill Gillespie and Chris Rock as Det. Virgil Tibbs.

I haven’t read any credible columnist, pundit or statistic suggesting much less asserting that Hillary Clinton is more electable than Barack Obama against John McCain in the general election. N.Y. Times columnist Nicholas Kristof made the Obama-is-more-electable case is a column posted this morning (or last night). I’d like to read an argument that says otherwise, just for fun.

When I think of Valentine’s Day, I usually imagine a bunch of Chicago hoods getting machine-gunned to death back in 1929. But this year is different. Partly because I’m in a great relationship groove (God has smiled down), and partly because there’s a stand-out Valentine’s Day Word Theatre event happening on Thursday, 2.14 at Social (formerly the Hollywood Athletic Club) that will be refreshingly free of the usual trite, mawkish sentiments that tend to coagulate on this romantic holiday.

It’s called “Hot Flicks: Love Scenes from the Silver Screen.” The performers will be Richard Schiff, Illeana Douglas, Chris Gorham, Amanda Seyfried (star of the forthcoming Mamma Mia!), the great Donal Logue (Zodiac, The Tao of Steve), Christina Pickles, Kali Rocha, Michael Rodgers, Toni Trucks, and Raviv Ullman.
I’ve been to Word Theatre events before and know something about the experience. It’s like seeing a first-rate play without the acts or the scenery or the makeup or the blackouts or the tight seating. And with gifted actors, a classy clientele, excellent hors d’oeuvres and (if you’re so inclined) booze.
Good love-scene movie dialogue is hard to come by. Mainly because filmmakers don’t tend to believe in it. Moments of longing, hunger, unrequited love, tenderness or spiritual affinity between characters tend to sink in more deeply when expressed non-verbally. Through the eyes, for the most part, or sometimes with a gesture that isn’t meant to be seen. Like Ward Bond happening to notice the wife of John Wayne’s brother gently stroking the Duke’s Civil War uniform in John Ford‘s The Searchers. Or Heath Ledger pressing his face into Jake Gyllenhaal‘s tattered shirt during a private moment near the end of Brokeback Mountain.

But affecting I-care-about-you dialogue happens nonetheless. My personal favorite is this passage from Jerry Maguire. (Notice that I didn’t include “you complete me” or “you had me at hello.”) I’m also a big fan of “you make me want to be a better man” from As Good As It Gets.
I’ve also always liked the dialogue between Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson in David Lean‘s Brief Encounter. I’m told this will be included in the 2.14 program.

Memo to Brad Grey #2: In case your memory of The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a little fuzzy, here’s an mp3 of the film’s great dialogue scene: Robert Mitchum and Stephen Keats (playing a character named “Jackie Brown”) talking about guns in a diner. Blunt Boston crime- culture dialogue doesn’t get any better than this. (The first Grey memo — a request that he urge PHE president Meagan Burrows to release Peter Yates’ Coyle on DVD — was posted on February 2nd.)

Keats, Mitchum, Coyle

Update: I’ve called the Criteron spokesperson, Brian Carmody of Orange Media Relations, to ask if Criterion has licensed The Friends of Eddie Coyle from Paramount with the intent of putting out a DVD. Carmody hasn’t issued any press release about this that I know if, nor has he written or called to advise me of same.

Yesterday and the night before settled it. Romney didn’t have a choice. Will McCain ask Huckabee to vp up?