The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Every day, there are tons of news-worthy tidbits that hit the internet and make me exclaim some exclamation.  However, I am but one man, and a college student with a busy schedule, at that, so I don't have the time to add a new post every time I come across something worth mentioning.  It's an unfortunate reality.

So, I present a new regular (as regular as one can expect here, anyways) column where I share some of the best, worst, and ugliest stories in the world of film in a compact, hopefully excessively readable, format.  Enjoy.

The Good                                                                                                                                                     
-Matt Damon is set to make his directorial debut on a small-town drama co-writter by John Krasinski (Jim from The Office) and Dave Eggers (whose previous writing credits include Away We Go and Where the Wild Things Are).  It's always interesting to see actors get behind the camera, and sometimes, the results are magic: just look at this year's Higher Ground (directed by and starring Vera Farmiga) and the Clooney-centric The Ides of March.  However, Krasinski's first go as writer-director, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, wasn't half as intriguing as its title.  Let's hope Damon - with his supreme talent and extensive experience working with amazing directors like Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood - fares better.

-Anne Hathway has joined the cast of Tom Hooper's (The King's Speech) adaptation of the megamusical Les Miserables.  Hathaway joins a cast that includes Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman (!), with whom Hathway wonderfully duetted at the Oscars a few years back.

-Lars Von Trier's Melancholia, for which Kirsten Dunst won Best Actress at Cannes, is now available on Time Warner Cable's Video On Damand service.  I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

-Magnolia is distributing Take This Waltz, a love triangle story starring Seth Rogen and Michelle Williams that has gotten good buzz and looks promising.  The only downside is we have to wait until next summer to see it.

The Bad                                                                                                                                                         
-Never Let Me Go helmer Mark Romanek looks to be taking on The Lost Symbol, the third book in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code series.  The book doesn't hold a candle to its two predecessors, and neither The Da Vince Code nor Angels and Demons made a successful transition to the screen, so this seems like a lost cause.  After seeing Romanek's talent in his beautiful adaptation of the Ishiguro Kazuo sci-fi romance, it's sad to see his name attached to what I can only assume is a doomed project.  Plus, it means the return of Tom Hanks' awful hairdo.

-The New York Film Critics Circle will now be announcing their picks for the best of the year at the end of November, rather than in mid-December.  Why is this bad?  Chances are the critics won't have had a chance to see all of the major contenders of the year by then (heavy-hitters like War Horse and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo may not be up for consideration).  That means the NYFCC's choices might need to be asterisked, much as the National Board of Review's picks are every year (the NBR announces December 1 this year).

Hopefully, the NYFCC will get all the pertinent films screened for them before they vote, because along with the LA critics, New York is one of the most important - and interesting - voting groups, and it'd be a shame if their awards had an air prematurity.

The Ugly                                                      
-The existence of (and this poster for) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D.  Although the tagline, "Buzz. Kill." is nothing short of bloody brilliant.