For Thursday, a very large cache of clips

Anyone who's been here before knows that I love trailers, good bad and otherwise. I almost never arrive to a movie late enough to miss them.

So, I've spent so far an hour or so of my morning watching some (hey, it was from 6-7 a.m., so what more productive thing was I really supposed to be doing?), and here are the best eight or so clips I could find.

Actually, it starts today not with a trailer, but with what purport to be the first 10 minutes of "Easy A," and having watched this through once (and laughed out loud several times), I believe it to be genuine. Not everyone will want to have the first 10 minutes of a movie revealed, but hey, it's not like there are any real secrets here. All it reveals is that, in case you didn't know already, "Easy A" is going to make a genuine star of natural comedienne Emma Stone. Enjoy.



OK, now on to some actual trailers, and this being fall, there are some real heavy hitters (pun fully intended for the first one) coming. First up comes the first trailer I know of for David O. Russell's (remember him?) "The Fighter." Russell's first feature film since "I Heart Huckabees" in 2004 stars Markie Mark Wahlberg as boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and Christian Bale as the brother who trained him before he went pro in the early 1980's. It indeed looks like a pretty typical sports underdog tale, but with Amy Adams and Melissa Leo also starring in this, I'm hoping for much more when it opens wide Dec. 17. Enjoy.



Next up comes one that I haven't heard too much about, but since it comes from "The Lives of Others" director Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck, it should be a real winner. As you'll see from the trailer, Johnny Depp plays the titular "The Tourist", who gets framed for murder and all kinds of other juicy stuff after a perhaps-not-chance encounter with Angelina Jolie on a train. The moral clearly seems to be that, even if you're Johnny Depp, always be suspicious when an insanely beautiful woman strikes up a conversation with you. Enjoy the trailer, and keep an eye out for the movie Dec. 10.

Anyone who's been here before also knows that, although I didn't bother to see his last movie, "Why Did I Get Married Too?", I have a whole of time for Tyler Perry. His previous movie, "I Can Do All Bad All By Myself" with Taraji P. Henson, was very entertaining, thanks in large part to a small turn by Gladys Knight (yes, really). For his next movie, due out Nov. 5, he will for the first time adapt the work of someone else, here the play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" by Ntozake Shange. The story, which is about nothing less than existence from the perspective of 20 nameless black women, is an ambitious undertaking, and I'll be sure to see it on the opening weekend for curiosity if nothing else. As you'll see below, it boasts a strong cast, with Phylicia Rashad, Kimberly Elise, Thandie Newton, Whoopi Goldberg, Loretta Devine, Anika Noni Rose, Janet Jackson and even Macy Gray. Enjoy the trailer.



Still with me? Then here's some more. Danny Boyle's "127 Hours," about the titular amount of time climber Aron Ralston (to be played by James Franco) spent trapped under a boulder in a Utah valley, is reportedly so intense that it caused several fainting spells and possibly a seizure too in Toronto. While the latter is certainly unfortunate, that doesn't make me any less excited to see this when it finally comes out Nov. 5. Enjoy the clip below, which features Franco, Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara.



OK, we're in the homestretch now. After reading yet another rave review of "Let Me In," the still thoroughly unnecessary English-language remake of the sublime "Let the Right One In," this one at Collider.com, I've now given in to the very real possibility that Matt Reeves has really come up with something fairly great here. Below are eight clips from the movie starring Hit-Girl Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee and set to come out Oct. 1. I think they'll make a bit of a believer in you, too. Enjoy.



I buried this one more than a bit because, after the disaster that was the interactive trailer for "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World" (which, as several people pointed out to me, played the most annoying music even without clicking on it), I'm really not sold on the concept. You can judge for yourself, however, with this interactive trailer for David Fincher's "The Social Network," which I'm really looking forward to seeing when it comes out Oct. 1. The "interactive" comes because if you click on the trailer while its playing, it pops up little windows with facts and links you can follow about the movie. More than a little annoying to me, but enjoy if you do.



And where better to wrap things up today than with a genuine oddity? This bit of animation apparently springs from a question Fincher asked Werner Herzog as Herzog was in Toronto promoting "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?". As you'll see below, Herzog apparently witnessed Joaquin Phoenix getting into a doozy of a car accident, and then rescued him from it. Enjoy, and have a perfectly bearable Thursday. Peace out.

What in the world ever happened to Brad Bird?

You know, when a dude has managed to direct two out of three of my favorite animated movies in "The Iron Giant" and "Ratatouille" (with only Hayao Miyazaki's "Kiki's Delivery Service" sandwiched in between), it really is odd to watch him pretty much just disappear, but that seems to be exactly what's happened to Brad Bird.

For the last few (or maybe more) years, he's been trying desperately to mount a live-action take on the novel "1906," which would just be a blast. Actually, I didn't really care for the book by James Dalessandro, but it's subject matter - the politically corrupt world of San Francisco in the titular year, and the great earthquake that brought it all crumbling down - is just ripe for Bird's natural gift for storytelling.

Though that's still somehow listed as a "2012" project at the IMDB, it still has no cast that I know of, and I'm fairly certain that Warner Bros. has balked at putting up the scratch Bird would need to pull it off - or apparently, even really get started.

Now, however, it seems that J.J. Abrams and Tom Cruise (it apparently does help to have friends in high places) might step in to give him something almost as fun to work with. With a May 27, 2011, release date already set and filming set to begin this summer on "Mission Impossible IV," the duo have yet to settle on one minor question: Who should direct this?

Well, it seems they've already talked with "Zombieland" director Ruben Fleischer and Edgar Wright, who has "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World" coming this summer (bring it on, already!), and now you can add the most intriguing choice, Bird, to that list too.

I know that's a lot to write about a movie that's so far off, but I really just adore spy movies, and once this one finally comes together it should just be nothing but fun - especially in the hand of Brad Bird or Edgar Wright.

OK, after that today, it's all about Tyler Perry and Lee Daniels (well, until we get to the finale, at least.)

Because the man feels it's both his right and duty to direct at least two movies every year, Tyler Perry has a new movie, "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?", coming out next week. And though I've seen and at least somewhat enjoyed every movie the man has made so far (how many directors can you really say that about?), this is the first one I'm really just not looking forward to, because it's - obviously - the sequel to what I think was his worst movie so far.

But here today, it's not about any of that, but instead what's happening with his next movie, which should just be epicly good. His take on the play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" by Ntozake Shange is set to shoot in New York this June, for a January 2011 release (meaning, rather amazingly, the man will only have one movie in theaters this year), and it's not surprisingly attracting some big names.

Mariah Carey, who proved she can really act in Daniels' "Precious," and "Why Did I Get Married" star Janet Jackson are the latest big names to join a cast that already has Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, Jurnee Smollett, Kimberly Elise (aka Perry's "Mad Black Woman"), Loretta Devine and singer Macy Gray. He apparently wanted Beyonce, Oprah and Halle Berry, too, but perhaps even Tyler Perry can't get everything he wants.

One of Perry's greatest strengths has always been his ability to write strong, well-rounded parts for women, so this flick should be a dream fit, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

And Daniels, a Perry protege of sorts, is also putting together a pretty fascinating cast for "Selma," which will be his followup to "Precious" and be about Martin Luther King Jr.'s pivotal 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.

Already announced are Hugh Jackman as Sheriff Jim Clark, "Precious" vet Lenny Kravitz as Andrew Young and British actor David Oyelowo as Dr. King himself, and now you can add to that Liam Neeson as Lyndon Johnson and Cedric the Entertainer as King cohort Ralph Abernathy. Robert De Niro had earlier been rumored to be playing George Wallace, which would have been remarkable, but that apparently isn't happening. Even so, that's a pretty wild cast for this epic saga, so definitely keep your eyes on this one.

And finally, I'll leave you today with easily the funniest thing I found online this morning. Though as a matter of habit I usually go to bed by 11 p.m., on those occasions when I happen to be up later, I always go out of my way to watch Conan O'Brien, wherever he might be. For folks who make a whole lot more money than I do, he's on a live tour this summer, and hopefully headed back to late night as soon as this fall on Fox, but in the meantime singer/songwriter/comic Ben Sheehan has come up with this little tribute that fits this spirit of CoCo perfectly. Set to the tune of Diddy's "I'll Be Missing You" (which of course is already a grand pilferation from the Police), "I'll Be Watching You (Miss You Coco)" is as genuinely funny as it is simply bizarre. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

I'll Be Watching You (Miss You Coco) - watch more funny videos

Weekend movie report: Two out of three ain't bad

Man, do I love the fall. So far, three new movies watched (two good, one pretty darn awful) and one more to go today, "Elizabeth," which I'm cautiously optomistic will be better than it's rather harsh reviews. Today I'll deal with the two winners since, after all, Monday's always just a little better with some good news.

We'll start with "Michael Clayton," which, only surprising me a little bit, got absolutely clobbered at the box office by "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married," $21.5 million to $12.1 million.

Now, I can take or leave George Clooney, frankly. Often, especially with "Syriana," he just seems so smug that I want to smack him until he cries. In "Michael Clayton," however, maybe because he's playing a character who's already been pretty beaten-down by life, I found him to be much more bearable.

In Tony Gilroy's unconventional legal thriller he plays the titular character, a "fixer" who's already pretty broken himself. Think of Mr. Wolf from "Pulp Fiction" at the end of a three-day bender and you're in the right ballpark. It's a performance that just worked for me, but most of the credit for "Michael Clayton" being such a satisfying flick goes to Mr. Gilroy and a supporting player to be named later.

Gilroy, who also wrote the screenplay for this summer's smartest thriller, "The Bourne Ultimatum," makes this rather familiar story about a high-powered law firm defending an unsavory chemical company feel fresh mostly by what he leaves out. There's not, at least that I can remember, one courtroom scene, and therefore any way-too-dramatic speeches are kept to the very end. And though there is a "smoking gun" in the form of an incriminating document, it isn't overexposed.

What Gilroy delivers instead is a solid character study, of Clooney's Clayton and even moreso of the lawyer he's sent to "fix," played by the always-welcome Tom Wilkinson. The movie opens with one of his possibly insane monologues, and it's the trajectory of Wilkinson's Arthur Edens that keeps this flick moving at a briskly entertaining pace. I'm almost certain you'll be hearing his name on Oscar night in the supporting category, and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he's a winner.

My only beef with Mr. Gilroy's movie is that Tilda Swinton is rather criminally underused as the main attorney for the bad guys, as is The White Shadow as the bad guy in chief. But these are really just quibbles about a movie that deserves to be seen by many, many more people in week two.

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married

First of all, a hearty huzzah to Mr. Perry on his box-office triumph. I had an inkling that, since my Sunday evening showing - at a time when much of his target audience might still be just returning home from church - was packed, he would come out on top for the weekend. But I had no idea he would clobber Clooney so soundly.

I've been a Tyler Perry supporter (as if he needs me) ever since "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" because he makes movies that are, although clearly flawed, like nothing else you'll see on the big screen now. And while "Why Did I Get Married" represents a real step forward in both star power and mainstream appeal, it retains the magic formula that makes his movies so enjoyable: Self-help mojo just a few degrees removed from "Oprah" but repackaged with real characters and a compelling story.

And, I'm gonna go ahead and open myself to all kinds of fire and compare him favorably to two of my favorite directors, Woody Allen and Pedro Almodovar. Yes, that Woody Allen. The comparison works for me because Perry writes characters that - though they still appeal mainly to people with skin the same color as theirs - are universal in their neuroses (or, in Mr. Perry's hands, "drama.")

In the case of "Why Did I Get Married," the characters are eight college friends - four married couples - who are now approaching middle age and dealing with all kinds of issues. When "Married" works best, they handle these problems with as much humor as tears.

And, with "Married" even more than his other flicks so far, the Almodovar comparison is very strong. Here, he writes four solid female characters, and lets his top two break down in a very similar way to last year's "Dreamgirls."

The glamour girl, Janet Jackson rather than Beyonce, tops the bill but loses much of the spotlight to the big girl, here Jill Scott rather than Jennifer Hudson. And Scott steals the show because she knows that what Perry requires from her - even as she plays a very vulnerable character more than a little prone to crying - is to never forget she's a diva. It's a tremendously likable performance from a new face I think you'll be seeing a lot more of in the future. Rounding out the women are Sharon Leal as a career-minded attorney (and, in the flick, Mr. Perry's wife) and Perry regular Tasha Smith as essentially the Id, as usual the character most likely to provoke outbursts of something along the lines of "You go girl!" from the audience.

This being a Tyler Perry movie, the men get short-shrift by design, but so what? "Why Did I Get Married" isn't a perfect movie by any stretch. The story loses more than a little bit of steam once the four couples leave the Colorado mountain cabin where they go to work out their problems and return to the real world. But overall it's another successful flick that follows the Perry formula that I - and apparently more than a few other people - have grown to love.