All Queued Up

I took a small break from the New Obsession last night in order to indulge a couple of the old ones; not only am I now all caught up on TV watching (except for Surface and Medium which are really starting to stack up), but I also wound up adding quite a few DVDs to my Netflix queue.

As before, please remember that these are things which caught my interest in one way or another; I vouch for none of them beyond that.

Good Night and Good Luck: George Clooney's look at Edward R. Murrow's crusade against McCarthyism. Been wanting to see this one for a while.

Open House: Indie musical about real estate agents. In addition to Anthony Rapp (known to theater enthusiasts as Marc in the original cast of Rent, and to everyone else as the dorky neighbor in Adventures in Babysitting) and Kellie Martin, the movie also features Jerry Doyle, a.k.a. Mr. Garibaldi from Babylon 5. There's just no way I can pass up a chance to see Mr. Garibaldi break into song.

Casanova: Period piece about the famed lover with Heath Ledger in the title role.

Underworld: Evolution: Sequel to one of the more entertaining vampire and/or werewolf flicks of the last couple years.

Transamerica: Felicity Huffman as a pre-op transsexual who winds up meeting her long lost son, who has no idea the woman he just met is really his father. Oh, and did I mention that apparently he/she's a born-again Christian? From what little I've seen in the trailer, Huffman does an awesome job.

Happily N’Ever After: Animated tale about Cinderella (voiced by Sarah Michelle Geller)'s step-mother (voiced by Sigourney Weaver) leading a gang of fairy tale villains in a bid to take over the kingdom. Will it be the new Shrek or just new Dreck? Also features voices of Freddie Prinze Jr., Patrick Warburton, Andy Dick, George Carlin and Wallace Shawn.

Edmond: William H. Macy in yet another David Mamet adaptation, this one about a businessman who follows a fortune teller's advice, which leads him into New York's seedy underworld.

Bubble: Steven Soderbergh film, which makes it an instant queue addition; this is one of his more indie/experimental efforts, a murder-mystery featuring a cast of total unknowns, and I mean total; not a single professional actor in the bunch. Genius or madness? Can't wait to find out.

Annapolis: James Franco as an outcast at the Naval Academy who gets involved in boxing to try to prove himself.

American Haunting: Horror film inspired by, and I quote from the blurb, "the only documented case in U.S. history in which a spirit caused a man's death." Stars Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek.

Freedomland: drama about a single mother (Julianne Moore) whose claims that her son was killed by an African-American man come under scrutiny from a detective (Samuel L. Jackson) and a reporter (Edie Falco).

Alpha Dog: Nick Cassavetes film about a young drug-pusher (Emile Hirsch) and his run in with the feds.

The Break Up: Romantic comedy starring Jennifer Anniston and Vince Vaughn as a couple who break up but are forced to keep sharing their condo due to financial reasons.

Eight Below: Drama about a sled-dog team forced to fend for itself in Antarctica.

Final Destination 3: Latest in the (so far) entertaining horror franchise; this time, the disaster is a runaway roller coaster.

A Scanner Darkly: Richard Linklater applies the animation techniques he used to such bizarre, yet mesmerizing, effect in A Waking Life to his adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel about paranoia and fractured personalities . . . which, to be fair, describes almost every PDK novel. Still, sounds like this will be one of the most faithful PDK adaptations yet *knock on wood*

Block Party: Michel Gondry directs this look at a massive party thrown by Dave Chappelle, featuring performances from tons of musicians, including the reunion of the Fugees.

Thank You For Smoking: Comedy about a supposedly reformed Big Tobacco lobbyist starring Aaron Eckhart, Adam Brody, Maria Bello, Same Elliot, and more.

Superman Returns: I'm still unsure about the casting of Brandon Routh as Supes, but Kevin Spacey looks wicked-awesome as Luthor, and the first two X-Men films give me faith in Singer as a comic-book-film director.

Alien Nation: The Complete Series: A great series based on the movie; here's hoping they follow this up with DVDs of the TV movies that followed, especially the one with Scott "Luke on Gilmore Girls Patterson as one of the aliens.

Tideland: Latest from Terry Gilliam about a little girl who retreats into a fantasy world to escape from the realities of having a junkie father.

Neverwas: Drama about a psychiatrist (Aaron Eckhart) who gets a job at the asylum that once incarcerated his father (Nick Nolte)

CSA: Confederate States of America : Faux documentary that examines what might have happened if the South had won the Civil War.

Mrs. Henderson Presents: British comedy about a socialite (Dame Judi Dench) who decides to re-open a local movie theater as the home of a musical revue . . . a nude revue.