Man, I hate watching trailers. There’s so much to glean from them in terms of plot and style that I almost just prefer to stay away from them. Every now and then, however, I am drawn to a trailer that I cannot turn away from. “Where the Wild Things Are,” directed by Spike Jonze, is such a trailer.

The CGI-infected special effects world makes everything look the same after a while, and the tactile “wild things” in this movie (despite the fact that their faces have CGI elements) will go a long way towards making us feel that Max is actually interacting with something. Cinematical has posted a gallery of images from the upcoming Maurice Sendak adaptation and–if you must–the trailer is right here.

Richard Kelly is back. You remember him, right? He was the next big thing after “Donnie Darko” finally caught on on DVD. Then he released The Director’s Cut and over-explained everything. Then he released “Southland Tales” and we all wondered what deep end he’d gone off.

He’s back with “The Box,” a thriller starring Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, and Frank Langella that’s based on a Richard Matheson (”I Am Legend”) short story called “Button, Button.” I hope he can find the balance between explaining too much and not enough. It releases on October 30.

Kal Penn (star of TV’s “House” and the “Harold and Kumar” movie series) has joined the Obama administration. The Hollywood Reporter reports that he will “join the staff as an associate director in the Office of Public Liaison. His role will be to connect Obama with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, as well as arts and entertainment groups.” Weird.

Twitter is the shit, simply put. Lots of celebs are using it, but “Iron Man 2″ director Jon Favreau is the only one working every day on a big-budgeted, much-anticipated sequel. He tweets a lot, and is constantly posting pictures from the set. Follow him here and see comments and photos from the “Iron Man 2″ set in realtime. His latest post refers to Garry Schandling, whose casting is very recent news: “Wrapped day two. Time for some sleep. So great to work with Garry.”

When I was at SXSW, Favreau was on a panel with the other stars of “I Love You, Man” and he was taking photos of Paul Rudd and Rashida Jones from the stage and posting them on Twitter. It’s a pretty unique way to experience life through the eyes of a newly crowned Hollywood giant. You can follow Jon Favreau’s Twitter account here.

The Playlist says that Overture Films has picked up the “semi-fictional/quasi-documentary” movie “Paper Heart,” starring Charlyne Yi (the crazy stoned-out chick from “Knocked Up”) and her boyfriend Michael Cera. The movie premiered at Sundance, and was directed by Nicholas Jasenovec, who co-wrote it with Yi. It sounds a like a weird mix of a travel documentary and the faux mocumentary style of “The Office.” “Paper Heart” will get a limited release on August 7 in New York and L.A. and will start expanding on August 14 everywhere else.

Is the box office disappointment of the rated-R superhero flick “Watchmen” to blame or was it a promotional tie-in with Pizza Hut? Whatever the reason,the latest chapter in the “Terminator” saga, “Terminator Salvation,” starring Christian Bale and directed by McG, will be rated PG-13 rather than the “hard” R the director originally promised.

Tags: iron man 2, Jon Favreau, kal penn, michael cera, obama, paper heart, poster, richard kelly, the box, where the wild things are

I like both of these actors, so I guess it’s not that big of a deal, but I really do hate the inconsistencies in movie serials.

I’m in the minority in thinking that “Hannibal” was a scandalously fun black comedy successor to “The Silence of the Lambs,” and Julianne Moore is a fantastic actress, but I can’t watch that movie wothout thinking that everything I saw in “Silence” is now stretched to the limit as I try to believe that Clarice is now Moore. The relationship between Anthony Hopkins and Moore just wasn’t the same as the one between he and Jodie Foster.

It will be interesting to see how Favreau takes Jim Rhodes in ”another direction.” And I’m sure Cheadle will be great, but this news today is just a little disappointing.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Don Cheadle is stepping in to replace Terrence Howard in “Iron Man 2,” Marvel Studios’ sequel to its summer blockbuster.

In the movie, Howard played Jim Rhodes, Tony Stark/Iron Man’s best friend and future armor-clad hero War Machine. One scene featured Howard looking at a silver suit of armor and saying “Next time,” a line that caused great delight for fans.

But there will be no next time for Howard.

Marvel had no comment, but sources close to the deal said negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences, among other reasons. Marvel, which had wanted to work with Cheadle, then decided to take the role in another direction and approached the actor, who is shooting Antoine Fuqua’s “Brooklyn’s Finest” with Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke.

Rhodes is expected to play a larger part in the sequel, which is rumored to go beyond high-tech villains. Justin Theroux is writing the screenplay.Jon Favreau is returning as director, and Robert Downey Jr. is expected back as billionaire industrialist Stark/Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow also is expected to be back as Stark’s assistant, Pepper Potts.

Tags: cheadle in, howard out, iron man 2

Questions about the “Iron Man” sequels? The DVD release? Upcoming storylines? “The Avengers” and future Marvel tie-ins? An IMAX release? This long interview at SuperheroHype with director Jon Favreau (finally hired on by Marvel) ought to answer any of those. If that’s not enough, here’s more. And more.

Films number 4 and 5 in the “Spider-Man” series will be filmed back to back and are expected to be directed again by Sam Raimi. Tobey Maguire has a pretty sweet deal for starring in both, but it is unknown whether Kirsten Dunst will return.

Darren Aronofsky is riding high after his new indie “The Wrestler” was sold, but let’s look ahead to his “Robocop,” which he says will be a completely different movie, not a remake of Paul Verhoeven’s classic.

I reported on the Henry Selick-Neil Gaiman new stop-motion animated flick “Coraline” last month when I saw some exclusive clips at Siggraph 2008 in LA. This is an impressive behind-the-scenes report from the set of the movie, as well as an in-depth interview with director Selick.

Michael Douglas as Liberace in a biopic directed by Steven Soderbergh? Only if Matt Damon plays his boyfriend.

Producers Don Carmody and Sam Raimi are in talks to bring the stage play “Evil Dead: The Musical” to the big screen in full 3D glory. Check out YouTube for clips from the play. The movie will feature “some” of the original cast, though star Bruce Campbell may be too old to star as Ash.

Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films is quickly becoming a major player in the political scene, in part because it embraces the immediacy of online video. They are offering Michael Moore’s new documentary as a free download starting Tuesday and are able to take new developments in the presidential election and turn them into short films that become viral sensations. There’s a great profile of Greenwald (who also directed Olivia Newton-John’s surreal 80s musical “Xanadu;” love the E.L.O. on that soundtrack!) here at PBS’ Media Shift. Here’s a video that exploded right out of the gate:

Tags: aronofsky, brave new films, coraline, evil dead musical, gaiman, greenwald, iron man 2, iron man marvel, liberace michael douglas, michael moore, Robocop, selick, slacker uprising