By: Henry J. Fromage –

The directing team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have been all over my radar ever since Half-Nelson, and although It’s Kinda a Funny Story was overall kinda meh, Sugar was great, if way underseen. Now I have another of their flicks to look forward to- Mississippi Grind. This one tells the story of two gambling addicts throwing good money after bad on a tour of Southern casinos.  One role has already been cast with Jake Gyllenhaal, and the search is on for the actor who’ll play his compatriot.

I hear Tobey Maguire’s good at poker…

I just realized that this next story doesn’t really follow that one.  That’s how often I confuse Boden & Fleck and Little Miss Sunshine’s directing team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.  Anyway, Will doesn’t even have them on board anymore, but what they do have is a some dude named Michel Hazanavicius.  Oh, he’s an Oscar-winning director you say?  Then what’s he doing attached to a possible Paul Rudd and Zach Galifianakis-starrer about a man who goes hogwild when he finds he suddenly has something nobody else his world does… free will?  Eh, I’ll watch it.

Even if I should have learned my lesson the first time

Speaking of acclaimed directors, animation legend Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) has a rather more adult project than his usual fare lined up.  His next animated film will tell the story of Jiro Horikoshi, the aeronautical engineer that designed most of Japan’s WWII air fleet, in particular the infamous Zero fighter of Pearl Harbor fame.  It’ll be interesting to see how he handles less whimsical, more dramatic fare.

Unless he just casts pigs again