Chandler will play one of the more progressive Catholic figures on the show, and isn’t expected to be neutered by the fact that he just doesn’t have a whistle. Nonetheless, it’s the modern-day Catholic church, so we can’t rule out tight shorts and boys in locker rooms.

Take that, SOCIETY.

Now all we need is for Connie Britton to get off Smash or Nashville or Smashville or whatever show she’s on to join him for a relationship that, while against religious code, is one of the most accurately depicted on TV.

6 photosAimee Teegarden

The twisty story all started to unravel itself Thursday, when Grantland.com editor in chief Bill Simmons tweeted that, “Peter Berg told us he wants to do an FNL movie with Chandler/Britton off the final episode.” After that, multiple sources told me it’s no pipe dream. Berg, who directed the original feature and shepherded the NBC series with exec producer Jason Katims, is working behind the scenes to make it a reality. (TV Line)

So as of right now, Peter Berg wants to make the movie. In the same way that Ron Howard wants to make an Arrested Development movie, and the way the cast of Party Down would like to make a movie. Until there’s a commitment, nothing is certain. Come on Universal, if you like it. Put a ring on it.

Charles (Riley Griffiths) is making a movie on his family’ super 8 camera. It’s 1979 and all his friends are helping. One night they capture a train crash on film and stumble upon a mysterious military conspiracy that unfolds as they wait for the film to be developed. This is the perfect vehicle for Joe (Joel Courtney) to deal with his grief over his mother’s death at the steel mill. What, you want a plot summary, right?

I should love a movie about child filmmakers made by filmmakers, but the young characters ring false. They speak in overlapping, unfocused interruptions, which is how teenagers talk today but not how I imagine kids 30 years ago talked. When Joe marvels about how the lovely Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning), it’s pushing us to find it charming, not genuine puppy love. It’s a script problem, but also may be child actors a little wiser than the characters they’re playing, and being over-directed.

New ‘Super 8′ Trailer: Still No Creature

The film talk is so technical it loses any wonder of kids loving film. It’s funny when a background kid mimics talking on the phone, but otherwise Super 8 tries to teach kids about film rather than glorify the budding Spielbergs. Wasn’t J.J. Abrams one of them?

I was okay with the setup: the dead mom and the wake with kids talking about the body. I mean, you’ve gotta start with a broken family. Then it’s so patronizing how the child connects with the monster. I appreciate the values of it, but the execution was inorganic to the story. Devil had a great take on the same “forgiveness vs. angry aggression” issue, but nobody wants to hear that lesson from M. Night Shyamalan. When Alice comes to Joe’s room, you should feel something but it’s just “insert heart here.”

8 photosNew ‘Super 8′ Stills Show Everything (But The Monster)

The train crash is impressive but obviously all CGI, or at least composited. It never feels like a scene is unfolding, just a sequence of money shots that the kids pretended to run away from on the set. By the time the action picked up, I hated the kids so much I just wanted to be done. It’s so mechanical it’s no fun. Don’t follow the D-bag, because they kill D-bags in movies like this.

The film builds a mystery, because you really don’t know what’s going on, but not a lot of suspense. There are a few attacks where the monster is obscured. It’s basically just Cloverfield with more money and less personality. Now the camera can spin around from more angles, and the lens can flare like in Star Trek. All the things Cloverfield avoided.

’79 puts this movie just before the era of the Amblin greats, and the references are simply irritating. I usually love references, but jokes about how nobody can develop film overnight? Yeah, that’s funny because we know they now have one-hour photo. And wow, a walkman, just like having your own personal stereo!

This is why I’m not that worried about all the remakes and sequels and comic book movies being made. An original concept can be just as phony and hollow as remakes.

New ‘Super 8′ Clip: Kids Are Afraid Of Guns And Monsters

Starring Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler and AJ Michalka, Super 8 crashes into theaters June 10, 2011. (Cinema Blend)

So it is with this TV spot, which reminds me of those halcyon days when commercials didn’t feature iPhone apps, computer-manipulated talking babies, or dumb-looking guys in glasses. Watch it, and remember what it was like to watch commercials for movies in a simpler time.

And FX, perhaps the hottest cable channel to be found right now, wants Chandler for a new show they’re cooking up. “Powers,” a procedural about two police officers who investigate crimes committed by perps with superpowers, has reached out to Chandler, who is awaiting a new script before making a decision on the part. No word on whether Chandler would wear his trademark whistle.

Perhaps the fact that FX has already locked down his TV wife, Connie Britton, in Ryan Murphy‘s “American Horror Story” will influence him. If he jumps on board, he can see his wife at Christmas parties and they can swap stories about FX’s zany VP of Development at the end of long days. Here’s to hoping Aimee Teegarden does a guest stint on”Justified” or something for a very pleasant Taylor family reunion. (Deadline)

This is the first movie poster I’ve seen that’s perfectly designed for Friday. On Friday, you’re bored at your desk, waiting to leave work, with your tilted head resting on your hand and arm, about to fall asleep. You come across this poster for director J.J. Abrams‘ Super 8, produced by Steven Spielberg, starring Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler and Ron Eldard. You think, “why are the words oriented wrong?” Then your boss says you can go, you tilt your head back up the right way, and you think, “uh, wait, why is the landscape oriented wrong?” There’s a pause, and then you think, “oh, cool.”

You saw the trailer, now check out this mysterious poster for a film that’s clearly at the intersection of Abram Drive and Spielberg Blvd, near What All The Best 80′s Kids Movies Were Like Municipal Park. Speaking of nostalgia, that glowing water tower – do you suppose Yakko, Wakko and Dot are in there? I think the answer is almost certainly… “yes.”

Super 8 monster-stomps into theaters June 10th. Click the image for a slightly larger version. (Dread Central)

Then things go insane. It looks like this summer’s biggest hit without a doubt.

In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident.  Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth –  something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.

There’s a rumor that says the official trailer will debut this weekend at Battle: Los Angeles. Then fanboys will get to examine the trailer for clues, examine those clues for clues, and examine their lives and whether they’re using them properly.

Produced by Steven Spielberg, and starring Elle Fanning, Amanda Michalka, and Kyle Chandler, Super 8 crashes into theaters June 10th. (Collider)

J.J. Abrams has rounded out his cast for the seeeeeecret Steven Spielberg-produced Super 8, with Ron Eldard topping the additions. Last week we learned that Kyle Chandler and Elle Fanning are taking the leads, and now the star of "Men Behaving Badly" will get a chance to spare with aliens, if indeed there is sparing.

Abrams has also let Noah Emmerich, Gabriel Basso, Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee and Zach Mills into the Super 8 club. Still not much is known about the film except that some kids capture aliens on thei Super 8 camera. If you see one of these new cast members out at a bar, get them drunk and spilling the beans. There’s a SJ shirt/wash rag in it for ya. (THR)

_{Someone dun goofed.}

Here’s a fun rumor that I hope turns out to be true. Vulture is reporting that Coach Taylor a.k.a. Kyle Chandler from "Friday Night Lights" and Elle Fanning a.k.a. Dakota’s little sister have been cast in Super 8, the J.J. Abrams/Steven Spielberg collaboration that’s dipped and sprinkled in secrecy. Clearly stated, Kyle Chandler is the Man. I guess Elle can come along too, as long as she doesn’t get her sticky kid fingers all over everything.

Last May we saw a teaser that teased water sports, and we’ve been told it’s supposedly about three siblings who discover footage of an alien on Super 8 camera. The movie comes out next summer, so hopefully we’ll be let in on more before then, at least casting wise. It would be a shame if they released the movie without a set cast. Actors always really bring a certain something to the screen.

^{Kyle Chandler gets paranoid around lip-readers.}

The long-suffering fans of Friday Night Lights would be wise to stiffen their upper-lips while reading this next piece of news. Kyle Chandler is said to be in talks to star in a new pilot for Steven Spielberg and Fox, all but guaranteeing the cult favorite will not survive its current season. But whatever, let’s look to the future. Or in this case, to the future and then to the past.

In Terra Nova, Chandler will play to his non-football coaching strengths to play a patriarch who travels through time (much like he did in "Early Edition") and get chased by dinosaurs (much like he did in King Kong). But this family from the future warped to prehistoric times sounds familiar. Where have I seen this Space Age meets the Stone Age concept before? (EW)