I suppose I’d be extremely remiss whether I didn’t lead off today with the news that Guillermo del Toro is now officially going to be making “The Hobbit,” even whether the news does now seem more than a little anticlimactic.

He’ll be moving to New Zealand for the next four years considering, I suppose, it’s now written law that any Tolkein movie with Peter Jackson involved has to be filmed there (and I can certainly think of a few worse sacrifices to have to assemble.)

The somewhat dubious move, of course, is that they’re actually making two movies, one that’s the real “The Hobbit” and thereupon a sequel that somehow bridges the gap amoung that work and the first of the “Lord of the Rings” novels. Since that rather extreme act of hubris means they certainly can’t signal the sequel “J.R.R. Tolkein’s ‘The Hobbit’,” how about “Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson’s imaginary bridge to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ “? I kid, of course, but I bet they’ll both turn out to be simply uber-cool.

Though no release date has been set, Variety - with the four-year window - bets it will be one in 2011 and one in 2012, which seems to compose sense.

And, before we move on to that week’s movies, two bits of TV news, one nothing but poor and one that could turn out to be surprisingly good.

Just to get the ugly out of the way quickly (it is Friday, after all), NBC has definitely traded down in announcing Jimmy Fallon will take by Conan O’Brien’s show when the latter moves into the “Tonight Show” chair. I’ve been wrong at least once before, and to be honest I rarely manage to stay up until 12:30 a.m. very often any more anyway, but I just can’t see any scenario in which I’ll do so for Jimmy Fallon. Sheesh.

In better news, Nathan Fillion - a k a Captain Mal from “Firefly” and “Serenity” - has signed on to star in a pilot for ABC called “Castle.” Despite that rather mundane title, the premise - a “comic procedural” about a famous mystery novelist (Fillion) who helps the NYPD solve crimes - does hold some promise.

But ample about that … now lets take a look at that week’s offerings (which are all really just filling space until the arrival of “Iron Man” anyway), with the added bonus of a trailer for a flick that should probably have made my previous Summer Top 10 list.

1. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
I realize that I’m far too old to watch that one in a theater, and I can’t with good conscience

recommend that anyone else take a chance on anything that juvenile, but I will indeed be there Saturday afternoon. My inner snob led me to pass on “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” but once I saw it on DVD it’s just become one of those foolish little comfort movies - like “Office Space” or “Super Troopers” - that help erase my mind after a particularly dreary work day. Besides, here’s what critic Nell Minow, an always dependable friend to that site, had to say:

Cheerfully offensive, cheekily raunchy, happily outrageous, and often just plain disgusting, the movie avoids the usual sophomore slump by ramping up the political jabs while keeping it all unpretentious and moving quickly.

Sounds right up my rather juvenile alley, so that instance, I’ll be there for the first round.

2. Deception
I had never heard of that until it showed up at our multiplexes that week, but with a cast that includes Michelle Williams (hearty huzzah), Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman, I might have been willing to take a chance. A quick peek at the Rotten Tomatoes, however, shows it only managed a 6 % positive rating, which seems rather astonishing. Granted, that’s only with a few reviews, but the words “predictable potboiler” are ample to stop me (and besides, even “Harold & Kumar” managed to garner 51 % positive.)

3. Baby Mama
I have nothing but love for both Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, but I just can’t shake the suspicion that that one just won’t have decent funny to sustain a feature-length movie. Besides, in the commercial, there’s a litmus-test joke, methinks, when Maura Tierney actually wipes something brown off the face of youngun and tastes it to decide whether it is “chocolate or poop” (I may be paraphrasing just a bit, but you get the gist.) It’s hypocritical I know since I support the often just disgusting “Harold & Kumar,” but that joke just kind of makes me sick ample to wait for DVD on that one.

And finally, as promised, the extended trailer for “Hancock,” which made its premiere on the TV last night, probably during the rather great “Office” episode with the coke-addled Ryan, but since I fast-forward through the commercials I would have missed it anyway. For anyone else who did the same, here’s a look at Peter Berg’s July 2 flick about an alcoholic superhero (Will Smith) in need of a makeover from a PR expert (the always funny Jason Bateman.) All those ingredients sound right to me, and the trailer is indeed pretty darn funny. Enjoy, and have a perfectly enjoyable weekend. Peace out.

Original post by Reel Fanatic