Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Jonah Hill Has Already Finished His Movie With the Duplass Brothers
Posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 by Russ Fischer
Jonah Hill evidently really digs the movies by Mumblecore auteurs Jay and Mark Duplass. Their film The Puffy Chair, about two brothers on a road trip to pick up a replica of an odd family heirloom, is one of his favorites. So the three did a movie together, and according to MTV the project just finished a six-week LA shoot. In the untitled film (formerly called Safety Men) Hill is the son of Marisa Tomei, who has just begun a relationship with John C. Reilly. Read More »
Movie Deadpool To Break Fourth Wall, Talk To The Audience
Posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
Ryan Reynolds has told Empire that he’s insistent on Deadpool’s habit of breaking of the fourth wall to carry over from the comics to the big screen. That means, in effect, that Deadpool/Wade Wilson will sometimes address the audience directly, as with Ferris Bueller, say, or the character of Paul in Funny Games. Other forms of metahumour have cropped up in the Deadpool comics, with him occasionally making explicit reference to his being a Marvel comics character. I’ll give you a handful of examples after the break.
Movie Review: Visioneers Starring Zach Galifianakis (Man Vs. Office Culture Continues)
Posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 by Hunter Stephenson
Thirty minutes into Visioneers—a high concept indie dramedy that is, well, brand new to the public—I was consumed by the thought that I, most likely, will never see the movie for sale in a really choice record store. (Don’t worry, this movie review will not serve as a wistful rant on the music industry courtesy of a wannabe Nick Hornby or Chuck Klosterman.) The realization got me down for a half-a-second. Nevertheless, calling Visioneers a “prized would-be staple of the ‘choice record store movie genre’” is a tidy complement that sums up how I feel about it.
In the mid/late ‘90s and early ‘00s, one could find a softly-curated section of DVDs in many independent record stores. Browsing the small selection was a welcome, habitual cool-down after hours spent listening to and considering albums. Generally, the selection amounted to: concert films like Ziggy Stardust, The Show, and Bill Hicks Live. Drug movies like Easy Rider and Neco z Alenky. Godzillas. Tromas. “OG”-flicks like New Jack City and Fresh. Usually a movie starring Natasha Lyonne that wasn’t American Pie. Docs like Grey Gardens and The Corporation. And odd movies starring great comedians like The Magic Christian and The Razor’s Edge. Right, Visioneers would be bunched in with those two.
Of course, “cult movies” is a broad umbrella term for these films, then and especially now, but their location under a roof housing infinite great music birthed the silent notion that the works belonged to a cinematic family. The odd symbiotic relationship is perhaps why the DVDs were rarely purchased; another reason is that, while the DVDs were new, the hands of countless gross nerds, junkies, and patchouli weirdos had flipped them over in states of blank studiousness and after many months of this they felt second-hand. Yet another reason is that most of the diehard culture addicts were shopping for music and…had already seen the majority of these films multiple times.
First Look: Eminem in Judd Apatow’s Funny People
Posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Eminem revealed last month that he filmed a cameo in Judd Apatow’s Funny People. Now MTV has confirmed the appearance, publishing the first photo of Marshall Mathers in the movie, chatting with Adam Sandler at a Hollywood restaurant.
Every time Winona Ryder does something that interests the movie press (something that doesn’t involve getting arrested) she talks about a Heathers sequel. Listening to Ryder, you’d think there was a packaged project all ready to go, waiting in a studio exective’s office with a white sheet thrown over it, just waiting to be revealed like a classy sculpture. Not so, said original director Michael Lehmann when interviewed by Movieline. Read More »
The full theatrical trailer for the animated 3D film Planet 51 has appeared at Yahoo. The film is about a human astronaut (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) who lands on an alien planet, only to discover that it looks exactly like Earth. Sure, the denizens are green aliens, but otherwise they’re just like us…and not too happy to have an alien invader in their midst. Gary Oldman, Jessica Biel, Justin Long and John Cleese are also in the voice cast. Joe Stillman (Shrek and Shrek 2, the upcoming Gulliver’s Travels) is credited with the script and Jorge Blanco, Javier Abad and Marcos Martinezare co-directed. See the trailer after the jump. Read More »
Green Hornet Moves To July, Jennifer’s Body Gets Rated Bloody R
Posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Columbia Pictures has moved Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet back two weeks from June 25th 2010 to July 9th 2010. According to ERC, the move was made to make room for the studio’s Dennis Dugan-directed comedy Grown Ups, which was moved from March 12th to June 25th. But with The Twilight Saga’s Eclipse scheduled to hit theaters on June 30th, I’m surprised that Columbia would want either of their films near the tween vampire romance sequel.
And since it was revealed that Megan Fox wouldn’t appear naked in the filmed topless scene in the Diablo Cody-scripted horror film Jennifer’s Body, fans have been speculating that 20th Century Fox was aiming for a PG-13 rating. I read the initial draft of the screenplay, and I’m not sure that story could be told in PG-13. But fear not, the MPAA has finally spoken. The film is officially rated R for “sexuality, bloody violence, language and brief drug use.” Nope, you’re still not going to see Megan Fox topless, but at least we’ll be getting a bloody r-rated horror film. [Bloody-disgusting]
Watch Aziz Ansari Do Stand-Up Comedy in Judd Apatow’s Funny People
Posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Universal has been launching a bunch of cool viral websites for Judd Apatow’s Funny People. First we had some clips from Jason Schwartman’s character’s pilot television show Yo Teach. A couple weeks ago they launched the official website for comedian/acotr George Simmons (the main character of the film played by Adam Sandler) complete with video clips from some of his filmography. Today they have launched (NSFW) LaughYourDickOff.com, the official website of Randy (played by Aziz Ansari in the film).
Randy is a superstar comic living in Los Angeles. In addition to being a show-stopping comic performer, he’s socially conscious, too. Check out the “Randy in Darfur” section of his website and find out where you can send your cashier checks to help support Randy…er, the cause.
The website includes a bio, tour dates, a soundboard, and more. The best part is a bunch of video clips from Randy’s stand-up comedy shows, which you can watch embedded after the jump. Warning: NSFW, and I apologize for the autoplay, but Universal doesn’t allow any way to disable it.
LOL: Jeff Goldblum Denies, Then Confirms His Death
Posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 by Russ Fischer
If you were intently watching news, Twitter and Facebook feeds last week as Michael Jackson was passing, you probably also saw an equally tragic piece of ‘news’ pass by: reports said that Jeff Goldblum had fallen to his death while filming a movie in New Zealand. Never mind that cursory searches suggested that he was at work in New York; the reports said New Zealand police confirmed the story as true!
How could we doubt such reportage? Cue up a double feature of The Fly and Buckaroo Banzai! (Just do that, anyway. They’re amazing.) Of course the story wasn’t true, but that didn’t stop Stephen Colbert and guest Jeff Goldblum from crying over it last night. Watch the clip, via Cinematical, after the jump. Read More »
Look at the cast for Universal’s upcoming Couples Retreat: Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Malin Akerman, Faizon Love, Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, Jean Reno, Peter Serafinowicz and Ken Joeong (currently extorting money from the trio of drunks in The Hangover). Now look at the first trailer, after the jump. Read More »
With only two feature films and one TV show to his name, writer/director Jody Hill, is now synonymous with ignoring the boundaries and “genre rules” of modern comedy and creating anti-heroes that laughably burble with nihilistic rage, scary faux pas and hot-air egos. But there is also an internal depth to these macho doofuses played by Hill’s longtime pal and writing partner, Danny McBride, and comedy star Seth Rogen, to surpass the high art of a perfectly-timed and pronounced “fuck.”
Hill’s work on Observe & Report, The Foot Fist Way, and his cultural breakthrough, HBO’s Eastbound & Down, contains more glass-darkly social commentary and life-lived expression than the work of any hotshot young novelist in recent memory. Rather than document the cold realities and indulgent pleasantries of another big city with bright lights, Hill is set on exploring the very place that so many creative-types vacate upon the arrival of their first Visa card or college acceptance letter: the American South. Moreover, as many middle-class and broke white American males face sobering, if inevitable, realizations and disillusions about the future, laughing at Hill’s moronic, unhinged versions as they champion outdated movie/sports star heroics atop small-town kingdoms is like homemade medicine. When it comes to countering the monotony of the average day-to-day? Eastbound is harder to beat still. The sight of Kenny Powers “dancing” in a middle school gym under the influence of eggrolls and ecstasy or ejecting a topless broad from his Jet Ski is priceless. Like cheetah-spotted gold or “a bulletproof tiger, dude.”
A native of North Carolina, Hill is the latest progeny of the North Carolina School of the Arts, alongside McBride and creative partner Ben Best, fellow EB&D director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express), and EB&D cinematographer Tim Orr. In the first part of my interview, we discuss the show in-depth, including some of the surprising and vile admissions and special features on the Season One DVD. We also talk about what it’s like to be a young director coming from, and staying in, the South, why so many comedians today are from there, and why the region was overdue for a proper comedic depiction.
Hunter Stephenson: Hey Jody, how are you?
Jody Hill: Hey Hunter. Good, good, good. Hey man, I wanted to say that I was sorry I wasn’t there when you visited down in Wilmington [Eastbound & Down set, 2008]. I remember the piece you wrote, and it sounded like a really good time. [laughs] Sucks I couldn’t there, man; I was editing my film (Observe & Report), and Warner Bros. wouldn’t let me go. When you have to do a director’s cut, they want to lock you up for 10 weeks. [laughs] Everybody said they had a blast…and I was editing.
Yeah. I expected to interview you there. And I didn’t know about the change, that David Green was now directing the majority of the episodes while you were in L.A. But it all worked out, he killed it. My first question: Legend has it that when you, Danny [McBride], and Ben [Best] first conceived of Kenny Powers you were sitting in a kiddie pool in North Carolina drinking beers. [laughs] Is that accurate?
Jody Hill: [laughs] Yeah, this was before we made Foot Fist Way or anything. We were trying to come up with ideas for shows. I was between jobs; I had been working this really shit reality show job, doing motion-control for Behind the Music and shit like that. [laughs] It was pretty lame. And so, yeah, we were in Charlotte, in the backyard of Ben Best’s house. And yeah, we were literally sitting in a kiddie pool with a case of beer. And Kenny was one of the ideas that, uh, we came up with. [laughs]
Michelle Trachtenberg and Jim Norton Join A Couple of Dicks
Posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Kevin Smith’s buddy cop comedy A Couple of Dicks has been filming in and around New York City for a month now, but a few more names have been added to the cast list. Last night we told you that Jason Lee would be filming a small part in the film, and tonight Variety confirms our earlier report and adds one more name to the list: Michelle Trachtenberg, best known as Dawn Summers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Georgina Sparks on Gossip Girl. Comedian Jim Norton (of Opie & Anthony fame) also has a small role in the film, which he filmed earlier today (see his Tweet). Trachtenberg will play the daughter of Willis’ character, and Lee will portray her stepfather.
