On August 8, 1986 director Rob Reiner began an incredible five film run by releasing a seemingly simple adaptation of a Stephen King novella called The Body. Reiner’s film was called Stand By Me and starred River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell as four young friends who, in 1959, set out on a journey to see a dead body. After initially opening in limited release, the film expanded a few weeks later and became a box office hit, raking in just over $50 million.
As a young boy, though, none of that was important. What was important is when I finally saw Stand By Me, I was at an impressionable enough age that Reiner’s film, so expertly crafted and filled with perfect dialogue and performances, taught me things my parents never would have thought of. I was schooled in the ways of Fifties pop music. I learned what a leech was. I learned how to use “dodge” as verb and I learned how many you got for flinching. What was, on the surface, a seemingly simple adaptation was obviously much more than that and has stood the test of time.
After the jump, read fifteen silly and serious things Stand By Me still teaches us 25 years after its initial release. Read More »
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Piranha 3D isn’t being shown to critics, which might mean that the Weinstein Company knows the movie is terrible, or just that they don’t need critics. Why bother, when there’s a built-in audience ready to see boobs, blood and killer fish in 3D?
But even the lowliest movie has aspirations towards Oscar, and so we present For Your Consideration: Piranha 3D, in which ‘Hollywood treasure’ Jerry O’Connell leads a pack of actors (Adam Scott, Kelly Brook, Paul Scheer and more) in a campaign to win real award recognition for the film. Read More »
This summer, /Film considered traveling to the set of Piranha 3-D. Witnessing unlikely co-stars Richard Dreyfuss, Christopher Lloyd, Adam Scott, and completely naked bimbos battling (or getting devoured by) killer fish at the command of horror director Alex Aja is what the season is all about, no? Alas, it wasn’t meant be to be. The STD-insurance alone in the spring break hotspot of Lake Havasu, Arizona—where the film is shooting and set—is friggin’ outrageous. After informing us that we were not worthy, Piranha 3-D co-star and Human Giant comedian, Paul Scheer, offered up lots of funny, obscene and insane deets about next March’s horror flick. He also sent over this exclusive photo of his morally bankrupt character.
At times, our conversation went off the record into darker territory—a la shark viscera spilling onto a pier—but much is said below about a production that aspires to be the goriest and craziest 3-D movie ever. Paul discussed his role (it required method-acting and method-oogling), the precise amount of blood (a shit ton), Lake Havasu memories, and why Richard Dreyfuss’s sage character will seem, erm, pretty damn familiar. Chomp, chomp, chomp…
Hunter Stephenson: So Paul, I assume you wanted to do a broad family film and then you were offered Piranha 3-D. It was a matter of good timing, serendipitous.
Paul Scheer: [laughs] Yeah, well, I was trying to get Imagine That Too off the ground, where I become Eddie Murphy’s brother, and have my own adventure with my daughter. It was actually crazy, because when I first heard about this movie, it was like, “Elizabeth Shue is in Piranha 3-D, she’s awesome!” And then, you know, the title sounds cool and it sounds campy…
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Didn’t Ben Affleck learn his lesson? I thought he was going to stop the whole “one for me, one for them” thing. Well it looks like the man has done another generic romantic comedy, which was… released this week on DVD. That’s right, Affleck is now making direct to DVD features! Why, God why? Love him or hate him, the Man has talent if he’s given the right script. So why this? Check out the trailer after the jump.
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