When compiling a list of the best and most important films of 2009, one must never forget to include Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, even if it necessitates creating a lone, mutant category. Sure, the cult classic shit champion was originally released in 2003, and was probably advertised on L.A. billboards years before that (joke), but 2009 was the year that The Room said “Hi doggie!” to the pop culture brain cave like a Centurion slug. To celebrate this achievement, Patton Oswalt has donned a Wiseauian wig in a new vid of spoof-offs like The Veranda, The Hallway, and (NSFWinedrinkers) The Bubble Bath. There’s also a secret cameo. Hint: “Oh, hi Don Draper!”
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The AV Club has a brilliant and rather long interview with Patton Oswalt this week, to celebrate the comic’s new CD/DVD My Weakness is Strong. (Which is worth celebrating; it’s a great set.) The interview is worth your time if you have any interest in Oswalt and the art of stand-up comedy in general, but it also has a good tidbit of info that expands what we know about his role on the Battlestar Galactica spin-off Caprica. Read More »
HBO has premiered a full trailer for the new television series Bored to Death, which is being billed as “A Noir-otic Comedy”. Jason Schwartzman stars as Jonathan Ames (well, not the real Jonathan Ames, although he is a writer on the show), an alcoholic noir-fiction-obsessed writer who impulsively decides to become an unlicensed private detective. The show also features Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) as Ames’ best friend Ray, a comic book writer, who along with Ames’ editor (played by Ted Danson), winds up tagging along for a few detective cases. Seems like a great concept for a television show.
The trailer also features guest appearances from John Hodgman (Daily Show, Mac ads), Patton Oswalt, Kirsten Wiig, Parker Posey, Bebe Neuwirth, Oliver Platt and while I didn’t notice her in the trailer, IMDb also lists the wonderful Olivia Thirlby. And if you’re not sold yet… Paul Feig, of Freaks and Geeks, The Office and Arrested Development fame, directs a couple episodes. Check out the trailer now embedded after the jump. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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I never thought we’d see the likes of Patton Oswalt on Caprica, but now that we’ve learned that he’s landed a recurring role I can’t say I’m too surprised. Oswalt has never been shy about his geekiness—a tendency which was evident in Ratatouille and his stand up routine (check out his great Wired interview on Geeks vs. Nerds)—so it’s no real shock that he’s managed to get himself into one of the best sci-fi universes out there. He was also on Dollhouse last season, so this won’t be his first sci-fi endeavor either.
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First Independent Pictures has supplied us with an exclusive clip from Big Fan, the feature directorial debut of Robert Siegel, screenwriter of Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler and former editor of The Onion. You probably know the film better as the Patton Oswalt obsessed football fan movie. As I have warned previously, this film is not a comedy, but instead a character study. If you know that going in, you’ll be a lot better off. Watch the clip after the jump.
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One of the most anticipated films of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival was Big Fan, the feature directorial debut of Robert Siegel, screenwriter of Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler and former editor of The Onion . The film was met to mixed reviews, not because its a bad movie, but because most everyone I talked to walked into the screening expecting something else entirely. The film stars comedian Patton Oswalt as a 35-year-old parking garage attendant from Staten Island, who is the self-described “world’s biggest New York Giants fan.
He lives at home with his mother, spending his off hours calling in to local sports-radio station 760 The Zone, where he rants in support of his beloved team, often against his mysterious on-air rival, Eagles fan Philadelphia. His family berates him for doing nothing with his life, but they don’t understand the depth of his love of the Giants or the responsibility his fandom carries. One night, Paul and his best friend Sal spot Giants star linebacker Quantrell Bishop at a gas station in their neighborhood. They impulsively follow his limo into Manhattan, to a strip club, where they hang in the background, agog at their hero. Paul cautiously decides to approach him, stepping into the rarefied air of football stardom — and things do not go as planned. The fallout of this chance encounter brings Paul’s world crashing down around him as his family, the team, the media and the authorities engage in a tug of war over Paul, testing his allegiances and calling into question everything he believes in. Meanwhile, the Giants march toward a late-season showdown with the Eagles, unaware that sometimes the most brutal struggles take place far from the field of play.
With Oswalt in the lead, most festival-goers were expecting a flat out comedy, but were shocked to find a dark dramedy. Big Fan is a character study much in the same vein of Siegel’s The Wrestler. It is a profile of an obsessed sports fanatic who has invested too much of himself into a past time. You might not like the twists and turns, and you probably won’t have any idea where this story will conclude, but you’ll walk out of it with an all new respect for Oswalt — who proves he has dramatic chops on top of the comic timing. Watch the trailer after the jump.
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One of the best documentaries of 2009 is Best Worst Movie. Whether you have read about it on /Film or watched it unfold before your eyes at a film festival, its very existence is miraculous. At its core, the doc marks the unlikely, unflinching reunion between director Michael Stephenson—the child star of 1990’s Troll 2 (renown for being the worst movie of all time)—and his estranged Troll 2 co-stars and filmmakers. Over the last few years, the notoriety and fandom of Troll 2 has exploded into packed screenings nationwide, fan-organized parties, utterly deranged Internet memes, and frothy endorsements from the likes of Patton Oswalt and the Upright Citizens Brigade. But similar to the broad and hearty appeal of Best Worst Movie, Troll 2’s allure reaches outside the niche yet increasingly mainstream gates of a celebrated B- or F-Movie.
Troll 2 is the Kubrickian starchild of terrible movies. It’s incomparable badness is such that it warps our very definition into slime-colored brain candy that pops with cinematic pseudo-genius. The basic plot is a fairy tale-gone-sour about an All-American ’80s family that vacations in a deserted town called Nilbog. Based on the name alone, it’s no surprise that Nilbog is a human trap created by small vegan creatures in burlap sacks; ones obsessed with milk and looking cheap. As played by Stephenson, the family’s uber-annoying son, Joshua Waits, is surpassed in corniness only by his confident, clueless Southern father (would-be actor, definite cult legend George Hardy). Now an esteemed small-town dentist, Best Worst Movie catches up with Hardy, and follows him as he rides out Troll 2’s renewed popularity around the globe in the Era of Internet Fame and Unabashed/Fleeting Geekdom.
Stephenson also tracks down other cast members living at differing and fascinating levels of obscurity, normalcy, and dysfunction. In our interview with Stephenson below, he explains that after outgrowing the embarrassment, years later he found himself searching out this make-believe but very real family. And Best Worst Movie goes one step further. It documents how impossibly connective and family-esque movie culture has become outside the eye and coffers of Hollywood. Such is Troll 2’s power to entertain and unite that it can break through the stale dung of 1,000 McGs like water rapids through a wicked temple built by Druid goblins. Combined, Best Worst Movie and Troll 2 get us back in touch with what it means to love movies, to make them, and to have our lives changed by them for better, and sometimes Worst.
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Posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 by David Chen
Patton Oswalt has always been one of my favorite comedians. Career-wise, his appearances on Reno 9/11 have shown he’s not afraid to make fun of himself, while his starring role in Pixar’s Ratatouille made him the envy of film nerds everywhere. In his stand-up, I love the way he is able to combine nerd/geek topics with a withering righteous indignation. Take, for example, the following diatribe directed at people complaining about the faithfulness of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen adaptation, which he recently unleashed on his MySpace page:
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Former Onion editor turned screenwriter Robert D. Siegel goes from The Wrestler to making his directorial debut with Big Fan, a dramedy about a hardcore New York Giants fan played by /Film favorite Patton Oswalt. Paul Aufiero is a parking lot attendant who lives and breathes everything Giants. He spends his free time scripting intense rants against rival teams which he calls into the local Sports Dog radio show. And every game he can be found tailgating outside Giants Stadium.
But his life is turned upside down when he is beaten up by his favorite player and put in the hospital. Not only is he physically hurt, but now his team is losing due to the suspension over the incident. To make matters worse, Paul’s brother, an as seen on television lawyer, wants him to file a multi-million dollar lawsuit, and the police keep chasing Aufiero to file a report. But Paul refuses to do any harm to his team, even if it means not getting justice for the beat down he suffered.
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One of the 2009 films we’re most anticipating is Observe and Report, due in April, from director Jody Hill (The Foot Fist Way). Yesterday, when Peter posted new stills from the R-rated comedy starring Seth Rogen as an obsessive mall cop, several commenters began negatively comparing O&R with January’s stillborn Kevin James vehicle, Paul Blart: Mall Cop; going so far as to resurrect the Armageddon versus Deep Impact theatrical Turdbowl of 1998. According to an acquaintance unrelated to the production who caught a test screening and swears by it: “That’s a terrible analogy. It’s more like, say, compare Song of the South to Gone With the Wind. I mean, no, I haven’t seen Mall Cop, but, c’mon, it’s the opposite of funny.” Okay, that admittedly wasn’t very helpful.
Meanwhile, during our set visit on HBO’s Eastbound and Down, which Hill co-created and co-directed, the general sentiment was that Observe and Report is a batshit TKO. Actor Ben Best has a small role in the film and, while he couldn’t reveal much, he did let out this funny story about Rogen’s adversary in the film: the man, the legend Mr. Ray Liotta…
“Holy shit, this movie. First off, [Observe and Report] has one of the craziest endings you have ever seen. Listen to this. One day, we’re lining up a shot, and we’re standing on these courthouse steps, Seth is there, and Jody tells us to move down. And Jody says, ‘Hey Ray [Liotta], why don’t you go here.’ And Jody’s literally talking about the next step down, and Ray’s like ‘…Why?’
Seth and I just look at each other, like ‘Uhhh?’ So, Jody thinks for a second, and goes ‘Why not?’ And Ray goes, ‘Well, I just don’t think my character would stand on this step.’ And Jody just goes ‘Fuck It.’ So, after it’s over, Ray says to me, ‘You know what I think about that?’ And he just goes [makes ginormous fart noise---an IRL wet fart]. The smell….it was the most disgusting thing ever. He’s crazy in a good way. [laughs] But yeah, some of the funniest shit I’ve ever seen is in that movie. What you’ve heard from the test screenings, we can go much darker; it’s more like a darker Alexander Payne. It’s one of those great comedies…and the homage to Old Boy is retarded.”
And Patton Oswalt plays the mall’s “Cinnabon Man,” so we might want to store that witty, percolating Dante’s Peak/Volcano scenario until the next inevitable round of Bay/Emmerich. If anyone has a story from the set of Paul Blart: Mall Cop about Kevin James putting his hand in his armpit, do tell below.
