Category: Movie Comedies (Page 155 of 195)

Expansions

June 5, 2009 /

Just a couple of items where some more information might be of interest.

* I linked yesterday to a Variety story reporting that James Cameron had signed with mega-agency CAA. Last night, however, ace gadfly muckraker Nikki Finke reported that it was merely a new camera technology developed for Cameron’s upcoming “Avatar” 3-D extravaganza, not Cameron himself, that the agency will be repping. In true Finkean style, she can’t resist taking a swipe at Variety in the process, though I guess it might be earned in this case.

Sigourney Weaver* On a more pleasant and actually interesting note, we have some news about Sigourney Weaver‘s upcoming projects, after discussing her — well, actually, Ellen Ripley — topping Total Sci-Fi’s list of female science fiction icons yesterday. For one thing, I didn’t realize until now Ms. Weaver is one of the stars of the aforementioned “Avatar” (as is Will Harris’s talented Facebook buddy Dileep Rao).

But that’s far from all, JA at The Film Experience is waxing enthusiastic over her possible casting (it’s not truly confirmed yet, I gather) in another sci-fi film, of sorts. “Paul” is to be directed by Greg Mottola of “Superbad” and “Adventureland” and written by and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of “Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz,” and “Spaced” fame. Apparently the film has something to do with a couple of British comic book geeks (Pegg and Frost) traveling cross-country from Comic-Con who meet up with Seth Rogen — I gather possibly animated or CGI’d or something — as an alien named, naturally, Paul at Nevada’s Area 51 (at least that’s how SlashFilm’s Paul Sciretta has it). It will also feature Bill Hader, Jane Lynch, Jason Bateman and Kristen Wiig.

Sounds pretty good, but JA was also good enough to mention another comedy casting for Ms. Weaver, this in “You Again,” which will star Kristin Bell, a particular favorite over here. As JA points out, it will re-team the high talented, geek-friendly Bell with director Andy Fickman, who elicited one of her most interesting performances in “Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical” back in 2005. At the risk of going off on a bit of tangent (and, by the way, just happening to mention my lengthy 2007 blog post on Fickman’s entertaining, though highly imperfect, movie), did you know that the former Veronica Mars can, as the Western codgers say, sing purty?

Don’t worry, she gets a lot less wholesome later on…

Actors, Actresses, Comic-Con, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies, TV Comedies

Box Office Preview of the “Lost” Weekend

June 5, 2009 /

So, there I was, thinking about what I was going to post tomorrow when it suddenly occurred to me: it’s not Wednesday, it’s Thursday, which means you’re reading this on Friday morning and, damnit, you need your box office preview.

This weekend sees the release of passel of comedies and comedy dramas, and the smart money at both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter agrees that “Up,” which is just about ready to receive the first Nobel Prize for animation and become the basis for a new religion, will likely defeat both of the newcomers. It gets more intriguing become it’s not impossible that the film starring a bonafide comedy superstar could come in at the #3 spot.

I speak, of course, of “Land of the Lost” starring Will Ferrell, which our own Will Harris gave a mere 1.5 stars to on the grounds of being unfunny and raunchily disconnected from it’s own youngster appeal. Rotten Tomatoes has given the film a sad 20% “Fresh” rating (even if Roger Ebert wrote another of his very, very many utterly winning defenses of films I would never spend my own money to see). I’m sure the elaborate comedy will do a certain amount of business based on Ferrell’s appeal and its special effects, but unless audiences like this one vastly more than critics, there may be long faces at Universal on Monday. At least it’s gotten the original TV series reissued, much to the delight of my fellow PH-er, Ross Ruediger.

Ed Helms and a feathered friendOn the other hand, the megastar-free “The Hangover,” which sort of sounds like a retread of the premise of “Very Bad Things,” is apparently a vastly more upbeat affair. My film review overseer, Jason Zingale, gave it a solid 3.5 stars and in general it is being received as a very good thing by RT critics, and may well do very good things for the careers of its up-and-coming cast. An upset at the #2 spot is not impossible.

Other than that, we have a new romantic comedy vehicle from Nia Vardolos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”), “My Life in Ruins.” Despite being written by the very talented comedy writer, Mike Reiss, this film keeps alive director Donald Petrie’s career long record of never making a single well reviewed featured, receiving a truly dismal 7% at RT. I wouldn’t expect another sleeper from this one. Bullz-Eye’s Dave Medsker gave it 2.5 stars, definitely more in sorrow than in anger.

That’s pretty much it, but in very limited release is a new film from Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”, “Road to Perdition”) and literary power couple Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, which we’ll talk about when it’s in more than four theaters. Also, speaking of director’s named “Sam,” please consider giving Mr. Raimi’s “Drag Me to Hell” a chance this weekend. It’s that or the only horror films the studios will be greenlighting will be “The Grudge 15” or such upcoming torture-porn classics as “I Digest Your Eyeballs” and “The Scrotum Stretchers.” Keep horror sane, see the darn thing. (Also check out Will Harris’s interview with the very cool actor, Dileep Rao.)

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies, TV DVDs

Land of the Lost – Season Two: “Mysterious Forces”

June 3, 2009 /

Before jumping into Season Two, allow me to discuss the “Land of the Lost” movie for a bit. As you might glean, I’m a pretty hardcore fan of this show. Yes, believe it or not, we do exist; “Land of the Lost” has a small, but fervent cult following. The last thing fans of this series ever wanted to see was a comedy send-up of the premise. No, most fans had minor dreams of someday seeing a big-budget, sci-fi movie created by people that took the concept as seriously as David Gerrold did back in the day. But, alas, that did not happen, and instead we’re getting a movie that’s likely closer in tone to some of the other Krofft properties, rather than the one it’s actually based on.

All that said, any amount of money that can be made by this movie must be positive for “Land of the Lost” as a brand name, and if the movie does well, you never know what the future might hold. Personally, I’d like to see the movie do so well that somebody decides to greenlight a new version of the series for Sci Fi, which would be the obvious network for it to end up on (indeed, Sci Fi has even been running “Land of the Lost” marathons as of late). I mean, really, how many steps away from “Primeval” – an enormous success for ITV in England, as well as here in the States on BBC America – is a serious version of this concept? So if you’re a fan of the series, don’t be so quick to skip the movie, simply because it isn’t what you envisioned. Grab some friends and a few beers and head out to the movie theatre this weekend, because the future of “Land of the Lost” probably rests in the obnoxious antics of Will Ferrell. (That is, admittedly, a sentence I never in my life thought I’d have to type.)

Now back to your regularly scheduled breakdown of Season Two of “Land of the Lost…”

David Gerrold left the series after the first season, and so a new story editor was hired in the form of Dick Morgan, who’d written such Season One offerings as “Album” and “Follow That Dinosaur.” Clearly Morgan had a lot of respect for what Gerrold had laid down, but it seems that he perhaps didn’t have a big vision of his own. (In all fairness, this is an unfair supposition on my part; as with any TV show there are many fingers in the pie, and who’s to say who’s to blame?) Part of the problem with Season Two is that it frequently tries to expand on ideas from the first season, often without success. This isn’t to say that the season isn’t any good; in fact, you’ve got to be a bit obsessive about the show in order to notice a big difference from the first season…but, then again, that’s why I’m here sharing my insights with anyone who cares to listen.

Continue reading »

External Entertainment, External TV, Movie Comedies, Reviews, Sci-Fi Movies, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV DVDs, TV Sci-Fi

A Time for Quick Hits….

June 3, 2009 /

Things have been a bit crazy at Casa Westal, what with this new regular blog gig and attendant mishegas and other projects, plus this afternoon the kind folks at AT&T let my household Internet go bye-bye. (I’m writing this at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf nearest me, because the other guys’ “free” Internet deal sucks beyond all words, even if they’re egg sandwiches are good and I actually like very darkly roasted coffee.)

Nevertheless, there is stuff to tell you.

* I’ve been remiss in failing to mention that Sunday’s Bruno/Slim Shady rectal contretemps has been confirmed as a staged event, via the wondrous and personally very cool Anne Thompson. However, Sacha Baron Cohen has at least on potential serious problem — a lawsuit that is a lot more serious than the “Borat made me look stupid and racist, possibly because I really am stupid and racist” actions that were brought against him before. This time a woman alleges that Baron Cohen’s crew attacked her to get a reaction for the film and that she is disabled as a result. If true, I have to wonder why criminal charges weren’t filed, and as Matthew Belloni comments, the timing (just prior to the release of the “Bruno” movie) is worth noting.

* THR and Variety both have reviews of “Land of the Lost.” Neither cares for it. As for the original series, Variety‘s Brian Lowry refers to it as “campy” and Kirk Honeycutt refers to the show as being “fondly remembered (in some quarters).” Those quarters would belong to our own Ross Ruediger. Read on….

* And one more item from Anne Thompson. Something calling itself the Ultimate Movie Site is in beta. At first blush, I’m not feeling it. It’s definitely ambitious, but also strikes me as a little confusing and unfocused in its lay-out and in precisely what it’s trying to do. And, if something calling itself that doesn’t work for this mega-movie geek, will it work for others? Besides, I thought this was the ultimate movie site….

Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, Gossip Girl, Humor, Movie Comedies, Movies, News

The Perfect Bombshell

June 3, 2009 /

I’ll spare you the prose poetry, the demands that you drop everything instantly and watch “Some Like it Hot” — one of the few movie farces that really, really works — and simply let you know that a bunch of previously unseen photos of Ms. Monroe are up over at Life.com. By all accounts, she was no easy person to figure out, but staring at the picture of the actress who was both so easy (and wrong) to dismiss and so impossible to define, it’s a lovely thing to attempt.

And, below, a musical moment from a movie I’ll watch all the way through at almost any time. There is nothing perfect in this world, however….

Action Movies, External Entertainment, Movie Comedies, Movies, News

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Premium Hollywood

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑