The Screengrab : will ferrell

Morning Deal Report: Rachel Weisz Blows the Whistle

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Rachel Weisz signs on to The Whistleblower, an indie political drama about…well, I think it’s about a whistleblower, but let me check to make sure. “Based on a true story, Whistleblower chronicles the trials of a female cop from Nebraska who serves as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and exposes a United Nations cover-up of a sex trafficking scandal,” Variety reports. See, I knew it!

If Wolverine is an X-Men spinoff, then what does that make Deadpool, a proposed Wolvervine spinoff starring Ryan Reynolds as the “wise-cracking mercenary played in the film by Ryan Reynolds”? An X-Men spinoff-in-law? “Deadpool is known as ‘the merc with a mouth,’ a character that under Reynolds lived up to his billing in Wolverine until the end, when the movie deviated from the comic book persona, imbuing him with several superpowers and sewing his mouth shut,” per The Hollywood Reporter. Hmm, that sounds like a spoiler to me.

Will Ferrell is ready to join the Neighborhood Watch. “Story chronicles an urbanite's journey as he moves to a suburban community, joins the neighborhood watch and uncovers a large conspiracy.”

Trailer Review: Land of the Lost

Paul Clark — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Last week, the Screengrab brain trust predicted that this big-screen remake of the cheeseball TV series would be summer’s biggest flops. Based on this trailer, it’s not hard to see why. Frankly, for a movie that allegedly cost more than $100 million to produce, this looks really cheap, with second-rate special effects like the T-Rex that menaces star Will Ferrell at the end. Yes, I know that the original series wasn’t exactly a paragon of cutting-edge technology, but if Universal and director Brad Silberling wanted to pay tribute to the Krofft brothers’ rinky-tink effects, they should have gone all out instead of simply turning it into cheap CGI. Plus there’s the presence of Ferrell, whose sense of quality control has never been all that great, trying to lend some marquee value to a movie that’s half camp, half nostalgia piece- never the most bankable of hybrids. Ferrell can be very funny given the chance, but here it looks like he’s just flailing around, reining it in to get the PG-13. Worse yet, Danny McBride barely says anything at all in the trailer, which is never a good sign. Everything about this trailer, down to the title font (which comes straight from the Fast and Furious tetralogy, attests to how shabby and cut-rate this movie will almost certainly be.

The Screengrab Highlight Reel: April 18-24, 2009

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:00:00 GMT

What’s happening, Screengrabbers? My buddy here and I decided to take this opportunity to clear up a few misconceptions about our forthcoming summer blockbuster, which you all will love very much. We were very disturbed to read Screengrab Predicts Summer 2009 (Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six), particularly the part where Land of the Lost was predicted to be the biggest bomb of the summer! Sure, the previews may have given some people the impression that our movie is just another big budget crapfest of a cash-in, but believe you me, nothing could be further from the truth! We have the utmost respect for the original piece. We’re simply reimagining it in contemporary terms, as you might, say, with a modern-dress version of Hamlet. Or Bewitched!

While we’re here, we might as well check out some other stuff that looks interesting, like The Great Netflix-"Crash" Mystery (never saw it), Mia Farrow Plans to Fast for Darfur (looks like she already is, am I right?) and Angelina Jolie Plays Doctor (I’d like to turn my head and cough, if you know what I mean).

That’s all I’ve got time for, but my pal the Sleestak is gonna stick around and read:

Reviews: Tyson, Treeless Mountain, Il Divo, Infestation

Screengrab Q&A: James Toback

Charlie Kaufman Would You Like to Know That He Really Does Care About @#$%ing Structure!

Reviews By Request: Juliet of the Spirits (1965, Federico Fellini)

Forgotten Films: "The Daytrippers" (1987)

Marathon Day Special: The Longest Movies of All Time

The Screengrab Library of Unproduced Screenplays: John Belushi's "Noble Rot"

Screengrab Predicts: The Top 5 Bombs of Summer 2009 (Part Three)

Andrew Osborne — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT

And now, the bombs...though, to be honest, with no Love Guru or Speed Racer in the running, this category (with one consensus exception) is a lot more of an open race for Summer 2009, with ties in the 4th and 5th place spots pretty much decided by coin-toss...well, it was a little more scientific than that, but not by much...

5. YEAR ONE (June 19)

Nick:
Barring The Flintstones suddenly becoming fashionable again, Harold Ramis’ caveman comedy starring Jack Black and Michael Cera will sink like a stone.

Scott:
Maybe this has one good weekend in it, but I’m not seeing a lot of staying power here. If you check your list of successful cavemen comedies, I think you’ll find it’s a bit shorter than you remember.

Andrew:
Oh, I dunno...I remember at least one really good gag in Ringo Starr’s Caveman, and I expect Year One to at least double that batting average...which might be just enough to get me into an air-conditioned theater on some muggy June afternoon. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, true...

4. IMAGINE THAT (June 12)

Scott:
Imagine what? Another toothless “family-friendly” Eddie Murphy comedy larded with sugary sweet life lessons? All too easy to imagine.

Paul:
Dear Eddie Murphy,

It’s been a decade since Bowfinger. Ever since then you’ve made lousy action comedies, lousy family comedies, and computer-animated comedies in which you provide the voice of a talking donkey. Pleasepleaseplease be funny again, both for your own sake and the sake of those who remember when you could still make people laugh. Thank you.

Sincerely,
The Screengrab

Andrew:
Okay, you guys convinced me...I kinda wish I’d put this on my own list of “bombs” now...but I put Transformers in its place on my list instead out of sheer malice.

3. X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (May 1)

Nick:
Each X-Men film has made more than its predecessor, and this prequel cost more to make than any prior series entry. The Internet leak won’t affect its business, but Star Trek – opening one week after it – will, causing Wolverine to make less than X-Men: The Last Stand and thus be viewed as a modest failure.

Andrew:
For what it’s worth, I’ve seen and dug all the other X-Men flicks, and for some reason I could give a wet fart about this one, which looks to me like the bad Halle Berry Catwoman of the series. Now maybe if there were some musical numbers...

2. THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 (June 12)

Nick:
With little action-thriller opposition around its June 12th release date, Tony Scott’s remake may open reasonably well. Yet given how blah it looks and how little buzz it’s attracting, it should quickly disappear from the nation’s overcrowded multiplexes.

Scott:
Speaking of ruining the ’70s (see below)...a gritty, grimy little New Yawk thriller with Walter Matthau at his hangdog finest is given the Tony Scott treatment. It looks as though puffy John Travolta and his wacky facial hair have already chewed some of the scenery, but expect him to devour the rest of it when this one hits theaters in June.

1. LAND OF THE LOST (June 5)

Scott:
I have an idea. Let’s completely ruin the ’70s for those of us who spent our childhoods there! Oh wait, we’ve already done that, haven’t we? Then what the hell, we might as well turn a quirky, beloved Saturday morning staple into another crappy Will Ferrell comedy with plenty of dopey sight gags and gobs of CGI effects.

Nick:
Will Ferrell and Danny McBride are inspired comedians, but Brad Silberling’s update of the 1970s TV show seems like the latest action-comedy hybrid destined to be neither exciting nor amusing. Expect a big-time bomb.

Paul:
Who is this movie for, exactly? Will Ferrell isn’t the box-office juggernaut he once was, and the ticket buyers who yearn for him to deliver Ron Burgundy-style laughs probably won’t go for the second-rate Jurassic Park-style dinosaur storyline. Meanwhile, the kids will probably be too busy watching Up and Night at the Museum 2 to care about this one. Does the original series have that many fans clamoring for a big-budget version of the story? I highly doubt it.

Andrew:
I have to say I actually feel bad about Land of the Lost winding up as our runaway number one consensus pick for top bomb of the summer, since I’m a fan of the original TV series and I have every intention of going to see the Will Ferrell version...and yet, my colleagues all make excellent points, plus the promotional stuff has a distinctly low-rent, Brendan Fraseresque feel to it...on the other hand, I wouldn’t be completely surprised if this one bites us on the ass, prediction-wise, and turns into a surprise hit...oh, wait, the budget was $100 million? Uh...never mind.

Click Here For The Hits (Parts One & Two), The Toss-Ups (Part Four) and The Honorable Mentions (Parts Five & Six)

Contributors: Andrew Osborne, Nick Schager, Scott Von Doviak, Paul Clark

Trailer Review: The Hangover

Paul Clark — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Maybe it’s just that I wasn’t the binge-drinking type in college (I was more into haunting the local movie theatres), but the comedies of Todd Phillips have never really spoken to me. I know that Old School has plenty of fans, especially among those who love Will Ferrell’s “Frank the Tank”, but personally I just don’t find getting plastered- and the consequences thereof- to be particularly funny. That said, The Hangover doesn’t look too bad as these things go. Sure, it traffics in a pampered frat boy’s fantasy of a bachelor party- plenty of booze, babes, and gambling, paid for by people who probably have more money than they deserve. However, the relatively low-wattage cast gives this a kind of ramshackle feel, and a potential for anything to happen that wouldn’t be there if Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn were top-lining. Besides, this got one more laugh out of me than the Brüno trailer (for the "Holocaust ring" joke, case you're wondering), so that’s something.

“Star Trek” Beams Down in Austin

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Proving again that there is no truth in advertising, a theater full of Star Trek fans promised a shiny print of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan were instead forced at phaser point to sit through the new J.J. Abrams reboot of the franchise due in theaters next month. To say this is an outrage would be an understatement. I stayed up all night putting the finishing touches on my Ricardo Montalban breastplate! Do you know how many times I rehearsed Khan’s big speech so I’d be prepared to emote along as he announced, “I'll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round the Antares maelstrom and round perdition's flames before I give him up!”? And all that for nothing. I was so upset, I actually left my tricorder in the men’s room.

All right, I didn’t actually attend the screening last night. I’m always up for a little Khan, but I really don’t want to be in a theater full of people who are really, really up for a little Khan. Call me a hypocrite if you must, but now I know I missed out on a big surprise. This is the event as originally advertised by the Alamo Drafthouse: “Fantastic Fest and Ain’t It Cool News present a free screening of STAR TREK 2: THE WRATH OF KHAN with an exclusive sneak preview of 10 minutes of NEVER BEFORE SEEN footage from the new STAR TREK!” According to Wired, Leonard Nimoy – yep, Ol’ Gray Ears himself – stunned the audience with a surprise appearance and announced that they would be seeing “the entire new movie just hours before it made its international bow in Sydney.”

If anyone was disappointed by the bait and switch, they weren’t tweeting about it. Slashfilm has collected reactions ranging from Harry Knowles’ predictable “holy fuck! the new Star Trek fucking rules the universe” to the more restrained “ZOMG!! Just saw the new star trek movie and it MELTED MY PANTS!!!!!\” This is all well and good, but it still raises the troubling question: Can we ever trust the Alamo Drafthouse again? For instance, tonight’s schedule would have us believe that the “Young Frankenstein Quote-Along” is on tap, but if I show up in my Igor hoodie, how do I know I won’t get some new Will Ferrell remake of Young Frankenstein I haven’t even heard about yet?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go look for my tricorder.

Related:
Your First Look at Star Trek 90210
Harlan Ellison vs. Star Trek, Paramount, et al - Round XXVI

April Fools: The 35 Funniest Movie Characters Of All Time (Part Three)

Andrew Osborne — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:00:00 GMT

WILL FERRELL AS RICKY BOBBY IN TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY (2006)

Will Ferrell’s Anchorman may be more absurd, but Talladega Nights is still the SNL alum’s greatest big-screen achievement to date, a NASCAR-set bit of lunacy that mocks American culture while simultaneously exhibiting fondness for it. Via the character of Ricky Bobby, a nitwit car-racing star, Ferrell manages to send up our national gluttony and materialism, as well as Southern political and social conservatism, with a no-holds-barred goofiness that’s nonetheless underscored by affection for his redneck milieu and its inhabitants. To keep things evenhanded, Sacha Baron Cohen’s aggressively homosexual French F-1 champ Jean Girard provides a hilarious caricature of liberalism. It’s Ferrell’s titular clown, however, that truly embodies the film’s fair-minded attitude, his Ricky Bobby an egotistical good ol’ boy whose jingoism is as inane as his predilection for saying grace to the baby Jesus – an extended bit that gets funnier with every subsequent viewing – and yet whose me-first ridiculousness is laced with a childish kindness that makes him both an embarrassing and endearing personification of 21st century southern America. (NS)

CHEVY CHASE AS CLARK GRISWOLD IN CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989)

While the original remains the most popular, and European Vacation is probably the funniest, the Vacation series’ most heartwarming entry was 1989’s Yuletide saga, in large part because its holiday setting provided Chevy Chase with the best opportunities to convey not only Clark Griswold’s buffoonery, but to root that silliness in his deep, abiding love of family and tradition. In this second sequel, Clark’s homestead is invaded by parents, in-laws and the clan of Cousin Eddy (Randy Quaid), and this raft of supporting players – which also comes to include the Griswold’s prissy Yuppie neighbors (Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) – helps take some of the comedic burden off of Chase. Despite surrounding him with talented co-stars, however, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’s spotlight nonetheless remains squarely on its headliner, whose pratfall skills are in fine form, and whose sympathetic embodiment of his well-intentioned doofus patriarch – aggravated by his kin, disappointed over not receiving the work bonus he was counting on, and tormented by a squirrel let loose in his abode – lends the manic, messy proceedings real warmth. (NS)

PAUL REUBENS AS PEE-WEE HERMAN IN PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE (1985)

Too much fun in a porn theater may have destroyed Paul Reubens' career – and, consequently, the life of his iconic Pee-Wee Herman character – but his 1985 big-screen debut, helmed by first-time director Tim Burton, stands up as a perfectly realized idiosyncratic original. In this fanciful, carnival-esque saga, Reubens' strange-talking man-child Pee-Wee embarks on a cross-country odyssey to recover his beloved red bike, which he believes was stolen by his rich, spoiled, nasty neighbor Francis (Mark Holton). Even on his first feature, Burton’s flair for crafting strange, wild, wondrous visions was in full effect, as was Danny Elfman’s aptitude for offbeat scores. Nonetheless, it’s Pee-Wee who cements his place in the film-comedy pantheon. From the colorful, gadgety confines of his home (where he chows down on some Mr. T breakfast cereal), to the Alamo (whose basement he foolishly hopes to investigate), to a roadside bar where he famously displays his dance moves while surrounded by a horde of nasty-looking bikers, Pee-Wee proves himself a one-of-a-kind weirdo whose irrepressible cheer is infectious, and whose childlike innocence is endearing. (NS)

ALBERT BROOKS AS ALBERT BROOKS IN REAL LIFE (1979)

Albert Brooks has built a career – and a pretty fine one, if you ask us – out of portraying himself as a complete jerkoff. Even when he’s not playing a fictional character who’s kind of a schmuck, he’s kind of a schmuck: the “Albert Brooks” he plays in his films is a rampaging egomaniac who’s completely oblivious to how he comes across to people. Nowhere is this better realized than in his first full-length feature as a writer and director, 1979’s Real Life. This criminally underseen comedy, which brilliantly anticipates the reality-TV craze of 20 years later, sees Brooks playing himself as a desperate-to-please filmmaker who decides to film a normal, average American family; the comedy lies in the fact that he quickly assesses that the moviegoing public will be bored stiff by normality and averageness, and immediately sets about interfering with their lives for entertainment value. Unsurprisingly, this ruins the experiment, and starts to ruin the family’s life as well – but right up until the very end (where he hits upon the brilliant idea of burning their house down in order to provide his disastrous movie with a suitably exciting ending), Brooks is completely blind to the fact that the only thing wrong with his movie is that he’s the one making it. “Albert Brooks”, as portrayed by Albert Brooks, is so fine a portrait of a self-absorbed Hollywood phony it must have made Robert Evans blush.

CHICO MARX AS BARAVELLI IN HORSE FEATHERS (1932)

Although we’ve chosen his role as Baravelli in the campus comedy Horse Feathers as representative, it’s really just a stand-in for any Chico Marx performance. In the Marx Brothers’ films, Groucho’s role was to be the anarchist, the fly in the ointment, the wild card who refused to play by society’s rules and hilariously wrecks the smooth running order of things; Chico’s role was to do the same thing – only to Groucho. Often stereotyped as the dimwitted punster, Chico’s roles went far deeper than that: he was a true comic foil to his younger brother, reminding him that he couldn’t always win, that there was always someone there who could outhustle even the great Groucho – even if it was by playing dumb. Groucho was the subversive riddle that brought down authority, and Harpo was the dynamite bomb thrown right in the middle of the room, but Chico was a Chinese finger puzzle: it looked so simple, but once you were caught in it, no matter how smart you were, you couldn’t get out. Nowhere is that more clear than in the famous “Tutti Frutti” scene in Horse Feathers, where a supremely confident Chico prevents a slow-burning Groucho from betting on the horse he wants to win. It’s one of the greatest examples of pure comic timing ever captured on film.

Click Here For Part One, Two, Four, Five, Six, Seven & Eight

Contributors: Nick Schager, Leonard Pierce

Five Films for a Super Bowl Hangover

Nick Schager — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:00:00 GMT

The big one is over. Steelers fans are euphoric. Cardinals fans are dejected. And both sets of sports fanatics (as well as legions of others) are spending today suffering through some serious postgame, post-booze illness. While the country's refusal to consider today a national holiday has forced most to trudge to work nursing one mother of a headache and/or upset stomach, those fortunate enough (or sick enough) to be home are likely in need of some medicine, and at The Screengrab, we aim to please. Herewith, five films that'll help soothe that Super Bowl morning-after malaise.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

For a fuzzy psyche, nothing quite goes down as smoothly as some inspired idiocy, and few recent comedies have delivered the absurdist goods as hilariously as Will Ferrell’s ode to ‘70s sexism, bad hair and bear-fighting. “Milk was a bad choice!” says Ron; Anchorman is an ideal hangover balm, says I.

Overboard

There are few things to outright love about this 1987 Goldie Hawn-Kurt Russell comedy, but like a pop song that gets under your skin after the 800th spin, repeated childhood viewings (thanks, New York’s WPIX!) confirmed that this rich-meets-poor trifle is something akin to a cinematic lullaby. Turn it on, and turn yourself off.

The Last Boy Scout

Action-movie cacophony isn’t exactly what a pounding head demands, but Tony Scott’s 1991 gem is so over-the-top ludicrous that one’s laughter usually drowns out the gunfire and explosions. Written by Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black in an apparent aim to include every genre cliché known to man, it’s like taking a goofy 2-hour class in ‘80s slam-bang cinema.

Point Break

One-upping even The Last Boy Scout, which came out the same year, Kathryn Bigelow’s saga about undercover feds, surfing gurus and president mask-donning bank robbers is the apex of over-the-top action cinema, both for its abject ridiculousness and the fact that said silliness doesn’t hinder the film from delivering thrilling, expertly orchestrated set pieces. It’s two hours your weary, alcohol-addled brain will thank you for.

The Foot Fist Way

A slightly sluggish mind is perfect for fully enjoying Danny McBride’s little seen off-kilter comedy from last year, in which McBride stars as a local Tae Kwon Do instructor whose lack of self-awareness is only matched by his failure at every facet of life. The film’s consistently strange vibe will amuse, and at 87 minutes, it’ll still leave plenty of time in the day for a well-earned recovery nap.

Reviews By Request: The Foot Fist Way (2006, Jody Hill)

Paul Clark — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:00:00 GMT

For the next three weeks, I’ll be reviewing three movies you requested in last week’s column. Polling for future Reviews By Request columns will begin again on January 30.

Over the past few decades, there has emerged in American popular culture something that can be called the “comedy of awkwardness.” In this style of comedy, which draws heavily from British humor, the comedy comes not merely from a character’s strange behavior, but also the discomfort their behavior causes. Often, in comedies of this sort, it’s the surrounding characters’ dumbfounded reactions that generate the most laughs. Comedy of awkwardness has become an integral part of some of the most popular and acclaimed sitcoms in this country like The Office and 30 Rock, and it’s begun making inroads into movies as well.

However, to successfully pull off the comedy of awkwardness, one must walk a thin line. To begin with, the character who generates the discomfort has to think he’s acting perfectly normally. If there’s any sense that this person is aware of how crazy he looks, the comedy is lost. In addition, the audience has to get a sense that the people who surround the crazy character acknowledge, if only to themselves, how strange his actions are. Jody Hill’s The Foot Fist Way gets only the first rule right, while ignoring the second altogether. So in spite of a fine and wholly committed performance by Danny McBride in the lead role, the film never takes off as comedy, coming off not so much funny as simply odd.

The Foot Fist Way focuses on the character of Fred Simmons (McBride), a boorish one-time tae kwon do champion-turned-small town instructor. Fred presides over his dojo with the authority of a drill sergeant, barking out orders and insisting that his students address him as “sir.” Meanwhile, Fred’s life begins to fall apart when he discovers that his wife cheated on him with the manager at her new job. Soon, Fred falls apart and becomes consumed with rage and grief, surely the last emotions one wants to see from a man who makes his living instructing people- children, even- how to fight. Fred discovers that his wife’s boss’ name is Mr. Fisher, and when he assumes that a student, also named Fisher, is the boss’ son, Fred decides to take out his rage on the boy, with predictable results.

But let’s look at that particular scene. A grown man beating the hell from a young boy is not inherently funny, but there are comic possibilities for such a scene if done right. Unfortunately, The Foot Fist Way doesn’t deliver. Hill shows McBride fighting the boy in long shot, but never takes the time to show us how the other characters in the scene feel about this. Just one well-timed reaction shot from a disbelieving onlooker could have salvaged some laughs, but that reaction shot never comes. The whole film is like that- plenty of promise, but very little end result. There are a few scenes that work, such as Fred’s misguided attempts to seduce a pretty female student or a weepy monologue in which he schools a young student in life’s harsh realities, but many more that don’t. By the time the story has become a mano a mano between Fred and karate movie superstar Chuck “The Truck” Wallace (played by the film’s co-writer, Ben Best), the movie’s comedic potential has long since been squandered.

It’s a shame, since McBride’s performance is really very good, in large part because he’s completely convincing in the role. I’ve never taken a martial arts class, but I can imagine that many of the instructors are more or less like Fred, attracted less to its traditions than to the power teaching gives them. Tae kwon do is rooted in self-discipline, but my guess is that most students sign up for martial arts so they can learn to fight, and when one is teaching people who are clearly weaker and less skilled, there can be a temptation to prove one’s superiority by cutting others down to size. In many ways, Fred is the flip side of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character in David Mamet’s Redbelt, who is more of an old-school purist. Fred, on the other hand, enjoys being in control and doesn’t know any better way to go about it than by intimidating others, and McBride effortlessly projects the arrogance of a man who harbors no doubts whatsoever that he can kick your ass, while also showing occasional deference to those who are more powerful than he is. It makes perfect sense that when Fred’s wife tries to patch up their marriage, Fred insists on telling her, “I’m the stronger man, and you’re the weaker woman.” Although considering what a ringer she's already put him through, is he trying to convince her of this, or himself?

If nothing else, The Foot Fist Way should be remembered as that movie that introduced Hollywood to the brilliance of Danny McBride. McBride had previously appeared as the scene-stealing Bust-Ass in David Gordon Green’s All the Real Girls, but with this film, he quickly made fans of Will Ferrell and Judd Apatow, and has since been cast in such high-profile films as Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, and the upcoming big-screen version of Land of the Lost. But while McBride’s comic skills are undeniable, there are also moments in The Foot Fist Way that hint at darker undercurrents, leading me to think that he might become a fine character actor if given the chance. The Foot Fist Way isn’t much of a movie, but it announces McBride as a talent to watch.

Screengrab 2009 Preview: Scott Von Doviak’s Picks

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Again using the ever-popular 3 Up, 3 Down format, I will pick up the gauntlet thrown down by my colleague Andrew Osborne. (Hey, nice gauntlet, Osborne! You get a hat with that?) I must say, a cursory scan of the upcoming release schedule doesn’t exactly have me all a-quiver with anticipation, but hey, it’s early yet. Herewith, my picks to click and tips to slip. Or something like that.

3 UP

A SERIOUS MAN

I could really get used to this annual Coen Brothers movie routine. This year’s edition isn’t due until October, but it should be worth the wait. It’s “the story of an ordinary man’s search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV.” Unlike Burn After Reading, the film doesn’t boast an all-star cast, unless Michael Stuhlbarg, Sari Lennick, Fred Melamed and Richard Kind are at the top of your A-list. But who cares, as long as we get that Coen Brothers feeling.

THE LIMITS OF CONTROL

The long-awaited (by me anyway) return of Jim Jarmusch is “the story of a mysterious loner (Isaach. De Bankolé), a stranger, whose activities remain meticulously outside the law. He is in the process of completing a job, yet he trusts no one, and his objectives are not initially divulged. The film is set in the striking and varied landscapes of contemporary Spain (both urban and otherwise).” Okay, that’s a little vague, but it’s enough to intrigue me. The cast also includes Gael García Bernal, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt and, of course, Bill Murray.

THE ROAD

Left over from last year, which isn’t necessarily a great sign. Then again, there are indications the editing was being rushed to meet the end-of-2008 deadline, and that probably wouldn’t have been a good thing either. Quoting myself from last year’s fall preview, the Cormac McCarthy adaptation is a “grim post-apocalyptic tale brought to the screen by John Hillcoat, director of The Proposition, a western that certainly counts McCarthy’s Blood Meridian among its influences. Viggo Mortenson has the lead, and the supporting cast includes Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall, Garrett Dillahunt and The Wire’s Omar himself, Michael K. Williams.”

3 DOWN

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1-2-3

Oh good, a completely unnecessary remake of a perfectly fine ‘70s movie, over-directed by Tony Scott and featuring John Travolta in an unconvincing villainous mustache. But at least it has Denzel Washington looking dumpy. Maybe that’s his homage to Walter Matthau.

LAND OF THE LOST

''You're not going to see the zipper up the back of the Sleestaks' costumes,” says Will Ferrell, star of this preposterous remake of the beloved Saturday morning show of yesteryear. Is that supposed to make me want to see this?

STATE OF PLAY

The original British miniseries is an intricate work of intrigue about a newspaper with seemingly unlimited resources investigating political scandal. (Eat your heart out, David Simon.) The trailer for the American remake promises a generic, forgettable thriller.

WILD CARD: Watchmen, of course. Will it suck? Will it somehow blow our minds? Heck, will it even be released?

The Screengrab's 12 Days of Christmas Marathon: "Elf"

Leonard Pierce — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:30:00 GMT

Hello again, and welcome back to the sixth installment of the Screengrab's trip through some beloved (and some not-so-beloved) holiday film fare, the 12 Days of Christmas Marathon. While, technically, the twelve days of Christmas extend all the way into January and culminate in Epiphany, I'm sure you'll all be too hung over by that point to be able to deal with any Christmas cheer. Plus, most of us will be back at work by January 6th, and we don't want to be the movie-blog equivalent of that one guy on your block who annoys the whole neighborhood by leaving his Christmas lights up long after the joy and wonder of the holiday has vanished. So we've got a lot of movies to get through in the next three days. Let's start with the 2003 Will Ferrell vehicle Elf, which is now general considered a canonical new-classic Xmas flick.

In the spirit of full disclosure, and to further reinforce my reputation as Bob Cratchit and Scrooge inhabiting a single body, I'll admit that, as big a sucker as I am for Christmas movies in general, I didn't think much of Elf when I first saw it in a theater. I was in a bit of a lousy mood at the time, but that doesn't alter the fact that there really is a lot to dislike here: the delicate balancing act between po-faced sincerity and winking, snarky sarcasm, for one thing, doesn't always work, and the movie's tone can come across as artificial. The pace is a bit manic, the premise is undersold, and Ferrell's performance is unneccessarily called upon to carry the entire movie, which is a shame, given that he's surrounded by tons of extremely capable actors. And Jon Favreau's direction can be charitably described as 'clunky'.

The story of Buddy, an orphan child who crawls into Santa's bag one lonely Christmas and ends up the only stranded human at the north pole, gets some early-running gags -- some predictable, others hilarious -- out of the notion of a normal child (especially one as hulking and clumsy as Ferrell) being raised among the elves. Not enough time is spent on this appealing notion, which is especially regrettable given that Buddy's father is played, in a rare screen appearance, by one of the absolute masters of awkward comedy in the person of Bob Newhart. But one of the appealing things about Elf, which becomes much more clear on repeat viewings, is how economical it is: it's constantly making a dollar out of a quarter, milking the script's gags for more than they're worth and making the most out of Ferrell's screen presence.

Indeed, I even surprised myself at how much more I liked Elf each additional time I saw it. It could be argued that I had allowed familiarity and comfort to stand in for quality, but I don't think that's necessarily the case here: a lot of the movie's strengths go beyond script and direction, and for the few wasted performances (there could have been so much more to the character of Buddy's real human father, especially when played by an actor as capable as James Caan), there's always a compensatory moment where an actor does the absolute best with what they're handed, such as Faizon Love, Ed Asner, Peter Dinklage's scene-stealing bits and Bob Newhart's determination to make even his somewhat pointless opening narration a thing of comedic beauty. And, of course, there's Zooey Deschanel, at maximum adorability.

Of course, some parts of it never get better, such as the occasional cloying moments, the overall 'off' feeling of the tonal quality, and the hammier bits of Ferrell's moon-faced performance -- whether those are the fault of the actor or the script they can be extremely grating. And Favreau's direction in his second full-length feature film never gets any better no matter how many times you watch it. But it's at least possible to watch Elf now as the work of a man who's learning his craft, not the work of a man who doesn't know or care about what he's doing. Elf will never be a great movie, or even a great holiday movie, but it's at least an appealing little Christmas tidbit, a tastly little morsel that goes down easy, and at worst, makes you feel slightly guilty that you're overindulging yourself so much on your vacation.

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS RATING: A respectable if undignified 7 swans-a-swimming. Its placement in the middle of the pack of my personal 12 days of Christmas marathon proved to be quite appropriate: it's neither the bottom-feeding camp-only tripe at the bottom or the transcendent art at the top, but merely a non-fattening treat to keep your energy up in the middle. Watch it in the late afternoon, unless you're an angry elf.

The Screengrab's 12 Days of Christmas Marathon: The Nightmare Before Christmas

DVD Digest for December 2, 2008

Paul Clark — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:00:00 GMT

This week, the big studios continue to roll out their summer releases, and the holiday DVD cash grab continues.

DVD of the Week: While it certainly isn’t the most revered movie getting a DVD release this week, I’d say that the new Criterion Collection edition of Sam Fuller’s White Dog is almost certainly the biggest DVD news. A controversial indictment of violence and racism, Fuller’s adaptation of Romain Gary’s story was withheld from theatrical release in 1982 due to its subject matter and violence, which essentially killed Fuller’s career in the U.S. Now, after more than a quarter of a century, White Dog is finally getting a home video release for the first time, in Fuller’s original “uncut” version. Criterion has included a handful of special features on this DVD, but really- isn’t the fact that the film is out there for everyone to see enough?

This week’s recent releases coming to DVD include: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Disney, also Blu-Ray), the second installment of the C.S. Lewis-penned fantasy series; James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie in Wanted (Universal, also Blu-Ray); Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s sibling rivalry writ large in Step Brothers (Sony, also Blu-Ray); Mulder and Scully’s return to the big screen in The X-Files: I Want to Believe (Fox, also Blu-Ray); Ice Cube in The Longshots (Weinstein Company), a film by Fred Durst; and Bam Margera Presents: Where the #$&% Is Santa? (Warner, also Blu-Ray), a title I’d say speaks for itself.

Aside from White Dog, the highlights of the week’s classics on DVD are: The Day The Earth Stood Still Special Edition (Fox, also Blu-Ray), a tie-in with the upcoming remake, featuring numerous new extras; and Casablanca Ultimate Collector’s Edition (Warner, also Blu-Ray), which is basically the same old edition in a snazzy new package.

Only one major TV on DVD release, but it’s a doozy: Saturday Night Live: The Complete Fourth Season (Universal).

Finally, plenty of Blu-Ray only releases this week. There’s Mike Myers telling the same half dozen jokes again and again in Austin Powers Collection (Warner)! The Christmas mayhem double feature of Home Alone (Fox) and Jingle All the Way (Fox)! A double dose of Luc Besson with La Femme Nikita (Sony) and Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (Sony)! The first installment of the would-be X-Files movie franchise, The X-Files: Fight the Future (Fox), coincidentally released the same day as the DVD of the second movie! And finally, the perennial IMDb favorite and TNT standby, The Shawshank Redemption (Sony)!

DVD Digest for August 28, 2008

Paul Clark — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:00:00 GMT

It’s a good week for fans of classic comedy of both the big-screen and televised varieties. Plus, the Christmas DVD season officially begins.

DVD of the Week: Tough call this week, with no real world-beaters in the bunch. But in terms of sheer quantity, nothing tops the release of the mammoth Abbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection. Over the length of 29 DVDs, Universal has compiled every single one of their Abbott & Costello features, as well as plenty of trailers and production notes. In addition, they’ve recorded commentary tracks on six of the movies, plus three new documentaries on one of comedy’s most legendary duos. Also included in the set is the companion book Abbott and Costello: The Universal Story. So if you’re an Abbott and Costello fan, today is your lucky day.

Other laughs can be had in this week’s new TV on DVD releases. For the seventies-era TV watcher, there’s Good Times: The Complete Series and Sanford and Son: The Complete Series (both Sony). For something a little more recent, check out the woefully underwatched-in-its-day NewsRadio: The Complete Series (Sony). Fans of animated sitcoms should enjoy The Flintstones: The Complete Series (Warner). And we shouldn’t forget about Mystery Science Theatre 3000 20th Anniversary Edition (Shout! Factory), which collects four of the gang’s most-requested episodes (First Spaceship on Venus, Laserblast, Werewolf and Future War), plus new interviews with the whole gang and a snazzy new Crow T. Robot figurine that’s sure to make you the envy of all your geeky friends (i.e. the only ones who really count).

Recent releases on coming to DVD this week include: Brendan Fraser treading all over Jules Verne in Journey to the Center of the Earth (Warner, also Blu-Ray); Abigail Breslin in her seventeenth movie of 2008, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (Warner, also Blu-Ray); Catherine Zeta Jones and Guy Pearce (as Houdini) in Gillian Armstrong’s Death Defying Acts (Weinstein); and a movie everyone will want to add to his DVD collection, Zombie Strippers (Sony, also Blu-Ray).

Finally, this week’s classics selection includes two of Warner’s recent Christmas favorites, The Polar Express Presented in 3D (Warner, also Blu-Ray, includes four pairs of 3D glasses), and Elf (Warner, Blu-Ray only, includes plentiful images of Will Ferrell in tights). And while Roger Ebert has gone gaga over the new DVD/Blu-Ray remastering of Ron Fricke’s Baraka (MPI, also Blu-Ray), allow me to stump for another sentimental favorite of mine. I’m referring, of course, to Juan Piquer-Simon’s Pieces (Ryko Distribution), one of the trashiest, dumbest, and irresistibly entertaining bad movies ever made. If that doesn’t sound like your kind of thing, stay far away. But if you’ve got a taste for gloriously fragrant cinematic garbage, Pieces is required viewing, Halloween or any other time of year.

Morning Deal Report: Soderbergh Does Liberace

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Steven Soderbergh prides himself on being an eclectic filmmaker and you can’t get much more eclectic than following up a biopic of Che Guevara with one of Liberace. Actually, the Liberace project won’t be next on Soderbergh’s agenda – that would be The Girlfriend Experience for Mark Cuban’s HDNet – but it’s definitely on the back burner. Variety reports “Soderbergh is in discussions with Matt Damon to play Scott Thorson, who sued Liberace in 1982 for $113 million in palimony, claiming he was the entertainer’s companion for five years. Even though Liberace never wavered from career-long denials that he was gay, Thorson reportedly settled for $95,000 in 1986.” And who will play the flamboyant entertainer? Would you believe…Michael Douglas?

While you’re processing that mental image over your morning bowl of Frankenberries, here’s some chick flick news for you. Drew Barrymore will produce How to Be Single, adapted from the best-selling novel by Liz Tuccillo. Barrymore is already producing He’s Just Not That Into You by the same author, but lest you be confused, The Hollywood Reporter explains that while “Into You was a non-fiction how-to look at relationships, Single is Tuccillo's fiction debut. It follow the dating lives of five single New York women, one of whom, the narrator, is writing a book about how bachelorettes across the world manage. The woman embarks on a trip around the world for the book and gets involved in an international affair, while her four friends duke it out on the New York dating scene.” For some reason, I’m picturing a Sarah Jessica Parker type for the lead.

If you’re excited about the upcoming Land of the Lost movie with Will Ferrell, you’ll be thrilled to learn that Sigmund and the Sea Monsters is also coming to the big screen. Sid and Marty Krofft will produce the movie scripted by Dana Gould (The Simpsons). And yes, according to Variety, live-action versions of Lidsville, The Bugaloos and Dr. Shrinker may not be far behind.

Related:
Steven Soderbergh's "Girlfriend Experience"
Will Ferrell and the Retro Boys

Morning Deal Report: Borat vs. Iron Man

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:30:00 GMT

While his wife Madonna continues to dominate the tabloid covers, Guy Ritchie is keeping busy preparing for his Sherlock showdown. As we told you last week, Ritchie’s reboot of Sherlock Holmes is getting some competition from a rival production that will star Sacha Baron Cohen as the great detective and Will Ferrell as the elementary Watson. Now Ritchie has landed his Sherlock: Robert Downey, Jr. As Variety reports, “Downey emerged as an action star with Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes also will take advantage of his physical skills as the character displays brawn as well as brains. The basis for the film is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic tales, but also the comicbook Sherlock Holmes.” The “comicbook” Variety refers to is an upcoming take by Lionel Wigram, not the classic DC version pictured here. Sorry, nerds.

Speaking of comics (and nerds): fans of the Elfquest series by Wendy and Richard Pini, commence sharpening your knives. Or swords. Or whatever it is elves carry. Dodgeball writer/director Rawson Thurber will bring your beloved Wolfriders to the big screen for Warner Bros., per the Hollywood Reporter. “The series -- which at certain points in its history was published by both Marvel and DC Comics -- attracted a more mature audience as it went along, with scenes of battles and sexuality that were intense for that time. Hollywood has long tried to adapt the series, and several attempts at an animated series or feature have been made over the years.” Hey, what could go wrong?

Who says print is dead? It’s not only comic books that are coming to the screen in droves. Remember the New York Times article 'Mystery on Fifth Avenue' that was recently optioned by J.J. Abrams? Well, according to Variety, “Miramax Films has closed a deal to develop a movie from ‘This Strange Thing Called Prom,’ a Brooke Hauser article published in the June 22 edition of the New York Times. The article follows the prom adventures of high school seniors who came to Brooklyn from locales like Senegal, Venezuela, Tibet, Haiti, Poland and Gabon (one was a nomadic yak herder until age 12).” You may laugh, but don’t you think yak herding skills would have come in handy at your prom?

Related:
No Shit, Sherlock: Guy Ritchie Reimagines Holmes
The Summer of Downey

Morning Deal Report: Dueling Sherlocks

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

As if Guy Ritchie didn’t have enough problems, what with the gossip sheets running wild with rumors that A-Rod is shtupping his wife. Now it turns out that his Sherlock Holmes feature will face competition from Borat himself. Per Variety, Columbia Pictures has announced “an untitled comedy that will star Sacha Baron Cohen as master detective Sherlock Holmes and Will Ferrell as Watson, his crime-solving partner.” According to Columbia president Matt Tolmach, this re-teaming of the Talladega Nights stars is a sure-fire knee-slapper. "Just the idea of Sacha and Will as Sherlock Holmes and Watson makes us laugh…having them take on these two iconic characters is frankly hilarious." Thank you for speaking frankly, Mr. Tolmach. Of course, this is not the first time rival productions involving the same iconic character have gone head-to-head, as we recall from the great Robin Hood war of the '90s. But then, that was a war nobody won.

The cast of Roland Emmerich’s latest rendition of the end of the world is coming together. Triple threat Thomas McCarthy, who most recently wrote and directed The Visitor, will join John Cusack, Amanda Peet and Danny Glover in Emmerich’s 2012. “As an actor, I've never worked on anything with this scale before, and I always go see these movies,” McCarthy tells the Hollywood Reporter. “This does have a big budget and I do make more money, which is nice, but I know if you take a job like this just for the money, you'll be miserable.” Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell it to Nicolas Cage.

Meanwhile, the French hit Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Welcome to the Sticks) is being remade not only in America (Will Smith will star for Warner Bros.) but in Italy. Variety describes it as a “heart-warmer about a postal worker forced to relocate to a small town in the north where he can't understand the patois, the food or the many quirks.” We’ll wait for the Portuguese version.

Related:

No Shit, Sherlock: Guy Ritchie Reimagines Holmes
1949 vs. 2012: John Woo/Roland Emmerich Deathmatch!

Trailer Review: Step Brothers (red-band)

Paul Clark — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Given the disappointing box office for Semi-Pro, it’s hard to say how Step Brothers will fare in the crowded late-summer crush, especially since it’s lacking in an easy, audience friendly hook like Will Ferrell’s previous Adam McKay collaborations Anchorman and Talladega Nights. But I’m going to come right out and say it- this looks pretty damn hilarious, at least to me. There was evidence of this in the original theatrical trailer, but here, with the boys free to drop all kinds of naughty words, the raucous R-rated goodness of the movie finally comes through loud and clear. Plus it should go without saying that Ferrell and John C. Reilly have awesome comic chemistry, and that the casting of Screengrab favorite Richard Jenkins is a good sign. I’m not sure how much money Step Brothers will make, but if it flops, don’t blame me- this trailer’s already guaranteed that I’ll be there opening weekend.

MTV Movie Awards Continue to Exist

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:00:00 GMT

The ’90s live forever at MTV – in between all the dating and celebreality shows, anyway – so it probably should come as no surprise that the MTV Movie Awards are still in existence, and will be hosted this year by Mike Myers. It sounds like a very 1996 idea to me, but after checking the date on the press release, it appears to be true. Now the nominations have been announced and it’s time for the speculation to begin. Will Shia LaBeouf and Sarah Roemer win Best Kiss for Disturbia, or will those upstarts Briana Evigan and Robert Hoffman from Step Up 2 The Streets pull off an upset? Will McLovin Mania sweep Superbad’s Christopher Mintz-Plasse to the Best Newcomer Prize? And what future classic of cinema will leave with the prestigious Golden Popcorn prize for Best Movie?

In fairness, I dimly recall a time when the MTV Movie Awards were a fun, irreverent alternative to the usual award show pomp. This is a show, after all, that presented both Godzilla and Clint Howard with Lifetime Achievement Awards. A distinguished ceremony during which Will Ferrell once wet his pants. A red carpet extravaganza with a somewhat flexible dress code:

It doesn’t take long for “fun and irreverent” to congeal into “lame and desperate,” however. Last year MTV brought in Survivor producer Mark Burnett to liven things up, but sadly, the nominees were not forced to eat gross food items or vote each other out (which might be a fun twist). Instead, my sources tell me (I was out playing Bingo), the night was basically a repository of cheap rehab jokes about Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan and mind-numbing moments like the awarding of Best Summer Movie You Haven’t Seen Yet to Transformers.

Still, this is a blog for film news, so here is the news. The MTV Movie Awards nominees have been announced. You can find them here if you’re interested. Heck, you can even vote for them if you really care!

Trailer Review: The Love Guru

Paul Clark — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Earlier this week, I wrote about the trailer for Step Brothers, the latest comedy from the inconsistent but prolific Will Ferrell. By comparison, Mike Myers only makes a new film every few years — excepting voiceover work in Shrek movies, The Love Guru is his first starring vehicle since (uh oh) 2003's The Cat in the Hat. Given how much time Myers has had to develop this movie, you'd think it would look pretty funny, but alas, you'd be wrong. In this dire Indian-flavored comedy, Myers stars as the guru Pitka, an internationally-famous holy man who comes off like a cross between the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Hrundi V. Bakshi, the Peter Sellers character from The Party, though less serene than Sexy Sadie and not as funny as Mr. Birdy Num-Num. Whether he's engaging in labored physical comedy with a little person or trading quips with sworn enemy of funny Jessica Alba, it's clear that Myers has become a shade of his formerly hilarious self. Sadly, we're now stuck with the Mike Myers who never met a gag he wouldn't repeat half a dozen times, rather than the young tyro who had us (or me, anyway) gasping with his Scots rendition of "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy." It's a shame, really. I miss that guy.

Jurassic Classics: Ringo Starr Demands a Recount

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Much as it pains us to admit this, the Screengrab is not the only online source of movie lists. Certainly we're the best, but occasionally someone else on the world wide Interweb will take a crack at it. With the release of Roland Emmerich's 10,000 BC looming, MSNBC's Christopher Bahn has assembled a list of 11 great prehistoric flicks.

Right off the bat, we've got to call shenanigans on Bahn's inclusion of Land of the Lost. While it's true that Will Ferrell is about to begin shooting a big-screen remake of said property (will his '70s obsession never end?), the fact remains that Land of the Lost is a television show. Not only that, but it contains Sleestaks. Now, granted, we haven't done a great deal of research on prehistoric times, but while we're willing to accept cavemen living side-by-side with dinosaurs and woolly mammoths, we're fairly confident there is no existing fossil record of Sleestaks. Therefore, Land of the Lost is disqualified.

We're willing to accept the rest of the list — although including Clan of the Cave Bear certainly pushes the definition of "great" to its limits — but there is one tragic omission we cannot overlook. It is, of course, 1981's Caveman, starring Ringo Starr, Shelley Long and a boyish Dennis Quaid. Watch this scene, depicting the creation of music in painstaking historical detail, and we think you'll agree.

Trailer Review: Step Brothers

Paul Clark — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Will Ferrell's high-concept comedies almost always rake in the dough, but overall they're pretty inconsistent. But if one director can bring out Ferrell's broadly comic side while making films of a fairly high caliber, it's Adam McKay. And pairing him once again with John C. Reilly, with whom he had real comic chemistry in Talladega Nights, is a wise decision. Which is why I was a little disappointed that this trailer wasn't funnier. Part of the problem is that the first minute or so feels pretty forced — the concept of the movie is funny, with Ferrell and Reilly as grown men who nonetheless experience the antipathy many young boys feel when they suddenly become part of the same family. But a lot of the gags don't quite work. It's not until they start getting along — "did we just become best friends?" — that it starts getting laughs. Not all of the subsequent gags work either (the brawl with the kids feels too much like a nod to the newscasters' rumble in Anchorman), but these guys work much better together as buddies than as rivals. Besides, it's entirely possible that half the jokes in the trailer won't make it into the movie, considering how much footage ends up getting cut on its way to the theatrical release.

Will Ferrell and the Retro Boys

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:00:00 GMT

The Associated Press just got the memo: the 1970s are funny! "Platform shoes, leisure suits, fondue, fro picks. What used to be cool is now the stuff of comedy. When it comes to period comedies, the '70s are the equivalent of Victorian-era costume drama. While serious-minded filmmakers are forever reaching back to the time of royalty clad in waistcoats and dressing gowns, comedians are more likely to cull from the less halcyon days of disco and sideburns."

The AP article runs through the history of Me Decade-based comedy, from movie parodies like I'm Gonna Git You Sucka! to the long-running sitcom That '70s Show to the one movie that really got it right, Dazed and Confused. Not surprisingly, Will Ferrell is singled out as one of the movement's leaders, given his retro roles in Anchorman and now Semi-Pro. "Whenever I look back at old photos and this and that, it just seems like such an alien time," Ferrell said. "The '80s are funny too, and I guess we'll look back and the '90s will be funny too, but the '70s are holding strong."

While we're all waiting for that wave of hilarious '90s-based humor, we might as well point out the obvious reason Ferrell and his cohorts are so fascinated with the '70s: that's when they grew up. (Farrell even confesses "I was so into the bicentennial. No joke. I bought a Liberty Bell necklace that was pewter. It was like a prized possession.") The new issue of Sight and Sound takes a look at Farrell and his somewhat more respectable contemporaries in "Indiewood" or "The Frat Pack" — Wes Anderson, Alexander Payne, Spike Jonze, Paul Thomas Anderson, etc. — and finds the '70s influence alive and well.

"Many of them had emerged from Sundance in the mid-1990s and they shared that elusive 'indie sensibility' even as they moved into studio production; there were rumours that, like the much-mythologised Movie Brats of the 1970s, these guys hung out together. . . The comparison, and the self-consciousness, were almost inevitable since the rebels arrived on the backlot at the peak of 1970s retro — in music and fashion as well as in film culture." The piece goes on to note that Indiewood was influenced not only by the Movie Brats, but MTV and SNL in equal measure, which is where Ferrell comes in. Indeed, the Semi-Pro star finds an unlikely defender in the notoriously prickly David O. Russell, who served as an executive producer on Anchorman: "I am a comedy snob, and Will Ferrell is sublime." We think he means "groovy."

Trailer Review: Baby Mama

John Constantine — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 23:52:00 GMT

I realize that it’s been asked many times before in recent days but, seriously, what is going on with baby movies? It’s been a more obvious trend in the past twelve months with successes like Knocked Up and Juno, but this has been brewing for a few years now. I’m convinced it all started with Idiocracy in 2006. Yeah, it’s a broad satire but the movie’s base premise is that smart people aren’t breeding. Fill us in with your theories in the comments section, we’re all ears.

As for Baby Mama, it’s looking pretty funny. Fey’s playing her forlorn-lonely-aging-fastidious thing to perfection and Poehler’s as delightfully zany as ever. They are truly the Wayne and Garth of this decade and it’s nice to see them continue collaborating. It’s also nice to see two female leads in the male-dominated screwball comedy genre. Make Will Ferrell and Judd Apatow’s respective crews look like chumps, Tina. The Grab’s got your back.

Trailer Roundup: "Semi-Pro"

Paul Clark — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Is it just me, or are all these Will Ferrell vehicles starting to look alike? There's certainly a formula at work here- Ferrell plays a _________ who's forced to prove himself to the world, with hijinks inevitably ensuing. It's a formula that's served him well in movies like Anchorman and Talladega Nights, but it's getting more than a little stale. Heck, there's even a fight between Ferrell and a large animal, just like those earlier movies. Here, Ferrell revisits the 70s in the hope of working some of that old Ron Burgundy magic, only this time on the basketball court. And you know what that means- tiny shorts, garish colors, and headbands? You bet! To Ferrell's credit, he's still giving it his all, instead of simply biding his time until Adam McKay comes calling again. Then again, when even the likes of Blades of Glory can rake in the money, what's the motivation for him to do anything new?

No SNL Skit Required

Peter Smith — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:00:00 GMT

Somehow we missed the October 18 release of Inside the Actor’s Studio host James Lipton’s scintillating new book, cleverly titled Inside Inside. Aside from his penchant for making famous people cry, Lipton has been immortalized by Will Ferrell in several SNL skits and interviewed in one of my personal favorite Ali G episodes, made all the more hilarious by just how hard Lipton tries to take the interview seriously amidst well placed questions like, "Have you ever interviewed Shakespeare?"

If you go over to Amazon.com, you will not only be able to order Lipton’s new book but also check out a short video intro to what you’ll find inside Inside Inside (I swear, I never get sick of hearing him say that). Besides his obvious credits as actor, screenwriter, director, producer and tv host, you may be surprised to find choreographer, equestrian and pilot listed. What this has to do with writing a book or kissing the asses of hundreds of actors, we’re not too sure, but now you know. Lipton is a master of false modesty, and after a brief disclaimer goes on to show off his thirteen Emmy nominations, a lifetime achievement award and his French medal of knighthood. Honestly, when you see him utter lines like, "Sharon Stone, Ben Stiller — heroes, heroes of my life," with a completely straight face. . . I just don’t think it goes any higher on the scale of unintentional comedy. We’re not actually planning on buying or reading his book but man, do we love this guy. — Bryan Whitefield

Morning Deal Report: Remake Watch

Peter Smith — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:00:00 GMT

Despite the (rightfully) tenuous status of the $100m+ comedy, Universal is adapting of Land of the Lost. The big-screen version will star Will Ferrell and a large number of Sleestaks. (Or is the plural still Sleestak? Not sure on that one.)

Eric Bana will play Uhura in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. Wait, I'm sorry — he'll play the villain.

Terminator will be back, in the first film of a trilogy set in the post-apocalyptic future seen briefly in the original films. The budget, as Variety memorably puts it, will be. . . "event-sized." Arguably, no Terminator has been great since the first one, but if you have to do it, one request: bring back Eddie Furlong!

Videogame art director Jerry O'Flaherty will direct the film adaptation of Thundercats. The best thing to ever come out of Thundercats is this map. Top that, O'Flaherty.

— Peter Smith