Meet In The Lobby

It was inevitable. The most shameless actor the U.S. partners with the most shameless actor in the U.K. Ever since Sacha Baron Cohen’s flaky, flowery Frenchman Jean Girard broke the arm – and then kissed – Will Ferrell’s Ricky Bobby, these guys were bound to reunite. Yesterday, Columbia Pictures officially announced Cohen and Ferrell will team up to play Sherlock Holmes and Watson, respectively. Hell, it’s practically elementary.

Ferrell and Cohen get it on in Talladega Nights

Before we deduce where this might go, let’s summarize the current evidence:

First, Cohen. This guy is in some super high demand right now. He reprised the voice role of Julien in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (that title gives me hives). He’s off shooting the long-awaited Bruno movie. He’s lined up for Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill, as well as The Dinner Game remake Dinner for Schmucks. Then he’s doing Abbie Hoffman for Steven Spielberg’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, but not all major roles have been solidified for that one. Okay, that takes care of 2009…

Ferrell and Cohen still getting it on at the MTV Awards. We can hear the dialogue… Watson to Holmes: “Sherlock, you stupid slut!”

As for Ferrell, later this month we’ll see him and Dewey Cox himself, John C. Reilly, in Adam McKay’s Step Brothers. And, as we’ve reported here, he’s off shooting the film version of Land of the Lost (more on that soon).

Back to the Sherlock Holmes venture. There are some seriously big guns behind this one:

PRODUCERS: Judd Apatow (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Talladega Nights, Knocked Up, Superbad, Walk Hard, Pineapple Express… the guy’s a cinematic ATM) and occasional Apatow co-producer Jimmy Miller (Semi-Pro, Step Brothers, Land of the Lost

SCREENWRITER: Etan Cohen (Idiocracy, Tropic Thunder)

Last thing: The official line from Columbia co-president Matt Tolmach: “Just the idea of Sacha and Will as Sherlock Holmes and Watson makes us laugh. Sacha and Will are two of the funniest and most talented guys on the planet and having them take on these two iconic characters is frankly hilarious.” Frankly.

Who should direct this one?
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July 3rd, 2008
Categories: Comedies, Movie Previews . Author: Norm Schrager . Comments: No Comments

Few holidays are as sadly compromised on television as the Fourth of July, with moronic car dealers urging you to “demand your independence from high prices.” So HBO has programming for some serious patriots: An entire day of the recent miniseries John Adams. (See our original John Adams preview.)

That’s every episode. 9 hours, 15 minutes of some hardnosed American Revolutionary goodness. Let’s see McCain and Obama summarize that much patriotism on a freaking lapel pin.

Anyway, here’s the schedule, which should probably include a list of American cities expecting rain for the entire day … at least that would be one excuse to stay glued to Paul Giamatti’s magnetic, slightly overdone performance.

Friday, July 4 on HBO 

1:00pm: Part 1 — Join or Die

2:15pm: Part 2 — Independence

3:45pm: Part 3 — Don’t Tread On Me

5:00pm: Part 4 — Reunion

6:15pm: Part 5 — Unite or Die

7:30pm: Part 6 — Unnecessary War

9:00pm: Part 7 — Peacefield

As a former television programmer, I can tell you this is a brilliant piece of scheduling. If you happen to sit through the entire day (and night) — or you plan to — let us know!

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July 2nd, 2008
Categories: On TV . Author: Norm Schrager . Comments: No Comments

The Saturday morning after The Happening came out, I took advantage of AMC’s A.M. Cinema and paid only $5 to see it. I just couldn’t risk it after all the negative reviews. (see our review roundup of The Happening)

So was it terrible? Kind of. And kind of not. The biggest problem with The Happening? It suffered from The Hypening. It is very difficult to watch a movie that’s been obliterated by speculation. You can’t help but pick on every little thing. The guy to my left kept saying “stupid, stupid, stupid.” And the girls in front of me kept throwing up their hands in frustration (but still cowered in fear at all the scary parts).

The acting is definitely awful in some parts — and mostly by the extras. The majority of the movie’s tone is just bizarre, but it’s not completely horrible. I feel certain if this came from an unknown director, people would have actually enjoyed it. But M. Night Shyamalan has a reputation to uphold, whether he asked for it or not.

It’s been reported that Shyamalan said The Happening was supposed to be a B movie. It certainly wasn’t marketed that way (oh, this again…). If the marketing team made a trailer similar to, say, Blood Car, the audience would have been more on board for all the quirkiness. I know one person that managed to go to the theater with no knowledge of the plot or negative reviews, and he genuinely liked the movie (although, he did notice the bad acting - it’d take a robot slate not to notice that). Me? I thought it was just as good as Hitchcock’s “The Birds” - nature turns on the human race and it’s eerie but bizarre.

I might suggest renting The Happening but it’s not on a ‘must see’ list. It’s scary and unsettling but a little off-putting. Just like all the hype.

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July 1st, 2008
Categories: Horror Movies, Science Fiction . Author: Allison . Comments: No Comments

Ever since Moulin Rouge and Chicago, the movie-musical revival just keeps on rolling along (oh snap! bad musical joke!) Since the most recent hit was the movie adaptation of a Broadway musical based on a non-musical movie (Hairspray), it was about time for a movie adaptation of a musical based completely on ABBA songs. Whew…

I may not be a big ABBA fan, but I find “Take a Chance On Me” quite addictive, especially after seeing Ed Helms’ rendition. The question is whether there are enough musical and/or ABBA fans to make this film a summer hit. I don’t see any non-fans going – but Meryl Streep will be the extra pull.

In Mamma Mia!, Streep is the mother (I mean “mamma!”) of soon-to-be-wed Sophie (Amanda Seyfried, Big Love, Mean Girls). Sophie invites her 3 possible biological fathers to the wedding to figure out which is the real papa. I can’t think of a better way to make a wedding more stressful.

Release date: July 18, 2008

Also Starring: The 3 possible fathers! Pierce Brosnan (the ‘ol 007 himself), Colin Firth (Bridget Jones’ Diary, Pride & Prejudice), and Stellan Skarsgard (Pirates of the Caribbean 1-3, Goya’s Ghost).

Directed by: Phyllida Lloyd
Screenplay by: Catherine Johnson
These two were responsible for the Broadway version.

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July 1st, 2008
Categories: Musicals, Trailers, Movie Previews . Author: Allison . Comments: No Comments

In the past couple of years, HBO has offered plenty of programming focused on the Iraq War, nearly all of them painful documentaries: Baghdad Hospital, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, Alive Day Memories.

Now the network takes the narrative approach with the seven-part series Generation Kill, based on the first 40 days of the war as seen by the U.S. First Recon Marines. Generation Kill premieres Sunday, July 13 at 9pm, and will air every Sunday from 9pm to 10:15pm through August 24.

:: CAST
There are no “big” names (that’s a good thing here) but the series’ cast list is 39 actors deep. That’s a lot of speaking roles. And if the cast isn’t immediately recognizable, that’s a lot of potential realism too.

:: DIRECTOR
Susanna White, who directed episodes of Masterpiece Theatre’s Bleak House in 2005. But don’t expect her Generation Kill work to be high-brow, stuffy or subtle. This is harsh, profane, dangerous, wildly humorous stuff.

:: WRITERS
Direct from The Wire, writer-producers Ed Burns (no, not that one) and David Simon. Their scripts are based on the 2004 book by Evan Wright, a Rolling Stone reporter embedded with the Marines for two months in 2003. Incidentally, Burns was a longtime Baltimore cop, and Simon was a Baltimore Sun crime reporter.

We’ll preview each episode the week before it airs, so check back for more details. Part I, “Get Some,” follows the elite soldiers as they prepare to move in to Iraq from the northern desert in Kuwait.

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June 30th, 2008
Categories: On TV, Trailers, Documentaries, Movie Previews . Author: Norm Schrager . Comments: No Comments

While WALL-E continues being hailed the new standard for animation excellence, today’s movie poster is for an alternative animated style: rotoscoping, in which live action footage is “traced” over. The film is Year of the Fish, a Sundance 2007 selection and festival favorite from Boston to Dallas to San Francisco.

Rotoscoping results in a type of “animated reality,” where details look true, but everything has a painted-type of quality. Think of Richard Linklater’s approach to Waking Life. In Year of the Fish, this style adds a dreamlike element to a Cinderella tale that takes place in modern-day NYC Chinatown.

Year of the Fish stars Ken Leung (scene-stealer in Keeping the Faith, Kid Omega in X-Men: The Last Stand, Miles on ABC’s Lost), relative newcomer An Nguyen and veteran actor Randall Duk Kim (The Keymaker in The Matrix Reloaded and the voice of Oogway in Kung Fu Panda)

If you want to see rotoscoping in action, check out the Year of the Fish trailer.

Year of the Fish hits New York City theaters August 29, 2008.
(thanks IMP Awards and WildAboutMovies)

QUESTION: Animation fans, what’s your opinion of rotoscoping?
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June 30th, 2008
Categories: Movie Posters, Independent Film, Trailers, Movie Previews . Author: Norm Schrager . Comments: No Comments