It always feels like we’re pining for more free time during the holiday hustle, but often, when we’re faced with a few days at home to ourselves, we’re too spent to figure out how to enjoy them. Inspired by the release of the all-new Madden NFL 12 from our friends at EA Sports, we decided to spotlight some rewarding holiday activities you can enjoy in your newly discovered down time. Whether you’ve been celebrating Thanksgiving at home this year by choice or by consequence, we’ve come up with ten ways (Madden included) to keep you entertained — and none of them involve stepping foot out the front door. Read More »
Riding on some serious Sundance buzz, John Stalberg’s stoner comedy High School tells the story of a control-freak small town high school principal (an unrecognizably plump Michael Chiklis) who decides to institute mandatory drug testing for all students. This zero-tolerance policy becomes a problem for the high school valedictorian (Matt Bush), who has just recently tried marijuana for the first time. So he decides to get his entire class high.
We’ve all seen those groaner moments in a film where a character prominently filibusters in support of some real life product that-surprise!-contributed a hefty sum to said movies financing in exchange for the positive plug. Now, an article in today’s New York Times describes how these product placement deals are being cut progressively earlier in the filmmaking process, with rough scripts and situations prematurely doctored to optimize branding potential. Of course, with ballooning production costs this kind of product placement is almost inevitable. So we say, why not embrace it?
Don’t be fooled by the title: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice contains no dancing brooms. Instead, the new trailer treats us to Nicolas Cage doing his best Dumbledore impression, his sighing narration so recognizable and hackneyed that it’s unintentionally hilarious. Given that “the very important sorcerer” Cage is addressing is a perplexed-looking Jay Baruchel (him of Knocked Up and She’s Out Of My League), the crushing lack of levity in tone is even more incongruous.
The trailer somehow gets even better: none of the magic used seems to serve any useful purpose, fire appears as a weapon no less than eight times, there are two different dragons, and Alfred Molina materializes from cockroaches creeping from a Babushka doll to take form as a severely-mustachioed villain. After the jump, watch the new trailer for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and follow along with some of our favorite in-detail screen caps.
This time of year, we’re prettyOscarobsessed. So when we came across this video mash-up of past Oscar speeches (to the dramatic tune of Gioachino Rossini’s “Guillaume Tell Overture,” no less) on Boing Boing, we were intrigued. But intrigue soon lead to a major confidence boost. Just like the winners, we also have friends named Sam, Cheryl, Ryan, Shirley, and John. We certainly have mothers, fathers, cousins, sisters, and brothers. We might not have our own Harvey Weinstein to thank, but perhaps we’re not so different from these gold statue-carrying actors and actresses, after all. And we guarantee none of that whining “get-off-the-stage” classical music is included.
In Forgetting Sarah Marshall, rock star Aldous Snow was a hilarious car-wreck of stereotypes: the schmaltzy, world-savior lyrics of Bono, the rock-star public persona of Tommy Lee, and the sexual prowess of Wilt Chamberlain (judging from the ridiculous quotes in his Playboy interview, the John Mayer no-filter quotability comparison also wouldn’t be far off). Russell Brand was so memorable as the British maniac that Judd Apatow signed him on for Get Him To The Greek, a spin-off reintroducing Brand as the Infant Sorrow lead-singer and Jonah Hill as the awkward devotee introduced to the rock-star world of debauchery, responsible for getting Snow to a triumphant anniversary show on time.
Veteran’s Day gives us the chance to reflect on all of the service men and women, their sacrifice, and their innate bad-assness. Because, let’s face it, no matter what your stance on war, politics, or anything else, there is no draft anymore. These people are putting their lives on the line to protect us by choice. What could be more bad ass than a decision like that?
Nothing. So let’s celebrate the real heroes by rounding up some of our favorite fictional ones from film, shall we?
Yesterday marked the release of the 20th anniversary edition of Say Anything, which is definitely in the running for our favorite ’80s movie of all time. In case you don’t know, the film stars John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler, who attempts to win back his dreamgirl Diane Court by holding a boombox blasting Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” over his head. To celebrate, a mob of Lloyd Dobler impersonators (“the Mobler”) hit New York, carrying their boomboxes high from Union Square to Times Square, where they set up behind DC-based band the Lloyd Dobler Effect, who played a cover of the Gabriel’s famous jam. (What about Say Anything? Couldn’t it have been a whole festival?)
We think that this is pretty much the coolest thing ever, seeing as how we’ve been wishing for a real-life Lloyd Dobler for, well, 20 years now. Check out the videos after the jump!
John Krasinski’s adaptation of the wonderful David Foster Wallace’s short story collection Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is out in theaters. Well, theater really, since in New York it’s still playing exclusively at the IFC Center. But no matter. The real story blowing up the blogs is that Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard makes his acting debut in the film, looking like a cute potato as always.
Despite a relatively good US run, things have turned out a bit odd for the kids flick Monsters vs Aliens. To begin with, the Dreamworks film didn’t play so well overseas, bringing in just $177.1M in foreign markets, as opposed to the studio’s Madagascar which pulled in $339.1M overseas. Equally odd is the decision to release the film on DVD on the rather inauspicious September 29, well ahead of the Christmas-time boom. Read More »
