As the poet A. E. Housman elegized, the only way to preserve an unmarred reputation is to die young, if only metaphorically. But it’s hard to quit while you’re at the top of your game, particularly when money is involved. Which is why Molly Ringwald stars in The Secret Life of the American Teenager. And how casinos make money. And how the sequel… and the prequel… and the threequel were born.
Some we can’t complain about; many of our favorite superheroes peaked in their second movies, and the world would be a very different place had J.K. Rowling not stuck around for a round two. But then there are the Molly Ringwalds and the reckless gamblers — and the productions that might have been remembered more fondly had they called it quits instead of persisting with these slapdash, often pitiful, in many cases straight-to-DVD and made-for-TV follow ups, below the jump. Read More »
Nestled among this week’s new theatrical releases is The Big Year, a rather syrupy looking Bucket List riff co-starring Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson. Let’s be clear: we have not yet seen it. But we’re not holding out much hope for a movie that puts those three guys together and cannot find one single laugh to put in a trailer.
How could you combine three men as (granted, not always reliably) funny as these and not come up with a laugh riot? Quite easily, turns out. The recent cinema is all but littered with pictures that teamed up established comedic talents and thus sounded like sure-fire crowd pleasers, but which ended up tickling the funny bones of neither critics nor moviegoers. After the jump, we’ll run down ten comic combinations that misfired.
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Today at Flavorpill, we were fascinated to learn the last words of some of our favorite writers. We were thrilled to hear that American hikers Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal have finally left Iran after being held in a Tehran prison for the past two years. We wondered if there’s anyone out there who will actually listen to all six hours of the Flaming Lips’ new song (probably, right?). We enjoyed reading Steve Martin’s unsolicited letter of advice to future Oscars host Eddie Murphy. We joined in the heated debate on who are the 50 greatest video game characters of all time. We looked at how the design of some famous logos might evolve in the future. We couldn’t believe that Nicholas Sparks has sold a show to ABC about a lovelorn angel. We were totally amused this Tumblr that spotlights the kids who have played the flashback versions of famous actors. We found out a few things that Apple is worth more than. We took an interactive tour of the United States of smartphones. And finally, we fell madly in love with Alessandro Novelli’s stop motion animation alphabet — and not just because it’s in Helvetica.
One of the many pleasures of Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn’s slick new art house/action hybrid (opening in select cities tomorrow — and as Letterman likes to say, we sure hope your city has been selected) is the masterful performance of the great Albert Brooks. The comedian/filmmaker/comic actor (and, most recently, novelist) plays the film’s villain, a hard-boiled gangster type; Brooks harnesses his groggy weariness (that raspy voice has seldom been so well-utilized) and that impatient anger that’s always percolating under his best work. He’s unexpectedly chilling and effective.
His top-shelf work got us thinking about other actors who took on villainous roles and, whether due to their good-guy personas or comedic backgrounds, took us by surprise with the ruthlessness of their darker turns. We’ve rounded up our picks after the jump.
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Welcome to “Trailer Park,” our regular Friday feature where we collect the week’s new trailers all in one place and do a little “judging a book by its cover,” ranking them from worst to best and taking our best guess at what they may be hiding. It’s rather a light week, presumably due to the holiday and/or the kickoff of the Toronto Film Festival (which serves as something of a starter’s pistol for the fall movie season), but you can check out the meager pickings after the jump.
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Ever fantasize about Eddie Murphy saving you from a burning building? Well, we haven’t, but now that you mention it… We spotted these drool-worthy comic books by Old Red Jalopy over at NextMovie, where they’ve been working on a series of comedian-centric features in support of the first annual Comedy Awards, airing on Comedy Central tomorrow night. Old Red Jalopy has turned some of the most iconic and long lasting figures in American comedic film and television into the stars of their own comic books – and comic book series, we hope – can you imagine Tina Fey’s adventures in Gotham? – spandex jumpsuits and all. These comic books look as though they’ve been loved and revisited for years on end, pressed into the hands of children by their knowing parents, and shoved into backpacks for show and tell – which we think represents the influence of these wonderful comedians pretty well. Click through to see the best superheroes ever.
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Opening today in limited release, American: The Bill Hicks Story is an excellent documentary profiling the now-legendary stand-up comic and social satirist. Hicks was very much on the rise when he died of pancreatic cancer back in 1994 (he was only 32); in the years since his untimely demise, his reputation has only continued to grow. Much of that is due to his nine scathingly brilliant comedy albums — seven of them released posthumously, all among the most beloved stand-up discs of recent years. In celebration of his legacy, we decided to take a look at some of the most influential comedy albums of all time; take a look after the jump, and add your picks in the comments.
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First, the bad news: tonight’s episode of 30 Rock is a rerun. The good news came earlier this week, on Tom Hanks’s Twitter feed: “RadioMan delivers msg from T.Fey. Result? I’m on 30 Rock! Thanks, RMan Hanx.” Translation: “RadioMan” is Craig Castaldo, a homeless man who frequently pops up in New York-filmed TV shows and films, and is often found outside of David Letterman’s studio. Fey posed for a picture with Castaldo last week, and he apparently somehow brokered the deal for Hanks to make a 30 Rock guest appearance.
30 Rock fans often split on the show’s frequent use of guest stars; some say they’re too reliant on them, while others insist that Fey and her writing staff often find ingenious ways for celebrities to send up their own images or bring their comedic gifts to off-the-wall characters. We lean towards the latter point-of-view (with occasional exceptions — even we weren’t nuts about Jennifer Aniston’s episode). So with an eye on the upcoming Tom Hanks cameo, we took a look back at some of our favorite 30 Rock guest appearances. In the interest of brevity, we restricted ourselves to folks who only appeared once, so you’ll not find recurring favorites like Will Arnett’s Devon Banks, Jon Hamm’s Dr. Drew Baird, or Isabella Rosellini’s Biana Donaghy (“You know I love my big beef ‘n’ cheddar!”). Check out our picks after the jump, and add your favorites in the comments.
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Today at Flavorpill, we couldn’t contain our excitement over Community’s upcoming Pulp Fiction-inspired episode — particularly the thought of Shirley as Jules. We were happy to hear that Stephen Colbert’s portrait (which featured “embellishments” by Steve Martin, Frank Stella, Shepard Fairey, and Andres Serrano) had sold at auction for $26,000, with all of the proceeds going to benefit DonorsChoose. We wished that someone would save the Long Island mansion that inspired The Great Gatsby before it’s destroyed to make way for new developments. We got a peek at some footage of Le Tigre playing “Deceptacon” from Kerthy Fix’s forthcoming film, Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour. We saw way too much of Waka Flocka Flame thanks to his scandalous new PETA ad. We took an honest look at our Twitter page, or rather all of the things on Twitter that are driving us insane. We were horrified that Troll dolls, among other children’s toys, have gotten a sexy, modern makeover. We stumbled upon Nicki Minaj’s surprisingly tame yearbook photo. We marked our calendars for September, when a posthumous book from the beloved Shel Silverstein is due to hit shelves. And finally, we read a line-by-line breakdown of David Foster Wallace’s “Backbone” edits — or rather, we vowed to do so as soon as we can find the time/focus.
Congratulations are in order for Patton Oswalt: in addition to being one of our favorite working stand-up comedians, he is now officially a New York Times bestselling author. His book, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland is a surprisingly sophisticated piece of work. This comes as a surprise not due to its particular author — Oswalt’s magazine pieces and routines are peppered with enough obscure literary references to indicate a guy who’s read a book or two — but because of the rather lowly reputation of the stand-up book in general.
It goes back to Bill Cosby. In 1986, with The Cosby Show at the height of its considerable success, the good doctor of comedy made a deal with Doubleday to write a book. The resulting volume, Fatherhood, was a slim text that consisted primarily of material very familiar to fans of his 1983 concert film Bill Cosby: Himself. The book was basically a transcription of his act. Didn’t matter; it was a huge bestseller, and the quickie stand-up book was born. No need to actually “write” a “book” — just adapt your stand-up material into book form! Type it up, maybe grab a thesaurus to change some of the slang to bigger words, and viola! Instant bestseller.
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