Results tagged “michaelcera”

       

FILM To anyone who has ever had a dream and seen that dream gone unfulfilled, I implore you to see Anvil!: The Story of Anvil and perhaps re-discover the inspiration to continue pursuing that elusive prize. Some have described Sacha Gervasi's hilarious doc as a real-life version of Spinal Tap, but the reality goes much deeper. So many would-be artists pursue success only to give up after a few years of failure. The boys of Anvil demonstrate how a true love of your craft compels you to never quit. Oh, and did I mention it was also fucking funny?

                     

Paramount refused to screen G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra for critics which is usually a huge, obvious warning that the film is an unmitigated disaster. Then again, maybe the studio is still just chafing from the deserved reaming given to Transformers 2: Racist CGI Porn by reviewers. In any case, G.I. Joe is obviously on the "skip" list. The consensus on Julie & Julia (LAist review here) appears to be that the movie would have benefited from more Julia and less Julie. To get a true grasp of what an amazing actress Meryl Streep is, Netflix the following movies and watch them in this order: Doubt, Silkwood, Sophie's Choice, Stuck on You.

              

Before diving into a review of the wonderful Paper Heart, allow me to relate an episode from last night's screening. I think it provides a key insight into the whimsical mind of Charlyne Yi. Following the screening, Charlyne and director Nicholas Jasenovec sat down for a Q&A. Ten minutes in, Charlyne excused herself to the restroom. Moments later, she returned. Except she didn't. A man dressed exactly like her entered the theater and continued the Q&A as her. It's just that sort of innocent guile that makes Paper Heart so winning.

       

After mostly being given up for dead as a legitimate box-office attraction, Sandra Bullock roared back to prominence this weekend as she carried The Proposal to a surprising box-office triumph ($34.1M). Last week's champ The Hangover had yet another powerhouse weekend ($26.8M/$152.9M) as did Pixar's wonderful Up ($21.3M/$224.1M). Sony probably had high hopes for Year One several months ago, but the pic disappointed in its debut ($20.2M). Lack of "funny-ness" and an abundance of "shitty-ness" seemed to be the culprits there.

                     

I thought Sandra Bullock was done doing romantic comedies. Oh wait, The Proposal probably isn't very funny. Speaking of not funny, Year One is getting savaged. Is it really possible that the extraordinary Michael Cera has finally given us a true dud? Say it ain't so! Woody Allen has enjoyed a resurgence since the beyond awful Hollywood Ending (okay, Scoop sucked, too). Looks like that trend continues with Whatever Works. What a great hook Woody has for older, male actors -- make a movie with me and you'll kiss pretty, young actresses!

                                          

The 15th annual Los Angeles Film Festival kicks off tonight at 7:30 pm with the premiere screening of Paper Man at the Mann Village Theater. The full festival begins in earnest the following morning as over 80 documentary and narrative features unspool in venues across the Westside. In addition to that, the festival features panels and seminars, coffee talks and poolside chats, short-film programs, music video showcases, live concerts and free screenings of such beloved films as Ghostbusters, Election and The Muppet Movie.

In more able hands, Zack and Miri Make A Porno could have been a funny and insightful movie about sexual commerce, exhibitionism, friendship, financial desperation, etc. With Kevin Smith writing and directing, though, it was a shallow, dirty joke that had a scene where a guy was shit on by a constipated whore. I laughed a few times overall, but isn't it time Kevin just went away? If you want to see an infinitely superior movie, check out Nick and Norah's Infinite Playist. Michael Cera is as close to a guarantee as we have right now. Had Bottle Shock just stayed with Rickman it would have been better than merely mediocre.

This year, Aimee Mann gave a Christmas gift to the world by sharing videos from her third annual Christmas show. These four gems are just as good as their 2007 counterparts, and the 2008 cast includes guests such as Mann's talented husband, Michael Penn, a hilarious Michael Cera spouting f-bombs in protest of being cast as Tiny Tim, Paul F. Tompkins as a ghost who has technical difficulties delivering his message via Skype, plus John. C. Reilly, Tim Heidecker, Grant Lee Phillips and John Krasinski.

Presaging the imminent arrival of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, ($5M/$5.5M).

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist looks like an ideal date movie for confused and annoying teens. The presence of the awesomely talented Michael Cera, however, insures my aged presence. Beverly Hills Chihuahua looks so awful that it will probably be hilarious. Stoned. I don't much like Bill Maher, but I do like that Bill Maher exists and has a platform on which to vent his spleen. That said, Religulous feels an awful lot like fishing with dynamite. I mean, making fun of the devoutly religious? Is this really cutting edge material?

So I think I can safely say, having viewed it twice now, that Jason Reitman's Juno is the newest addition to my list of favorite movies. Okay, yes, it may be a pretty "rosy view of teen pregnancy", as my friend declared, but the humor, the characters, and the crazy dialogue ("You should've gone to China, you know, 'cause I hear they give away babies like free iPods. You know, they pretty much just put them in those t-shirt guns and shoot them out at sporting events"), as well as what I consider a pretty awesome performance by Ellen Page especially, all add up to a really enjoyable movie. Page plays Juno, a quirky, smart-ass 16-year-old who seemingly spontaneously decides to sleep with her adorable and mild-mannered best friend Bleeker (Superbad's Michael Cera), and ends up pregnant. After being freaked out at an abortion clinic by the idea that the baby has fingernails already, Juno picks a couple from an ad who are looking to adopt a child and offers to hand it over once it's born.

Atonement hits theaters this weekend as one of the few, definite contenders for an Academy Award. It bears all the traditional hallmarks of an Oscar-caliber film: lavish period piece (check), excellent source novel (check), epic scope (check), high-powered English cast (check), nude scene from Keira Knightley (double check). Those critics who've already seen it have been generous with praise, so I'm expecting nothing less than a winner. It's virtually certain that The Golden Compass...

So, yeah, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Superbad are the big releases this weekend. Honestly, I liked both movies well enough, but neither deserves the #1 slot in the weekly rundown like Battlestar Galactica: Razor does. Since new episodes of the best show on television won't air until March 2008, we'll have to make do with this 2-hour movie that follows the adventures of the Pegasus after the treacherous Cylon attack against the...

Exceeding even the most optimistic of expectations, continued to hang on with 6.6 million and a new cume of 165.1M.

Late night is pretty good tonight - will have to make some tough choices or be handy with the remote. 8:00pm Big Brother CBS - Who gets the boot? 8:30pm The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer TCM - The always dapper Cary Grant squares off against a frigid but hot Myrna Loy and avoids the attentions of a grown up and horny Shirley Temple - a classic. 10:00pm Mad Men AMC - This is the...

Unlike the Michael Cera gets fired from Knocked Up clip we mentioned a while back, this looks like it might be a real outtake from the movie. It features Jonah (Jonah Hill) spouting off to Alison (Katherine Heigl) about the disappointing lack of hot gay sex in Ang Lee's "boundary-pushing" film, Brokeback Mountain....

The plucky underdogs are front and center this weekend during a brief break between the summer sequel heavyweights. They’ll be trying to steal what little bit of box office they can post-Pirates, pre-Ocean. Have to move fast though, Clooney and his Ocean’s crew seduce your ticket dollars next week with their sensitive eyes, well-tailored suits and charmingly witty speech-cadence. Knocked Up - Seth Rogen accidentally impregnates Katherine Heigl during a one-night-stand (I should be...

I could write a movie review of Knocked Up -- and maybe I still will -- but it will just be a long list of hilarious moments (there's the part where he does this one thing... and then she says this other thing...) in a movie overflowing with hilarity. Trust me on this: you will walk out of the movie floating on fluffly pink cloud of funny-ness, and I don't want to spoil a second...