Aug 28 2008 How Loosely is 'Disaster Movie' Themed Around the Idea of Disaster Movies?
Loosely enough that, in Brazil, Superheroes: The Injustice League is equally if not more applicable as a title. Isn't that infuriating? Why not just go with the even more fitting title of Recently Popular People and Things?
Also noteworthy: Amy Winehouse is far less prominent in this poster than the American version. What's the deal, Brazil? Are you too good to endlessly follow the drug-addled lifestyle of a British starlet whose tale can only end in her self-inflicted demise? Are you not familiar with this gaunt, decaying friend of the American people, and how funny it would be if she, for whatever reason, had fangs and was holding the corpse of an infant? You guys have no idea what you're missing.
Aug 20 2008 Another 'Disaster Movie' Clip Alludes to Some Things
I expected the Juno simulation, the mentions of Brangelina, pregnant Spears and George Clooney, the nod to home abortion, and the random violence as phantom humor, but man, eBay? An eBay reference? Did they forget to squeeze that into Spy Hard and just now realize it? Well, if that's the standard, I hope they also remembered a joke about how everyone seems to have a cell phone these days, because has anyone else noticed that?
Continue Reading " Another 'Disaster Movie' Clip Alludes to Some Things "
Aug 18 2008 Kim Kardashian Wrestles Carmen Electra for Tragically Unfunny Arousal
Sex sells, so it's no surprise that, like Superhero Movie before it, Disaster Movie attempts to bring in viewers unaware of ways of procuring actual pornography (i.e., the internet) by promising a brief, cleavage-filled wrestling match. But what makes this clip astounding is how writer-director duo Friedberg and Seltzer are somehow able to make a cleavage-filled wrestling match so intensely frustrating. The secret? Beginning the catfight with a Wanted quote to give the illusion that humor and/or parody are involved (they aren't).
The press release promised a "hilarious new clip from DISASTER MOVIE with a sexy shout out from Carmen Electra." Was briefly referencing Twister the hilarious part? And was the aging sex symbol's half-hearted shilling really the sexy part? I have the feeling whoever writes these descriptions has given up even more than I have.
Continue Reading " Kim Kardashian Wrestles Carmen Electra for Tragically Unfunny Arousal "
Jul 3 2008 'Disaster Movie' Poster Accurately Portrays Terribleness of 'Disaster Movie'
I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that when you're dealing with a movie comprised entirely of lazy references to other movies, the poster is basically going to look like a grotesquely visual works cited page, but it seems pretty daring to present what I'd guess is every "joke" in the movie in a single image. They've just totally ruined the gag where Indiana Jones is a midget, and the gag where the Chipmunks look like nightmares, and the gag where Hellboy is... present.
Click the poster for the large version. But really, don't.
Jun 24 2008 'Disaster Movie' Trailer, AKA, Characters You Know Being Injured
When I began the trailer for Disaster Movie, the new fading-pop-culture-reference film from the makers of Meet the Spartans (who are now calling themselves "the guys who've seen way too many movies" rather than the more accurate "the two despicable retards whose sense of humor is derived entirely from recognizing impressions"), I had already assumed that when it was done, my brain would be clenched in a tight fist, flailing at my skull with the impotent rage of a child unable to come to grips with his parents' divorce. WHY??? HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING???
As it turns out, that wasn't really the case. Instead, the entire experience left me feeling as empty as the deserted street corner set used in every single shot. How else could you feel after watching a trailer composed entirely of recent/future movie characters getting hurt in inexplicably cartoon ways? A cow falls on Iron Man, crushing him with a Photoshop squeeze effect. That a joke. That actually happens. Who does this appeal to? Someone whose sole aspiration is to see the Joker get hit by a frying pan? If you are that person, this delivers in spades.
Continue Reading " 'Disaster Movie' Trailer, AKA, Characters You Know Being Injured "
Jun 23 2008 Fourth 'Disaster Movie' Teaser Poster! FOURTH! And They're Still Just Teasing Us!
Well, it appears that my prediction that the next poster would feature a farting Hulk and a tagline saying something about the "green movement" was wrong. Instead, Disaster Movie has chosen the route of referencing either a year-and-a-half old international poster for Knocked Up or simply the biological act of sperm fertilizing an egg--your choice. It's funny because "getting off" can refer both to physically removing oneself from Earth or to ejaculating. I guess "cumming soon" and "LOL comets looks like sperms!" were deemed too obvious.
Jun 16 2008 Another Great 'Disaster Movie' Poster
Man, these guys can't miss! First the reference-tastic team of Seltzer/Friedberg tore Matt Groening and co. a new one with a one-sheet that perfectly replicated The Simpsons Movie poster, save for changing the name and replacing the donut 'O' with Earth in cookie form; now they've implied that Indiana Jones has been hit by a meteor! Hah, he's dead! Sadly, I can barely appreciate the wit in the "rock on!" tagline (there's literally a rock on him) because I'm so filled with anxious giddiness for their probable parody of this Hulk poster, which I anticipate will be the Hulk farting over the tagline "The 'Green' Movement Stinks!"
Jun 9 2008 'Disaster Movie' Poster Says "Take That, 'Simpsons Movie' Poster!"
Hah! Get it? This poster looks like the poster to The Simpsons Movie for some reason--even though The Simpsons was not a disaster movie, and the series is already itself known for incisive parodies. Still, this poster vaguely reminds me of something else, and is therefor funny. Don't question it too much. Everything makes sense.
May 30 2008 'Disaster Movie' Poster Predicts More 'Meet the Spartans'-Style Belly Laughs
Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg are the two mercilessly humorless writers who brought you Meet the Spartans and all of the other [Genre] Movie-titled parody films of the last decade. Now they have another one coming out titled Disaster Movie (the irony of which is too obvious to state). Since they've started coming out with at least one a year since 2006, this comes as little surprise--they're essentially a second, shorter Academy Awards, both serving as joyless ways to remind yourself of the year's films as filtered through cleavage and painful attempts at humor.
But I was a bit taken aback looking at this poster (my exact words were "f***. me.") and learning that their latest attempt is disaster-themed. Wasn't their next stab going to be Goody Two Shoes, based around Superbad and still-unreleased summer films? God, is this a second spoof film they're doing this year? Why would reason allow for that?
Thankfully, I don't think that's the case. The IMDB lists only Disaster Movie as filming, with the threat of several other projects resigned to the trivia section. More likely, Seltzer and Friedberg simply cast their parody net so broadly that a few extra shots of pop culture icons dying in natural disasters allowed for a complete shift in focal point.
I really hate these guys.
