Aug 11 2009 'G.I. Joe' Still Really Popular Even When It Scarcely Resembles Its Original Form
Sorry, guys, Daddy had a doctor's appointment this morning and it took much longer than expected to get the news I'm not entirely dying. Anyway, let's get the weekend's box office numbers out of the way:
1. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - $54.7 million, thanks to Transformers paving the way for basically anything with a lot of action and an '80s toyline to make a ton of money.
2. Julie & Julia - $20 million, though if the film encouraged just one person to go home and cook a nice meal, that's worth more in a way. In a really stupid way, where a night of pork chops is worth over $20 million.
3. G-Force - $9.9 million. I liked how the guinea pigs talked.
4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - $8.9 million. Clearly our most profitable magic user.
5. Funny People - $8 million, narrowly beating Standard People.
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
Aug 4 2009 'Funny People' Beat the Potter
Your weekend box office results. Sorry they're a day later than usual, but the delay does mean these are the final tallies, rather than the estimates. Feel confident transcribing them in permanent ink:
1. Funny People - $22.7 million. Sad when you realize that any of Funny People's intentionally-idiotic Sandler parody films--Astro-Not and Re-Do (above), for example--would have opened to twice that. People just love babies with man-heads so much.
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - $17.9 million, barely edging past G-Force--probably because it's based on an insanely popular book series instead of the concept of talking guinea pigs as spies.
3. G-Force - $17.5 million. It's probably not doing as well as an Alvin and Chipmunks because of the lack of high-pitched singing. Gotta put some sauce on that pizza or it's just cheese bread; know what I'm sayin'?
4. The Ugly Truth - $13.2 million. Haha! Men have penises and girls have vaginas and they typically behave differently! Haha!
5. Aliens in the Attic - $8 million. Aliens and attics: not a successful combination, it turns out. Ridley Scott is going to have to rethink some things for his Alien prequel.
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
Jul 31 2009 New Moving Pictures Shows!
This weekend, treat a lady to dinner, then to one of these new releases. Congratulations: you just went on a "classic date."
Funny People
Director: Judd Apatow
Starring: Adam Sandler, Leslie Mann, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, other amusing humans.
Good if you want to see: the director of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up edge towards the drama side of the scale; Adam Sandler essentially acknowledge that an "Adam Sandler Movie" is terrible; reasons for and against becoming a successful stand-up comedian, moving on to soul-sucking Hollywood roles, and then getting leukemia.
Aliens in the Attic
Director: John Schultz
Starring: Kevin Nealon, Tim Meadows, I think one of those Disney-bred girls is in it
Good if you want to see: all these fucking aliens in this fucking attic.
The Collector
Director: Marcus Dunstan
Starring: Madeline Zima, Andrea Roth, Daniella Alonso, Robert Wisdom
Good if you want to see: yet another insane serial killer setting up elaborate traps for his unsuspecting victims; people dying gruesome, Looney Tunes-style deaths (see above).
Thirst (limited)
Director: Chan Wook Park
Starring: Kang-ho Song, Ha-kyun Shin
Good if you want to see: "a priest transform into a vampire after a failed medical experiment, plunging him into a world of unknown sensual pleasures"; isn't that enough?
Adam (limited)
Director: Max Mayer
Starring: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne
Good if you want to see: you can still find true love with a normie even if you're a space-obsessed dude with Asperger's; saccharine on the autism spectrum.
Jul 9 2009 New 'Funny People' Trailer: It's Funny
My computer's MMX processor isn't powerful enough to properly watch it, but hey, there's a new, red-band (cussin'!) trailer for Funny People! From what I could tell through the stuttered audio and slideshow-esque video that I was able to see, this film still looks funny (but not too funny, you know?) and genuine, so try to look past your seemingly-arbitrary resentment of Judd Apatow & Friends and let's all agree this looks pretty good:
Jun 17 2009 'Funny People' Provides New Entry in 'Little Man' Genre
In Judd Apatow's Funny People, Adam Sandler plays George Simmons, a comedian-turned-comic actor starring in primarily broad comedies--obviously a role that hits fairly close to home for the Waterboy. So, to promote the film, Apatow and Sandler, along with Justin Long, put together this depressingly believable clip for one of Simmons' fictional films, Re-Do. Description:
Craig, a workaholic lawyer, never made time for his relationships. Alone and depressed on his 40th birthday, he wonders about the life he could have lead. But be careful what you wish for...you might just find yourself in diapers! When a wizard gives Craig a second chance at his youth, he discovers that sometimes it takes becoming a baby to learn how to be a man.
It's really good. They've topped Yo, Teach...!:
Continue Reading " 'Funny People' Provides New Entry in 'Little Man' Genre "
May 29 2009 'Yo Teach...!' Clip and Behind-the-Scenes!
Every group of underachieving, inner-city high schoolers needs a Michelle Pfeiffer, or a Pryzbylewski, or a Steve Harvey to show them that someone cares, that rapping is like funky poetry, and that dice is like math. This fall on NBC, one such group will get theirs in Mark Taylor Jackson, the "wise-cracking mentor of Yo Teach...!"
As this clip and behind-the-scenes featurette demonstrate, the show looks hilarious. And heartwarming:
Continue Reading " 'Yo Teach...!' Clip and Behind-the-Scenes! "
Nov 13 2008 'Funny People', Dull Poster
After so many movies ripped-off the look of Judd Apatow posters, he's decided to just go ahead and make the most boring poster possible. Steal this one, a-holes. See if he cares.
I know Funny People is supposed to be more of a drama than a typical Apatow production, but unless it's also a mid-'90s ABC series about best friends/roommates coming to terms with adulthood (Weds, 10/9 central), this is awful.
Aug 14 2008 Sandler Turned Down Chance of Being 'Inglorious Bastard'
Speaking to Irish television, Adam Sandler confirmed he will not be appearing in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards, instead choosing to do another movie with Judd Apatow (because Don't Mess with the Zohan worked so well):
Sandler had long been rumoured to take a major role in the Tarantino-scripted movie which the director has been planning for nearly a decade.Asked had he been in talks with Tarantino, he told RTÉ.ie: "Yeah it's true. It is, and I read the script, it's fantastic. But I'm shooting at the very same time. I won't be able to do it. I'm doing a movie with Judd Apatow at the same time so that's not going to happen, but I did read it. It is awesome."
"I know Quentin for a long time. We've been talking about doing it for years, for like five, six, seven years. Yeah, it's definitely disappointing. I'd love to do it, but I just can't."
Now where is Quentin Tarantino going to find another Jewish comedian? (There are many Jewish comedians.)
Adam Sandler Turned Down Inglorious Bastards [Flick News] (Thanks, Siobhan)
Jun 13 2008 Eric Bana is 'Funny People,' Proves It by Wearing Wigs
Nowadays, we tend to think of Eric Bana as Munich, The Guy From Troy Who Wasn't Brad Pitt, or Oh, Right, The Hulk. But prior to any of those stateside roles, Bana was a comedian, and even had his own sketch show--like Amanda Bynes! Thus, he's been cast alongside other well-known funnies in Judd Apatow's Funny People, a dramedy looking at the world of standup comedy. From Variety:
Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman and Jonah Hill have joined the ensemble of "Funny People," which will be co-financed by Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures, with Universal distributing worldwide next summer.Apatow set Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann in the comedy earlier this year.
The filmmaker, who last wrote and directed "Knocked Up," was deliberately vague about subject matter, allowing only that the movie takes place in the world of standup comedy and the focus is on a comedian who has a near-death experience.
Below the cut, see a promo for 1997's silly-wig filled The Eric Bana Show, and learn that, as it turns out, Bana does an alright Columbo.
Continue Reading " Eric Bana is 'Funny People,' Proves It by Wearing Wigs "
