Aug 13 2009 'Gentlemen Broncos' Trailer: Prett-ee Good

The ambitious kid vs. past-his-prime man dynamic of Rushmore meets the oddball characters of Napoleon Dynamite in this new trailer for Jared Hess's latest Gentlemen Broncos. As someone who wasn't a huge fan of Hess's previous works (I will pull a PETA-style paint-hurling on any "Vote for Pedro" shirts that enter my field of vision), I'm surprised how much I'm excited for this film. It turns out I might sort of like this guy when his work isn't focused on a whiny borderline retard:

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Aug 12 2009 'Gentlemen Broncos' Remerges with a Hand-Crafted Poster

It's been so long since the launch of Gentlemen Broncos' genuinely hilarious viral site, I'd nearly forgotten Jared Hess's writing/directing follow-up to Napoleon Dynamite existed. But the film finally popped back on the radar today, over a year later, with this poster premiering on Coming Soon. The trailer is reportedly debuting tomorrow, so maybe then we can find out why missiles are strapped to the sides of a deer (besides that it's awesome). Is this movie some kind of modern wildlife version Dino Riders?

Nov 13 2008 Popular Actor/Comedians Providing Voices to CGI Family Comedy

Sorry, trained voice actors, an all-celebrity roster led by Steve Carell is once again dominating the cast of a new animated film called Despicable Me:

Illumination Entertainment topper Chris Meledandri has kicked off his Universal Pictures-based family film unit with "Despicable Me," a 3-D CG-animated film that has Steve Carell voicing the title character.

Jason Segel, Kristen Wiig, Will Arnett, Danny McBride, Russell Brand, Jemaine Clement ("Flight of the Conchords"), Jack McBrayer ("30 Rock") and Julie Andrews are providing the other lead voices. The film will be released in 2010.

Carell's title character is a deplorable man known as Groo who masterminds the mother of all heists when he plots to steal the moon. Egged on by an evil mother (Andrews), Groo finds one obstacle in his way: a trio of orphan girls who temporarily come under his care and won't leave.

I'm normally pretty skeptical about any computer-animated family comedy that isn't a Pixar, but I'll give this a pass for now because:

- This is a really good cast of mostly genuinely funny people, not Angelina Jolies.

- It isn't a sequel.

- I like the plan of stealing the moon. It's like Chairface Chippendale's plan to carve his name in the moon, but even more grandiose. How do you steal the moon? I'm willing to find out for now.

But so help me, first mention of anything equivalent to liking to "move it" and I'm done.

Steve Carell to voice 'Despicable' [Variety]

Aug 6 2008 'Gentlemen Broncos' Fake Website is Kind of Great

In Napoleon Dynamite writer/director Jared Hess's Gentlemen Broncos, a teenager attending a fantasy novel convention learns his book idea has been stolen by an already established novelist. Since the internet is still popular (for now...), a website for the antagonist novelist, played by Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement, has been set up. And you know what's crazy? It's actually funny--like Garth Marenghi's Darkplace as a website with a creepy, cursor-following effigy, horrible art, instructional videos, and novel excerpts. The audiobook sample of "Cyborg Harpies" contains the line, "Well, speak of the doomlord," which alone won my endorsement.

Have it. (Thanks to Hal.)