Nov 3 2009 Owen Wilson Providing Marmaduke's Voice in 'Marmaduke'
Because Marmaduke being a terrible, giant asshole dog who ruins every life he touches isn't enough to differentiate him from Beethoven or other large dogs not born with the ability for speech. He has to talk, also:
Wilson's boarding is the last piece of the puzzle for the live-action/CG movie, which has shades of Fox's surprise smash "Marley & Me" and follows a family named the Winslows who move from Kansas to Orange County with their dog Marmaduke, a slobbery pooch who creates chaos wherever he goes.In adapting the strip created in 1954 by Brad Anderson and Phil Leeming, the script by Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio sees Marmaduke navigate a volatile Mutts vs. Pedigrees turf war, woo the purebred of his dreams and overcome a fall from grace.
So the movie is sort of The Karate Kid meets talking dog race wars? Man oh man. If Marmaduke creator Brad Anderson knew what moving pictures were, and if his mind weren't an 85-year-old confused mess that can only understand things in terms of how many or few dogs are causing mischief, he would be so pissed that his abhorrent comic were being turned into something that's repulsive for entirely different reasons.
Sep 18 2009 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' Character Banners: Who Knows What Wes Anderson is Being Really Specific About
I was just thinking how charming these new character banners for Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox, but then I remembered how particular and eccentric Anderson can be about details, and realized there's a pretty decent chance this Coach Skip model was fashioned from albino scalp.
Still, I think the movie should be pretty good, so long as I'm able to get in past all the albino rights group protesters.
Jul 30 2009 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' Trailer: Kids' Movies Are Suddenly Really Great
Oh, if only to be a child again. Not me as a child--I was an idiot who spent most of his time re-enacting scenes from Ghostbusters--but a child with discerning enough taste to recognize and enjoy that this fall marks a quality family film renaissance. In October comes Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are, and in November we get Wes Anderson's adaptation of The Fantastic Mr. Fox--a film that places the director's wit and stylized direction in a realm more accepting of abstraction: the world of Rankin/Bass-like stop-motion animation.
We've already seen how good Wild Things looks, and now a trailer for Fox has finally been released. It's basically Roald Dahl's Bottle Rocket:
Continue Reading " 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' Trailer: Kids' Movies Are Suddenly Really Great "
Feb 19 2009 Last Chapter of Focker Trilogy Finally in Development
You'd think that after meeting your wife's parents and then introducing them to your parents, most of your family-related comic mishaps would be over. Not the case (if you're Ben Stiller)! If you're Ben Stiller, and your father-in-law is Robert De Niro, you'll never escape from a living hell of pratfalls and nervous family interactions. You might as well kill yourself. But first have kids, because that will make for a great movie where De Niro can accuse you of milking your children:
It looks like "Little Fockers" is finally coming of age.The long-gestating third installment of the comedy franchise is maturing quickly at Universal — but with new parents.
John Hamburg has been brought on to write the screenplay after Larry Stuckey penned an earlier draft.
Meanwhile, Jay Roach, who of course directed the first two films and had been loosely attached to direct this one, will not helm the picture. The hyphenate is concentrating on the comic romp “Dinner for Schmucks” for DreamWorks and Parkes/Bowles and only will produce “Fockers.”
Among the candidates said to be in the running are comedy veteran Paul Weitz, who wrote and directed “In Good Company” and co-wrote and co-directed “About a Boy”; the quirky-comedy figure David Wain, writer-director of cult pic “Wet Hot American Summer” and Universal’s male-buddy hit “Role Models”; and Peyton Reed, who directed the current Jim Carrey starrer “Yes Man.”
On the casting side, Stiller, Robert De Niro and Owen Wilson — the last of whom had unrelated small parts in the first two pics as an ex-fiance and a minister, respectively, but could have an expanded role here — are in negotiations to star in “Fockers.”
I could always tell we'd need a trilogy to tell the entire Focker arc. Such a rich narrative. At the end of Meet the Fockers, you just get the sense that Ben Stiller needs one more film where he'll finally fully rise above all the family strife, then slip and fall into a pile of dirty diapers. Classic three-act structure.
Feb 2 2009 'Night at the Museum 2' Poster is 'OK'
Or so the Lincoln Memorial tells me! It would be less obnoxious if they had Lincoln in a backwards cap, lowering his sunglasses as he jumped a skateboard over the cast. I mean, if we're going to have a statue of the Great Emancipator doing something stupid, then let's gets nuts with it.
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Poster [IMPA]
Oct 17 2008 'Marley & Me' Trailer Reminds Us Dogs That Aren't Talking Chihuahuas Are A-Holes
Why would you take a by-the-books Owen Wilson/Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy and combine it with the dog-as-a-mildly-sentient-asshole antics of Marmaduke? Because it's possible!
My favorite part is when "Bad to the Bone" starts playing. At that point I know, this dog must be a truly horrible dog. The music is laying it all down for me. Euthanize that puppy before he pulls his own logo into the frame and that familiar red-on-white lettering tells us this is meant to be a comedy. Give this dog the canine parvovirus before it ruins your fictional marriage, Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. It's the only way when a dog is that bad to the bone.
Sep 19 2008 Owen Wilson in a Dracula Buddy Comedy? Ha! Oh, You're Serious
There's a new Owen Wilson movie coming out that should be the movie you joke Owen Wilson would make, but instead is the real movie Owen Wilson is making: a buddy comedy with him and a dracula.
Spyglass Entertainment is prepping a new horror-comedy after the good buzz surrounding their latest effort, GHOST TOWN, which hits theaters tomorrow. Entitled Blood Brothers, the film is set to star Owen Wilson in a buddy comedy involving a man and a vampire.
Jackie Chan, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and/or Eddie Murphy, expect calls.
Owen Wilson to Topline Vampire Buddy Comedy [Bloody Disgusting]
Jun 4 2008 'Marley & Me' Teaser Trailer Appeals to Running Puppy, Pun Fans
Many lazy Chariots of Fire parodies have been made over the years, but I'm pretty sure none have ever had such a nonexistent payoff as this one. Are we supposed to think the dog was just running joyfully along the beach, totally within the limits of his acceptable behavior? Ut! Turns out, his (surprisingly famous!) masters would not prefer he act in such a way! Is the payoff that this isn't a Cottonelle commercial? That someone found "Heel the love" to be an acceptable tagline? Honestly, someone explain this to me.
Continue Reading " 'Marley & Me' Teaser Trailer Appeals to Running Puppy, Pun Fans "
Feb 20 2008 Owen Wilson Tragedy Ends in More Tragedy
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Owen Wilson, having recovered from his tragic suicide attempt, has returned to work on his equally-tragic movie, Marley & Me. Thankfully, no, it's not a sequel to You, Me and Dupree; sadly, it is a hybrid of Beethoven and a sitcom plot in which baby-desiring teens learn a lesson from a school-assigned robot infant.
Someone, please give this poor guy something less miserable to work on. How about it, Wes Anderson?
Owen Wilson goes back to work [Hollywood Reporter]
Oct 29 2007 Wes Anderson Interviews Owen Wilson-Bot
Speaking publicly for the first time since his hospitalization, Owen Wilson does not, as many hoped, go into the details of his attempted suicide. This interview with longtime collaborator Wes Anderson does, however, give some interesting bits on their new film, The Darjeeling Limited.
Oh, and it quickly becomes apparent that Wilson actually did die and has been replaced with a shaggy-haired android.
Interview below the cut.
Continue Reading " Wes Anderson Interviews Owen Wilson-Bot "
Sep 24 2007 'The Darjeeling Limited' Clip Provides Exactly What's Expected
As everyone, perhaps none so pointedly as The Onion, keeps saying, The Darjeeling Limited looks to be more of the same highly-stylized, deadpan comedy we've come to expect from Wes Anderson. But you know what else is always just what you expect? Masturbation. And, like a Wes Anderson film, I treat myself to it about once every three years and it's phenomenal. So let's all just cool out and enjoy this minute of slow-paced footage, then maybe have another minute to yourself.
Sep 19 2007 McConaughey Steals Wilson's Thunder (Role)
Variety reports a muscley, shirtless Matt McConaughey has been added to the cast of Ben Stiller's upcoming comedy Tropic Thunder, taking a role formerly filled by Owen Wilson prior to his attempted suicide. Though the part is only a small, uncredited cameo, the loss must surely be making Wilson wonder if it's all worth it. I mean, if you're so easily replaced, will anyone care if you're gone, forever? With close friends Stiller and Jack Black shooting the film in Hawaii, you'll just be sitting around alone. Desperate, abandoned, and alone. Even though you can't shoot with them, and while Kate Hudson has surely moved on to a man as well-built and good-looking as McConaughey (your replacement, don't forget), perhaps there's still some way you can get all their attention while teaching them a lesson...
Too soon?
McConaughey storms into 'Thunder' [Variety]
Aug 29 2007 A Pile of Movie News
- While Corey Feldman is in Vancouver shooting his part in the Lost Boys sequel, Corey Haim has yet to leave the US, citing immigration problems getting in and out of the country. In other words, Canada can't handle that much awesome at once. [MTV]
- Susan Sarandon said in a recent junket that Speed Racer is using special cameras that will keep everything in the frame in focus through layering images. How soon until this reaches the porn industry, allowing the guy giving it to her from behind to sneer with the same clarity as the guy masturbating in front of them? Not soon enough. [Collider]
- Variety reports that Owen Wilson's recent suicide attempt and hospitalization "are throwing a major monkeywrench into production of two movies and causing marketing headaches for two more." Obviously written by the same reporter that said, "9/11 attacks throw nearby souvenir shops into tizzy." [Variety]
- George Lucas has hired John Ridley to write Red Tails, a film about the first African-American fighter pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen. Writing the latest Star Wars trilogy must have used up all of Lucas's amazingly realistic and believable dialogue. [Variety]
- Oliver Stone is set to direct Pinkville, yet another Vietnam war piece following his previous efforts of Platoon, Heaven & Earth, Born on the Fourth of July, and the seldom-seen family sitcom Viet-Moms. [Variety]
Aug 21 2007 Wilson, Aniston in Marmaduke-Style Disaster
As described in the pun and alliteration-filled Variety headline, "Wilson, Aniston fetch Fox feature," Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston are going to be in a movie with a dog. Like Marmaduke or Beethoven before him, the titular dog of Marley & Me is an incorrigible canine that wreaks havoc, gets kicked out of obedience school, destroys things, and yet somehow isn't abandoned or put-down by the owners. Unlike Marmaduke or Beethoven, however, Marley is a Labrador Retriever, and thus isn't comically large. This subtle difference is what separates this future work of art from that frivolous rubbish.
Wilson, Aniston fetch Fox feature [Variety]
Jul 27 2007 Drillbit Taylor Trailer
A script by Seth Rogen about three high school nerds paying a homeless man (Owen Wilson) to be their bodyguard seems like it would be can't miss comedy gold, but from the trailer I worry they really haven't made this Drillbit character quite "homeless" enough (by which I mean filthy and crazy). When I'm told I'm getting a hobo, I expect screaming, misery, and the general madness common of the street people. You know you haven't made a good hobo character when both Nick Nolte and The Boxcar Children are better vagrants.
Jul 24 2007 Darjeeling Limited Trailer
After long last, the much-anticipated Darjeeling Limited trailer is now online. Hopes I have for this movie:
1. That it wasn't just an excuse for Wes Anderson to play grab ass in India for three months. Seriously, dude loves India.
2. That it will give Adrien Brody something cool to be known for besides making out with Halle Berry.
3. That Jason Schwartzman's performance will further postpone me hating him for being a Coppola.
4. That if it turns out to be really good it won't become a hipster phenomenon and thus force me to hate something I love.
5. Maybe the dick in the popcorn trick will finally pay off? Thankfully, elementary school girls keep getting gullibler.
Jul 20 2007 Darjeeling Limited Poster
With the deliberate photography, quirky props and costumes, fine attention to detail, and three distinctive noses, it must be the poster to Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. I could pretend I'm not completely enamored with this, but then I worry no one will send me tickets to the New York Film Festival (Darjeeling is opening it), which I'm fairly certain will happen if I keep waiting patiently.
Supposedly the trailer will be attached to Once and Sunshine this weekend, so I'll have to head out to Sunshine, since I'm slightly more of a nerd than a wuss.
Jun 25 2007 Darjeeling Limited Pictures
Unable to compete with Adrian or Owen in the "Hollywood's Ugliest Nose" contest, Jason Schwartzman grew a mustache.
Some new pics from Wes Anderson's latest project, Darjeeling Ltd., have hit the web. The movie is said to maybe or possibly not be about three brothers who trek through India in search of an albino tiger that they believe is their reincarnated father.
My father was reincarnated as a ham sandwich. Damn that was a good sandwich. R.I.P, pop.
May 15 2007 Vaughn and Wilson Say No to 'Outsourced', Fat Chicks
"I think I speak for both of us when I say, 'Go f*** yourself, Hank Azaria.'"
Hank Azaria (of Simpson's fame) is reporting that Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson have dropped out of Outsourced, a project developed specifically for them that Azaria is directing.
"The Simpsons" voice actor has put his acting career on hold to shoot "Outsourced," a comedy that marks Azaria’s directorial debut. "It’s about these two guys who work at a factory in Southern California," Azaria said. "Their jobs get outsourced to Mexico, and they decide 'Well, we like Mexico. Let’s go down there and work down there'. And they become like the Norma Raes of Mexico."
Asked for comment, Vaughn and Wilson allegedly responded, "Wait, so you do the voice of an Indian guy on a cartoon, and based on that you decide to direct a movie called Outsourced, but it's set in Mexico? Weird."
Okay, so no Vaughn and Owen Wilson. How 'bout Ben Stiller and Luke Wilson? Will Farrell and William H. Macy? Vin Diesel and Ice Cube? I'm sure he'll figure it out.
In the meantime, Daddy'll be drinkin'.
