Jul 8 2009 '500 Day of Summer' Actors Imitate Sid and Nancy, Because...

As a promotion for their upcoming indie romance 500 Days of Summer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel made this video where they do a gender-bending scene as punk icons Sid and Nancy. Can anyone explain why? I sometimes have a difficult time understanding why things happen, and this is such an instance. Is nonsense the new viral marketing?

Here is that.

Mar 4 2009 '500 Days of Summer' Trades Repetition for H&O

Is "You Make(-a) My Dreams" the new "Mr. Blue Sky"? I think that's what the makers of 500 Days of Summer are going for, as they've exchanged the charming but repetitive Leslie Nielsen narration of the first trailer with a more conventional, clip-driven preview scored by indie music and the out-of-place Hall and Oates hit.

How many young, fictional romances will begin with one potential suitor questioning the other about what's on their headphones? At least Garden State and this one:

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Feb 11 2009 'Gigantic' Trailer and John Goodman in Gigantic Old Guy Glasses

Prepare for indie asphyxiation: Paul Dano is an awkward, subdued late-20s dude. Zooey Zeschanel is a classic Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Put them together (with an appropriate soundtrack) and we have quirky, unbearable romance!

However, as annoying as this has the potential to be, I'll give it a chance for two reasons:

1. I'm really, really pleased to see John Goodman making the transition to respected-comedian-turned-indie-actor (see: Bill Murray) instead of respected-comedian-turned-tragedy (see: Steve Martin). I didn't know if he'd ever fully escape the shadow of King Ralph.

2. I'm also really pleased to see Upright Citizen Brigade's Ian Roberts in absolutely anything, but particularly to see him delivering lines about black market Chinese babies being awesome.

Here's your trailer:

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Jan 19 2009 '500 Days of Summer' Trailer Has Me Looking Forward to Next Break-Up

Maybe the voice of Lt. Frank Drebin repeating the words "500 days of" is having a hypnotizing effect on me, but I think this trailer for 500 Days of Summer makes it look like just the kind of movie I want to sob over after a heart-wrenching break-up. Right after she gives me back all the t-shirts she'd borrowed, I'll pop this in the DVD player, follow it up with Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind, then drunkenly pass out reading Jeffrey Brown comics. It will be great until I wake up and realize: apparently I called her last night?

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Jul 23 2008 'Yes Man' Trailer Actually Completely Unagreeable

Well, here's the teaser trailer to Jim Carrey's Yes Man. As Videogum pointed out, it seems a lot like Liar Liar, except instead of telling the truth he has to keep saying "yes," and also, if you pay attention, there is a subtle plug for Red Bull.

Is kissing someone and realizing you have their gum in your mouth really still a joke? The trailer claims it is, but I would have sworn that died around the same time as similarly outdated and unfunny kissing jokes like "braces getting stuck together" and "closing your eyes to kiss only to open them to something surprising, like finding out you're kissing a dog."

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May 21 2008 Theories I've Formed About 'The Happening' Based Entirely on This Poster

- The "happening" is when a novice graphic designer happens upon a fun new Photoshop filter that makes stuff look "all wavy and shit."

- We're traveling through a time warp to the year 2000, back to when news of an M. Night Shyamalan film caused more than a shrug.

- Someone from the graphics department said, "Maybe we should distort this or something to distract from the terrible job we did making the papers on the ground look real."

- The Happening doubles as an edgy new Eastpak ad campaign.

- This is the twist ending: the film being literally, digitally twisted.

Twisted New Poster for Shyamalan's The Happening [First Showing]

May 16 2008 'The Happening' R-Rated Trailer, Plus: A Scathing Review!

Collider has an early review of M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, and from the sounds of it, it's come time we stop taking this guy's calls. Here's a sampling:

"The Happening" is a terrible, terrible movie. I mean, it's bad on an epic scale. It's so bad that I can't possibly tell you how bad it is without understating the point or making it sound like I'm picking on the film. But let me stress: this is not pent-up Shyamalan aggression or a desire to see him fail. This is bad in a jaw-dropping "they can't really be serious, can they?" kind of way.

If you're dreading the Shyamalan trademark twist-ending, you can breathe a sigh of relief. There's no twist whatsoever. But there's also no ending. I won't ruin it any further by talking about what's not there, but prepare to feel very, very cheated and figure out in advance what consultation you can offer when the person next you confusedly asks, "Is that it?"

With Shyamalan's catalog getting increasingly disappointing with each new addition, it's getting even harder to defend him than it is to defend my everlasting love of Smashing Pumpkins. With both, it's just a lot of, "No, no, no, I know, I know. Yes, their last few were sort of questionable--ignore those. Shut up about Machina/Lady in the Water, OK? Just listen to/watch Mellon Collie/The Sixth Sense. Then you'll get it. What do you mean it doesn't seem all that great? Shut up. I guarantee if you were a teenager when you were exposed to this, you'd be loving it. Shut up. Just shut up."

Oh, and there's a new R-rated trailer under the cut. It proves strangely ineffective after reading that the film is "bad on an epic scale."

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Nov 6 2007 Jim Carrey On Set of 'Yes Man'

It must be a terribly painful moment when you finally hit that point of utter disgust and self-loathing at your tired face-making schtick, and your sad realization instinctually externalizes itself as yet another stupid face.

Just such a moment was captured on the set of Yes Man, a comedy (also starring Zooey Deschanel) in which Carrey challenges himself to say "yes" to everything for a full year. Or it might just be a hilarious scene where he says "yes" to shitting in a gas can.

Jim Carrey Can't Say No [JFX Online]

Oct 23 2007 Some Other Crap That Happened...

- Data and Chunk have confirmed what Mikey and Mouth already told us: that they've been contacted to do voices for an animated Goonies movie, also confirming--what was once thought a rumor--that Chunk ate his weight in Godfather's pizza. [Empire]

- Diablo Cody seems to be the new 'it' screenwriter, with the Juno penner working on a burlesque musical, a Steven Spielberg television series (United States of Tara), and now a comedic supernatural thriller titled Jennifer's Body. I find myself somewhat embittered that someone named Diablo Cody is having so much more success than me. [/Film]

- Zooey Deschanel has joined Jim Carrey in Yes Man, about a man who decides to change his life by saying yes to everything. Hey, that sounds like what Owen Wilson says to do in The Darjeeling Limited, except much stupider. [Hollywood Reporter]

- Producer Brian Glazer and director Ridley Scott talked to MTV about their Russell Crowe-starrer, Nottingham, calling it, "the Gladiator version of Robin Hood." I guess that makes Kevin Costner's Prince of Thieves the "Field of Dreams version of Robin Hood." [MTV]

Oct 8 2007 'Tin Man' Trailer Shows Sci-Fi Really 'Gets' Younger Generation

When I first heard the Sci-Fi Channel was making a new take on The Wizard of Oz, as a hip young dude, I simultaneously thought, "Isn't Sci-Fi for nerds?" and, "Isn't Wizard of Oz for old people/gays?"

As this trailer for the Tin Man mini-series reveals, I could not have been more wrong! It turns out, they've really tailored it to speak to a younger, cooler generation of viewers. Dorothy Gale? Snooze! Try DG! Oz? I don't think so, grandpa! It's the Outer Zone now! Wizard? Not even! Mystic Man is so much cooler... because it sounds like a Fleetwood Mac lyric? Yellow Brick Road? You must mean the Brick Route! Roads are so lame compared to routes, and Sci-Fi f***ing knows it! I only wish 'Oz' was spelled with an 'S', just so they could make it a 'Z' again--that's how edgy it is!

Official 'Tin Man' Site [Sci-Fi]