Tosh.0's perfect remix of "Why Must I Cry"
via mahalo.com
Quite possibly my all-time favorite viral video gets the royal treatment. Talk about TWIYT GOLD! It doesn't get much better than this, folks.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
"Mysteries of the Universe" looks into the Dharma Initiative
Really awesome '80s-style TV documentary about Dharma. Look out for their octagonal seal!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Mothers, don't let your babies grow up to be pull-toys
via mahalo.com
Maybe not Mother of the Year material, but this technique certainly seems effective.
But really, I think this is a commentary on the speed of technological advancement and how it affects all our lives. 10 years ago, a mother could TOTALLY get away with dragging her small child by the neck through a Verizon store (or, I guess, back then, a Sam Goody or something). But now, with cell phone cameras and YouTube, it's just not doable any more. We're all going to need some time to adjust.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The Coen's "Serious Man" trailer is blowing my mind right now
via mahalo.com
This looks completely amazing. Flew totally under my radar. Pitch-black comedy from the Coen Brothers, made for less than $20 million. SHIT YES. Opening October 2nd!
Bill O'Reilly doesn't "do" averages
via causecast.org
Either Bill O'Reilly doesn't understand the concept of a "life expectancy rate" or he assumes people who watch his show don't. Either way, it does not bode well for the guy's fans.
This is probably the dumbest thing I've actually heard the man say, which is SIGNIFICANT, because he says really dumb things on TV all the time.
Classic pop culture artifacts + updated pop culture reference + craftsmanship = winning the Internet (via @cksample)
via gearfuse.com
Enjoy My Little Gears of War Ponies. (Also featured at no extra cost: Zelda and Iron Man themes!)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wizards! That kid who played Anakin Skywalker also grew up to be irritating!
via mahalo.com
I didn't see this coming. He had so much poise in that role...
Paul Tudor Jones Trader Documentary comes to YouTube
via mahalo.com
WOW...When I worked at the video store, we used to get people requesting this movie, or at least talking about it, and it was utterly impossible to find. Jones asked the director, Michael Glyn, to squash the film back in the '90s, and it was essentially disappeared after that point...No VHS, no Laserdisc, nothing. To have it, you have to have taped it off of TV back in '87.
Yet here is a pretty high-quality version of the entire film, uploaded to YouTube! Hope it's still up this evening so I get a chance to watch the whole thing. What a find! Go Internet!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Dexter Season 4 trailer is on YouTube!
Um...yes. This looks amazing. Lithgow is a perfect actor to bring in to this ensemble. Can not wait for September.
Beck covers Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale"
via pitchfork.com
Awesome cover from Beck's "Record Club" project, in which he and friends record covers of an entire album in one day, and then release the tracks online one by one. This is the third "Velvet Underground and Nico" cover, following "Waiting for the Man" and "Sunday Morning." I think this is the best yet.
Redband trailer for "Hot Tub Time Machine"
via mahalo.com
It's this hilarious or insipid? I kind of can't tell. Anyway, I'd probably see it just because of the amazing cast.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Want to know the secret twist ending of "The Orphan"?
The horror film Oprhan opened on July 24, 2009. It tells the story of a couple, played by Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard, who adopt a nine-year-old girl named Esther (played by Isabelle Fuhrman).The weekend that the film opened, several blogs, including Gawker, gave away the film's twist ending. Read the subsection below marked "Spoiler!" to find out what happens!
via mahalo.com
Warning...it's mind-shatteringly ridiculous...
But if you simply must know, Mahalo's got you covered:
"Star Wars Concert" to begin US Tour
via mahalo.com
HD clips from the films run in the background while an orchestra plays music from the films. Oh, and Anthony Daniels narrates and fills in the gaps left in the story.
I don't know...I guess I just don't really get this. Going to a theater to see an orchestra play John Williams music...ok, I get it. Hanging out at home and watching "Star Wars" movies on an HDTV. I get it. Going to a theater to see movie clips and listen to bits of the scores? Hmm...
The one thing I will say is that tickets are apparently pretty reasonable. You'd sort of expect George Lucas to totally gouge people on something like this, but tickets in a lot of arenas start under $40, which for a night out at a concert hall is actually not too bad.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Ice to see you...
via mahalo.com
Why is Arnold brandishing a knife at the beginning of this video? Just seems kind of weird...right? Is that just me? Hard to imagine almost any other public figure shooting a video of themselves in their office, thanking the people of their community, while waving a two-foot knife around. That's more the behavior we reserve for...what's the word I'm looking for...oh yeah, insane cranks.
Still, he gets his point across. California: I will f-ing cut you. At least, I'm assuming that's his point.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Sam Raimi to Direct World of Warcraft?
Well, I don't have concept art. I don't have the firm release date, but I do know who is directing the WORLD OF WARCRAFT film and that is Sam Raimi. It will come out in trades later this week or next. But you can take this one to the bank. Sam is going to make a huge budget fantasy bit of unfuckingimaginable coolness - and it will be yanked from the WORLD OF WARCRAFT.
Now - isn't that the sort of Awesome we're supposed to get to kick start Comic Con with? I think so.
via aintitcool.com
Blurgh...
I love fantasy, I like Warcraft games (though I've never gotten into WoW) and I love Sam Raimi, but this is NOT a good fit. After seeing the genius of Drag Me to Hell this summer, I am more convinced than ever of one simple fact: Sam Raimi needs to get the hell out of his own way.
He's just NEVER going to be James Cameron or Steven Spielberg. He's a low-budget horror movie director at heart, and when he's trying to branch out, the results are usually not pretty. When he's making a tongue-in-cheek horror film, or an intimate character-driven thriller like A Simple Plan, you can just FEEL his enthusiasm leaping off the screen. In contrast, Spider-Man and For the Love of the Game are hollow and soulless.
The second Spider-Man is almost the exception to this rule. It's an above-average comic book film, though not one that I ever feel like revisiting or that I would rate with the best of the genre. But that's also the only film in that series where he got to kind of let his particular, idiosyncratic, wacky side loose. (I'm not sure WHAT'S going on in the third one...Maybe that's when Tobey Maguire let HIS idiosyncratic, wacky side loose.)
Essentially, the bigger the budget, the more Sam Raimi gets lost behind shiny special effects and plodding, lazy storytelling. And a World of Warcraft film, by definition, will have to be uber-massive.
Surely SOMEONE else could make some room for this in their schedule...I'd even throw, say, Zack Snyder or Ridley Scott into the mix before I'd hand this over to Sam Raimi.
It's not just because I think he tends to flub big-budget, major studio properties, but also the opportunity cost of NOT getting any more really awesome, really Sam Raimi-esque movies for the years he has to spend laboring over this leviathan.
Did I miss the 10:30 free pot giveaway?
More than 100 people lined up outside a marijuana dispensary in the San Fernando Valley this morning, lured by the offer of free cannabis for the first 100 patients.
The nonprofit dispensary in Canoga Park, Roscoe's Compassionate Collective, advertised the offer last week in Kush L.A., a monthly cannabis magazine, with a pull-out coupon for patients with marijuana medical cards and updated prescriptions.
Only 100 people showed up? They must not have done a good job advertising. Later this week, at Comic Con, 100 people will queue up for a chance to get a free "Ben 10" hat. I can't imagine how well a free pot giveaway would go over down there.
This does go to prove my theory, though...The only way to get people to drive out to the Valley is to offer them a lot of free drugs. And even then, it's kind of a challenge, and a lot of them won't bother.
Intense footage of kids being pulled from a burning car
via mahalo.com
Hats off to the heroes who bravely ran in there and pulled this family out. They used metal pipes to break the windshield and pulled the mother and daughter to safety, then had to actually enter the car to pull out a four-year-old boy.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
George W. Bush: Teetotaler
To be sure, Obama is anything but a lush. But unlike his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, who refrained from cracking open a cold one in or out of the White House, Obama has enjoyed a tasty beverage or two since moving into the Executive Mansion.
via politico.com
What's missing from this paragraph comparing the propensity for our last two presidents to enjoy a spirited beverage? Hmm...
Oh, right, the fact that George W. Bush didn't drink because he once got shit-hammered on a daily basis, and the purging of alcohol from his system via Jesus was essentially the narrative he sold about himself to get elected. He didn't simply "refrain" from cracking open a cold one in the White House...If he had, it would have been a major national scandal.
Obama, though he has admitted to dabbling with the occasional substance in the past, has never admitted to any kind of alcohol problem, nor has he given us reason to suspect that he may have one. So I fail to see how his enjoying an occasional glass of wine or a margarita is worthy of a two-page news article.
(Also, if you believe the National Enquirer, which did have that John Edwards affair story way before anyone else, Bush was right back to his boozy ways while occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., but that's beside the point.)
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
New "Mad Men" coming this August! Yes! Also, this new poster is outstanding.
Easily one of my favorite series of the moment. I've been rewatching Season 1 and it holds up tremendously. Can't wait for more Draper!
Friday, July 10, 2009
On TWIYT 53, we've got Megan Fox, the 2012 trailer, @shanedawson, MJ's spirit and the best middle frame in YouTube history
via youtube.com
Seriously, look at that middle frame! I'm going to make 100,000,000 imaginary dollars! Bwa ha ha ha!
The Daily Grind
Here's the scenario...You're a mixed martial artist who has gained some level of notoriety. You're being interviewed for an Internet video. The host, a comedy lady, tells you she has an idea for a romantic comedy that would star the two of you...
So here's the question: Is it then appropriate to just start dry humping her? I mean, on the one hand, she's just making banter with you for the purposes of an entertainment show, apparently has no desire to engage in any sort of intimate or physical contact with you, and you're being filmed. But on the other hand...I mean, come on..."romantic comedy"...Am I right?
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Finally, an efficient method of accessing space porn (via @chrisWhite)
The University of Colorado at Boulder is working with NASA to develop a new communications technology now being tested on the International Space Station, which will extend Earth's Internet into outer space and across the solar system.
Called Disruption Tolerant Networking, or DTN, the new technology will enable NASA and other space agencies around the world to better communicate with international fleets of spacecraft that will be used to explore the moon and Mars in the future.
via colorado.edu
Space Internet, eh? Just as long as there aren't any space comment threads. All it would take is one 12-year-old to call some alien a "fag" and we're got intergalactic war on our hands, people. You don't want that.
The NY Times switched to a hardcore porn rag so slowly, I barely noticed...
The pornographic movie industry has long had only a casual interest in plot and dialogue. But moviemakers are focusing even less on narrative arcs these days. Instead, they are filming more short scenes that can be easily uploaded to Web sites and sold in several-minute chunks.
via nytimes.com
Fascinating article I can only presume has been held back since 1997 about how porno movies are dispensing with 90 minute plotlines and just becoming collections of 8-10 minute scenes. You know, what with the Internet and all. Wait, did I say fascinating? I meant ludicrously inane. I get those two mixed up.
I'm all for human interest-y stories about pornographic filmmaking. This isn't me being a prude. It's just that this is not news. This is about as far from news as anything I have ever read in any newspaper, including Mervyn's inserts, "missed connection" classifieds and ads for pot doctors.
The inclusion of a plot in a porno doesn't even matter to THE PERSON WATCHING THE PORNO, let alone the public at large.
Besides, the Internet's been a popular place to find pornography for multiple decades at this point. The fact that streaming video isn't the best place to feature 10 minute interludes of bad acting and junior high AV Club-level effects work isn't exactly what you'd consider a Pentagon Papers-level scoop.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
The Megan Fox-Michael Bay sex tape cost $400 million and includes the destruction of half of Los Angeles
Now, though, Page Six tells us just how Megan Fox nabbed the role in the first place. According to them, when Michael Bay auditioned her for the first Transformers, he actually made her wash his Ferrari while he filmed the whole thing. Yup. She washed his car. His Ferrari. While he filmed her. And that's how she got the role in Transformers. If you need anymore proof of just how perverted Hollywood is sometimes, look no further than Mr. Michael Bay. Oh, but it gets better ...
via scifisquad.com
I mean, it may sound a bit crude, but how else is Michael Bay even supposed to decide who to cast in his movies. The roles require no real acting ability, so you can't really have potential actresses read lines. And there are so many quick cuts, you never even get a clear look at them during the 260 minute running time, so a conventional screen test is pointless.
The best system would just be to put them in a bright room and spin around them quickly while throwing shards of metal and shrapnel in their direction. Anyone who survives and doesn't run out of the room screaming and begging for her life gets the part!
Patton Oswalt is a "Big Fan"
via youtube.com
Hopefully, this is better than Robert De Niro's film about an emotionally troubled sports fan. Cause that one didn't go so well.
Also, I'm dubious about any film Peter Travers dubs as "vital."
Monday, July 06, 2009
The "Scrumdiddlyumptious" remix tastes like snozzberries
via youtube.com
More demented genius from the man behind the Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins remixes. This is fast becoming my favorite YouTube channel.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Sarah Palin Announces Resignation as Governor (Part Deux)
We have accomplished so much and there’s much more to do, but my family and I determined after prayerful consideration that sacrificing my title helps Alaska most. And once I decided not to run for re-election, my decision was that much easier – I’ve never been one to waste time or resources.
Seriously...what the hell is she talking about? This statement makes no sense. It implies that she made the decision to step down as governor (only after "prayerful consideration," mind you) BEFORE she made the decision not to run for a second term...Guh? Was there a time in which she considered quitting before the end of her first term and then running for a second? Cause...that's weird...
Also, I just LOVED this sentence:
"I’ve never thought I needed a title before one’s name to forge progress in America."
But...but...I thought that a community organizer didn't do anything, while a Governor had real responsibilities! It seems like that whole 2008 election was forever ago, but she said that less than 1 year ago!
Friday, July 03, 2009
Leighton Meester, MJ, Billy Mays, @shiralazar a squirrel and me star in TWIYT #52. Take a look!
via youtube.com
This was one of the most challenging episodes I've ever had to write because of all the celebrity deaths. I want to reference them, because our show discusses what's buzzy and in the news, and this dominated everyone's attention all week...And I have to at least attempt to be funny, because that's what we do.
But I don't want to make people upset or offend anyone. That's not what I'm about. So I try to find a happy middle ground, a way to mock the situation or the coverage, without making light of people's genuine feelings of loss and sadness. Not easy.
Making fun of Leighton Meester and Asher Roth? Easy.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
The Freak-Out Guy has won at least 60% of the Internet at this point
via youtube.com
Should we be concerned that there may not be enough Internet to divide between the rest of us?
Note for YouTube commenters: It doesn't matter if this is fake. It would still be awesome.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Bearded, semi-frightening infomercial star Billy Mays dead at 50
via youtube.com
As if we hadn't lost enough beloved figures of American pop culture this week, pitchman Billy Mays was found dead this morning in his Tampa, Florida home. What is it with 50 year old guys dropping this week? That's only 20 years older than I am right now...Unacceptable...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529328,00.html
This is my favorite Mays remix video...I'll be playing it while pouring out a little Orange Glo is Mays' memory...Definitely look for a tribute on next week's TWIYT.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Ricky Gervais Invents Lying, Hangs Out with Tina Fey and Louis CK
via rayslucky13.com
When I first read about Ricky Gervais (easily among my favorite living comedians) making a film with Louis CK, Tina Fey, Christopher Guest, Jeffrey Tambor, Jason Bateman, Patrick Stewart, John Hodgman and Jonah Hill, I knew it would be something I'd want to see.
Somehow, I'm still blown away by how funny and fresh this movie looks. It's an odd, abstract premise (in a universe where everyone is purely honest at all times, one guy figures out that he can lie without consequences) and it sounds gimmicky, but the jokes certainly seem to work. It could just be a perfect fit for Gervais' acerbic, smugly superior persona.
Here's hoping that Gervais has created his third masterpiece. This is now officially among my most anticipated films of the year.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
"Transformers 2" a lot like the first film, only longer, more shrill and with 20% more racism!
Yes, yes, I haven't seen it. And probably never will. But according to reviewers and bloggers, the film features two minstrel-esque robots who speak with "urban slang," sport gold teeth and...wait for it...don't know how to read. Even the SCREENWRITERS are telling Film School Rejects that they are not thrilled with how the characters ended up, and insist that they had nothing to do with the good tooth stuff.
M.B., you've done it again.
My nominee for Father of the Year (via @codeshaman)
Premise: You will be the dog walker hired by daddy (me) to walk Skittles. I will introduce you to the kids, and you will tell them you are going to help Skittles get her exercise when Daddy is too busy to walk her. At that point you will walk Skittles to your car and take her to her new family 20 minutes from my place. Then return holding just a leash. The story will be that Skittles broke free of the leash and took off. At this point prepare for crying, things being thrown at you, and possibly cursing. My kids are young and dramatic, their girls.
Pay will be $500. The job will take roughly 2 hours at best.
via craigslist.org
Folks, this is what I call parenting. Also, is anyone else wondering how his dead aunt managed to give the kids a cocker spaniel? Meddling families extend into even the afterlife! My God...has anyone told Tyler Perry? He could probably squeeze at minimum a tetralogy out of that.
Monday, June 22, 2009
The business of killing Nazis is booming in the new Inglorious Bastards trailer...(via @pcnerd37)
via youtube.com
Could I want to see this movie any more than I do right now? I'm not sure it's physically possible.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
This new film is a mix of action und comedy. It's called: "McCain: Let's Get Silly"
via sadlyno.com
pwn3d! FTL! Fail! Other Internet expressions of derision!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
How to Drink Beer
Really awesome Mahalo page about how to best appreciate beer. I don't consider myself a connoisseur or anything, but I think I know a bit about how to appreciate a nice brew...and I found this page very enlightening. Check it out:
How To Drink Beer
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Is it really that difficult to see the humor inherent in "Bruno"?
The film has not been screened for a large number of gays for a reason. Throughout the many private screenings [the filmmakers] have had, the reaction from gays has been almost uniformally one of alarm. It is not a scathing depiction of homophobia -- but a grotesque satire of homosexuality. Brüno is a sickening mixture of narcissism, fetishism and shallowness - and he is virtually the only gay representation in the movie. The 'homophobia' of the various straight men who he encounters and propositions, seems only natural when faced with such an odious sexual monster.
Why don't people understand comedy?
Listen, this is VERY EASY. Sacha Baron Cohen's characters are not intended as direct insults to minority groups. CLEARLY. They are ridiculous over-the-top caricatures designed specifically to illicit a REACTION from people who don't know better. By playing to every stupid, backwards stereotype Americans have about homosexuals (particularly European homosexuals), Cohen teases out prejudices that most bigots would not typically reveal to a movie camera.
You don't even have to have seen the "Bruno" film to know this. (I haven't seen it). This is what Cohen's characters ALWAYS DO, and it's what Bruno did on the old (ingenious) episodes of "Da Ali G Show." It's PATENTLY OBVIOUS. In fact, what makes the movies so hilarious is that the character is SO OBVIOUSLY a joke, a silly collection of quirks that could only be created by a comedian playing a prank on dumbasses.
The same thing happened when "Borat" was released in 2006...Simpletons complained that it was offensive to American immigrants or people from Central Asia. It's not. Try to get jokes, people...It makes them more funny.
In 2012, a bunch of skyscarpers will fall down and John Cusack will protect his family, just as the Mayans predicted...
via firstshowing.net
Seriously, is the "end of the world" really just going to be the collapse of a bunch of high-rises? Because that's about all that happens in this trailer. Apparently, if you live in Nebraska, you're going to be totally cool.
All my dinosaurs say "hey!"
via youtube.com
I think all these "Jurassic Park" dinos just wanted to hang out and chill for a sec. Perhaps we were being hasty trying to run away from them and destroy them and junk.
Jurassic Park
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Get Your Free Danny Trejo movie...for only $6! ($10 if outside the U.S.)
It's cool that Danny Trejo wants to give you his latest, erm, blockbuster for free...but why not just let people download it or stream it from his site? Charging $6 shipping and handling kind of hurts the whole "free movie" promotion. It's only a few bucks less than I can get discount movies at a Best Buy or other store. Also, I love how the site is called:
VENGEANCE - THE MOVIE!
"Man, how did they turn that abstract concept into a movie? Seems like it would work better as an HBO miniseries or something."
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Bibliotech: Episode 1
Your host Mark Jeffrey discusses the ins and outs of digital publishing. This week, he's joined by Otis Chandler, CEO of GoodReads.
Posted via web from LonHarris.com
Bibliotech
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Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Get that Cure Off Your Shoulder
via youtube.com
If you haven't seen this Jay-Z/Cure mashup yet, why not do so right now? It's quite excellent.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Nia Vardalos is actually unbearable
This is, in fact, the worst thing I've ever read:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nia-vardalos/women-dont-go-to-the-movi_b_212888.html
Could she get any more self-serving and obnoxious? I actually don't believe any studio executive said "women don't go to movies" to her, at least not sincerely. And if they did, it was likely just to spare her feelings and avoid saying, "This script is the worst piece of shit I've ever read and you are to cinema what Sean Hannity is to astute political commentary."
I also don't believe her latest bit of claptrap, "My Life in Ruins," is "the highest testing movie in Fox Searchlight history." Other Fox Searchlight releases include:
"The Full Monty"
"The Ice Storm"
"Boys Don't Cry"
"Super Troopers"
"Waking Life"
"Kissing Jessica Stein"
"Bend it Like Beckham"
"28 Days Later"
"Thirteen"
"Napoleon Dynamite"
"Sideways"
"Garden State" (shudder...)
"Thank You For Smoking"
A little film no one saw or enjoyed called "Little Miss Sunshine"
"Notes on a Scandal"
"Juno"
"The Wrestler"
Something called "Slumdog Millionaire" I guess a few people were okay with
We're supposed to believe test audiences preferred some sitcom-level pabulum about a nitwit leading other nitwits around on a tour of Greece while bitching about how no man can tolerate her constant, shrill whining to several of the decade's most beloved and celebrated films? Where were they screening this thing, Nia Vardalos' parents' basement? I want to see some numbers!
But beyond the fact that I think she's lying, the author of this piece CLEARLY believes that she has a God-given right to have her vanity vehicles distributed by a major studio. Lady, you're talentless. The fact that it happened for you once is AMAZING. Just embrace it. Life doesn't owe you shit, and studio executives owe you even less. You want a big payday and a distribution deal? Write just one thing that doesn't make me want to claw my own eyes out and then use them to plug up my ears.
Nia Vardalos
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The gothiness to sweatiness ratio is off the charts! (via @seanpercival)
Clearly this is the most amazing website you'll see today. "Goths in Hot Weather." Just give these guys a book deal now already...I'm tired of waiting.
Mickey Rourke IS...a homeless Star Trek villain
via usatoday.com
Wow, really? This is the baddie in "Iron Man 2"?
I hope this costume is more impressive-looking on film, because here he looks like a paraplegic hobo with a Masters of the Universe fetish. Jonny Favs...I trust you...don't let me down.
Monday, June 08, 2009
"The Hangover" Review
There have been a lot of comedies like "The Hangover," though very few of them are as funny. Director Todd Phillips has made some of them. His "Old School" mines similar territory - dudes get into trouble after overdoing it on a jag away from screechy spouses and unsatisfying lives. Not to mention movies like "Very Bad Things," about what can happen when rowdy trips to Vegas turn sour, "Bachlor Party," about guys trying to keep their significant others misinformed about the eponymous ritual, and "Dude Wheres My Car," about the difficulties of cleaning up after a night of particularly wild partying.
But though "Hangover" incorporates elements from all of these movies, and more, it nevertheless feels like something unique. I'd chalk this up to two elements:
(1) A few underutilized actors finally getting a chance to take center-stage and aiming for the fences
(2) A script that isn't just a clothesline from which to hang crass jokes, but actually unfolds as something of a skewed mystery-thriller
[Mostly #1. I'd go so far as to say that this is likely to be the best comedy of 2009 because of three men: Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms and Ken Jeong. More on that in a bit]
The set-up is pretty familiar to anyone who has ever seen a contemporary dude comedy. Doug (Justin Bartha, mainly known to audiences as Nicolas Cage's irritating sidekick in the irritating "National Treasure" films) is getting married. Two of his best friends, Stu and Phil (Helms and Bradley Cooper), take him to Las Vegas 2 days before the wedding for a raucous bachelor party. They take along Doug's creepy, socially inept future brother-in-law Alan (Galifianakis). Cut to the morning after the party, when Doug's friends wake up in a decimated hotel room with a baby, a tiger, missing teeth, killer headaches and...no groom. Hey-o.
Scott Moore and Jon Lucas' script starts out predictably. I will say that the female characters in this film, save one extreme example, aren't the standard dreary harpies you usually find in these movies, explaining away the male character's reckless behavior with the power of their bitchiness and their constant, shrill, nonsensical demands. Jeffrey Tambor even shows up as the understanding, compassionate father of the bride, who doesn't begrudge his future son-in-law a final night on the town. But otherwise, you know where this is going within 2 minutes, and I actually kind of felt disappointment settling in when I realized just how formula the premise really was.
But once the actual story gets going, and the guys wake up with their titular hangovers, the movie gets less conventional and more interesting. Usually, in a movie like this about an (off-screen) crazy night of partying, you get a lot of random things thrown in that don't make any sense. So many wild adventures happened during the black-out phase, they can't all be logically pieced back together the next day. But not "The Hangover." When I described it as an almost-mystery, I wasn't kidding...Structurally, the movie's not all that different from an episode of "Law and Order"...The characters find clues, interview witnesses, ask pertinent questions, and gradually, a picture of the bachelor party starts to come together. As the guys spend 24 hours trying to find Doug and figure out what the hell went wrong the night before, Moore and Lucas actually manage to EXPLAIN most of the craziness. We find out what that tiger is doing there, whose baby that is, where Alan's man-purse went and why Stu's missing a tooth.
It's a nice touch, and it makes "Hangover" easily the closest Todd Phillips has ever come to making a real movie. Usually, I feel like he just hires some funny actors and kind of lets them loose, and tries to piece together something like a story while editing. (He essentially admits this is what was done on the "Old School" DVD.)
But even a pretty funny script with some good, unexpected set-ups wouldn't really be enough to elevate this material above the standard "entertaining summer comedy" level without Helms and Galifianakis, and Ken Jeong's brief but amazing turn as Leslie Chow. Galifianakis, in particular, is absolutely fearless here. Not just willing to perform an entire scene bottomless, hit a baby on the head with a car door or lean in to a punch by Mike Tyson, but to allow Alan to be unrelentingly, uninterruptedly creepy for 90 straight minutes. Most actors would be tempted to wink at the audience once or twice at least - hey, we know this guy is strange and kind of unsettling, but he's a good guy, right? Right? Well, I'm not really sure Alan is a good guy, and he's certainly not a guy I'd want around children.
Helms just hasn't ever had this much screen time in anything I've ever seen. Stu is actually a bit like Helms' Andy Bernard character from "The Office," if a touch less angry and mean. Stu's the emotional core of the movie - balancing Bradley Cooper's frigid aggressiveness and Galifianakis' whacked-out vulnerability - which makes it odd that he also gets so many of the best moments and funniest lines. Also, Helms and Heather Graham manage to sketch a pretty believable romantic sub-plot in like 1 and a half scenes.
Then there's Ken Jeong as Leslie Chow. The less said about this character, the better. This is one of those small supporting performances that just comes in and steals the whole movie for a few scenes. The magic of pairing a funny actor with the right role and just letting it play out naturally. Jeong's been funny in bit parts in a number of Judd Apatow (and Co.) films - including "Knocked Up," "Pineapple Express" - but he's never been used as well as he is here.
In fact, "The Hangover" overall is just more funny and entertaining than anything from the Apatow factory. I've been considering why this is. First off, it's shorter. All Apatow movies are overlong. Apatow, you sense, wants to make GOOD films, to tell relatable that a wide cross-section of the population - men and women - can enjoy together. Phillips is definitely less self-conscious, both in terms of his style and just attitude. He has more freedom to just make things funny.
But I also think Apatow may just insist on making us LIKE the guys in his movies too much. We always have to come to understand why they never grew out of being immature boys, and we always see them start down the path of maturity and responsibility by the end of the film. (Am I the only one who hates the "Knocked Up" montage where we see Seth Rogen give up smoking pot and start working at a cubicle in some bullshit, soul-sucking office as a way of proving that he has a right to father a child? "Hey, want a family? Give up and conform!" Fuck you, dude.)
Phillips understands that you don't need to really like someone all that much to laugh at him, and you certainly don't have to understand his particular angst or ennui. You just have to want to follow him around. Sure, a movie's protagonist should grow from the experience of the movie, but it doesn't have to suck all the air out of the room. Sometimes, growth can just be sobering up and heading back to LA to get married.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Social Media Venn Diagram Tee cuts a little close to the truth (via @chrisWhite and @LifeZero)
via site.despair.com
Painfully, hilariously accurate. I think this might be a bit BIG conceptually for a T-shirt though...unless you're sitting next to someone for a while, I'm not sure the concept would really sink in.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Red Faction Guerrilla Walkthrough
via mahalogaming.com
Mahalo's hard at work on our "Red Faction Guerrilla" walkthrough, and we've started posting some of the HD gameplay videos on our blog and site.
Game looks kind of fun, though I'm not sure if I'd go out of my way to get it. Seems like a game set on Mars would be more far-out and alien than this. This basically just looks like a red-tinted war game:
It's National Donut Day, People!
I already enjoyed a delicious Krispy Kreme this morning in commemoration. I'd suggest you do the same, unless, you know, you hate America...
National Donut Day
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Thursday, June 04, 2009
It's a family affair on TWIYT with my co-host and brother @jdbranded. (And a special appearance by our mom)
via youtube.com
Had a blast making this one today. Also, editing/directing savant Kenny Chen was able to turn it around in RECORD time. Epic.
House GOP: Ah, screw it...Let's just start letting kids get run over.
Rather than proposing, for example, the elimination of the Education Department, as they have in the past, Republicans are suggesting killing a program that pays for building sidewalks, bike paths and crossing guards as part of the Safe Routes to Schools program. That would save $183 million a year.
via msnbc.msn.com
Nicely done, gents. That's going to be an easy sell to the average American. After all, no one cares about the safety of their children What alternative is there to just asking kids to get hit by cars and take one for the team? I mean, we don't want to burden the super-rich with an additional 2-3% in income tax! Am I right or am I right?
Other dynamite cuts included in the House GOP's proposal include not maintaining and preserving historic sites and dropping retirement benefits for federal employees.
So...they want oil and meat packing tycoons to be able to pass along lucrative trust funds to their great-grandkids, even if it means abandoning the Lincoln Memorial and shipping off aging former mail carriers to the poorhouse. How did these guys manage to lose the last election with a platform as appealing as that one?
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Background on James Cameron's "Avatar" film and game (via @PatrickMcConnel)
via popwatch.ew.com
Sounds pretty impressive. I'm all for far-out sci-fi fantasy set in a wholly-original universe. Let's hope it can live up to several years of outsized hype...
I will buy the shit out of this
via joystiq.com
Personally, I don't mind that the Nintendo Wii has essentially become a gimmicky nostalgia machine. I have an Xbox 360 for more contemporary games. I say, go ahead and remake all my old NES favorites. If there were a new Kid Icarus reboot, I'd buy the shit out of that too!
Monday, June 01, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Miniature City
via vimeo.com
Somehow this video was made using time-lapse photography of Tokyo, but don't ask me how they actually did it. Looks like an intricately designed model city.
Life in the Astounding Year of 2000! (via @jdbranded)
via youtube.com
Such an accurate indictment of our collective failure to actually realize our ancestor's dreams. This would be depressing if it weren't so well-executed and funny.
Also, I love how EVEN THIS woefully obvious satire still inspire confused "is this real?" YouTube comments. Sigh...
Friday, May 29, 2009
On TWIYT #47, @leahdemilio's back! Plus Hayden Panettiere, LisaNova, Mr. T and me as a manwhore
via youtube.com
Now that's a packed line-up. Stay tuned for the Easter Egg at the end. We've really been on an Easter Egg roll (hey-o!) as of late.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Hey Ladies! Want to win a conjugal visit with Drew Peterson? Oh, you have no interest in that? Never mind.
via foxnews.com
Has Drew considered that he may want to come off a bit less diabolically creepy if he ever wants to not live in a cell again? You're awaiting trial for MURDER, dude...MUR-DER. At least OJ waited until he got off on the murder charge before writing a book about how funny it would've been if he were guilty.
Herzog remaking "Bad Lieutenant" with Nicolas Cage. Wait, WHAT? (NSFW Trailer!)
via popwatch.ew.com
Is this just completely ludicrous, or some kind of mad stroke of genius? I'm not sure. But I will definitely be seeing it ASAP.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
RIP Jay Bennett
via youtube.com
Was really bummed to hear about the loss of Jay Bennett, formerly of Wilco, this morning. Bennett was with the band during their creative peak, particularly "Summerteeth" and "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," and I've never really been as into the work since his departure.
This is a clip from the documentary "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," which unfortunately led Bennett to file a lawsuit against former bandmate Jeff Tweedy earlier this month. It gives a good insight into the band's creative process, as well as showcasing Bennett's intuitive sense for musical production and arrangement. The guy was a big talent.
Jay Bennett
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