comedy
08/09/2007
Be Kind, Rewind
When I first heard about the concept for this Jack Black vehicle -- a man accidentally erases all the movies at his friend's video store, and together they must remake the films themselves -- I thought it just sounded like an amusing setup for Black to run around and be silly for a couple of hours. Nothing wrong with that, either. But I was wrong.
To begin with, Be Kind, Rewind is brought to us by Michael Gondry, director/co-writer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Second of all, Black's co-star is the immensely appealing Mos Def, who not only has Emmy-nominated dramatic chops, but has also pulled off comedy flawlessly in everything from Chapelle's Show to Hitchhiker's Guide. So there's that.
But the big thing is, it looks good. Instead of a simple farce about two guys bumbling around with a camcorder, we seem to be getting a funny, charming fairy tale about two guys who remind everyone how to fall in love with movies again. Which is a lot more exciting than just a movie with Jack Black getting earing a dress and getting smacked in the face a lot.
Although it also has that.
06/19/2007
Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse
What do you get when you combine two bickering slacker buddies, a one-room apartment, and the end of the world? Why, "Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse," of course.
Not much is known yet about this comedy-horror short, other than that it comes to us from Knocked Up stars Seth Rogan and Jay Baruchel and producer Evan Goldberg. What we do have is this romp of a trailer, in which Rogan and Baruchel are holed up together, hiding from certain death and getting mighty cranky about it while Randy Newman's "You've Got a Friend in Me" plays jauntily in the background. It's pretty enjoyable.
I, for one, will be keeping an eye out for it... and maybe giving some thought to just who I'd like to be spending my apocalypse with.
06/11/2007
THE TEN: Watch out for bolts of lightning
From the minds behind The State and Wet Hot American Summer comes this collection of vignettes about the Ten Commandments, narrated by indie dreamboat Paul Rudd. The cast is impressive (and large), with everybody from dramatic heavy-hitters like Liev Schreiber and Oliver Platt to youthful eye candy like Jessica Alba and Adam Brody. But more importantly, it's a comedy that might actually be funny.
With Schrieber coveting his neighbor's CAT scan machine, Ken Marino as a surgeon who murders "as a goof," and -- going by the uncensored trailer up at DotComedy -- what looks like an awful lot of dick jokes, this movie looks like a pretty good time.
01/17/2007
Blades of Glory
All these funny factors are present in this trailer for Blades of Glory, but like many of his comedic endeavors, the shtick has gotten old. What I want to see more of is the comedic power-couple Amy Poehler and Will Arnett. There seems to be infinite potential for the wedded duo to rival Ferrell and Heder's man-on-man team.
As a consumer of comedy, there is no doubt that I am excited for a flick that features not one, but four of the most notable comedians this decade. But from the look of the trailer, I have a feeling I am going to walk out of the theater knowing that everybody involved could do better than this seemingly re-hashed, over-done comedy routine.
