Owen Wilson just finished voicing an animal for Wes Anderson’s upcoming Fantastic Mr. Fox. To tell you the truth, I’m not really sure what kind of animal Coach Skip is from the trailer. He’s certainly an albino something. Anyway, Wilson is returning to the voice-over well, this time as the comic strip Great Dane star, Marmaduke.
“The Hollywood Reporter” mentions that Wilson was the final piece in the live-action/CGI blend Marmaduke casting puzzle. Already signed on to play human characters are Judy Greer, Lee Pace and William H. Macy. Speaking of Bill Macy, why isn’t he in better films? He’s in this and he was just in Robert Rodriguez’s Shorts fighting a booger monster. If Paul Thomas Anderson is going to be the only one to hand him good roles anymore, PTA needs to get cracking on something new. Diatribe over. In addition to Wilson, Fergie, Emma Stone, George Lopez, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Steve Coogan, Damon Wayans and Marlon Wayans will provide voices for CG characters. Tom Dey (Shanghai Noon) is directing from a script by Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio (License to Wed).
These films certainly aren’t looking to corral me or my demographic as an audience member, but for what it’s worth, this project means nothing to me. It’s basically Garfield with a dog, as far as I can tell, and in his Zombieland cameo, Bill Murray said Garfield was the biggest regret of his career. I’m sure it will make all involved sufficiently rich, but it doesn’t seem necessary to me. However, I do think it’s a better option than Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.
Lionsgate, the studio behind such films as the Saw franchise (which is supposedly going to get two more sequels) have picked up U.S. distribution of Matthew Vaughn’s live action adaption of Mark Millar’s graphic novel “Kick-Ass”. Lionsgate plans on giving the film a wide release next year. From Variety:
“Kick-Ass” is based on a comic book by Mark Millar (“Wanted”) and John Romita Jr. about a comics-obsessed teenager who decides to become a real-life superhero, Kick-Ass, despite a decided lack of superpowers. Vaughn co-wrote the script with his “Stardust” writing partner Jane Goldman. (The scribes also have John Madden-helmed “The Debt” in post at Miramax.)
The cast for the film, which premiered its trailer at Comic-Con last month, includes Nicolas Cage, Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Aaron Johnson will play the title character in the film.
I haven’t read the series Kick-Ass was based on, but I have read Millar’s graphic novel that last year’s Wanted was based on. It was probably my favorite graphic novel I have read besides “Watchmen”. After I read “Wanted”, which was after I saw the screen version, I wondered why the movie wasn’t more like the book. It’s probably because you could never get away with the stuff in the comic, in a live action version. The book was great, very twisted and put the film version to shame. The director of Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn, is also responsible for one of my favorite gangster films, Layer Cake. He and Millar are also supposedly looking at “American Jesus.” What do you say? Are you as pumped for this as I am? I hope it delivers.
We’ve finally come to the penultimate (that means second-to-last) episode of Mean Magazine’s Cinemash series. It’s the one I’ve been anticipating since the series began as it took on I film a love with Training Day. Two actors I enjoy in Common and Christopher Mintz-Plasse helped further my anticipation, coupled with the role reversal of Common playing the Ethan Hawke rookie character and Mintz-Plasse taking on Denzel Washington’s against-the-rules cop.
Sadly, as has been a growing concern with the Cinemash series, it’s fallen far below expectations. Most of the short focuses on the narcotic-inducing scene from the film, which seems to last as long in this four-minute film as it did in the feature. Nevertheless, it’s amusing to see a beloved film re-imagined by actors I respect and I hope you find it worthy of your time just the same.
Small tidbit of trivia for you, yes the white member of the blood gang toward the end is rapper Krondon, who sometimes runs with Xzibit. Actually, kind of hard to mistake him.
<br/><a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&vid=f7e65082-08d3-4d20-b136-e3d651d0864d" target="_new" title="Common and Christopher Mintz-Plasse Cinemash "Training Day"">Video: Common and Christopher Mintz-Plasse Cinemash "Training Day"</a>
Only one more Cinemash episode to go, so come back next week for Will Arnett in Carrie.
I used to be a casual Michael Cera fan. I thought he was funny in Superbad with his cool nerd type persona. It was in Juno when I realized this guy doesn’t have much depth as an actor, even a comedic actor. His roles in Superbad and Juno were essentially the same. His performance in Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist didn’t seem to detract much from his typecast characters. Judging by the trailer, it looks like his typecasting continues in Year One. This one also features Jack Black, an actor with much more depth. He also has a proven track record, ranging from Orange County and King Kong, to Kung Fu Panda. These two actors look mediocre together and Cera could have benefited more from Jonah Hill being in this, his Superbad counterpart.
"Naming your breasts 'Frankincense' and 'Myrrh' and wrapping them in a gold dress doesn't make you fit for Jesus."
Cera plays Oh (as in “Oh, goodness”), a nomad hunter who travels the countryside during Biblical times, specifically the year 1 A.D. (hence the title). His friend Zed, played by Jack Black, accompanies him. When Zed decides to eat an apple from “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,” they are banished from their village since they cursed man. Zed says he’ll start a new tribe and asks any of the villagers to join him (Remember Jerry Maguire?). No one joins, expect Oh, even though he was looking at a shooting star and mistakenly walks up to Zed as if he joined on purpose. After being banished, they begin a journey to find people to join their new tribe. The meet some famous Biblical characters like Cain (David Cross) and Abel (Paul Rudd), Abraham (Hank Azaria) and Adam (Harold Ramis, who also directed the movie) and Eve (Rhoda Griffis). After they spot fellow villager and love interest of Oh, Eema (Juno Temple), acting as slave to a powerful empire (I assume the Romans), they must devise a plan to rescue her.
The film also co-stars Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Fogell aka McLovin from Superbad) as Isaac, Oliver Platt as the High Priest and Bill Hader as The Shaman. Year One is directed and co-written by Harold Ramis, who is famous for doing Groundhog Day and Analyze This and That. Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg share the writing credit and both have collaborated on “The Office.”
"Shouldn't I be holding some grapes while posing for this hieroglyphic still-life?"
Despite the semi-funny trailer, the film doesn’t look all that appealing. Yes, Jack Black can be funny, but he should not have been teamed up with Michael Cera. John Heder would have been a better choice for the part since he has more dork-like talent. I think Year One might actually do poorly considering Cera’s formula has long since dried up and Jack Black is coming off an exceptionally annoying performance in Tropic Thunder. Of course I did predict Tyler Perry’s “House of Payne” wouldn’t make it past its first season and that crap is still on, so I guess the success of crappy comedies isn’t unheard of.
