Review: MYSTERY TEAM

As an aspiring comedian, seeing Derrick Comedy rise to the world view strikes me deeply and with good reason. Derrick Comedy is without a doubt the funniest comedic group on the internet and maybe even in live comedy.

Trailer: DISNEY'S "THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG"

I just watched this trailer and ran around the room cheering and texting/iming it to a bunch of my friends. I think this film looks phenomenal and is going to do what 'The Little Mermaid' did to Disney back in 1989. I believe that as I have said in older posts, Disney is back now, back on top, and this is the best thing to happen to animation since PIXAR started.

If you don't believe me - watch the trailer and "Prepare to be Amazed!"

Review: STAR TREK

I have good news for everybody. This is absolutely one of the best films of the year.

This reboot of the Star Trek franchise covers all of its bases without retconning anything that has already happened. In fact, it acknowledges it at one point. Everybody knows of Leonard Nemoy, the original Spock, appearing in the film. It is more than just a cameo. He actually plays an integral part to the plot.

Review: THE HANGOVER

The latest from Todd Phillips made me laugh and cringe, sometimes at the same time. The premise of the film is a simple one to follow. Four guys go to Vegas for a bachelor party with the groom. They wake up the next morning and don't remember anything about what happened the night before, including where they left the groom.

Trailer: Where The Wild Things Are!

So this morning the trailer for Spike Jonzes Where The Wild Things Are was premiered on the Ellen show and shortly after hit the internet.

The use of the band Arcade Fire for the trailer makes it seem even more magical. This film looks amazing. Hopefully the trailer isn't the best thing, but it definitely got me a lot more excited than I was when I first heard of this movie being made. The monsters look real and that's the most important hurdle that they had to get over. The trailer is below please watch it for yourself and comment with what you think!

Where The Wild Things Are is set to release on October 16, 2009.

Pineapple Express at the 81st Oscars

Hey Everyone,

Here is the comedy clip of Pineapple Express that Judd Apatow filmed specifically for the Oscars. Enjoy.

Ezra's Opinion of the Oscars

Okay, The 81st Oscars came and went. And I've gotta say, I don't agree with all the choices made by the academy and the voters. I'll list my complaints in the order that they happened. If you don't agree I'll be happy to hear why you don't. If you do, alright we're on the same page. Either way this is all my own opinion.

Red Carpet - Didn't watch. I do not give a damn what people are wearing unless I am actually talking to them. More power to you if you got a dress that cost you 100,000$$. How-a-bout wearing something else you own and donating that money to one of those genocides we've got going on.

Opening Number - I had to refrain from calling it an opening song because... it does not deserve to be called one. It was literally one of the worst medleys I have ever heard. Anne Hathaway was a funny touch though. Also... was it just me or was the audience awkwardly close to the stage this year. Also, why did Jackman call out random names that were sitting next to him. Also why did he reference he was Wolverine? Also.... where did he go halfway through the show.... so much for an active host.

Best Makeup: Ben Button? No. No. No. Sure it's amazing, but its primarily CGI - hence the best Vis FX award. If anything had astounding makeup this year it was HELLBOY 2. Tell me that that is poorly done make up. Mike Elizade - you win in my book.

Best Supporting Actress: Heath Ledger should not have won. NOW - before you behead me or stick a pencil in my brain or something let me explain my reasoning behind this. Heath Ledger was an amazing actor and certainly deserved an award. a LIFETIME achievement award. Not an Oscar. An Oscar ups the wages of a current living actor, who will get better jobs, and more respect now, as well as he can be happy and feel good about winning an award. Robert Doweny Jr could have got this. It would have been good for dividing race lines. Heath Ledger - no. A life time achievement award given to his family would have been the best thing to do, because then it caps it off as the best life and life award ever. IT would have been a very prestigious event.

Jessica Biel presenting about Ed Catmull WAS SO WIERD. It would have been nice if she had actually said something about him in that tribute....

Judd Apatow's Movie .... essentially a Pineapple Express sequel was a little weird and out of place, but it was still pretty funny. If the DVD was not out yet, it would be fun to have as a special feature.

Best Sound and Sound Editing should have both gone to WALL-E. No debate there. The sound design was amazing in the film, and totally generated. Need I say More? WaaaaaaAAAAALLLlllEEEEIIEE.

Best Editing should have been Dark Knight because the editing kept that movie going in ways that kept it fast paced, fun, and exciting at every point in the film.

A side note... Congrats to all the new Slumdog Millionaire's. They made a great film which I have not yet got around to seeing yet. But I will. Promise. Still, I think it kind of sucks when a film sweeps 8 categories because so many other films deserved awards for other categories. It would have been nice to see a bit more diversity. I'll bet they had one hell of a party afterwards. Congrats Slumdog.


What was the best about the night:

Ben Stiller

The cast and crew of MILK using the 45 second speech slot to get out some very good messages on life and morality

The Jerry Lewis Tribute

Beyonce is a damn good singer and way over powered the rest during that musical number...



Well... that's just what I think about the 81st Academy Awards. What's your opinion on the event?

Chris's 10 most anticipated of 2009

Okay, I admit it. I'm starting to feel a little guilty with all these lists I've done lately but when the biggest news of the day is Bride Wars tracking stronger than Marley and Me in the box office, I'd much rather think about the good movies to come than sulk over the current movie rut. I guess last year we had Cloverfield at this time...that movie was awesome.

10. My Bloody Valentine 3-D


"Nothing says Date Movie like a 3D ride to hell", with a tagline like that this movie knows it will fall squarely in the guilty pleasure category. Like most of Lion's Gate's back catalog I am absolutely positive that this film will be roasted by the critics, and for good reason too. This film will likely have very little suspense and consist mostly of gimmicky thrills and projectiles thrown at the camera, however that is the exact reason I want to see this movie. Unlike similar gimmick films like Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D where thrills are delivered by the way of a T-Rex drooling on the camera this is the first 3D slasher film in a VERY long time like at least since that horrible Friday the 13th Part III: 3D...and I'm positive Jason X would have been quite awesome had it been released in 3D.

9. 9


Yeah, that's right, I just put the film 9 as my number 9 most anticipated film of 2009. Opportunity aside, this film is shaping up to look quite awesome as anyone who's seen the original short film (available on The Animation Show Vol. 1 and you can easily find it on video sharing sites like YouTube) this is a top tier high concept film on a very small budget. This is also the first 3D animated feature where I can't imagine any of the characters showing up in a Happy Meal, while this film will likely be safe for families very few 3D feature films have been this artistic (notable exception being 2008's WALL-E). Also, with Tim Burton and the director of Wanted backing the piece as producers I'm pretty sure this will turn out quite well.

8. Funny People

This is the first Judd Apatow directed film since the fantastic Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. While this man has built a comedy empire for himself as a producer on great comedies such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Superbad as well as the horribly mediocre Drillbit Taylor, this is his first time in the director's chair in a couple of years. With his longtime talent Seth Rogen and his friend Adam Sandler on board this will likely do well in the box office (Sandler could star in the most braindead comedies in the world and still reach #1) but this also seems like Apatow's most serious piece in his entire canon being more of a look inside the world behind stand-up comedy as opposed to a straight-up dramedy.

7. Monsters vs. Aliens


Coming straight off the heels of the surprisingly good Kung-Fu Panda and the unsurprisingly awful Shrek The Third, Dreamworks is slowly building up its reputation from just "the guys who did Shrek" to its own breed to 3D animated comedy. Despite coming from the director of the abysmal Shark Tale this one's actually shaping up to look like an incredibly fun movie, 3D or not.

6. Star Trek


I've never been a big fan of Star Trek there is just too much back story and fandom behind it for me ever to grasp its Forbidden Planet inspired universe. That is until now, J.J. Abrams the creator of Lost and the producer of last year's low budget monster hit Cloverfield will tackle the next to impossible task of relaunching Star Trek to a modern audience which will eventually lead into a new TV series. There's a lot of pressure behind this title but if the first trailer is any indication, I'm actually pretty excited. Plus, I get to see Zachary "Sylar" Quinto as Spock and as a Heroes fanboy, that's worth the price of admission alone.

5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen


I have a weird love-hate relationship with the Transformers franchise. When I saw it in theaters I knew it was the typical Michael Bay trashy film but between all the shaking seats, lame jokes, overacting and explosions I was able to see it as the ultimate "guy" movie with a solid 90 minutes of giant robots smashing things in the tail-end of the film and a good 20 minutes of the camera solely ogling over Megan Fox. Yet on DVD I can't sit through the movie at all, maybe its because all the novelty of its visual tour-de-force is lost on the 42 inch and it makes all the dialogue and characters (which the movie lacked) come out more. With all the exposition of the first movie out of the way, I'm certain Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will deliver two and a half hours of robots crushing things except this time its in IMAX 3D so any additional headache from the mindlessness of the film will be multiplied by the fact that your watching the entire thing with 3D glasses on a two story screen. Yeah, and that's a good thing

4. Avatar

I have to be honest, I know absolutely nothing about this film apart from the fact that its from James Cameron. With a resume as versatile as Terminator 2, Aliens and the Titanic the chances are that this will be a pretty awesome film. Cameron also claims that this will be the first 3D animated motion captured film that will bridge the gap of the uncanny valley. A bold claim but at the same time I never noticed the 3D animation used for the second half of Harvey Dent's face in The Dark Knight and I thought the first hour of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was produced using very elaborate make-up. I've been fooled before and this one will fool me with a pair of 3D glasses, which is always a plus.

3. Coraline


With so many 3D animated movies on the list its great to see a stop-motion animated film come out that looks every bit as promising as its 3D counterparts. This film pairs together Henry Selick (Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach among others) and popular sci-fi fantasy writer Neil Gaiman together for a horror comedy romp that at the very least will wind up on hoodies sold at Hot Topic in a couple of years. This movie will also be released for 3D glasses (notice a trend?) but its the first animated one that is actually shot in 3D. If you've read the book you'd know what kind of eccentricity is in store and the visuals that the plot would entail.

2. Watchmen

I'd have to disagree with Mark on this one, I'm confident that Warner Bros. has enough lawyers behind this one that it will certainly reach its 2009 release date. Either that or they'd pay Fox some royalties and get this out, this movie is too big to hold off for a year and with Harry Potter being the only other major Warner Bros. release of the year they definitely need a few other heavy hitters because none of their films will ever be as big as The Dark Knight in a very long time. Watchmen looks like it has everything that 300 and Sin City had in terms of style but it also has a great plot to top it off too. Despite the trailer using a song made for Batman and Robin, this will be pretty amazing.

1. Up
Not to sound like a Pixar fanboy but this senior citizen action adventure film looks like one of the most solid releases of the year. Like several others on this list, this one will be released in 3D but this is the only 3D film on the list that I wouldn't mind to watch on a screen in 2D, the visuals and plot look strong enough to hold their own. Pete Doctor's last film, Monster's Inc. was the funniest of all the Pixar movies and his localization of Howl's Moving Castle was better than watching the film with subtitles. I'll be the first in line.

Honorable mentions:

Astroboy

I REALLY want this one to be good and I'm sure it will deliver but it just doesn't look as much as a surefire hit as the other animated movies its up against. I'm a huge fan of Tezuka's manga though and the film Metropolis prooves that his work is as good for film adaptation as anything else.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2008 called, it wants its movie back.

Mark's Top 5 For 2009

If everyone else is doing lists, I will too! 2009 is going to be a HUUUUUUGE year for film. It seems that when the films were going in a downward spiral, the studios actually listened and started upping the ante on their work. It was hard, but I've narrowed it down to five that I absolutely cannot wait for. (Watchmen isn't on the list because it may not come out in 2009)

5. Dragonball Evolution
So if you have been following The Movie Watch for a while, you'd know that I am quite intrigued by the idea of a live action movie based on the Dragonball series. Being a big fan, it doesn't look bad. I don't think it will be one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time, but it has appeal for both the fans and the mainstream media. If anything, it'll just be a good "B" martial arts movie.


4. Monsters Vs Aliens
This film has been on my radar for quite some time. Before I saw any renders or heard any dialogue, I saw that Stephen Colbert was going to play the president and that Hugh Laurie was going to play a mad scientist named Dr. Cockroach M.D.. Those two comedic talents are enough for a great flick *coughdependingonthescriptcough*, but they are joined by Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Keifer Sutherland, Paul Rudd and more. This looks to be another great Dreamworks venture.



3.Up
Pixar looks to wow us all again with the story of Carl Fredricksen. He sets out on a journey with a boyscout trying to get his "help the elderly badge" in order to fulfill his late wife's dream of exploring the mountains. Ed Asner is the voice of Carl and because of my love of Freakazoid!, I think this will be one of his best roles yet. It's a Pixar movie, you know you're going to see it. Also, what sort of teaser for Toy Story 3 do you think we'll get?


2. Star Trek XI
I was raised on Star Trek. I had seen all of the Next Generation movies in the theatre (except the last one, but who did see that in theatres?). I don't know as much about the original series except for what was in the films they made, so being able to see an origin story makes me a little excited. Also, they shot the academy scenes at Cal State University Northridge, where I am currently enrolled. It'll be funny to see the certain scenes and be like "Kirk went to Sky High!" It's gonna be great, so grab your phaser and set it to FUN! I couldn't help myself with the hokey line. Leave your complaints with Ezra.


1.Fanboys
What did you expect? Bride Wars? No sir! This film has been in hell for quite some time with fans just waiting to get any glimpse they can. I saw about ten to twenty minutes of the flick last year at Comic-Con and couldn't wait for it's release in 2008! It seems like this film is to us like what Phantom Menace is to the guys (and girl) in the flick. I know it won't disappoint. There is going to be more Star Wars jokes than Kevin Smith could ever dream of and more Star Trek knocking than ever. I can't wait to see what is in store and what they think of Phantom. Who's got two thumbs and already bought his tickets? THIS GUY!


HAVE A GOOD 2009! I know I will!

Review: YOUTH IN REVOLT

Let me start off by stating my criteria for this review. I have NOT seen a movie with Michael Cera as the starring role. Also, I have NOT read the book Youth In Revolt. So needless to say I went into this film not expecting anything. After seeing the film and finding out things about the book, I want to tell those fans of the book that this is not a 100% faithful adaptation. There are many characters that are left out, as well as plot points. The story of Nick Twisp centers around one thing and one thing only, Sheeni Saunders.

Dragonball: What The Fans Have Been Waiting For?

All right, as of five minutes ago I have been the dubbed the official Opinion Editor, so you guys and galleons are going to be hearing my opinion more often. I would like to shed some light on and, duh, give my opinion on the upcoming “Dragonball” movie.

So here is the skinny on the film, they changed Goku’s age to a young adult so it wouldn’t seem cruel to have an alien beat the crap out of him. They cast James Marsters, known as Spike on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”, as the villain Lord Piccolo. Fans know Piccolo as a green alien from the planet Namek. As seen in the first screenshot, the studios have taken it in a different direction. Bulma, the American character, is lacking her blue hair. One of the biggest changes with the script is the abandoning of the anthropomorphic characters Oolong, Puar and Turtle. I guess this choice was made to make the movie seem more realistic. Yeah that’s a bunch of crap, they didn’t want to waste money on any sort of digital effect or costume.

First Released Picture of Lord Piccolo

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not that everything has to be perfect. No movie adapted from any source can get it perfect; there will always be gripes. With Dragonball, they are trying to make certain things too animated. For instance, Goku’s hair was attempted. Below is a side-to-side comparison of the animated character and the movie adaptation.

Are Either of Their Hairdos Real?

There is definitely going to be more action than Superman Returns, ahem I believe that was a burn, and the studios hope to not disappoint. The studios in Hollywood have found success in superhero movies, but now Dragonball is going to try its hand at anime adaptations. This turnout of this movie will have one of two effects. It will either do well and start different studios’ buying of anime properties to adapt and this will be the new fad or the movie won’t do well and in a few years they will try to reboot the series in order to have the first effect.

The writers of different anime know how to write fantasy stories to a constant degree of excellence, except maybe Naruto, that American writers don’t have. I’m afraid of the proverbial “Ghostrider” or “Batman and Robin” that is bound to happen to any of the other anime series that I am glad to call a fan.

I thought I was going to rip this movie a new one, but I guess my biggest worry is that it may spark a big crock of crap that Hollywood doesn’t need right now. This is definitely going to be a fan service movie, but that is about it. There hasn’t been too much promotion for this film, and with an April 2009 release, a teaser would give everyone an idea of how this movie will play out for the masses. With saga after saga of happenings in the Dragonball, Dragonball Z and Dragonball Z GT, at least 9 movies could be made in terms of different stories that can be told. I will definitely be going to see this film, who’s with me? No one? Thought so.

BREAKING NEWS: Harry Potter 6 pushed to July 2009

In a recent press release Warner Bros. announced that they will push Harry Potter and the Half-Blood prince from a Thanksgiving weekend release over to July 17, 2009.

in their press release they wrote:

"Our reasons for shifting 'Half-Blood Prince' to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment. Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers' strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films--changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move 'Half-Blood Prince' to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer."

consequently, Disney moved Bolt's release date up a week to November 21, 2008 in response to this announcement.

Upcoming Movie: The Princess and the Frog

This may be the first Disney animated movie ever to have mad crazy hype. Let me begin by saying..... its a musical. Its traditionally animated (2d), and its about a black princess, Disney's first ever.

Basically it is the story of Tiana, a princess in 1920's new orleans, and other than that is based on the story of 'The Frog Prince', which is a story about a prince that has been turned into a frog and needs to be kissed by his true love to turn back into a human.

Not much is know about the film other than the fact that music is being done by Randy Newman and the film is being directed by John Musker and Ron Clemets, who directed films such as Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Hercules, and Treasure Planet (among others).

Keep your ear out for more news on this film. I'll write more when I know about it. There is a cast list on Imdb, so check that one out perhaps.

Heres the Trailer.

Upcoming Movie: Judd Apatow's "Funny People"

Judd Apatow is back in the directorial chair with his upcoming, self written, comedy "Funny People". The film chronicles the lives of a few stand up comedians trying to make it big, and one comedian who has a near death experience somewhere along the way. They say it will have more drama than other Apatow creations, so that should be thoroughly interesting.

Most of the cast has been announced so far. It stars Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler, but also will feature Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, and.... Eric Bana (who used to do stand-up himself).

We can probably expect appearances from all the other Apatow regulars, it will be interesting, but it seems to be genuine Apatow, which will be nice to see, since everyone loved "40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up". Lets see where it goes. More on this film soon.

PIXAR's UP

Pixar's next movie is called UP. It is about a little old man named Carl, who covers his house with balloons and flies away to South America to go on the adventures he wished he had went on with his wife when she was still alive. He meets up with a little wilderness scout and together they journey the land doing all sorts of fantastical things.

TERMINATOR: SALVATION

TERMINATOR SALVATION

Director McG as well as Moon Bloodgood, Sam Worthington, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Common took the stage to discuss "Terminator: Salvation", the next in the Terminator Franchise, starring Christian Bale as John Connor. It is interesting because this film is a reboot, a prequel, and a sequel. Set after Judgement Day, this film will show the world that the other three movies have only hinted at. Swarzenegger will not appear, since his model of the T-800 has not been built at this time, but McG hinted that when the time comes to show the T-800, the character will not be recast.

It is not clear if the film will have a new Terminator as the villain, or if the villain will be a human, but it was noted that this is the time of the crummy latex skin terminators, so we can expect a few of those, also many other machines that have been created to kill the humans before Skynet has fully established itself.

A three minute trailer was shown and it looks simply fantastic. Plenty of action, and a very good representation of the world that Terminators have expected to see. James Cameron was consulted along the whole process, and all the models were built by Stan Winston studios before Stan died, so it should be just what we are looking for.