Why Watch? Some of it’s obvious, some of it’s aggressively amateur, but it’s hard to resist posting a short film that’s so dedicated to movies. It also helps when the director claims that it’s this column that helped push him out the door and finally get something on camera.

Plus, despite a few flaws, this comedic short from Walter Woods nails down the style of a handful of notable directors right down to the title sequencing. Wes Anderson is a bit clunky, but Quentin Tarantino is spot on, and the rest are pure icing for a great example of low-budget filmmaking that works because of a clever, sketch comedy-style concept and good execution which mines what’s funny about stereotyping auteurs.

What will it cost? Only 9 minutes.

Skip Work. You’ve Got Time For More Short Films.

While it’s not like no film has ever been shut down in the middle of production, I’m still going to get right on my high horse and tell it plainly – I didn’t believe that Gore Verbinski‘s The Lone Ranger was going to get made until a press release telling me that the film has started production hit my inbox this morning. So, hey, look, a movie! The release reports that production has commenced on location in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado” for the Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer-starring film, which means that the cast and crew is probably feeling pretty damn quartered right now. These are the jokes, people! The release does later clarify that the production “will film exteriors and studio work in New Mexico, followed by locations in Arizona, Utah and Colorado.”

The film’s production troubles – namely of the budgetary variety – have been well-documented over the past few months, with the film being all but killed back in August, followed by Verbinski’s vow to trim the budget just days later, followed by its apparent resurrection in October, culminating in it being officially officially back on the trail in December. And that’s not even to mention all the casting blather surrounding to the film. But despite all those problems, this Lone Ranger is indeed riding again.

The Lone Ranger reunites many of those behind the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, with Verbinksi and Depp getting back into it with Disney in general and producer Jerry Bruckheimer specifically. The screenwriting team also includes Pirates vets Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, along with Eric Aronson and Justin Haythe. As one the rare few who never quite got taken in by the swashbuckling adventures and Depp’s Jack Sparrow, this doesn’t really mean much to me, but again, I know I am in the minority on this and I do like the cut of that Hammer.

The studio is billing the film as “a thrilling adventure infused with action and humor, in which the famed masked hero is brought to life through new eyes. Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid (Armie Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice—taking the audience on a runaway train of epic surprises and humorous friction as the two unlikely heroes must learn to work together and fight against greed and corruption.” Fun.

Our Cole Abaius took the film’s first kill as a jumping off point to discuss why that was a good thing – weirdly, his points still stand and I recommend giving it another read, even in light of this news.

The Lone Ranger has a release date of May 31, 2013.

Mark Wahlberg seems to be busier now than ever before, and while some people may find that news to be unfortunate I myself am happy to see it happening. (Not to be mistaken with me being happy to see The Happening…) He’s a charismatic actor, and his limited range rarely prevents him from being entertaining at the very least. He released the mild hit Contraband earlier this year, is in post-production on two films and is already potentially attached to another four including Michael Bay’s first non-robot movie in seven years, Pain and Gain.

Headhunters is a blackly comic thriller from Norway about an insecure corporate headhunter who moonlights as an art thief. His casually extravagant life takes a dark turn when a robbery goes awry and he finds himself double-crossed and on the run. The film, based on the slim novel by Jo Nesbø, is a an absolutely fantastic ride and was one of my personal favorites from last year. It’s funny, violent, and constantly surprising…and Summit quickly snapped it up for a US remake with Sacha Gervasi attached to helm.

According to Shortlist, Wahlberg recently fell in love with the Norwegian film and apparently made a personal appeal to Gervasi to be a part of the remake. It’s assumed Wahlberg is interested in playing the lead role for three reasons. One, it’s the lead. Two, he’s the closest thing there is to a sympathetic hero in the film. And three, a big part of the character’s motivation and persona is tied up in his short stature. Having Wahlberg play the rugged, tall model-like “villain” of the story would be ridiculous… imagine someone like Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher (from Lee Child’s book series) and you’ll have an idea how silly it would be.

Gervasi is a bit of a wild card here as his resume doesn’t exactly scream “bloody comic thriller,” but between his directorial debut (Anvil! The Story of Anvil) and his writing credits (including Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal and an upcoming pseudo biopic on Hervé Villechaize) he’s at least shown an interesting range of interests. The bigger concern is Summit. A few solid films aside their recent production history is a rap sheet of terrible movies.

As stated above, Wahlberg is entertaining in just about everything, so his involvement here is a plus. He does seem to have an above average interest in remakes though as evidenced by the five he’s already done. Planet of the Apes, The Truth About Charlie, The Italian Job, The Departed, and the recent Contraband… at least the trending shows that the crappy ones are focused at the early end of the list.

The remake is still in the early days of pre-pre-production, so there’s no time frame as to when we’ll get to see it. But that’s okay since the original is scheduled to hit our shores in limited release later this year. Check it out if you get the chance. You won’t be disappointed.

(Thanks to The Playlist for the heads up.)

I am fully aware that I after I reveal what I am about to reveal, I may very well have my Official Lady Card revoked – but I’m willing to accept that. Deadline Harriman reveals that Ryan Murphy has signed a “preemptive deal” in the seven-figures with Sony Pictures to make a film titled One Hit Wonders, a musical comedy that will center on three washed-up pop singers from the ’90s who join together to make a super group. The film has yet to be penned, but it will be written specifically for Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, and Cameron Diaz, who will play the singers, along with Beyonce, Andy Samberg, and the rest of the Lonely Island boys in unspecified (but obviously musical) roles.

Here comes the part where I throw myself onto the fire – I think this sounds eighteen shades of awful, almost unspeakably terrible. The real kicker for me is this tidbit – “The project came out of a dinner that Murphy had at the Soho House, with Paltrow, Diaz and Witherspoon. They wanted to do something fun together, and kicked around ideas until they settled on One Hit Wonders.” How I wish this had just stayed a funny jag between friends and not something that the rest of us have to be subjected to.

While musical comedies are usually delightful, something about a pack of Hollywood A-list friends getting together just for the sake of getting together turns my tummy, and the attachment of Ryan Murphy, whose Glee has become unwatchable and who has only ever directed one feature (Eat Pray Love, shudder), is enough to make me forget that I generally like Witherspoon and Samberg. Toss in Paltrow and Diaz? I’m out. One Hit Wonders will likely turn into the Girls Night Out film du jour when it hits screens, but as is, I’m out.

Murphy will direct the film, and he will co-write the script with his Glee comrades, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan.

While it’s currently unknown who will do actual singing in the production, we can expect that Paltrow and Witherspoon will both belt out tunes, as they’ve already done in previous productions (most notably, with Paltrow in her numerous Glee appearances and her starring role in Country Strong and Witherspoon in her Academy Award-winning role in Walk the Line). Hopefully, Diaz will not try to use her own pipes (do you remember My Best Friend’s Wedding?).

In the interest of tempering my bile after my last post about Ryan Murphy’s Super Group From Hell, here’s some news that sounds good to my ears. Universal Pictures has picked up Cowboy Ninja Viking, the Image Comic by AJ Lieberman and artist Riley Rossmo, for a cinematic adaptation with Marc Forster at the helm. While I’m not a huge fan of Forster (though I do have a weird soft spot for Stranger Than Fiction), the plot of the film sounds so kickass, and the writing talent behind it so fresh, that the whole thing sounds awesome.

The story of Cowboy Ninja Viking is considerably smarter and cooler than that mash-up name might hint at, Deadline Davos reports that “the title character comes from a secret government program to turn schizophrenics into assassins. The protagonist comes through the program with the skill sets of a cowboy, ninja and a viking. While most of the patients involved in the program are sent back to insane asylum after the program went awry in Iraq, he escapes and uses his skills to track down the billionaire who masterminded the program.” What are the skills of a Viking? Skull-crushing? A crazy, skull-crushing ninja who rides horses who is bent on revenge? Sold. So sold.

The film was originally developed at Disney, who eventually found the material “too edgy” for a family flick. Well, yeah. That script comes from screenwriting duo Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, who have also penned Zombieland (awesome), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (which looks about twelve times more awesome than it has any right to, considering the first film), and the announced Deadpool film (which, God willing, will also be awesome). More proof of awesome? Did you know that Reese also wrote Cruel Intentions 3? So the guy clearly has a sense of humor. He also wrote Clifford’s Big Movie and he contributed to Monsters, Inc. See? He likes kids, too.

The comic book series currently has ten issues in it, so Universal’s dream for a franchise isn’t nuts.

The film will reportedly start production this year, after Forster finishes World War Z, which is set to open on December 12.  Let’s hope Universal and Forster pick a leading man worthy enough of this potentially-wicked role.

Paramount didn’t used to have to make their own animated movies, mostly because they had a deal in place where they handled the distribution of all the movies made by DreamWorks Animation. But that all ended when DreamWorks started looking for a new partner to both buy their company and handle the distribution end of things. Rather than work out a new, riskier deal, Paramount decided they were just going to cut their ties with DreamWorks Animation and form a new wing of their own company called Paramount Animation. You know, with the intention of animating things.

This has been in the planning stages for a while now, and it’s looking like Paramount Animation is ready to make their first movie. At a recent investor meeting Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman was quoted as saying, “We will be releasing a SpongeBob movie at the end of 2014, which will serve to start off or be one of our films that starts off our new animation effort.” What better way to start off a new venture than by relying on a proven commodity? SpongeBob’s first movie, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, only had a production budget of $30m and it ended up pulling in $140m worldwide. If you want your team to start things off with a win, it seems to me that SpongeBob is a good first round draft pick to make.

I guess it should be noted that the first SpongeBob movie came out in 2004 though. That’s eight years ago now, and with the speed in which trends can change, I have to wonder if this character still has the same momentum behind him that he did damn near a decade ago. I don’t have any kids, so maybe you can help me out. I know that five years ago lazy college students were still laying around and watching SpongeBob in the afternoons, but is this a property that small children are still pumped about in 2012? Or have they moved on to loving a flatulent, animated lemur or something and, at this point, SpongeBob is just coasting on fumes?

Surely Tom Kenny’s strange under-the-sea character is established enough that he will turn a profit, but can Paramount expect the same sort of gangbuster business that this movie would have gotten had it been made five years ago? For the sake of both the Paramount executives who decided to ditch DreamWorks and the people who work at carnivals airbrushing cartoon characters onto t-shirts and posters, I really hope so. [via THR]

This has to be one of the more cooler and inventive pieces of viral marketing in quite sometime. With Prometheus less than four months away from hopefully blowing our feeble minds, we’re still slightly in the dark on Alien prequel. The teaser relied on atmospheric “Holy hell!” visuals, while this viral video actually gives insight into one of the film’s characters, Peter Weyland, of Weyland Industries. Guy Pearce‘s role has been one of the production’s best kept secrets since he joined the project, but now we know he’ll be one of the core links to the Alien franchise. If you recall, Weyland’s company plays a big part in the Alien mythology.

Prometheus writer Damon Lindelof wrote this short and Ridley Scott served as a supervisor. Hopefully we’ll be getting more of these from Weyland Industries. Watch it after the break.

Prometheus opens in theaters on June 8th.

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly collection of things you’ll enjoy. We promise.

We begin tonight with the story of the evening. Or more to the point, the casting story of the evening. Elizabeth Olsen has been offered the lead role in Oldboy, the Spike Lee directed remake of the incredibly popular Korean revenge film. Heralded for her performance in Martha Marcy May Marlene, Olsen has burst onto the scene with her ability to act, something she has over her elder sisters, Mary Kate and Ashley. She’s a good choice for just about everything, even a movie that probably shouldn’t be attempted in the first place. Like this one.

Apparently Hollywood — and the BBC — are catching up to my campaign for “Benedict Cumberbatch in Everything.” He’s in the next Star Trek film, and now Cumberbatch is rumored to be joining Doctor Who as The Master, a legendary Time Lord villain who may appear opposite Matt Smith next year. This is big, nerds.

Cumberbatch is best known for his work as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC’s Sherlock. In somewhat related news, Lucy Liu will play Watson in Elementary, the modern day Sherlock Holmes pilot being put together at CBS. Okay, so that’s a thing now. And not a very good thing, either.

Recording Live From Somewhere presents The 2011 Movie Soundtrack: The Best Songs From This Year’s Films. And it’s exactly that, Drive soundtrack included.

Much talked about indie gem Miss Bala now streams on Amazon Instant. A great deal of noise has been made on my Twitter feed by a number of film bloggers whose opinions I hold in high esteem. It’s about a beauty queen who gets caught up in a dangerous drug war. The poster includes said beauty queen near-topless being strapped with cash. I’m for it.

Movies.com’s David Ehrlich presents David’s Film School Diary explaining exactly What Going to Film School is Really Like. We find this interesting, as, well, you know, we’ve got a sort of distanced relationship with film school. You know, our name…

Gawker has a round-up of The Best and Worst Netflix Reviews of Best Picture Nominees. In reading them, I’ve decided that in order to fully realize our potential as the Captain Obvious of Movie Blogs, we must hire this person who reviewed War Horse: ”This is a horse movie with horses about horses, starring horses. If that sounds appealing, you already knew you will love this movie, so go watch it. If it doesn’t… well, the horse-wife will, so watch it anyways, because you will probably be getting some tonight. Almost every scene in this movie has a horse in it, or a drawing of a horse, or they are talking about horses.”

Have you guys seen this new poster for The Avengers? If so, would you agree that it’s terrible? To quote myself from earlier on Twitter, “It looks like Marvel is letting its interns from the University of Phoenix Online School of Art and Design handle international marketing.” I crack myself up.

For your consideration, a comprehensive breakdown of Mad Men relationships. Somehow it all comes back to Don Draper, that scamp.

Dan Trachtenberg’s One Cool Thing a Day usually features something cool every day. Recently he featured something extremely cool, a video called Inception Park. Oh yeah, it’s cool:

Speaking of Christopher Nolany Nolanness, here’s a great fan-made trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. This feels like a great place to end tonight’s brief but informative edition of Movie News After Dark:

Welcome back to This Week In DVD and the last day of February! Well, what should be the last day but is instead actually the 2nd to last thanks to the shenanigans of the evil and gilled Leap Dave Williams. Only one big title hits shelves this week, but it’s an Academy Award winner! Other titles that aren’t named Hugo include a few fantastic and exciting foreign films (The Front Line, Rabies, The Yellow Sea), a few less exciting foreign films (The Conformist, Tomorrow When the War Began, Mandrill) and more!

As always, if you see something you like, click on the image to buy it.

I Melt With You

Four old college friends (Thomas Jane, Rob Lowe, Christian McKay, Jeremy Piven) get together annually for a drug-fueled weekend, but their latest reunion finds each of them at the lowest point of their lives. All four leads do a fantastic job in this energetic but terribly depressing movie that examines the ideas of failure, depression and expectations at the mid-point of a man’s life. Things tease the point of over-doing it, but the lasting effect is a powerful one as the men face the lives and mistakes they’ve made. Plus Carla Gugino, Arielle Kebbel, and Sasha Grey! Director Mark Pellington has a couple solid films under his belt (Arlington Road and The Mothman Prophecies), but his main career focus seems to be music videos so it’s fitting that his latest film matches the stylish visuals, heavy emotional toll and powerful writing of his most famous video (Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy”).

The Front Line (UK)

Pitch: “Soldiers die when they’re told to…”

Why Buy? As the end of the Korean war draws near, or at least the official cease fire, both sides spend their final days of the conflict trying to take and hold the strategic Aerok Hills. Director Hun Jang’s film follows a South Korean Lieutenant sent to the front line to investigate the recent point blank death of the squad’s commander, but the answers he finds may haunt him forever. This is a fantastic and powerful mix of spectacular battle scenes and nerve-shredding drama that highlights the unfortunate and unique situation that is the Korean conflict. Friendship, loss, nationalism and a confused sense of identity all come into play in harrowing detail. **NOTE – This is a region2 DVD which requires either a region-free player or the willingness to watch on your PC.**

Rabies

Pitch: It’s not the raccoons you need to fear…

Why Buy? A national park in Israel has a busy day as a pair of siblings come in contact with a potential serial killer before a quartet of tennis players, a park ranger and a pair of cops join the woodland fun. Billed as the first Israeli slasher film this could just as easily be dubbed the country’s first blackly comic horror film. The setup is initially familiar, but events play out in a fresh, exciting and humorous fashion. Co-writers/directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado have done their homeland proud with a movie that works both as a smart thriller and a commentary on Israel’s state of mind. Check out my full review here.

The Yellow Sea

Pitch: Machetes and feet seem to be the weapons of choice in Korea…

Why Buy? A down on his luck North Korean cab driver heads south of the DMZ in search of his wife who left months earlier, but his trip is burdened further when he’s asked to kill a man in exchange for wiping out his sizable gambling debt. Not surprisingly, the hit and his quest go horribly awry, and he’s left fighting for his life and a way back home. This brutal action thriller from the director of the equally awesome The Chaser features a strong central story and some incredibly well done fight scenes. Things do get a bit confusing at times, but it’s all worth it especially when you get to the near thirty minute chase/fight scene towards the end. Spectacular stuff.

The Catechism Cataclysm

Pitch: “The Japanese girls, they made his head explode, and it was not my fault…”

Why Rent? A young priest (Steve Little) is sent on a forced sabbatical to find his calling, so he plans a canoeing trip with the high school classmate (Robert Longstreet) he most admired. What starts as an odd but casual river trip turns into something far more ridiculous. Little is probably best known as Stevie Janowski from Eastbound & Down, and while his character here is a bit more competent he’s still a complete and utter goof. He’s the lead here, but he’s far from the strangest element on display. Fans of the playfully bizarre should give it a chance as it’s filled with bizarre laughs and visuals.

The Conformist (UK)

Pitch: Mamma mia, that’s a spicy fascist…

Why Rent? A young man in pre-WWII Italy falls under Mussolini’s spell and takes on an assignment to kill a past professor of his who resisted the fascists rise to power. His journey exposes him as a man willing to bend whichever way the wind blows, but the consequences and causes of conformity aren’t always predictable. Bernardo Bertolucci’s early classic is a powerful indictment of fascism by way of the people who allow it to happen. **NOTE – This is a region2 DVD which requires either a region-free player or the willingness to watch on your PC.**

Enemies of the People

Pitch: Forget name calling, Pol Pot just flat out killed the kettle…

Why Rent? Most people’s exposure to the Khmer Rouge’s killing spree throughout Cambodia in the 1970s is due to the excellent film, The Killing Fields, but there’s more to the story than that one story managed to tell. Documentarian Thet Sambath dedicated a decade of his life to research, interviews, and relentless digging for the truth behind the massacre and the men who committed it. The stories he finds are intimate and personal ones set against a grand and devastating scale. The resulting doc is neither flashy nor slick, but it is a powerful indictment of a time and a place that hopefully never sees the light of day again.

Hugo

Pitch: It’s an Academy Award winner! Sure, in the technical categories only…

Why Rent? A young orphan (Asa Butterfield) in early 20th century Paris tries to complete his late father’s work but stumbles into a story about the magic of cinema as he interacts with memories, dreams and the legendary Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley). Martin Scorsese’s ode to the importance of film history and preservation has a terrible first act but settles into a sweet, whimsical and effects-filled adventure. The supporting cast includes Chloe Moretz, Ray Winstone, Jude Law, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee and more.

Insight

Pitch: Don’t let the presence of Seven of Nine on the DVD cover confuse you…

Why Rent? An ER nurse gets electrocuted (don’t ask) while trying to save a stabbing victim and soon begins experiencing the dead woman’s memories. Can she solve the murder before she gets herself killed (or incarcerated in a mental hospital)? Natalie Zea is best (only?) known from FX’s Justified, but she makes for a capable lead here. Less successful is Sean Patric Flanery who plays Det. Generic and could do so in his sleep at this point. This was headed towards the Avoid section, but it manages to some unexpected things with the premise and even though it remains around the mediocre mark the originality deserves some recognition.

King of Triads

Pitch: If only all family reunions were this exciting…

Why Rent? A triad boss is arrested and executed for his role in the theft of counterfeit money plates, and his followers are left behind to fight for supremacy. Simon Yam and Andy On are the two most recognizable faces here, but star power isn’t the film’s biggest draw. Instead it’s the high quality fight choreography (and attractive players) on display that will keep the attention and interest. Jiang Luxia in particular stands out as an unassuming spitfire, small in stature but big in power and speed. She has a couple fight scenes early on that are greater than the whole of Mandrill (see below).

The Myth of the American Sleepover

Pitch: It’s like Bigfoot, but hairier…

Why Rent? Several teens make sleepover party plans for the last night of summer before school starts, and the result is an evening filled with fun, heartache and puppy love. Writer/director David Robert Mitchell’s film is a slice of life character drama that reminds us of the awkward, wonderful and curious days and nights before things began to make sense. The film takes a bit to get going and draw viewers in though as it starts out with all the promise of a poorly acted, sex-free porn film before finding and showing its heart.

Tomorrow When the War Began

Pitch: “Wombats!” (Feel free to substitute your own favorite vicious marsupial…)

Why Rent? A group of teenagers head into the hills for a camping trip, but soon notice the sounds of jets screaming overhead and gunfire from town below. It seems they’ve been invaded by an unnamed (but probably Chinese) military force, and now they’re all that stands between their families’ freedom and the opposite of freedom. This Australian action film is based on the first book in a series by John Marsden, and in case you were wondering, yes… it is a massively obvious ripoff of Red Dawn. Even so, it’s an entertaining enough little adventure with some solid gun battles and teen rebel shenanigans.

Answers to Nothing

Pitch: Makes Crash look worthy of an Academy Award for Best Picture…

Why Avoid? A young girl goes missing and only horndog Dane Cook can find her. Well, never mind, his story is unrelated, but maybe Barbara Hershey can? No? Julie Benz? Erik Palladino? The theme of this ensemble drama is the way in which we can affect the lives of those around us through both our good and bad decisions and actions. Pretty deep stuff, and in better hands it could have turned into something worth more than a Crash-related punchline. But as it stands the characters are mostly uninteresting, the drama is far from compelling and the dialogue is miles away from profound.

Mandrill

Pitch: Stick to exporting cranberries Chile, stick to cranberries…

Why Avoid? A young boy sees his parents murdered and grows up to be an ass-kicking bounty hunter intent on one day finding their killer. But just as he gets close to the truth he discovers a surprising secret. The story is generic, but that wouldn’t be a problem if the action was cool. Sadly, the fight choreography feels sluggish and a bit too rehearsed. Marko Zaror made a big splash at Fantastic Fest with this high kicking action film, and yes, his flip kick is fairly impressive. But the effect lessens when it’s the only damn move the guy uses here, and it just here that’s the problem. He can fight well, but apparently it’s only in movies where he isn’t the lead. Skip it and watch Undisputed III: Redemption instead.

Also out this week, but I haven’t seen the movie/TV show, review material was unavailable, and I have no blind opinion:

Beneath the Darkness
Boys on the Run
Daesepo Naughty Girls
Johnny English Reborn
Miss Bala
Todd & the Book of Pure Evil: The Complete First Season
Triad Trilogy

Read More: This Week in DVD

What are you buying on DVD this week?

I may not have been completely on the Bridesmaids bandwagon like a lot of other people, but I love Kristen Wiig as a performer and might go as far as to say she’s the most talented female to ever work on Saturday Night Live; so I’m very interested in where her film career is going to go now that she has some clout in Hollywood. And, according to a report from Variety, her next movie is one that is going to be well worth my attention.

Wiig has reportedly attached herself to star in a new action comedy written by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, or as they’re otherwise known, Nat Faxon and Dean Pelton from Community, or as they’re otherwise known, the two guys who just won an Effin Oscar for writing The Descendants. Add Wiig’s unparalleled skill as a comedic performer with these guy’s obvious skill in crafting big screen stories, and it sounds like we might be in for something special. Factor in that all three of these talents know each other from back in the day when they performed in The Groundlings together, and we may just be looking at one of those perfect pieces of synergy that becomes an all time great.

I mean, this new movie is being described as an action comedy, for the love of Mike. That’s a genre I generally can’t get enough of, and when’s the last time you’ve seen a good action comedy made in Hollywood? If this movie’s half as good as I’m hoping, it could get a lot of people making a trip out to the multiplex.

And this isn’t the only thing that Faxon and Rash have in the pipe either. Not only are they writing yet another script for Alexander Payne to direct, but they’re also set to soon make their directorial debut on The Way, Way Back, a script they wrote about a young girl who strikes up a friendship with the owner of a water park. That one has Allison Janney and, good God, Sam Rockwell set to star, so it’s pretty much guaranteed to rule. With Community seeming to be going through series ending problems, knowing that Rash looks to have a huge career as a filmmaker in his future takes the sting of that show’s unfortunate fate away just a little bit. And for Wiig, hey, the sky’s the limit.

Hot on the heels of winning a slew of awards at the Oscars, Harvey Weinstein has decided to go to war with the MPAA over the new documentary Bully, which was “slapped” with an R rating for language and lost an appeal to have it changed to PG-13.

I’m not going to spend all my time pointing out the irony that Harvey Weinstein is a big bully himself, leveraging the tragic events in this new film to orchestrate a publicity stunt. Suffice it to say, if he were interested in actually having as many students as possible watch this film instead of making money, he could easily distribute censored screeners to schools with any offending language bleeped out. And why is he doing a little song-and-dance about releasing it “unrated” when he knows full well that the National Association of Theatre Owners will have to treat it like an NC-17 film (under the yoke and obligation of the MPAA)? Make no mistake… Weinstein’s in it for the money and not the cause.

But let’s leave his personal bullying out of the argument and consider the possibility that an R rating might, in fact, be the right thing for Bully.

Responsibility Lies With the Parents

The big argument for a PG-13 rated Bully is so schools can show the movie to the students en masse. An R rating simply means that most schools won’t actually show it in class or bus kids to the theater to see it. Though, considering one of the subjects of the film was only 11, it would be unlikely that any elementary school would show a PG-13 movie to kids that age. Most elementary schools only exhibit G rated movies because some parents find farts as offensive as f-bombs and side-boobs. Additionally, some middle schools pass on PG-13 movies too because some of the younger students haven’t yet turned 13.

Like most people, I was bullied a bit in school, and no amount of movie showing or classroom discussions would have changed these bullies’ actions. At least today, the anti-bullying infrastructure is well known to parents and easy to utilize. My oldest son, who is only a year younger than one of the subjects of the film, has witnessed bullying in the playground and reported as appropriately, and the school has been extremely diligent with this effort. Bringing this documentary in the classroom, or busing kids to the theater to see it, won’t have much of an impact. And it certainly won’t have an impact on the actual bullies in school who already ignore the rules.

But showing the movie to groups of school children is important to more than just Harvey Weinstein. Katy Butler of Ann Arbor, Michigan, even went so far as to create an online petition on Change.org, demanding the rating be reduced to PG-13. Unfortunately, in her petition, she claims that “No one under 17 will be allowed to see the movie.” Sorry, Katy. This is flat-out untrue. Theaters around the country will be happy to admit anyone under the age of 17 to see the film if they are accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

And that’s a good thing.

After all, bullying starts in the home, and most children would get more out of the film if they actually saw it with their parents so they can have a frank family discussion about this behavior. Let it be the parent’s responsibility to show this movie to their kids, rather than the school’s. And let the parent deal with the existence of the offending language as well as opening a dialogue with their children about bullying. If the parent isn’t going to bother to show their kid the movie, or worse yet if they fully endorse bullying behavior, even the best documentary ever made isn’t going to fix that problem.

Rare Consistency from the MPAA

The other big reason why an R rating for Bully might be right is that it shows some consistency from the MPAA. Anyone who pays attention to movie ratings knows that more than one f-bomb will get you an R rating, regardless of the subject matter (with rare exceptions, like Gunner Palace, and that only received a PG-13 ratings after an appeal).

Contrast the appeal for Bully to the Weinstein Company’s appeal for the NC-17 rating bestowed upon Blue Valentine. All it took was some growling and gnashing of Weinstein teeth to get the latter changed with no cuts whatsoever. Similarly (and famously), Clerks won a Weinstein-driven appeal for an R rating instead of NC-17 back in 1994 without being forced to cut anything. It’s great that these films were left untouched for the artist’s integrity, but all this process does is reveal the arbitrary nature of the R/NC-17 delineation in the hands of the MPAA.

On the other hand, the rejected appeal for Bully is entirely in line with MPAA practice. Whether you agree with the fact that a few f-bombs garner an R rating, that’s the MPAA’s litmus test. You know that’ll get you an R rating, whether it be spoken by bullies on a school yard, a monarch with a speech impediment or Ryan Reynolds swearing up a storm in his latest box office comedy disaster. If the MPAA is actually making consistent and informed decisions for a change, that’s a good thing. (Though that doesn’t change the fact that the entire organization is a dinosaur that has serious problems in it, but that’s another discussion entirely, detailed so eloquently by Cole Abaius.)

In the end, isn’t Harvey Weinstein’s publicity-driven appeal exactly what we’re fighting against with the MPAA? To avoid arbitrarily changing its rules just because a Hollywood mogul asks them to? Because that’s exactly what Harvey Weinstein is, when you strip away all of his blustering fury… just another fat cat Hollywood mogul asking for preferential treatment from the MPAA and using a fake fight in the schoolyard to drum up more publicity.

What do you think?

Before Community riffed on it, My Dinner With Andre was the kind of thing you chatted about over Merlot while chuckling and pretending to know what you were talking about. After Community, that’s still the case, but you can reference Community referencing it and still seem cool.

The truth is, Wallace Shawn and André Gregory‘s contemplative dinner conversation about the nature of art is fascinating because it features two men who know way more than they should talking about the broad-reaching subject of the humanities. Even as high a pedestal as they should be on, they manage to come off casually. Why there hasn’t been a podcast featuring the two yet is baffling, but according to The New York Times, they’re both set to work together again, and they’ll be doing it with directing icon Jonathan Demme.

After Dinner, they did Vanya on 42nd Street, so naturally for desert they’ll be twisting up Henrik Ibsen‘s play “Master Builder” for a movie called Wally and André Shoot Ibsen. There’s nothing like tackling the depressingly Norwegian father of prose drama to create a stir, and doing it with the genius behind Caged Heat and Silence of the Lambs is even better. No cynicism, no irony, everything about this project sounds ridiculously amazing. Plus, the director claims “it’s like a Hitchcock movie with a vein of humor running through it.” Get. Ready.

Why Watch? From the sweeping soundscape of industrial music to the first-rate CGI effects to the raw and dynamic visuals, everything about this short film is stunning and fantastic.

The imagery is conflicting and toys with the mind – a cow meanders down a highway with a decaying billboard in the background, a happy mascot sings the joy of a new solution to radiation-riddled cities while the husks of civilization prove otherwise. All of this delivered along with the gritty narration of a man with cracked lips and a voice worn from swallowing gravel creates a huge rust-covered impact. Watch it, and the District 9 connection should be clear, but this is an animal all its own. Amazing work from Factory Fifteen.

What will it cost? Only 6 minutes.

Skip Work. You’ve Got Time For More Short Films.

Special thanks to Hector P. for sending this to us.

Tonight! We visit in with some of our favorite whacky Brits as they power through the seventeenth season of one of the greatest reality television programs in the history of time, space and everything else. We explore a historic, beautiful look at cinema’s start through the eyes of contemporary film’s biggest nerd. We watch a 9-foot tall man roundhouse kick an entire country. And we watch Rowan Atkinson continue to spit in the face of reason, churning out more laughs. Also, James May talks to a gurrrl.

Top Gear: The Complete Season 17

If you are anything like me, then you’ve never really been much of a gear head or a car freak. That’s okay, we’re simply the kind of people who would rather be in the living room watching a movie than in the garage tinkering around with engine parts. That said, there’s nothing more magnetic to me than the musings of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. This triumvirate odd couple of motorist journalism is the most consistently entertaining group of hosts you’ll find anywhere on TV. Forget about Idol or The Voice, it’s all about these three middle-aged British men and their clear overcompensation issues. The fact that the BBC allows them to smash up expensive cars, light segments of Sweden on fire and hold monumental tributes to the Jaguar E-Type is all just a bonus in the end. Did I mention that they let celebrities drive around in reasonably priced cars? If you’re not giving Top Gear a shot by now, there isn’t much I can do to help save your soul. So get it done, people.

Hugo

The Pitch: Find the heart key, receive the greatest gifts that cinema has to offer…

Why Buy? Those who watched this past week’s Oscar telecast will note that while The Artist won plenty of the big daddy awards, a great number of technical achievements were recognized in Martin Scorsese’s tale of a boy who lives inside Paris’ Grand Central Station winding the clocks, only to find himself face to face with a mysterious old man (Ben Kingsley) and a connection to the beginnings of cinema. No other film of 2011 celebrated the experience of loving film quite like Hugo. In fact, no other film in many recent years does as much for our love of film as this one. Scorsese, best known as the world’s biggest film geek, goes out and plays with some brilliant live-action 3D all while telling an endearing story about discovery and the realization of one’s dreams. On Blu-ray, Hugo gets a modest set of extras — six featurettes in all — including some extra love for Georges Méliés and plenty about the design of the film’s unique world.

Mandrill

The Pitch: A seventy foot tall Chilean man who is 130% muscle goes on a vengeful bounty hunting rampage in a suit an tie.

Why Rent? “The martial arts sequences will drop your jaw.” The back cover quote accredited to Film School Rejects — as pulled from the review of our own Brian Salisbury — does not lie. Chilean martial artist Marko Zaror stars as a tortured man whose parents were brutally murdered at a young age, driving him to become a ruthless bounty hunter who can high kick the will to escape out of anyone. There’s something sort of wild about Mandrill, with deep stylistic roots in the spy movies and exploitation cinema of the 1970s. But it’s hard to say that any of that matters. Having seen several times, including a screening at Fantastic Fest, I can’t honestly say that the story matters at all. The first time Zaror winds up and destroys a bad guy, his character’s motives no longer come into play. And no matter how hard the film tries to wedge in character development — often to its detriment — it always comes back to the meat and potatoes: big, ridiculously choreographed Zaror stunts. And for that alone, it’s worth your time. The Blu-ray, on the other hand, looks great but offers little beyond the movie. If you’ve already experienced and enjoyed the wonder of Mandrill, it may be worth picking up. Otherwise a rental it shall be.

Johnny English Reborn

The Pitch: Mr. Bean saves the world from a shadow organization while applying lipstick.

Why Rent? There’s something so effortlessly funny about Rowan Atkinson. Even when the plot that strings together his physical comedy gags doesn’t make us sit up and take notice, he still somehow manages to make us laugh. In Johnny English Reborn he brings back his second most beloved character to stop a group of international assassins from taking out a world leader and throwing the world into a state of chaos. It’s well over the top, completely silly and mostly stupid. But again, Atkinson finds a way to make it work and bring out the laughter. It’s no wonder this guy’s films make massive amounts of worldwide box office money. His latest Bond-esque slice of parody is enjoyable and the Blu-ray extras selection does not disappoint. There’s a gag reel, which feels like an extension of the film itself, some deleted scenes, a commentary track and a featurette called “The Wheelchair Chase.” The latter of which is exactly what you think it is.

Vanya on 42nd Street

The Pitch: It’s about a play with Wallace Shawn in it. Inconceivable!

Why Rent? As any reader of this column would know, I’m usually the last person to express disappointment with a Criterion release. I’m a collector of their collection at heart, so it’s tough to bring myself to a point of objectivity and be truly critical. In the case of Vanya on 42nd Street, however, the folks at Criterion wear the shortcomings of their latest release on their shoulder. Seemingly proud are they about the less than perfect digital transfer, which adds a bit to nuance of the production captured by the late Louis Malle. Full-hearted are they in pouring out a slim quantity of high quality extras, including interviews with the likes of Julianne Moore and Wallace Shawn. It’s the story of an off-Broadway production of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, a film as much about the creative process itself as it is about the struggles of life on an old Russian estate. It’s a beautiful story that shows some youthful talent from some very recognizable names, but it’s tirelessly inaccessible. I’d recommend a watch, but when it comes to adding this to your collection, you probably already know if that’s going to happen.

Warning: The following review contains spoilers. It’s very angry and very spoilery. Read at your own risk.

I Melt With You

The Pitch: Four 40-something friends resist coming through on a years-old suicide pact, and all the while we root for them to just do it already.

Why Avoid? Mark Pellington’s acid-washed tale of four friends who struggle to hold their own lives together and fight the urge to give into a pact they made years ago may not be the most original use of a suicide pact storyline, nor does it lack star power with the likes of Jeremy Piven, Thomas Jane, Rob Lowe, Christian McKay and Carla Gugino, but it is, however, easily the most boring, abrasive suicide movie I’ve seen in a while. It takes true talent to make a movie in which the audience is able to stand so firmly on the side of death, but Pellington pulls it off seemingly without expending much effort at all. In this regard, and countless others, I Melt With You is a complete waste of time. It lacks any redeeming qualities, squanders the talent it worked so hard to assemble and will, if it draws any emotional reaction at all, make you want to join in the death pact and at the very least, stop watching movies for the day. And nobody wants that.

• Baba Yaga (Blue Underground)
• Beneath the Darkness (Image)
• Bettie Page: Dark Angel (Cult Epics)
• The Buccaneer (Olive Films)
• How the Universe Works (Discovery Channel)
• Johnny English (Universal)
• Justice League: Doom (Warner Brothers)
• The Mountain (Olive Films)
• Nijinsky (Olive Films)
• Scarlet Street (Kino)
• Triad Trilogy (Palisades Tartan)
• Where Love Has Gone (Olive Films)

There are very few great directors with a near perfect record of feature films because the more movies you make the greater the odds that you’ll eventually make a stinker. Steven Spielberg has Always and Hook, David Fincher made The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Francis Ford Coppola shat out Jack. [Editor's note: The labeling of these films as "stinkers" is solely my opinion, and definitely not condoned by Webster's Dictionary or Mr. DeFrank.]

But there’s at least one fantastic director who has yet to release a disappointment…you just have to look outside Hollywood.

South Korea’s Kim Ji-woon has six feature films to his name so far, and all of them are pretty damn stellar across a wide range of genres. The Quiet Family, The Foul King, A Tale of Two Sisters, A Bittersweet Life, The Good the Bad the Weird, and I Saw the Devil. He’s currently filming his English-language debut (The Last Stand) with Arnold Schwarzenegger so this statement may not hold past next year, but for now the man is a golden god.

His latest project, Doomsday Book, is an omnibus film that sees him contributing one of the two (or three?) segments alongside Lim Pil-seong (Hansel & Gretel) and possibly Han Jae-rim. The film is apocalypse themed with Kim’s segment featuring a robot gaining sentience and Lim’s focusing on a virus that leads to zombie hijinks.

Check out the trailer below for Doomsday Book.

That’s one hell of a flu virus.

And yes, I’m just as confused by the goings-ons here as you probably are. The gist appears to be that robots come to life, invent a plague to wipe out humanity and then find their world domination short lived when an ironic asteroid crashes into the planet. I could be reading into this a bit too much.

Regardless, the movie looks interesting and well worth your time.

[Thanks to the always awesome 24Frames Per Second for the heads up on the subtitled trailer.]

Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash—or simply “the Stash,” if you’re down—is a comic book shop in Red Bank, New Jersey. The sheer existence of the store when so many others are closing, in and of itself, might be noteworthy but what really gives this place some cachet is its owner: Kevin Smith. A comic book shop is a comic book shop, but when it’s in some way connected to the tour de force that I (and other people, probably) like to call Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, who isn’t going to want to visit?

The new show Comic Book Men’s appeal is similarly tied to the Jersey Girl director—the unscripted series is set in the Stash and produced by Smith. I like Clerks, I like Chasing Amy, I like most of Dogma, I’ve gone to (and enjoyed) one of Smith’s live Q&A shows, so I think I fall within AMC’s target audience here. Despite being a part of this demographic, or maybe because I’m a part of this demographic, the network shouldn’t have put all of their eggs in the bespectacled, be-bearded, be-hockey-jerseyed filmmaker basket.

Comic Book Men is a shaky mélange of a couple of different formats. It’s a reality show, documenting the totally natural-not-at-all-staged shenanigans (impromptu hockey games, Jason Mewes visits) and comic book talk of the Stash’s employees—manager Walt; put-upon Ming; guy-who-just-stands-around-smiling Mike; and beardo Bryan who doesn’t work at the store but, as editing would have you believe, hangs out there all day long like some kind of sarcastic, jobless transient.

It’s also a bit like Pawn Stars or Oddities with a decent portion of the show’s way-too-long run time (one hour!) devoted to people trying to peddle their vintage comic books and pop culture collectibles. Interspersed throughout is a studio podcast hosted by Smith (who wears the same hockey jersey every week), giving the guys a platform to discuss some of the items that were brought into the shop and ponder life’s big questions (if you could have any super power, what would it be?). While any one of these things on its own may have worked, together they’re just confusing and make for a disjointed viewing experience.

This structure suggests that the entire series was based on a loose idea—”let’s pander to the fanboy crowd and capitalize on the success of the comic book adaptation craze by setting a show in Kevin Smith’s comic book shop”—and then was given the go-ahead even though the concept hadn’t been fleshed out because of the director’s perceived popularity and ties to geek culture. The mindset here being, “people will watch this even if we’re super sloppy about what we’re doing because they’re into Smith and geekery and Comic-Con or whatevs.” But as anyone who has ever read any kind of Internet movie message board knows, Kevin Smith fans are not apologists.

When he releases something horrible (or just something not as great as Mallrats), these people (yeah, I said, “these people”) will go straight to that keyboard, they’ll use that caps lock key if they have to, and they’ll blast him. (Something like, “Cop Out? More like SELL OUT!” is common with “I’m through with Smith” being the customary, overly passionate sign-off.) This guy isn’t the greatest filmmaker, nor is he the worst, but his fans expect certain things from him. What those things are, no one really knows, but when Smith doesn’t deliver, you’d better believe they’re going to call him out on it. Comic Book Men needed to be good, not just because that’s something that all producers should strive for, but because the intended audience is known for being shrewdly critical. This series is the product of a huge miscalculation.

Comic Book Men won’t draw any ire, at least not from this Smith fan, but it’s tepid, without anything beyond Smith’s appearance compelling fans to watch. The negotiating that goes on when “passersby” sell their memorabilia is forced and odd because it appears to be the only business that the Stash does (no one comes in to buy anything ever). Beyond that, the ordinary banalities of comic book shop—the stupid, overly analytical conversations that can occur in this environment—are the things that would have, maybe ironically, made this show exciting.

The podcast segments are the most enjoyable. They still feel manufactured but the wit of the “comic book men” comes through here. That being said, almost everyone involved with this series has their own podcast (Smith has his whole SModcast deal and Walt and Bryan co-host “Tell ‘Em Steve Dave!”) so why not just listen to those instead of bothering with this mess? AMC must realize the disconnect between their inspired show idea and its boring reality because they air previews for upcoming episodes of The Walking Dead during Comic Book Men. And there we have it. Who’s watching Comic Book Men? People who want to find out what happens next week on The Walking Dead.

Don’t Touch That Dial

Do we really need to introduce this one?

Check out the brand new trailer for The Avengers below.

This new trailer has done a nice job of opening up the action a bit even if it does still look like the majority of the film takes place on a single city block. But hell, it could play out in a single McDonald’s for all I care. These characters and personalities together in one film is one hell of a draw, and as a fan of Joss Whedon and most of the Marvel films leading up to this I for one am pretty damn excited for it.

Even if Black Widow still feels like the odd man out. Seriously…how does she fit into this group again?

The Avengers opens May 4th.

There hasn’t been much good news surrounding Piranha 3DD so far. From the very beginning, the fact that Alexander Aja and his writers weren’t coming back for this sequel to their delightfully nihilist 2010 film was a disappointment. Then the studio started monkeying with the release date, a sure sign that signals were crossed and expectations weren’t being met at some level of the production. It got to the point where it was pretty easy to write Piranha 3DD off as a missed opportunity before anyone had ever even seen it.

But this new trailer that Shock Till You Drop has dug up throws a monkey wrench in those plans. How could anyone hate a movie with a cast like this? First off, Christopher Lloyd returns as the crazy scientist, which is something that should happen in about every third movie made. Secondly, David Koechner is playing the owner of a water park who has hired strippers for life guards. Thirdly, they’ve included David Hasselhoff, who shows up playing himself, but while dressed in his Baywatch gear. Then you also have to consider the fact that Katrina Bowden seems to have a baby piranha in her vagina, the only thing that can stop these fish may be Gary Busey biting their heads off, and eventually things get so bad that Ving Rhames has to go all Planet Terror and pull out a set of gun legs.

Yeah, Aja and company rode that fine line between being exploitative and not being too self-aware perfectly, and it’s unlikely this new crew is going to be able to hit the same mark and make something quite as good. But it’s pretty hard to watch a horror movie make a loving homage to A Nightmare on Elm Street and not root for it. It’s pretty hard to see a sequel be this dedicated to having more boobs than the original and not stand up and applaud. So how about we all give Piranha 3DD a chance?

Directors and writers aren’t the only one with viewpoints on filmmaking, so we’re starting at the beginning and the bottom as two production assistants give us their stories and share their insights into starting out in Hollywood.

Plus, Fat Guy Kevin Carr joins us to play Good News/Bad News and deliver his own TED Talk.

Download This Episode

On This Week’s Show:

Good News/Bad News [Beginning - 22:45]: It was a slow week with the Oscars dominating, but Kevin and I manage to find some things that made us joyous and a few things that made us cover our ears and pretend we weren’t listening.

Soft Core Comedy [22:45 - 39:25]: Production Assistant and aspiring writer/director Isaiah Lester talks on hard work, not making your contacts look like idiots, and the importance of finding out where a job is for soft core porn before you sign on.

Getting Organized [39:25 - The End]: A former Bad Robot assistant, Adam Gaines, speaks on his unique method of getting the right people to pay attention to his writing work and the lessons of becoming a script coordinator for Fringe.

Check out Adam’s concept title sequence here:

Then go rate us on iTunes

On Next Week’s Show:

Exploring piracy with those that steal and those that are stolen from.

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You’d think the words “Gerard Butler” and “diamond heist flick” would spell out something fantastic, but in the case of Robert Luketic‘s Brilliant, they seem to signal something less than shiny. Butler has just replaced a previously in-negotiations Eric Bana to star in the film (and that’s already a black mark against it in my book, I’d much rather watch Bana on screen than Butler), which will be directed by his The Ugly Truth helmer. Yeah, that’s not good.

Variety reports that Brilliant centers on “a small-time criminal who partners with a female thief to pull off a daring diamond heist.” While that’s certainly a fun premise, the closest that Luketic has come to a heist flick is 2008′s missed opportunity 21. And the film’s screenwriter will be of little help when it comes to crime expertise, as the film is writer Gillian Gorfil‘s first project.

It’s interesting that Luketic would take on such a film – his resume is peppered with second-tier rom-coms like The Ugly Truth, Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!, Killers, and Monster-in-Law. Chilling stuff. But does Brilliant signal a genre switch-up for Luketic, or is it really just a high concept romantic comedy masquerading as a slick heist flick? Butler’s resume is of no help on this one, as the Scot jumps genres like it’s his job (I get it, it is, he’s an actor), so we’ll just have to see how this one shakes out.