Monthly Archive for May, 2009

Andy Samberg MTV Movie Awards Opening

This is the only reason I watch the MTV Movie Awards – the opening skit (and the occasional gem of a skit during the course of the telecast). Anyhow, good stuff. Watch it below before YouTube and/or MTV pulls it for copyright violation! courtesy of MTV.com!

Extended MTV Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Clip

Another extended promo from The MTV Movie Awards, this one from Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” Surprisingly, Bay himself and the goddess Megan Fox introduced the clip. Shia “No No No Wait Wait Wait” Lebouf was in his seat pondering the skinniness of his tie and the tightness of his pants while the clip went down. If you missed it, you can see the clip before. As for me, while I am excited to get my Autobot and Decepticon groove on for the June 24th release, this clip is kind of ho-hum. What say ye?

The Twilight Saga: New Moon MTV Teaser

The MTV Movie Awards were tonight and you didn’t miss anything. Between a few funny bits from Andy Samberg, Bruno (Sacha Baron Cohen) putting his butt crack in Eminem’s face and Megan Fox and Ana Faris serving as visual Viagra, you might have caught this extended clip from “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.” If you didn’t, you can see it below. My take? The CGI werewolf is lame and I’m also wondering with the emotionality of the Bella/Edward love affair is going to seem old and dingy. Oh, wait. I know. Soon.

Beth Cooper Invites you to Reveal Your “Moment of Truth”

i_love_you_beth_cooperHayden Panettiere, best known as the cheerleader Claire Bennet on NBC’s “Heroes,” is out promoting her new movie “I Love You, Beth Cooper” via Facebook MySpace and YouTube, inviting visitors to www.iloveyoubethcooper.com to upload a video of them saying something they’ve always wanted to say to anybody they wish. The confessional videos are titled “Beth Cooper Moment of Truth” and winners will have their confessions featured in “I Love You, Beth Cooper” TV spots.

“I Love You, Beth Cooper” is directed by Chris Columbus (“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Home Alone”) and the invitation to American’s to reveal  their “moment of truth” is based off the film’s main thrust, which is nerdy valedictorian Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) revealing his love for Beth Cooper during his speech at graduation.

For the wussies in the world, you can tweet your confessions anonymously to Twitter, but I’d sure love to know if there is anyone out there who’d be daring enough to post a video. I think we all have secret confessions we’d love to announce to the world, but I’d also dare to say 99.9 percent of us don’t have the guts to spill the truth.

You can see the trailer for “I Love You, Beth Cooper” below.

Pixar’s Up Dominates Weekend Box Office

carl-upEverybody loves “Up” and that was etched in stone over the weekend when theatergoers anxious to see Pixar’s new computer animated masterpiece poured in $68.2 million, knocking “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” out of first place and dropping “Terminator Salvation” to fourth place. “Star Trek” stayed strong in the fifth spot, with a four week gross of $209.5 million.

Frankly, I can’t see “Up” relinquishing the top spot anytime soon, either. I don’t think upcoming releases “Land of the Lost” (6/5),”The Taking of Pelham 123″ (6/12), “The Proposal” (6/19) or “Year One” (6/19) have the muscle to dethrone Pixar. No, “Up” will enjoy its top-spot perch until “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” hits theaters on June 24th.

At any rate, Pixar movies kicking derrière at the box office is nothing new. In fact, it’s getting to be old hat for these wizards of computer animation. Even if their recent movies don’t get into the $300 million range like 2003’s “Finding Nemo,” they haven’t made anything less than $162 million and have the added bonus of unanimous positive reviews from film critics. After watching the trailer for “Toy Story 3,” I think it’s safe to say this trend will not cease anytime soon.

If You See Up, You’ll See This

If you’re going to see Up tonight (or caught it already), this won’t be news to you– but Pixar’s next project, Toy Story 3 has a new teaser trailer. It’s the old gang and while it all feels familiar, it also feels all… familiar.

Pixar/Disney Animation head John Lasseter vowed no sequels unless there was a good and compelling reason to do one, so I’m not too concerned in that Pixar’s built 10 years of trustworthy brand. It’s just that Toy Story 3 doesn’t have me doing cartwheels– or jumping jacks, even–by any stretch.

Still, the teaser’s “cute” and Toy Story appropriate. Check it out:


The Movie Destined to Usher In Millenial Peace Revealed

And by revealed I mean James Cameron’s Avatar has released some concept art that’s not just lame set/bluescreen shots or images destined to be yanked by Fox studios. This is real, approved stuff– replete with Camerony future-military/fantastic fingerprints.

Beholden (and click to beholden bigger):

screenhunter_22may280927

I’m a sucker for anything military/future military, so seeing stuff like this just fills my nerdy heart with unabated gid. I’m still not buying into the incredibly verbose hype that’s echoing off any mention of Avatar, but Cameron’s birthed some of my favorite cinematic babies and December can’t come fast enough. Ok, December can definitely slow its cold, sucktastic approach, but leave Avatar out of it.

To view an additional picture of a vehicle that looks suspiciously like the Aliens power loader, click here. You’ll quickly be whisked away to 3D praising site Market Saw, where you’ll also be wowed by the scooper’s xenomorphic zoological prowess. (Bansheeray! Leonopteryx! Fronklepotomus!).

A Perfect Getaway Trailer Ruins Hawaii Before God Does

It’s no secret I love Hawaii. If it was a woman, I’d marry it. A man, even. But let’s not go too far down that road, because the following trailer may have ruined all that for me. Ok, no.

Every summer you’ve got a late-season junk thriller/actioner that pops up and makes a run for a dark horse weekend. Into the Blue was one such film. Red Eye was another. Last year we saw Death Race and Mirrors. Two of those four are proudly displayed in my Showcase of Shame. Both, incidentally, were not released in 2008. But so much for old memories. It’s summer 2009 and this year we’ve got A Perfect Getaway.

Set on the island of Kauai, Getaway stars Steve “I can be funny and serious” Zahn, Timothy “Hitman sucked- I’m sorry” Olyphant and Milla “I’m hot even if you don’t think so” Jovovich. The kicker? It’s written and directed by very capable craftsman and genre ingenue David Twohy of The Arrival, Below, and Pitch Black fame. At the outset, this one looked like dumb fun, but now I’m all pumped up on anticipation and blind devotion.

Check out the trailer below.


Dreamworks Animation Ramps up the Assembly Line

de0b5a6df47dfdd2d45f91e42c267209In a perfect underlining of why Pixar’s closest rival and unfathomable moneymaker creatively sucks and hates the audiences who still shovel gobs of cash into their slackjawed maws, Dreamworks Animation announced their ambitious plans to crap out five new animated features every two years. This shouldn’t be hard, considering the total rehash and ugly character design each and every one of their films tend to plop on eager audiences every year. With the exception of the charming Kung Fu Panda, which was apparently developed outside the DWA crap factory, Dreamworks Animation projects have been the pinnacle of how to make movies people can’t remember in 60 days but inexplicably make oodles of cash anyway.

Either way, the Dreamworks uppity-ups announced the new poop on screen assembly line will include one original film which they’ll inevitably make a sequel to (thank you for the exceptions Over the Hedge and Shark Tale). The other will be sequels to the sequels they’re already invested in. Hello Madagascar 3, Monsters vs. Aliens 2, Shrek Forever After and Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom. Hopefully, the new projects (which, to be fair, sound like some hold promise) learn a lesson from their polished big brother and superior, Pixar, if not some lesser lessons from the care taken with Kung Fu Panda.

I know Dreamworks Animation has their apologists, but I’m not one of them. Sure kids love ‘em, but kids aren’t smart. If you wanna call me out, I’ll both mock and fight you in the comments section. Or you can read all the extensive details right here.

Movie With Long Name Gets Marginal Trailer

The Goods: Live hard. Sell hard. is living it up trailer style.  Produced by Will Ferrell, which means, well, not much really, the trailer had me in the first 20 seconds and then lost me the rest of the way. While Jeremy Piven is a fish avoiding excusathon, he delivers the pithy funny every time. Except maybe this one.

The trailer is red band, which means it has words that will make your mamma wash your mouth out with soap, lose your job if overheard and/or make James Brolin spit food out.