The other day I took in a triple feature consisting of the following very different films: Shane Meadows’ Somers Town; the political farce In the Loop; and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Two things each of these films did share are they all come from the UK (the last is a co-production at least) and they all were more naturally funny than Funny People, which I watched the next day.
I’m not sure if it’s my inherent Anglophilia that causes me to appreciate the humor of Jim Broadbent in a fantasy blockbuster more than Seth Rogen or Adam Sandler in the latest from the reigning king of American comedy, but I did realize that I should probably be watching more British cinema, much of which is humorous whether labeled comedy or not, and less Hollywood comedies, most of which tend to be overwritten and forced nowadays.
This isn’t to say I’m going to turn all blueblood snob and ignore the domestic stuff. I still enjoyed Funny People for the bittersweet tale(s) that it is, and I’ll continue loving Keaton more than Chaplin and the Marx Brothers more than any comedy group that has or will ever come out of Great Britain. However, I am looking to expand on my so-far limited familiarity with British comedy, which barely extends further than the must-see bunch listed below. So please leave a comment with any other recommendations you have for myself and anyone else interested. …Read more
Because there’s nothing like waiting until the last minute to do some holiday shopping, we’ve compiled this handy-dandy shopping guide to the best DVDs of 2008 that you can use now, or wait until the dust settles and clean up with any cash that Santa or Hanukkah Harry happened to leave you. It’s broken down by the person you’ll be shopping for to make things easier, even if that person happens to be yourself.
When noted, we’ve picked the Blu-ray version over the standard definition, because we try to be all about 1080p and other technical terms whenever possible. But, the regular versions are just fine as well. Still, it’s true what they say: once you go HD you’ll never go back.
With Halloween less than a month away, it’s time to start thinking about what to go as. That is, if you haven’t already. A good costume-loving cinephile typically knows well in advance what he or she will dress up as for Halloween (and Comic-Con, too). But if you’re one to wait until the last minute, and also one who likes to be a lot more contemporary than, say, dressing up as a Ghostbuster or Edward Scissorhands, I’ve got some suggestions for you for costumes based on recent films.
Yes, I could have embedded the cool new Watchmentrailer, but the YouTube clips I saw just didn’t do the visuals justice (watch it on Apple.com instead). And sure, I could have shared the long-awaited Twilighttrailer, but it doesn’t actually look all that appealing — I know the books are popular, but the adaptation just looks like The Lost Boysmeets Dawson’s Creek (if you must, view it on Yahoo!). Anyway, I’m sure you’re seeing The Dark Knightthis weekend (unless you have a really lame excuse not to), so you’ll likely see both those trailers, as well as the one for Terminator Salvation, ahead of the film.
So, here’s something better, or at least cuter. It’s also very, very silly. Almost to the point of not being worth its time. Fortunately, that Bat-kid riding around on his Bat-tricycle is a real gem. And the outtake at the end with him running after the junior Joker is even more precious. I’m a sucker for anything involving little kids and movies (unless it’s little kids at the movies or, often, little kids in the movies), in case you couldn’t tell from that Star Wars review I embedded awhile back (and yet, no, I still haven’t seen either Son of Rambowor the kid-made remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark).
For more with kids and Batman costumes, also check out this video, which, if a comment made on this week’s Project Runwaypremiere is true, might actually be of Heidi Klum’s son. And for more videos made by the people who made the one above, check out Wizard Universe.
Here I present you with yet another Sundance trailer. But it’s for a film that screened at Sundance LAST YEAR. I know, I’ve already bitched recently about having to wait so long for Sundance darlings to make their way to theaters, but I can’t help complaining again. Not when it comes to Son of Rambow, the movie I heard so much about during the 2007 festival and couldn’t wait to see for myself. And then it never came, and I forgot about it for awhile. Hopefully, I can wait just a bit longer (and not forget again in the meantime) for Paramount Vantage to finally give it a limited release on May 2nd.
At least now I have some more time to get around to seeing the original First Bloodand the other Rambomovies I meant to watch (because I’ve never seen them before) prior to the release of the new Rambo (which, as a result, I also didn’t end up seeing). Son of Rambow is probably still an enjoyable movie without being familiar with those iconic Stallone movies, but since it’s about two kids making a spun-off sort of movie titled “Son of Rambow”, it seems like I’ll appreciate it a little more if I know the inspiration.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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