Interview: The Duplass Brothers for CYRUS

I have interviews Mark Duplass about 74 times, but I have never had the pleasure of meeting Jay, his brother and film making other half. Well lucky for me, and you, I got the chance to interview them for their new film CYRUS at Sundance. Below you will hear us talking about indie film making on a big budget, working with Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly, and having to fight back against the evils of the big studio film making style. Ok, maybe not evils, but you know what I mean:

Sundance Review: CYRUS

Jay and Mark Duplass are pretty much what you would consider Sundance royalty. These guys always show out here because they do incredible work and this year is no different. When I heard that Fox Searchlight was backing these guys for a studio flick that they would write and direct starring the likes of Jonah Hill, John C. Reilly, and Marisa Tomei… there is no way this movie wouldn’t be hit.

I missed the premiere screening of the film, but was lucky to snag a seat in the press screening today. I thought with a cast like this we would get your typical comedy that Reilly or Hill wouldn’t typically star in…I was wrong. The Duplass Brothers have sculpted a super awkward, but seriously funny film about life, growing and moving forward.

John (Reilly) is a divorced guy in his late 30’s, early 40’s who is still struggling to get over his ex wife (Catherine Keener) and move on. She convinces him to attend a party with her and her new fiance to help him meet some prospects. He unsuccessfully talks to a couple of women at the party only to be shot down.

Through a series of events he runs into Molly (Tomei) who quickly develops a little crush on him. They flirt it up at the party and eventually hook up. After a couple of dates John realizes that Molly has a son, Cyrus (Hill), that still lives with her. Molly and Cyrus don’t have your typical mother/son relationship which John quickly realizes. Cyrus seems to have some mommy issues and Molly cant seem to let go.

There is a lot more than I can go into about Cyrus, but lets just say that he creates some issues for John and Molly. Wow… I kept that mostly spoiler free.

Jay and Mark Duplass do an amazing job of combining laugh out loud comedy that is infused with some pretty real drama. The really great quality is that they didn’t go for a polished “big studio look” with the way the film was shot. They stuck to their roots and shot it like they have previously done with BAGHEAD and THE PUFFY CHAIR which excited the hell out of me. CYRUS is a big studio film with an indie heart and the two exist to perfection.

Jonah Hill gives a pretty outstanding performance as the title character. He showed quite a bit of range and proves that he can definitely do more than just raunchy comedy. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in a full blown drama in the near future. John C. Reilly is also incredible in the movie. He is just as funny as he always is, but he also tosses in some of the straight faced non-comedic elements that we have all come to love from MAGNOLIA and BOOGIE NIGHTS.

Everyone in the film does an incredible job, delivering very convincing performances. The Duplass Brothers definitely know how to pull characters out of actors, and I had no doubt they would do the same with all of the huge names they had attached here. There isn’t much you can say that is negative about the film… its pretty much perfect.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Sundance Review: HESHER

When I saw the stills from HESHER I was under the assumption that this movie would be a very intense drama. What we actually got was a film that cannot be placed into any genre of film and is so politically incorrect it would make Howard Stern blush. Please don’t get me wrong, this movie is fucking fantastic and I cant rave enough about it… a quarter of the way through the film I turned to AJ and told him this would easily be my favorite of the festival, if not the year. With an all star cast of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rainn Wilson and Natalie Portman there is very little that can go wrong.

The movie revolves around T.J. who is dealing with the loss of his mother who died in a car accident. He and his father Paul (Rainn Wilson) are forced to move in with his grandma because the death pretty much sidelines them. After a series of events T.J. comes to know of a metal head squatter known only as Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who forces himself into his life.When I say forces himself, I literally mean he moves in with T.J. at his grandmothers house.

Not only is T.J. having issues with Hesher, but the school bully also has it out for him and after a run in with him, he is saved by a grocery store clerk named Nicole (played by the amazing Natalie Portman), whom he also falls in love with. Without spoiling too much of the film (more than I already have), I will say that the rest of the plot is like a roller coaster ride that you don’t want to get off.

There are so many things in this movie that leave you scratching your head, and that’s part of what makes the movie so amazing. The fact that Hesher essentially moves into T.J.’s house without as much as asking the father or grandmother and is met with little to no resistance from either of them seems so far fetched that it would never happen but it just fits here. Add that in with all of Hesher’s stories that always have some type of deeper meaning despite them being somewhat unrelated.

Joseph Gordon Levitt gives one of the greatest performances of his career, playing Hesher. He is gritty, raw, unforgiving and in your face. He doesn’t care what you think, nor does he worry about any of the consequences to his actions. Gordon Levitt hasn’t played a character like that of Hesher, but damn… you truly understand just what kind of range he has if you didn’t before.

I was also pleasantly pleased with Rainn Wilson as the father Paul. There were several moments that he could have gone the Dwight Schrute route and been a little on the cheesy side but there are no moments in the film where you get that.

HESHER also features some of the best one liners in a film… ever. Here is a quote for you to drool over:

Hesher: Where’s the laundry room?
T.J.: You cant be in here.
Hesher: Have you ever been skull fucked?
Hesher: You want to?

I walked out of the screening smiling ear to ear with the knowledge that we just had our minds blown by director Spencer Susser. Susser had previously done a short called I LOVE SARAH JANE which is one of the coolest zombie concepts I’ve ever seen. He used some scenes and plot lines from I LOVE SARAH JANE in HESHER which made me super excited to see. Specner Susser is going to do amazing things, and I am pleased to say that I have been witness to one of the first.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Review: ‘The Hangover’

I was pretty excited for this movie when I heard that it was based in Vegas and revolved around a ridiculous night of debauchery for a bachelor party. Not to mention it starred Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms both of whom I have man crushes on really like. ‘The Hangover’ is more than just the funniest movie of the year, it is the funniest movie I have seen in a very long time.

Doug (Justin Bartha) is getting married in 2 days, and his “boys” (Phil and Stu) decide to take him out to Vegas for the craziest bachelor party known to man. Alan (Zach Galifianakis) is his soon to be brother in law and tags along for the event despite some more than questionable antics and warnings from his future in laws.

When they get to Vegas Alan skips out for a little bit to pick up some “party” needs and they all meet up on the roof for Jager shots to start the evening off right. Alan delivers one of the greatest speeches I have ever heard, I even teared up a little bit by the end. They all do the shots and set out for a night of binging, strippers, and whatever else they can get their hands on or into(pun intended).

The next morning they wake up only to find the extravegant penthouse they are staying in is completely trashed, their best friend is missing, they have Mike Tyson’s tiger, and there is a baby in a closet. Having no idea what happened they set out to find Doug and get some answers to their crazy night.

I dont want to spoil anymore of the movie for you so I am going to stop there with the plot outline and now I will just tell you that the only reason not to see this movie is because you hate yourself or you dont like laughing until you pee your pants. Either way we arent your friends because this movie instantly went on all of our best of 2009 lists as it will on yours as well.

I should also point out that this movie is definitely deserving of its ‘R’ rating, and if you are easily offended, dont enjoy male full front nudity, granny blowjobs and other debauchery then this probably isnt your type of movie. Also, if thats the case then you need to lighten up friend! Please don’t take your kids to this movie, unless you let your kids watch unsavory things to corrupt their minds then its definitely OK for them to see this.

Review: ‘Terminator Salvation’

The fourth film in the ‘Terminator’ franchise, it’s savior it is not. Directed by the yet to prove himself McG (Charlie’s Angels 1 & 2) with a budget that would make any relatively green filmmaker swoon at the opportunity, has managed to make a technically high-end piece of action with a particularly low-end story. ‘Terminator Salvation’ makes an effort to bring all the pieces of the time-bending story together and tie up loose ends but fails.

As the title suggests, the character of John Connor (Christian Bale) is seen by most humans as the prophecised “savior” of mankind. Connor, in this chapter, is attempting to locate and rescue his father Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) in order to preserve his own fate and that of human-kind. If his father dies, who is currently a teenager, then the first ‘Terminator’ movie would never happen and John Connor would have never been born.

Sam Worthington (Rogue) plays Marcus Wright, a man about to be executed on Death Row for crimes he fully admits to and demands punishment for. Wright is a man with a conscience about the wrongs he has committed and sees no redemption for himself. As the poisons of lethal injection stream into his body and his life slips away from him, we are thrown into the future year 2018 amidst the chaotic and horrifying aftermath of a human apocalypse brought on by machines.

Marcus Wright ends up being the focal point of this story. After a mission led by Connor goes terribly bad, leaving only Connor alive, Wright emerges from the smoldering wreckage unharmed and completely confused about where he is and what has happened. I’ll refrain from directly giving away any spoilers, but to be honest… even if you haven’t already figured out the truth about Marcus Wright going into the movie you’ll have it 95% figured out within the first quarter of the film. McG’s attempt to maintain the mystery of Wright’s existence and importance to the story is ruined early on and the remaining 5% is highly predictable.

‘Terminator Salvation’ gets itself a bit confused as Wright could easily be mistaken for the “savior” figure in this story over John Connor, if not for the already establishedback-story from the trilogy. Much of the plot elements in this movie are sort of casually borrowed from previous films and the final battle scene feels similar in some ways to that of ‘Terminator 2′. If not for the action in this movie, I fear I may have found myself bored due to a relative lack of originality.

With the failures aside, the one thing that ‘Terminator Salvation’ does have going for it are the special effects. Marcus Wright… (fine, technically this is a mini-spoiler) …is handled with a certain minimally intrusive but highly effective approach that works well. We get to see a handful of different terminator models pop up throughout the movie, but the best parts are the extensive Hunter/Killer Terminator scenes and the Terminator-Motorcycles, which are featured in one heck of an awesome chase scene. Personally, I found the Hydrobots to be part cheesy and part Matrix-esque, but I suppose they do fit the bill as used in the story.

As for the acting, everyone did a decent job, but no one really stood out, including Christian Bale. I can’t help but wonder how the actor/director relationship between Bale and McG went… we know how the actor/DP (director of photography) relationship went, don’t we? Helena Bonham Carter’s rather short role in the movie felt somewhat out of place simply by the fact that Carter stood out as an actress from the rest of the cast. The Tim Burton regular seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. Yelchin was surprisingly convincing as the young Kyle Reese and Sam Worthington performed on a level equal to Bale’s.

In the end, the story isn’t over. What? I’m not giving anything away! As much as this franchise jumps around in time and changes itself up with each movie, who the Hell knows where the story is supposed to actually end? Did you really think they would apply an ending making it impossible to continue the franchise? Not only is this another way in which the film fails to tie up loose ends, but it ventures to give birth to the question of when is enough… enough? Ultimately, what I took away was that the franchise is dead and needs to end and ‘Terminator Salvation’ was questionably even necessary. In my mind, the franchise is as stands…

#1 ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’
#2 ‘The Terminator’
#3 ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’
and, bringing up the rear… #4 ‘Terminator Salvation’

[Overall: 3 stars out of 5]

White Tiger: The story of Rick and Roddy poster..

I think this will be the poster for Rick and Roddy..not 100% yet but its looking that way..what do you think?

22 year old High School Trainer arrested for fooling around with Students..

We never had an athletic trainer at our school, but apparently a high school in Orange County CA hired Hope Jacoby(above) and she was arrested for giving students “oral copulation”

Hope Jacoby, 23, who has worked with athletes at the school for the last year, was arrested last week on suspicion of oral copulation of a minor and unlawful sex with a minor, said Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino. Sheriff’s deputies were informed of the unlawful acts by someone who saw a text message photograph, Amormino said. The boy was between 14 and 17 years old.

Well..why didnt we have teachers/trainers like this when I went to high school? Here are some more photos from her myspace:

Warner Bros lost the distribution rights to ‘Watchmen’

Yes, this means we might get screwed over on the ‘Watchmen’ movie. My question is to Fox: Why would you mess with something that is beyond you? Do we need to hire Chuck Norris to come and roundhouse kick you guys in the face?

I know what it looks like..

Like I havent blogged since halloween, and well thats just not the case. I switched my site over from tumblr and this is the last update I did in my database. So bear with me, I will try and get all the old stuff over here as well.

For now check out my new HP Mini:

or how about my Vanilla Ice/New Kids on the Block buttons: