That looks GREAT!

CM: What makes you think Gondry could pull it off? I love his stuff, but this seems so far from anything else he's done, makes me a little nervous. He's not a director I think of as having much experience with thin concepts. Definitely something Jack Black could pull off though.

well, it looks like a funny idea that plays to the strengths of everyone involved - ODB, from the visual effects in the trailer, it seems like a perfect concept for Gondry to have fun with - at least in editing.

i'm confused though - for the plot to work, it has to be set in the 80's, doesn't it? why is one of the movies "Rush Hour 2?"

RE: the 80's.

I just assumed it was one of those really crummy holdover local video stores that still exists but shouldn't really. They rent videos to a poor, local audience, which might help explain why they go for the homemade thing (it's hard to imagine Winchester and Buffy being happy when they get a homemade version of Mr. Holland's Opus).

nah, but dvds are now waaaaay affordable, even for a poor, local audience. even the bootleg vhs industry is dead: all you see on the streets are bootleg dvds.

It looks cool, but for me Jack Black is a big negative. When I was in college I wanted to make a movie about a boy who was born with the properties of a bulk magnet eraser and his foray into the film world.

i don't get people who don't like jack black. i really don't. jim carrey is polarizing, i understand that, though i'm firmly in the pro-camp. but jack black? c'mon! he has "mr. show" cred!

He is basically the same in everything he does. Sure, he is sometimes damn funny, and his Mr Show stint was great, but that doesn't give him carte blanche. Did you go see Let's Go to Prison because a Mr. Show alum directed it? Didn't think so.

But back to Jack Black. I am just tired of the same old antics, his movies choices are often weak, and my fiance HATES him. But obviously Jim Carrey is a thousand times worse.

I'm just shocked that he's not in Balls of Fury.

good point about LGtP, but i disagree about "he is basically the same in everything he does." i really do. that's what i enjoy most about him - he COULD turn in the same schtick again and again, but he often goes in a direction you wouldn't expect. "nacho libre" is a good - if flawed - example of this.

as is "orange county," believe it or not, in which he plays - note perfectly, i might add - my brother.

and this new one looks promisingly different as well.

ps - fiance?! still?! i feel like i've been hearing about this fucking wedding for 6 years. get the fuck married already!

jbg has a brother? Why have I never met him?

Also, I agree it looks great, in the same way UHF was great -- who really cares about the plot if it's full of wacky re-made movies? I mostly just want to see an endless stream of these.

You may've met him before, somewhere particular in Harvard Square where movies are played, but you probably didn't realize it at the time.

wow. i agree with jbg. isn't that something?

i think you're right that it plays to everyone's strengths. gondry can make the bizarre seem commonplace (Lacuna Inc. from Eternal Sunshine), and he's great at the homemade props/ costuming angle.

jack black can energize a ludicrous idea (school of rock), but i agree with anthony that his script choices are usually suspect (shallow hal, orange county, nacho libre). and i'm sorry, but i can't accept "my fiancee doesn't like him" as a valid reason to hate on JB.

and mos def can play a great co-star/ foil (hitchhiker's guide).

i give it three snaps in a Z formation.

whoa, whoa. "orange county" is a good movie. surprisingly good. it defies the genre it's usually lumped with ("dumb teen comedy") with a smart, satirical story about a smart kid in a dumb rich town. and kevin kline's in it! and it's funny. and i shall defend it to the last.

"nacho libre" was worth one - one - viewing. and i laughed during said viewing.

I haven't seen Orange County, but I couldn't make it through Nacho Libre.

Hitchhiker's Guide sucked.

I am very happy that it seems that Mr. Def has ratcheted down the nasal whine for this film - his voice in 16 blocks made me want to tear my hair out, and Hitchhiker's wasn't much better. In spite of all this, I like the man.

The reason I use my fiance as an excuse is that if she doesn't want to see it, I probably won't end up seeing it either. A little weak, I know, however I don't know many people in this city and only go to movies with her. I imagine flea the same goes for you and CM in Vegas. If one of you hates an actor (and seriosuly, for some reason she really hates JB) chances are you aren't going to drag the other to see the film and your chances of seeing it go down.

"My girlfriend's a vegetarian, so that pretty much makes me a vegetarian"

CM was always more willing to see movies alone than most, IIRC.

I've seen many a movie on my own, but since I've been in Vegas, I think I've only gone to one movie alone.

i think michel gondry must be the most charming man alive. this one looks like another notch in his charm belt.

well, he's french, so score one against charming.

"hitchhiker's" was great. doorframe, you're an idiot.

for more shocking facts about doorframe, be sure to download this week's podcast.

Hitchhiker's was helped a lot by the presence of the guy who played Tim on the British version of The Office. He was an outstanding Arthur Dent.

If we're gonna talk about actors who always play the same character, can I get anyone else to jump on the anti-Will-Ferrell bandwagon with me?

Man oh man do I wish I owned an iPod.

sorry, LL, i JUST watched "stranger than fiction" last night, and it's boffo!

also, he did a passable job as Woody Allen in the failed "melinda and melinda."

he was actually the best part of that mistake, i think.

Yeah, WIll Ferrell was great in both those films. I like him, I just think he does some bad movies. Talladega Nights was so boring. And I am tired of Will Ferrell getting hurt and saying declartive things like "Oh, there's a [insert whatever item that is hurting him] in my leg"

yeah, certain schticks get old. i confess that it wasn't until YEARS after he left SNL that i watched his old sketches in a "best of" show and finally got the fuss.

while he was on the show, i hated that everyone had anointed him the new king of comedy, when he couldn't hold a candle to the giants from past years. but he's grown on me a ton.

there is a slight pricelessness to his delivery.

i've never even seen movies like "old school" and talladega nights. but he saved the last 20 minutes of "wedding crashers," which was getting waaaay too long.

jbg, have you watched the recently released first season of snl (no best-ofs, I mean the entire first season)? That "new snl sucks, old snl was better" thing that everyone always says never sat right with me, and after watching those first season dvds I can say that snl sucked in 1979 just as hard as it sucks now, which is to say there are tiny tiny moments of genius, a few tepidly funny things, a whole lot of mind-numbing crap, and a few train wrecks that are fun to watch because of how unbelievably bad or awkward they are. The first two of those categories grow in reputation in our minds over time until we're convinced that, e.g., "land shark" is some piece of brilliant work, but in reality it's only a little funny, and then only the first time.

The second episode of the first season is great though. But this is probably because it has almost no comedy and a whole lot of live performance by paul simon.

jmay, i wholeheartedly agree. old snl was held aloft by nostalgia, but in reality sucked most of the time. but at least the players were professional enough not to laugh at their own jokes all the time, as is the trend on new snl.

whoa whoa whoa. i was NOT claiming that SNL was better - only that I felt that the comedians who were ON SNL were smarter and funnier than the likes of will ferrell.

you'll never find me defending "old" SNL over "new" SNL. but you WILL find me defending bill murray, steve martin, eddie murphy, etc. over will ferrell, jimmy fallon and such.

so, that's all i meant to imply.

martin short had a great bit in a monologue he did once in the early 90s. anyone remember it? it was to the effect of:

"I remember those days when SNL was a big hit and the critics loved it. Then it started to tank and the critics hated it and it wasn't cool anymore. Theeeeen, it came around and they loved it again. But then it got un-hip again. Then the second season started..."