Posts Tagged ‘Will Ferrell’
16 items.
Although I’ve been eagerly anticipating Step Brothers ever since I first saw the red band trailer for it back in May, I’m aware that there are people out there who are growing tired of Will Ferrell’s man-boy routine and are looking for a reason for this movie to fail.
I’ve come to terms with the reality that Will Ferrell is no longer everyone’s cup of tea. It’s only been four short years since Anchorman which remains (in my mind) his high water mark and he’s been losing some credibility ever since.
I don’t pay attention to the critics. I always have a good time when I see a Will Ferrell movie. Mostly because it seems like he’s having such a good time himself! Truthfully, I don’t know exactly what people want him to do differently? Take on more everyman roles like he did in Stranger Than Fiction? Alright, that’s fair. I mean, I loved Stranger Than Fiction. But after a while, you’d want him to go back to being the ultimate man-boy, wouldn’t you? Admit it.
Some people can’t resist complaining about everything…
I plan on seeing Step Brothers this weekend, it’s just a matter of when. Cami and I have been home on our “staycation”this week getting a bunch of home projects done. We’ve marked everything off our list and we agreed that Step Brothers would be our reward.
Then I kind of got it in my head that after a week of breaking my back installing ceiling fans, cleaning out our basement and lugging furniture upstairs that "seeing a movie" didn’t really sound like much of a reward.
Cami had the suggestion that we go to a local amusement park – one I haven’t been to in 10 years – and I immediately latched onto that. So, for as badly as I want to see Step Brothers, I currently feel a little more passionate about the amusement park. I mean, at least from the standpoint of having bragging rights.
Can you imagine me going back into work on Monday and talking to my co-workers? “So, what’d you do with your week off? Oh, cleaned out my basement and saw a movie.” I mean, at least throw in the amusement park for a little color!
We’ll see how it goes. I think it’s supposed to rain all day Friday. Go figure.
Anyway, that’s about it for me. I feel that because of the staycation I’ve been really disconnected from things. I’m really not even accessing the internet except to update the site. I know ComiCon is going on right now and there is a lot of movie news coming off the convention floor. But I can’t bother to really dig in and digest it all. I’ll be looking for some kind of recap by the end of the week.
Until then, take it easy and I’ll see you here on Monday!
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Even if a Twinkie turned your tongue black and made you cry, I’d still eat it.
See what I’m talking about when you vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics.
Land of the Lost comes out this weekend and I could sincerely not care less. Hey, don’t get me wrong – I love Will Ferrell. That much of the comic wasn’t a lie. But I’m getting a distinct Bewitched vibe from this movie. If you didn’t see Ferrell in that catastrophic misfire, consider yourself lucky. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… won’t get fooled again.
Here’s what I want to know: Was there any authentic demand for a Land of the Lost movie? A big screen version of an obscure Saturday morning live action program whose retro, ironic shelf-life probably expired around the time Paramount produced A Very Brady Sequel?
Perhaps a bored executive over at Universal was watching Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and it finally dawned on him that Ferrell’s idiot Federal Wildlife employee Marshal Willenholly was a riff on Marshal, Will and Holly Marshall – the main characters of the old Land of the Lost TV show. “Dude! I totally know who to cast for this thing!”
I realize that Ferrell is a divisive character in comedy. I’m aware that a lot of people find him loud, overbearing and, well, not funny. I’m not one of those guys. I love the way he reads lines and don’t mind that he can only seem to find success playing boorish louts in obscure sports comedies.
But that doesn’t mean I’m going to buy a ticket for Land of the Lost.
If this thing turns a profit – especially in direct competition with The Hangover (which is getting way more buzz) – then I’ll be shocked. At this point, people are probably more interested in watching the dinosaur from the trailer for two hours than experience Land of the Lost as a “Will Ferrell Movie.”
Let’s just hope the inevitable failure of this thing puts Anchorman 2 on the fast track. Ferrell dropped hints about it last week and that, my friends, is a movie long overdue.
What’s your opinion of Land of the Lost? Any interest? Is there anyone here who grew up in the 70s that thinks this remake looks good? Leave your comments below!
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I couldn’t think of an appropriate image to continue the punchline in today’s comic, so I decided to draw a picture of Ron Burgundy from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Hey, “When in Rome, right?”
To view the extra image, vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics.
As for Ferrell being pantless in the last panel… no real reason for that. I just kind of imagine Will Ferrell to be the kind of guy to walk into a negotiation without pants on. You know… for a cheap laugh.
I’m aware that a lot of the traffic coming into the site today is coming from F My Life and I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to Alice and the rest of the crew there for giving me the opportunity to illustrate one of their entries. Their profile on the site was a nice touch, too.
Alice and I had some funny back-and-forth working on this comic. Originally, I illustrated a comic for this FML about a guy being dumped by a girl who wants to date Edward from Twilight. Not someone “like” Edward. She wanted to date Edward specifically.
Anyway, due to a miscommunication, it turns out that particular FML had already been illustrated. But Alice gave me another crack at it and I drew a comic for the FML about a guy who goes to a high-end hair salon and ends up walking out of the place with Spock’s haircut from Star Trek.
Alice was nice enough to include BOTH comics in their profile write-up of Theater Hopper and you should really check it out!
I want to let the people who are coming to the site know that today’s comic is kind of a one-off and it doesn’t actually feature the two guys in the first two panels all the time. They’re supporting characters I use to represent the idiocy in Hollywood.
The real story can be found on the Cast page where the profiles of Tom, Cami, Jared and the other lead characters can be found. Not only does the Cast page include short bios, but it also includes links to popular story lines featuring these characters. So if you’re looking for a place to start with Theater Hopper, that’s a great introduction.
Also, don’t overlook our Top 25 Comics as voted on by our readers. The Top 10 tend to shuffle around a bit as it’s a new feature and not every comic is ranked evenly just yet.
But to make things more interesting, the page also lists the 10 LEAST popular comics as well as the Top 10 comics that have accumulated the most votes. It’s a fun way to skip around the site.
I’m not sure what else to say at the moment except that I’m writing this blog post pretty late. So I’m having trouble putting together any thoughts about Land of the Lost or the surprising comedy hit, The Hangover.
Come back to the site later in the day for more insights and don’t forget to check out my weekly podcast – The Triple Feature – at 9:00 PM CST. If you want to hear three guys talk about movies for an hour, it’s time well spent!
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On Monday I talked a little bit about seeing a sneak preview of Whip It! last Saturday. I promised a review at some point. A review the never came. So, instead, you get this comic and I’ll kind of splice in portions of the review I was going to write here in the blog post.
I think I said on Monday that Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut has a certain level of enthusiasm that I think can be attributed by Barrymore’s usual rah-rah “Girl Power” mantra. Despite being a film about hard-nosed roller derby chicks, the film is optimistic and sunny.
Ellen Page as the film’s heroine is serviceable. Her character is a mousy beauty pageant competitor by day and a roller derby chick by night. Unfortunately, she doesn’t really fit into either of those roles very well.
To me she seems too sharp, her wit to acerbic, to be some mousy teen bullied into pageant life by an overbearing mother. Conversely, she doesn’t have the physical presence to skate around a rink and throw elbows.
The film explains away some of the later by acknowledging Page’s pocket-sized physique. Her roller derby alter-ego “Babe Ruthless” gets by on her speed and agility and less on her right hook.
Still, I think it would have been interesting to see someone like Kat Dennings in the role. Then I might have found the dichotomy between pageant queen and roller girl a little more believable.
As I mentioned in the comic, the cast for this film is amazing. Not just for the depth of the semi-recognizable names, but for the variety. In what other film are you going to see the stunt woman from Death Proof roller skate with the female rapper who was once First Lady of Ruff Ryders?
Gotta give points to the casting director for bringing Juliette Lewis into the mix. Sinewy, snide and possibly smelly, Lewis fits perfectly into the role of Page’s riot grrl nemesis.
Special acknowledgment, however, I think needs to be given to Kristen Wiig, who finally stepped out from behind the Nervous Nellie persona she’s perfected on Saturday Night Live and in supporting roles from films like Adventureland and Knocked Up.
Despite the eccentricity of being a roller derby competitor, Wiig plays her character like a normal, everyday person. At this point, playing someone normally was probably the most shocking thing she could do!
Story-wise, there’s nothing in Whip It! that you haven’t seen in a thousand other coming-of-age comedies. Basically, an awkward girl finds something she’s passionate about and comes out of her shell in opposition to her parents wishes. Do the parents come around at the end? Of course. Are valuable life lessons learned? You betcha.
But like I said, there’s a positive vibe reverberating off this movie and a certain zest of life to the characters. The live their lives on the fringe of society in an already liberal-minded alternate reality known as Austin, Texas. They skate in abandoned warehouses under pseudonyms, get drunk and listen to loud music. Their exploits are liberating and we, the audience, get to live vicariously through that.
That’s pretty much the role of any good movie. If you can watch the characters on screen and say “I wanna hang out with them,” or “I wanna do that,” then there has been some transformative effect that has allowed you to transcend whatever hang-ups or stress is waiting for you back in the real world. By that measure, Whip It! is a rollicking success.
So what about you? Any plans to hang out with Smashly Simpson and The Hurl Scouts this weekend? Does Whip It! look like a film that interests you? Did any of you manage to catch the sneak preview on Saturday? If so, what did you think? Leave your comments below!
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The trailer for new Will Ferrell “dramadey” Everything Must Go showed up online a couple of weeks ago, but I’m just getting around to it now. Actually, it’s been occupying my mind-grapes for that long, so I take that as a good sign. Check it out.
Ferrell plays a borderline alcoholic whose wife throws all of stuff out on the lawn, changes the locks on his house and walks out on him. Sucks to be him. As you can probably predict, great personal growth befalls Ferrell’s character when he decides to sell all of his possessions and separate himself from the failures of his past life.
The movie looks pretty straight forward. But as someone who deeply enjoyed Stranger Than Fiction, I’m looking forward to Everything Must Go because it seems to have a similar feel. How much of that can be contributed to Ferrell dialing it down a notch is purely conjecture at this point.
I know Ferrell is an acquired taste and that any movement into dramatic territory will be immediately dismissed as a craven attempt at legitimacy by his detractors (See Also: Jim Carrey). But what do you think of what you’ve seen so far. Is it worth a look?
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If you know me, you know I am an unabashed fan of Will Ferrell. Hey! I saw Semi-Pro in the theater. I have credibility.
So when the teaser trailer for Ferrell’s Casa di mi Padre hit the web last week, it got an immediate thumbs up from me.
The trailer keeps it pretty close to the chest, but apparently Ferrell speaks in broken Spanish throughout the whole movie. The concept seems so totally bizarre, I can’t picture a scenario where it doesn’t work.
Need another reason to see this movie? Ron Swanson himself – Nick Offerman is in it. And it will be glorious.
I think what’s most hilarious about the movie is the synopsis. If you read it, the film comes across like your standard-issue telenovelas.
Armando Alvarez (Will Ferrell) has lived and worked on his father’s ranch in Mexico his entire life. As the ranch encounters financial difficulties, Armando’s younger brother Raul (Diego Luna) shows up with his new fiancée, Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez). It seems that Raul’s success as an international businessman means the ranch’s troubles are over as he pledges to settle all debts his father has incurred. But when Armando falls for Sonia, and Raul’s business dealings turn out to be less than legit, all hell breaks loose as they find themselves in a war with Mexico’s most feared drug lord, the mighty Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal).
If they decide to play it completely straight, the comedy will basically come from the juxtaposition of seeing one of the whitest white men imaginable mix it up in this context. Kind of meta but totally brilliant. I’m on board.
Because I love you, I’m also uploading the poster for the film. What’s your take on this bold (and bizarre) new project for Ferrell? Leave your comments below!
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