In Contention

Tag: Seth Rogen

  • Gordon-Levitt, Rogen and Reiser on tragicomedy and ‘50/50’

    Yesterday I sang the praises of Jonathan Levine’s “50/50,” particularly the writing from real-life cancer survivor Will Reiser and actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen. Today, Summit has pointed us to a sit-down chat between the three regarding the film as part of Gordon-Levitt’s hitRECord call for submissions of personal stories of tragedy blended with comedy. He writes:

    Contribute your tragic/comic story here.  Tell us about something terribly unfortunate in your life, but do it with a sense of humor.  You could write your story in text, you could RECord yourself telling the story into your camera or microphone, draw a picture, write a song, whatever’s comfortable.

    And can I say this? I really didn’t know Rogen was essentially playing himself in the film and that the story is both his and Reiser’s. Had no idea at all. The things that fly under one’s radar. Anyway, check out the chat after the jump. And feel free to offer up your tragicomedy selections at hitRECord.

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  • ‘50/50’ draws laughs and tears, but Gordon-Levitt owns it

    It’s probably a bit ridiculous that I haven’t seen Jonathan Levine’s “The Wackness” yet. I have the screener somewhere around here and it’s just one of those films I keep forgetting to watch, despite constant encouragement to do so. Therefore, “50/50,” a dramedy from writer Will Reiser based on his own experience being diagnosed with cancer, is the extent of my knowledge of the director’s work. And it’s fantastic.

    Coming off “The Help,” I’m getting a little tired of crying like a baby in movies, but “50/50” earns those tears in more complex and special ways. It also finds the right pulse of comedy to balance the experience out and boasts a tight little ensemble with a natural vibe.

    Joseph Gordon-Levitt is front and center as Adam, a 27-year-old Seattleite smacked in the face with a cancer diagnosis. He has a girlfriend, Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard), who isn’t totally up to the task of dealing with all this. He has a life-long friend, Kyle (Seth Rogen), who keeps pushing the illness as a chick-magnet (and follows an arc that is ultimately touching and surprising, yet believable and organic). And he has a mother (Anjelica Huston) who worries herself sick, naturally, and longs for connection that she can’t get from her own Alzheimer’s-afflicted husband.

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  • COMIC-CON: Universal brings ‘Paul’ and ‘Cowboys & Aliens,’ oh my

    With its “Scott Pilgrim” presence already dominating the scene here at Comic-Con, Universal publicity didn’t need to do much else to be top of the nerd mountain this weekend. Then they went and blew the roof off.

    The studio first offered up a sizzle reel for Greg Mottola’s sci-fi comedy “Paul,” which went over well with its tip of the hat to the Con (early scenes show a recreated convention). The director and most of the cast were here to discuss the road trip movie with a twist, but that was just an hors d’oeuvre.

    The roof-blowing was owed completely to Harrison Ford’s first-ever appearance at the convention. It was a geek’s wet dream as Han Solo/Indiana Jones took to the stage at Hall H in handcuffs (which we all thought was making light of an earlier incident where a stabbing occurred in the hall, but was actually a pre-planned gag, as in Favreau had to drag Ford to the convention in shackles). Ford was there to help promote Jon Favreau’s “Cowboys & Aliens,” which had a surprisingly robust presence during the presentation.

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  • ‘The Green Hornet’ trailer

    Hardly awards material here but hey, Christoph Waltz is having fun slumming.  “The Green Hornet” hits screens in January and will probably be a fun distraction.  The presence of Michel Gondry behind the camera would lead you to expect a certain artistic flair, but then again, nothing about this trailer — which debuted at Yahoo! Movies — seems to reflect his sensibilities.  And I guess it was only a matter of time before the new Cypress Hill jam was used in the promotional materials of a high octane-ish actioner.  Anyway, click the image below to see for yourself or check out the embed after the jump.

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  • 7/21 Web Round-up

    Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia• The forthcoming release of “Julie & Julia” delays author Julie Powell’s follow-up book. [New York Observer]

    • Seth Rogen takes “Entourage” (which is slowly jumping the shark this season) and its creators to task. [Movieline]

    • Going to Comic-Con?  Download the official iPhone app. [Apple]

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  • ‘Funny People’ goes red band

    Thanks to commenter AmericanRequiem for reminding me to post the new “Funny People” trailer. (Hey, I have to sleep sometime.) From where I’m standing, it’s a notable improvement on the previous trailer, not least because it’s considerably more tight-lipped about plot developments than that one was. Shame about that.

    Interesting that this one seems to place more emphasis on the Seth Rogen character, who was pretty much just parsley on the side in the first one.

  • The Academy opens the doors to 134 new members

    Seth RogenThe headline says it all.  After bringing in 105 new members last year, the Academy has just announced a new list of 134 names to join their ranks.

    Actors include Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Jeffrey Wright (woo-hoo!), James McAvoy, Casey Affleck (who should have been brought in after his 2007 nomination), James Franco, Michael Cera and Seth Rogen, as well as, of course, all of the first-time nominees from last year’s season.  I was rather surprised to see Brendan Gleeson only now getting the invite.

    A big huzzah to director Rod Lurie, who made the cut in the directors branch, along with last year’s big winner Danny Boyle and animator Henry Selick, among others.  And another tip of the hat to Clint Mansell (robbed blind for his “Fountain” score two years ago), who joined the composers’ ranks along with Peter Gabriel (another guy I figured would have been in long ago) and last year’s winner in both music categories, A.R. Rahman.

    Neither here nor there, since now we’re getting to inside baseball, but a big shout-out to Paramount’s Megan Colligan, who was allowed passage in the public relations arena.

    Check out the full list after the jump.

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  • Not such funny people

    Judd Apatow and Leslie MannI recently discussed the positive buzz building around Judd Apatow’s “Funny People,” which has thus far turned up numerous allusions to the unabashedly sentimental seriocomic stylings of James L. Brooks — a comparison that promises either polished awards-bait, mawkish pap or both, according to taste.

    Suggesting that the Brooks similarities hold true beyond a glib glance-over of the film, Apatow fully acknowledges his debt to the “Terms of Endearment” filmmaker (with whom he worked on the 1990s animated series, “The Critic”) in this recent New York Times piece, which addresses his and his team’s weightier aims for the project:

    Asked why, at 41, he would follow movies about sexuality and childbirth with a film about mortality, Mr. Apatow was circumspect. “I’ve unfortunately been around people who have been ill and seen people figure out how to deal with it,” he said. Some, he added, “just keep plowing on forward, and they don’t seem to change.”

    “What I took from (working with Brooks) was, the audience is supposed to like the movie, as simple as that sounds,” Mr. Apatow said. “If they’re not loving it, you failed.”

    But even Mr. Apatow’s closest confederates recognize that “Funny People” may not be as easily loved as his two previous films. “I wouldn’t describe it as dark,” said Mr. Rogen, a star of “40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up.” “I would say it’s more ambitious in what it’s attempting to make light of.”

    This sober tone colours the entire piece, as Apatow expresses his desire to make a “Tuesdays With Morrie”-type story but — before you retch — with the twist that “the main character learns nothing,” while the words “grown-up”, “intensely personal” and even “existential” come up at various points. No pressure, then.

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  • “Listen you f***ers you screwheads…”

    I was watching some special on “Eastbound & Down” recently where one of the producers (might have been Will Ferrell, or maybe it was David Green) was talking about how the show is a commentary on the state of the hero in pop culture.  Then I heard the talk out of SXSW about “Observe and Report,” Joe Leydon’s review, for instance, indicating transgression and the idea of capturing the film’s essence in four words: “Travis Bickle: Mall Cop.”

    More and more I dig what this crew (Jody Hill, Green, Seth Rogen, etc.) is doing with comedy on the screen and forgive me, but I think Jeff Wells is missing the purposeful irony of a tag line like “Right now, the world needs a hero.”  Given the perspective Hill and company have on protagonists on the small screen, I think this is more than just an arbitrary Warner Bros. marketing decision.

    I haven’t seen “Observe and Report,” but I’m catching a whiff of something truly special.

    Observe and Report advertisement in Times Square

  • The dawn of the journo Twitter apocalypse

    TwitterI was having lunch with a publicist recently who seemed to be totally confused at how Twitter was going to affect her job.  You know, someone sees a film, Twitters something about it off the cuff and suddenly there’s a conversation to be contained.

    My point of view is that there is nothing I can Tweet that I can’t go into my WordPress iPhone application and embellish a bit further and just as fast.  So the sudden boom of the Twitter culture seems like a big ole’ non-starter to me.  After all, speaking just for myself, I forget I have an account half the time.  And when it comes to work, like I said, I’d rather log in and post something here rather than offer up some quick line of “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” on another platform entirely.

    A friend recently wrote a piece for The Huffington Post on all this mess.  She stands by Twitter as a journalistic tool, but I can’t take that dive yet.  I think what we’re seeing is an industry struggling to stay hip, fresh and, above all, mobile.  So Twitter is just the flavor of the month (even though it’s been around forever).

    Then I saw Peter Sciretta over at /Film had put up a post called “Early Twitter Buzz: Observe and Report,” collecting the SXSW reactions to the film from folks like Film School Rejects’ Neil Miller, indieWIRE’s Matt Dentler and Cinematical’s James Rocchi, with some varied public reactions (I think) tossed in here and there.  Suddenly it seems my publicist friend’s nightmare might be a reality.

    Anyway, speaking of SXSW and “Observe and Report,” here’s part one of Anne Thompson’s interview with director Jody Hill (woo-hoo “Eastbound & Down!”) and actor Seth Rogen.  Head on over to Thompson on Hollywood for part two:

  • ‘Zack and Miri’: Smith’s best yet

    Zack and Miri Make a PornoI wouldn’t call myself a huge fan of Kevin Smith’s movies.  I love the man, love his take on this crazy industry, loved “An Evening with Kevin Smith,” etc.  But most of the time, when he gets behind a camera, it doesn’t work for me on some level.

    Of course, there are those who love to hate on Smith’s cinematic output because vitriol is sometimes easier to come by than measured consideration, but I try not to go there with him for some reason.  Maybe it’s the comic book thing.  (Speaking of which, “Batman Cacophony” is a pretty good three-issue arc if you didn’t catch it over the last few months).

    I found some things to admire in “Clerks,” which has some qualities perhaps more endearing in 1994 than in 2009, but I really hated “Mallrats.”  I thought “Chasing Amy” showed his promise and felt “Dogma” to be rather daring in some ways.

    “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” did exactly what it was supposed to do, while “Jersey Girl” and “Clerks II” were extensions of “Chasing Amy”‘s promise with various limitations.  But “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” which I missed last fall and finally caught on DVD over the weekend, might be Smith’s best work to date.

    Of course, I’d say The Weinstein Company mishandled the release on this thing and didn’t drum up the publicity necessary to land it the kind of box office it probably deserved, but beyond the business of it all, there’s a touching piece of work in there.  Smith was smart to associate himself with folks like Seth Rogen and Craig Robinson, quickly becoming figments of the new comedy breed in Hollywood.  He also got a pretty good performance out of Jason Mewes that didn’t have to depend on the usual toilet humor (though you could certainly find that elsewhere in the film).

    Anyway, kind of a rambling post, but I was impressed.  Even with a disgusting poop gag (I laughed), this is a film with heart that resonated more than I thought it would.  Nicely done.  No surprise the stuffy top-tier critical fraternity wasn’t on board, though.

    What did you guys think?

  • David Gordon Green catches his stride in comedy

    (from left) Danny McBride and David Gordon Green on the set of Eastbound & DownIt has to be doubly sweet for my southern brethren to take in HBO’s “Eastbound & Down” every Sunday night, but even if this country detail or that passes below your radar, or heck, even if you don’t know a blatant Ric Flair gag when you see one, I can’t imagine anyone not laughing their ass off at this thing week after week.

    Then again, maybe I’m wrong.  The Danny McBride brand of humor might be seen as an extension of the Apatow/Rogen trajectory we’ve been on, toilet humor a bit too low on the brow for some.  Not me.  I’m eating it up.

    Strikingly, I think the last three episodes (plus last year’s “Pineapple Express”) prove that David Gordon Green should stick to comedy and prepare to make his mark there, because this seems to be his calling.  I’m all for the era of artistic stretching he’s been interested in since “George Washington” leaped off the neighborhoods of North Carolina and onto Roger Ebert’s top 10 list, though 95% of all of that never worked for me.  And I’m sure he’ll go there once again.  But as long as he wants to stick in this vein, I’m game.

    Not only is the timing something special (and just take a look at the editorial choices made in “Pineapple” by flipping between the extended and theatrical cuts on the Blu-ray or DVD for evidence there), but the mundane is represented like never before.  Last July I wrote of “Pineapple” the following:

    Yes, the man who staked a claim on the mundane mumblings of children and the love-struck in films like “George Washington” and “All the Real Girls” has applied those sensibilities to a niche genre that roots itself in same.

    And it works! It works so well it’s a shame Terrence Malick never tried his hand at “Up in Smoke.” The pieces slide into place and find a cohesive fit that couldn’t have been more unexpected.

    And that’s the case with “Eastbound & Down.”  100%.

    Of course, plenty of credit is due to co-creators McBride and Jody Hill (directing this summer’s “Observe and Report”), but the guidance behind the camera is exceptional.  I only hope I’m not the only guy taking this stuff for more than surface level, however, because it deserves more — whether it knows it or not.

    (And hel-lo Katy Mixon.)

  • 2/23 Oscarweb Round-up

    Kate Winslet at the 81st annual Academy AwardsThe day after. This will be the final installment of the Oscarweb Round-up this year.  I always enjoy scouring the net to find these little gems here and there and I hope you have enjoyed the daily cheat sheet.  Special thanks to all the hard-working journalists and pundits who keep cranking out copy to fill this space…even if I get testy with your words from time to time.

    • Jeff Wells salutes that hilarious James Franco/Seth Rogen/Janusz Kaminski sketch. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • David Carr’s on-the-spot Oscar coverage from last night, well worth a scroll. [The Carpetbagger]

    • The “Slumdog” kids’ neighbors watch the show from India. [The Huffington Post]

    • Anne Thompson wraps up the night and the season with coverage from the red carpet (including the Anne Cam!). [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Mourning the acceptance speech Mickey Rourke would have given. [Vulture]

    • On the hateful protesters that lined the streets outside the Kodak: Sean Penn says ignore the ignorant. [Daily Telegraph]

    • Roger Ebert reports on teh festivities with all of his usual insights. [Chicago Sun-Times]

    • Patrick Goldstein was underwhelmed by the show (I don’t get it). [The Big Picture]

    • Karina Longworth reports that Bennett Miller’s opening short film was cut because it basically sucked. [Spout Blog]

    • Britain’s Press Association already digs into Kate Winslet’s speech. (I literally had a Brit at my Oscar party scream “Fuck off” when she won.) [The Independent]

  • Judd Apatow’s ‘Funny People’

    Before we really dig into net year’s Oscar race on Monday, what about the new Judd Apatow comedy “Funny People” starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen.  Could the multi-hyphenate finally find some love from the writers’ branch, maybe?  Acknowledgment for Leslie Mann’s antics, maybe?  Anything outside of HFPA?

  • Funny ha ha

    James Franco in Pineapple Express

    While James Franco was brooding and winning a Golden Globe for the TV telepic “James Dean” and fighting superheroes in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man franchise, the actor says he longed for the escape of a comedy.

    Soon enough, producer Judd Apatow approached Franco to star alongside Seth Rogen in David Gordon Green’s “Pineapple Express.” After years of playing ultra serious characters, the actor had finally found an opportunity to let his hair down.

    “I didn’t get offered a ton of comedies, and the ones I did get offered were more like romantic comedies. That wasn’t really my thing,” Franco says from San Francisco, just before the world premiere of Gus Van Sant’s “Milk.” “So when Judd said he wanted to do something together, it was kind of a relief.”

    From a 11/21 Variety story by yours truly concerning actors moving between dramas and comedies this year.  I’m still stoked at Franco’s Golden Globe nomination yesterday for Gordon’s film.

  • NYT Mag chats it up with Seth Rogen and James Franco

    Lynn Hirschberg of The New York Times Magazine sat down with the two stars of David Gordon Green’s “Pineapple Express” recently for a couple of in-depth interviews.  They’re pretty insightful little chats, I have to say.

    Here’s Rogen, who talks about the desire to get laid being at the root of all comedy, his awkward status as a sex symbol and his experiences within the studio system as of late…some brief stuff on “The Green Hornet” as well:

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02Jjayjmu_M

    And Franco, who, in addition to talking “Pineapple” specifics, reveals that “My Own Private Idaho” was a big impetus for his acting career and even gets into “Milk” a little bit, including what it’s like to kiss Sean Penn:

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Pupmdeang

    You can also watch the interviews here.

  • REVIEW: “Pineapple Express” (****)

    Columbia Pictures\' Pineapple ExpressThe dust will settle on a record-breaking summer movie season and much will be made of super heroes and unexpected, makeup-infested comedic portrayals. But an unassuming stoner comedy that breaks free of the mold and becomes something akin to sheer film-going bliss will be one of the few left standing.

    A truly side-splitting yarn that takes its lead from Cheech and Chong and the greatest (or worst) of 1980s action and comedy standards, the film carves its own spot as a new staple. And going into an Oscar season that looks a bit shallow from afar, “Pineapple Express” seems to be the best film 2008 has had to offer so far.

    Hell of a thing.

    Fresh, authentic, appreciative of its lineage and rife with absolute truths of the stoner way, this one was always guaranteed to leave your gut cramped from unyielding laughter. At the center, however, is a strange thread of realism that is incredibly intriguing. No matter the level of absurdity this sequence or that may reach, on some level, one can’t shake the sense that if these things were going to happen…this is exactly how it would go down.

    It’s an odd characteristic that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen out of a film such as this, and all the credit in the world seems to belong to filmmaker David Gordon Green. After making his way in the indie sector on his own terms, his marriage to this material becomes the most natural fit to date.

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