Tip "T.I." Harris Joins 'Get Hard'; Anna Faris and Chris Pratt are 'Vacation Friends'

* Believe it or not, the acting career of rapper Tip "T.I." Harris has been pretty successful. He's starred in American Gangster, Identity Thief, and Takers, all of which did well at the box office. He'll be appearing as himself in the upcoming Entourage movie, but he's now set to join Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart in the comedy, Get Hard. Directed by Etan Cohen and co-starring Alison Brie, the film has Ferrell as a millionaire falsely convicted of a white collar crime, with Hart as the car washer toughening him up for the prison stint. Harris will play Hart's streetwise cousin.[Deadline]

* Married couple Chris Pratt and Anna Faris will star in Vacation Friends, a new comedy picked up by Fox with plans for Steve Pink (Hot Tub Time Machine) to direct. They will play a wild couple who become friends with a straight-laced pair while on vacation. "They have a great time, and then want to rekindle the fun. Once the other couple gets back to their normal life, it’s not nearly the same kind of fun and their vacation friends won’t go away." Pratt and Faris starred together in the retro comedy, Take Me Home Tonight. He'll be seen next in a pair of big-time studio films, Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World, while she currently stars on the CBS sitcom, Mom. [Deadline]

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Review: 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2', Starring Bill Hader

Imagine an island where you’d never starve because there are gigantic food portions everywhere. No, the gigantic portions of food are not a reference to Big Macs, though there is a giant cheeseburger spider-thing, complete with fries for legs. If you thought that the first movie had a lot of food, think bigger because Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 really goes all out and gets delightfully creative with the food this time around.  

Exactly eight minutes after Flint Lockwood (voice of funnyman Bill Hader) saves the world from enormous food portions, he gets with meteorologist Sam Sparks (voice of Anna Faris) and makes his dad Tim (voice of James Caan) proud. Together with Mr. T-like cop Earl Devereaux (voice of Terry Crews) and former bully Brent (voice of Andy Samberg), the group agrees to work together.

Immediately after the pact, in swoops Chester V (voice of Will Forte), a scientist the likes of Bill Nye the Science guy, only much more sinister in nature. Flint quickly falls for his act of goodwill because he’s admired the scientist his entire life and fanboys over him while Chester takes charge and boots Flint and his friends from the island.

He convinces Flint to join his company, Live Corp, where the younger scientist spends six months attempting to please Chester. Flint is ultimately drawn back to help get rid of the food animals that now inhabit the island. But Flint and his friends begin to question whether that’s the right thing to do.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (and isn’t that a mouthful?) is a different kind of sequel. The first film has Flint seeking approval. The sequel is a quest movie. Flint is on a quest different in nature; one is to destroy, and later help the food animals, and the second is the quest to realize that he now has friends he can trust and doesn’t have to rely on himself anymore. 

The characters are actually better rounded this time and evolve in fun ways. Now that they’re all together, the dynamic of the film is much more fun and lighthearted. It’s what the first film kind of lacked and what the sequel has in spades. The voice cast is spot on and Will Forte as Chester V is especially entertaining. You’ll laugh at him and get frustrated with him in the span of five minutes.

The creative team really put in a great effort to bring to life the food animals. Flamangoes, cheese spiders, and a little strawberry named Berry bring amusing and cute touches to the film. Probably the funniest moment comes when the strawberry named Berry translates what Flint is saying to the other food animals. Classic and the highlight of the entire movie. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is better than the original on first watch and will entertain at every age.

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Food Animals Take Over 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2' in New Clip

It's been four years since we last encountered the creative world of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs with its jello houses and ice cream monstrosities. Now Flint, Sam, and the rest of the crew are back in the film's sequel and they have a new adventure ahead of them. 

Flint has supposedly put his past behind him and moved on from the fiasco that was his food machine. He's surprised to find out that his machine is still working and instead of churning out humongous amounts of food, it's now creating food animals. 

A new clip gives us a look at exactly what Flint and co. are facing. There are potato-shaped hippos, walking bananas, meat mountains, and gigantic strawberries with eyes. You can immediately understand the issue here! They've taken over the island and the gang is in awe at its beauty, bringing even Officer Earl Devereaux to almost shed one stubborn tear.  

You can check out the clip below! 

Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Benjamin Bratt, Neil Patrick Harris, Terry Crews, and Will Forte all lend their voice talents to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2. The film is set to hit theaters September 27. 

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New Trailer for 'Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2'

The food puns come fast and often in the latest trailer for Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2, which looks like it hasn't missed a bit with new directors Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn taking over for Chris Miller and Phil Lord. The story brings back Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) to the town of Shallow Falls, only to discover that the FLDSMDFR's leftover have mutated into nasty food creatures.The controlled chaos of the first film has been replaced by what looks like a fairly simple Jurassic Park-style plot, so maybe this one will appeal to me where the last one definitely didn't.

Featuring the voices of Anna Faris, Terry Crews, Neil Patrick Harris, Andy Samberg, James Caan, and Benjamin Bratt, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 opens on September 27th.


CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 - Trailer 2 by dmagianet

PLOT: In the wake of the disastrous food storm at the end of the first movie, Flint Lockwood and friends are forced to leave their town of Swallow Falls.  But when it is discovered that sentient food beasts have overrun the island, they are asked to return to save the world…again.

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First trailer for 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2'

Let the food puns begin! The first trailer for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, the sequel to 2009's animated hit, has arrived and it looks like it hasn't missed a step. Or a meal, for that matter. Phil Lord and Chris Miller have stepped back into a producer capacity, handing over the directing reins to Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn, who have clearly decided to not fix what wasn't broken.

The story brings back inventor Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) and his gal pal Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) who return to Swallow Falls where his famous water-to-food machine has begun creating mutant food/animal hybrids. The animation is strong and the quips are clever, so this could be another smash when for Sony's animation division.

Also featuring the voices of Terry Crews, Will Forte, Andy Samberg, Benjamin Bratt, and Neil Patrick Harris, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 gets served up on September 27th.


Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 (Trailer) by tvPRIME

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Ellen Page to direct Anna Faris in 'Miss Stevens'

Whip It wasn't a great movie, but I dug its girl power spirit and enthusiasm from Drew Barrymore in her directorial debut. The star of that roller derby flick was Ellen Page, and her charming performance and comedic gifts went a long way in getting Barrymore's new venture off on the right foot. Maybe Page was taking notes, because for her first time behind the camera she's lined up an actress who should make the transition pretty smooth.

Page will has lined up Anna Faris to star in Miss Stevens, a comedy penned by Julia Hart. Faris will play a teacher whose personal life is in disarray, but rediscovers her own self-worth while chaperoning a group of students to a drama competition. So it's kind of like a feel-good Bad Teacher? Whatever, this sounds like it could be fun, and Faris is in desperate need of a film that puts her skills to good use. She's been floundering for far too long.

We'll be waiting awhile for it, though. Page will be filming X-men: Days of Future Past soon, and after that the gay rights drama, Freeheld. She'll be seen next in Brit Marling's eco-terrorist thriller, The East (review here). Faris has recently signed on for a TV comedy pilot, and will appear in the rom-com I Give It a Year. [Deadline]

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Sure Shots: Kristen Wiig; Philip Noyce; 'Man of Steel'

* Kristen Wiig will get a chance to re-team with her Adventureland co-star and fellow SNL alum Bill Hader in The Skeleton Twins. She'll be replacing Anna Faris in the film from co-writer Mark Heyman and director Craig Johnson, which follows "estranged twins Maggie and Milo, who coincidentally cheat death on the same day, prompting them to reunite and confront how their lives went so wrong. For Maggie, that means re-examining her marriage to sweet "nature frat boy" Lance (Wilson), while her gay brother Milo revisits his old flame Rich, a former teacher with a past he'd rather keep quiet. As the twins' reunion reinvigorates them both, they realize the key to fixing their lives may lie in fixing their relationship with each other" Luke Wilson has also come aboard to play Lance, and the Duplass Brothers(Jeff, Who Lives At Home) are producing. That's a hell of a lot of talent on all corners. Production begins next month. [Variety]

* 20 years ago Jeff Bridges snagged the rights to Lois Lowry's novel, The Giver, with the hopes of producing it for his father Lloyd to star in. The film has gone through various stages of development over the years, once having Vadim Perlman(House of Sand and Fog) directing based on his own script. But he's out, and now Philip Noyce(Salt) appears to be stepping in to fill the void. Jeff Bridges will remain as producer and will take over the lead role, although it's unclear if Perlman's script will stay in play. The story is set in a utopian society where memories of the past are kept sage old figure known as the "Giver". When his replacement is found in a 12-year old boy, the child learns that the things he's been taught aren't necessarily the truth.

* Back in July Warner Bros. accidentally let slip their plans to convert Zack Snyder's Man of Steel for 3D and IMAX. The studio quickly tried to pull back by saying it wasn't confirmed, but now they've gone ahead and done it anyway. So be prepared to pay a few extra bucks to see those heat vision rays pop off the screen. This decision probably doesn't surprise anybody, especially if you followed their recent decision to have Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim converted.

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Every actor ever stars in the screwed up red band trailer for 'Movie 43'

Ensemble sketch comedies have a fairly poor track record as feature films, but there have been some pretty good ones. A particular favorite of mine was David Zucker's The Kentucky Fried Movie, which has the classic A Fistful of Yen sketch that remains hilarious to this day. "Take him to Detroit" has been a part of my personal lexicon ever since. But for every good one there are a dozen terrible ones that think merely being raunchy and disgusting is enough(like The Underground Comedy Movie). Movie 43 is the latest sketch comedy on the way, and whether it's good or not probably matters less than the jam packed roster of celebrity actors and directors basking in all their R-rated glory.

Brett Ratner, Peter Farrelly, Elizabeth Banks, James Gunn, and many more direct the various risque segments that star top tier talent like (*deep breath*) Emma Stone, Halle Berry, Terrence Howard, Gerard Butler, Kristen Bell, Chloe Moretz, Josh Duhamel, Johnny Knoxville, Elizabeth Banks, Naomi Watts, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Richard Gere, Justin Long, Liev Schreiber, Uma Thurman, Seann William Scott, Kieran Culkin, Leslie Bibb, Jimmy Bennett, Kate Bosworth, Patrick Warburton, Tony Shalhoub, Chris Pratt, Jason Sudeikis, Jack McBrayer, Aasif Mandvi and Bobby Cannavale.

There's a reason why Movie 43 was originally titled Red Band, and every moment of this trailer is an explanation for it. Anna Faris and her real life husband star in a skit where she reveals her fetish for being pooped on; Halle Berry picks on a blind kid during his birthday; and in what I think is the funniest and unquestionably racist bit of all, Terrence Howard convinces his all-black basketball team of their inherent superiority over their white opponents.  Little people, the mentally challenged, and many other touchy subjects get skewered mercilessly. If you ever wanted to hear Emma Stone talk about how she sucked off a hobo, this movie is for you.

Movie 43 opens on January 25th 2013. Will you be seeing it?

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'The Dictator' advance screening!

Prepare to bow down to the Supreme Leader, All Triumphant General Aladeen in Sacha Baron's hilarious new comedy, The Dictator! We're offering you a chance to see the film before it opens with an upcoming advance screening held this coming Thursday May 10th at AMC Mazza at 7:00pm! To qualify, you MUST be a fan of Punch Drunk Critics on Facebook. To enter, simply leave a comment here with your name and email address, and you will receive a unique Gofobo code to download up to two passes for the event. Due to the shortened length of this contest, we'll be accepting entries up until 11:59pm on May 9th. Enter now! Jacknuhn!!!

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Trailer Time: What's Your Number?, starring Anna Faris and Chris Evans

I was actually thinking about Anna Faris's career a couple of months ago in preparation for Take Me Home Tonight. She's an actress I really dig most of the time, but a look at her filmography shows precious few movies that are actually any good. While Take Me Home Tonight is a decent film, I don't think she's been in anything I've really enjoyed since Lost in Translation. Yikes.  But I had some high hopes for her latest, What's Your Number? 

A trailer has been released for the rom-com, which features Faris as a woman who realizes she's slept with more people than the national average. So she goes on a High Fidelity-esque quest to revisit her exes, in hopes that one of them might be the one that got away.  Chris Evans is her promiscuous best friend, while her list of exes consists of Anthony Mackie(!!!), Martin Freeman, Zachary Quinto, Joel McHale, Andy Samberg, and Faris's real life husband Chris Pratt.  Mark Mylod(Ali G In Da House) directs. The film is based on Karyn Bosnak's book, 20 Times a Lady.



Unfortunately I don't think the trailer looks all that funny, appearing more like a bland CBS sitcom more than anything else. Here's hoping subsequent trailers improve my outlook.  What's Your Number hits theaters on September 30th.

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Trailer Time: Take Me Home Tonight, starring Topher Grace and Anna Faris

I guess if Anna Faris is going to bounce back from the disaster that was Yogi Bear(review on Friday), this is probably her best shot with me. The first trailer for Take Me Home Tonight, a teen comedy set in the 1980s, has been released and it's the type of movie that I almost always fall head over heels for. The problem is that I've been waiting for this flick for....oh, two years or so. 

At one time it was titled Kids in America, and was shot way back in 2007. It's been sitting around ever since, not instilling me with a ton of confidence. The upshot is that since this is set back in the year 1988(the title is taken from the Eddie Money hit), there's no worry of it becoming dated. In fact it already looks a lot more authentic than the similarly set Hot Tub Time Machine.

The trailer will probably remind you of a number of different "one wild night" flicks you've seen lately. Topher Grace stars as a college grad who, along with his twin sister(played by Faris) and best friend(Dan Fogler) try to figure out the rest of their lives over the course of one crazy evening at a Labor Day party. I have to admit I cracked a smile at Grace and Fogler's acting out of NWA's "Straight Out of Compton". Obvious? Yes. Funny? Absolutely.

Directed by Michael Dowse(It's All Gone Pete Tong) and written by Jackie and Jeff Filgo(That 70's Show), Take Me Home Tonight will finally be released on March 4th 2011. You can check out the trailer below!

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Akroyd confirms Ghostbusters 3 already casting

There've been so many rumors and false starts and whatever in regards to Ghostbusters 3 that I just stopped hearing anything about it. Don't get me wrong, the rumors never ceased and even on occasion I've written about 'em but I don't take any of it seriously. But even now I have to admit that it looks like it may be time for me to take the earplugs out and start listening again, especially when the words are coming straight from Dan Akroyd's mouth.


The actor was on WGN radio recently and was surprisingly open about the production, confirming that a lot of the casting rumors we've already heard about indeed true. He's confirmed that the casting process is underway and while they're open to some "fresh faces", he also states that Bill Hader(Adventureland) and Anna Faris(The House Bunny) are "strong possibilities". He also mentioned Eliza Dushku's name as a possibility. The biggest news to me is that he confirmed that both Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver will be back as well. Yay.

The last we'd heard, Columbia Pictures was shooting for a May 2011 start date. That means you can expect the casting news to start picking up some serious steam from here on out.

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