The Year That Was: 2014 in Film

Check out ALL of the PDC end of year lists!

Review: Ava DuVernay's 'Selma'

Starring David Oyelowo

Review: Rob Marshall's 'Into The Woods'

Starring Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Anna Kendrick

Tim Burton's 'Big Eyes'

Starring Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams

Showing posts with label amy poehler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amy poehler. Show all posts

Monday, January 12, 2015

First Footage from Tina Fey and Amy Poehler Comedy 'Sisters'


Last night Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the Golden Globes for the third and likely final time (they did host, right? I barely saw them.), and Universal saw it as the perfect time to unveil footage of their new comedy, Sisters. Pretty slick move as it gives the film, which doesn't open for another eleven months, a chance to get seen in front of millions who probably love the duo already.

Written by SNL and 30 Rock vet Paula Pell with Pitch Perfect's Jason Moore directing, the film follows two sisters who are summoned back to their childhood home to clean up before the family house is sold. Instead the ladies decide to throw one final high school-style bash with all of their former classmates. We've seen stories like this before but with Fey and Poehler on board this could be a cut above, and it helps that this teaser is actually pretty funny.

Ya'll ready for this jelly? Sisters hits theaters on December 18th.


Sisters Official Sneak Peek #1 (2015) - Amy Poehler, Tina Fey Movie HD by TrailerWood

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Original Cast Returning for Confirmed 'Wet Hot American Summer' Netlix MiniSeries



Fans of David Wain and Michael Showalter's Wet Hot American Summer have good reason to celebrate. For years a sequel to the cult comedy hit has been hoped for by its die-hard fans, and while one won't be hitting theaters an 8-episode miniseries has finally been confirmed for Netflix with much of the original cast.

This deal has been in the works for months and now is definitely happening. How do we know? Because filming has already begun with Wain directing, having co-written the scripts with Showalter. The film was best known for being the launching pad for future stars, and many of them will be returning. According to Deadline that list includes Elizabeth Banks, H. Jon Benjamin, Michael Ian Black, Bradley Cooper, Judah Friedlander, Janeane Garofalo, Nina Hellman, Ken Marino, Zak Orth, David Hyde Pierce, Joe LoTruglio, Christopher Meloni, A.D. Miles, Marguerite Moreau, Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Marisa Ryan, Molly Shannon, Showalter, and Kevin Sussman.

The original film opened in 2001 and was a complete bomb; nobody saw it and less got its absurd brand of humor. But it has grown to cult status over the years as much of the cast have gone on to become much bigger stars. What we don't know is anything about the plot or how much time each castmember will have on screen. Wet Hot American Summer was an ensemble set in 1981 on the last day at a Jewish summer camp where the frisky camp counselors engage in all types of wild behavior. Hopefully this won't be another Arrested Development which Netflix revived and was too disjointed to resemble the series fans loved.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

First Trailer for Pixar's 'Inside Out' Brings the Emotion



That emptiness you feel is the complete lack of Pixar movies in 2014. The studio took the year off to better prepare their upcoming slate of films, and it couldn't come at a better time. Lately there has been a lot of complaining about their sudden reliance on sequels (Cars 2, Monsters University, the upcoming Finding Dory) rather than creating the fresh, imaginative films we've grown accustomed to. But in 2015 Pixar will hit us with two completely original works, and one that sounds like an ambitious return to form is Inside Out.

Pixar has debuted the first teaser for Inside Out, which takes us inside the mind of an 11-year-old girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) so we can literally meet her emotions. And this being the brain of a pre-teen, those emotions are all over the place, voiced by the likes of Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, and Phyllis Smith.  Most of this teaser is a look back at Pixar's past classics, with actual footage from the film not arriving until the end. But maybe we should be encouraged they are confident enough to lump it in with them?

Directed by Pete Docter, Inside Out opens June 19th 2015, and it will be followed later that year by The Good Dinosaur which arrives November 25th.


Pixar Inside Out Trailer by itsartmag

Friday, August 22, 2014

Review: 'Are You Here' Starring Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis, and Amy Poehler


Having never seen a single moment of Mad MenI can't truly speak to the quality of that show except through the superlatives others have placed on it. Lapping up all of that praise has been the show's 9-time Emmy-winning creator, Matthew Weiner, who has always managed to create something special on the small screen. And that's what makes his feature film debut with the middling and muddled buddy comedy Are You Here, which only a few months ago was titled You Are Here. Not that anybody will care because they'll be too busy wondering where the laughs are to notice.

Weiner has gathered a cast built for comedy but there's a breakdown suffered somewhere along the way. Owen Wilson plays pot smokin', womanizing weatherman Steve Dallas, the stereotypical big fish in a small pond. He thinks he's the king of the little Annapolis, MD news station he struts around at, sleeping with one of the co-anchors and driving his boss crazy. He's incapable of connection on any emotional level with everyone, except for his old pal Ben Baker, played by Zach Galifianakis with the same childish idiocy he brings to every character since The Hangover.Bipolar and claiming to be some kind of "green" enthusiast, Ben has nothing except his friendship with Steve, who he looks up to for unknown reasons.

Drifting along lazily for far too long, the plot kicks into gear when Ben learns that his rich father has passed away up in Pennsylvania. Well, it "kicks into gear" in the sense that something actually happens and it's the last time anything of worth does. Ben learns that he's basically inherited everything, with his eternally-negative sister Terri (Amy Poehler) gaining little and the man's sexy young wife Angela (Laura Ramsey) getting absolutely nothing. While Angela is shocked at first she learns to deal with it, but Terri sees Ben's psychological issues as a means of getting the money for herself. Basically she's a terrible person but at least she's transparently horrible. The other characters, who we are supposed to like, don't have any qualities worth rooting for.

Surely the characters on Mad Men aren't as one-note as these otherwise a petition should be started to have Weiner's Emmys forcibly removed. He seems convinced Wilson's meager charms can make the self-involved Steve likeable, as one of the key arcs involves his growing feelings for Angela. It culminates in a terribly unfunny scene where Steve is asked to capture a chicken for dinner, and he does, chopping its head off and watching it run around decapitated. Yeah, that's hilarious. There's a meandering shapelessness to Are You Here that is trying from the outset and punishing in the long run. Weiner doesn't seem to have any idea what the film is supposed to be about, and he clearly wants it to be about something. Ben, who is magnanimous as often as he's depressed, is suddenly cured in such a knee-jerk fashion it's like Weiner was worried he'd have to cut for a commercial break. But the worst treatment is reserved for Poehler and Ramsey who are given few opportunities to flesh out forgettable female roles.

Sometimes working in the world of serialized television can be detrimental to a movie career. There's a different rhythm and structure to directing features and Weiner may just need more time to adjust. He can always bounce back if somebody's willing to give him another shot, but Are You Here is such a disaster a second chance could be hard to find.

 Rating: 1 out of 5

Friday, June 27, 2014

Musings: What romantic-comedy mockery does “They Came Together” do best?


You can tell that director David Wain wants his new film, They Came Together, to be as iconic as his most famous work, Wet Hot American Summer. The intent soaks the film, manifesting in every crazy aside, every use of Christopher Meloni, and every bizarre sex scene. They Came Together is Wain’s attempt at recapturing the weird magic of Wet Hot American Summer, but it doesn’t quite work—you can’t strike ridiculous lightning twice. (Check out Travis's review here.)

Nevertheless, stars Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler—as Joel and Molly, respectively—give it their all, and for as much as the film feels like an overly long sketch jammed before the 1 a.m. cutoff on Saturday Night Live, there are moments here as memorable as Meloni and his can of vegetables. If you’re going to end up seeing or renting They Came Together this weekend, do it for these five moments.

+ “He’s handsome but in a nonthreatening way; vaguely but not overly Jewish.” “Molly is the kind of cute, klutzy girl that sometimes will drive you a little bit crazy, but you can’t help but fall in love with her.” One of the first things They Came Together does well is introduce the main characters played by Rudd and Poehler, and could they have been more spot-on in their generalizations of romantic-comedy protagonists? Absolutely not. Especially if you’ve ever seen Rudd play a romantic lead, like he did way back when in Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” – Paris basically defined “handsome but in a nonthreatening way.”

+ Amy Poehler shaving her face. In an early sequence, a split-screen shows Rudd and Poehler getting ready for their days in a similar fashion—singing along to the same song in the shower, for example—and then Rudd shaving his face … while Poehler also shaves her face. It’s so stupid, but her cutesy, grinning face as she smears shaving cream all over it has stuck with me since.

+ Jason Mantzoukas’s beard. The thing should get its own IMDB credit. Whether he’s trying to tame it down as a candy-company executive or letting it look all crazy while he’s in costume as a vampire, it’s a thing of beauty. Bless this man’s commitment to growing, and keeping, insane facial hair. It’s almost as important to the film as Michael Ian Black’s greasy sideswept hair and orange tan—because if you’re a romantic-comedy villain, that’s just how you look. That’s just true.

+ “That’s the point of view I represent!” says Kenan Thompson, who plays the token married and token black friend to Rudd’s Joel. If only all movies were this upfront about their casting quotas.


+ That time Joel pulls a cheeseburger out from behind the ear of Molly’s-never-before-mentioned son, who immediately calls him “Daddy.” We’re so used to seeing romantic-comedy protagonists try to charm children onto their side, but at least Wain abandons the change route—who even uses coins anymore?—and goes straight for the grilled-meat option. I keep hoping someone will pull this move on me someday. I would love them for the rest of my life. 

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Review: David Wain's 'They Came Together' Starring Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler


Normally, when David Wain is at the peak of his comedic powers he's also at his most bizarre.  His seminal comedy hit Wet Hot American Summer is incredibly ridiculous, offbeat, and distinct in the way that many consider it a classic, while others will probably never get it. Most recently, Wain has been dabbling in more mainstream efforts such as Wanderlust and Role Models, but his latest film They Came Together is a poor attempt to reclaim his indie cred by tearing to shreds the most conventional genre of all: the romantic comedy.

That's right, the old rom-com, which everybody can admit is stale and painfully formulaic. That seems to be the entire point of Wain's film, which stars the bulk of his 'Wet Hot' cast, with Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler in the lead roles as a couple whose love follows a familiar step-by-step path. The problem is that Wain isn't especially clever in pointing out the silliness behind the infamous "meet cutes", contrived romantic obstacles, and phony emotional entanglements that litter romantic comedies. We're all in on the joke right from the beginning, and Wain struggles to make that one joke fly for more than 20 minutes, much less the 83 minute run time.

The whole set-up is basically ripped from You've Got Mail; perhaps the stick by which all formulaic rom-coms will forever be measured. Molly (Poehler) and Joel (Rudd) are at a restaurant on a double date with a bored married couple (Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper), when the dinner conversation turns to how they met and fell in love. All the standard genre tropes are rolled out in a fashion that is initially hilarious because we all recognize them: Molly is an awkward but lovable candy shop owner, so innocent and pure and she gives all of her profits to charity. Joel is nominally her perfect match, but he works for a huge corporation planning to open its own store right across the street and put Molly out of business. When the two meet, of course they are instant enemies despite the obvious physical attraction, but soon they overcome the tension with the help of their stereotypical ethnic best friends.

It's obvious that Wain and his talented cast are having a lot of fun with this, and the film is at its best when it ventures into ludicrous tangents that feel separate from the rom-com shaming. Wain favorite Christopher Meloni co-stars as Joel's money-grubbing boss, and his embarrassing toilet misadventures at a costume party are a highlight. Joel has his group of racially diverse buddies (including SNL vet Kenan Thompson and The State'sKen Marino) who all play basketball (badly) and act as Joel's voices of reason. While these scenes are funny and clever in their own way, you can almost hear the gears grind to a halt during a torturous, repetitive sequence between Joel and a bartender over the phrase "You can say that again". It's one of those scenes that starts off funny, becomes tiresome, but never goes back around to being funny again, and you know that's what Wain was hoping for. The film's weak double-entendre of a title should tell you there's nothing subversive going on here; every joke is pretty obvious.

Unfortunately, there are too many moments just like that one. There comes a point when Hader and Kemper's characters begin to grow weary of the overlong tale, and it's a pretty good reflection of how the audience will feel at that point. Satire is a tough beast to tame, and while some of Wain's jokes are obviously meant to be terrible, surely not so many were designed to fall as flat as they do. Rudd, who has been in more than his share of lame romantic comedies, plays along with the gags and pokes fun at himself most of all. He and Poehler make for a great pair, one that wouldn't be too surprising if they were in a straight-up rom-com at some point, but they just don't have enough material to work with. As a fan of The State and Wet Hot American Summer, They Came Together feels like Wain flailing desperately to reclaim that old magic but finding it simply isn't there.

NOTE: This is a reprinted review from the Sundance Film Festival.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

First Trailer for 'Are You Here' Starring Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis, and Amy Poehler


AMC's Mad Men is becoming quite the breeding ground for feature directors it seems, perhaps in an effort to get ready after the takes a final bow. John Slattery's directorial debut God's Pocket opened at Sundance and recently hit theaters, only to be met with lukewarm response. And the same goes for Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, who debuted his comedy Are You Here (formerly You Are Here, as if that makes a difference) at last year's TIFF. Despite a cast led by Zach Galifianakis, Amy Poehler, and Zach Galifianakis, the film wasn't received well at all, but that won't stop it from hitting theaters this summer.

The first trailer for the film has been released, on the heels of Weiner revealing to EW that significant changes were made to it after the TIFF premiere. Galifianakis plays Ben, a man who goes a little unhinged upon learning of his father's death, and returns home with his womanizing pal (Wilson) where he learns the entire estate has been left in his name. Poehler is Ben's sister who challenges the will by questioning the sanity of both her father and Ben.

The tone is uncertain and the humor nonexistent, but really the main problem is that a film with this cast should be a lot more fun than Are You Here appears to be. We'll find out for sure when it opens August 22nd.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Two Clips from 'They Came Together' Starring Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler


There's a long history of Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, and David Wain providing big laughs together, and it's for that reason a lot of eyes are on They Came Together, a deliberately silly "anti rom-com" that tries to rip apart the genre. Rudd and Poehler play a completely cliched couple, like something ripped right out of You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle. She's a candy store owner, he works for a huge conglomerate looking to destroy her business, until they meet cute and everything goes exactly as Hollywood would like it to. Or...not. This is a spoof, after all.

Does the film work? I was completely disappointed in it after a screening at Sundance, saying "Satire is a tough beast to tame, and while some of Wain's jokes are obviously meant to be terrible, surely not so many were designed to fall as flat as they do." But perhaps others will feel differently. Two clips have been released to give you a feel for what Wain is going for, including the basketball scene which is admittedly pretty funny.

Also starring Cobie Smulders, Ken Marino, Bill Hader, Ellie Kemper, Max Greenfield, Ed Helms, and Melanie Lynskey, They Came Together opens June 27th and will be available on VOD the same day.



Tuesday, April 29, 2014

First Trailer for David Wain's 'They Came Together' with Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler


Nobody is going to argue that romantic comedies are a mess of cliches that we all recognize on sight. For some, that familiarity can be comforting if looking for a very specific warm and fuzzy feeling. But for others, they probably want to throw every Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks rom-com in a deep, dark hole somewhere as payback for inspiring years of banality. David Wain, the guy behind Wet Hot American Summer, The State, and Role Models, has begun digging that hole with his new film, They Came Together, and here's the first trailer.

Wain has brought back a pair of familiar faces in Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd, playing a couple recounting the story of their meet-cute, which spoofs Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, and every other lame genre film one can think of. She's the owner of a candy store while he is the white collar stooge whose huge corporation is trying to drive her out of business. Despite a game supporting cast that includes Ellie Kemper, Bill Hader, Christopher Meloni, Jason Mantzoukas, Cobie Smulders, and Ed Helms, the film doesn't quite come together as it should. It's easy to rip to shreds the rom-com genre, and Wain often takes the easiest route to do it. As my review from Sundance notes, Wain is "flailing desperately to reclaim that old magic but finding it simply isn't there".

They Came Together hits theaters and VOD on June 27th. 


THEY CAME TOGETHER by Teaser-Trailer.com

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Amy Poehler Joins Tina Fey in 'The Nest'; John Magaro Meets 'Carol'



* It's a Weekend Update reunion as Amy Poehler has joined Tina Fey in The Nest. Directed by Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect) with a script by SNL vet Paula Pell, this sounds like the perfect film for them to reunite for. They'll play sisters Kate and Maura, who are forced to move out of "the nest" when their parents sell the family home and move into a condo. So the siblings do the adult thing and throw one wild final party. It'll be their first film together since 2008's Baby Mama, which is best left forgotten.[Showbiz411]

* It's been pretty quiet for John Magaro since his big 2012, when he starred in rock music drama Not Fade Away and Josh Radnor's Liberal Arts, but now he's starting to get busy again. He's joined the cast of Carol, Todd Haynes' adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara headline the 1950s drama about the relationship between a young shop girl and a middle-aged woman trapped in loveless marriage for money. Magaro will play Dannie, a writer for the New York Times who relates to Mara's character. [TheWrap]

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Sundance Review: 'They Came Together' Starring Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd


Normally, when David Wain is at the peak of his comedic powers he's also at his most bizarre.  His seminal comedy hit Wet Hot American Summer is incredibly ridiculous, offbeat, and distinct in the way that many consider it a classic, while others will probably never get it. Most recently, Wain has been dabbling in more mainstream efforts such as Wanderlust and Role Models, but his latest film They Came Together is a poor attempt to reclaim his indie cred by tearing to shreds the most conventional genre of all: the romantic comedy.

That's right, the old rom-com, which everybody can admit is stale and painfully formulaic. That seems to be the entire point of Wain's film, which stars the bulk of his 'Wet Hot' cast, with Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler in the lead roles as a couple whose love follows a familiar step-by-step path. The problem is that Wain isn't especially clever in pointing out the silliness behind the infamous "meet cutes", contrived romantic obstacles, and phony emotional entanglements that litter romantic comedies. We're all in on the joke right from the beginning, and Wain struggles to make that one joke fly for more than 20 minutes, much less the 83 minute run time.

The whole set-up is basically ripped from You've Got Mail; perhaps the stick by which all formulaic rom-coms will forever be measured. Molly (Poehler) and Joel (Rudd) are at a restaurant on a double date with a bored married couple (Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper), when the dinner conversation turns to how they met and fell in love. All the standard genre tropes are rolled out in a fashion that is initially hilarious because we all recognize them: Molly is an awkward but lovable candy shop owner, so innocent and pure and she gives all of her profits to charity. Joel is nominally her perfect match, but he works for a huge corporation planning to open its own store right across the street and put Molly out of business. When the two meet, of course they are instant enemies despite the obvious physical attraction, but soon they overcome the tension with the help of their stereotypical ethnic best friends.

It's obvious that Wain and his talented cast are having a lot of fun with this, and the film is at its best when it ventures into ludicrous tangents that feel separate from the rom-com shaming. Wain favorite Christopher Meloni co-stars as Joel's money-grubbing boss, and his embarrassing toilet misadventures at a costume party are a highlight. Joel has his group of racially diverse buddies (including SNL vet Kenan Thompson and The State'sKen Marino) who all play basketball (badly) and act as Joel's voices of reason. While these scenes are funny and clever in their own way, you can almost hear the gears grind to a halt during a torturous, repetitive sequence between Joel and a bartender over the phrase "You can say that again". It's one of those scenes that starts off funny, becomes tiresome, but never goes back around to being funny again, and you know that's what Wain was hoping for. The film's weak double-entendre of a title should tell you there's nothing subversive going on here; every joke is pretty obvious.

Unfortunately, there are too many moments just like that one. There comes a point when Hader and Kemper's characters begin to grow weary of the overlong tale, and it's a pretty good reflection of how the audience will feel at that point. Satire is a tough beast to tame, and while some of Wain's jokes are obviously meant to be terrible, surely not so many were designed to fall as flat as they do. Rudd, who has been in more than his share of lame romantic comedies, plays along with the gags and pokes fun at himself most of all. He and Poehler make for a great pair, one that wouldn't be too surprising if they were in a straight-up rom-com at some point, but they just don't have enough material to work with. As a fan of The State and Wet Hot American Summer, They Came Together feels like Wain flailing desperately to reclaim that old magic but finding it simply isn't there.

Friday, January 17, 2014

First Clip from David Wain's 'They Came Together'


They Came Together a new rom-com by David Wain is being touted as one of the must see's of Sundance this year. Travis is there now so I'm sure we'll be hearing some official word soon, but as for today we have a first look clip for your viewing pleasure. David Wain, a huge director of quick comedy over the last decade, has apparently styled this flick more in the vein of The Ten, or Wet Hot American Summer over the more traditional comedy style of Role Models. I only preface the clip with that information because this style of comedy is not very conducive to quick clips. I'm a big fan of Wet Hot American Summer but I'll be honest that it took about three tries to see the whole thing. The trick is to watch these beginning to end so you can get in the flow of the flick. As you'll see in the below clip, when you pull a scene out and watch it what you get seems like a deleted scene from Movie 43 or a rejected SNL skit, both in terms of acting and content. So with that disclaimer check out the below clip and, hopefully, enjoy!


Sunday, January 12, 2014

71st Annual Golden Globes: 'American Hustle' Wins Three Awards, '12 Years A Slave' Wins Best Drama


The 71st Annual Golden Globes are now in the books, one of the last major steps on the road to the Academy Awards, and there are a couple of surprises that are all tied in together. Probably the biggest of all is that 12 Years A Slave, which had come in as the favorite over the last few months, only managed one win for Best Drama, leading many on social media to wail that the film was mere moments away from being totally shut out.

The big victor of the night was David O. Russell's American Hustle with three, including Best Picture Comedy/Musical, Best Actress-Comedy for Amy Adams, and Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Lawrence. The momentum for Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club continued as he defeated Chiwetel Ejiofor for Best Actor-Drama, while his co-star Jared Leto won Best Supporting actor. Despite the film earning its share of criticism, Leonardo DiCaprio won Best Actor-Comedy for Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street. As many predicted, Alfonso Cuaron won Best Director for Gravity, overcoming stiff competition from Steve McQueen and O. Russell.

In their second year as hosts, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler began the night with a scathing and pin-point opener skewering many of the guests, especially ripping George Clooney for his infamous ageism. Tom Hanks was especially in the duo's comedic sights for some reason, and yeah there were plenty of off-the-wall, possibly alcohol-fueled acceptance speeches. In particular Jacqueline Bissett, winning for TV miniseries Dancing on the Edge, gave a sputtering, angry speech that had to be censored for vulgarity.

How will all of this affect the Oscar nominations next week? If anything, it shows that 12 Years A Slave's seeming grip on the top honors is slipping.

The full list of winners is below:

Best Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER: "12 Years a Slave"
"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"Philomena"
"Rush"

Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical
WINNER: "American Hustle"
"Her"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Nebraska"
"The Wolf Of Wall Street"

Best Director
WINNER: Alfonso Cuaron - "Gravity"
Paul Greengrass - "Captain Phillips"
Steve McQueen - "12 Years a Slave"
Alexander Payne - "Nebraska"
David O Russell - "American Hustle"

Best Actress - Drama
WINNER: Cate Blanchett - "Blue Jasmine"
Sandra Bullock - "Gravity
Judi Dench - "Philomena"
Emma Thompson - "Saving Mr Banks"
Kate Winslet - "Labor Day"

Best Actor - Drama
WINNER: Matthew McConaughey - "Dallas Buyers Club"
Chiwetel Ejiofor - "12 Years a Slave"
Idris Elba - "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"
Tom Hanks - "Captain Phillips"
Robert Redford - "All Is Lost"

Best Actress - Comedy
WINNER: Amy Adams - "American Hustle"
Julie Delpy - "Before Midnight"
Greta Gerwig - "Frances Ha"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - "Enough Said"
Meryl Streep - "August: Osage County"

Best Actor - Comedy/Musical
WINNER: Leonardo DiCaprio - "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Christian Bale - "American Hustle"
Bruce Dern - "Nebraska"
Oscar Isaac - "Inside Llewyn Davis"
Joaquin Phoenix - "Her"

Best Supporting Actress
WINNER:  Jennifer Lawrence - "American Hustle"
Sally Hawkins - "Blue Jasmine"
Lupita N'yongo - "12 Years a Slave"
Julia Roberts - "August: Osage County"
June Squibb - "Nebraska"

Best Supporting Actor
WINNER: Jared Leto - "Dallas Buyers Club"
Barkhad Abdi - "Captain Phillips"
Daniel Bruhl - "Rush"
Bradley Cooper - "American Hustle"
Michael Fassbender - "12 Years a Slave"

Best Screenplay
WINNER: Spike Jonze - "Her"
Bob Nelson - "Nebraska"
Jeff Pope & Steve Coogan - "Philomena"
John Ridley - "12 Years a Slave"
Eric Warren Singer & David O. Russell - "American Hustle"

Best Foreign Film
WINNER: "The Great Beauty"
"Blue Is The Warmest Color"
"The Hunt"
"The Past"
"The Wind Rises"

Best Animated Feature
WINNER: "Frozen"
"The Croods"
"Despicable Me 2"

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
WINNER: Alex Ebert - "All Is Lost
Alex Heffes - "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom"
Steven Price - "Gravity"
John Williams - "The Book Thief"
Hans Zimmer - "12 Years a Slave"

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
WINNER: "Ordinary Love" - U2 - "Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom"
 "Atlas" - Coldplay - "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"
"Let It Go - Idina Menzel - "Frozen"
"Please Mr. Kennedy" - Justin Timberlake & co - "Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Sweeter Than Fiction" - Taylor Swift - "One Chance"

Best TV Series - Comedy/Musical
WINNER: "Brooklyn Nine Nine"
"Girls"
"Big Bang Theory"
"Modern Family"
"Parks and Recreation"

Best Miniseries Or Motion Picture Made For Television
WINNER: "Behind the Candelabra"
"American Horror Story: Coven"
"Dancing On The Edge"
"Top of the Lake"
"The White Queen"

Best TV Drama
WINNER: "Breaking Bad"
"Downton Abbey"
"The Good Wife"
"House of Cards"
"Masters of Sex"

Best Actress - Drama TV Series
WINNER: Robin Wright - "House of Cards"
Julianna Margulies - "The Good Wife"
Tatiana Maslany - "Orphan Black"
Taylor Schilling - "Orange Is the New Black"
Kerry Washington - "Scandal"

Best Actor - TV Drama
WINNER: Bryan Cranston - "Breaking Bad"
Liev Schreiber - "Ray Donovan"
Michael Sheen - "Masters of Sex"
Kevin Spacey - "House of Cards"
James Spader - "The Blacklist"

Best Actress - Miniseries
WINNER: Elisabeth Moss - "Top of the Lake"
Helena Bonham-Carter - "Burton & Taylor"
Rebecca Ferguson - "The White Queen"
Jessica Lange - "American Horror Story: Coven"
Helen Mirren - "Phil Spector"

Best Actor - Miniseries
WINNER: Michael Douglas - "Behind the Candelabra"
Matt Damon - "Behind the Candelabra"
Chiwetel Ejiofor - "Dancing On the Edge"
Idris Elba - "Luther"
Al Pacino - "Phil Spector"

Best Actress - Comedy TV Series
WINNER: Amy Poehler - "Parks and Recreation" 
Zooey Deschanel - "New Girl"
Lena Dunham - "Girls"
Edie Falco - "Nurse Jackie"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - "Veep"

Best Actor - Comedy TV Series
WINNER: Andy Samberg - "Brooklyn Nine Nine"
Jason Bateman - "Arrested Development"
Don Cheadle - "House of Lies"
Michael J. Fox - "The Michael J. Fox Show"
Jim Parsons - "The Big Bang Theory"

Best Supporting Actor - TV
WINNER: Jon Voight - "Ray Donovan"
Josh Charles - "The Good Wife"
Rob Lowe - "Behind the Candelabra"
Aaron Paul - "Breaking Bad"
Corey Stoll - "House of Cards"

Best Supporting Actress - TV
WINNER: Jacqueline Bisset - "Dancing On the Edge"
Janet McTeer - "The White Queen"
Hayden Panetierre - "Nashville"
Monica Potter - "Parenthood"
Sofia Vergara - "Modern Family"

Friday, November 1, 2013

Review: "Free Birds," starring Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, and Amy Poehler


It seems every single month now there is a new computer-animated film coming out so that people with children can go to the movies. They market it hard and make special 3-D glasses for the kids and sell fast food kid meals so that kids will bug their parents to take them to see this bright and colorful 90-minute adventure in safe-movie land. This time in November, we get Free Birds, which to be honest looked really flimsy and a terrible idea. What we got though is a pretty enjoyable buddy movie with great winks and nods to Back To The Future and Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure.  

Free Birds is a crazy movie about a nerdy turkey named Reggie (voiced by Owen Wilson), who is an outcast at the turkey farm he lives in. He ends up being the pardoned turkey by the President, who I might add for some reason sounds like Bill Clinton. So Reggie now lives at Camp David and has found out about pizza. So check this, a turkey calls and orders pizza in gobble gobble turkey speak. While Reggie is living the life of luxury, he is then kidnaped by Jake, the one and only member of the Turkey Liberation Front. Jake was told by the GRREAT TURKEY to get Reggie and find a time machine and go back to the first Thanksgiving and stop turkeys from ever being part of the menu. Yes, that’s as convoluted as it sounds.

You know, the voice acting really sells a lot of this movie. Owen Wilson is in his full Owen Wilsonness as Reggie. All his vocal tics are there, so if that bothers you in live action that might actually bother you in cartoon turkey form. Woody Harrelson is hoot as the super alpha turkey Jake and his want and need to save turkeydom from being dinners. His character is lovably jock stupid. Amy Poehler was good as Jenny the female turkey princess in the past that Reggie falls for. To be honest, the whole Reggie/Jenny thing is very much something you’d get from a romantic comedy Wilson would be in, just in cartoon form. Also George Takei is amazing as the time machine computer S.T.E.V.E.

One weird thing about this movie is that the turkeys are portrayed as Native American like against the English colonists. It’s a weird way of not dealing with the issue of how actually messed up what happened to native peoples in regards to Thanksgiving was. And then it gets really weird once you see actual Native American human characters in the movie.  The look of the movie is quite decent in terms of lighting, textures, and character design, but it’s not amazing either. The quality seems just a little bit above the direct-to-DVD computer animated sequels. The 3-D doesn’t really add much of real pop, so really you can save the money and see the 2-D version.

Free Birds is a quite surprising little family movie. That concept of time-traveling turkeys to stop Thanksgiving is something you think would be deserving of a “c’mon son” greatly. Luckily the everyone involved managed to craft a nice and entertaining family movie that is actually for the thanksgiving holiday. Free Birds is a movie you can go to and not feel like you’re going to suffer. 

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Guttenbergs


Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd to star in David Wain's rom-com parody, 'They Came Together'


Now here's a combination that not only sounds good together, but has worked quite well in the past: Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd. The two featured together in David Wain's cult hit, Wet Hot American Summer, and are currently going toe-to-toe on NBC's Parks & Recreation. Now they'll pair up again with Wain for They Came Together, which is being described as a parody of romantic comedies.

Wain and co-writer Michael Showalter came up with the script, which has been floating around for years, initially under Universal, but now Lionsgate has it and is pushing ahead. The story will basically include every rom-com convention you can think of, from the inevitability of their relationship, to the jealous ex-girlfriend, wise pet dog, beautiful autumnal shots of New York, etc. Rudd and Poehler will play Joel and Molly, who hate each other at first when it's his big corporation that shuts down her quirky knick-knack shop. Oh, they're mocking You've Got Mail, right? Always hated that movie.

The talent involved is beyond question, but we've seen more than enough genre spoofs of late that this may just be overkill, and frankly I'm not sure there's a fresh way to tackle the concept. Frankly, I'm surprised to see Wain and Rudd get another turn at bat after Wanderlust crashed so hard earlier this year. They managed to make a sleeper hit out of Role Models, though, so maybe it will happen again. [Variety]

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Owen Wilson, Amy Poehler, and Zach Galifianakis to star in 'Mad Men' creator's new comedy, 'You Are Here'


3.5 million viewers for the fifth season premier of your hit cable TV series greases a lot of palms and gets sh*t done. Just ask Matthew Weiner, creator and exec-producer of Mad Men, who just saw the show achieve its highest rated episode yet. Already one of the richest creators in TV Land, he's hoping that the success he's had on the small screen will pass to the big screen, and now he's got the cast to make that happen.

THR reports that Amy Poehler and Owen Wilson are set to star in You Are Here, a comedy that Weiner has been trying to get done for nearly ten years with no luck. Zach Galifianakis has been attached for a few years now, back when Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Aniston were set to star. Not sounding like anything Don Draper would ever involve himself with, the story centers on a fun loving weatherman who relies on his best friend for practically everything. When the friend's father dies and he inherits the family general store out in the country, the weatherman is forced to examine his own life.

Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, Renee Zellwegger, and Matt Dillon have all circled the film at one point or another, so the material must be pretty strong to attract all these big names. Shooting should begin in April, dead smack in the middle of Mad Men's fifth season.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Amy Poehler joins her 'Parks and Recreation' co-star Adam Scott in 'A.C.O.D.'


Has anybody had quite the embarrassment of riches when it comes to comedic ensembles as Adam Scott? Every project he takes on, whether it's a show like Party Down or NBC's Parks and Recreation, or this week's adult comedy Friends with Kids, he's always surrounded by an amazing cast. Now it's happening again for the promising comedy, A.C.O.D., with a familiar face coming aboard to co-star.

Amy Poehler will be joining her Parks and Recreation colleague in the film, co-written and directed by Stu Zicherman. Short for 'Adult Children of Divorce', Scott plays a guy still dealing with the ramifications of his parents' divorce, but must do whatever he can bring them back together for his brother's upcoming wedding. Jane Lynch plays a washed up psychologist looking for another shot at fame by studying Scott's character. Richard Jenkins and Catherine O'Hara will play his divorced parents, with Pohler as Jenkins' new lady. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clark Duke, and Jessica Alba co-star.

Filming on A.C.O.D. begin next week, and should proceed uninterrupted since Parks and Recreation has just finished wrapping the fourth season. [Deadline]