FIRED
http://www.firedthemovie.com/

Featuring: Tim Allen, David Cross, Andy Dick, Tate Donovan, Andy Borowitz, Jeff Garlin, Richard Kind, Anne Meara, Bob Odenkirk, Robert Reich, Jeffrey Ross, Harry Shearer, Ben Stein, Sarah Silverman

Opens: This Friday February 2nd @ City Cinemas, Village East, NYC

If you spend any time at all in the workplace you’re going to get laid off, down-sized, let go, out-sourced, axed, terminated, canned, cancelled, dismissed…FIRED!

When actress Annabelle Gurwitch was fired from a play by Woody Allen she wondered how she would cope with being fired by a cultural icon. Turning to friends in show business she was assured she was not alone. Once the subject had been broached, everyone she knew from her rabbi and gynecologists to her colleagues had advice and their own accounts of getting the boot to offer. This set her off on a journey to answer the question: was being fired going to be the best thing or worst thing that had happened in her working life.

Gurwitch began researching and traveling the country, interviewing people as diverse as Tim Allen, Sarah Silverman, Jeff Garlin, Anne Meara, David Cross and GM workers in Lansing, Michigan whose perspectives ranged from the tragically comedic to proving that old adage when one door closes another door opens, to the just plain tragic. Annabelle attended job fairs, received “outplacement services”, interviewed human resource directors, downsizers, and the downsized who were seeking new jobs.

Fired! reminds us that her that all great success come out of failure and being fired can be a part of the growth process, that humor helps, and that if you’re employed in America today your firing may be the best and the worst thing that can happen in your working life.

Watch the trailer.

 Rescue Dawn is a Vietnam prisoner-of-war movie starring Christian Bale (Batman Begins) and Steve Zahn (the annoying sidekick from Sahara, That Thing You Do, etc).  Bale and Zahn are downed American pilots held captive by communist forces in a Vietnamese prison camp deep in the jungle.

Like all prisoner-of-war movies, Bale and Zahn appear to spend most of their time getting tortured, doing hard labor, and growing beards.  Eventually (or inevitably if you’ve watched any prisoner-of-war movie before) they and fellow Vietnamese prisoners escape.  Although free, they must now struggle for survival and seek rescue in the middle of the enemy jungle with no food or supplies.  Expect lots of writhing in the mud as well as a required waterfall scene – where they are cornered by the communists and must leap into the plunging falls to escape.

 Coming to theaters March 30, 2007

Bale and Zahn after much beard growing, about to jump off a waterfall?

 

Street Date: January 23, 2007

Price: $26.98

Overview: Winner of three Academy Awards®*, including Best Director, the movie that became a cultural phenomenon is now available in a remarkable 2-Disc Collector’s Edition. Relive the sweeping epic that explores the lives of two young men (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal), a ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy, who meet in the summer of 1963 and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection. With all-new bonus features, never-before-seen footage and highly collectible postcards, this definitive set magnifies the emotion, drama and power of one of cinema’s most groundbreaking films.

Bonus Features:
Brokeback Mountain: The Collector’s Edition offers exclusive bonus features, some available for the first time, that will heighten viewers’ understanding and enjoyment of this seminal film, including:

A Groundbreaking Success – In an original documentary, Brokeback Mountain’s producers and cast talk about bringing this unusual story to the screen on their terms. The film also examines the phenomenal attention garnered by the movie, including the numerous parodies that were inspired by its theme.

Music From the Mountain – Composer Gustavo Santaolalla, who won an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain’s emotional soundtrack, anchors a breakdown of the movie’s unforgettable music. Includes interviews with each of the featured artists and a trip to the studio with the legendary Willie Nelson as he records his touching version of Bob Dylan’s “He Was a Friend of Mine.”

Impressions From the Film – The raw beauty and splendor of the American West are masterfully showcased in a photomontage of the film’s sweeping vistas.

On Being A Cowboy – Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal discuss their preparations for the film, including rodeo and wrangling training. Exclusive on-set interviews with the film’s stunt coordinator are also featured.

Directing From The Heart: Ang Lee – Director Ang Lee is profiled in this intimate behind-the-scenes look at the creative force that brought the absorbing story of Brokeback Mountain to life.

From Script to Screen: Interviews with Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana – The writers discuss bringing Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx’s visionary short story to the screen.

Sharing the Story: The Making of Brokeback Mountain – This featurette follows the filmmaking process from start to finish and introduces the cast and crew who brought Brokeback Mountain to life through in-depth interviews, exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, and more.

Number of Discs: 2

Run Time: 2 Hours 15 Minutes

Picture: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)

Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, English DTS 5.1 Surround, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Rating: R (Sexuality, Nudity, Language and Some Violence)

*Winner of three Academy Awards® for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score

Watch the trailer: http://www.reelnow.com/play.php?video_id=220

Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock are shooting a scene for a movie. They’re dressed in giant bug costumes sitting on a set resembling a giant car windshield. The director starts shooting, in which the car’s windshield washers and wipers come on, spraying the actors down with water and wiping them off the windshield surface.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more misleading trailer. The trailer indicates that Bee Movie is a live action movie with Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock doing cheesy physical comedy. The actual movie is yet another CGI animated story about a group of bugs that has absolutely nothing to do with the trailer. I guess the movie has the voices of Seinfeld and Rock, with Seinfeld as a bee and Rock as … some other type of bug. As for what it’s about – looks like we’ll have to wait for an actual trailer with actual movie clips.

Coming to theaters November 2007.

Looks nothing like the trailer …

A scene of Live Free or Die Hard, the fourth installment in the popular Die Hard series, was shot direcly in front of the building where I work only a few weeks ago, so I was pretty surprised to see the trailer released already. I was even more surprised that the scene was included in the trailer, that kind of turn-around is definitely a credit to the film’s production crew.

The road in front of my building was closed for more than a week while the film crew were setting up a chain link fence, arranging parked cars so they looked like traffic was moving, and driving a huge semi-truck up and down the street. We were all excited because the entire Die Hard franchise is all about cars flipping over and hugely unnecessary explosions. This new movie appears to be no different, and someone caught the action with their (shaky) camera, which has since been posted on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0_qR-f1CWM:

This corresponds with the truck-crash-car-exploding scenes in the trailer:

I’m not sure what post-production work was done on the scene since the car and semi-truck both have that CGI-like quality to them, but it was still good to see movie stunts being done with old fashioned explosives. Although the movie takes place in Washington D.C, this scene – like most movie scenes – was shot in LA.

Live Free and Die Hard comes out next July Fourth when John McClane (Bruce Willis, with more pounds and less hair than in Die Hard 3) and a wisecracking sidekick (Justin Long, of “Hi, I’m a Mac”/”And I’m a PC” fame) must work together to stop terrorists from destroying America with their bad, foreign accents.

If you’re not disgusted easily, I’d recommend watching Jackass: Number Two. You’d be surprised to find out how hilarious someone else’s pain really is. I wouldn’t feel too guilty about laughing though, these guys seem to enjoy hurting each other.

Also, check out the Jackass game: http://www.jackassmovie.com/goregame/

Play it in the office, it’s a great way to not get any work done.

Los Angeles , CA – Laurie David, a producer of An Inconvenient Truth, announced today that 50,000 DVD’s of the acclaimed documentary will be donated on a first come, first serve basis to teachers across the country interested in using the film as a teaching tool in classrooms via www.participate.net.

The DVD’s will be given away starting Monday, December 18, 2006 thru Thursday, January 18, 2007. Teachers are encouraged to log on to www.participate.net to request the DVD, which will be delivered within 6-8 weeks. Every teacher must provide a nine-digit federal tax ID number belonging to the school where they teach.

“Since the film debuted, we have received hundreds of emails from teachers interested in using An Inconvenient Truth in their classrooms to educate students about global warming. I am thrilled that we are able to give away these DVD’s through the generosity of individual citizens who are underwriting this effort and I hope it helps inspire and move a generation towards solving this urgent problem,” said Laurie David, a producer of the film.

A free downloadable curriculum guide to accompany An Inconvenient Truth is available for download at Participate.net courtesy of the film’s financier, Participant Productions. Developed by Topics Education for Participant Productions and Paramount Home Entertainment, the “AIT in the Classroom” curriculum is aligned with national curriculum standards and is designed for use in high school Earth Science, Environmental Science, Physics, and Chemistry classes. It can also be used in civics classes, middle school science classes, and offers Serving Learning opportunities for students.

“An Inconvenient Truth has ignited a national movement to make the public aware of the effects of global warming and how each of us can contribute to the solution. By providing access to this film together with curriculum support materials for educators, we intend to support our teachers, advance the study of environmental science and contribute to a new generation of environmentally-conscious citizens,” said Jim Berk, CEO, Participant Productions.

This generous donation was made possible with the cooperation of Paramount Vantage, Participant Productions and The Environmental Media Association. The Environmental Media Association ( www.EMA-online.org) was created in 1989, as a non-profit 501(c)3.

I think at some point (or even now) all of us loved the Turtles. Here are some of the posters from the upcoming movie. Also, be sure to check out the trailer on Reel Now at TMNT Trailer

Ahmed’s Review of A Knight’s Tale aka 37 Reasons the Middle Ages Were WAY Cooler than Right Now

So I wake up Sunday, having passed out on the couch (again) at about 12:30 Saturday night, which for a rager like myself is about 4 hours too early and considering the only lady involved was Suzanne Somers in a Step By Step rerun… not the best night. Not to worry though, because what greeted me when I awoke Sunday morning? None other than the Heath Ledger classic A Knight’s Tale. This movie has it all, especially when you factor in that my senior year of college HBO put it into uber-rotation status, which meant it was shown every 6 hours, and if you were lucky like me and stole ALL the HBO networks, every 17 minutes (trust me, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen The Right Stuff en espanol on HBO Latino). There’s only about 15 movies that I will drop anything I’m doing to watch. I mean ANYTHING. A Knight’s Tale has entered that pantheon, though frankly I would have never wanted it to. The movie, in addition to the plotline, is a true Cinderella story.

Why You Care

So first things first, so you can really decide if you want to waste 2 hours on this (and by waste I mean have your life altered forever), a brief discussion on who this movie is geared towards. Tale is for the ladies, obviously, what with Heath Ledger (Sir Ullrich von Liechtenstein, for the unencumbered) taking off his shirt something like 43 times, and, not to be forgotten, 5 bumpkin serfs writing poems to rival Shakespeare. At the same time, it’s meant for guys too. Who didn’t dream of jousting when they were little? Let alone jousting in the biggest tournament in all the Rheine valley!! Or for that matter making out with that mysterious brunette with wild hair (more on her later). As an added bonus, there’s a rock soundtrack interspersed with the medieval chants and grunts (because that’s how they rolled in the 1400’s. I wiki’d it so you don’t have to). So to recap, this movie is for everyone. If you’re reading this, you must watch Knight’s Tale. If you’ve only seen it 17 times, that 18^th time cannot be soon enough. If you haven’t seen it, shame on you. Either way, that next viewing will be well worth it. Now then, on to why this movie rocks the house.

Who Knew they had Mousse in the Middle Ages

This movie taught me something like 5 million things about the 1500’s. Which is 5 million more than I remember from junior high social studies. That they don’t include this as required viewing in middle school social studies classes is beyond me. I already mentioned the rock music. I’m pretty sure that at some point during the flick the groupies break into a “We Will Rock You”-esque chant. That is a JAM. And these people look like they bathe at least once a week, way more than the year or two my 8^th grade social studies teacher had me believing people went between a good cleaning back in the day. And you’ve got this blacksmith girl putting definite Nike logos on Heath’s shield. She even put the R circle so Philip Knight’s brilliance wouldn’t be lost on the various people making 8 pence a day. If they’re so lucky, they too could save up for 9 months and get the Air Sir Ullrich’s on layaway.

Actually, this blacksmith girl needs her own paragraph. For starters, the chauvinist in me once thought it impossible for a girl to be a good blacksmith. IMPOSSIBLE. But see that’s how Knight’s Tale rolls. It entertains AND teaches. Now I realize that girls are equals. At least with tongs, prongs, and bellows. But if you think I was incredulous when they had me believing she was a serviceable worker, I practically did backflips when she invented titanium alloy. GENIUS. And to think everyone else didn’t come around on stronger, lighter materials until 1970 or so. Sir Ullrich’s genius blacksmith girl had that figured out 400 years ago. What does this prove? Apparently if we get a girl in a physics lab nuclear fusion is 2-3 hard days’ work away. Don’t laugh, son, I’d like to see you invent titanium alloy without any of the required ingredients, know-how, or general wherewithal. Because that’s what she did.

And then, of course, there’s the mousse. Heath’s perm, his lady friend’s wild hair (which, mind you, could have easily been the result of the same magic potion Cameron Diaz went with in Something About Mary, though I highly doubt it). I seriously wonder now, other than the lack of plumbing, electricity, computers, cars, television, Nintendo Wii, mass production capabilities, air conditioning, ice cream, and football, if I wouldn’t have been better off living in those times. Sir Ahmed von Portage de Pakistan. LOVE IT.

Who is This Girl

A word about the leading lady in the movie, Shannyn Sossamon. She even spells her name mysteriously. Delectable!! I can say with full confidence that if you took this girl and put her in the 21^st century she’d be rolling with the goth kids. She’d be the one requisite cute girl in the group who, if you smeared off the 7 layers of mascara, white blush, undyed her hair, maybe gave her a semi-normal haircut (and that part applies in the movie too… wtf is that coif she’s running with? She looks like a peacock that got hit by a Mack truck), and maybe put her on the volleyball team to boot she’d be one of the top 5 hottest girls you know. Instead you’re stuck with mysterious potential. Which does no one much good, unless you’re into those diamond-in-the-rough types. Lucky for me, my roommate is, so anytime Knight’s Tale is on now I get subjected to 15-20 comments about how she’s “so well put-together” and “see how hot she is in that shot”. Fantastic.

And what’s up with her and her friend following around the joust circuit for 6-8 months? They’re basically medieval NASCAR groupies. And if you check out the rest of the crowds frequenting these events, it’s spot on. Worthless, unemployed idiots who spend 5-7 days cooped up in their camper/trailer, all in hopes that Sterling Marlin (or in their case, Sir Douchebag de Leipzig) will qualify, not crash, and maybe even place Top 20. Gotta get those points!! Am I jealous? You’re goddamn right I am. How do Mysterious Shannyn and her groupie friend fit in with this crowd? You got me. But then this movie wouldn’t be much fun if Sir Ullrich got on some broad with 9 missing teeth and the vocabubalary of a 3yearold. Not that all NASCAR groupies are like that…

A True Cinderella Story

In the end, this movie truly has it all. Heath rises up from the humblest of humble beginnings, has it all, has it all taken away, goes on a 2-minute rant about how at least they cannot take his pride, only to subsequently have his pride taken away as well, then realize that LOVE is what cannot be taken away, only to have… ok I kid, but you get the idea. What a rollercoaster. Two hours cannot be wasted on a better bad movie. Enjoy.