Sports and Entertainment

Paul Rudd is awesome.  There I said it.  He is a great actor.  He is funnier than hell, and all of his recent “Apatow” movies are beyond great.  So how did I Love You, Man stack up to the rest of his flicks?

ILYM beats the hell out of them.  I really dug this movie.  The story is simple.  Rudd’s character is every dude in the world that has more girl friends than guy friends.  When he pops the question to his girlfriend (Beautiful as always Rashida Jones) he needs a best man for the wedding.  He doesnt have one so he sets out to find a best man.

That best man is Jason Segal.  You might remember his penis from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  I wasn’t a huge fan of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but I Love You Man redeems Segal in my book.   Segal is perfect for the role of Rudd’s friend because he is the exact opposite of Rudd’s character.  He’s sloppy, rude, and blunt.  It’s a great contrast to Rudd’s character who at times I felt like he was TOO akward. 

The minor characters in here are equally as hilarious as the stars are.  There is a plethora of talent in this flick.  Jamie Pressley plays the bff to Rashida Jones’ character.  Jon Favreau plays her “jock” boyfriend.  Lou Ferrigno steals the show in all his scenes in the movie (yes, that Lou Ferrigno).  Andy Samberg plays Rudd’s brother who happens to be a gay personal trainer.  The band Rush is in here…haha  I could go on….

The story is almost by the book, but does take a nice angle I didn’t see coming.  There is a part where Segal’s character asks for money but I won’t spoil it….there is a fun twist that I didn’t think would happen.

The movie is already in my top ten list at the end of the year.  It’s freaking funny.  I definitely give it a check it out. 

The beautiful Rashida Jones

I have awoken from my hibernation.  It has been almost 2 weeks since my last post.  During this time, I have been playing Resident Evil 5 for Xbox 360.  It has been a long slumber.  I have a full beard.  I have not eaten in 12 days.  I have not seen my dog or my girlfriend.  What the heck happened?

Resident Evil 5.  My God.  So I bought it the day it came out, put it in my system and finally have come out of the world.  It is an engrossing, terrific game.  It is graphically amazing, the sound it fantastic, and the story is phenomenal.

You start in Africa as Chris Redfield, with new partner Sheva.  Together you go through 6 levels of horror, of zombies, of crazy bat creatures, of huge whale/shark/Lochness Monster hyribs, of crazy bugs, crazier zombies, huge executioners, and crazier zombies.

The controls are great.  Like Resident Evil 4, you are armed with your personal arsenal throughout the game.  Unlike RE4, there isn’t a shop.  You simply switch in and out of your inventory between levels and unfortunate deaths.  The weapons are awesome in this, and the zombies are harder to defeat with them.

The graphics are great.  You are engulfed into the world of RE5.  The sound is amazing you hear every scream every bullet and every smashed skull.  Everything in this game is phenomenal.

The greatest addition to RE5 is the co-op.  You can go online with a friend and each of you can blast away zombies together.  It is so much fun.  I cannot get over how awesome RE5 was.

Well, I am back to S&E so hopefully you will get your much needed movie news.  Hopefully you don’t pick up RE5 and forget to visit my site. 

Seriously this is getting out of control.  This movie needs to come out right now!!!! So far we have:

Sly Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Eric Roberts, Dolph Lundgren, Charisma Carpenter, Randy Couture, Danny Trejo, Forrest Whitaker, and Sandra Bullock (still rumored).

Today add Austin 3:16 himself Stone Cold Steve Austin.  Seriously this movie is going to be ridiculous.

After a merry-go-round of actresses from Emily Blunt to Eliza Dushku, Iron Man 2 has finally found its Black Widow.  Nikki Finke has confirmed that bombshell Scarlett Johannson will play the role not only in IM2 but also The Avengers and maybe even more flicks after that.

Scarlett is hot.  That’s not up for debate.  She has her picture next to the word Sexy in the dictionary.  I mean, I use her image to promote this site that is how hot she is.  Is she the Black Widow though?  It will be interesting to see her take up the role.  Dark hair on Johannson is pretty hot and she is a decent actress.  There are complaints that she is too “wooden” but I think she could really thrive in a role where she can have some fun like Black Widow.

Finke also reports that she is getting paid in peanuts which is kind of crazy for such high budget movies like Marvel is pushing.  It doesn’t come as a surprise because really, these movies are guaranteed blockbusters and I am sure she will see some kind of money from toys and games and everything else associated with the role.  Congrats to Scarlett.

I am going to change the name of this site to Expendables and Entertainment instead of S&E.  I am following this flick blindly like cattle.  The Expendables already has an above average cast.  I mean wayyyy above average.  Stallone, Statham, Li, Lungren, Rourke, Roberts, Schwarzenegger, Trejo, Whitaker, Couture, and Sandra Bullock is rumored. 

Today even more great casting news has been delivered.  TV Guide is reporting the beautiful Charisma Carpenter (Buff the Vampire Slayer, Gossip Girl, Veronica Mars) is now a part of this ensemble cast.  She will be playing Statham’s love interest.  While it’s not a huge role I’m sure, it’s great to see her in anything especially a big action movie like this.

I seriously can’t wait for this movie.  Even if the story is utter garbage, the action is going to be crazy. 

There are times in this business that things need to be left alone.  There should never be a Goonies remake, there should never be a Back to the Future remake, and there should never ever ever for the love of God be a Karate Kid remake.  Now all three of those movies have been pitched as remakes or reboots or whatever you want to call it and unfortunately Karate Kid is moving forward.  However, there ARE some movies that just plain need to get redone to make them what they should be.

The Fantastic 4 is one of those movies.  The Fantastic 4 could have been awesome.  It could have been a true franchise movie much like Batman or Spider-Man.  While it did on occassion have its bright spots….like Chiklis as Thing or Julian McMahon as Doom, the movie just completely blew.  The people at Fox did what they do best and hired a less than capable director *cough  Brett Ratner X3  cough* in Tim Story and they just let him completely ruin the Fantastic 4.  He did not one time capture the essence of the family that is the Fantastic 4. 

Now, merely four years after the first one came out and only 2 years after the sequel, Fox wants to reboot the franchise.  According to IESB, Fox wants the franchise to mirror Iron Man than be all bubble gummy.  So what?  No Michael Chiklis/Chris Evans banter? 

This my friends is great great news.  If the Fantastic 4 is done right, it could be one of the best film franchises of all time.  You read that right.  It is one of the greatest comics of all time so there you have it.  Let’s just hope they don’t the “hottie of the month” aka Megan Fox like they did with “hottie of 2005″ Jessica Alba.  Maybe…..just maybe cast a real blonde for Sue.  Maybe?

Sorry Jess….you’re out.

After a weekend in which I watched Watchmen twice, went to a one year old’s birthday party, and finally saw Taken, I just couldn’t write on here.  (BTW, Taken?  Holy awesome movie.)  Anyway, here are some news blurbs around the world of development hell.

Dakota Fanning has been cast in the new Twilight sequel New Moon.  She will play a character named Jane who is a member of the Italian vampires.  Apparently she uses mob hits to kill her prey and eats lots of pasta.   Thanks to E! for the scoop.

In Green Lantern movie news, the news site Collider talked to producer Donald De Line and apparently eveything is on track for the filming of the DC comic adaption.  They are scouting locations in Australia and he says Green Lantern will be more Iron Man than Dark Knight which in my opinion needs to be.  I am looking forward to that getting off the ground.  See the whole interview here:  Collider

The Huffington Post has some pictures of Jake Gyllenhaal as The Prince of Persia up on their website.  See them embiggened here: Huffington Post

Thanks to the good people at Kryptonsite.com, we have a great picture of Zatanna on Smallville.  Smallville is no stranger to DC characters popping up every few episodes or so.  This season The Legion of Superheroes showed up (The episode was really good too) and in previous seasons everyone from Martian Manhunter to Aquaman and Green Arrow have appeared.  With Smallville getting another season added by the CW next year, it will be cool to see which other characters pop up.

When I first read Watchmen back in 1998, I was completely and utterly engrossed into the world that writer Alan Moore had depicted on the pages before me.  The second I finished the 12 issue series, I immediately went back to the first issue and began to reread it.  Since then I have reread Watchmen a few dozen times. 

Having Watchmen made into a movie was both exciting and nauseating at the same time.  I have been on the fence about this project for a very long time.  I really didn’t want it to be bad.  I wanted people to watch the movie and immediately run out to their local Borders and pick up a copy.  Well,  much like the graphic novel, Watchmen the movie will make you want to immediately turn around and rewatch it from the beginning.  It will make you want to rewatch it half a dozen or so times in the months and years to come.  Watchmen the movie is excellent.

Director Zack Snyder (300) takes the graphic novel and brings these beloved characters to life so well that I think he pulled off what Alan Moore has said is unfilmable.  From the gritty streets to the planet Mars, Snyder takes each panel from the graphic novel and places it onto the screen with such respect to the source material that I find myself wanting to write him a letter to thank him for his incredible work. Now, that still doesn’t make up for some of the changes he put into the movie, but on the scale of this movie, all the changes he does make work.  They work so well I almost like them more than the original.  But the original is so beloved, you really can’t help to sit in the theatre and wish they were going to be on screen too.  That minor disappointment is the only bad thing I can say about this movie.  Kudos to Snyder.  This flick just bumped you up a few notches on the best directors working in Hollywood today.

Now, the story is in place and the director is knocking it out of the park.  The thing that needs to be there is the acting right?  Well let me say that Jackie Earle Haley (who plays Rorschach) puts in a performance so engrossing and unbelievable, I STILL don’t believe it.  Everytime I read Watchmen I thought to myself that Rorschach acted and talked a certain way.  Watching it on screen was like Haley reached into my brain and pulled out everything I imagined.  He does a phenomenal job.  Jeffery Dean Morgan (Supernatural fame) plays The Comedian and he is every bit as good in the role of the asshole as he is in the role of the good guy of past roles.  Morgan is underrated in my book and hopefully this role pulls him out more into the mainstream.  (I know Grey’s Anatomy fans believe he is in the mainstream, but that show hasn’t been relevant since it’s first season).  A couple of the actors like Malin Akerman who plays the Silk Spectre II and Patrick Wilson who plays Nite Owl II really don’t come across great on screen, but you are so engrossed it really doesn’t matter too much anyway.

The effects in this movie are top notch. Dr. Manhattan kind of annoyed me because he is an all CGI character, but there is no other way around it so I kind of just became complacent with it.  Maybe in the far far far future when Hollywood remakes it they will have different technology, but in this time and day Manhattan does work….just not quite perfect enough.  Another minor complaint I know.

I honestly want to get out today and watch Watchmen one more time.  I want to really get the full complexity that is this movie.  The Watchmen is not to be missed.

I’ve said before that my faith in 20th Century Fox and Marvel to produce a good X-Men movie after the debacle that was X3 is fairly slim.  X3 was horrible.  They messed just about everything up that they could.  I mean Juggernaut was one of my favorite characters in the Marvel universe growing up, and they completely and totally butchered him.  The Phoenix story was wasted, Kelsey Grammer as Beast was horrible, and they used Angel for a good three seconds in the flick.  I was severely disappointed. 

Then came the announcement and trailer for the Wolverine movie.  After seeing the bootleg Comic Con trailer on the internet I thought they had moved forward and it looked really good.  Then I saw the real trailer and thought to myself….here we go again.  Too many mutants, not enough story.

While this new Wolverine trailer does have too many mutants in my opinion, it still showed me some promise.  I know that a comic book movie needs a lot of action, but The Dark Knight showed us that it can also have a deep story and it can also make us use our minds to get enthralled into the story.  Wolverine still looks like it is going to be action packed, with lots of mutants…but this trailer shows more story.  So maybe, just maybe it has hope to be an X2 and less of an X3.  And dammit to hell Hugh Jackman is just huge.  My girlfriend will be thinking of this trailer tonight……Ugh.