Apologies. I wanted to post something meaningful today, but then I got caught up watching this clip of Duke Nukem singing Elvis while smashing chucks of ice and delivering one killer drum solo.
All kidding aside, this really should have been how The Expendables ended.
Have a great New Year, gang.
Yuks wanted.
You know how every Pixar film in theaters opens with a nifty little short? I’ve always thought of it as a great throwback to film going days of old, while also enjoying the little extra bit of Pixar I’m getting for my buck. I especially enjoyed Day & Night, the short before Toy Story 3, although the teenagers in front of me seemed to be wondering if they were in the wrong theater.
Pixar tweets are beginning to flow like crazy now that we’re getting closer to (collective moan) Cars 2, and they all seem to hint towards the same thing: The film will open with the first of several Toy Story character epilogue shorts. While this seems like a fun thought at first (and a great way to trick people like me into seeing Cars 2), I hope that this doesn’t cheapen what I thought was a great ending to a very fun trilogy. Then again, this is Pixar, and I’m sure they’ll bring us nothing but the finest. Like Cars 2, for example.
The first short is called Hawaii, and will feature Barbie and Ken. As long as they bring back favs Michael Keaton and Jodi Benson, I’m sure it’ll be awesome.
via CHUD
After seeing this, I’ll take back some of the ill words I had for it a few weeks back, but not all.Â
I stand by my statement that Seth Rogan is a terrible voice casting choice. He’s too “I’m really a formally fat Jewish guy” to sound alien. And speaking of voice work, we live in an age where we no longer need trailers read to to us by some fancy voice guy…so why hire one just to read “Paul”? And finally: Nick Frost was not allowed to talk in this trailer.  He charges extra for that.
Finally home from my holiday festivities, and I’ve come baring gifts. Check out the teaser for Kevin Smith’s religious-themed horror film Red State.
Even though this tells us next to nothing, I’m pretty interested. Granted, I’m a Kevin Smith fan, and I’m anxious to see what he can do in this new genre, but casting a crazy priest as your villain seems pretty original to me. I’m probably REALLY wrong about that, so feel free to post links to all the other crazy priest movies in the comments.
Merry Festival of the Bells, folks! Like Logan said, it’s a short week. We wanted to get you guys the Tron/Tron Legacy show today, but holiday travel and technical difficulties intervened. We’ll have it for you next Wednesday, and, if all goes well, True Grit the week after that. It’s a Very Jeff Bridges Christmas.
Speaking of, here’s a bit of Tron to tide you over. The well-remembered 1982 Tron Holiday Special from Funny or Die.
[Via Badass Digest]
It’s nearly Christmas here at the Critical End! HQ. I’m hanging decorations in my best Clark Griswold style, while Ryan is having his usual charitable event, “Make Out with Ryan for 5 Bucks”.*
Click to download just in time for Christmas!
Anyway, because of the upcoming holiday, we wanted to let you know that this will be something of a short week for the site. No podcast this week, however, we will post one more story tomorrow, most likely something about how rad Chevy Chase is and how lame Judd Apatow is. After that, you’re on your own, Timmy.
We’ll return to the usual schedule the week after Christmas, with our TRON podcast. See you all back here then!Â
*Reserve your place now! Last year Ryan raised over $5.00 for “Ryan’s Angels”, a charity that helps girls ages 18 to 25 win a dream date with Ryan.
I tell ya, this Spider-Man musical, huh? Am I right? The shakily-reviewed, fan-maligned, still unreleased Broadway debut of your friendly neighborhood wall-crawler has been delayed once again. Â So what’s the deal this time? Â More horrifying wrist injuries? Â No, apparently, one of the main issues is that preview audiences have had a tough time following what the hell is going on.
/Film says that producers “have decided that the second act, which is where the show strays from the classic Spider-Man mythology, is unclear and needs to be tinkered with.”  So, first, great job fucking up the story of one of the most recognizable characters in popular fiction to such a degree that it’s not only disappointing, but flat out incomprehensible.
Second, if the whole point of a musical is to tell a story through music, I’m going to guess that the droning, generic contributions of Bono and THE EDGETM probably aren’t cutting it. Not a surprise, based on what we’ve already seen. C’mon, that could be a song about literally anything. What does it tell us about Spider-Man?
Luckily, Batman swoops in to the save the day. Not that probably-also-shitty Batman musical they’re cooking up. I’m talking about Christian Bale himself. Check out this interview where he actually starts to sing a song from Newsies. Sure, he stops after only two words, but it still made my day. Plus he transitions in the Powerpuff Girls theme for some reason, which is amazing in its own right. Any father who exposes his daughter to an excellent cartoon that’s been off the air for six years is a great dad in my book.
[Clip via Badass Digest]
Wow, 2010. You’re really turning out to be a bad year for celebrity deaths. Leslie Nielsen, Tom Bosley,  Kevin McCarthy, Dennis Hopper, Doug Fieger, Peter Graves…and now Blake Edwards.
While he hasn’t been very active since the final Pink Panther film in 1993, I remember being thrilled to see him up to his old tricks again at the Oscars in 2004. The moment is one of the few fond memories I have of the Oscars over the past ten years, and is definitely worth seeing again, despite the scary, bald, and mostly annoying Jim Carrey.
We’ll miss you, Blake.
Every Christmas for the past six years I’ve had a chance to eat dinner, play pool, or just hang out with Chevy Chase. And have I done it? No. I mean, I’m a clinically obsessed Chevy fan. Shouldn’t I be first in line to make all sorts of Caddyshack II references during a game of billiards with Ty Webb himself?*
I would if I had $3,250.
That’s the current going rate on this years 7th Annual Chevy Chase Green School Auction. That $3,250 is kind of cheap when you consider that it’s for brunch with the Griswold’s themselves, Chevy and Beverly D’angelo. The description promises even more wacky fun:
You will be a part of all the laughs and personal anecdotes (without the disasters!) from this hilarious pair as you are treated to a delectable brunch in the Griswold style!Â
I’m not sure what the “Griswold style” is, but COUNT. ME. IN. I assume it means Chevy will spill stuff all over me, trip the waiter by accident, and Ethan Embry may show up only because he needs the work. All of this is worth way more than $3,250.
It’s only one of several things Chevy has talked his pals into doing this year for charity. See the rest of the list here, and start buying for me now! My personal favorite is a chance to hang out with Chevy and the cast of Community on the set. Only $1,000 right now?! That’s cheap!
*I tried to find the billiard scene in question on YouTube, but alas, I guess everybody hates Caddyshack II. Anyway, it’s worth watching just to see Chevy’s excellent shtick.
Who me? No, no, I don’t live here. I’m just Johnny Depp. No problem, I get that a lot. REVIEWED: The Tourist. PLUS: Filler!
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Back in June, you may recall us posting the first promotional shot from the upcoming Hugh Jackman “film” Real Steel, or as Dreamworks is referring to it, Real Steal.Â
Yeah, yeah. I know that’s a terrible joke, but check out this trailer.  Dreamworks is practically reaching into my pocket and taking money from me. The only believable line in the entire trailer is Jackman yelling “Let’s make some money!”, because, let’s face it, that’s exactly what this film is going to do. I don’t quite think we’re talking about the next Avatar here, but perhaps Transformers for sure. Sigh.
Not a ton going down today, but remember that new CG animated Road Runner short WB was working on? Well here it is (in full this time), and you don’t have to suffer through some terrible Cats & Dogs movie to see it.
I dig it. It hit all the right beats, had me laughing out loud, then got out quickly. And it reminded me of Tangled, in that it was produced with CG, but was obviously tailored to look like its hand-drawn source material. Nice going, WB. Let’s see more where this came from, hopefully in front of better movies than Cats & Dogs.
[Via /Film]
Don't freak out, it's totally consensual.
So here’s what we know. First and awesomest, Disney has released an official synopsis for the new Muppet flick:
On vacation in Los Angeles, Walter, the world’s biggest Muppet fan, and his friends Gary (Jason Segel) and Mary (Amy Adams) from Smalltown, USA, discover the nefarious plan of oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to raze the Muppet Theater and drill for the oil recently discovered beneath the Muppets’ former stomping grounds.
To stage The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever and raise the $10 million needed to save the theater, Walter, Mary and Gary help Kermit reunite the Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways: Fozzie now performs with a Reno casino house band called the Moopets, Miss Piggy is a plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, Animal is in a Santa Barbara clinic for anger management, and Gonzo is a high-powered plumbing magnate.
With secret, signature, celebrity cameos, The Muppets hits the big screen Nov. 23, 2011.
That’s pretty much what we’ve been hearing with some great new details on what the disbanded Muppets are up to at the film’s beginning. You’ll also note that the release date has been moved form Christmas to Thanksgiving, meaning you’ll get your Muppet fix a full month earlier.
In bittersweet news, Paul Rudd has squashed the rumor that he’s voicing Segel’s puppet pal Walter. Bitter because we all love Paul Rudd, but sweet because my preference is for Muppeteers to voice Muppets. It’s the natural order of things. Of course it’s still possible they’ll go for a celebrity dub job to pull in a broader audience. It’s also possible that Celebrity Dub Job would make a great title for a gameshow.
Last thing, Muppet Central linked some sneaky set pics posted at On Location Vacations. They’re guaranteed to satisfy all your dour-looking-gentleman-manhandling-Beaker needs.
Picture from the upcoming Robin Hood music video, "Here Comes the Wicky Wicky Wild Wild Jiggy Robin Hood"
Long story short: The Wachowski brothers siblings, Andy and LarryLana Wachowski, are in the early stages of adapting a new Robin Hood film.  The “twist”?   It’s going to be set in a modern, urban society, which I guess screams “black Robin Hood”.  Hence: Will Smith.
So let’s look at what we have: Will Smith in a modern take of the Robin Hood tale? Sounds fine…if it were 1998. Honestly: We really don’t need another Robin Hood film, modern, urban society or not. Ridly Scott already released his “true” version of the story earlier this year, and while it wasn’t a terrible film, it really felt like I had seen it all before. And Will Smith has so many movies in the works that remind us how awesome he was a few years back, it’s ridiculous. Here’s a quick list from IMDB: Bad Boys 3, I, Robot 2, Independence Day 2, Men in Black 3, I Am Legend 2, and I kid you not, Independence Day 3. Â
As for the Wachowski  brothers siblings, Andy and LarryLana Wachowski, I gave up on you guys gentlemen people long before the credits for The Matrix Reloaded started rolling.
via Collider
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