Critical End!

When I was little, I was the only kid in the world who would ride around the neighborhood on my bike pretending to be Frank Drebin.  I even hummed the Police Squad! theme song for added effect.  Frank was a hero.  He was a tough cop who always got the girl, but I think what really appealed to me at that age was his ability to be a complete buffoon so gracefully.  He didn’t even care.

I grew up watching Leslie Nielsen play the same part in other movies, but like most people, I didn’t care.  I was so enchanted with the man in any role, that it didn’t matter if it was mostly the same role or not.  What mattered was that Nielsen was a genius at what he was doing, and that was making us laugh.      

I didn’t plan to post this today, and honestly, I’m heartbroken to do so.  On behalf of comedy fans all of the world, we’ll miss you, Mr. Nielsen.

MSTies rejoice! Shout Factory has announced, via Satellite News, that they will release a five-disc box containing every Gamera episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Why is this news? Because the guy who brought those movies to America, Sandy Frank, has long blocked DVD distribution of the MST3K versions.

The going theory has been that Frank didn’t take too kindly to the way Joel and the bots personally lambasted him on the show, but according to Badass Digest, it was just a matter of money. Either way, Frank’s stake in the films has expired and the big fire-breathing turtle is finally flying into your home. As Badass points out, this could mean that more MST3K versions of Sandy Frank owned films could be on the way, like Time of the Apes, Mighty Jack, and the Fugitive Alien movies.

Hey folks.  It’s a short week due to Thanksgiving.  No podcast and we’ll just be posting today and tomorrow.  So, before the holiday break, I wanted to clear out a couple things I meant to post about last week:

First up, here’s some long lost footage from Back to the Future Part II. It’s the full video loop that plays outside the Biff Tannen Museum scene in alternate 1985. There’s definitely more here than we see in the finished film, and it sounds like the narration is still temp. So, I guess that makes this the version from alternate alternate 1985.

[/Film via BTTF.com]

While we’re on the subject, check out this very interesting article where BTTF scribe Bob Gale debunks some common misconceptions about the trilogy.

It’s old news now, but here’s the full Green Lantern trailer. Everything about it pleases me except the costume which was created entirely by CG rather than physical material. It looked great on the cover of Entertainment Weekly awhile back, but it’s kind of fakey when seen in motion. Hopefully they’ll give it one more pass before it hits theaters.

Here’s a publicity shot for the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark wherein Nicole Kidman from Moulin Rouge! is terrorized by a slouchy, bipedal version of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Badass Digest has three others, each goofier than the last.

"It's the fact that I'm a walking abomination isn't it?"

And finally, if you’re spending Monday counting the hours until the Thanksgiving holiday, embrace your frustration with this video compilation of every violent, primal, non-lingual utterance Arnold Schwarzenegger has ever committed to film. See you next week!

[Via /Film]

…why not make it a movie night?  And since this film doesn’t fully exist yet…

…why not get the family together and watch this one instead?

Full review coming this Tuesday.  See you back here then.

Listen folks, I love and miss Dan Aykroyd just as much as the next guy, but I’ve noticed a few things as of late:

1. He apparently eats his weight in butter chunks once a day.  However, I don’t fault him for this.  I plan to do the same when butter chunk prices go down.

2. He needs to lay off of the UFO and ghost stuff.  It’s all he’s talked about over the past few years.  Which leads to number 3…

3. He’s gone fucking batshit crazy.  Don’t believe me?

Remember this blast from the recent past?  I dare you to make it through all 8 minutes of this “video”.  I made it to around the 6 minute mark before I realized that this wasn’t a joke.  No, ladies and gentlemen, he’s for reals.

I also have to wonder how his new-found batshit craziness is going to affect the script to Ghostbusters 3.  Oh, and in related news: I want a case of this for Christmas.  I mean, it comes in a freakin’ glass skull, people.

Eyes on the monitor, sir.

Not for you, but for some lucky Muppeteer.  /Film has posted some new pics (via The Daily Mail) from the set of The Muppets, including this one of Amy Adams with new Muppet Walter.  Now, we know Paul Rudd will provide Walter’s voice, but as a Muppet fan, I’ve been wondering who’ll be on puppet duty.

The only suspect who came to mind based on the long hair was Steve Whitmire himself, the man behind Kermit.  But this guy looked too young to be Whitmire, so I hit up Muppet Wiki which identifies the puppeteer as Peter Linz.  I’d seen his name in Muppet credits before, but I couldn’t think of any major roles he’d performed, until I discovered that he was the voice of Tutter from Bear in the Big Blue House.  You may not know who that is, but the memory of Linz squeaking I GOTTA BIG BLOCK OF CHEESE HERE, BEAR! still brings a smile to my face.  I couldn’t ask for a better hand for Paul Rudd’s voice to come out of.

No time to talk, folks! I have to get back to remaking "Rushmore" again!

Hey kids, did you hear?  Wes Anderson has announced his next film!  It’s called Moon Rise Kingdom and *yawn*.  Oh my.  Excuse me.  How unprofessional.  I apologize.  Where was I?  Oh yeah.  Deadline is reporting that the cast is shaping up to look like Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, and *yawns and nods off*

What?  Oh, hey.  Sorry.  Just got sleepy all of the sudden.  What was I talking about?  Oh, yeah.  Wes Anderson.  I- *ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*.

In all seriousness, this is a real film that’s happening and it’s just as boring as it sounds.  If anybody needs me I’ll be sleeping on the Z key.

…ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzz…

Yoinked from /Film

/Film, famous for being the site I steal most of my posts from, has scored some awesome pictures from the set of the new Jason Segel Muppet movie.  Gotta say, I like what I see.  Check out the link for pics of Henson Studios converted to the rundown Muppet Studios, as well as the Electric Mayhem bus, and puppeteers performing Walter, Segel’s best pal.

And if you haven’t heard, Amy Adams has been cast as Segel’s girlfriend, and the evil-faced Chris Cooper has signed on for the villain.  No new ground broken for either actor, but I can watch Adams be a girlfriend and Cooper be a dick all day.  Fingers crossed, folks.

His record speaks for itself, but I’ll always know him best as the man who helped bring us this:

Godspeed, sir.

Hi. I'm Joe Dante and I approve of this message. Now if you'll excuse me, I must get back to being amazing.

The Howling is the best werewolf movie of all time.  Don’t think so?  Let’s look at the the facts: Joe Dante directed.  Robert Picardo is creepy as all get out.  The effects by Rob Bottin and Rick Baker still amaze.  Dick Miller chases off a bunch of nuns.  Hell, even Roger Corman shows up to parody himself.  The only other werewolf film that even comes close to this amount of awesomeness is John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London.  So, yes, when a film is this strikingly magnificent it’s only a matter of time before Hollywood remakes it.

Which is not happening.

Instead somebody at Anchor Bay thinks we want another Howling sequel.  I kid you not.  It’s been 15 years since The Howling VII: New Moon Rising hit video shelves, and even longer since anybody cared, yet Moonstone Entertainment/Anchor Bay thinks that there’s still enough interest in the series to now warrant The Howling Reborn.  I guess they’re also ignoring the fact that most of us stopped watching the Howling sequels about five minutes into The Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (actual title, I swear to God).

Head over to CHUD for the full story.  I’ll plan to see this film only if Dick Miller shows up in the middle of the first act and chases the cast and crew off.  Good riddance.

Folks, this has been a very confusing week for your old pal Logan.  First, the Cars 2 teaser leaves me scratching my head, and then just today a seemingly normal trip to my local comic book store erupted into chaos and mass confusion on my part when I noticed this sitting on the shelf:

At first I was just happy to see that they haven’t run out of obvious situations to place The Evil Dead’s Ash in yet.  Intrigued, I begin to flip through.  Not to give anything away, but it appears that Ash heads to a comic book convention which is also frequented by Barack Obama (and not some other black guy in a suit as the cover seems to imply).  Then the evil dead attacks or something.  Typical.  Ash and his old college pal President Obama can’t go anywhere these days.  Especially during an election season.  

In the end I decided to pass.  I love America.  Just not this much.

The teaser trailer for the upcoming sequel that nobody asked for Cars 2, is officially the first work from Pixar that has depressed me to no end.  Please announce in a few weeks that this was actually produced by Dreamworks:

What the hell is even going on here?!  Is this supposed to be some sort of Mission: Impossible spoof?  If so, you’re like a decade late on that, Pixar.  Oh, and I consider myself something of a fan of comedy, but can somebody PLEASE tell me what the joke is supposed to be?  Did I miss something (besides Cars 1 of course)?

Cars 2 will attack your good sense and wallet sometime next summer.  I’m sure it’ll be in 3D too, but c’mon, were you really planning on sending your kids to college?  I think not.

This is some serious shit, folks.  Ever since Telltale announced that Christopher Lloyd would reprise the role of Doc Brown (in voiceover) for the new Back to the Future videogame, nerds have been waiting with bated breath to hear who’d play Marty.  They’ve secured the likeness of Michael J. Fox, but presumably he’s not well enough to actually play the role.  

Enter AJ LoCascio. He sent Telltale an mp3 of himself doing Marty and it was so good they gave him the job. Drop everything and check out the video below. It’s about as flawless as anyone could hope for. Even Bob Gale says so. I think I’m officially out of things to worry about, this game is going to be brilliant.

Guess who's single, ladies!

Wait, so Mel Gibson is going to have a cameo as a tattoo artist in The Hangover 2?*  What happened to moving back to Australia with his ex-wife and fighting wild dingoes?**  Will Gibson manage to once again sneak another comeback by us?***  Will he hopefully punch Zach Galifianakis in the face?****  And will I ever run out of goofy Mel Gibson photos to run?***** 

* It’s true.
** I made that last part up.
*** My guess?  Yes.  Yes, he will.
****Speaking of Galifianakis…
*****Nope:

Still single! Anyone? Hello?

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the state of comedy:

Yes, you are looking at the first picture of Adam Sandler as “Jill” from the upcoming romantic comedy Jack and Jill that we first told warned you about back here.  Clearly, this film will be the height of comedy…in 1998.