Pop Culture Rehab

REVIEW OF THE WACKNESS

2008-06-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

The Los Angeles Film School had an advanced screening of Johnathan Levine's "The Wackness" on Monday. Levine was there to answer a couple of questions after the show.

First of all I have to say that I'm a sucker for drug stories, Biggie, and independent movies so my review might be a little bias.

"The Wackness" is about a guy named Luke Shapiro who has just graduated from high school in New York. The film takes place during the summer of 1994.

Luke (Josh Peck) is an introvert. The first scene of the movie shows Luke in his psychiatrist's office . The Psychiatrist (Ben Kingsley) asks Lukewhat is the matter and Luke answers that he needs to get laid. Luke doesn't pay him cash instead he trades 48 minutes of therapy for an eighth of marijuana.

Luke begins to loosen up when he starts a romance with his psychiatrist's daughter Stephanie ( Olivia Thrilby). Stephanie represents a whole new beginning for Luke since she is one of the popular girls while he is described as "the most popular of the unpopular", this is his chance to become known.

Kingsley's character is very funny as the old psychiatrist who is just as messed up as his patients. Peck and Kingsley do a great job of carrying the film. Luke and his psychiatrist become friends, they start partying and selling drugs together. The movie is very funny every joke worked the audience laughed at all of them.One of the funniest lines from the movie is when Kingsley's character makes a Goldie Locks reference.

The music in the film is great. Hip hop heads who know their history recognize 1994 as the golden age of hip-hop and the film reflects that. The soundtrack includes Nas, Krs-One, Raekwon and Biggie, Percy (Method Man) mentions who dope this new "Ready to Die" album is.

I definitely recommend this movie. It's a great date movie. For the guys the drugs hustling and hip-hop for, the girls the love story and drama.

After the show Levine mentioned how he was an intern for Paul Schrader, he said that "The Wackness" is not a stoner movie and isn't passing judgement either. Levine is now in the process of adapting a book that deals with a C.I.A agent that has to fly fly all over the world doing hits.

Levine has two great movies under his belt now. I definitely have my eyes on this guy.

SPIKE LEE IS GOING TO DIRECT A TIME TRAVEL MOVIE.

2008-06-18T10:21:00.001-07:00

Spike Lee's next movie is going to be an adaptation of Ronald Mallett's memoir Time Travelor:A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality. Mallet's story is about how he grew up to be one of the first African Americans to get a Ph.D in theoretical physics. When he was 10 years old Mallett's father passed, since then it became his life's mission to design a time machine, like one that he had seen in comic book, so he could go back in time to save his dad. I doubt that there will be any actual time travel since the real scientist hasn't gone back in time.

By the way here's the trailer for Spike's upcoming completed war film. It looks good. Check it.

THE DARK KNIGHT: FIRST TWO FACE VIDEO.

2008-06-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

Wanna see what two face looks like? No? Yeah me neither. I don't want to spoil anything else for myself. I feel like I have seen just the right amount. I think if I actually see what two face looks like I won't enjoy the movie as much. But that doesn't mean that you can't ruin it for yourself here's the link

JAY & SETH VS. THE APOCALYPSE

2008-06-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

I actually saw the short "Jay & Seth vs. The Apocalypse" a little while ago. The short film is now actually going to be made.

You have seen him help his friend lose his virginity. You have seen him knock up a girl. Now you can see trying to survive the end of the world.

Seth Rogen is going to star along side Jay Baruchel the guy with the cum target (canadian leaf) on his chest from "Knocked Up".

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote this script and are producing.

ONG BAK 2 TEASER TRAILER

2008-06-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

I first saw Tony Jaa doing his thing in Ong-Bak. I was at this anime store in Sherman Oaks at a place called "Toy Mandala" an awesome store where they also import anime and eastern cinema. So the guy behind the counter was like "hey you wanna see something really cool?" "Hell yeah" I answered, so he puts in this dvd where I see this guy doing crazy stunts like running on top of peoples heads, doing backflips and sliding under cars. It was so crazy that I thought it was going to suck.

Then Ong-Bak was distributed here in america and people went nuts over it. I was like "hey thats the movie I saw at the little shop."

Tony Jaa is back. This morning Twitch film released some footage of Ong-Bak 2. The new movie has no connection to the previous film. They say its about a boy who is going to be sacrificed but is rescued by a group of martial artists. They raise him with the goal to teach him all their styles so he can synthesize them into the ultimate technique. Check it.

Remember that Jaa doesn't use wires or CGI this dude is the truth.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

2008-06-10T23:38:00.000-07:00

Oh man check these videos out. I just got finished watching these and I almost felt a tear drop. I'm having a memory high right now . If I ever suffer from amnesia and forget everything please show me these videos because I will surely remember who I am.

Then I grew up a little (got cable)and started watching Nickelodeon at a time that is refered to as its golden age.

Here's an interesting video for me because I was born in the late 80's so I missed most of these shows, but it's still cool to see what people who are in their 30's watched growing up.

Directors have beef?

2008-06-10T18:24:00.000-07:00

Directors are taking a page from the rap game; they are starting rivalries. Spike Lee made a comment a little while back about how there are no black folks in Clint Eastwood's recent war films. Eastwood responded by saying that Spike should "shut his face"

Then Spike said that this "was not a plantation" so he wouldn't shut his mouth.

I know as a minority a person becomes hyper sensitive to racisim so much so that you can become nit-picky. I have a feeling Spike would agree to being hyper-sensitive, but I doubt Eastwood would consciously be trying to diss blacks or any other race. He may very well be a racist at home but being racist in public is just not cool to show anymore.

I remember awhile back Spike went at Tarantino for using the word nigger so much in Pulp Fiction. On a Charlie Rose episode Tarantino responded that as a writer he has the right to write whatever he wants as long as it was truthfully, growing up he knew people who spoke that way he told Charlie Rose. They have since then resolved their differences Tarantino even made a cameo in Spike's movie Girl 6

This is the poster for Spike's next film. The story is about four black soldiers during WWII that are left behind when one of them saves a small Italian boy.

The Transporter 3 French Teaser Trailer

2008-06-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

I'm not really a big Transporter fan. I liked the second one where Statham got down in the hospital.
They're doing some type of Speed meets Crank kind of thing check it out.

Watch a scence from Wall-E

2008-06-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

An actual scene from the upcoming Pixar movie Wall-E.

Ironman is in the new Hulk movie.

2008-06-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

Seth Rogen Interview from Comingsoon.net

2008-06-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

Seth Rogen is known for his hilarious unrehearsed and unpredictable improv tangents that make you laugh so hard you cry, but the comedian admits he may not be so funny in his next film. At the end of the summer, he'll start shooting the untitled Judd Apatow/Adam Sandler project, in which he plays a young stand-up comic who isn't the greatest at what he does.

On the set of his new movie, Observe and Report (working title), Rogen talked to ComingSoon.net about what he has in the works. For new quotes on his adapation of The Green Hornet, click here.

ComingSoon.net: Are you going to be hitting comedy clubs this summer preparing for the untitled Judd Apatow movie?
Seth Rogen: I think I'm supposed to. I was just talking to Adam Sandler about that. I saw him over the weekend. We were like, "What the f**k are we going to write jokes about now? Our lives are awesome!" All of my jokes were about not being able to get laid and having no money. Now I have a girlfriend and a good job. I literally don't know what the f**k to write about. I've got all these 'Hills' jokes and s**t. I'm like, 'Is this funny? I've got jokes about Spencer. Can I do that? Does anyone give a s**t?' It's removed me from my insecure base which is where all of my jokes came from.

CS: The word dramedy has been tossed around with regard to that script. Would you say that's the correct term?
Rogen: Yeah, it definitely has more dramatic elements than any of the other movies do, but in my head it's just as funny as the other ones. That term I always found weird. I always thought realistic was a better way to explain things that were dramedies because life is like that. It's funny, it's dramatic. To me that how I see it.

CS: Adam Sandler said he's starting that film in September, so are you going to be rehearsing over the summer?
Rogen: I'm not shooting anything between now and then. I've got a lot of f**king "Pineapple Express" promotion to do. Got to smoke weed at the Juno Awards and The Tonys, got to smoke weed at The Blockbuster Awards. I'm just promoting the movie basically and then I start rehearsals I think around mid-August.

CS: What do you know about the next Judd movie?
Rogen: I know everything about it. I've read the script and given notes on the script. I'm well versed on the next Judd movie.

CS: What was it about Eric Bana that you thought would make him right for a role in the movie?
Rogen: I actually had nothing to do with the casting. Judd had a lot of strong choices--a lot of strong notions going in. Soon there will be an official release of the entire cast. It has some really cool people in it that I think people will be really excited to see working with us.

CS: Are we going to see a lot of familiar faces too?
Rogen: Yep, you'll definitely see a lot of familiar faces.

CS: What type of character do you play in it?
Rogen: I play a young struggling stand-up comedy who is not that funny. That's not too far off.

CS: Does he play in a lesbian bar?
Rogen: No, that's not in the script actually. We should put that in though. That was the first place I did stand-up.

CS: Is it hard for you not to be funny?
Rogen: No, I don't know. We are supposed to be writing two types of stand-up jokes. I'm to be writing good ones and not so good ones and I've got a s**t load of not so good ones.

CS: You play a young stand-up and Adam Sandler plays another stand-up comedian so does he play a mentor to your character?
Rogen: There maybe a mentor type dynamic there which we're all very familiar with. Judd, Gary Shandling really mentored him a lot and Judd really mentored me a lot and now I'm kind of helping usher in this new group of guys. I wouldn't say I'm mentoring them, but whoever kind of gets their foot in the door first kind of opens it for the rest of the group. I'd say that aspect of the story, we all heavily relate to.

CS: Jonah Hill said he was working on a script about you two being brothers.
Rogen: Yeah, that's something he's been writing for awhile. I'm not sure if he's ever finished it. "Middle Brother" or "Middle Child." Something like that. "Step Brothers" might step on that a little bit. I don't know how many movies about two curly haired guys [will go over], I would love to do that. I think it's really funny. I read a draft of it a little while ago, about six months ago maybe and it was really funny. Maybe one day.

CS: Is your character in the Kevin Smith movie better at making a porno than he is in "Knocked Up" making a porn site?
Rogen: Yes! I think he is. It's way easier to make a porno than a porn web page. I'll tell you that. Me and you could make a porno in 10 minutes on my iPhone. A web page would probably take one of you guys 10 minutes, for me it would take a while.

CS: Kevin Smith has a very different aesthetic from the Judd Apatow movies, so what was your experience like on that film?
Rogen: He let us improvise to the best that his shooting style will allow. He shoots very specifically because he edits the movies also. Shot for shot, the whole is planned out in his head beforehand so to some degree that limits the amount of improv you have can. You see how we shoot here. They put the cameras on us and we go. With Kevin, it's much more specifically shot. It's like, "Well this shot is only good for three words so you can improvise all you want, but only three words are going to be in this shot." I was proud of him. He let us do a lot of stuff that I never thought he'd let people do. I've seen the movie and there is a lot of the improv that we've done in the movie and I think it feels maybe more naturalistic than maybe some of his other movies do. That being said, it's not quite the same universe as what we do here.

Free Hancock Screenings!

2008-06-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

I just got the latest issue of Entertainment weekly and they are giving away free passes to Hancock, if you live in the following citites:

Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Dallas
Detroit
Los Angeles
New York
Philadelphia
San Francisco
Washington D.C

All you gotta do is go to www.ew.com/freescreening and enter your e-mail.

This giveaway is to expire on June 13 so get your passes as soon as you can.