Humor District

• Joseph Gordon Levitt joins ‘Dark Knight Rises‘… but not as Falcone, Riddler maybe?
• Interview with Zack Snyder on the Sexuality and World of ‘Sucker Punch’
• Comic book fans go nuts: X-Men 4, X-Men 5, and Deadpool It’s All Happening
• Uma Thurman talks about Quentin Tarantino’s next film
• If All Time Travel Films had Doc Brown
• Will Ferrell to take over from Steve Carell as boss of the office according to… Will Ferrell
• The Lost Roles of Tropic Thunder. Keanu Reeves as Tugg Speedman? Whoa!
• [Poster above: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2]
• Bonus: Angry Birds: The Movie (Trailer)

Popularity: 2% [?]

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez brought grindhouse style films back to popularity with Death Proof and Planet Terror. By popularity I mean I enjoyed those movies and the style they were filmed in, so I assume others did too. Now people have started to wonder what other movies would look like if they were filmed in the grindhouse style. Of course the rational jump there was to move from other movies to the children’s book, The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss. It is a little known fact that Dr. Seuss, real name Theodor Seuss Geisel, was actually not too fond of children. He didn’t hate them or anything, he just didn’t like to be around them. I feel like he would approve of this Lorax grindhouse movie made by Classy Hands. Hell, he’d probably play it with a projector on the side of his house to keep those pesky kids off his lawn.

Now that I have seen this, I would really like to see a gritty remake of Hop on Pop. Perhaps One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish could be turned into a psychological thriller. Somebody needs to get Christopher Nolan on the phone right now. Just remember it was my idea, with a guiding hand from Classy Hands.

Popularity: 1% [?]

We are coming up on that time of year when many of our favorite shows are coming to an end. Some will be back after a brief hiatus, but others won’t have any new episodes. It has long been a theme to have the last episode of a season, and especially series, be a special event that shakes the foundation of the show. The purpose of the season finale is to leave you with an episode that brings you back for more, which is why they are so often cliffhangers. Some have done better than others, and these are the season finales that have not only brought people back for future seasons, but have had a tremendous impact on the series in general.

Who Shot Mr. Burns – The Simpsons

The Simpsons basically spoofed an old season finale of Dallas with their Who Shot Mr. Burns story arc. The finale had Mr. Burns plotting to build a device that would block out the sun and make the citizens of Springfield rely on his power plant to provide light for them. It was a cruel and devious plan, even by his standards. Of course everyone in Springfield was outraged by this, and at the end of the episode Mr. Burns was shot. The only problem was that everyone in town could be considered a suspect. Mr. Burns has never won any popularity contests. Fox built up the mystery with various promotional deals and contests, and we were left with a Simpsons episode we would never forget.

The Kiss – The Office

Jim and Pam’s romance on The Office is something we take for granted these days. It seems so long ago that Jim was constantly hanging around Pam’s desk and Pam was engaged to some guy in the warehouse. The season finale of season 2 had Jim finally confess his love for Pam in the middle of a rainy parking lot. She looked at him, they had a moment, then she said no and ran away. It looked like all was lost for Jim, until he tracked her down. While Pam might have been saying no, her body was most definitely saying yes. Jim and Pam end the episode with a kiss that cements their romance for the rest of the series.

Borgified – Star Trek: The Next Generation

Captain Jean-Luc Picard was the indomitable Captain of the USS Enterprise who had triumphed over every alien threat he had faced. He was the stalwart character, the leading man who could do no wrong. You just don’t expect anything to happen to a character like that. He just saves the day. That was the story until the Borg showed up at the end of Season 3. The Borg proved that resistance was futile, and set about assimilating people all over the place. This time there was no last second triumph, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard was Borgified himself, becoming that which he most despised.

The Mystery of Cartman’s Father – South Park

There are several themes in South Park. Kenny is poor, Stan and Kyle learn life lessons each episode, and Cartman’s mom is a big slut and possible drug addict. The promiscuous ways of Cartman’s mom led up to the events of the season 1 finale. Cartman’s mom had been with so many men, that nobody could be sure of who Cartman’s father actually was. Cartman was seriously hoping that his dad was John Elway of the Denver Broncos, but pretty much every other guy on the team was potentially his father as well. With most of the town gathered around Cartman, the mystery of his father was soon to be revealed, with lasting repercussions. It was not until the 201st episode that the mystery of Cartman’s father was truly solved.

Grave Danger – CSI

By season 5, most of us were tired of seeing the same old routine of the crime being solved after the CSI team analyzes a boot print, bullet casing, or semen sample. Luckily the season 5 finale shook things up by bringing in Quentin Tarantino to direct the episode. It was one of the most suspenseful episodes in the series, with one of the main characters, Nick Stokes, becoming trapped in a coffin. If that wasn’t creepy enough, the coffin has plenty of devious contraptions to prevent his escape or rescue. Quentin Tarantino did a great job in mixing things up on this season finale.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Roger Ebert is still yet to review The Expendables. Grab our RSS Feed to be notified when he does, and we’ve published a few Expendable trailers which you can view here.

Now I don’t mean to use any harsh language, but Roger Ebert has proven himself to be a fuddy duddy. A 1/5 rating for Kick-Ass? Really? Now I hate to be the writer to make all the “Kick-Ass lived up to the name” references, but it can’t be helped, Kick-Ass truly did kick ass. It is just baffling that a comic book movie that can be legitimately compared to The Dark Knight and Iron Man in terms of quality would receive the lowest rating possible.

Let’s go over Mr. Ebert’s review. He seems to be thrown off by the high levels of violence in Kick-Ass, especially the violence by 11 year old Chloe Grace Moretz as Hit-Girl. Ebert seemed particularly offended that Hit-Girl got the crap beat out of her by a grown man. It was, admittedly, a little uncomfortable to watch a grown man pummel a little girl, but it fit in with the semi-realistic nature of the movie. Small children do not have the mass to fight fully grown gangsters in hand to hand combat. Look at this image from the Kick-Ass graphic novel and tell me the violence was not to be expected.

Yet, Mr. Ebert had no problem whatsoever with the over the top violence and gore in Kill Bill, even though that featured a young girl in a schoolgirl outfit named Gogo Gabari fighting with a spiked ball on a chain who was violently killed. In fact, Ebert gave Kill Bill a rating of 4/5.

Now I’m not trying to bring down Kill Bill, I thoroughly enjoyed both movies, I am just pointing out that Roger Ebert’s stance on violence against the youth seems to be a little uneven. It seems that Mr. Ebert is more likely to give somebody like Quentin Tarantino some leeway in reviews, while coming down hard on lesser known comic properties. This is truly a shame, as Kick-Ass could be starting a trend of great movies based off of less mainstream comics with movies like The Losers and Scott Pilgrim coming out.

Kick-Ass did not try and hide the nature of the movie. It’s name is Kick-Ass, of course there is going to be violence, especially since it is a semi-realistic view of what would happen if somebody dressed up as a superhero and tried to fight crime. They would most likely get their ass kicked. Even the trailer opened up with a man dressed in a falcon-like costume falling to his death. Kick-Ass did a great job mixing in humor into what on the outside seems like a pretty bleak world. Even Mr. Ebert had to admit that the movie started off hilariously. I was lucky enough to attend an advanced screening of Kick-Ass, and the entire audience was reacting to every scene. Almost everything that happened in the movie elicited some sort of reaction from the crowd, whether it was laughter, gasps, or appreciative oohs. The end, which Mr. Ebert claimed was dark and made him sad, still got a great positive reaction from the audience, and nobody could stop talking about Kick-Ass on their way out of the theater. I believe that is a far larger sign of a great movie than a review by Roger Ebert. In the end, a movie that draws that kind of positive reaction from the general audience is sure to be remembered as a good one. If you are interested in seeing a good movie, I highly recommend Kick-Ass, but be warned, it features violence and strong language, hence the “R” rating. Duh. Humor District gives Roger Ebert a rating of Looks Like a Woman and Kick-Ass a rating of 4/5.

Popularity: 6% [?]

We all know that Lady Gaga is a bit eccentric, to say the least. It takes a special kind of person to think a miniskirt made out of hula hoops matches a tinfoil top and a hat shaped like Jupiter. Apparently that is just the kind of person that Quentin Tarantino wants in his next movie.

According to MTV, Tarantino has been talking to Lady Gaga about a possible role as an assassin in his next film. The details are still unknown, and nothing is set in stone at this point, but I would not be surprised if the two ended up working together. Tarantino is a fairly eccentric guy himself. My prediction is that Lady Gaga plays an Oddjob type character, in that she has weapons hidden in her outfit. I think she will go a little beyond a razor rimmed hat though, who knows what crazy things she hide in her clothes?

Popularity: 1% [?]

One of the best special features on the Inglorious Basterds Bluray release. Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel.

Popularity: 1% [?]

An art exhibition is taking place today at  the Upper Playground Gallery in Los Angeles. A number of artists have provided unique poster art for Inglorious Basterds.

Get this: Each print will be numbered and signed by Quentin Tarantino, and only 6 of each have been produced. All proceeds from this program will be donated to The American Red Cross to help the victims of the Haiti Earthquake. How Awesome?

Via Upper Playground:

On February 18th, 2010 from 6p – 9p the world will get to preview and purchase the “Lost Art of Inglorious Basterds” at The Upper Playground Art Gallery in Downtown Los Angeles.  All proceeds from this program will be donated to The American Red Cross to help the victims of the Haiti Earthquake.

This creative team has assembled the following select group of accomplished artists, David Choe, Sam Flores, Estevan Oriol, Grotesk, Jeremy Fish, Patrick Martinez, Alex Pardee, Dora Drimalas, Munk One, N8 Van Dyke, Rene Alamanza, Morning Breath and Skinner Davis, to create their own poster art based off their interpretation of the Oscar Nominated film, “Inglourious Basterds” artwork.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 1% [?]