Trailer Trash: City Island

This little bugger crept up on me when I was perusing Apple for updates. City Island is a new Italian family comedy written & directed by Raymond De Felitta, whose only other work has seemingly been Italian family comedies (stick with what you know).

Andy Garcia & Julianna Margulies play a long-married couple who break each other's balls alot. They all have secrets: the daughter isn't in college on a scholarship anymore (she's stripping), neither of the parents quit smoking like they said, Andy enrolled in an acting class (with Alan Arkin playing the teacher)...etc. Comedy of errors the Gabagool way.

Pretty funny trailer with some stand out moments including (you'll get it when you watch it) the Brando moment, Andy's handcuff reaction and pretty much everything Julianna Margulies says.

Here's the link to the Apple Quicktime trailer.

I'll see this (but I doubt I'll find it until OnDemand).

Trailer Trash: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Alright kiddies, a quickie because I have to go to bed. Epic day tomorrow in the teens/20s of degrees.

The trailer for Oliver Stone's latest, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps has hit IMDB (here). I must admit that I've never seen the original, only parts, but having culturally osmosed most of the deal of it, as well as reading about this new one, I think I get the gist: Michael Douglas plays Gordon Gekko, the king weasel of NYC money world, he leads people to their financial ruin. A young idealist (Charlie Sheen in the 80s, Shia LaBeouf now) squares off. Battle/sex/yelling/cops/NYC.

Based on the trailer, I think it looks good. With MD looking pretty good for 7 facelifts (unconfirmed) and Shia looking young and flashy, as well as Josh Brolin & a very angry Frank Langella for two frames, I think we're in for a treat, performance-wise.  The cast list boasts some big names we don't even see, like Susan Sarandon & Eli Wallach.The plot itself might not be too surprising, because since Wall Street came out we've seen a thousand versions of young man/old scoundrel financial/business/political thriller with sexy shots of NYC in it. Mr. Stone knows how to shoot a movie, and him returning to NYC after 20 very serious years is an intriguing sell for this film. MD looks like he's ready to be back in the saddle, too.

Say what you will about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but Harrison Ford looked livelier and more present than he had in years. As does Michael Douglas in this trailer. Perhaps Shia carries in him some secret Fountain of Youth canteen OR he really is as good as all the major directors who keep casting him insist, and he makes these old tireds step their game up....Let's get him with Pacino/DeNiro/Nicholson ASAP.

I'll see this. 

Blogging via Android?

this will be helpful the next time the mood really grabs me.

have a great snowy thursday, friends.

love you

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Just saw Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, a stop-motion adventure based on a Roald Dahl book. I never read the original, but it does have the feel of other Dahl adventures, especially James and the Giant Peach (although that connection is probably also magnified by the stop-motion of that book that I saw when I was a wee lad...).

This is a fun, wild adventure for adults. It's not dirty, lewd or anything inappropriate for children, except that very mature, well-rounded adult relationships are presented (albeit between clay animals) and the humor is as dry as any other Wes Anderson movie. George Clooney and Meryl Streep were excellent as the man and his wife. Anderson regular Jason Schwartzman does fine work as Ash, their son. Other fun voice-work from Willem Dafoe (great character, his Rat) and Michael Gambon as one of the villainous humans. And, naturally, W.A.'s muse, Mr. Bill Murray, as Badger, a lawyer.

It's a very hip movie, but not in the ways that make Diablo Cody so irritating, though haters could dismiss it as too hip to be real. I felt the coolness, the style of it, but I wasn't taken aback by it, instead it welcomed me and invited me in to have a good time with the world they were creating. The pop music cues work because its a W.A. film (and we know that) and because it's all soaked in that "ooh yeah" ipod sensibility that makes things easily digestible now. I wonder if this movie were made 20 years ago what kind of score it'd have...?

I definitely recommend it, as well as Up in the Air, for two fine Clooney performances this year.

See this movie!

Welcome to 2010

Hey everyone, just did some minor cosmetic changes on the site. What do you think of the place?

I resolve to update more and more, as often as I can. That's why this New Year's post is coming to you 23 days into the latest and greatest decade.
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Last night, I made my stand up comedy debut at The Crossroads, where my comedy gang threw a sexy party for Haiti relief featuring stand-ups and music and improv. It didn't all hit the bullseye, but it was well worth it.

We raised $332 for the American Red Cross!

I'd like to post some video of it soon. Then you all can fwd it to each other and I'll go viral. BAM. That's how it happens: with a blog named after yourself.
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In all frankness, thanks to my family and friends for constantly supporting my creative endeavors. I love you all. I am blessed with a life where by day I can work in television and by night I can work on my own projects. It's impossible to measure the happiness a given work of art can generate in an audience and how that happiness affects other people, but just knowing it does in any small portion makes me not only satisfied with what I do, but also proud.

Best.