COMEDY NEWS!

Hey friends,

I hope you've enjoyed the last few TRAILER TRASH installments. Show some love in the comments when you read 'em. Thanks to those who have!

I am excited to share some new live comedy news - this weekend, THE FOOLHARDY MANOR takes the stage again at the PIT with our latest sketch show SECOND FIRST SUMMER BBQ. Last week we sold out and it went pretty awesome - this week should be no different!

Also, I have Facebook-Page'd my stand-up comedy venture GET UP, STAND-UPs, so why don't you mosey on over there and "Like" us. Essentially, GUSU (which I won't be calling it out loud) is for the stand-up shows. It isn't TFM but, like my good friends at Jamber*Tronix, we're all related.

Check out the sexy banner to the right for all upcoming show info!

Trailer Trash! LOVE RANCH

Joe Pesci is back, ladies and gentlemen! After a little tease a few years ago with his cameo in DeNiro's Good Shepherd (the only compelling part of that movie) - the biggest little man in Hollywood is back, and in Nevada, no less, the scene of his last great performance.

In Taylor Hackford's LOVE RANCH, Mr. Pesci plays opposite Dame Helen Mirren as the proprietors of one of Reno's many profitable and legal brothels, the titular desert abode. Based on the very, very plot-informative trailer, the duo are long time partners/lovers/spouses who've made it through a lot of ups and downs and have a twilight-years denouncement involving a young boxer Pesci tries to promote, an anti-prostituition movement in Nevada and the melt-down of his and Mirren's relationship.

Some of the hookers are played by Gina Gershon, Bai Ling & Taryn Manning - in the least surprising casting decision this side of a Tim Burton's crooked playhouse.

*Also of note, America's favorite drug dealer Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston is listed in the cast, though unseen in the trailer.

The caliber of talent in the leads makes this a must-see. I would've thought the plot could go anywhere, but now I have a much, much better idea, based on the revealing trailer, which eliminates the element of surprise. It was, in a cheap way, exciting to see that the movie does get violent, intense and extreme - and doesn't dwell in that 'aren't we kooky' high-concept, low-intensity blah-ville that's reserved for HBO movies not produced by Steven Spielberg or somebody named David ____.

TRAILER IS AVAILABLE ON iTUNES & APPLE.COM

Trailer Trash! EASY A & SECRETARIAT

Yes, friends, there's a new TRAILER TRASH today. It's been a while and I'm too lazy and embarrassed to go look at just how long ago the last installment was. Things have been busy lately (even moreso for Dick Wolf & co. - who are still fighting for a last ditch mini-series or TV movie to finish out the Jack McCoy legacy). For me, they've been busy because of The Foolhardy Manor and our upcoming show, "Second First Summer BBQ" - which you should come to!

First up, today is a little movie I hadn't heard about called EASY A. In it, the lovely Emma Stone (Superbad, Zombieland) plays a teenager who pretends to sleep with her gay friend to help his cover story. She ends up fake-screwing a bunch of guys in her high school for various reasons, until she real falls for Gossip Girl's Penn Badgely (who looks too old to be a teen but too young to be in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps). It looks clever enough. Every so often these little teen sex comedies come and go (much like the copious amounts of teen sex HORROR movies, that somehow get wider releases and always suck). This looks pretty funny, especially because of a supporting cast that includes Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as her parents, Thomas Haden Church as her teacher, Amanda Bynes as her god-loving, popular girl rival, as well as Lisa Kudrow and Malcom McDowell. When this eventually crosses my path, I will definitely watch it.

The trailer's cut pretty standard plot-explanation style. Some good one-liners from the parents and excellent usage of an outdated Lady GaGa track (who remember's "Poker Face" - really?).

Trailer available at IMDb.

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Next, the latest installment in Disney's inspirational family movie sports series: SECRETARIAT.

This movie, based on "the impossible true story" of the legendary Triple-Crown winning racehorse and the plucky, determined, moral and Good bunch who toiled to get the horse to the track promises to push all the same emotional buttons as those that've come before: (including these films, also made by the film's producers: Invincible - Mark Walhberg plays the horse, Miracle - Horse Hockey, & The Rookie - Quaid Horse)

I find these movies interesting because they are so Plug-&-Play, yet the filmmakers, with their use of familiar actors and (usually) popular music, seem to always hit the right buttons so at least the 1.5-2 hrs you're watching this drivel seem to go by fine. But, like the cheerleader who lets the quarterback into the endzone because he's a winner, afterwards I feel strangely empty and cheated.

This time around, the all-star cast is led by Diane Lane, John Malkovich (who seems to be starring in "Being Christopher Walken" lately), Fred Dalton Thompson (L&O waddup), the guy from Nip/Tuck and some kids.

*Also, even if the real-life person that Diane Lane is playing was blonde and blue-eyed, when making a ridiculous fairy-tale out of the "facts", there's no need to cover her natural beauty with a wig and blue contacts. It looks fake and it's gilding the lily. Seriously, she's gorgeous, just point the damn camera at her.

If you're inclined, Apple's got the trailer HERE.

Happy Mother's Day! SNL style

In honor of Mother's Day and moms everywhere, here are some fun Mom-related sketches from SNL that I love.







Make sure you tune in tonight for Betty White!