I really enjoy NBC’s series “Last Comic Standing”. I get a big kick out of comedians and appreciate how hard it is to come up with that great material. What I hate is hearing about comics stealing from other comics.

Last year Joe Rogan called out Carlos Mencia for blatantly stealing material from other comics. It was obvious, Rogan was right, Mencia steals from his fellow comics, and you can watch it all on YouTube here (too NSFW to embed here).

Now this year I’m hearing that a comic showed up for tryouts on “Last Comic Standing” and was doing the same thing. This time around it was one of the show’s hosts, Ant, called the guy out in the clip below. Funniest part may be at the end when Ant complains that Joe Rogan also called him out for stealing, but of course he denies it. I dunno, Joe was pretty right on about Mencia.

Last Comic Standing on NBC airs Thursdays at 8:30pm

The powerhouse combo of Old School’s director and writer Todd Phillips and the always awesome Jack Black is no more. The duo were set up last year to direct and star, respectively, in the comedy project “Man-Witch“.

Alas, Black has dropped out of “Man-Witch” over commitment issues. Like the kind when you don’t think your girlfriend likes you enough because you think she might be flirting with that other guy. The Hollywood Reporter has the details on the cause of their breakup:

Sources said that the decision this week to part ways may have originated from Black’s camp, which had questions about Phillips’ commitment to direct the picture ahead of “Hangover,” another comedy said to be close to the helmer’s heart. That project is also set up at Warners.

Warners confirmed the departure but declined to provide further detail. A spokesperson for Black said the star had no comment. A spokesperson for CAA, which reps Phillips, declined to comment.

On the top this sounds really disappointing. I’m a big fan of both of these guys, so the chance of them working together is awesome. But if you scratch the surface of this movie the luster starts to fade. “Man-Witch” tells the story of a man who discovers he’s a witch and then goes to teach at a witch-school for girls. Um, so it’s like “School of Rock” meets Harry Potter?

Despite the loss of Jack Black Warner Bros. says it won’t impact the movie and they’re already seeking out a new leading funny man.

Seth Rogen can’t lose. At least not these days when it comes to movies. The “Knocked Up” star has just lined up another project all based on a short skit he put together with his writing buddy, Evan Goldberg about the end of the world. The funny version of the end of the world, of course. Hollywood Reporter has the details:

“Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse” will star Rogen and Jay Baruchel and be written and produced by Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg.

The story revolves around two guys who, with the end the world unfolding and the planet invaded by monsters, are ready to kill each other after being cooped up together for too long.

Sounds like a good buddy flick along the lines of something from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (“Hot Fuzz”, “Shaun of the Dead”). Best of all is that Mandate Pictures, the studio picking this up, is giving Rogen and Goldberg complete creative control over the final version. That’s huge and typically something that does not happen, unless you’re Seth Rogen it seems.

Think you’ve got a busy schedule? Listen to Mandate’s plans to get this done in between everything else Rogen has going on right now, including his upcoming adaptation for “The Green Hornet”:

The plan is to hire a director this summer and, with a budget in the range of other Rogen movies, shoot in 2009, working in concert with Rogen’s packed schedule. The multihyphenate is currently working with Adam Sandler on Judd Apatow’s latest directorial effort, an untitled comedy, and then plans to shoot “The Green Hornet,” which he and Goldberg are now writing, early next year. That action comedy has a June 2010 release date, recently pushed back from a year earlier.

“He’s busy, but he’s also unbelievably focused on his business,” Kahane said. “I’ve never seen anyone turn around material faster or notes or whatever. He’s good.”

Keep cranking them out, Rogen & Goldberg! Just don’t let them burn you out. Speaking of Rogen getting burned out, I’m very excited for his upcoming “Pineapple Express” due out August 8, 2008: Warning – NSFW

Some like to call it “retro revivals“. I like to call it “Hollywood is too fat and lazy to come up with some new damn ideas.” I guess that’s why I’m here and they’re over there sipping their fancy bottled water and driving their cars with four wheels. Snooty.

After failing to materialize for the past six years at Paramount, “The Smurfs” are heading to Sony in their quest for the big screen. Current plans are slated to make “Smurfs” a combination of live and CGI animation. That means it’ll be another “Alvin and the Chipmunks” type movie.

So will “The Smurfs” appeal to an entirely new generation that have most likely never heard or seen them since the series went off the air over fifteen years ago? I doubt it. It’ll still make gobs of money, but it’s not like we see “Alvin” gear and toys everywhere these days after its own “retro revival”.

What do you think? Hungry enough for some nostalgia to take your kids to see it?

A stuntman on the set of John Woo’s latest film, “Red Cliff”, died today in a freak fire accident. Well, maybe “freak” isn’t the right word considering the guy was there to do dangerous work in a dangerous situation.

“The fire broke out early Monday morning when the crew were shooting a scene in which a small, smoking boat crashed with a large ancient war vessel,” Xinhua news agency said.

At the point of collision, at which machines let out smoke, an unchoreographed flame jumped 30 meters (yards) into the air, the Beijing News said, citing crew at the northern Beijing location.

“Red Cliff” is an adaptation from the Chinese novel, “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, and tells the battle of Red Cliff in 208 AD during the last days of the Han dynasty.

I dunno, making a “Romance” movie without Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas might not be so good. Wait, what? Not that “Romance” movie?

Source: Reuters

Yesterday I told you about the confirmation of plans for a April 2010 release of “Iron Man 2“. I also mentioned how no one was even signed on to film, direct, or star in said sequel. Well today we have some insight from the director himself, Jon Favreau, on concerns over Marvel putting the cart before the horse:

“It’s been five weeks since the one and only phone call my reps have gotten from Marvel. I know their hands are full with the Hulk and I’m sure they will get into it shortly, as they tell me they intend to. I ran into the Marvel guys at the Hulk premiere and everyone sounded eager to get to work on IM2.

I am concerned, however, about the announced release date of April 2010. Neither Robert nor I were consulted about this and we are both concerned about how realistic the date is in light of the fact that we have no script, story or even writers hired yet. This genre of movie is best when it is done thoughtfully and with plenty of preparation. It might be better to follow the BB/DK, X/X2 three year release pattern than to scramble for a date. It is difficult because there are no Marvel 09 releases and they need product, but I also think we owe it to the fans to have a great version of IM2 and, at this point, we would have less time to make it than the first one.”

He’s got a great point. The rush to produce and release “Iron Man 2” would be all about profits instead of giving fans what they deserve, another really great Iron Man story. Sequels always get a lot of hype and often disappoint, so when it gets pointed out that this sequel would have less time to ripen than the original I’d have to agree that it’s too much too soon.

Stand firm on this one, Favreau. Don’t let the suits rush things into another mess.

Source: /Film

Happy Madison, the film production company lead by Adam Sandler, is looking to head in a new direction. Despite previously being focused on funny stuff Sandler and comedy have decided to try a darker genre, says Hollywood Reporter:

The company known for comedies has signed on to produce a genre project, a thriller titled “Shortcut,” as the inaugural picture of a nascent genre label it’s calling Scary Madison.

The movie centers on two brothers who come upon a rarely used shortcut in their new town — and soon discover the reasons why it’s so rarely used. Andrew Seeley, Shannon Woodward and Dave Franco will star.

Why it’s so rarely used? You mean like the bridge is out? Or the light is really long if you just miss it? I don’t know, the options are limitless though.

This could be good though. Happy Madison isn’t known for their top notch comedies, but they still churn out some chuckles and rental worthy movies. Hopefully they can at least do the same for the scary movie genre.

Samuel L. Jackson has conquered the film genre, so now he’s turning his sights to the land of television. CBS announced today that Jackson and his studio, Uppity Films, will be developing and producing a new series as part of a two year deal with the eyeball network.

Jackson said he opt’d to go with CBS over the other unnamed network after a sit down with the CBS Paramount Network studio president David Stapf. Stapf was impressed with Jackson because he watches their network and “CSI” in particular. Hey, I watch CSI! Can I make a show?

No details yet on what the show is or will be about. I’m guessing it won’t be animated like his current TV show with Spike, “Afro Samurai”, which returns in the fall for another season.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Last weekend Danny McBride and director Jody Hill’s comedy “The Foot Fist Way” hit theaters in LA and NY as part of its limited release. Despite only being open in 4 theaters it managed to earn over $9,000 a theater, that’s better than last weekend’s #3, “The Strangers”. Lucky for us “Foot Fist Way” is branching out to a lot more theaters for its second week in release.

Here is a list of the theaters where you’ll be able to find it starting today, June 6:

AUSTIN at the ALAMO LAMAR 6
BOSTON at the KENDALL SQ. 9
CHICAGO at the AMC RIVER EAST 21
DALLAS CITY at the ANGELIKA
DETROIT at the UPTOWN 8
MADISON at the MADISON 4
MINNEAPOLIS at the LAGOON 5
PORTLAND at the REGAL FOX TOWER 10
RALEIGH-DURHAM at the CHELSEA 3
SAN DIEGO AMC MISSION VALLEY 20
SAN FRANCISCO at the SHATTUCK 10
SAN FRANCISCO at the AMC METREON IMAX 16
SEATTLE at the VARSITY 3
WASHINGTON, DC at the AMC GEORGETOWN 14

I’ve already picked out my theater and have plans to go watch it this weekend. Check out the red-band trailer below for “The Foot Fist Way” and you’ll want to do the same. Warning, this trailer is NSFW:

Hollywood just can’t get enough of the videogame adaptations these days. Most are flops (Bloodrayne, Hitman) but some can turn out pretty well (… um, I’m sure there were good ones somewhere). Lionsgate is hoping the addition of Bruce Willis to the cast of “Kane and Lynch” will help shift it into that latter category. If he decides to take it, Willis is take on the role of Kane:

Willis will play Adam “Kane” Marcus, a mercenary who makes an unlikely alliance with a schizophrenic killer named James Lynch. The duo is forced on a mission to retrieve a stolen microchip.

The script, written by Kyle Ward and produced by Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter of Hitman, will be directed by Simon Crane. This would be Crane’s directorial debut, should it happen. Crane previously worked as a stunt director for “Hancock,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “Troy,” and “X-Men: The Last Stand.”

Kane & Lynch sounded like a cool premise, but, like most games these days, I completely missed it. Hopefully the movie will have a little more draw to it.

Source: Variety