If you’d rather forgo the lengthy critical reviews of this weekend’s The Muppets and instead know whether or not you’ll stay awake during Jason Segel ‘s big-screen revival of Jim Henson’s beloved characters, NextMovie has the video review for you. It features Brooklyn-based rappers M.O.P., who impressively do not mention Segel’s name once but do call out Chris Cooper’s rapping skills (or lack thereof) and compare Miss Piggy to “a not-so-hot Nicki Minaj.” Click through for the fresh, direct and vaguely insulting (to Miss Piggy) take on The Muppets .
Can something be considered fan fiction if it’s also an official, canonical studio product? I’m going to argue yes, absolutely, because with The Muppets , Jason Segel has crafted what can only be described as the most extravagant work of fan fiction ever, Mary Sue-ing himself into the Muppet universe as a character who helps reunite the gang in order to save their old theater and the day. Segel, who co-wrote the film with Nicholas Stoller, even leaves his own tentative mark on Jim Henson’s beloved ensemble by inserting a personal addition in the form of alter ego Walter (voiced by Peter Linz), his character’s Muppet brother and the group’s most devoted fan even when the rest of the world seems to have forgotten about them. Fandom can be a precarious thing — someone’s devotion to the source material he or she is adapting to screen can sometimes lead to being too cautious with it, too respectful to do what’s best for the movie instead of only for the hardcore supporters. But the love Segel has for the Muppets is a genuine, perceivable and positive quality that suffuses this good-hearted revitalization of the franchise, and if some wish fulfillment sneaks in there too, it seldom gets in the way of the enjoyment to be had.
Happy Monday! Also in today’s edition of The Broadsheet: The latest on the reopened Natalie Wood investigation… Martin Scorsese may have his next project lined up… Joel Coen digs China… and more.
Just in time for the 2011 awards-release homestretch come the first trailer for Rampart , promising star Woody Harrelson as “the most corrupt cop you’ve ever seen on screen.” Which isn’t a review blurb, mind you, or some praise from Toronto, AFI Fest or elsewhere on the circuit where Oren Moverman’s latest has made its first impressions. That’s just a bold claim by distributor Millennium Entertainment — kind of the Pepsi Challenge of Oscar-chasing bad-cop dramas.
The actor and his collaborators Julie Delpy and Richard Linklater could be coming back: “Well, I don’t know what we’re going to do but I know the three of us have been talking a lot in the last six months. All of three of us have been having similar feelings that we’re ready to revisit those characters. There’s nine years between the first two movies and, if we made the film next summer, it would be nine years again so we’re really started thinking that would be a good thing to do. We’re going to try write it this year.” Hmm. Twilight ? [ Allocine via The Playlist ]
The roster of actors in the world who could reduce megastar George Clooney to rubble with a single withering look is short, but add newcomer Shailene Woodley to the top of the list. As Alex, the acerbic 17-year-old daughter of Clooney’s Hawaiian landowner and family man in Alexander Payne’s The Descendants , Woodley (of ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager ) makes an auspicious film debut that could land her in the Oscar race — not that Woodley, perhaps the most well-adjusted young star on the rise in Hollywood, would take awards razzle-dazzle too seriously.
A little over six months ago, before The Artist premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, it might have been unthinkable to foresee what has since evolved into a very real possibility: Jean Dujardin, a bona fide movie star in his native France but relative unknown in the United States, is as likely as any contender to date to win an Academy Award for Best Actor. Which would be surprising enough without The Artist being a black-and-white French import — a silent black-and-white French import.
Be Movieline’s guest and revisit everyone’s favorite tale as old as time, the second release in Disney’s quest for total world domination (AKA, The ‘See How Much Money Lion King 3D Made Us??’ business plan) which brings vintage Disney classics back to screens in limited runs in restored 3-D. Next up is 1991’s Beauty and the Beast , a singalong favorite for children of the ’90s that’s sure to make another bazillion or so dollars. Watch the trailer and decide if you’re giddy to see Belle sweep the Beast off his cloven feet with her brainy book smarts or just curious to know what Robby Benson’s up to these days…
As Cullen family ringleader Carlisle, Peter Facinelli has faced off with the Volturi, rallied his clan to keep Bella and Edward safe and, in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 , walks a tightrope trying to keep Bella unharmed during her unexpected pregnancy. Facinelli talked with Movieline about working with writer/director Bill Condon and Stephenie Meyer on the final two films and the daunting task of shooting them — at the junket for the film earlier in the day, Facinelli was still marveling at the screenplay’s heft.
Need a break from fluffy features depicting vampire weddings , cross-dressing Adam Sandler and dancing penguins ? Look no further than The Devil’s Double , Lee Tamahori’s biographical drama about sadistic psychopath Uday Hussein (son of Saddam) and his body double, both played by Dominic Cooper. Ahead, the film’s star discusses the difficulty of playing two characters in one fast-paced production.
