Funny People
Directed by Judd Apatow
Starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill
Rated R
Release Date: July 31, 2009

“The whole place seemed to have been stricken with a kind of creeping paralysis – out of beat with the rest of the world, crumbling apart in slow motion.”
— Joe Gillis from Sunset Blvd.

“I don’t know if there is anything wrong because I don’t know how other people are.”
— Barry Egan from Punch-Drunk Love

“You’re my best friend, and I don’t even like you.”
— George Simmons from Funny People

Funny People: Bringing The Nasty Pain

Los Angeles, the bitch of desire, takes no prisoners. Hollywood may be her enchanted vagina, but the rest of her is a ferocious dominatrix ready to force everyone to fall under her demented spell. It is a city with an infinite supply of Sammy Glick’s ready to pleasure the bitch at whatever cost.

Judd Apatow‘s third film, Funny People, is a departure for him; it is supposed to show him as a more mature filmmaker. It certainly has many of the raunchy elements that made The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up so memorable. Judd Apatow is trying to move beyond the myth of adulthood in this film. Adulthood seems to be the Holy Grail that his characters can never quite find in his films or even the films of Wes Anderson. Adulthood is out of reach for the so-called adults as well as the younger generations who are stuck in eternal adolescent purgatory. Funny People certainly fits this vital characteristic of what makes a Judd Apatow film, but he has gone further with this film in that he deals with the show business angle — the world of stand-up comedians.

Universal Pictures has released a new red band trailer for Funny People, the new movie from comedy king Judd Apatow that stars Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen.

Apatow himself refers to the movie as a serious one that he has attempted to make even funnier than his not-so-serious comedies. It tells the tale of George Simmons (fittingly played by Sandler), a stand-up comedian who has moved on to super stardom via mainstream family movies. One day the star discovers that he has a rare disease and will likely die. In his last days, he realizes he doesn’t have much and befriends a young and up-and-coming comedian who helps him write jokes.

The movie carries a great supporting cast as well, including: Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, and others. Funny People will be released on July 31, 2009.

Click on over to the other side to check out the new trailer. As always, this is a RED BAND trailer and is NSFW.

Year One
Directed by Harold Ramis
Starring Jack Black, Michael Cera
Rated PG-13
Release date: June 19, 2009

There are a lot of stock catchphrases that are widely used by people to describe movies that I have grown tired of hearing. Reading a review of a film that is described as a “rollercoaster thrill ride” or a performance is hailed as being a “tour de force” stinks of laziness and unoriginality by the critic. Specifically there are two descriptions that apply to Year One that I am deathly sick of hearing across the board: “Check your brain at the door” and “the actors looked like they had fun making the movie.”

A movie like Year One wasn’t made to be dissected into deeper meaning. Zed (Jack Black) and Oh (Michael Cera) are hunter-gatherers who are kicked out of their village for being worthless and forced into the world on their own. They have a variety of encounters that are loosely based on stories from the Bible. Dumb cavemen weaving in and out of biblical stories. That’s pretty much it. I’d like to be able to go into detail but the movie simply doesn’t provide that opportunity.

It’s usually the biggest TV day of the year: Super Bowl Sunday. If you’re a sports fan, you’re excited about the game, and if you hate sports, you still watch to see the legendary commercial lineup in hopes of seeing some marketing brilliance.

Among all of these commercials each year, we also get some peeks at the year’s biggest upcoming movies and this year is no slouch. In fact, this may just be the BIGGEST Super Bowl for movie previews that we’ve ever seen.

Personally, I’m a huge sports fan, so I’m usually watching the big game… but this year is a pretty boring match-up, so it’s fitting that the telecast will be riddled with huge movie peeks.

We’ve already posted the one for the new Star Trek preview, but here you can see the Super Bowl spots for massive summer fare such as: Disney’s Up!, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Year One, Race to Witch Mountain, Land of the Lost, and yes, oh yes… Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Venture to the other side for all of the TV spot video goodness!

Not too long ago, we shared a preview of what to look for in 2009 (see A Taste Of What The ’09 Movie Slate Has In Store). Although we are now a good little chunk into the big 2009, that doesn’t mean that it’s too late for more preview goodness, so when the opportunity presented itself we couldn’t help but do it again. Now the LA Times has their own collection of 2009 preview images, so naturally, we’ve found the newer and more exciting ones to share with you.

Because we used it in the first preview, I’ve included the brand new Where the Wild Things Are image as our main image, so be sure to check that one out as well!