Funny People is Judd Apatow’s most profound and funniest work to date. Most films are inept of achieving this level of emotional and comedic grandeur. It strikes perfectly on every dramatic and comedic beat possible. Apatow has previously delivered two excellent films that were of course hilarious, but never contained this level of dramatic investment.

George is a highly successful comedian and movie star who has just learned that he has an untreatable blood disorder and doesn’t have much time left to live. Ira is an aspiring stand up comedian who works at a deli and has not yet found much success. George one night decides to return to do a night of standup where he first meets Ira. After Ira makes an impression on him, George hires him to be his joke writer and in some ways his friend. George soon starts to grasp his short comings in life and wants to reconcile. He wants to treat every day as if its his last and the main goal on his mind is to find the one who got away, his old sweetheart Laura. Soon after they encounter each other on good terms, George finds out that he is no longer sick. After discovering this he wants to make a new life for himself with Laura in it, who is also currently married.

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By Jack Giroux

2008 was a great summer for the movies. Good entertainment was had, and not just dumb popcorn movies for once. We got The Dark Knight, Wall-E, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, and Pineapple Express. This summer is even going to be better. Although the start was a bit shaky with Wolverine, Star Trek kicks it off right this weekend. Here are the top 15 stand out films this summer:

15- Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen

Release Date- June 24th

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen will inevitably offer no more then a lot of explosions and CGI, but with robots. While the first film wasn’t a landmark of any kind, and mostly dumb, it was fun none-the-less. The 147 minute running time for the new one is a bit bothersome, but long running times are fine when the story calls for it. My only question is do we really need to see robots fighting for that long? Its a Michael Bay movie, there will only be good action, nothing more. Even the length of the first movie was a problem, the last thirty minutes turned into nothing but repetitive action. Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen will without a doubt be a fun action movie, even if it extends its welcome.

Read the rest of the list >>

Variety has reported Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Common, Kristen Wiig, Taraji P. Henson and Leighton Meester are all joining Tina Fey, Steve Carrell for Shawn Levy’s Date Night.The only synopsis we have is that a regular old date night becomes much more than one couple expected.

/Film breaks down the characters:

• Mark Wahlberg: a “successful and crazily buff securities expert” who gets to flirt with with Tina Fey. Note that their description says securities, not security. The ‘crazily buff’ description is what inspired the Wahlberg component of the top-of-post image.
• James Franco: a “not-too-bright con man and petty criminal”, so I guess he’ll be bringing back the face fuzz…?
• Leighton Meester: the babysitter. I bet this is the typical 20-somethings as teens casting gambit again.
• Taraji P. Henson: a cop. Variety didn’t include the P, so maybe she ditched it while I wasn’t looking. Apparently, she’s playing the only character to suspect that Tina and Steve’s characters are in trouble.
• Common: a villain. No more information given. Hmmmm.
• Kristen Wiig: Tina Fey’s best friend. Hmmm. Maybe Amy Poehler had something better to do.

It looks like Franco is continuing with comedy after Pineapple Express and the upcoming Your Highness. I’m interested in see Wahlberg in a real comedic role, as Max Payne and The Happening were both pretty funny, but in the wrong kind of way.

The film could hit theaters as soon as 2010. Look for Levy’s next directorial effort with Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

What do you think of Date Night?

We normally don’t report too much TV news here, but this news is too great to go unnoticed. According to Sepinwall’s blog the Jody Hill created, Danny McBride starring Eastbound & Down has been picked up for another season, with production starting later this year for a 2010 airdate.

Check out the full press release here >>

Although some rumors have been circulating it is now official that Danny McBride and James Franco will be together again with director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Snow Angels) for the comedy Your Highness. The comedy follows two spoiled and arrogant princes in a medieval fantasy setting. When an evil wizard casts a spell on their father and kidnaps the older prince’s fiance, they’re forced to go on a quest to save their family and the kingdom. It will be scripted by Danny McBride and Ben Best, who played Chuck ‘The Truck’ Wallace in Jody Hill’s hilarious Foot-Fist Way.

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Variety reports Michel Gondry, director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind is in talks to direct The Green Hornet. Seth Rogen is starring, producing, and co-writing with Evan Goldberg (Pineapple Express, Superbad). Although Stephen Chow dropped out of the directing role he is still on to co-star as Kato.

Plot: By night, debonair newspaper publisher Britt Reid fights crime as a masked superhero known as The Green Hornet. At his side is martial arts expert Kato.

After rumors of The Green Hornet being scrapped at Sundance, then it coming back with Gondry attached I couldn’t be more excited. Altough Be Kind Rewind was the most disappointing film I saw last year I loved Science of Sleep and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a masterpiece in my eyes. Bring on June 25th, 2010.

What do you think of Gondry directing The Green Hornet?

We reported a couple of days ago that according to a  certain Sundancer Seth Rogen’s superhero film The Green Hornet was DEAD. Well, it turns out that is not true. Firstshowing reports that Seth Rogen contacted Hitflix (who first rumored that the film was off) and had this to say:

[The studio heads] have every intention on making it, and assuming we’re able to hire a new director in the upcoming weeks, which seems like a distinct possibility, it should still hit the release date.

Seth Rogen is starring, co-writing and even producing so I trust what he has to say. The screenplay also written by Evan Goldberg (Pineapple Express, Superbad) follows a newspaper publisher Britt Reid (Rogen) who fights crime as a masked superhero known as The Green Hornet. At his side is martial arts expert Kato (Chow). Stephen Chow recently dropped out of the directing role, but is still in the movie, according to AICN. The release of June 25th,2010 is backon!

After these problems do you think The Green Hornet production will go smoothly?

/Film reports that Drew McWeeny over at Hitfix says the buzz at Sundance is that Seth Rogen’s superhero movie The Green Hornet is basically on life support over at Sony, and that there’s “a good chance the studio’s going to kick the plug out any moment now.” Drew reports:

[A]t Sundance, I heard several people say that the film was off completely. I spoke this afternoon with a source close to the film, and while they didn’t call it completely dead, they did say it is “highly unlikely” that the film will shoot in 2009 at all.

The screenplay written by Evan Goldberg (Pineapple Express, Superbad) follows a newspaper publisher Britt Reid (Rogen) who fights crime as a masked superhero known as The Green Hornet. At his side is martial arts expert Kato (Chow). Stephen Chow recently dropped out of the directing role, but is supposedly still in the movie. The release of June 25th, 2010 is not looking too likely now.

Would you be upset if we never get to see The Green Hornet?

/Film reports The DVD release of Pineapple Express claims to have an “alternative ending”, but it pretty much seems like something that was created specifically for the home video release or maybe for an unused after credits sequence button. So what really happened to Dale and Saul after the big climactic action sequence that concludes the film? Check it out:

I love the theatrical ending, and Pineapple Express was one of my favorite films of the year and this is an hilarious little extra.

Did you like Pineapple Express, what about the alternate ending?

5. Clint Eastwood, Best Actor – Gran Torino

Great, his last acting performance. He does a fine job mocking his Dirty Harry image and conveying drama from a sub-par screenplay and sub-par acting counterparts, but that DOES NOT mean he deserves an Oscar nom.

4. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Best Supporting Actor – Doubt

This was undoubtedly (see what I did there) a great performance, but simply not in the Top 5 supporting actor performances of the year. I’ll take Ledger, Downey Jr., Brolin (in Milk), Bill Irwin (in Rachel Getting Married) and James Franco in Milk OR Pineapple Express.

3. Gus Van Sant, Best Director – Milk

Have you seen Van Sant’s other flicks? This thing is amateur compared to the command of frame he’s shown in films such as My Own Private Idaho or even Good Will Hunting.

2. Meryl Streep, Best Actress – Doubt

Meryl Streep is perhaps the best actress in Hollywood (though Kate and Cate are giving her a run for her money) but her turn as an autocratic nun gets a little too ham-fisted for a film so grounded in social issues.

1. Milk, Best Picture

While it may be the RIGHT picture for the RIGHT time, it is certainly not the best of the year. Like too many biopics, it follows a formula that feels all too familiar now-a-days. But then, the Academy eats that stuff up.

What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? What’s your 5?