And that’s not all! Dog Fight, which will focus on two rival South Carolina politicians (Ferrell and Galifianakis) with the roll of American president as their eyes’ desire (it’s just so meta, am I right?), also stars a slew of other comedic geniuses including Jason Sudeikis, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Dylan McDermott, Will Forte, and P.J. Bryne. Okay, fine. Perhaps “comedic geniuses” is too strong for a list that includes Dylan McDermott, but I’m willing to bet this supporting cast will make for a quite hilarious film. I mean, just look at all the names attached to the film!

And as if that’s not enough, Dog Fight is being directed by Jay Roach, the man behind Dinner for Schmucks and the Meet the Parents as well as the Austin Powers series. Well, to be honest, these films were all kind of hit-or-miss, I’m counting on the sheer volume of the funny-man-cast to make this more of a sure-fire hit. Just throw in some grits and I’m a happy camper.

Dog Fight is currently filming in New Orleans and is slated for an August 10, 2012 release.

Forbes has put together its list of the most overpaid movie stars. The list compares the cost of the actor versus the total box office. The differences are astronomical. Kind of.

Drew Barrymore is number one on the list due to her films Lucky You (2007) and Everybody’s Fine (2009) which were a considerable time ago. I’m pretty sure I’ve either seen Everybody’s Fine or never heard of it. Must’ve been good. Eddie Murphy makes the list because of excellent career choices like Meet Dave (2008) and Imagine That (2009). May 1st was the cut off date so Tower Heist does not factor in. Something tells me that may be good for him considering it placed second in this weekend’s box office. I bet he really wishes Donkey had a part in Puss in Boots if you know what I’m saying. You should know because it is very literal: he would have made much more money being in that film. Because it is doing well. Because people wanted to see it…(Animation films do not count in this equation because the main draw is the cartoon.)

Will Ferrell is number three even though he has been in the top spot for the last couple years. If I remember correctly, Ferrell used to be funny. Can anyone confirm this? That really seems like a thing that happened? Hm. Oh well. The Other Guys is what helped him fall in the list. Land of the Lost is what initially earned him that top spot.

Reese Witherspoon is number four because, for some reason, she decided to do How Do You Know. But so did Jack Nicholson, Paul Rudd, and Owen Wilson. Weird.

Denzel Washington rounds out the top five. Why? Why would Denzel make the top five when all his movies do so well? Because he celebrates Hollywood like some actors and actresses don’t know how. He asks for so much money per movie that they have to make a gagillion times more to break even on his salary. Notice the lack of other big names in his movies? He doesn’t want them there. At this point, he’s got an Oscar. The guy’s retiring in the most fun way possible. He puts his feet up and coasts through Unstoppable.

Thus, I want to congratulate number five on doing it right. This is the end of the article. I’m shaking my head in disbelief as I eat cold Ramen.

Now that it’s out of the way, no one is more willing to fight harder for that right than the Beastie Boys. I know what you’re thinking: Nick, why are you writing about the Beastie Boys on a movie website. Well, kind sir or lady, it is because Adam “MCA” Yauch has recently released a 25-year anniversary video for “Fight for Your Right.” Not only is it amazing but it’s also chalked with roughly six billion cameos.

The Beastie Boys have always been creatively inventive for their music videos from “Intergalactic”’s robots to “Sabotage” where they rap as rather inadequate cops. Fight for Your Right Revisited begins where the original left off. The three members are leaving their party of destruction. But, wait, who are those gentlemen? Seth Rogan, Danny McBride, and Elijah Wood portray Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock respectively. For the better part of 30-minutes, the three of them walk around a street and annihilate everything in their way. From breaking into a bodega to a fancy shmancy restaurant, the whole thing culminates in a break dancing battle with their future, older selves. I know what you were thinking and, yes, their future selves are played by John C. Reilly, Jack Black, and Will Ferrell. This all takes place to a Beastie Boys’ soundtrack.

This video is a lot of fun, and it’s good to see the Beastie Boys as silly as ever 25 years later. As they walk around there is an I-Spy game takes place with the likes of Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon, Amy Poehler, Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, and Adam Scott just to name a few. Each actor adds a little of their own goofiness. My personal favorite: Will Arnett. The three Beasties make cameos as well. (It is their video.) Clearly, these actors all have a soft spot in their heart for the group, and this is a way for them to be a part of something huge.

Any fan of the Beastie Boys will enjoy this video. For those who are not sure they want to invest the full 30 minutes, there is a condensed short form music video for the song “Make Some Noise” which is enjoyable as well.

SEE IT

What exactly is this now untitled Spanish movie about a father’s house? It is Will Ferrell’s new comedy, of course! At this point a few things are probably going through your head:
1. What sport is this film going to be about?
2. Isn’t every Will Ferrell movie the same?
3. Spanish?
4. Do I have to see this?

The answer to all of the questions is: of course. The comedy is about a man (Ferrell) who works on his father’s ranch. Diego Luna plays his successful younger brother who tries to help out with the ranch’s financial troubles. Ferrell falls in love with Luna’s girl, and it turns into a Spanish soap opera. (This is all true…) But the real sell here for me is the film’s primary antagonist: Gael Garcia Bernal. I’m a huge fan of Bernal because he can act. Like, he can REALLY act. (You have to love The Motorcycle Diaries and Amores Perros, don’t you?) To see him in something like this is an interesting change of pace. (No I don’t count his part in Letters to Juliet as legitimate comedy.) Comedic vs. acting ability. Oh, it’s on.

The people behind the film are alums of Saturday Night Live which should mesh well with Ferrell and give him some comfort in terms of familiarity. Because, here’s the thing. I love Will Ferrell. A lot. But, recently, what’s been going on? Land of the Lost? The Other Guys? Semi-Pro? I just don’t get it. I want to laugh again. The first twelve times I saw The Landlord, I laughed to tears. Where has that gone? I’m ranting now. Let me get back to my point.

This movie is in Spanish AND starring Will Ferrell. That’s a weird combo. It could fail miserably. But there is a lot of talent going into this thing and sometimes mixing things up can be good for everyone. I have high hopes. I want to actually ROTFL. I’d settle for a heavy dose of LOL. But, I want is to enjoy Mr. Ferrell again. I know he’s capable of it…

Now, these movies aren’t necessary identical, but two animated movies about likable super villains in the same year are definitely more than most other years by anyone’s count.

Anyway, Megamind is about an evil genius who tries to get the girl and defeat the hero. He is ugly and has a big blue head. If you can’t see the twist at the end, you may have never seen a children’s movie before. Here’s the other thing, was this a children’s movie?

I’m not talking in a dirty or crude way, but, while watching Megamind in a packed theater, most of which were kids, I found myself chuckling more than most other people. Many of the laughs were also coming from viewers over the age of twenty. (Personal highlights include of the Obama-esque posters [see above] and Megamind constantly referring to Metro City as Metr-A-city.) My guess would have to be the actors behind the characters.

A cast of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and David Cross is impressive to say the least. I would laugh if they sat in a room doing nothing, but they seemed to be constricted by the script. There were plenty of quick chuckles; I’ll give it that. The problem, though, is it had more to do each of their quirky, recognizable voices than anything else.

These days, children’s movies tend to have plenty of jokes for adults. For that, I am grateful. (Also, I’m sure there are plenty of parents who are much more grateful than I am.) But a good movie’s a good movie. And Megamind certainly is not one. Mixing an alternative to typical kids’ jokes into a mediocre movie still makes it a mediocre movie, just a little more tolerable; that’s exactly what this movie was. I was hardly interested from the beginning and never able to invest in Megamind or his dilemmas.

I’m sure there are plenty of people who are going to find this movie fine, and, you know what, it was fine. But with 3-D prices, there needs to be a reason for me to pay $17.50 a ticket, and Megamind was not that reason. (Also. $17.50?!?! Whaaaaat?!?!?!?) It’s not a bad film, but not very good.

RENT IT

But that’s not what makes The Other Guys so funny. It could be the comedy is shameless; not categorized beneath “guilty pleasure,” because we know the movie’s crap you won’t admit to being as such. It’s not something you need to take as it is because it’s all you have to see, since I think at the movies, what with both Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and The Expendables dropping next week and Dinner for Schmuks being released the last, you have options. The Other Guys gets that, and McKay and Henchy treat it not as collateral but as something they truly feel passionate about. Something where hard work is shown, whether it’s when Mark Wahlberg is dumping a cup of coffee onto Ferrell or the two are drinking party liquor to the Black Eyed Pea’s “I’ma Be.” It’s tough not to compare this movie to others past, others that got very much wrong, and to concentrate on what The Other Guys got so very right.

Ferrell stars as Allen Gamble, Wahlberg as Terry Hoitz. They’re stuck in the shadows of two “superhero” cops (played with a grin by Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson). Gamble unknowingly stumbles upon a probable case of embezzlement regarding state lottery tickets and a Bernie Madoff-eqsue criminal (Steve Coogan), and Hoitz drags him in with hopes of redeeming his name. I can’t let you in on his screw-up playing latch-key kid, but it’s a good ‘un. The Other Guys is brimming with potential, maybe even more than it’s fulfilled here, but you rarely ever tell. Perhaps Coogan’s character and crisis were supposed to be references to our current financial struggle, but it’s no big deal if it doesn’t come off that way. McKay and Henchy hit every right note, raining plot point after plot point with strung-along gags and improvisation done with extreme talent by Ferrell and Wahlberg. It’s in McKay’s movies where every character feels relaxed, no stress over filling out history or ambition.

It’s crowd-pleasing (couldn’t tell you the amount of laughs the audience I sat with found around every corner) and a quick-witted romp that never slows down. At the heart of things The Other Guys is something that wasn’t lost in translation that could be read as compliment or insult, and maybe I’m leaning very close to the former. Ferrell’s Allen Gamble is a complete mess, even if that’s what he’s supposed to come across as. I don’t think the jokes will age as well as in McKay’s previous hits Anchorman or Talladega Nights. Though I’m willing to look past that and take stride in the clear-cut comedy to come from The Other Guys. Sure it’s conventional, but it’s the lines between that are filled out so very well. By the end its message of who the “real” heroes are is tired, but our fateful narrator (Jackson) doesn’t fret more than a line over it. Ferrell and Wahlberg’s banter was enough for me to admit The Other Guys’s emergence as one of the funniest movies of the summer, just when we need it most.

There’s no way around saying The Other Guys is the movie Cop Out (remember earlier this year, that Kevin Smith disaster?) was trying to be. It succeeds in not being much homage toward anything, nor a spoof of the like. Perhaps these childish and extremely funny jokes would have worked in say, Date Movie or Scary Movie if those flicks at least tried to be their own thing. But that’s one that would be read as an insult, and The Other Guys doesn’t deserve that. Every quip is another reminder of the buddy-cop movie you won’t be referring to as you leave the theater. Ain’t that a good feeling.

SEE IT.

A decade ago, the international box office barely even registered on the radar of studio executives. Total box office performance came almost entirely from the US box office. To obtain some form of international sales, studios tried to veer audiences toward film plots. Essentially, customers were being lured to products instead of products being tweaked for its customers. If you ask me, that sounds like pretty bad business. In today’s day, the economics of the business have changed.

According to the Wall Street Journal, international box office is much more of a player in todays film business world. The WSJ.com did an interview with Anchorman director Adam McKay in which he explains how his newest Summer film, The Other Guys, experienced a tweak for the abroad movie goer. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Will Ferrell, Samuel L Jackson, and The Rock. The article states that “A key plot point of the film [The Other Guys] involves Mr. Wahlberg and Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter. Sony’s executives initially worried that Mr. Jeter—and the joke that involves him—would seem too American. They found a solution: The studio asked Mr. McKay to spend his summer re-shooting those scenes with international sports stars, and it went after soccer stars David Beckham of England and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal.”

If anyone remembers, Gillette did something similar to this when they replaced Thierry Henry (famous soccer player) with Derek Jeter for their US shaving commercials. Their foreign shaving commercials used Henry along side Tiger Woods and Roger Federer.

In this case, movies are being tweaked for their audiences instead of the other way around.  In the article, McKay says “It’s a whole new way of looking at movies. ” Rather than trying to veer your audience toward the film, just tweak your film to the audience. Next, I’d like to start tweaking movies by region, one version for the Midwest, another for the East Coast, and the South.”  McKay brings up a good point. The film Fever Pitch pretty much singled out Boston and New York as target markets.  If you were from Chicago, why would you go see that movie?

The full article can reached here. It’s incredibly insightful and a great piece on depicting the international economics of Hollywood. I know this is off topic but The Other Guys looks hilarious. Wahlberg and Ferrell will hopefully have great on screen chemistry.

What do you think? Are you excited to see The Other Guys?

Every classic movie has its string of lines or scenes that you tend to recite over and over with friends.  This past summer, we got many more quotes to recite with all the lines from The Hangover.  These lines and scenes make the movie, and we seem to adapt them into our everyday vernacular and use them in real life situations.  No better example of this type of movie to life situation is the movie Old School.

As a senior in high school, this movie help define mine and many other kids teens years, something to remember and recite for years to come.  It seems so long ago that Will Ferrel was actually funny in a movie.  Although there are tons of memorable lines and scenes, Frank’s wedding always seems to take the cake in my mind.

Besides the best man’s speech, the lines “I love you dad,” and “it takes a saint to give away an angel,” the scene that makes for one of the better moments in later when they are dancing and this goofy guy with a goatee is singing a new version of the classic Total Eclipse of the Heart where he adds a humorous spin to it with some random cursing.  This caught everyone by surprise when watching the movie for the first time, and this scene instantly became a classic and was sung whenever appropriate, and even when not.

Well it turns out they are a real band, and I saw them live in concert.

The Dan Band as they are known are basically a comedy karaoke act traveling the country singing woman’s songs in a funny manner with awkward choreography.  they have appeared in Starsky and Hutch and The Hangover as well and believe it or not, the venue was sold out.

Playing a set list of an hour with songs like Salt and Pepper’s “Shoop” and Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” the trio rocked it out the best as some dorky guys singing girls songs could.  Although the choreography was funny and there were a couple of good stories mixed in with jokes at some audience members expenses, I found the concert to be tiring and the gimmick to get stale quickly.  You could basically watch a  youtube video of him doing a few songs and get away with just as much amusement as seeing them live.  For the most part it was $25 to see “that guy from Old School” sing his infamous rendition of Total Eclipse of the Heart.

As a concert lover, and huge fan of the movie Old School, I guess I expected more.  But it was still great to see them live and you have to respect them for living off their minor success and playing it up to a “T.”  Viva la Dan Band.

Check out The Dan Band

Click here to view the embedded video.

Professionals demand more money than ever for their services whether it’s Arod and his quarter of a billion dollar deal, Becks to be leased out to the Galaxy or actors and their movies.  Movie stars today get paid ridiculous amounts of money to star in movies that are usually bust if best.  You may call them hacks, you may call them pushing the demand, but are they worth it?

That’s a big old goose egg stinkaroo.  NO!

Well not definitely true depending on what you think, but based off of a formula looking at what a star paid and the return on investment in box office sales and DVD’s, most of the biggest names out there are really way over paid.

Highlighting at the top of the list not shockingly at all was once funnyman Will Ferrell.  He is the highest paid movie star who does not deserve it at all and just not bring in the box office box based off of what he gets paid.  His movie Land of the Lost over the summer made only $65 million and his one before that Semi-Pro did only $43 million.  He routinely puts out crap movies now and tries to create characters that are just not funny.  He’s best when he just is himself, a plain old funny guy.  When he tries to get too wacky and creative he just stinks up the big screen and has lost a lot of fans because of it, and now gets the title of the most overpaid actor who brings nothing back.

Forbes.com said that for every dollar Ferrell was paid, his films earned an average of $3.29.  Pretty terrible if you ask me.

I don’t blame him for soaking up his stardom and using it to make as much money as he can.  If that’s what he can get on the market, I’m all for it and good for him.  He clearly does not deserve it, but obviously his agent is doing a hell of a job in negotiations with Hollywood studios.  Why execs think that Ferrell is a big time star who demands big dollars I’ll never know, but maybe this will make them wake up and realize that it’t not worth it, and to start looking around for cheaper (and more funny) talent.

I like Ferrell and like a handful of his movies and hope that he can get back to the way he once was.  I doubt that will happen, but good for him making as much as he can now until all studios realize his act is over.

Here is the complete top 10 list.

How do you feel about the list?

Will Ferrell’s new movie “Land of the Lost” took in a disappointing $18.8 million

this past weekend.  In fact, analysts had anticipated a shotty start to the theatrical run of the film, but even this opening failed to beat low estimates.  I have to say I’m kind of shocked because I thought this film would be Ferrell’s return to film glory.  Despite the 100% negative feedback it is receiving, I will still see the film; I don’t know why but I want to see it.   Perhaps for the sake of Danny McBride

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being in it. Who knows, but I really did think this film was set for Ferrell to make his return to Hollywood’s box office A list.

This film is Ferrell’s fourth flop in his past 5 films; Stranger Than Fiction, Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro, Step Brothers and Land of the Lost.  Only Step Brothers was profitable and that’s just from examining box office revenue versus film cost ($100+ million in revenue, $65 million cost).  Who even knows how much they spent on advertising.  All I can say is each Ferrell movie has a giant billboard in New York’s Time Square, meaning each advertising budget is fairly significant.  Even in Baseball terms 1-5 isn’t good. Ferrell might be in serious trouble here.

Land of the Lost cost roughly $100 million.  The studio has only taken back about 20% of that to date and will almost certainly not make their money back.  How much longer can they keep pouring cash into Ferrell’s star power. The man has made a career on being the doofis, the goofball, and being overly intense. We saw this weekend, that the people he typically attracts flocked to see The Hangover, the more vulgar, crude, and funnier film.  He even failed to attract the family types who all went to see UP.   So his movies aren’t funny enough for 20 year olds nor are they kid friendly enough for families.  That puts his attractibility in a bad spot.  Who is he supposed to be marketed towards?

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Writing in the Los Angeles Times, columnist

• Friday at Dewayne’s psp

• Modern Times dvd

Patrick Goldstein writes that “He’s in danger of becoming the comedy equivalent of George Clooney, someone who enjoys a great deal of goodwill but who isn’t actually a real movie star.” Is Ferrell’s money making ability really in jeopardy. This has got me very surprised.

I know people who own Ferrell’s SNL DVD as well as many of his movies.  His roles over the years have provided us with plenty of hilarious lines that we still use today.  I would be a little presumptious to say his career is nearing an end, but if something isn’t done quickly to resurrect is gimic, he could be in serious trouble.

Perhaps he should take some time off; come back in a year or two from now, sort of like what Seth Rogen should do.  That way he will be fresh and ready to drop some hilarious movie on us.

What do you think?