Will Ferrell and the Internet

Classic stuff from the genius that is Will Ferrell.

See more Will Ferrell videos at Funny or Die

The Godfather DVD and DeNiro

The newly remastered and high definition version of The Godfather Trilogy will be released on September 23rd on DVD and Blu-Ray. I plan on double dipping and picking up my favorite film series.... again.

Coincidently, I recently came across this clip on YouTube of Robert De Niro auditioning for the part of Sonny Corleone in The Godfather. It's from the documentary "The Godfather: An Inside Look" which I believe is also in the new set.



Wow...look at that passion and intensity. It's really palpable. There seems to be very little of that left in his more recent work.

Understandably...the dude is like 65.

As I've noted before I think the guy deserves to coast and go for the hefty paycheck now. He's paid his dues.

It's still funny to watch the contrast though between his early work and his current work.



Classic.

Have you no HONOR, sir ?

Hot on the heels of John McCain's completely out of touch assessment of the United States economy, comes this latest ad from Barack Obama.

Critics will say it's just a typical negative, election-season commercial.

The problem with that thought is that it also happens to be completely true.

Check out the sources for those quotes...those aren't your small-time newspapers or your run-of-the-mill blogs.... like yours truly.



Classic.

More Evidence....

Appaloosa Trailer

I'm really looking forward to Appaloosa.



Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris... in a western....'nuff said

I'm so there.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts Meltdown

Jake "the Snake" Roberts was one of my favorite wrestlers growing up.

So it's heartbreaking to see him implode like this.

Wrestling is a hard life and Jake was one of the superstars that put it in the mainstream.

The WWE has tried to get him help, but it hasn't worked... obviously.

It's easy to blame his troubles on the lifestyle, environment, and injuries, but at some point the man has to be accountable.

His plight has been well documented in the film "Beyond the Mat."

Very sad.

Hopefully this will be a wake up call...if not for him, maybe others struggling with addiction.

Check out the TMZ video here.

Righteous Kill - Review

The good news is that Righteous Kill is not a total embarrassment.

The bad news....this is not a good movie.

I'm a big fan of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. So it's been hard to see their level of craft diminish throughout the years.

But the truth is it's inevitable.

Like a superstar athlete, skills and motivation eventually diminish.

I totally understand that.

Yet for whatever reason fans are less forgiving of actors, as if the physical and mental demands are less strenuous for a performer.

That's far from the truth.

I understand when successful actors do projects simply for the paycheck.

Sometimes it's just work.

Still when a project has the caliber of talent assembled here, it is an extreme disappointment when greatness is not achieved.

The movie is just a mess.

The script is reminiscent of a movie of a week, or a direct to DVD thriller.

The direction by Jon Avnet is competent, yet uninspiring.

There is simply not enough meat and support for the players to sink their teeth into.

Not that it would matter anyways.

What I've noticed in Robert De Niro's recent work is that he doesn't seem to have any joy left in his performances. The passion seems to be gone for him. In my opinion his last good artistic endeavor was a film that he directed The Good Shepherd. Everything else seems like it's a paycheck for him.

Al Pacino's case however, seems to be different. One can tell that Pacino still enjoys to act. The problem of late for him has been his choice of projects. I believe that Pacino has been hurt by his inability to find movies which are age appropriate.He is 68 years of old, so I'm sure the roles are limiting. Also since working with Michael Mann on Heat and The Insider he hasn't worked with a talented director who is able to challenge and inspire him. Perhaps he feels that he can create a good film just with his natural talent and presence.

That's simply not the case.

In my opinion, his last good performance was in The Merchant of Venice. Obviously a theater rat like Pacino would be hard pressed to screw up the Bard.

Righteous Kill is not entirely awful, it is a little fun to see the actors work together after all these years.

It gives the audience a glimpse of potential.

For me, I kept imagining a movie written by David Mamet. Something where Pacino and De Niro could just depend on the dialogue rather than something physically and emotionally demanding.

They both have had histories with Mamet.

Pacino with Glengarry Glen Ross, De Niro with The Untouchables and Ronin.

But this isn't Mamet...far from it.

The twist in the film is so obvious it's laughable. The explanation is pathetic.

Without giving away too much...it's just not good...that's the best thing I can say about it.

My final recommendation would be to just wait for the DVD.

But if one is inclined to check it out in the theater, I guess it would be a harmless diversion, just as long as one doesn't expect much.

Heck it might even be a good thing.

A successful box office return might even inspire Pacino and De Niro to work with each other again.

Maybe on something more worthy of their talents.

Something by Mamet maybe?

Video of the Day

Not to beat a dead horse but....

Painfully...painfully...awkward moment during the interview between Sarah Palin and Charlie Gibson last night.

It seems that the potential vice president of the United States doesn't know what the hell the Bush Doctrine is.

Ummm...yeah.

I'm sure a lot of you out there don't know what the Bush Doctrine is either...but that's okay because the people running things are supposed to.





Maybe not.

Seriously....Vice President???

Obama on Letterman

I hate politics...I've tried not to blog about it in the past, mostly because of two reasons.

1. I don't like the conversations it creates.

2. Who gives a shit and a piss what the hell I think?

I'm just a blogger who likes movies and sports.

In any case, I've suspended my unwritten rule due to the upcoming election.

It's that serious folks.

I think Obama's visit on Letterman is a nice blend of entertainment and politics, without being preachy and condescending.

Part One:

Part Two:

Now a message from our sponsors...

Matt Damon on Sarah Palin.

The Wrestler

This movie looks fascinating.

The more I see of The Wrestler...the more excited I get.

I'm particularly impressed by the gritty tone of the film and how the fight sequences feel authentic.

We've been hearing about a Mickey Rourke comeback for years.

But this time it looks legit.

Lots of Oscar buzz and great word of mouth.

I admire the work of Darren Aronofsky. His movies aren't necessarily enjoyable diversions.

But definitely thought provoking.

Let's hope he delivers.

Quantum of Solace - New Trailer

This is jumping to the top of my list for most anticipated movies of the holiday season.

First "Iron Man", then "The Dark Knight", now "Quantum of Solace".

What a great year for action films.

Batman's next bad guys?

Movie Rumor site Dark Horizons is speculating that movie executives are zeroing in on Philip Seymour Hoffman and Johnny Depp to be the "Penguin" and "The Riddler" in the next Batman movie.

Take it with a grain of salt.

Nothing has been finalized, discussed or even offered yet. Nolan and Bale aren't even signed for the third film yet.

The news comes via a conversation with Michael Caine and a studio executive.

As much as I'd LOVE to see a third installment of the franchise. A small part of me hopes that they don't do another one.

The Dark Knight was so good....I don't forsee a scenario where I think they can make a better movie.

So why try?

I don't think anyone wants to see Nolan and Bale try to drum up another adventure...just for the hell of it.

But if they honestly, have a solid idea, with a story they passionately want to tell and they aren't fueled by dollar signs... I'm game for them to finish off the trilogy.

God knows it'll make tons of money.

If they pull it off...it'll go down as one of the greatest trilogies ever.

Video of The Day

Lullaby for my Daughter

Night Evie Girl.

Ummm...Awkward

Novak Djokovic was booed loudly after defeating American Andy Roddick at the U.S. Open.

I feel for the guy.

Couple of things are going wrong here. First, Djokovic obviously doesn't speak great English. He also doesn't grasp the concept of sarcasm well. Then for some reason he didn't pick up that Roddick's original statements were obviously a joke. To top it all off, he then makes the situation worse by not taking the out that the announcer is trying to give him later on in the interview.

Somebody needs to make sure this guy thinks before he speaks.

Not a good idea to diss America's best hope at...um.... the U.S. Open in...um... New York City... Novak.

It's confirmed....I'm old

Meredith Salenger Nude Photos were posted on the always classy and extremely high brow gossip site Egotastic! today.

Apparently she posted them on her MySpace page for the whole world to see.

Which means... she's shy....obviously.

Of course when I brought the story up to my peers at work...they looked at me like my dog does when he hears a strange sound.

You know, that cute "tweak-of-the-head-to-the-side" look.

Except this time it wasn't cute.

I gave them a brief rundown of her impressive artistic credits like the engrossing The Journey of Natty Gann, or the underrated, box office smash hit Dream a little Dream and of course the critically acclaimed, and I believe Academy Award nominated film, "A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon".

Surely they'd know who she was now.

Crickets.

Ah well...maybe I am old.....next time I'll just shut up and keep listening to my Adam Ant tape on my Sony Walkman while I'm at work.

Righteous Kill - Redband Trailer

This is a movie that I've been looking forward to since last year when I first heard about the project.

Now that it's weeks away, my anticipation has significantly decreased.

I'm just hoping it's not horrible and they don't embarrass themselves.

Back in April, Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times wrote a particularly scathing and unfair assessment of Pacino and De Niro's recent work.

The title of the article was "How the Mighty have Fallen."

Ouch.

Truth is a movie starring these two should have been made 10 years ago.... heck, to be completely honest 30 years ago would have been ideal...and I'm not talking about two scenes like in Michael Mann's Heat.

I'm talking about a movie where Robert De Niro and Al Pacino share significant screen time together.

There's no doubt that these two are legends. Heck, one look at my banner on this blog will tell you that I'm a big fan of their work.

But these guys are pretty old now.

Pacino is 68, De Niro is 65.

They deserve to go for the quick paycheck, they paid their dues.

It's not really fair to expect these guys to turn in physically strenuous and emotionally demanding performances.

Let's leave that kind of stuff to Christian Bale and Daniel Day Lewis.

Here's hoping they don't embarrass themselves and the flick actually ends up being at least slightly entertaining.

Happy 200th Episode Mahalo Daily!!!

10 months and several hosts later Mahalo Daily is celebrating it's 200th Episode.

Yay!!!

Congrats to my good friend Lon Harris, super hosts Leah D'Emilio and Veronica Belmont, as well as the entire Mahalo Daily crew!!!

Zack and Miri Make A Porno - Red Band Trailer

I'm making a prediction.

I believe Zack and Miri Make a Porno will be Kevin Smith's best movie....ever.

Bold statement, I know... especially since Clerks and Chasing Amy are classic fanboy films.

But the red band trailer for "Zack and Miri" is hilarious though.

Seriously.

I think it hints at a movie that's a perfect blend of raunchy humor and an interesting premise.

It's almost a can't miss scenario.

Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks are always money, while Kevin Smith is in his hard "R" rating, raunchy, inappropriate humor type element.

Craig Robinson looks especially funny.

If that's not enough, Traci Lords and Katie Morgan co-star....in a movie... that in case you didn't glean from the title... is about making a porno.

As in pornography....you know...with gratuitous nudity.

It would take a monumental effort by everyone involved to screw this movie up.

Not gonna happen.

Movie clip of the day...

Besides being a funny clip, this scene from The Coen Brothers film "The Hudsucker Proxy" pretty much defines the nature of consumerism.




Genius.

I'm really looking forward to "Burn After Reading"