A new era in comedy?

Dear Danny,

"The funny thing about my back is, it's on my cock"

This line comes from the summer's last big hit, Super Bad, from the crew of comedy minds that made 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up and if you really know your stuff, you know them from Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared.

The minds are, in no particular order, Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen among others. Judd started off writing television comedy, like The Critic (he actually wrote my favorite episode of The Critic of all time), and then the Larry Sanders show. Then 2 failed series later, it was 3 years and the summer of Wedding Crashers that the 40 year old Virgin was coming out. The movie was marketed as Steve Carrell's big first movie, as before this he was only known for cameo roles and the Daily Show. 40 was supposed to be Carrell Carrell Carrell, but what it actually did was rejustify Apatow's comedy. People started thinking, hey, maybe this guy is pretty funny.

Seth Rogen started off at Undeclared with his acting and writing career. Everyone loved him as the zany pervert against Paul Rudd in 40, so much that he got the lead in Knocked Up. And again, much like 40, this was a movie that was supposed to be Seth's big break. Judd wrote and directed the early summer hit, and maybe now people will finally see that Apatow has some talent. He took Carrell and made him a star, and did the same with Seth. Now Seth's writing his own stuff (Superbad and the upcoming Owen Wilson Drillbit Taylor) and still acting as hilarious as ever.

But enough about their history. What I wanted to talk about was how they're bringing comedy back to movies.

Recently, and this is not a shock to anyone, every movie is a sequel or a remake. I'll even take it a step beyond that and talk about every big movie out now isn't original anymore. Everything is based on a comic or a book or a TV show (Aquateen and Sex in the City). We've had years of superhero movies being topped off by Spidey series and Transformers. There's nothing original coming out of movies anymore. Cue Judd Apatow and crew.

40 wasn't based on anything except Judd. Neither was Knocked Up or Super Bad. And they're funny. It's fresh comedy. Super Bad is a high school comedy. Yes, I know. How many times has that been done before? So many that the genre of "High School Comedy" and movies like it have already had a spoof movie (Not Another Teen Movie). The comedy genre has been in a 5-7 year lull and been awakened. Knocked Up was a hit because it was fresh good character based comedy, something we so rarely see in the big theaters. Just look at Steve Carrell's Evan Almighty. It's a sequel, sort of, and it cost 130M. It lost so much money because people are tired of seeing the same jokes over and over again. Super Bad has been big so far because it's just flat out funny.

We'll see how long it can all be kept up, but if you want to look at crew's and how people are doing, just look at Will Farrell. Took a similar path as Steve, started in TV did some movies and then hit it big with Old School, Anchorman, but fell quickly into the Talladega Nights and that new skating movie. Steve is doing so well at the Office it's hard to think he'll ever be not funny. So what's up next for this new crew without a name?

Well Seth has a couple things. First there's Drillbit Taylor with Owen Wilson, which really can't go wrong. And then there's the more interesting Pineapple Express. It's about stoners running from the law, but Seth's writing it with the same guy he wrote SuperBad with, and it's being Directed by David Gordon Green, someone who only Sushi knows and people that Sushi has made watch his movies know. It has all the right pieces to be a hit, we'll see.

Judd Apatow has a little more unique series of stuff coming up. He's not set to direct anything for a while, but he's written the new Dewey Cox movie, a Walk the Line parody. I'm a little worried about it, but as I discussed with Larke, I have faith in Judd. His next project he's co-writing with Adam Sandler. Adam will star along side rumored Mariah Carey. Can't really be bad, right? Steve Carrell, Seth Rogen and then Adam Sandler? Why not.

So the next time you're going out to rent or Netflix something, I want you to keep this in mind -- Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared are on DVD. They're only 1 season each because no one watched them while they were on TV. Give them a swing. I promise you a good time. And I also promise that you'll watch it and go, hey it's that guy. Hey it's that girl. They were in 40 Year Old Virgin. That guy was in Knocked Up. But they were in these sweet hearted tv shows first.

Farewell for now,

Asher

Summer movies : A look back

Dear Danny,

Summer is winding down and it's a good time to look back at some of the hits and misses of the summer. I will admit, I didn't see as much as I wanted to/could afford to, but I heard enough from around the water cooler.

Action movies : Bourne Ultimatum, Die Hard 4, Transformers, Spiderman 3, Pirates 3, Fantastic 4 2, War opens next week. It was an up and down summer, I think, for fun action movies. There were no original action/adventure movies that came out. Unless you count War, which I really feel will be a Crank+Jet Li. I'm not complaining, I'm just pointing out that there's nothing new going on in the world of action movies. Out of that list, I saw DH4, Transformers and FF4:2. I won't get around to see Bourne, even though I heard great things and really just don't care for the other big trilogies. You might ask why I saw FF4, and aside from my Jessica Alba infatuation, I snuck into it, so I didn't have to pay for it. Out of the 3, Transformers I found to be the best in terms of what I want a summer action movie to be. There's a huge post about a month ago explaining how it's a fantastic movie.

Die Hard I feel was a little under appreciated for how great it really was. It got some good reviews but fell off the box office rather quickly, at around 130M now and hasn't been in the top 10 since July. Transformers is over a cool 300M now, and I don't even want to talk about how much money Harry Potter has been making.

Comedies : Evan Almighty, Knocked Up, Oceans 13, Chuck and Larry, Super Bad, Simpsons Movie, Rush Hour 3, Shrek 3, Ratatouille.

It was a really really weak but inspiring summer for comedies. You had some of the same old stuff (Rush Hour 3, Shrek 3), you had the long awaited Simpsons movie, which I still haven't seen but heard good things about, you had the biggest bust in movie history with Evan Almighty, budgeted at 130M and making 30 it's opening weekend, and then you had the Judd Apatow bunch blow everyone away.

I'm going to write a long post purely about Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen, as I have been huge fans of theirs since Freaks and Geeks so long ago and just love to see them prospering. But in terms of the summer comedy, they had the two biggest hits. Knocked Up and Super Bad both hit 30+M their opening weekends, were both fresh and reminded people that a movie didn't have to be a sequel to be funny. I was also very impressed with Oceans' last installment, even though it was flawed it was still fun and just what a summer movie should be. I didn't see the Shreks or the Ratatouilles, but I heard it was a decent time for animation but not the best. I mean honestly, everything Pixar does is great but nothing can really live up to the Incredibles or Toy Story for that matter. Both Chuck and Larry and Hairspray both topped the 100M mark both with average reviews, and I gotta say that for every step forward Adam Sandler seems to take (Reign Over Me) he just immediately takes one back in terms of being taken seriously.

Horror movies : Hostel 2, Captivity, Halloween. That's about it.

A really slow summer for horror movies as people have seemed to forget about this genre. It's gotten swept under the rug after years of the same crap coming in and out. I could probably write a long post about how I think people like Eli Roth are good for the genre, and will one day. Once I see Hostel 2. As some of you know, I was a huge fan of the first one and a really big fan of the Saw series, not just for it's gore effect, but for what some of these film makers are trying to do for a genre that's the most played out and the most mocked. In any event, there was nothing going on this summer except for this Halloween movie which I will not go see out of sheer principle. Michael Meyers was once a symbol for horror. You wore that mask and you were once feared. Now, 10 or so sequels later, he's died at least 5 times, been resurrected once and now we get a prequel. It's on the same level as having that Hannibal prequel. It destroys the mystery and thus the horror.

That's our summer. All in all a decent summer for the movies. Nothing spectacular, nothing revolutionary, but a solid summer.

Peace,

Asher

Video Entry attempt #1

please enjoy this video. it is, in theory, a nice substitute for writing a long entry since i have become no longer homeless.

perhaps there will be more video entries, only time will tell.

- asher

Not Homeless; Still without internet

The cable guy said something about a wire being cut and he has to run something through our neighbors yards...so here's to meeting my new Polish neighbors!

I'm at NYU now using the school for all it's good for : a free computer and toilet. I'm never throwing away my NYU ID.

I'm not homeless anymore, but a real big post will be coming next week, hopefully on Tuesday.

Any and everyone is welcome to come by and check out the new place though, the roof deck is quite amazing.

Peace