Random News: "Paul" gets a cast!

From the A.V. Club:

Paul, a new comedy starring and written by Shaun Of The Dead, Spaced, and Hot Fuzz co-stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost has announced some casting choices. Variety, which inimitably describes the film as a "road trip laffer," has revealed that the cast will include Jason Bateman, Jane Lynch, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, and Seth Rogen, the lattermost providing the voice an alien. This is the first Pegg / Frost pairing on which Frost has a writing credit, the previous films having been co-written by Pegg and director Edgar Wright. It's also the first such team-up with another director. Greg Mottola of Adventureland and Superbad fame will be taking the helm.

Why.... Has this suddenly turned into a Judd Apatow film?

Review: Star Trek (2009)

I wish, going in, that I had some basic knowledge of the original Star Trek series. I feel like it would've been more special. Even so, the minute this film started, I was engaged, and already very much emotionally invested.

Star Trek is a blast. Each actor (except maybe Zoë Saldana) brings something different to the table. Chris Pine (Capt. James T. Kirk) had his looks against him for me. I thought for sure his prettiness would overshadow the weight he needs to carry, but he's actually really charismatic. Zachary Quinto, apart from having Spock covered in looks, just nails his calm and measured demeanor. Karl Urban's performance as doctor Leonard McCoy is at times campy, but it works. Delivering lines like "Dammit man, I'm a doctor, not a physicist!" in our modern times can be tricky. Luckily it added just the right amount of humor to an otherwise tense situation. I've been an Eric Bana fans for years, but I thought his performance was slightly ridiculous as Captain Nero of the Romulans.

I needed me some Simon Pegg, and with 40 minutes to go I finally got my first look at him as Scotty. I could be biased, but he absolutely stole the entire movie. He takes what he's best at and integrates it into a small role to make a lasting impression. I made sure to check right away to see if a sequel is planned, and there is. So thank god Pegg doesn't end up being criminally underused.

Then there were themes of time-space continuums, alternate realities, parallel universes... Sounds like J.J. Abrams. I didn't necessarily follow all of it (it was really damn confusing), but I was still in the movie the whole ride and I didn't want it to end. I think I need to see it at least 12 more times before the Summer is out. Definitely one of the best of the year so far, and you would be unwise to miss it.

Recommended? Absolutely.

Grade: A
(19)

Random News: "Paul" details released!

From /film:

Want some more details about Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s next comedy? Paul will follow the two British geeks, who after visiting Comic-Con, go on a road trip to Area 51 where they encounter a small alien named Paul, who enlists them to help him find his way home. Written by Pegg and Frost, and directed by Greg Mottola (Adventureland, Superbad).

To recap: A sci-fi road trip comedy, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Greg Mottola, an Alien, Comic Con, Area 51?! I don’t know about you guys, but I think this sounds like a winner. Filmmaker Edgar Wright is busy on Scott Pilgrim, which explains why he’s not involved as a director. Mottola is a self professed fan of Nick and Simon’s films so far, and loved the concept. Wright will executive produce. Paul will start shooting in March 2009.

Rant: Simon Pegg hates fast zombies

From The Guardian:

As an avid horror fan, I found the prospect of last week's five-night TV zombie spectacular rather exciting. Admittedly, the trailer for E4's Dead Set made me somewhat uneasy. The sight of newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy warning the populace of an impending zombie apocalypse induced a sickening sense of indignation. Only five years previously, Edgar Wright and I had hired Krishnan to do the very same thing in our own zombie opus, Shaun of the Dead. It was a bit like seeing an ex-lover walking down the street pushing a pram. Of course, this was a knee-jerk reaction. It's not as if Edgar and I hadn't already pushed someone else's baby up the cultural high street - but that, to some extent, was the point. In Shaun of the Dead, we lifted the mythology established by George A Romero in his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead and offset it against the conventions of a romantic comedy.

Read on...

Photos: Star Trek (2009)

Do I care much about this movie? No. BUT it has two of my favorite actors; Simon Pegg and Eric Bana. Anyway, check them out.

Listmania: Cinematical's 7 Funniest Horror Films

{This was actually posted about 2 weeks ago, but I thought it more appropriate closer to Halloween. Plus Shaun of the Dead is number one!}

Find it HERE.

Interviews: Simon Pegg

From The A.V. Club:

A big star in his native England, actor-writer Simon Pegg has developed a devoted cult following in the States for his smart, pop-culture savvy work alongside friends and collaborators Edgar Wright and Nick Frost. Pegg rose to prominence as the star and co-creator (alongside fellow star/co-creator/writer Jessica Hynes) of Spaced, a clever, Wright-directed sitcom that gave a deliriously cinematic, larger-than-life spin to the misadventures of a pair of slacker roommates. The 2004 instant cult classic Shaun Of The Dead took Spaced's fanboy-friendly, pop-culture-warped sensibility to the big screen in the scary/funny story of a directionless young man whose humdrum existence is shaken up by a zombie attack. Pegg, Frost, and Wright reunited for 2007's equally awesome Hot Fuzz, a giddy deconstruction of/homage to the buddy-cop genre. In recent years, Pegg has embarked on a number of projects without Wright or Frost, including the 2006 dark comedy Big Nothing, last year's romantic comedy Run, Fatboy, Run, which he co-wrote, and the brooding comedy/drama The Good Night. Next year Pegg will play Scotty in J.J Abrams' feverishly anticipated update of the Star Trek franchise, and he'll appear in and co-write the road comedy Paul with Frost for Superbad director Greg Mottola. Pegg can currently be seen in How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, an adaptation of Toby Young's memoir about his oft-disastrous tenure writing for Graydon Carter at Vanity Fair. The A.V Club recently spoke with Pegg about Young's on-set faux pas, Star Trek, cutting the profanity from the American version of Run, Fatboy, Run and, of course, his Marxist overview of popular '70s cinema and hegemonic discourses.

Find it here

Trailers: How To Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008)

I really hope this is not another Run Fatboy Run. I have no doubt of Simon Pegg's talent, it's just the movies he's in sometimes.. And I really hate Kirsten Dunst. Still, I will have faith. I enjoyed RFR enough, so hopefully this will be just as good if not better.

That is, of course, if the release date doesn't get pushed back 6 months.

Random News: My life is a little more complete

From The Guardian
Spaced duo savour sweet taste of success
After Shaun of the Dead (zombies) and Hot Fuzz (cops), comes The World's End: the final installment in what Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have called their three-flavour Cornetto trilogy. The working title can be revealed today, but what the genre might be is another question. Asked by the Guardian if it suggested a sci-fi/doomsday theme, Wright said: "It's kind of going in that direction."

Wright was speaking yesterday as a two-film deal with the UK's leading production company, Working Title Films, was announced in London. The deal will involve him making the comedy with Pegg, as well as a separate action thriller, currently called Baby Driver.

Pegg and Wright, who first teamed up on the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced, said the Cornetto theme was a tribute to Krzysztof Kieslowski and his Three Colours (blue, white and red) series of films. A strawberry Cornetto appeared in the pair's 2004 breakthrough film Shaun of the Dead, an original flavour in Hot Fuzz and for the final film it will, somehow, be mint choc chip. "We're still waiting for the box of Cornettos to be sent to us," said Wright.

Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz were phenomenal successes and laid a path to Hollywood for the pair. Wright, 33, is working on two films in the US: Scott Pilgrim vs The World and an adaptation of the Marvel comic book character Ant-Man. Pegg, meanwhile, has been playing Scotty in the forthcoming Star Trek film.

Birthday Time: Simon Pegg

HAPPY 38TH BIRTHDAY SIMON PEGG!!

Simon Pegg is my favorite actor. He co-wrote and starred in my favorite film of all time, Shaun of the Dead. 

Not only that, but he co-wrote and starred in my favorite t.v. show of all time, Spaced. So, I guess I owe him a lot.

Many happy returns.