You may remember Hot Rod director Akiva Schaffer’s new movie The Watch from its formal title, Neighborhood Watch. (The film’s marketing team decided to change the name in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting.) The film stars Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade, and is about four suburban dads who create a neighborhood watch program because they’re bored at home. But then the guys discover aliens in their neighborhood, and things get a whole lot more interesting.

Take a look below.

The Watch was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (the duo behind Superbad and The Green Hornet) and arrives in theaters on July 27th, 2012. What do you think? Looking forward to it?

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Over the weekend 20th Century Fox released a red band trailer for The Watch, a sci-fi comedy starring Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill, Vince Vaughn, and Richard Ayoade (director of Submarine). Now you might think, wait a minute, wasn’t there another sci-fi comedy starring those three scheduled for this summer? Well this is that movie, but they changed the title from Neighborhood Watch to simply The Watch.

Watch the trailer below:

The Watch follows a group of neighborhood watch members that take it on themselves to protect earth from an alien invasion that just so happens to take place, you guessed it, in their neighborhood.

The idea behind the film could produce a lot of comedic moments, at least one of which is shown in the trailer (the weapon thing). Although I have to say, the premise sounds awfully similar to the one from last year’s Attack the Block. So if this film looks interesting to you, definitely give that one a watch (if you haven’t already).

Director Akiva Schaffer, mostly known for doing Saturday Night Live episodes, seems like the right guy for a film like this and the trailer looks ok. Unfortunately ok isn’t enough when you open a week after The Dark Knight Rises, so Fox really have to step up their game if they don’t want another flop on their hands.

As mentioned in the intro, The Watch stars Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill, Vince Vaughn, Richard Ayoade, and some others including Billy Crudup and Doug Jones.

The Watch opens July 27th in North America and August 29th in the UK.

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When I first heard about 21 Jump Street, I couldn’t be more disinterested. I pegged the film as another in a long line of unnecessary remakes of 80s properties, nothing more than desperate grasping by studios to conjure and capitalize on nostalgia. Turns out my preconceived notions were proven incorrect; this movie could care less about nostalgia because it’s far more interested in being a post-modern comedic commentary on both the buddy cop genre and the teen high school movie. It’s action-packed, smartly written, and downright hilarious at times; in short, 21 Jump Street is worth taking the leap.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller previously directed 2009′s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which became one of my favorite animated films of all time after only one viewing. (Seriously: if you in any way value my opinion – and I assume you do if you’re reading this – seek out Cloudy immediately, regardless of your age. It’s fantastic.) 21 Jump Street is the duo’s first attempt at a live action film, and they absolutely knock it out of the park. Unlike their Academy Award-winning contemporary Andrew Stanton, who directed instant animated classics Finding Nemo and Wall*E and then went on to make John Carter, Lord and Miller are able to coach memorable performances out of their lead actors and successfully transition their comedic style seamlessly into a live action arena.

It helps that this script is great; Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) were in different social strata in high school, but seven years later, they become friends on the police force. They’re mostly inept, failing to read the Miranda rights to apprehended criminals and yearning for explosions, car chases, and “a lifetime of being badass motherf*ckers.” They’re more than a bit reminiscent of Nick Frost’s character in Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz. Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World writer Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill wrote 21 Jump Street, and their approach of Hollywood’s current remake craze is to address it head on; when our heroes are transferred to a new division that’s resurrecting a previous program from the 80s which places young-looking cops undercover in high school, their captain laments the lack of originality from the higher-ups, claiming they’ve “run out of ideas.” It’s a direct acknowledgement of the film’s purported reason for existence, and a fun way to let the audience know that the filmmakers are in on the joke of the movie as a whole.

Tossed back into high school to locate the supplier of a drug ring, Schmidt and Jenko find their roles reversed both literally and figuratively. Jenko is the dumb jock with a good heart, and he accidentally mixes up their new secret identities and must take Schmidt’s course load filled with band and chemistry and things he knows nothing about. Schmidt, the intellectual nerd when he was actually in high school, becomes the stereotypical popular kid because of the way trends have evolved since he and Jenko were there the first time: smart kids who read comics and care about the environment are the new breed of cool kids, leaving the once-popular Jenko confused and befriending the school’s tech-savvy nerds. It’s a cool play against audience expectations, something this movie does frequently and often during its runtime.

This film allows Jonah Hill to transition from the seriousness of Moneyball back to his comedic roots, but the true standout here is Channing Tatum. He shines as he plays into the public perception that he’s an oafish dope, giving people who previously had no interest in his work (read: me) a reason to take notice and keep an eye on him during his future projects. His comedic timing is spot-on, and he’s an unlikely-but-perfect foil for Hill in this film. The story gets a bit conventional near the end, taking them down a well-tread path of testing their friendship before preparing for the big climactic showdown, but the film transitions from point to point so smoothly that it’s hard to get upset about the occasional slip into conventionality. Plus, the jokes are profane and really funny throughout, with people like Rob Riggle, Ice Cube, Jake Johnson, Ellie Kemper, Chris Parnell, and Nick Offerman peppered in to keep you laughing from start to finish.

There are also some surprisingly heartwarming moments mixed into all the vulgarity, which really grounds the film and gives it some emotional stakes when the characters get into any danger. Dave Franco (yep, James’ brother) and Brie Larson are both solid as the kids Schmidt befriends in school, and it says a lot about this movie that I was so caught up in the laughs that I barely thought about the weirdness of Schmidt’s love interest being a high school girl. Bonus points are awarded for having a unique “tripping” sequence when the main characters are forced to take drugs, and extra bonus points go to the marketing team, who, in the trailers, gave us a sense of the film’s tone but actually switched up scenes for fresh laughs. 21 Jump Street is a dose of much-needed creativity in these early months of the year, and will likely remain one of my favorite comedies as we move forward through 2012. Until next time…

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2007′s Superbad became an instant classic upon its release. McLovin shirts were spawned, catch phrases were repeated ad nauseum, and suddenly all references to the movie started to induce eye-rolling for me instead of laughs. That’s what happens sometimes when a movie gets too popular too quickly, launching into the public zeitgeist so fast that your mom is quoting it.

But now that we’re a few years away from the hype, a video of an early table read has surfaced and reminded me of just how funny and iconic that movie is. Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s delivery is still the best part for me. (For those that don’t know: a table read is where the actors sit down and read the script aloud together; it happens before almost every movie but rarely makes its way onto the internet.) Check it out after the jump, but beware the NSFW language (and stay away from the links posted in the video).

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When I first heard about a 21 Jump Street movie, I wasn’t interested at all. The TV show was before my time, and it sounded like another lame attempt at cashing in on nostalgia at the box office. But as we get closer and closer to the film’s March 16th release date, my excitement is rising. Early buzz is overwhelmingly positive, claiming that Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have struck the perfect balance between parody and homage.

Sony has just released a new red-band trailer that is nearly five minutes long, and while I’m not going to even watch this (I’m seeing a screening next week so I can write my review, so I’ll hold out for the real thing), I wanted to throw it out there for those of you still may be on the fence about seeing this one. Fair warning, though – as with any extended trailer like this, it could reveal the best parts of the film before you even see the movie. The adventurous among you can check it out after the break.

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Here’s the first trailer for Neighborhood Watch, this summer’s comedy featuring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and actor/director Richard Ayoade. It’s directed by Akiva Schaeffer of Lonely Island fame; he also directed Hot Rod starring Andy Samburg. For those of you who have never heard of the movie (or those who have forgotten about it), it follows a group of bored suburban guys who form a neighborhood watch group just so they can hang out together. But then aliens get involved, and it falls on them to save the world. You won’t see any of that alien stuff here, but it gives us a good idea of the tone of the film. Check it out after the jump.

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Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt worked together on Moneyball, and though the movie didn’t win any Oscars last night, it forged a good working relationship for the two actors. Hill has just been set to star with James Franco in a film called True Story, which Pitt and his Plan B Productions will produce, about real-life journalist Michael Finkel. Read on for more about the plot, which is hard to believe actually happened.

Rupert Goold is making his feature directorial debut on the project, and no start date has been set yet. Deadline does a great job summing up the story:

Hill will play Finkel, who was a writer at The New York Times Magazine in 2002 when he learned that Christian Longo was captured in Mexico after a long stint on the FBI Ten Most Wanted List for killing his family. The strange part was that he had been living under the identity of Finkel. The very next day, the real Finkel was fired by the editors of The New York Times, right after they ran an editor’s note declaring that he had falsified parts of an investigative article. His career seemed over, until Longo (who’ll be played by Franco) declared that the real Finkel was the only journalist he would talk to. That led to a surreal relationship with the accused murderer who was trying to declare his innocence.

Sounds nuts, right? Seeing Franco as a potentially wild alleged killer and Hill as the straight man journalist could be a great combination, and I’m hoping this project comes to fruition sooner rather than later. How about you? Do you think True Story has potential?

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Coming Soon have heard from an unnamed source that Johnny Depp will definitely be taking part in the big screen version of the TV show that made him a star, 21 Jump Street. He has in the past said that he would be willing, so it’s not much of a surprise to hear that he has finally been confirmed.

The original TV show was centred on the credibility stretching premise of a group of babyfaced cops going undercover in high school to tackle crime and was serious in tone. Depp starred for four ripped denim seasons between 1987 -1990 as officer Tom Hanson. The updated version, which also stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as his partner, is wisely steering more towards the action-comedy route and is tagged as similar in tone to Bad Boys.

The cast also includes Brie Larson (Scott Pilgrim), Ice Cube, Rob Riggle (Step Brothers), Dave Franco (brother of James), Jake M. Johnson (No Strings Attached) and the recently confirmed Johnny Simmons (Scott Pilgrim).

The film, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs) is currently lensing for a March 16, 2012 release.

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According to Variety Jay Baruchel, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller and Kristen Wiig will reprise their speaking roles in How to Train Your Dragon 2, which is currently in pre-production at DreamWorks.

As well as overwhelmingly positive reviews (98% on Rotten Tomatoes) How to Train Your Dragon became a surprise hit by taking nearly $500 million at the worldwide box office. With that kind of response a sequel was guaranteed.

After sharing writing and directing duties with Chris Sanders on the original, Dean DeBlois will take over both tasks on the sequel, with Sanders remaining as an executive producer. The current aim is to release the sequel in 2013, and as Cressida Cowell’s book series contains 8 books in total there will be a wealth of material to draw from.

How to Train Your Dragon will be released on DVD and Blu-ray October 15th, and you can pre-order it from Amazon via these links:

- Single Disc DVD
- Two-Disc Edition DVD
- Blu-ray

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Comedy is perhaps the most subjective of all film genres. It’s nearly impossible to create a film that is universally regarded as hilarious, so I would imagine filmmakers simply decide to make something that they themselves would find funny. I really enjoyed Nicholas Stoller’s debut feature film, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, so it stands to reason that I’d be excited for a spinoff featuring one of the funniest characters of that film, Russell Brand’s eccentric rock star Aldous Snow. But can the British comedian-turned actor hold an entire film on his own?

Aldous Snow (Brand) has fallen on some hard times since the release of his latest album “African Child,” hailed by the press as “the worst thing to happen to Africa since apartheid.” The bad reviews caused a rift with Snow’s successful model/singer girlfriend Jackie Q (Rose Byrne), so Snow has fallen off the wagon and returned to the drug-fueled escapades we saw in Sarah Marshall. Aaron Green (Hill) is a record company intern and a huge fan of Infant Sorrow, and pitches the idea for a reunion show to his boss, Sergio (Combs). Green is tasked with retrieving the eccentric rocker from England and getting him back to the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in 72 hours.

Jason Segel is a co-producer on this film, but it lacks the charm and heart of Sarah Marshall, which Segel starred in and wrote. Stoller wrote and directed Get Him to the Greek and tries to recapture the sweetness that FSM had, but never quite achieves that goal. The characters aren’t as endearing and the comedy isn’t as organic. Even with a concept as ludicrous as a character going on a Hawaiian vacation and running into his ex-girlfriend at the same resort, Segel knew how to infuse Sarah Marshall with a reality that seemed believable and genuine; Get Him to the Greek plays like a gauntlet of events that the characters must barrel through to reach their final destination.

Sure, there are funny moments in this movie, and I’m not claiming that I didn’t enjoy it. But the pacing was so unbalanced I found it jarring at some points. Aldous Snow in particular experienced instantaneously wild swings of emotion that felt unnatural and poorly set up. It was the type of thing you’d find in a poor romantic comedy: shifts in emotion that are unjustified except in their ability to superficially progress the story. The film also occasionally falls into the Apatow formula of crass humor for the sake of being crass, which is something that I personally don’t find all that funny. Like I said, film is subjective.

To answer the question posed at the beginning of the review, I don’t think Aldous Snow’s character can hold an entire movie on his shoulders. Part of the reason everyone loved him in Sarah Marshall was because Segel knew how to show some restraint – by having Snow appear intermittently, the character’s wild actions were fresh and unexpected. Here, the film highlights his exploits and loses some of the surprise factor that made him so funny the first time around. Jonah Hill, whom I normally don’t care for, actually did some pretty good work here and played against type as the straight man to Snow’s drug-addled rocker. But with a premise like this, I don’t think the humor and drama ever found the right balance; the two leads deal with love interests and career choices in storylines that seem at odds with each other instead of complementing each other.

Elizabeth Moss (“Mad Men”) was believable as Green’s girlfriend Daphne, a nurse who works bizarre hours and wants to move the couple to Seattle so she can have better hours and spend more time with her boyfriend. They have a spat before Green takes off, and Daphne understandably doesn’t take kindly to his philandering with Snow. I won’t spoil it, but one of the film’s most uncomfortable scenes involves her character evening the score after Green returns to Los Angeles. Rose Byrne was quietly effective as Jackie Q, Snow’s ex-girlfriend. Her relationship with Aldous seemed to be the most realized of any on screen, and although I wish we could have seen a bit more of her, I appreciated the outcome of their situation.

Sean Combs was surprisingly funny as the overblown record executive, but the rest of the supporting cast was criminally underused. Comedians Aziz Ansari and Nick Kroll were featured in only one scene and easily could have been utilized in various points throughout the film. Kristen Bell’s cameo was expectedly short but, as much as I love her, kind of uninspired. I appreciated the random appearance from Ricky Schroder (Poolhall Junkies), but thought they could have done a bit more with Bell’s character.

I dug the first half of the film, but it fell apart in the third act with strained storyline conclusions and a pretty typical ending. The comedy also got weirder as the movie progressed, featuring a lot of “humor” revolving around Jonah Hill’s rectum. Yeah, it was disturbing, and sometimes disturbing things are funny, but those sequences didn’t do anything for me. I much preferred the “2 Fast 2 Furious” scene, with its non sequiturs and escalation that reminded me of that famous brawl in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy.

Get Him to the Greek lacks the soul of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but it’s still worth a watch on DVD or Blu-ray when its released. It’s relatively harmless, but didn’t live up to my (admittedly too high) expectations. What did you think of it? Leave your comments below.

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