Offspring Entertainment has released the first trailer of the much anticipated film adaptation of the rock musical Rock of Ages. Musicals, despite being released only once in a while and being an acquired taste, are still pretty popular among a diverse audience. This year’s The Muppets definitely gave strong message that musicals are alive and well, plus we’ve had some of the most interesting forms of musicals in recent years, such as Nine, Hairspray, and, of course, Sweeney Todd.

Rock of Ages, however, may gain a larger audience due to its familiar list of songs from some of the most popular rock bands of the 80s, plus with a star studded cast it’s safe to say even fans who aren’t fond of musicals may want to take a look. The aforementioned cast includes Tom Cruise, Malin Akerman, Bryan Cranston, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Alec Baldwin, Mary J. Blige, Paul Giamatti, Russell Brand, Julianne Hough (Footloose), and Diego Boneta (Paradise Lost), among others. Adam Shankman, who also directed the 2007 adaptation of Hairspray which turned into a surprise box office hit, directs the film.

Check out the trailer below:

Set in 1987 Los Angeles, Drew and Sherrie are two young people chasing their dreams in the big city. When they meet, it’s love at first sight, though their romance will face a series of challenges.

So as you can see, Rock of Ages definitely makes it known that the typical cliches of the 80s, from the sex symbol rock stars to the sense of style, are the main attraction, while the overall plot points are at a minimum to focus a little more on the soundtrack. Who can blame them when you have songs from legendary bands like Def Leppard or Journey as source material?

Probably the best part of the trailer, though, is the monumental, god-like status of Cruise’s rock star, Stacee Jaxx. We never hear him speak nor do we barely see his face (once or twice) but it’s still so effective, bringing a clever use of the “less is more” approach.

The rest of the trailer is pretty standard, showing samples to a few of the film’s musical numbers and introducing majority of the characters, but it still looks to be a fun spin on a genre that has such a limited audience, and promises that even non-musical fans will have a great time singing along to their favorite songs. If you’re a fan of rock and roll and a few comedic moments, definitely check out Rock of Ages.

Rock of Ages hits theatres on June 1, 2012.

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Stepping into the shoes, well, the bottle, of Dudley Moore’s famed character was going to be met with ridicule from some pundits and fans who cherish the 1981 original.  Well, don’t worry people.  For Russell Brand does a charismatic job with Arthur.  I only wish the same could be said for the screenplay and direction.

Director Jason Winer seemed to let Brand roam free in Peter Baynham’s familiar screenplay.  At times it works perfectly.  In other moments, the atmosphere needed to be enhanced rather than just relying on the energetic Brand.  Even the acting talents of Helen Mirren and Greta Gerwig are held in check until the story begins to wind down.  Whether one agrees with everything stated above is debatable.  But one thing is for sure, Russell Brand will get audiences smiling and laughing enough times to make this 110 minute exhibition worth a look.

The overall theme and pertinent info from 1981 remains intact.  Arthur (Russell Brand) is 30, and the sole heir to a mega-fortune.  A mega-fortune he’s been irresponsibly going through for years now.  His toys range from a floating magnetic bed to a collection of movie cars (Batmobile, Mystery Machine, etc) .  Since his mother (Geraldine James) spends her days running the company that replenishes his bank account, she has little to no relationship with her childish son.  That job is left to Arthur’s nanny Hobson (Helen Mirren).  Hobson has been by his side since he was born and is able to stomach the naked girls and the steady ingestion of alcohol that enter his penthouse.  Plus, he has a driver and playmate in Bitterman (Luis Guzman), who joins Arthur while he’s out on the town making an ass of himself.  Or as he calls it, “fun.”

Arthur is content with his life.  In fact he loves it.  And his mother generally lets him do what he pleases.  That is until he starts making Charlie Sheen-like headlines all over the city.  Leading company investors to start pulling out when they realize that one day Arthur will inherit the proud company.  Mommy decides to present her son with an ultimatum.  In order to save face with investors, mother would like Arthur to marry the successful Susan (Jennifer Garner).  Susan is an employee with the company, so everyone will assume their business affairs are in good hands if she‘s running the show.  Problem is Arthur hates Susan and is actually taking a liking to the simple Naomi (Greta Gerwig).  However, he hates being poor more than anything, so he reluctantly agrees to partake in a charade engagement to the woman he can’t stand, in order to keep playing with his billions.  But like all good drunks, he believes he can do both and casually tries to figure out a way to make this scenario happen.

For those that never saw the original, this script resembles a pattern found in Adam Sandler’s Billy Madison.  The difference being, the party started to slow down in Sandler’s man-child adventure, while Brand is allowed to stay obnoxious until the final few minutes.  His take on the Arthur character brings in a little Jack Sparrow charm.  It’s just a shame that he is put out on an island all by himself, since the script fails to support him during numerous sequences.  To his credit though, he’s able to keep this piece from sinking, even though he finds himself treading water here and there.

As mentioned, his co-stars aren’t much of a help either.  And it’s not their fault.  Jennifer Garner is only given one moment that entertains the audience.  Her mogul father (played by Nick Nolte) is essentially worthless as a character.  Luis Guzman is criminally under-utilized.  The dynamic between his character and Arthur, could have led to pure hilarity, but doesn’t.  What this all amounts to is missed opportunities.  One understands that the writer and director wanted to keep this from turning into a slapstick gimmick.  But the emotional attachment to the characters fails to register anything with audiences until the final act.  Which wasn’t the case in the original.  It boils down to committing to a form of execution.  When they try to dabble in a bit of everything, the flick will fail to project the appropriate tone.

In the end, the Arthur remake survives on the spirited performance from Russell Brand.  Once you get used to his comedic delivery, he nails it more than he misfires.  Too bad we cannot say the same for the hapless screenplay and direction.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

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Let’s get something straight, right off the bat: I like Russell Brand. Seeing him in only two roles (albeit both of which he played the same character), he’s funny in a light-hearted way, without being too grating or resorting to shtick.

In the trailer for Arthur, a remake of the 1981 comedy starring the late Dudley Moore, Brand’s interpretation of the titular character skews more neurotic than erotic, which is interesting considering Brand’s on- and off-screen persona, as well as the playboy role that Moore originated.

Arthur is heir to a fortune of nearly a billion dollars. To attain the family riches, his mother is forcing him to give up his life of leisure (although driving the Batmobile with Luis Guzman and sparring with Evander Holyfield sounds like an honest day’s work to me) and marry a carnivorous executive-type, played probably too softly by Jennifer Garner. Along the way, he meets cute with another girl (No Strings Attached’s Greta Gerwig), and, well, you get the idea.

Based on the trailer, I would probably be willing to see Arthur, for no other reason than Russell Brand. That said, I have a bad feeling that the trailer has already shown its hand, revealing the big laughs prematurely. It gets points for use of the aforementioned Guzman, as well as Helen Mirren (who seems to be everywhere nowadays) as Arthur’s no-nonsense nanny-cum-housekeeper. A deduction must be made, however, for the use of Queen and David Bowie’s Under Pressure, a song utilized in so many trailers that its use has fast become hackneyed and cliché.

That said, the trailer for Arthur does what it is supposed to do: shows the rich playboy living it up, inviting us to revel along side him in all of our vicarious glory.

Arthur comes out April 8th.

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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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The Easter Bunny sure is a busy creature these days. He’s got appearances lined up in three upcoming films, and in two of those he plays the lead role. Want a refresher? Here are the three projects: Leonardo DiCaprio will be voicing Jack Frost in The Guardians, a “mythical figure teamup” flick featuring Jack Frost, Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman. Another is called Hip Hop, a Sony Animation movie in which the egg-wielding bunny wants to retire and hides out as a pet with a normal family. And finally we’ve got I Hop, the live action/CGI hybrid wherein Russell Brand (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) voices the Easter Bunny.

Tonight, we turn our attention to I Hop. James Marsden has joined the cast as a slacker who runs over the Easter Bunny with his car and is forced to take his place as the bunny recovers. Sounds suspiciously like The Santa Clause to me. Tim Hill, the director of another live action/CG hybrid, Alvin and the Chipmunks, is set to direct in the fall. The script was written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, the writing team behind the upcoming animated Steve Carell-starrer Despicable Me. I Hop hits theaters on March 4th, 2011.

I think it’s safe to assume Brand will do a fine job with the voice work here; if Sarah Marshall was any indication, he has a bright future ahead of him. Marsden was pretty fantastic in the little-seen 2008 flick Sex Drive, and it appears he’s returning to comedy in the Death at a Funeral remake. Personally, I’d rather see him in a comedic role like this one than another where he’s supposed to be the well-dressed rom-com lead. What say you, readers? Excited about the Easter Bunny’s sudden surge into the film world? Or should he stay in his rabbit hole where he belongs?

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Anyone hear recently that Johnny Depp was going to be paid a heck of a lot for Pirates of the Caribbean 4? There were also some rumours floating around that Sasha Baron Cohen would have a part, as would Russell Brand. Apparently Tim Burton was also being considered to direct. Well if all those didn’t ring your bullshit alarm then your bullshit alarm needs new batteries.

Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy writer Terry Rossio recently posted a message on a forum confirming that all these rumours were indeed, bullshit.

For the record, none of the recent Pirates 4 rumors have any truth, including the so-called record 50 million dollar payday for Depp.

Some pretty funny stuff, though. Sacha Cohen? Tim Burton? Studios are way too protective of their franchises for that sort of thing.

Don’t you just hate tabloid talk?

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Apatow & Co. are at it again! Nick Stoller, director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, has just sold the rights to Get Him to the Greek to Universal. The premise of the new flick?

A fresh-out-of-college insurance adjuster is hired to accompany an out-of-control rock star from London to a gig at L.A.’s Greek Theater.

Judd is producing, Nick will be direct, and Jonah Hill and Russell Brand will star!

Let’s hope it’s as good as Sarah Marshall (I’ll fight you on this one, Deena, I swear I will!)…!!!

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