Screenhead

As it turns out, there are a LOT of Saw parodies. I really didn’t see this coming, but a basic search for “Saw Parody” on YouTube turns up a whole lot of pieces.  Some of them I knew about, like Mad TV’s version.

But then there are those like Jigsaw’s Crib, today’s short film target, that just came out of nowhere.

Jigsaw’s Crib is a bizarre combination parody of Saw and MTV’s Cribs.  And as entertaining as that idea would be if it were played straight, the problem is in this case it’s played with absolutely NO CONNECTION to the Saw series.  I figured maybe they’d take us around that warehouse we saw in Saw III, or at least some facsimile thereof, but no.  No, we wandered around some kid’s house while he walked around doing three important things.

1. Talking like a rapper.

2. Being drowned out by the “background” music

3. Doing that ridiculous “air jerk” thing.

No, this was a good idea, and probably would have been hilarious if it were done right, as opposed to being mostly a badly cast episode of Cribs, complete with ludicrously oversized “joint”.  Because as we all know, Little Billy was a serious pothead.

No, he wasn’t. He was a PUPPET. And if these putzes had actually watched one of the Saw films, they might have realized that.

Wildly out of line, with only a minimal contact with the Saw films by virtue of Little Billy and a brief mention of Dr. Gordon, Jigsaw’s Crib is just like its MTV parent–a sad, sorry, sloppy mess.

The Screenhead Ten Scale shakes its head in disgust and hands Jigsaw’s Crib a two out of ten for barely having a clue what it was talking about.  This was a good idea that went horribly, horribly wrong.

It’s probably about time we got a few more amateur Saw parodies.  The franchise is indeed rife with possibilities, and today, we tackle Saw XIV, or, The One Where Saw Constantly Screws Up.

The title basically gives away the premise and the plot–Jigsaw’s death traps (now Hoffman’s death traps) have always been mechanically complex wonders of amateur engineering.  But what would happen if those darn death traps just wouldn’t work right?

They’ve got a really good point, actually.  All this stuff is incredibly complex–I mean, just one slipped gear or misfired sparkplug and the next thing you know, blammo! No death trap.

And the best part is, this is actually really funny.  Though as it turns out, it’s not alone.  Just because I hadn’t heard of them before, apparently there are a LOT of Saw parodies out there.

The downside here is that the movie was made clearly by people who either didn’t see the Saw series or didn’t watch much of it, as they’re continually referring to Jigsaw as “Saw”, not to mention dressing him up like Little Billy, when we really should be seeing either Jigsaw himself or the “replacement” Jigsaw that is Detective Hoffman.

Anyway, the Screenhead Ten Scale just wiped away a tear of hilarious laughter and hands Saw XIV a seven out of ten. Admittedly, it’s low budget, and they clearly only have a loose idea of what they’re parodying, but the comedy more than makes up for the lack of effects work.

Pick up the hilarious new stand-up special from top comedian Mike Epps, UNDER RATED & NEVER FADED… Mike takes the stage live in Detroit in front of a sold-out audience and delivers his funniest performance to date… sure to leave fans screaming for more. Available on DVD and iTunes Nov. 10th.

Screenhead has 10 copies of Mike Epps, Under Rated & Never Faded to give away to the lucky winners who post their name.  We will pick the winners Thursday, November 30, 2009.

Okay, so people weren’t too enthused by the Screenhead Film Festival’s big prize giveaway (it was ten DVDs, man!  That’s got a retail value of like two, maybe three hundred bucks!), but I’ve got something here that might put some fire in your belly.

It’s the Indieroar Film Festival, and I just got word of it from director Alan Rowe Kelly.  Top prize?  Five THOUSAND dollars.

Plus, you’ll also get some film editing software with that.  And if that isn’t enough, there are also second and third prizes too, a thousand bucks a crack.  Entries are being accepted in five categories: horror, drama, comedy, animation and documentary, and each entry must be UNDER twenty five minutes in length.

The public will vote on the gathered films, and winnow down the entries to the top twenty five in each category, the winners of which will be decided by a jury.

So if you’re a short film maker and you’re up for a shot at five grand, grab your camcorder and get to shooting.  Deadline for entry is January 15th, 2010.

Divorced… with Benefits?…  well, It’s Complicated!   

On behalf of Universal Pictures, Screenhead is excited to let you know that the new trailer and one-sheet for Nancy Meyers’ upcoming comedy about love, divorce, and everything in between, has just debuted online. It’s Complicated stars Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin – they are hilarious. Come Christmas Day we will find out if love is truly lovelier the second time around…

If anyone has ever seen Nancy Meyer movies, you know you are in for a treat. This trailer proves it. Go to Apple to see the new trailer!

A new trailer for Illumination Entertainment’s 3-D CGI Feature Despicable Me has just debuted online!   

The new Despicable Me trailer doesn’t reveal much about the movie, but it’s worth watching for enjoyment.  The movie includes a wonderful cast including Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Danny McBride, Miranda Cosgrove, Jack McBrayer, Mindy Kaling, Jemaine Clement and Julie Andrews.    

Movie will be in theaters July 9, 2010!

In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn.  Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout.  Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), planning the biggest heist in the history of the world.  He is going to steal the moon. 

Gru delights in all things wicked.  Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way.  Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad. 

The world’s (second) greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes. 

You know what…the trailer doesn’t show any of this story. You can see it at Apple.

Jack Brown Geniusis a hilariously entertaining movie that is fun to watch. Deep within the chambers of an old monastery lives Elmer (Stuart Devenie), a monk who dreams of discovering a way to fly in hopes of meeting his beloved creator.  But when the wing system he builds fails, he falls to his death and – having been judged a suicide – is doomed to an eternity in purgatory.

A thousand years later, Elmer’s spirit enters the mind of Jack Brown (Timothy Balme), a modern-day inventor with problems of his own.  Seems his boss is trying to pilfer his formula for a new source of power.  But the monk, determined to be released from his otherworldly prison, forces Jack to rebuild the winged machine and achieve Elmer’s dream of flight, rendering him free. Assisted by his friends Dennis (Martin Csokas) and Eileen (Nicola Murphy) – who is secretly in love with Jack – can Jack triumph where Elmer failed and carry both souls to new heights of success?

Never before seen in North America, Jack Brown Genius was co-written and executive produced by Academy Award-winner Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Ringstrilogy) through his studio WingNut Films, Ltd.  A sci-fi/fantasy gem, it’s available on DVD distributedby Lionsgate Entertainment.

You’ll want this movie in your library because it’s a unique breed that breathes laughter and spontaneous fun.  I can’t wait to see it again.

If you would like to win one of the four copies of Jack Brown Genius, post your name and we will pick the winners Tuesday, November 24, 2009.

My daughter and her four friends watched Aliens in the Attic DVD screener today as a Halloween treat. With popcorn and Halloween candy they loved it all. Even the bloopers were awesome.

The movie takes place during summer vacation, but the Pearson family kids are stuck at a boring lake house with their nerdy parents. That is until feisty, little, green aliens crash-land on the roof, with plans to conquer the house AND Earth! Using only their wits, courage and video game-playing skills, the youngsters must band together to defeat the aliens and save the world — but the toughest part might be keeping the whole thing a secret from their parents!

The scene most talked about was when the adults were being controlled by the kids via remote controls. The kids had the two adults fighting each other with the kids flipping them, getting the parents to do anything they wanted them to do.

The cast includes Doris Roberts (“Everybody Loves Raymond”), Andy Richter (“The Conan O’Brien Show”), Kevin Nealon (“Weeds”), Tim Meadows (Mean Girls) and Gillian Vigman (The Hangover), as well as rising young star Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical).

After my daughter’s friends left, she asked if she could watch the movie, again, and did with just as much enjoyment.

If you would like to win a copy of Aliens in the Attic, post your name now and Screenhead will pick the winner Wednesday, November 18, 2009.

The winners are Jack Borg, Laura Deluca, Geraldine!

From the Wayans Brothers, the guys behind Scary Movie, comes the hilarious comedy Dance Flick.  Own the unrated version on DVD, with even more outrageous footage not shown in theaters. Dance Flick unrated version on DVD now.  The movie is from Paramount Home Entertainment.   

The Wayans brothers set out to parody movies like Step Up and Save the Last Dance.  

No one’s ever going to mistake Stan Helsing for a high-brow horror flick.  But this title, that you can get in video stores starting tomorrow, will prove to at least be a watchable horror comedy with some slightly entertaining elements.

In Stan Helsing, which Anchor Bay sent me a copy of, the title character is a video store clerk on a mission–to make as little of an impact on the world around him as possible.  Seriously, I don’t know if this guy’s just the laziest guy on the planet or if he’s got some kind of allergy to doing anything, but he sure seems like he just plain doesn’t care.  Faced with losing his job at a video store (a Schlockbuster, no less!) he’s forced to make a delivery run for the owner’s mother.  With his friends in tow, Stan goes forth on a voyage of discovery, personal growth, and godawful monster parodies to make his delivery and save a gated community from the wrath of various aforementioned monster parodies.

There were a few parts in here that got me to laugh.  This is important.  Had it not been for that handful of parts I would’ve dismissed this outright as plain old garbage intended for teenage boys who otherwise couldn’t get their hands on porn.

Let’s put it this way–the movie openly admits it was written and directed by the executive producer of Scary Movie, and the writer and executive producer of Soul Plane.

Yeah.  That’s what we’re dealing with.

Like I said, this isn’t THAT bad a movie, but it’s definitely nothing great.  It’s predictable, it’s tired, it’s badly disjointed, and frankly, it’s trying to do entirely too much in entirely too little time.  I don’t know why their Freddy Krueger analogue Fweddy is dressed like Flava Flav.  I don’t know why their Chucky’s face has a tic-tac-toe game carved into it.  I’m not sure I want to know why their Leatherface is wearing a purse or why their Michael Myers is wearing a yarmulke.  And possibly gratefully the movie will respect that and not even bother to try explaining it.

The Screenhead Ten Scale hands this barely passable rental a three out of ten and says that Bo Zenga should stick to producing. At least Scary Movie wasn’t complete crap.