Screenhead

If you can’t get enough of liquored up superheroes, then you’re probably going to be about as happy as I am to hear the news that Hancock will be coming back for a second round. And by current reports, both Will Smith and Charlize Theron will also be back. No word as of yet if Jason Bateman will be coming back also, though for all our sakes, I really hope so. Unless, of course, it interferes with the shooting of the Arrested Development movie.  Then and only then am I prepared to live without them.

There is no word yet on the simple things, like when they’ll start shooting this, or even what it’s about, but for right now, it’s news enough just knowing that it’s coming eventually.

I’m actually looking forward to it myself, because Hancock was definitely not the kind of superhero you ordinarily saw.  And any time Hollywood can manage to do something even vaguely original, I know I want to be in line for it.

Original in Hollywood is kind of like a comet– you just plain don’t see that many of them.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Variety reports that Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, Jane Lynch and Kristen Wiig have joined the cast of Paul, an upcoming comedy in the works at Universal.

Written by Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, it follows two sci-fi lovers who find their “conspiracy dreams” becoming true when they visit an escaped alien at Area 51. Seth Rogen is set to provide the alien’s voice.

Greg Mottola, known for Superbad, will direct the film, which is scheduled for release later this year.

Popularity: unranked [?]

 Jason Bateman is set to star in the film Up in the Air, the adaptation of the Walter Kirn novel that Jason Reitman is directing for DreamWorks and the Montecito Picture Co.

Also starring in the film is George Clooney as a corporate downsizer who is obsessed with collecting frequent flyer miles at the expense of having a life.

Bateman gets to play his boss.

Popularity: 1% [?]

You know, we’ve been taking a whole lot of new and interesting directions of late with the whole superhero concept, especially as it relates to filmmaking.  We’ve had the whole Watchmen thing that’ll be coming to a head this March, we’ve had the Mystery Men (even without the Flaming Carrot), we’ve had Hellboy, and plenty of others.

But none have been quite so…mundane…as John Hancock, the main character fuelling Hancock.

Hancock, a boozy, antisocial wreck of a superhero, has all the powers you’d expect from a true dyed-in-the-wool-longjohns superhero, but with absolutely none of the social graces or boy-scout morality.  Sure, he can fly, he’s bulletproof, he has superhuman strength, but he’d really rather be drinking.  And even as he saves lives, he does so with a shrugging disregard to property damage, meaning the appearance of Hancock on any particular scene means someone’s going to get their life saved, but there’s going to be a LOT of cleaning up to do afterward.

But when Hancock meets Ray Embrey, the so-called “Bono of PR”, things start to turn around for him as Ray sets out to remake Hancock’s image from public safety hazard / drunken loser who’s above the law he enforces  to dynamic public servant of justice.

One thing you might not necessarily expect, but will get, from a movie like Hancock is laughs.  There is a surprising abundance of funny bits in Hancock, a development that caught me by surprise when I first caught it.  I had never expected to see a superhero movie that made me laugh so much, but indeed, Hancock brought in the funny.

Not that Hancock didn’t also bring in the action–there was plenty of gunplay and lots of good old fashioned brawling going on in here.  Often, the two intersected, and the fistfights brought plenty of laughs while the punching went on.  For instance, keep your eyes open for when Hancock goes to prison.  I haven’t seen a movie whipsaw so quickly between funny and fistfight in a long time.

Which isn’t to say there aren’t some problems here also–let’s be honest, this IS just another superhero movie.  For crying out loud, there are so many of them that there’s a whole Wayans-esque parody named after the subgenre–Superhero Movie.  We’re not exactly looking at a dynamic leap forward in filmmaking here.

But what we ARE looking at is a solid and well-done example of the concept.  It’s funny, it’s action-packed, it’s literally everything a superhero movie should be and probably a little more.  It’s definitely up there toward the top of the heap.  But what you have to consider at this point is, is this a heap to be top of?

The plain and simple of it is, if you like superhero movies, if you like movies that make you laugh, if you like movies that get your adrenaline pumping, if you like any or all of the above combined, then you will enjoy Hancock.  But if you’re looking for some kind of new and innovative experience, then you can just about forget about Hancock being anything more than a crashing disappointment.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman are set to star together in the fertility-themed comedy The Baster.

According to Variety, Will Speck and Josh Gordon, who previously teamed for the comedy Blades of Glory, will helm The Baster from a screenplay by Allan Loeb who wrote 21.  The film is based on Jeffrey Eugenides’ short story “Baster,” which was first published in The New Yorker.

The Baster focuses on a neurotic and insecure man (Bateman) who discovers his best friend (Aniston) wants to have a child through artificial insemination. He cleverly replaces her donor’s semen with his own and is then forced to live with the secret that he is the child’s real father.

The film will start shooting in the spring.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Couples Retreat is set with cast deals finalizing, as I write this post, which goes into production in October.

Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman and Faizon Love are set to star in the comedy.

The story takes the paths of four couples who travel to a tropical island resort . One of the couples arrive at the resort to solve their marriage problems while the other three are ready to frolic on the island; but find out couples therapy is not optional — typical psych mumbo jumbo.

Apparently the idea for the story came from Vaughn and Favreau scripted the movie.

Popularity: 1% [?]