Favourite Movie Friday with Jason Byrne

Tweens, listen up; fuck Justin Bieber. The only male you need to be throwing your panties at with the initials J B is Jason Byrne. Erm, actually the Irish comedian has a wife and two kids, so maybe lower your panty throwing arm. However, my point remains – Jason Byrne is awesome. I interviewed him earlier this year ahead of a 10-week Australia tour and I swear, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much in an interview. I’ve been a fan of his stand-up for years and it’s nice to know he’s a natural talent; his hilariousness isn’t the result of an overly-produced, strategic collection of jokes. Of course we talked favourite movies and below is his eclectic rant on his most beloved films. Go on, try to resist laughing-out-loud when you read this, I dare ya.

"Probably my first favourite move was Indiana Jones: Raiders of The Lost Ark. I would come from home school at lunchtime and watch the bulk of that movie and a friend would do the German and I would do the English dialogue. He didn’t know what he was saying but he would say all the German words. Now he’s a WWII memrobilia collector, how weird is that? If I walk by the tele and Jaws is on I’ll watch it and the same goes with the James Bond movies. I like evil movies, like The Exorcist and my favourite program is Dexter at the moment. I met the writer Jeff Lindsay on Adam Hills’ show (Gordon St Tonight) and I nearly shat myself. I love anything dark like that or action/adventure. I even like black and white English movies, like Breakfast At Tiffany’s, that kind of shit. I love the way they talk “oh, look at the sun.” I love Ladykillers and Peter Sellers movies.

Now, what’s something I’ve seen recently? The last thing I saw on the plane was Eclipse (The Twilight Saga). I had to watch it and see what the fuck it’s about. It’s not complete shit, there’s enough killing and stabbing for me but it was the sitting in the daisies saying “I know what I want, I want to be a vampire” that got me (pissed). You’re 17, you don’t know what you fucking want, now get your ass home! If I was 17 my mother would have never let me be a vampire. I watched Will Ferrell’s The Other Guys too, that was very fucking funny."

So, if that didn’t convince you he’s the greatest human being ever, maybe the fact the fact he had an outburst in the middle of the interview to say “Fuck! The fucking air-con in this country, it’s fucking ridiculous!” will. Byrne is coming to the big screen later this year in Killing Bono with Ben Barnes, Krysten Ritter and the late Pete Postlewaite and stay posted for an exclusive chat about that.

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For your viewing (dis)pleasure

You have been pining for it and now, TA DA, I bring you my video review of The Other Guys here. If you don’t get some enjoyment out of watching me squirm Lindsay Lohan in a courtroom, then you have no soul. Also, you can read my exclusive interview with Mark and Will here, or you can watch a video of my red-carpet coverage here and for assorted The Other Guys news click here, here and here.

The Other Guys opens on Thursday.

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Mark, Will, Movie Mazz and those Other Guys

(Above) FYI this is the best photo of my entire life, Wahlberg and Movie Mazz, together at last.

Marky Mark did not require the funky bunch to walk the red carpet for the premiere of his new film The Other Guys - he just needed his close friend Will Ferrell. Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell faced a horde of screaming fans at Event Cinemas, Robina, on Wednesday for the Australian premiere of their new action comedy. Sporting matching Australian accents, the pair seemed relaxed chatting with fans and joking with each other. When asked where he learnt to do an Aussie accent, Wahlberg said in our national slang `I watched Chopper, my mate Chopper Reid.’

After arriving on the Gold Coast from Sydney earlier in the day and settling into the penthouse at Jupiters Hotel and Casino, where the Australian International Movie Convention is being held, the two slipped away to Lakelands where they played a game of golf before attending the premiere.It is Wahlberg’s first visit to Australia and he said so far he is `loving it’.
“But I got to tell you, from the flight over on Qantas, the A380 Airbus is the greatest thing ever invented, and every second since I’ve been here has been amazing,” he said.
“The people are so hospitable, so polite, I don’t know if it’s sincere or not, but I love it and I’m so sorry it has taken me so long to get here.
“Now I know where the party’s at.”
Ferrell too is a big fan of Australia and even managed to slip a Little River Band joke into the film.
“Little River Band is the greatest band ever,” he said.
“They were a favourite of mine growing up in the mean streets of Southern California.
“We actually love the Little River Band in the states, they are ten times as big there as they are here.”
In The Other Guys Wahlberg and Ferrell play a pair of mismatched police detectives who are constantly being overshadowed by the city’s top cops, played by Samuel L Jackson and Dwayne `The Rock’ Johnson. Eva Mendes also stars in the film as Ferrell’s wife and the funny man had nothing but good things to say about his co-star’s natural assets.
“I can tell you they are real, they are extra perky and they were not waiting for me at home,” he said.

Wahlberg and Ferrell did the genuine nice guy thing and spoke with fans and signed memorabilia, before heading in to introduce the film. The pair have undeniable chemistry and were happy to continue their jokey banter off screen too.
“I loved you in Step Brothers,” Wahlberg told Ferrell.
“I loved you in The Italian Job,” said Ferrell.
Wahlberg responded by saying `that was Matt Damon’ and Ferrell replied ‘oh, this is awkward.’
The movie debuted at number one on the US box office last fortnight, knocking off Inception, and made $US 35.6m in its opening weekend. And for the record, it was a dream come true to meet Mark in real life as I have a well-known obsession with him. Will too, was lovely. Before the red carpet event that night I interviewed the pair of them at the convention and I shit you not, Mark was pushing Will around in an old man’s walker. It was hilarious. My other interview with them was on the red carpet at the premiere and you can watch it in full HERE. It’s worth it just to see Will’s raging full go in for the hug :o) For pic gallery of the premiere hit this. The Other Guys opens on September 9. Stay posted for all my other updates from AIMC coming over the next week or so. A lot happened, so give me some time to write about it all.

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Splice and dice baby

Readers, feel free to marvel at my multitasking skills if you will because on top of covering the Australian International Movie Convention (AIMC) on the Gold Coast this week and attending screenings, premieres, interviews, seminars, panel discussions and orgies with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell, I have still managed to get up my weekly online video movie review. This week looked at Splice and you can take a geeze at the video here.

Also, my straight-to-camera piece on the AIMC is also worth a look, albeit only for comedic purposes. For more serious news hounds, the Australian federal election is coming up on Saturday and the Coalition announced their Arts Policy with BIG boosts to the Aussie film industry. Get the lo-down here.

Stay tuned for my interviews with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell and coverage from the red carpet Australian premiere of The Other Guys. It will be posted this afternoon.

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War, Sanctum, Mark Wahlberg . . .it's going to be a crazy week

Hello beloved children! I have some exciting news for you; the Australian International Movie Convention kicks off at Jupiters Hotel and Casino, Gold Coast, Australia tonight and I will be there covering all the exciting juice to come out of it. The convention runs until Thursday with executives from all the top studios in the world coming to screen their films, hold panels on issues affecting the industry, seminars, trade shows, premieres and sneak peeks. It’s going to be a crazy, but very exciting period and I will be posting as often as I can. Here are some of the things to look out for:

-The event launches tonight with the Queensland premiere of Tomorrow When The War Began with all the stars and crew walking the red carpet. I will update you later tonight with what happened at the premiere and after party, but you will have to wait for the review in a few weeks time (sorry). On Monday morning I will be hanging out with the film's writer, director and producer Stuart Beattie (the lad behind screenplays for Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise and G.I Joe: Rise Of The Cobra) and the film’s stars Lincoln Lewis and Phoebe Tonkin, so stay posted for extended interviews of that.

-Later on Monday I will be trotting back to the convention command centre to find out what else has been happening and I will attend a screening of the sure-to-be-brilliant The Girl Who Played With Fire. Insert excited squeal here.

-Tuesday will kick off with a screening of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, followed by some other exciting things which I can’t really tell you about just yet.

-Wednesday is the big one and I mean BIG one. I got an unexpected call from Alister Grierson last week, who’s the director of James Cameron’s underwater 3D epic Sanctum (Cameron, Grierson and Wight pictured above on set). He’s a pretty awesome dude and after meeting with him dozens of times over the past year and a half, we’ve stayed in touch and he is surprisingly not a douche baggy film type and actually ENJOYS keeping the progress updates coming.

Anywho, he told me exclusively that they will be screening the first-ever footage from Sanctum at the event on Wednesday morning. It makes sense, Cameron blew delegates away when he showed exclusive footage from his blockbuster Avatar last year, now, 12 months later, he is set to do the same. Star of the Sanctum, Rhys Wakefield, and producer Andrew Wight will attend the event when Universal Studios will present the scenes. Sanctum, filmed on the Coast earlier this year, is in post-production in Melbourne where the visual effects and final touches are being added.
 Grierson said it will be 'very exciting' to have people see the footage.

''It won't be the fully finished version but what you will see will be in 3D. Universal pictures are really excited and pumped up to do the release and it's rare an Australian film gets this amount of positive review and anticipation before it's out. We're doing some pick-up shots and have built a mini set here for visual effects, so we're very close to finishing.''

Although he and executive producer Cameron will not be attending the convention, Grierson reckons they've had amazing support from their American partners.

"I flew over to LA and screened a version for Jim about a month ago and he really enjoyed that. He had some tips on how to improve it and a few nips and tucks.''

So following that world exclusive screening, I will then get to interview Will Ferrell and MARK FREAKIN’ WAHLBERG when they come to the convention for the Australian premiere of The Other Guys at Event Cinemas, Robina. Excited as I am about seeing the film and meeting Ferrell, it’s no secret I’m slightly obsessed with Wahlberg and it has been one of my dreams to meet him in person so. . . eeeeeeeekkk!

-Thursday is the final day and I will still be coming down from the combined Wahlberg/Ferrell high of the night before. However, I do have an interview locked in with schlock kind George Hamilton about his new 3D film Bait. Yes, you may have heard of it, a tsunami washes a bunch of sharks into a supermarket and people need to escape. So bad it’s good, you know.

That’s a rough outline of what I have planned and what you can expect from me over the next few days. Like I said, I’ll be posting regularly, but I will also be tweeting like a mad dog and you can follow me here. There are a few things I can’t divulge, so be sure to stay tuned as there’s a bunch of exciting stuff happening that will blow your peuny minds. For the full lo-down on AIMC and the agenda, click here.

In the mean time, to catch up on Tomorrow When The War Began you can read my previous posts here, here and here, on Sanctum here, here, here and here, and The Other Guys here. Enjoy.

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