Mega-mediocre

It is no secret DreamWorks Animation's films are like the discarded younger brother who is locked in the attic and fed fish heads, while Pixar is downstairs getting pats on the back from mum and dad. That may be a long-winded analogy, but when you compare their body of work it is fitting. While Pixar have redefined cinematic and box office expectations with films like The Incredibles, Toy Story, Wall E and Up, DreamWorks Animation have teetered between successes like Shrek and How To Train Your Dragon, and failures Flushed Away and Over The Hedge. Megamind falls somewhere in between – it’s so-so, not spectacular.

Megamind (Will Ferrell) is a super-intelligent, Avatar-esque alien who is sent to Earth as a baby by his parents along with another alien being who eventually becomes a superhero known as Metro Man (Brad Pitt). Megamind discovers the only thing he is good at is being bad and he becomes a supervillain. After years of battling each other in Metro City, it seems Megamind has finally defeated Metro Man when his charred skeleton is all that remains from one of his wicked plans. But ruling a city without a hero is rather pointless for Megamind and his identity crisis leads to a romantic interest in reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey), who is unaware of his true identity.The film packs some impressive visuals and although there is nothing to fault technically, all of the DreamWorks Animation characters seem to have the same basic outlines and mannerisms and Megamind is no different. It is an artist flaw that they fail to differ film to film, unlike the works of Disney productions or Henry Selick creations. The lovable supervillain shtick is also nothing new, thanks to the recent anti-hero spin in Despicable Me.

But the impressive voice cast do bring something enjoyable to their roles and Will Ferrell's signature one-liners transfer nicely on screen. Most of the laughs come from the David Cross voiced Minion, but Jonah Hill's Titan is also amusing. Unfortunately that is not enough to make up for the feeling we have been here before. From the predicable plot to sentimental moments, Megamind is an okay, not great, addition to the swag of animated films seeking to please both adults and kids.

Megamind is out next Thursday, December 9.

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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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. . .and Movie Mazzupial said it was good

Oh. My. Gawd. Do you ever have those moments at work, on the train, or mid-conversation where you just float off day-dreaming and go to your happy place? I do. One such happy place is an orgy starring myself, Mark Wahlberg and James Franco. I now have confirmation there actually is a God as my happy place is becoming a reality! By reality, I mean the kind where I have a body like Beyonce, ride a Unicorn to work and am a writer at Empire Magazine. In translation Wahlberg and Franco have been attached to star in a comedy called Date Night by director Shawn Levy (of the Night At The Museum movies). The flick revolves around a couple played by comedy heavy-weights Tina Fey and Steve Carell whose night on the town goes awry. Wahlberg stars as a buff securities expert and Franco is a dim-witted criminal. Seriously, could this cast get any more awesome? I think not! With a 2010 release date there’s still plenty of time for a few more names to be added to the line-up but right now my contentment is filled to the brim. Date Night marks Wahlberg’s second venture in to comedy after he was signed on to star with Will Ferrell in The B-Team (click here for more info). Comedy, action, drama . . . .I couldn’t give a hoot what genre he stars in as long as I see some fresh Wahlberg movies soon! As a side-bar, Franco is ace and his comedy work in Pineapple Express earned him a Golden Globe nomination so this project should be stellar (Stellllaaaa!).

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Taking one for the team

The only thing better than Mark Wahlberg movie news is, well, more Mark Wahlberg movie news. The delicious, delectable and damn fine Wahlberg is set to team up with Will Ferrell in an action comedy. According to Variety, the Wahlberg-Ferrell project is being pitched to studios this week but with both stars on board, no doubt it will be green-lit in a matter of seconds. The film would be called The B-Team and the two actors play cops who, presumably, are a notch or two below A-team. This is intriguing. Why, you ask? Marky Mark has never done a comedy before. He starred as an obsessively anti-petroleum firefighter in indie flick I Heart Huckabees which was a semi-comedy (more weird absurdism than comedy) but I don’t think that counts as past experience. Usually Wahlberg is majorly in to the action, blockbuster, drama and occasionally independent roles so doing a mainstream comedy with Ferrell is a big step out for him, one which I think will pay off. Man, I can’t wait to see this. The B-Team doesn’t have a release date or director yet so it’s a fair way off.

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