I'm finally writing a post here that my sister will read. You see, she adores Russell Brand almost as much as Brand adores Cinematical and Scott Weinberg (see image above as proof of this fact). Maybe even more, because unlike most Americans, she was avidly following his British career via his podcast and BBC America. There have been many humbling moments in my Cinematical salad days, but none quite so humiliating as when I told her Brand was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. "I know. I followed the filming on his podcast." At least Weinberg promptly humiliated her by getting all cozy with her favorite Englishman.

As my sister wasn't one of the casting directors for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Brand had to make an audition tape to convince them of his weirdly-coiffed worthiness. In honor of its DVD release, MTV has the exclusive, and I've embedded it below for your viewing pleasure. And if you're like my sibling and can't get enough, I've also included the karaoke version of his in-film music video, Infant Sorrow.

5-1 my sister writes "I've already seen both of those videos" in the comments. Hopefully, you'll be more appreciative.

Iron Man
At the risk of drawing the ire of Batfans everywhere, I'll just come out and say it: Iron Man is the best my favorite superhero movie of the year. (Dear Comic-Con: Please don't revoke my press pass.) Dark Knight is indeed brilliant, and brilliantly dark, but Iron Man is just so much more ... fun (AND it has social messages!). Poor Jeff Bridges may not hold a candle to the late Heath Ledger in the villain department, but Iron Man wins out elsewhere. Its characters are colorful and layered, its action is supremely stylish and never overbearing (unlike Transformers, even in its hot metal-on-metal action) and thanks to sensibilities of Robert Downey Jr. and director Jon Favreau, it's flat-out funny. Man-crush alert: Downey Jr. is fast on his way to becoming an acting icon, right up there with Al Pacino and Jared from Subway. Buy it!!!
(Available in both single disc and two-disc special edition)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
The latest from Camp Apatow stars a far-too-naked Jason Segel, an almost unrecognizably sexy Mila Kunis 2.0, a scene-stealing Russell Brand, and Kristen Bell. The film definitely has its moments, but I'm just not sold on Segel as a leading man, who seems to equate "comedic skill" with "revealing your junk." And as much as we enjoy rooting for a lovable loser, at some point in the movie it helps if he stops moaning, crying and being generally so extremely pathetic. After Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder and The Happening, Sarah Marshall will have to settle for being the fourth funniest movie so far this year. Rent it, or buy it in the discount bin (Available in both single disc and two-disc collector's edition)

(With Forgetting Sarah Marshall arriving on DVD today, we're re-posting this popular Discuss post from last April)

By: Elisabeth Rappe

Here's why it's a bad idea to share a house with a Cinematical writer -- your formerly innocent nights at the movies are stored away for discussion, your casual remarks posted for the entire world to see. My apologies to all the family members this involves.

My sister and her boyfriend caught Forgetting Sarah Marshall a few nights ago -- a second showing for her, first time for him. When I inquired as to how the boyfriend liked it, my sister revealed that he had actually covered his eyes when Jason Segel dropped that towel.

"Good lord," I said. "Really? Doesn't he see that every time he's in the shower?" I mentioned it to a male friend, and he said he completely understood boyfriend's squeamishness. As I'm writing this, I remember an incident just last weekend with my aunt's wonky cable connection. She's mistakenly been subscribed to all sorts of hardcore porn, and called my cousins in to fix it. The sight of naked men sent my male cousin running for the other room, gagging -- whereas his sister shrugged off the bare flesh and set to work trying to block the stuff. And I'm now realizing all that throat clearing and awkward squirming I heard around me during Eastern Promises wasn't because Viggo Mortensen's back was being sliced open (which is what made me wince) -- it was because his manly bits were visible.

On a cloudless January day in 1966, Los Angeles was such a dull small town that children could be alerted to something as small a skywriter at work. My parents must have been watching the Rose Bowl, as they did every New Year's Day. In those days we lived five miles or so away from the arena, on the heights over the Arroyo Seco. They saw the plane on TV buzzing the big game and urged me to go outside and have a look. Up in the sky, the small plane, low enough that you could hear the drone of the engine, spelled out the words in smoke B-A-T-M-A-N I-S C-O-M-I-N-G.

I really, really love movie trailers, yet for some reason I can't stand movie commercials on television. Maybe it's because they're repeated over and over and over again, like the current spot for The Love Guru, which has been driving me nuts all week. I hardly even watch TV (with no more Lost til 2009, there's nothing good on) and yet I believe I've seen it about a thousand times over the past few days.

Apparently I'm in the minority, however, because TiVo has just released data showing that ads for movies are one of the few kinds of commercials that its subscribers actually watch rather than fast-forward through. The DVR company also revealed the movie that had the least-fast-forwarded spot: Forgetting Sarah Marshall. A single FSM ad that ran during an episode of The Office was the single-most popular (or, at least most-viewed) for the month of April. Second least-fast-forwarded in that month was a spot for Hancock. Also considered "DVR-resistant" are those amusing Mac vs. PC commercials, while an ad for Ford that ran during an episode of American Idol placed high for April, as well.

Despite an excellent review showing on Rotten Tomatoes, some people forgot about Forgetting Sarah Marshall. As Matt Bradshaw notes in his Box Office column, the comedy came in second to The Forbidden Kingdom, bringing in just $17.3 million. Steve Mason says we might be suffering from "Judd Apatow fatigue." Whether that's the case or not, it's a shame.

While I tried to fight off my high expectations for the film to save myself from potential disappointment, I failed. I was ridiculously eager to see the film, so I grabbed my friend and ran to watch it on Friday night. Luckily, I didn't need to quash the anxiety. We both laughed hysterically and loved it. In fact, I enjoyed it more than both Knocked Up and Superbad.

If you don't agree, fair enough, but for those who might be apprehensive about going out to see the comedy, I want to give you a few reasons why you should give it a chance. Head after the jump for 5 reasons to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Oh man -- I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall again over the weekend (I first saw it at SXSW back in March) and the laughs held up beautifully; it really is a comic treasure, even if it does suffer a bit from the typical Apatow bloat. So this is great news for me: director Nicholas Stoller is reteaming with Judd Apatow for Get Him to the Greek, a comedy starring Sarah Marshall's Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. Hill will play a young insurance adjuster assigned to get a wild rock star (Brand) from London to LA's Greek Theater for a gig. I don't dispense headline exclamation points willy-nilly, so you know I'm excited.

The idea was apparently hatched at a Sarah Marshall table read, where Hill and Brand exhibited a surprising chemistry. They only had a few scenes together in that film, and since I thought Hill's character was generally a weak spot, I spent most of those scenes being mildly annoyed. But I've seen Superbad, so I know that Hill has the funny, and Brand, whom I had never heard of before Sarah Marshall, has some of the movie's biggest laughs. So: more, please.

Stoller will write Get Him to the Greek in addition to getting back in the director's chair. He has some other projects in the works, including Five Year Engagement, which he will direct and co-write with Jason Segel. He's also working with Segel on his planned Muppet movie. And he co-wrote the screenplay for Jim Carrey's Yes Man, due in December. Busy guy; lucky, too.

Most conversations about Forgetting Sarah Marshall -- the new Judd Apatow-produced comedy about a devastating breakup -- are going to start with the penis shot. Sure, there have been willies in the movies before -- hell, there have been dongs in Apatow productions before (see Walk Hard). But a johnson this prominently featured, and in a mainstream romantic comedy? It breaks new ground. And not only is it funny, it's the perfect visual representation of what a guy goes through when he gets dumped. The film's star, Jason Segel, is stripped bare literally and figuratively -- exposed, embarrassed, emasculated. It's a comedy moment for the history books. I just wish I could say the rest of the film is as bold, as brave, as ... ballsy as that penis.

Oh, don't get me wrong. Sarah Marshall is a very funny movie. But its faults -- its sagginess, its tendency to let improvisation roll past the point of laughter, its relationships that often don't ring true -- are what separate this Judd Apatow production from a Judd Apatow film.

There's nothing quite like watching two people break up. When it's not us, and when it's not someone we care deeply about, then watching two people break up is almost as exciting and adventurous as jumping out of a plane strapped to a hungry lion. Later on tonight, we're going to go over some of our favorite on-screen breakups in honor of this week's new release, Forgetting Sarah Marshall -- but what about those humiliating off-screen breakups? I'm not talking about a celebrity, their spouse and the nanny; I'm talking about real life people.

Like the woman who decided to air her and her soon-to-be ex-husband's dirty laundry all over YouTube in an attempt to ... I have no idea. For those who've seen this gal's video, the entire thing just screams "Adapt me!" At one point she actually calls her husband's office, gets the secretary on speaker phone and tells her, first, that her and her husband don't have sex, and then says to interrupt the guy and ask what she should do about his collection of porn and condoms. Seriously, one of the funniest scenes I've watched all year -- and it's real! On YouTube!

Who knows what this gal was thinking when she made this, but I bet screenwriters everywhere are studying that video today; searching for the next great on-screen breakup idea. After all, when it comes to movie breakups, we've been there, seen that. It's tough to be original these days. So thanks Tricia Walsh-Smith -- we look forward to seeing this video parodied in the next rom-com.

Oh, and if you missed it, catch the video after the jump.

It was a tough race to call, but looking back and realizing that if I had just swapped Prom Night and Street Kings I would have had a perfect prediction, all I can say is "D'oh!" The slasher reimagining took the lead by quite a margin, with the Keanu Reeves cop drama taking the silver. Say what you will about PG-13 horror and/or horror remakes, but Prom Night made back its $20 million budget in a single weekend, so we can probably expect more of the same. Smart People, last week's third new release, came in seventh. Here's the top five:

1. Prom Night: $20.8 million
2. Street Kings: $12.4 million
3. 21: $10.4 million
4. Nim's Island: $9.1 million
5. Leatherheads: $6.2 million

What's new for this week? Glad you asked:

88 Minutes
What's It All About: Al Pacino plays a university professor and an expert in forensic psychiatry, and he's just been informed via an anonymous phone call that he has only 88 minutes left to live. Kind of a cross between DOA and 24.
Why It Might Do Well: Pacino is still the man ...
Why It Might Not Do Well: ...however, his star power may not carry much weight with younger ticket buyers, and a 22% rating from Rottentomatoes.com does not bode well. Also, of this week's new flicks, this one is hitting the smallest number of theaters.
Number of Theaters: 2,000
Prediction: $9 million