HalfBaked Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Willie Nelson to Make 3-5 Films a Year
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Music & Musicals », Casting », Cinematical Indie »
He's been acting for 30 years and recently even became part of a franchise (Dukes of Hazzard), but I would never think of Willie Nelson as a movie star. Yet the country music icon and star of 1980s Honeysuckle Rose has launched a production company called Luck Films, which will produce 3-5 films a year, many featuring Nelson and/or his music. Nelson isn't going at this alone, though. Joining him are actor/producer Kerry Wallum, actor/filmmaker Norman Macera and producers Scott Macauley and David Von Roehm. According to Variety, each release will have a budget under $3 million.The company's first movie, which I can't find any info on except that it will star Nelson and start shooting in May, is called The Dry Gulch Kid. The next, titled Shoot Out of Luck, will feature Nelson and Randall 'Tex' Cobb as sideshow cowboys who "tangle" with the mob for a comedic hybrid of the Western and gangster genres. The film's IMDb page adds that it will be "a dramatic, suspenseful journey that ends with a musical celebration." Sounds to me like Stir Crazy meets The Cowboy Way meets ... well it doesn't really matter because it's Willie Nelson and Randall 'Tex' Cobb going up against the mob. My 1980s-dwelling adolescent self would have been all over it.
Pitch of the Day: 'Half Baked 2'
Filed under: Comedy », Universal », Remakes and Sequels »
There has been a lot of talk this week of stoner comedies, what with Natalie Portman developing the female answer to Harold & Kumar, a pot-centered road movie titled Best Buds. And rumors have (again) been circulating about sequels in the works for both Pineapple Express and the grandfather of cult cannabis classics, Up in Smoke. None of these are certainties, mind you, but given the apparent hotness of the concept at the moment, may I suggest Universal get things lit up for...Half Baked 2
12 years have passed since Half Baked hit theaters -- successfully I might add (Hollywood barely noticed because Titanic was still the box office sensation at the time) -- and it's only become more popular as a cult favorite, partly due to Dave Chappelle's rise in fame through his popular sketch comedy show. The movie actually saw some continuation through The Dave Chappelle Show with Jim Breuer and Guillermo Diaz reunited with their Half Baked co-star for two skits in which the trio reprise their roles from the film. Now it's time they all got back together for another feature.
Scenes We Love: Half Baked
Filed under: Comedy », Fandom », Trailers and Clips », Scenes We Love »
Right off the bat, I want to make it clear that you don't have to be half-baked to enjoy Half Baked. But if you thought Pineapple Express was hilarious, and you haven't seen Half Baked, it's high time you rectify this problem. Sure, Pineapple Express had James Franco as a drug dealer slash nice Jewish boy overly concerned with his Bubbe, and it had Danny McBride wigging out in his normal (i.e. awesome) way, and yeah, it was almost the perfect stoner crime caper.
But Half Baked has all that and more! It has Dave Chappelle as both a janitor at a lab that just happens to produce pharmaceutical-grade marijuana and a hip-hop star named Sir Smoke-a-Lot who, when high, complains, cries, and complains that he needs a "backiotomy." It has Guillermo Diaz as Scarface, who wants you to know he's Cuban, B! And it has Jim Breuer in one of his least annoying incarnations (although personally I do enjoy Goat Boy -- I'm not sure what that says about me, really). And then there's Harland Williams who accidentally kills a police horse by feeding it their munchies.
Let's not forget about the amazing cameos, including Jon Stewart as the Enhancement Smoker ("You ever seen Scent of a Woman... on weed?"), Bob Saget as someone in a Narc-Anon meeting who offers up a memorable confession, Steven Wright as the random dude sleeping on their couch, Tommy Chong as an inmate named the Squirrel Master, and plenty of others.
Stars in Rewind: Jon Stewart ... on Weed!
Filed under: Oscar Watch », Trailers and Clips », Stars in Rewind »
Once again, the lovely Jon Stewart is hosting the Oscars -- a gig that may be worthy of your time not for the awards, but rather to see what they made of the whole thing last minute. Will the rush help the Oscars improve? Will they completely suck? Who knows?!
But it would all be better with weed, according to Jon. As I see it, we need to balance out all of Stewart's political comedy and fancy shmancy hosting with some old-school stoner comedy. In Half Baked, he played the "Enhancement Smoker" -- the dude who thinks Mary Jane actually makes everything better. Stars are better. Scent of a Woman is better. The back of a $20 is better (or was ... I wondered what he'd see in it now). So, it goes to assume that the Oscars would be better ... on weed.
Maybe that's the secret to a good Academy show?
Araki's 'Smiley Face' Goes Straight to DVD
Filed under: Comedy », Independent », Distribution », Home Entertainment », Cinematical Indie »
Despite having a familiar cast and an easily digestible concept, Gregg Araki's stoner comedy Smiley Face has been dumped to the same status as a modern Steven Seagal vehicle. That's right, according to MTV, it's going straight to DVD, following a barely-even-limited run in Los Angeles, that is. The movie, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, stars Anna Faris (Scary Movie), John Krasinski (The Office), Jane Lynch (The 40 Year-Old Virgin), Danny Masterson (That '70s Show) and Danny Trejo (Grindhouse), none of whom are apparently good enough for a theatrical release. Maybe it's the fact that it can't be sold to Araki's typical fans, or maybe it's the fact that nobody likes to admit that Up in Smoke, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Dazed and Confused, Knocked Up, Half Baked and Dude, Where's My Car? were all fairly popular and successful movies -- because then maybe it will seem like an admission that marijuana is cool. Smiley Face stars Faris as a woman who starts her day by smoking up and then mistakenly taking care of her munchies with a batch of pot cupcakes. Then ... hilarity ensues. During its Sundance premiere, crowds were reportedly laughing non-stop (though Karina claimed that it received some awful buzz) and it seemed to be well-enough-received at later festivals, too. Jette reviewed the movie at SXSW, pointing out that it's "the kind of movie that will be more fun to watch with a big audience than alone on your DVD player." So much for that idea. Earlier this month, Monika saw the film in Toronto, where she confirmed its worth. "Araki's comedy gives us the best of many comedic worlds in an incessantly funny, easily-quotable serving," she said in her review. "From discussions of Marxism to love of lasagna, Smiley Face serves it all -- with some weed and a very, very stoned smile." Well, at least we can be sure it will develop a cult following on video; aside from that we can only hope our local art-house cinema will give it a midnight screening somewhere down the line.
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