Josh Peck Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Since I'm resigned to the fact that everything is going to be remade sooner or later, the best I can hope for is that at least studios will hire people who know what they're doing. On that note, there's a ray of hope for MGM's Red Dawn remake because Latino Review reports that Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) has been hired to do a rewrite. I've got nothing against the project's original scribe, Carl Ellsworth, but if I had to choose between the two, I would much rather go with the writer of those Bourne films than the writer of Disturbia.

Yesterday, it was announced that Josh Peck and Adrianne Palicki will star alongside Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek) in the tale of a group of teens turned militia men better known as the Wolverines. According to THR, Hemsworth will play the group's leader, Jed Eckert (originally played by Patrick Swayze), and Peck will be reprising Charlie Sheen's role as Jed's younger brother, with Palicki filling in for Jennifer Grey as the tough-as-nails fighter and love interest for Jed. In the original film, our heroes went up against invading Communist hoards, but for the update it has been changed from Communists to a more generic threat of Russian and Chinese military.

Now I've decided that I won't get worked up about a remake unless the movie was good in the first place, and unfortunately my love of Dawn is more about nostalgia than the film itself. But you can't deny it's become a little outdated over the years (is anyone that worried about Communist invaders anymore?) -- but Gilroy has a way with smart action films, so I'll remain optimistic that he can pull it off ... how about you?

Red Dawn is scheduled to arrive in theaters in 2010.

Here it is, the groove, slightly transformed ... and another trailer for The Wackness has hit the net. I'm not sure why folks were all over Sony Pictures Classics when they picked this flick up at Sundance, because, not for nothing, but they've promoted the hell out of it ever since. This is, like, the fifth or sixth trailer I'm seeing ... for a Sundance film! They've done viral videos, photos, posters -- props definitely go out to the fine folks over at SPC, and now it's our turn to tell all you crackerjacks to go see this dope show when it hits theaters on July 3rd.

Featuring one of the best soundtracks I've heard in quite some time, The Wackness tells of the quirky relationship between a pot dealer (Josh Peck) and his therapist (Ben Kingsley) -- both of whom have no friends and no sex life. There's a cute summer crush (Olivia Thirlby), an ex wife who's barely "there" (Famke Janssen) and a hippie chick (Mary-Kate Olsen) who likes to swing her arms a lot. The film takes place in 1994, so if you grew up in the '90s, there's a ton here to relate to. I had fun with it, I know a lot of other people had fun with it, so if you're just chillin' over Fourth of July weekend, take it over to the theater and settle in for some dopeness, er, wackness.

Red Band trailer (which is also available over at IGN in a larger size) posted after the jump due to random drug use and a little foul language.

Cinematical is absolutely stoked to have received this exclusive poster for The Wackness (click on the image to enlarge), which just enjoyed its New Yawk premiere at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival earlier this week. Directed by the very talented Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane), The Wackness centers on the relationship between a pot dealer with no friends (Josh Peck) and a therapist (Ben Kingsley) on the verge of a mid-life crisis. And did I mention that neither one is getting laid? Set in 1994 New York City, the film just oozes mid-nineties and definitely captures every ounce of what it was like to grow up during that particular time period. Olivia Thirlby, Famke Janssen and Mary-Kate Olsen also star (as the three lovely ladies our two heroes really want to get with).

I managed to catch The Wackness at a screening a few days ago with a young, hip New York crowd who absolutely devoured the flick. It's dope, it's mad funny and it brings just enough nostalgia to help you remember what it was like when you were unlucky and in love with not a clue what to do. Seriously, go see this one with a group of friends and have a blast. The Wackness arrives in theaters on July 3.

Finally, a film for kids of the 90's!

This is a hard review to write because it feels as if The Wackness was tailor-made for people like me: a male who grew up in New York City and graduated high school in 1994; the year this film was set. (Actually, I graduated in 1995, but it doesn't matter much: same kids, same lingo, same music, same surroundings). How do you review your childhood? These were all kids I hung out with, this was the music we listened to, these were the mix tapes we made and these were the girls we tried to hook up with ... but didn't. And, to some extent, it actually surprises me that so many people have loved The Wackness -- not because it's a terrible movie, mind you, but because kids who grew up in New York City during the '90s were annoying as all hell, with their "Yo, that was mad good" and their "He's got da skillz, kid!" Trust me, I know -- I was one of them.

It's 1994, New York City. Luke (Josh Peck) just graduated high school, and now he's perfectly content with spending his summer fantasizing about girls on the subway, staying away from his parents constant bickering and selling pot out of an ices cart to a wide range of characters, including a free-spirited hippie chick (Mary-Kate Olsen) and his own therapist. Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley), or as Luke calls him, Mr. Dr. Squires, has his own problems: His much younger wife (Famke Janssen) emotionally checked out of their marriage years ago, and a mid-life crisis is slowly creeping up from around the corner. Luke's the pot dealer with no friends, and Squires is the therapist with more issues than most of his patients. Together, they're a perfect match.

Known in some circles as "that movie where Sir Ben Kingsley hooks up with Mary-Kate Olsen," The Wackness premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival where it was met with an unbelievable online reception. Just about everyone I spoke to fell in love with this quirky drug-related dramedy from director Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane). While I didn't get the chance to see it (our own Scott Weinberg did), these good vibes have me all antsy to check out The Wackness when it hits the Tribeca Film Festival later this month.

Here's a bit from the synopsis: "... Luke (Josh Peck) is a socially uncomfortable teenage pot dealer with no friends, issues with his parents, and a whopping lack of confidence with girls. He trades weed for sessions with his therapist, Dr. Squires (Sir Ben Kingsley), whose much-younger wife (Famke Janssen) is slipping away from him. Squires, a drug-addled shrink with a hairline retreating to the back of his neck and a state of mind slouching back to adolescence, is an unlikely role model-but the two of them forge a friendship based on a mutual need: neither one is getting laid."

Check out both exclusive photos (including a larger version of the image above) from the film in the gallery below. The Wackness arrives in theaters on July 3rd. (And is it me, or does Kingsley have a little Keitel going on in that pic?)

I saw Special at Austin Film Festival back in October 2006 and hadn't heard a thing about the quirky little film since then. As you can see from my review, I liked this story about a guy whose antidepressant makes him think he's a superhero, and Michael Rapaport was excellent in the lead. Now the news in Hollywood Reporter is that Special's North American theatrical distribution rights have been sold. Magnet Releasing, the genre division of Magnolia Pictures, plans to release the film in the late summer, which should provide a fun counterpoint to early-summer comic-book-hero blockbusters.

Special premiered at Sundance in 2006, which shows you can't give up hope that a film-fest movie you enjoyed might someday hit theaters. Hollywood Reporter notes that the film's leads may be one reason the deal was made. Rapaport has a role on a continually popular TV show, The War at Home. Josh Peck, who plays one of Rapaport's comic-book-loving sidekicks in Special, starred in one of the hits of Sundance this year, The Wackness. Scott Weinberg didn't like it much, or Peck's performance, but he seems to be in the minority. Perhaps this deal is Magnolia's gamble that if The Wackness does well, Special can ride on its coattails, but I think Special has its own comic merits.

[via SpoutBlog]

Ben Kingsley, Mary-Kate Olsen, and Method Man. For years, Hollywood has been trying to get these three in a picture together. It's a perfect fit -- Sir Ben Kingsley is one of the most respected actors in the game, a three-time Academy Award nominee and winner of the 1983 Best Actor Oscar for his legendary performance in Gandhi. Two-time Razzie Award nominee Mary-Kate Olsen lit up television screens with her gritty, uncompromising work in 1999's You're Invited to Mary-Kate and Ashley's Fashion Party. Method Man...smokes a lot of weed. And these three dynamos are joining forces, for what I think it's safe to say will be the one and only time, on a new movie called The Wackness.

So what in God's name is The Wackness? The comedy, currently filming in New York, takes place in 1994 (guess it's a period piece), and according to Variety the film will be about "a troubled teenage drug dealer and a drug-addled psychiatrist." The drug dealer trades marijuana for therapy sessions, falls in love with the psychiatrist's daughter, and you've got yourself a movie! I would imagine Kingsley plays the psychiatrist, but that's just speculation. Rounding out this bizarre cast are Josh Peck (star of Nickelodeon's Drake and Josh, as well as Mean Creek, which I loved), Famke Janssen (probably best known as Jean Grey in the X-Men series), and Olivia Thirlby (of United 93 and NBC's failed drama Kidnapped). The film was written and is being directed by Jonathan Levine, who got a lot of notice with his much-delayed horror flick All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (read James' positive review here). I don't even know what to expect with this cast, but I'm definitely intrigued.