Lewis Black Tagged Articles at Cinematical

He's already made a documentary about the quest to meet his father, and now Adrian Grenier is heading for doc land again for what sounds like a pretty funky endeavor.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Grenier has nabbed a number of big names that include Alec Baldwin, Whoopi Goldberg, Eva Longoria, Paris Hilton, Rosie O'Donnell, Martin Landau, Noam Chomsky, and Lewis Black for his new documentary titled Teenage Paparazzi. While this sounds like it could be centered on the phenomenon of Lindsays and Britneys, the film will focus on Grenier's "relationship with a 14-year-old paparazzo who took his photo," while also discussing the culture of fame.

But here is where things take an interesting turn -- the film "will interweave the relationship portrait with philosophical interviews in the style of Ricard LInklater's Waking Life." If that means just a bunch of discussions, cool. If that means that those discussions will be rotoscoped, that would be awesome. RIght now, the film is getting shopped to distributors, but hopefully we'll find out more soon.

Jonathan Kesselman wrote and directed The Hebrew Hammer, a comedy about an Orthodox Jewish Blaxploitation hero (Adam Goldberg) who saves Hanukkah from the evil offspring of Santa Claus (Andy Dick). The film has become a cult favorite, and you should add it to your holiday viewing list this year. In addition to being a successful screenwriter, Jonathan teaches Writing Comedy for Film and Television at Yale University. He has some great tips for aspiring comedy writers.

Cinematical: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Jonathan Kesselman: I always loved writing. When I was in the 5th grade, I was pulled out of my class and put onto the 12th grade yearbook staff writing copy. For a while, I thought I wanted to be a journalist. In college, I majored in Psychology -- neuroscience was my field. I realized that I didn't like slicing rat brains. I remember really searching for what it was that I wanted to do with my life. And I had always been obsessed with movies. I remember having this existential crisis pre-graduation, and then seeing a documentary on Your Show of Shows, and it hit me that I was put on this earth to make fun of people.

Cinematical: So you threw the rat in the air triumphantly...

JK: I ate the rat -- tasty! Yeah, I graduated, and decided I wanted to go to film school. I eventually went to graduate school at USC for film production.

As I departed the theater after a screening of Unaccompanied Minors and set off for the long train ride home, I attempted to let the film sit with me for a little while before forming an opinion. However, one other movie kept gnawing at me, and no matter how hard I tried those Goonies wouldn't leave me alone. Really, the only thing both films have in common is that they focus on a group of teenage misfits, each with their own bizarre idiosyncrasies, who are desperately trying to allude a common enemy. Aside from that they're completely different in every way, shape or form.

Yet, part of what makes flicks like The Goonies so special and memorable is that the actors, while only teenagers, do a tremendous job of not only convincing us they are these characters, but also making us feel -- we sympathize, we root and we run right alongside them until the very last frame. Now, if you take The Goonies, strip anything even remotely adventurous and free-spirited about it, then wrap the entire thing in plastic -- the kind your grandmother uses to keep her living room furniture stain free -- then you'll wind up with Unaccompanied Minors, a film so formulaic, rehearsed and polished that it would make a great companion next to that fake basket of fruit on grandma's dining room table.

The biggest problem with Man of the Year is that, much like American Dreamz, which came out earlier this year, it simply doesn't seem to know what genre it aspires to be. It's not quite thrilling enough to be a political thriller, nor is it dark enough or funny enough to be a black comedy or political satire. My viewing partner at the screening the other night made the observation that it's almost as if somebody figured that Jon Stewart is hot, people aren't happy with our politicians (are we ever, really?) and that a film about a political humorist like Stewart running for and winning the presidency would get butts into seats.

Toss in little intrigue around a glitch in the spandy-new computerized voting system designed to replace the Era of the Dangling Chad, add Robin Williams, mix with some "serious" cred from Laura Linney, Christopher Walken, and Jeff Goldblum, and what's not to like? Unfortunately, a lot of interesting cinematic ingredients all tossed together don't always make for a delectable, filling meal, and such is the case with this tepid film.

Kevin Federline Wants to Act ... In Movies!

Move over Britney, your hubby is dreaming big ... screen, that is. Aside from trying to establish himself as the next hot singer, Kevin Federline would also like to act -- not as a real father and husband -- but in movies. Speaking to In Touch magazine, the pop-something notes he's been offered a few scripts -- one actually had him playing a drug dealer opposite Casey Affleck. Says Federline, "Sometimes I wake up in a comedic mood, and sometimes I wake up in a serious mood." Yeah, well, it doesn't matter when and how I wake up, I'm never in the mood to see Kevin Federline in anything except, maybe, a mug-shot photo.

Lohan Fired!

While, at one point, she was dangerously close to losing her job on the film Georgia Rule, Lindsay Lohan's careless off-screen actions have caused the actress/singer to be dropped from her UK record label. According to a report in The Sun, record company bosses were fed up with Lohan after she failed to do any promotion for her new album across the pond. Please, the girl can barely get out of bed in the morning, you really expect her to get on a plane and travel half-way across the world?

Sagat and Those Filthy Penguins!

Comedian Bob Saget was forced back into the editing room recently after those involved with his upcoming March of the Penguins spoof were afraid the first version of the film was too insane. In fact, Lewis Black (who voiced a penguin in the pic) felt that, not only would Farce of the Penguins be denied a theatrical release, but the folks behind the film may even be arrested. Arrested? What the hell are they doing to these poor penguins? Black says, "It's not just completely filthy, but it's certainly a funky little movie." Okay, there's pushing the envelope ... and then there's raping the damn thing. Yet, how come I want to see this film so badly?