TheSimpsons Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Though it would never ever happen in a million years (we wish and hope and pray), it's still fun to play around with image software to see what a live-action movie based on the animated TV show The Simpsons would look like if it starred a bunch of today's hottest actors and actresses. Australian graphic artist (and Cinematical reader) Brad Anderson created this project as a way to promote his new graphic design business, and I have to say he did a pretty good job finding celebrity images and then tweaking them to fit the Simpsons mold. Can you guess who is who just from looking at the image above? Go ahead and try, I'll give you a moment ...

Give up?

Here's the cast: Homer (George Clooney), Marge (Cate Blanchett), Bart (Ewan McGregor), Lisa (Reese Witherspoon), Maggie (Jennifer Aniston), Otto (Johnny Depp), Krusty (Vince Vaughn), Ned Flanders (William H. Macy), Moe (Steve Buscemi), Mr. Burns (Willem Dafoe), Millhouse (Dustin Hoffman), Mr. Smithers (Stephen Colbert) and Chief Wiggum (Ricky Gervais). We posted the Simpsons family in the gallery below, along with a larger version of the image up top. Head over to Brad's site to view the rest, and throw this guy some business if you're looking for a graphic designer. For the love of god, he's a Simpsons fanboy! Pay the man!

Cinematical has just received these exclusive images from a new version of the book I Love You, Beth Cooper that author Larry Doyle (The Simpsons) is putting out (in connection with the upcoming film) that contains a whole bunch more of the hilarious art featured in the first one. If you haven't yet read I Love You, Beth Cooper then I strongly suggest picking up a copy because it's easily one of the funniest books I've read in the past couple of years (but I'm also a sucker for those teen angst tales; The Catcher in the Rye is, like, my favorite book of all time).

I Love You, Beth Cooper follows the story of a pimple-faced high school valedictorian named Denis Cooverman who professes his love for the school's hottest student (Beth Cooper) while doling out his speech to the entire class on graduation day. From that point on, it turns into one of those crazy all-nighter stories that we don't see enough of these days. (Remember License to Drive? This book reminded me of that film, only Beth Cooper definitely stays awake the entire time and there's a lot more action and pop culture references.)

The film, which was directed by Chris Columbus and stars Hayden Panettiere and Paul Rust in the lead roles, hits theaters on July 10. If it's half as good as the book, it will be so worth your dollar -- the perfect fun summer film. Check out the two pieces of art down below (mildly NSFW for language), and the latest version of the paperback (which includes 32 new pages of content and 16 new pages of art) hits shelves on June 9. Additionally, feel free to scope out the latest trailer for I Love You, Beth Cooper after the jump.

Need something to stare at for the next few minutes? Come waste time with us, and space out on the following fantastic movie-related Simpsons images:

1. Though I still haven't watched it yet [pokes brain with crayon], the season premiere of The Simpsons included a very awesome opening sequence where Boba Fett freezes the entire Simpson family in carbonite (check out image above). And for those who, like me, need to catch up on the lives of our friends from Springfield, you can scope out the entire season premiere over on Hulu.com. [via Star Wars blog]



2. From the episode Husbands and Knives, the hilarious image above comes from the scene in which Milhouse asks Alan Moore to sign a copy of the DVD Watchmen Babies in V for Vacation. And then Moore smiled, signed a dozen copies and called it his most favorite movie in the entire world. Or not. (Am I nuts for wanting to watch at least one episode of a Watchmen Babies cartoon?)

Ever wondered what it would look like if some of our favorite superheroes (and villains) were to show up in random episodes of The Simpsons. Sure, we've already experienced Bart-Man, Radioactive Man, Hulk, Spidey ... and who am I forgetting ... but what if Batman, Joker, Penguin, Superman, Wonder Woman or The Flash popped into Springfield for a visit. (Didn't Batman make an appearance once? I forget.) Over at the blog Springfield Punx, they Simpson-ize a number of our most beloved fictional characters in movies and TV so that we, as fans, get to see what they would look like as Simpsons characters. Apart from Batman, there are a ton of Spidey-related Simpson characters, a little Star Trek, one Neo, a brilliant Arrested Development reference, Donnie Darko, James Bond ... and so much more. Check out a few of their images in the gallery below, then head on over to Springield Punkz to see the rest.

Whether or not shows like Aqua Teen Hunger Force or The Simpsons succeeded in translating their television dynamics to the big screen depends on your point of view, but the release of Speed Racer this weekend raises a more specific question about the viability of turning an animated series into a live action spectacle on the big screen. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Underdog both suggest how this goal can go wrong -- namely, by imploding on its absurd conceits. You may disagree with the inclusion of some of the following titles, all of which culled their material from animation, but it's fair to say that each of them takes its subject matter at face value, allowing the natural ingredients of the original sources to remain intact. Well, maybe not Super Mario Bros., but that one is a special case (fire away, if you must). Until somebody makes an Animaniacs movie with real actors, I'm sticking to this list.

1. Popeye (1980)

Robert Altman's offbeat ode to the famous Fleisher cartoon starring the spinach-eating strongman and his darling Olive Oil is the great misunderstood work of the director's career. Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall manage to bring utterly ridiculous characters into a realm of believability that you could never imagine when watching the show. Suddenly, Popeye made sense -- goofy, almost surreal sense, but sense nonetheless -- in the real world. Thanks to veteran adult cartoonist Jules Feiffer's screenplay and a soundtrack so catchy Paul Thomas Anderson borrowed from it twenty years later in Punch-Drunk Love, the classic status of Popeye can't be denied.

Well, there has been another bidding war in Hollywood, and another studio gets to emerge victorious. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Warner Bros. have purchased the film rights to Josh Lieb's young adult novel, I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President (and while I'm normally not a huge fan of overly long titles, this one is pretty cute).

The story centers on a chubby and awkward 13-year-old boy with the reputation of being the dumbest student in the seventh grade. What his classmates don't know is that, in fact, the boy is actually an evil genius with one of the largest fortunes on the planet. He's even got an underground lair underneath his suburban split-level. In an attempt to please his do-gooder dad, he comes up with the idea of running for class president.

This wouldn't be the first time that a sequel recycled material from the first movie, but since Night at the Museum 2: Escape From the Smithsonian has apparently gone so far as to change the museum setting from New York's Museum of Natural History to D.C.'s Smithsonian Institute, I'd think it would want to avoid repeating material from the original. I guess not. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Night at the Museum sequel will feature an "all-powerful Egyptian pharaoh" played by Hank Azaria, who is best known for the 1,000 voices he does for The Simpsons. If you remember, the plot of the first Night at the Museum involved a gold tablet stolen from the tomb of the fictional mummified pharaoh Akmenrah. In this sequel, which again stars Ben Stiller and again is directed by Shawn Levy and is again written by Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant, the pharaoh's name is Kah Mun Rah. It isn't stated whether or not the character will be a villain or not, but if Azaria does play an evil pharaoh, it wouldn't be the first time he played a nuisance to Stiller. In 2004's Along Came Polly, he was a scuba instructor who steals Stiller's character's new bride (played by Debra Messing) on the couple's honeymoon.

The trade also notes that Azaria has been cast in another ancient-history kind of role. He will play Abraham in The Year One, the Biblical-era-set comedy from producer Judd Apatow and director Harold Ramis, which Monika first told us about back in June, 2007. That movie stars an all-star lineup that includes Jack Black, Michael Cera, David Cross, Christopher "McLovin" Mintz-Plasse, Eden Riegel, Oliver Platt, Olivia Wilde and Vinnie Jones. Be prepared to hear Azaria do some crazy accents for each of these films, even though he typically avoids the cartoony voices in his live-action work (such as next month's hilarious comedy Run, Fatboy, Run).

I was a fan of The Simpsons back when they were still on The Tracy Ullman Show. But back then, I was a fan of anything on television. Those old shorts weren't even that funny. A few years later, though, when I grew out of watching TV, I remained loyal only to The Simpsons. Why? Because it got funnier, but also as a movie geek, I couldn't get enough of the series' constant homages to cinema. It seemed there were references in every single episodes. Some were little throwaway bits, either verbal or visual winks, while others were more blatant, full-on tributes or parodies. In both cases, there are sequences using near-exact shot duplication -- something only an animated show could do so well -- and these are the kinds of nods that kept me a fan for years and years and years (I did kind of abandon the series in its regular run after about 12 years, though).

There have been a number of guides and websites to The Simpsons that provide lists of movie references and parodies. However, none of them are visually comprehensive. Coming close, though, are a few sites that place side by side a Simpsons still and its corresponding reference. Here, we can really see how dead-on some of those frames are, and how loosely adapted some others are. So, in preparation for the soon-to-be-released Simpsons Movie DVD, a blog titled The Adventures of Accordian Guy in the 21st Century (aka JoeyDevilla.com) put up a decent collection of these comparison shots over the weekend. He admits he found the images, but his spread is appreciated, nonetheless. He also doesn't list the movies, so I'll take a second and list the ones included: The Shining; Vertigo; The Graduate; Citizen Kane; Miracle on 34th Street; A Clockwork Orange; The Godfather, Part II; Goodfellas; Tom Jones; The Karate Kid; Psycho; Full Metal Jacket; The Longest Day; Apocalypse Now; Stripes; An Officer and a Gentleman; The Ten Commandments; North by Northwest and Saboteur. Additionally, the blog has posted small, individual sections on Simpsons tributes to Raiders of the Lost Ark; Citizen Kane; Midnight Express; It's a Wonderful Life; 2001: A Space Odyssey; The Pride of the Yankees; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Steamboat Willie.

Obviously there are countless more movies the blog doesn't include (commenters mention some good ones), as well as a number of shots and references within his list that are excluded. But we must understand that a comprehensive project would take a long, long time. However, if you know Spanish (or even if you don't), you could take a look at Actualidad Simpson's movie reference section, which is apparently where the blog got the images (I couldn't tell you if they took them from elsewhere), and where there are lots, lots, lots more (with titles).

Pretty much everyone I've talked to felt exactly the same way after seeing The Simpsons Movie -- relieved that they didn't blow it, a lot of laughs, but it wasn't quite the earth-shattering event we'd been dreaming of since we were kids. The film was measurably better than the current episodes, but not up to the show's heyday of seasons 1 - 10. Still, I don't think anyone could argue that the film is a rock solid comedy, and that was more than enough to make it stand out in the dreary summer season we just sludged through. But do I really need to revisit the movie? After reading the details on the DVD, that answer might be "yes." Releasing here on December 18th, The Simpsons Movie DVD looks to be quite d'oh-lightful.

Most intriguing are the two commentary tracks. One track will feature James L. Brooks (a hero of mine), Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike Scully, David Silverman, Dan Castellaneta (voice of Homer and many other characters), and Yeardley Smith (voice of Lisa). The other will be a directors' commentary by Silverman, Mike B. Anderson, Steven Dean Moore and Rich Moore. There will also be deleted scenes, though not as many as I was expecting considering all the versions the movie went through on its way to release. These include: an alternate ending, something called "Sausage Truck," and additional work from Albert Brooks as Russ Cargill - whom I would argue stole the film. He certainly delivered its funniest line: "Rats can't be trapped this easily. You're trapped like...carrots." You also get Homer's amusing Tonight Show monologue, the Simpsons judging American Idol, and alternate character designs by the directors and Groening. Oh, and on DVD you can pause all the hardcore full-frontal Bart action!

Never a stranger to taking controversial stances, The Guardian is stirring up some heated debate by accusing the Simpsons character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon of being a "crude racist stereotype." Writer Manish Vij says "Culture-vulture Simpsons fans have felled entire forests in arguing that he's a parody of a stereotype, rather than the stereotype itself. But the plain fact is that most viewers are laughing at Apu, not with him. They're enjoying the simple pleasures of a funny, singsong brown man with a slippery grasp of English." Vij takes major issue with 7-Eleven's recent Kwik-E-Mart makeover promotion (which Erik told you about here), as well. 7-Eleven employees at the converted convenience stores are, as Vij puts it, "being asked to don Kwik-E-Mart costumes with Apu nametags, come to work under banners mocking their ethnicity, and bid customers goodbye with the phrase, 'Thank you, come again!'" He closes the article by saying, "Today, we expect American companies to promote racial tolerance. Yet like an outbreak of a long-dormant virus, 7-Eleven is spending millions of dollars to push a crude ethnic stereotype well past its sell-by date. It's tin-eared and unconscionable. The company should cancel Apu and issue an apology."

Now, I could definitely argue that The Simpsons is, and always has been, satire. It makes fun of anything and everything, and though it's certainly poked fun at race relations over the years, I've never seen anything on the show I'd consider racist. The Apu character talks with an exaggerated accent, but it's an animated comedy show -- everybody does. And it's certainly an equal opportunity offender. Everyone on the program is a stereotype, and those stereotypes are frequently addressed, exposed, disproved, and mocked. Stereotypes exist on The Simpsons to provoke the viewer, as all good comedy should. Fat Tony could offend sensitive Italians, Groundskeeper Willie could offend sensitive Scotsmen, Bumblebee Man could offend sensitive Hispanics, and so on. But I hardly think the intent of The Simpsons' writing staff is to spew hate.

I have to disagree with Vij about Apu being crude and racist. If anything, he's one of the more intelligent and positive presences in Springfield, and I find the author's comparisons of Apu to "minstrel shows" and "Jim Crow America" to be really pushing it. But the 7-Eleven thing is sort of a grey area for me. I haven't visited one of the revamped stores, so I don't know how the "Apu" issue is being handled, but it certainly sounds like potentially dangerous turf. What do you think? Is Mr. Nahasapeemapetilon an offensive racist caricature? Is this a serious issue or much Apu about nothing?