harry shearer Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I had completely forgotten about this trailer of brilliance until I caught Unwigged and Unplugged Thursday night -- the excellent acoustic tour that has Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer playing tunes from their days as Spinal Tap and The Folksmen. (Go see it if you have a chance!)

In the middle of the show, they aired the trailer below. Shot by Shearer, it's not like any other trailer, and not at all like This is Spinal Tap. But it does tap into the excellence that would make them wacky comedic icons. Rather than show clips of the film and how they take it up to 11, the trailer features Rob Reiner talking about the film, and how he's still editing. Since he isn't ready to show a clip, he has something else to share -- footage of a Scandanavian Cheese festival. Oh yes, Shearer, McKean, and Guest pop up in parts, and you're sure to recognize the King of Cheese. But do you also recognize the little tyke in the middle? They say it's a young Jake Gyllenhaal.

Not every movie could pull it off, in fact, most couldn't. But for these guys, and this film, it's absolutely perfect. I'm just glad I was too young to catch this trailer when it first aired. I can't imagine waiting twelve years until Waiting for Guffman.

Note: This is the super-long and complete version. There was also a shorter version.

Man, a few hours after I mourn the fact that crappy Leonard Cohen tickets were too rich for my blood, there's word that Spinal Tap is going back on tour -- Unwigged and Unplugged. It might sound unnatural since these are the guys who like to crank it up to 11, but Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer are getting ready to tour as themselves -- just three guys and their guitars.

If it's anything like the clip above, expect a good mixture of Spinal Tap and The Folksman (you know, A Mighty Wind). It makes sense -- there comes a time in life when long hair and rockin' outfits just looks all wrong (sorry, David Lee Roth). Along with the spanky clip above, Collider has posted video of the entire Q&A and the tour schedule for this Unwigged and Unplugged tour.

I'm itching for my chance to see the trio live, but what about you? Are you in for an unplugged and unwigged Spinal Tap?

When I told a friend of mine that I was heading to a screening of Baby Mama, he immediately replied: "Oh, the Saturday Night Live movie?" Hmm -- well, sort of. The comedy -- which premiered at Tribeca and goes wide this weekend -- was produced by SNL honcho Lorne Michaels, and stars show veterans Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. On the other hand, it's not based on an SNL sketch, and doesn't feature any characters from the show.

Baby Mama's pre-release reputation as a "Saturday Night Live movie" probably isn't helpful: movies falling into that category don't have the best track record in the minds of people who pay attention. At the same time, the show has contributed a lot to the movies, mostly in its capacity as a breeding ground for comedic talent. This installment of Cinematical Seven collects films with an SNL connection that have actually been good, or in some way significant. I limited the pool to the last ten years; we all know that The Blues Brothers and Wayne's World are classics that started out as SNL sketches, but what has the show done for us lately?

Has there ever been such a case of 'too little, too late' as The Simpsons Movie? Don't get me started. Anyway, a number of photos from the film have been turning up at various places, some of which appear taken from previously avaliable clips, some not. In this latest batch, we see Homer mushing some huskies up a vertical incline, Ned Flanders being watched by Bart Simpson in a tree outside of his house, an angry mob of torch burners assembled for some purpose, and the baby Simpson confronting a monkey with what looks like a broken baby bottle.

Little is known about the official plot, but the numerous celebrity voices will include Minnie Driver, Erin Brockovich and regular guest stars Kelsey Grammer and Joe Mantegna. In other sort-of Simpsons news, testy actor Harry Shearer, who voices Simpsons characters including Montgomery Burns and Ned Flanders, recently performed a theater piece called 'This Is So Not About The Simpsons' as part of the annual Association of Performing Arts Presenters Members Conference.

Note: This review originally ran during the Toronto International Film Festival. It is being run again in conjunction with the film's limited release this weekend. For Your Consideration opens in wider release November 22. - ed.

With his films Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind, director Christopher Guest took the mockumentary approach he used in This Is Spinal Tap and brought it to a whole new generation. Guest assembled a cast of remarkable talent in Guffman, including Michael McKean (with whom Guest has worked for some 40 years), Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara, Bob Balaban and Parker Posey, and worked with the same cast (adding some new talent along the way, including the spectacularly funny Jennifer Coolidge and perfectly deadpan Jane Lynch, building an almost unbeatable ensemble of comedy.

Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind all took the mockumentary approach, dealing, respectively, with a play in a small town, an eclectic group of characters taking part in a national dog show, and the reunion of 1960s folk singers for a concert. Guest's previous three films with this ensemble worked, not just because of their mockumentary style, but because of the brilliance and energy of the cast, who worked improvisationally, with very little script. With his latest effort, For Your Consideration, Guest and co-writer Levy break away from the mockumentary mold to take a narrative approach, while still retaining the improvisational freedom that give the cast the room to make their characters their own.

Seeing as you'll be reading my review of Evil Aliens later this week, I figured why not stretch out the intergalactic theme and include it within this week's Eat My Shorts. I mean, who doesn't like to watch a film about aliens? They're weird, foreign and mysterious creatures that, depending upon who you ask, may or may not exist in real life. Personally, I am of the opinion that aliens are out there somewhere, waiting for just the right time to come down to earth and start their own professional ping-pong league. Heck, there's a lot of money to be made in ping-pong and I'm sure those little dudes are up there paying attention.

Life is more fun when you're a believer. If anything, one can use an alien's presence to explain missing homework, a clogged toilet or why next weekend will not be a good time for the in-laws to pay a visit. All kidding aside, we adore our aliens and love watching them up on the big screen accompanied by millions of dollars in special effects. However, aliens also play a big role in the world of short films as well. Be it animated or live-action, I'm consistently amazed by the quality of alien-related shorts online and available to watch right now ... for free.

This week, all of the following films have something do with aliens and were found rather quickly by typing in a few keywords and surfing the net. As always, if you'd like to see a particular short film featured on a future edition of Eat My Shorts, feel free to send all links, tips and suggestions to shorts AT cinematical DOT com. In the meantime, let's go watch some shorts ...

We may as well go ahead and change our name from Cinematical to CineSimpsons - All Simpsons. All the time. To recap: Several months went by after The Simpsons feature film was announced last summer until, finally, last week, things really started to heat up. Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, etc..) divulged that the film was going ahead and that the cast had already starting laying down dialogue. He told us the movie would not be R-rated, but did admit to it being edgier than the television show.

Over the weekend, word got out that a teaser for the flick had already landed on the big screen in front of Ice Age: The Meltdown and then, today, that same teaser hit the internet. Now, with The Simpsons causing more of a stir than Sharon Stone after watching Basic Instinct Poo - er - 2 plummet at the box office, comes possible details of a Simpson's plot. According to AICN, Krusty the Clown's nephew emailed them ( I assume that's a humorous alias) to shell out more details about the movie, including its storyline.

The nephew informed us that all of the original cast and writers are involved in the production. If that includes some of the old schoolers like Conan O'Brien, then that can mean very good things. Very. Good. Things. Oh, and about that plot? (The sentence following this one may contain SPOILERS, so if you get freaked out by that sort of thing, then stop reading right now.) Well, according to Krusty's nephew, the story will surround Homer goofing up at the power plant and causing the government to place a dome over Springfield. There you have it folks! If the information is correct, the Simpsons will be living in a bubble come 2008. Now, how about we give poor Sharon Stone a cameo, huh?

Chalk this one up as something that should have happened 7 seasons ago: The Simpsons are finally making a movie. Okay, so maybe we've known that for awhile now, but nothing has ever felt concrete, at least to me. I remember hearing that a possible film would involve Bart losing his virginity, and that idea circled its way around the world, only to see nor hear anything more.

Harry Shearer, who voices Rev. Lovejoy, Ned Flanders and a bunch more Springfield nutjobs, was a guest on the Mancow radio show and spilled a tiny portion of the beans when asked about a Simpsons movie. First off, he confirmed the 2-year contract extension for the television show (which will put them at roughly 1000 seasons) and said that the extension will not delay the movie as the actors are already laying down dialogue.

As far as story goes, he gave nothing up but said it will be more edgy - but not R-rated edgy. Also, there would be swearing in the movie, but not from his characters. Damn, and here I was really hoping Flanders would drop at least one F-bomb. There was no word on whether the movie would go The Family Guy route and travel straight to DVD or follow South Park to the big screen, but regardless (and I know the fans have to be with me on this), I feel it's all coming a bit too late.

 

Remind me to never, ever, fake a blog post from George Clooney here at Cinematical, because he really does not take kindly to that. Arianna Huffington knows that firsthand now - she posted a "blog post" purported to be from Clooney on her Huffington Post Blog on Monday, in which Clooney supposedly slammed Dems who voted for the war in Iraq as being afraid of being labeled liberal. 

The post, however, wasn't actually written by Clooney at all - it was compiled from quotes from interviews Clooney did with The Guardian and Larry King Live. Clooney reacted by issuing a statement calling Huffington's methods "purposefully misleading", and in an interview with New York Daily News' Lloyd Grove, reportedly said of a conversation he had with Huffington, "She said some things I won't share, but she did tell me that this could be bad for me -- bad for my career.  Well, screw you!"