And when I say ridiculous, I mean "WTF is going on in this flick!?" I'm not sure when this new red band trailer for Tropic Thunder went off the deep end: Was it when Ben Stiller took a young child who was stabbing him in the back (literally) and threw him off a bridge, or was it when Stiller was holding up the decapitated head of a soldier and sticking his tongue up to its guts. Oh, I'm totally not kidding about any of that, either -- this one looks completely out of control. Kudos to Stiller; for awhile there, it looked like he was way past his prime. With Tropic Thunder, something tells me the entire crew downed a case of "something real good" and said, "Screw it, let's just go absolutely nuts with this one and really freak people out."

Tropic Thunder stars Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. (who's cursing in every scene ... as a black man), Brandon T. Jackson and Jay Baruchel as a group of actors shooting a Platoon-esque war film in the jungle. When that film's director (as played by Steve Coogan) decides these guys need to be "in the sh*t," the gang wind up face to face with an army of real soldiers. I can't even begin to explain this trailer -- it's probably the most disturbing, yet oddly hilarious piece of marketing material I've seen all year.

Go here. Enter your age. Let us know what you think. Tropic Thunder hits theaters on August 15.

Perhaps the best thing about Kung Fu Panda is that it's an action comedy that doesn't skimp on the action. Dreamworks Animation's latest effort may stick out a little on the Red Carpet at Cannes -- where it's screening out of competition -- but it's certainly a well-made kid's film that earns high points for how directors John Stevenson and Mark Osborne clearly crafted and contemplated its look and feel with ambition and style. Anyone can make a computer-animated cartoon with fuzzy animals doing kung fu; you have to be at least a little inspired to make a computer-animated cartoon featuring fuzzy animals doing kung fu in widescreen Cinemascope. ...

Kung Fu Panda opens with a rousing, stylish action sequence, as a narrator (Jack Black, in full-on Tenacious D exposition mode) explains how "Legend tells of a legendary kung fu warrior whose kung fu skills were legendary. ..." But then, the heroic panda we've seen unleashing paws of power on the big screen ... wakes up; it was just a dream. Then Po the panda (Black), whose dreams of kung fu glory are the counterpoint to his unsatisfying life, gets ready for his day of helping his father Mr. Ping (James Wong) sell noodles to the people of the Valley of Peace.

Imagine the above, with a round white boy (in, I hope, the same duds). Or one round furry dude panda.

It was inevitable, really. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Jack Black and Cee-Lo (of Gnarls Barkley) have covered Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting" for Black's upcoming Kung Fu Panda. At the very least, it should be a bit better than Chris Tucker's version for Rush Hour 3.

Cee-Lo says: "It was inspiring and an honor to have the opportunity to reintroduce the record to a brand new audience, sprinkled with a little of me on top." Meow! However, I really doubt that their cover will inspire young tykes unfamiliar with the song to find out that it's a Carl Douglas tune, and go out to hear more of his music. In reality, we can probably wait 10 years and then hear people say: "Hey, isn't 'Kung Fu Fighting' that Jack Black song?"

You can hear the track on May 27th by picking up the soundtrack or downloading it. As for the film, which also uses the voices of Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, and Dustin Hoffman, it's coming out on June 6.

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse for Lindsay Lohan, Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that Lohan has been dropped from the true-life crime flick, Manson's Girls. According to DHD, "people associated with the movie told agents that Lohan quickly became more of a deficit than an asset when they discovered that they couldn't find any name actresses who wanted to co-star with her. (And even some name actors...) So now Lindsay is off the pic."

Ouch, that can't be good for her self-esteem, although the gossip gal in me would have liked to hear the names of some of those "name actors".

Both of the upcoming animated releases that aren't Wall-E or Space Chimps got new trailers yesterday. Here's one for Igor (and here's a link to the poster we premiered a few weeks ago), and here's one for Kung Fu Panda.

Kung Fu Panda looks like it'll be just a step or two above -- *shudder* -- Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Igor, on the other hand, looks like a charmer: the premise is inherently nerdy, requiring viewers to think back to the original Frankenstein films (or at least Young Frankenstein, or Van Helsing in a pinch) to get the joke, and the trailer has a few big laughs.

The biggest upside of Kung Fu Panda coming out on June 6th: those of us who frequent AMC Theaters will no longer have to endure the Kung Fu Panda-themed pre-movie interlude exhorting viewers to shut up. I'm not sure how many more times I can listen to Jack Black tell me that he can hear me texting before I have an aneurysm. But I guess I should be grateful AMC is no longer airing that horrid Three Doors Down "Citizen Soldier" video pimping the National Guard (because no one screams "role model" to teenagers like the lead singer of Three Doors Down). That thing gave me nightmares.

I really think that if Tropic Thunder lives up to our expectations, this may very well be the "Summer of Downey." For starters, I'm already sold on Iron Man, and believe me, it has nothing to do with a love of men in big metal suits. Paramount Pictures has released three new character posters for the action comedy and there is just something about Downey's whacked out expression that brings a smile to my face. Although to be fair, I'm steering clear of the whole 'black face' debate until I actually see the movie. Especially since it seems a little early in the game to start crying "racist" when no one has even seen Downey's performance yet.

Thunder was written and directed by Ben Stiller, who also stars as a spoiled action star cast in a big budget war flick that is spiraling out of control. Tired of dealing with spoiled stars and unruly locations, the director (played by Steve Coogan) decides to drop his actors in the middle of a real armed conflict in hopes of adding some 'verité' to the film. Of course, the actors are all clueless of the fact they are no longer in the cozy confines of a movie set and wackiness ensues.

So place your bets: Do you think Tropic Thunder is going to be this summer's big comedy? We'll find out if Stiller can live up to the hype when the film opens in theaters on August 15th. Check out larger versions of all three posters, plus additional photos from the film in the gallery below.

This will no doubt be an illegal movie forever. After seeing it at the UC Theater in the summer of '82, I recently found a copy on a bootleg VHS for $1 at a Friends of the Library sale, still burned with the Sundance Channel bug. In today's cinema, much is made of the nostalgia value of the 1980s soundtrack: a famous example being Tears for Fears' "Head Over Heels" during Donnie Darko's opening. You can have your MTV, though, since URGH! A Music War was the soundtrack to my 1980s. Hey, what a surprise, no Duran Duran, no INXS, no Soft Cell covering a Gloria Jones soul classic and convincing a history-impaired generation that they wrote it. And yet it's clear why this film failed.

As a business scheme URGH seems, in 2008 hindsight, a uniquely quick way to burn a fortune. The film documents second-wave punk and New Wave bands playing from LA to London, editing them together without any particular zeitgeisty event like a music festival. So: play it a little under a real kiss-of-death title, and then wait to be deafened by the wails of bands, managers and lawyers zooming in to fight over the non-existant money. The Police were the headliners, opening and closing the film. They wrap up the film, too; you can see drummer Miles Copeland wearing an URGH! T-shirt. Is this perhaps all he was paid for this film? There are mostly cinematic performances here, and we see how much was lost by the fact that the Industry couldn't figure out a way to use their talents in the movies. Here's a key to the best of the show, omitting slurs of forgotten bands who perished long years ago.

It's here! Surely this must be one of the quickest follow-ups to a teaser in trailer history. You can watch an official, high quality version over on the film's official website if you prefer. I am trying to tell myself that this won't be as funny as the trailer -- that all the good stuff will be ruined -- but I can't make myself believe it. And it is all because of Robert Downey Jr. wearing a monk's robe and freaky Dune-blue contacts. Plus I want to know what the heck Ben Stiller is doing with two baby pandas.

Tropic Thunder opens on August 15th, 2008. And I still want an official patch.

Now that we have all gotten over the initial shock of seeing Robert Downey Jr. in 'black face,' we can all settle down and direct our attention to all of the other reasons why Ben Stiller's action comedy Tropic Thunder is going to be pretty high on the list of must-see summer flicks. Slash Film now has two new pictures from the comedy with the whole cast in tow.

Stiller came up with the idea of Tropic Thunder while he was working on Empire of the Sun with Steven Spielberg. Thunder centers on a group of spoiled actors making an expensive Vietnam flick. Inexplicably, the group find themselves in the middle of a real war and they are forced to become real live soldiers. The all-star comedy cast includes Stiller, Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey (in a part originally intended for Owen Wilson), and Steve Coogan as the wacked-out "Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now" role.

While these photos may not be as much fun as the teaser that was just released, I'm sure this is just the first of many media releases for the film. If you are over 18, I highly recommend checking out the teaser -- with possibly the best tag line for an action film in the history of the movies. If not, you'll just have to figure out how to sneak into the theater with the rest of us when Tropic Thunder lands in theaters on August 15th.

Quickly capitalizing on the still that rocked the world, Dreamworks has released a teaser trailer for Tropic Thunder. Watch it here on the official site. It's age restricted for language and evisceration. Naturally, the key answer here is your zip code -- there's whole states populated with children under 17.

I echo the majority when I say I don't think I've ever looked forward to a Ben Stiller comedy -- but this looks hysterical. And please tell me they're going to keep that 1970's film stock look. I'm laughing hardest at Robert Downey Jr.'s pop up. "Arrrgh!" It's practically proof they cut this after the still was released. "Downey doesn't need to say anything! Just have him pop up in that make-up!"

I really want a Tropic Thunder patch. Right now. Send me some swag, Dreamworks! I will put it on my jacket and wear it proudly.

I may not be too thrilled with the thought of male modeling sequels, but I'm itching to see what Ben Stiller makes with his first directing gig since Zoolander. The flick is Tropic Thunder, and that image above is part of the first look released by Entertainment Weekly. This time, the focus is actors, and the comedy follows a group "of self-indulgent stars cast in the modern equivalent of Apocalypse Now." However, the director (Steve Coogan) and writer (Nick Nolte) get fed up with them and ship them off to the jungle to fend for themselves.

Meanwhile, Stiller and those involved are hoping this comedy doesn't start an uproar.

So I've spent the past couple days holed up in Shreveport, Louisiana (of all places) visiting the set of The Year One, directed by Harold Ramis, produced by Judd Apatow and starring Jack Black, Michael Cera, David Cross ... and a whole bunch of nutty lunatics. Unfortunately, I cannot talk about how insane that film is going to be just yet (but I will, eventually, because there's soooo much to talk about), however I am allowed to dish on a few of the interviews we conducted -- two of which were with Michael Cera and David Cross. We already know there's been talk of an Arrested Development movie taking place at some point in the near future, and Jason Bateman recently chatted up the flick on the Oscar's red carpet saying it was all but a done deal and the script was being written. But was he biting off a bit more than he could chew?

Seems so, because both Cera and Cross haven't heard a peep about the film. When Cera was told they were supposedly working on a script, he looked stunned -- spitting out an "Is this true? Really? Well [Jason Bateman] would probably know more about it than I would." Would he want to do it? "Um, yeah, I think so. Yeah, I would love to do it ... it'd be fun." Says Cross, "I've been hearing about this since the day [the show] got canceled. Nobody's talked to me. I know nothing. Zero. The only thing I've seen is what's on the Entertainment Weekly website ... which I've never seen." On whether he'd be interested in reprising his role as Tobias, Cross said, "As long as I don't have to paint myself blue or wear a fatsuit, I'd love to. I would do that in a heartbeat. That was a really fun character to do, and it'd be great to work with all those guys again. I'd do it in a second."

So the good news is the guys desperately want to make an Arrested Development film -- now all that's left is for someone to actually call them and ask.

(The following review ran during the Sundance Film Festival, but we're re-posting it now to coincide with the film's theatrical release.)

In Passaic, New Jersey, the thrift store and video rental emporium Be Kind Rewind offers customers their choice of films to rent, if by 'choice,' you mean 'VHS only.' But while owner Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) is away, his counterman and almost-son Mike (Mos Def) lets Jerry (Jack Black) into the store, against Mr. Fletcher's instructions not to. Jerry is normally a walking disaster -- a dreamer of a mechanic, obsessed with the belief that the power plant he lives near is flooding him with radiation. A failed attempt to sabotage the power plant leaves Jerry energized and magnetized to such a degree that his mere presence wipes all of Be Kind Rewind's inventory. When loyal customer Ms. Kimberly, tasked by Mr. Fletcher to check in on the store while he's away, comes in to rent Ghostbusters, Jerry and Mike's solution to the crisis is hardly logical, but certainly inspired: Produce and shoot a replacement version of the film within 24 hours so she'll be none the wiser about the store's ruined inventory.

But Ms. Kimberly shows the film to some of her foster children, who can recognize that Jerry is not quite Bill Murray, and that Mike is not quite Ivan Reitman, and that holding the right-hand side of Hieronymus Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights" up to the camera is not quite a special-effects shot of a demon-haunted landscape. The foster kids -- thugs and toughs to a man -- come around Be Kind Rewind the next day. But they're not mad; they're curious: "That was pretty good. What else you got?" And other customers are curious about the store's new selections -- which, it's explained, come from Sweden, which is why they cost $20 and you have to request them 24 hours in advance. ...

Written and directed by Michel Gondry, Be Kind Rewind is as much a work of creativity and passion as the re-shot, cut-in-camcorder, home-brew "Swedish Import" re-made Hollywood blockbusters that it revolves around. And, much like Jerry and Mike's re-shot versions of Driving Miss Daisy or Rush Hour or The Lion King, Be Kind Rewind is a film where the plot is less important than panache, where the lack of elegance is made up for by an excess of enthusiasm. Jerry and Mike aren't just shooting day for night; they're shooting day for night, male for female, white for black, Jerry for Jackie (Chan, that is). Aided and abetted by Alma (Melonie Diaz), an early recruit to their shooting requirements (they need a girl for Rush Hour), the store's new offerings rapidly become a sensation, as customers line up to request new films they want to see the 'Sweded' versions of and rent the rest of Jerry and Mike's oeuvre as soon as other customers bring them back. This not only makes Jerry and Mike celebrities (or, more correctly, sub-lebrities) in Passaic, but also may raise the money that Mr. Fletcher's store needs to come up to the building code and avoid being shut down. ...

If someone came to me and asked, "Erik, if you could pick any two actors to appear opposite one another on screen, who would it be?" -- I'd probably tell them Kermit the Frog and Javier Bardem. But my second choice would most certainly be Lindsay Lohan and Jack Black. E! News reports that Lohan has decided to get back to work, and she'll do so by starring in the comedy Ye Olde Times, opposite everyone's favorite slightly overweight funnyman, Jack Black. The film follows "two rival Renaissance Faire troupes as they make their way through the competitive circuit." Currently, there's no word on whether Lohan will be competing with Black or against him, but regardless this film just hit my "Must See When Intoxicated" list.

Lohan, who recently left rehab to shoot the tango flick Dare to Love Me, seems keen to hop right back into the spotlight. Earlier in the week, her nude photo spread for New York Magazine was revealed, and while I'm not sure which step on the 12-step program includes nude photos for a prominent magazine, I'm sure it's probably toward the latter end. Ye Olde Times, which will be directed by R.A. White, also stars Cary Elwes, Matthew Lillard, David Arquette and Orlando Jones. The film will most likely hit at some point this year.

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).