jon stewart Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Right off the bat, I want to make it clear that you don't have to be half-baked to enjoy Half Baked. But if you thought Pineapple Express was hilarious, and you haven't seen Half Baked, it's high time you rectify this problem. Sure, Pineapple Express had James Franco as a drug dealer slash nice Jewish boy overly concerned with his Bubbe, and it had Danny McBride wigging out in his normal (i.e. awesome) way, and yeah, it was almost the perfect stoner crime caper.

But Half Baked has all that and more! It has Dave Chappelle as both a janitor at a lab that just happens to produce pharmaceutical-grade marijuana and a hip-hop star named Sir Smoke-a-Lot who, when high, complains, cries, and complains that he needs a "backiotomy." It has Guillermo Diaz as Scarface, who wants you to know he's Cuban, B! And it has Jim Breuer in one of his least annoying incarnations (although personally I do enjoy Goat Boy -- I'm not sure what that says about me, really). And then there's Harland Williams who accidentally kills a police horse by feeding it their munchies.

Let's not forget about the amazing cameos, including Jon Stewart as the Enhancement Smoker ("You ever seen Scent of a Woman... on weed?"), Bob Saget as someone in a Narc-Anon meeting who offers up a memorable confession, Steven Wright as the random dude sleeping on their couch, Tommy Chong as an inmate named the Squirrel Master, and plenty of others.

Each year the ratings for the Academy Awards seem to drop, and each year more and more people seem to blame the host for his (or her) inability to keep the world glued to their screens for three-plus hours. Sure, it takes a whole lot of everything to satisfy those tuning in to Hollywood's biggest night, but perhaps with the recession and economic problems, folks aren't itching to watch pretty millionaires congratulate one another with smiles, hugs and gold statues. Or we can just blame Jon Stewart for f**king it all up.

Either way, the Academy might be looking to switch things up this year by bringing on a host who isn't a stand-up comedian or a TV personality. According to Deadline Hollywood, they've chosen someone "way outside the box" to host this year's ceremony, and there won't be "the traditional segment of joke-telling near the start of the broadcast." DH says, however, that this person "is in the movie biz," and an announcement could come as soon as early next week. While some would prefer to see them lose the funny guy (or girl), I kinda liked it when they'd open up the show with some laughter or a musical number or, ya know, something light and entertaining ... since that's what these people do for a living -- they entertain. And if the Academy chooses some bore to walk out on stage and open up the show with a monologue about how "important" and "meaningful" movies are, I'll be switching channels in no time. Or, they could announce the new host as being The Jonas Brothers ... and then, well, we're all screwed.

But what do you think -- who would you prefer: a funnier, song-and-dance host or a more serious one?

UPDATE: Apparently, according to Deadline Hollywood, Hugh Jackman is the "way outside the box" name the Academy wants to nominate as host for the Oscars. He sure does look good, and claw good, but will he host good?

UPDATE 2: USA Today now confirms that Jackman will indeed host the Oscars.

Considering how much puffing is usually done to launch those "little movies that could," it's ironic that a documentary about blowing up balloons has made its way into the spotlight without an inflated media campaign. Sounds like the New York Times's Douglas Quenqua has noticed Sara Taksler and Naomi Greenfield's documentary about balloon twisting during its nationwide tour. After debuting at 2007's SXSW (Cinematical's Scott Weinberg notes the opening of Twisted: A Balloonamentary here), the film now has a solid run going at St. Louis's Landmark Tivoli theater.

Deer Park, Texas' Ralph Dewey, who uses balloon twisting as part of his gospel ministry, told the Times he isn't going to see the documentary on the grounds that there's too much uncleanliness in it. Unfortunately, some artistes twist the poor innocent balloon into hard-R and even unrated shapes, as you've probably seen at bachelorette parties and on cruise ships. The conflict between "gospel twisters" and "adult twisters" is unflinchingly depicted here, in accordance with the rule that every successful doc needs heroes, villains and conflicts. ("Michelle" seen above, supposedly paid for her house with the unholy art of adult balloon twisting.) Taksler, now a producer for The Daily Show, raised the money for the film by auctioning off the executive producer credit on eBay. And Jon Stewart himself hosts an animated sequence of the film. Twisted: A Balloonamentary opens in June in NYC.

If you thought leading a revolution was easy, try filming one. In The Huffington Post, Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere discusses Steven Soderbergh's two-part Che Guevara biopic, comprised of The Argentine and Guerilla. Despite earlier rumors to the contrary, it appears that both movies will definitely screen next month at the Cannes Film Festival, where Soderbergh was warmly welcomed last year for the premiere of Ocean's Thirteen. The reception of his latest project could be even more positive, but its distribution prospects are another story: As Wells explains, Soderbergh's project guarantees to offend some people for its apparent exclusion of Che's stint as the overlord at La Cabana fortress, where he ordered the execution of over 600 political prisoners. Add to that the heavy amount of Spanish dialog and the director's insistence that the two movies should be enjoyed as a four hour-plus package, and you've got enough red flags to send even the bravest U.S. distributors packing.

Wells, who read both scripts, analogizes the project to Lawrence of Arabia. "Hey, how about presenting the two films as a single, gargantuan Lawrence of Arabia-styled deal with an intermission, running between four or four and a half hours?" he suggests, perhaps somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

Jon Stewart had it right during the Oscars this year when he ironically geeked out over Lawrence of Arabia on an iPod. If most audiences can't appreciate that movie on the big screen now, why would they turn up for something like this?

The other day, Erik asked you for your ideas on new Oscar categories to shake things up a bit. I don't think it's Jon Stewart's fault the Oscar's tanked, but will he be asked back next year? I'm betting not, but who knows? Meanwhile, Cinematical's Chris Campbell, who also writes for Spoutblog.com with former Cine EIC Karina Longworth, has some excellent ideas for ways to boost the Oscar ratings.

My favorite among his suggestions is the Gary Busey Red Carpet. Hell yeah! Get rid of Regis, who's about as boring as watching bread get moldy, and bring on the Busey action. He can show up drunk with his fly open, and attack all the talent as they make their walk up the red carpet. It'll be almost like adding a sporting event to the Oscars -- duck and run from Gary Busey before he attacks your neck!

Poor Jennifer Garner would probably have to bring an entourage of everyone who's f*cking her husband, Ben Affleck, to be her body shield against further Busey attacks. For added fun, Busey can bring along his son Jake, who can also get drunk and talk loudly to everyone within ear range about how he's Gary Busey's son. The two of them could become a regular Oscar team like Melissa and Joan Rivers ... only drunker and with less cleavage and plastic surgery.

For more of Chris's ideas, including what Diablo Cody should have really done on that stage, go read the full piece.

Once again, the lovely Jon Stewart is hosting the Oscars -- a gig that may be worthy of your time not for the awards, but rather to see what they made of the whole thing last minute. Will the rush help the Oscars improve? Will they completely suck? Who knows?!

But it would all be better with weed, according to Jon. As I see it, we need to balance out all of Stewart's political comedy and fancy shmancy hosting with some old-school stoner comedy. In Half Baked, he played the "Enhancement Smoker" -- the dude who thinks Mary Jane actually makes everything better. Stars are better. Scent of a Woman is better. The back of a $20 is better (or was ... I wondered what he'd see in it now). So, it goes to assume that the Oscars would be better ... on weed.

Maybe that's the secret to a good Academy show?

Over at MTV-land, Josh Horowitz has a rather clever short up in which he inserts himself into the nominees for the Best Picture Oscar. Horowitz gets verbally abused by Keira Knightley, finds out he got Juno pregnant, uses his hamburger phone to call Javier Bardem's serial killer to take care of his "little problem," has a chat by the fire with Daniel Plainview, and gets yelled at by George Clooney. The editing isn't seamless, but it looks quite good, and Horowitz, when he's not being annoying, can be funny.

It's pretty darn amusing (or at least, it was to me, but I've only had one cup of coffee this morning, so it's possible I'm just not awake yet), and just the kind of thing Jon Stewart might do for the Oscars. I wonder if Stewart had something similar planned, saw this online and said, "Damn that Horowitz! He stole our idea!"

What do you think about the video? Funny, or not?
[Hat tip: Hollywood Elsewhere]

There's a piece up over on the New York Times about Jon Stewart prepping for the Oscars in only eight days, instead of the couple months he thought he'd have before that pesky writers' strike happened. While on the one hand I was kind of holding out for the strike to last past the Oscars, if only to spare myself having to liveblog the event, on the other hand I do like Stewart very much, and of anyone who could be hosting the Oscars this year, I think he's the most likely to make them at least moderately entertaining. Okay, I'll settle for "not painful to watch."

Stewart last hosted the Oscars two years ago (last year's event, you may recall, was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres), and for that event he was invited in December, and had just under two months to prep. This time Stewart and his Daily Show writers have just eight days to write their material, and for the most part, the nominated films don't really seem to lend themselves to a lot of light-hearted humor, so it will be interesting to see what they come up with on short notice.

Are you looking forward to seeing Stewart back on as host? Would you rather they'd picked someone different -- DeGeneres again? Robin Williams? Billy Crystal? Obama? (Just kidding on that one ... well, kinda.) It's your sandbox -- discuss away!

[via Movie City News]

People has officially named Matt Damon 2007's Sexiest Man Alive -- and a whole bevy of hot guys as sexy runners-up (is that kind of like being part of the Homecoming Queen's Court?), and we've taken some time to ponder their selection. Not that we have any objection to Damon -- he's certainly deserving of the honor, after rocking the Bourne flicks as the mysterious and oh-so-sexy Jason Bourne, but with so many choices out there, it's so hard to choose just one as "Sexiest." What does that mean, anyhow, to be the "sexiest?" Sexy is so subjective, it's really impossible to say conclusively that this particular guy is truly THE sexiest man alive, isn't it? That's why we threw together this gallery for you, dear readers, of some of our picks for our own Sexy Man list.

Browse our selections, then chime in on our poll to tell us who you think is the sexiest man out there ...

pun·dit
Pronunciation: 'p&n-d&t
Function: noun
Etymology: Hindi pandit, from Sanskrit pandita, from pandita learned
1 : PANDIT
2 : a learned man : TEACHER
3 : a person who gives opinions in an authoritative manner usually through the mass media : CRITIC
- pun·dit·ry /-d&-trE/ noun

Quick, name the most powerful American pundits you can think of. Bill Maher? Bill O'Reilly? Jon Stewart? According to an article on Forbes, who analyzed data from E-Poll, the most powerful pundit in America is film critic Roger Ebert, who's been reviewing movies for 32 years. Ebert scored top marks for being "intelligent, experienced and articulate," he appealed to 70% of those polled, and he's recognized by well over half the population. Also making the top ten was another critic, Entertainment Tonight's Leonard Maltin, ranked seventh on the list, thanks in part to his Movie and Video Guide. Maltin ranked pretty close to Ebert in terms of appeal (67 out of 100), with an "awareness" level of 24.7%.

Who else made the top ten? You'll find Bill Maher and Bill O'Reilly there, but not Howard Stern or Jon Stewart -- Forbes decided that Stern and Stewart, although they offer opinions, serve the primary purpose of entertaining. Forbes also finds it "troubling" how many young adults get their news from Stewart's The Daily Show (what, but Fox counts as "news" in their book? Please.) Just because it's entertaining doesn't mean it's not informative, Forbes -- Stewart's merciless cutting through the crap and political spin is what draws so many of the younger demographic to trust him over mainstream news media. You will find Fox's Greta Von Susteren on the Forbes list, along with Rosie O'Donnell and Geraldo Rivera (!). Check out the full top ten in pictures or read the full story here.

It's pretty darn impressive for two guys who write and talk about movies to hold two slots on the Top Ten Pundits list, especially at a time when critics are getting canned and consolidated by places like The Village Voice, and the field of film criticism is constantly questioned as to its relevance. The proliferation of individual bloggers writing their thoughts on movies may make it harder for readers to suss out whose opinions to listen to, but at least Ebert and Maltin are still up there. It's interesting to note as well that both Ebert and Maltin are on television; I wonder how print and online critics would rate overall in a poll strictly about the movie biz. Would we see print and online personalities like David Poland, Anne Thompson, Nikki Finke, Mahnola Dargis, and indieWIRE editor Eugune Hernandez on such a list? Who are your favorite film pundits?