Some people might say that Will Ferrell is coasting, taking it easy, or skirting by on proven formula -- and that may be the case. There's a lot in Ferrell's latest flick, Semi-Pro, that feels like material left over from the comedian's soccer comedy (Kicking & Screaming), his car-racing comedy (Talladega Nights), and his figure-skating comedy (Blades of Glory) -- but it's really tough to complain when a comedian doles out "the same old schtick" when that same old schtick is still pretty damn funny. A recent interview with Entertainment Weekly indicates that Ferrell is pretty much finished with sports comedies, and that's probably just as well. Oh, and for the record: I happen to think Semi-Pro is Ferrell's best sports flick yet -- and probably his most consistently amusing movie since Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

Semi-Pro marks the popular comedian's first foray into R-rated comedy, at least as far as his "leading man" status goes. So while much of the flick's broad, silly, and slyly absurd humor bounces across the screen, it will all feel very (perhaps comfortably) familiar to Ferrell's loyal fans -- but I'm not ashamed to admit that the inclusion of several F-bombs help to make the flick a whole lot funnier. We don't often get to hear Will Ferrell tell someone to "S his C," but the golden-'froed goofball dives into the potty-mouth material with a lot of enthusiasm. Semi-Pro is not an aggressively raunchy comedy, but it's definitely NOT for the 10-year-old Ferrell fans out there. (Sorry, kids. Go watch Elf again. It's hilarious.)

Back in February, Martha Fischer had news of Terrence Howard's upcoming sports drama titled PDR. Well it's almost a year later, and the film is now called Pride, and the new teaser poster and trailer are available online.

JoBlo.net has the teaser poster with a link to the official site and trailer. The film is the true story of Jim Ellis, who turned inner-city teens from a local park and recreation center into a championship swim team. The film also stars Bernie Mac, and is being directed by first-timer Sunu Gonera. Sure, the whole thing sounds a little tired, and this is a movie I think we've all seen plenty of times before. All the clichés of an uplifting sports flick seem to be there and watching the trailer pretty much confirms it. On the upside, it looks like it might have a great soundtrack. And, I have to admit that Lionsgate pulled off a pretty slick poster for the film. I love a good movie poster, and Pride's one-sheet has a nice combination of 70's kitsch and simple graphics. It's pretty eye-catching, even if the movie itself seems like nothing special.

Lionsgate is planning on a spring release for the film, so there is still some time to drum up some interest. If nothing else, at least they managed to make an original poster. ...

I guess it's not just about the musicians when it comes to the slew of biopics on the way. In the last few months, we've had word of biographies of Ernie Davis and Jesse Owens, and now Production Weekly has announced that a new film about basketball legend Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton is going into production. Although to be fair, you can't accuse writer-director Martin Guigui of jumping on a bandwagon, as he has been working on Sweetwater for almost a decade.

Clifton began his career with The New York Rens before joining the Harlem Globetrotters in 1947; by 1950 he had joined the New York Knicks. Clifton was known for exceptional ball-handling skills (which might have something to do with the fact that Clifton sported size 14 hands). At the age of 27, Clifton was the first African-American to sign a contract with the NBA. By the end of his first season he had helped take the team to its first shot at the finals.

This isn't the only project Guigui has on the way, his other film Benny Bliss and the Disciples of Greatness (2007) is a comedic story about an evangelical musician on a mission to rid the world of electronic gadgets -- which I hope for the sake of Clifton's memory, is better than it sounds. Sweetwater is set to start production this February.

[via Dark Horizons]

Jesse Owens was one of the greatest sports legends of all time. His 4 gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics made history -- and shamed the Nazi party and their repulsive theories of a 'master race'. Despite his achievements at the Olympics, Owens still struggled with racism at home; "I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President ,either".

Variety has announced that Milkshake Films (Goal) have signed Anthony Mackie (Freedomland) to portray Owens in the upcoming biopic Jesse: The True Story of J.C Owens. A director hasn't been chosen yet to shoot the James L. White (Ray) script, but Milkshake Films is expected to announce a director soon.

It's amazing to me that it took this long to make a film about Jesse Owens. So far there has only been one TV special that aired in 1984, whose cast included LeVar Burton and Tom Bosley -- that's right, Mr. Cunningham from Happy Days -- not exactly a fitting tribute.


[via Empire Online]

Are you ready for MORE football? 20th Century Fox thinks you are, as they've gone and snatched up the rights to Michael Lewis' (Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game) latest book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. Released yesterday, the book garnered interest from a few other players including New Line and Mandalay. In the end, Fox won out with a deal for $200,000 against $1.5 million.

Blind Side, which revolves around the growing race for bigger (and when I say bigger, I mean BIGGER) football players, is one of several Lewis books that have been optioned over the years, with none of them moving ahead to production. However, with football as popular as it is right now on the big screen, Lewis feels this one definitely has a shot. The main plot focuses on a 16-year-old African American whose father was murdered and whose mother turned to crack. Though, at 344 pounds, the boy knew how to move and, thus, was taken in by a wealthy white couple who groomed him to be one of the top high school football prospects in the country.

Lewis notes, "Of all the books I've written, this is by far the most likely to be made into a movie." Whaddya say folks, how about we throw Eddie Murphy in a fat suit and watch this sucker fly?

If you are, know or live with a sports nut, then chances are you've been subjected to the trials and tribulations of fantasy baseball or football at one time or another. "Sorry, can't make it this Saturday, I've got my fantasy draft." If you've ever actually made it to a live fantasy draft, you can see how serious these games get. More than 16 million people play fantasy sports, and it's a no holds barred, take no prisoners, every man (or woman) for themselves. When you come out with a key player tucked under your arm, then it was all worth it. With the popularity of computers and the internet, it is so much easier than it was in the pen and paper days to get involved with fantasy sports. Easier to get involved, yes, but not easier to win given my losing baseball team, which finished my brief fantasy baseball career in seventh place yesterday.

Now, Matthew Berry and Brenda Spoonemore want to bring that same fervent gameplay to the movies. They are launching Fantasy Moguls, a website-based fantasy game where you make the decisions as the head of your "studio." On the site, players join a public or private league, choose half a dozen films via a "draft" and then keep track of scores in four categories: domestic gross, weeks in the top five, per-screen average and reviews.

The game is free to play, and launches sometime in October. You too can be Robert Evans and decide if the kid stays in the picture.

Now that the NFL season is officially underway, sparking buzz from across the country this past weekend (including some from me who was up late last night screaming at Eli Manning and the Giants), it's only right that news comes our way regarding a brand new sports-related film.

Vox3 (which sounds more like a sports drink, though it's actually the company behind the Nicole Kidman flick, Fur) has acquired the rights to Peter Alson's memoir, Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie. Alson and David Greenwald will pen the script, with the latter attached to direct. Story revolves around Alson's real-life adventures as a Harvard grad who, while down on his luck, begins to work as a bookie in New York's Greenwich Village where -- and here's the kicker -- he gets a real education. Hey, as long as its better than the abysmal Two for the Money (which, honestly, moved slower than the Giants secondary), then I'm totally game.

Declining ticket sales are forcing theater owners to get creative, and as soon as next year you may be able to go watch your local sports team up on the big screen...in 3-D! In a bid to keep up with technology (ie: Us being lazy and not wanting to leave the couch), theater chains are looking to expand into something like a gigantic living room.

Shari Stone, the President of National Amusement Inc., put it best when she said, "We want to transition our theaters from being traditional movie theaters to being community entertainment destinations, and what better way to do this than sports?" Hmm. While this space would usually be reserved for sarcasm, it's weird, but I kind of think this would be a good idea.

Could you see yourself going to the movies to watch some Sunday football? If not, what else could theaters do to attract more people, aside from lowering their absurd prices?

 

The Air Bud movies are consider by many critics and scholars to be the greatest movies ever made about a dog that plays sports. There have been five movies in the series so far; two were theatrical releases and three were created specifically for video. It's been three years since the last installment came out, and people across the globe have been screaming, "Why, Hollywood? Why won't you make another movie where a dog does things with a ball for two hours?"

As it turns out, the Air Bud franchise hasn't breathed its last. This year will see the theatrical release of Air Buddies, at least according to IMDb. This time the plot apparently revolves around Buddy's puppies, who set out to rescue him and his wife Molly from dognappers. It sounds as if sports doesn't play a major role in this installment. This is unfortunate, because after seeing Bud play basketball, football, soccer, volleyball, and baseball, I was hoping the next movie would somehow involve fencing. I really wanted to see a dog running around with a sword in its mouth and jabbing people in the shins. Maybe they'll do that for the next movie.