Trailer: The Campaign

Will Ferrell vs a beardless Zach Galifianakis.

Ready — Fight!

With the presidential election a few months away, it’s only right to poke fun at the process, and who better to do that then two major clowns of Hollywood?

Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis star as opposing candidates in a rural southern state where absolute insanity occurs.

The film centers on an incumbent candidate Cam Brady (Ferrell) who doesn’t expect to be opposed in his run for a fifth-term, but he finds an unexpected challenger in the unassuming and dim-witted Marty Huggins (Galifianakis).

The trailer is a bit wild, and actually doesn’t have as many jokes as you’d expect from a film with these two. Right off the bat I’m not a big fan of Galifianakis’ voice in the film, he comes off as too soft and sweet, but that’s probably the point.

The film also stars The film also stars Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Brian Cox, John Lithgow, and Dan Aykroyd.

The Campaign hits theaters on August 10th, 2012.

Look: Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis in The Campaign

With a major election a few months away, it’s time to make light of the situation, and who better to do that then comedy stalwarts Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis.

The two are starring in the comedy called The Campaign as dueling candidates in their North Carolina district.

The film also stars Jason Sudeikis and Dylan McDermott, with supporting roles from John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd and Brian Cox.

Here is the first official synopsis…

Synopsis:

When long-term congressman Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) commits a major public gaffe before an upcoming election, a pair of ultra-wealthy CEOs plot to put up a rival candidate and gain influence over their North Carolina district. Their man: naïve Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), director of the local Tourism Center. At first, Marty appears to be the unlikeliest possible choice but, with the help of his new benefactors’ support, a cutthroat campaign manager and his family’s political connections, he soon becomes a contender who gives the charismatic Cam plenty to worry about. As Election Day closes in, the two are locked in a dead heat, with insults quickly escalating to injury until all they care about is burying each other, in this mud-slinging, back-stabbing, home-wrecking comedy from “Meet the Parents” director Jay Roach that takes today’s political circus to its logical next level. Because even when you think campaign ethics have hit rock bottom, there’s room to dig a whole lot deeper.

The Campaign hits theaters on August 10th.

Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

You’ll never look at monkeys or apes the same again, ever.

Captivating. The one word I can use to adequately describe the feeling I got throughout the entire film, along with the one word that stuck in my brain as I walked out of the theater.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is another take on Planet of the Apes that we have seen many times over time, and this one could be the greatest of them all.

The old heads will probably side with Charlton Heston and his 1968 portrayal,but director Rupert Wyatt deserves just as much praise for his 2011 adaptation.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes tells the story of Will Rodman, played by James Franco, a scientist who develops and tests a potential cure for Alzheimer’s disease. In order to see it’s potential he tests the formula on apes, until he sees one ape react very positively to the cure. This ape is dubbed Caesar, played by Andy Serkis via motion capture technology.

Caesar proves to have great intelligence for an ape, being able to sign and even write. Soon enough, things go astray and Caesar winds up in an unfamiliar environment where he leads a complete takeover of California with help from thousands of apes.

First and foremost I have to acknowledge Serkis, and his stellar work. With this motion capture technology, Serkis was responsible for all the facial expressions and movements, Caesar’s body was added with CGI, but the work was all done by Serkis.

To think you can feel the pain, suffering, anger of an ape through a screen so vividly one moment, and then see a complete transformation as the apes rise against the human race and stake their claim, it’s truly an unbelievable thing to witness.

Serkis connects with the audience through his interactions with Franco, his girlfriend Caroline played by Freida Pinto, and his father who has Alzheimer’s, John Lithgow. His performance in this film stands alone, above all else.

Now I’m one of the biggest James Franco detractors out there, but his role here is rather minimal in the grand scheme of things so he isn’t over baring in his pompous ways like he normally is, which was a major plus.

The other star of this film, isn’t a person, it’s the CGI.

We’ve become so use to CGI technology in our films these days that nothing comes as a surprise. We’ve seen it countless times already this summer with all the superhero films that have come out.

But this is different, the way it was used with the Apes and the action here made it seem authentic.

Now of course you must leave belief at the door, but the look and feel for the apes, their interactions, their anger was pure and came across as not something that was so out of the ordinary in terms of the look.

There are moments of happiness, sadness, and sometimes pure terror where you sit back and think for yourself, wow, can this really happen?

One of the major keys of this film is the pace and timing. There is no 25 minute wait period for the film to get going, literally 5 minutes into the film the action starts, and from there on out, it’s a non stop tense fiasco.

Fodder Note – Stick around after the credits, there are additional scenes. 

Tom Felton, best known to the world as playing Dracco Malfoy in the Harry Potter franchise plays a role here as well as an Ape attendant. And boy, besides looking older, his smugness that traslated well as Malfoy really came across here as well. It’s like he was the same character just in civilian clothes, I fear he may never lose that stigma.

An interesting note about his character though, his name in the film is Dodge Landon, which is a reference to the characters Dodge and Landon, Colonel Taylor’s fellow astronauts in Planet of the Apes.

I’m going out on a limb and doing something I really hate to do, and say this is the best movie of the year thus far.

I tried to find a way around it, and not think so, but this is the top of the top of 2011 as of today.

Captivating from start to finish, leaving you with questions and a desire for more.

Rating: 9/10

First Look at Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Long title, I know, it was recently changed from “Rise of the Apes” to the above, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” it’s a mouth full.

Today FOX unleashed the first footage of the apes from the film.

All the apes in the film are made with CGI, so that being said it’s pretty impressive. FOX has dubbed this week “Apes Week” as we will get the first teaser trailer for the film sometime in the next six days.

The video is a short five second clip of the

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is set in contemporary San Francisco and follows a young scientist who becomes a crucial figure in the war between humans and apes. This young scientist will be played by James Franco.

Franco’s character has been testing his Alzheimer cure on apes, but one of them, named Caesar, starts to evolve rapidly, so he takes him home to live with him and protect him from the “cruel doctors,” thus starting the inevitable ape revolution.

Along with Franco, also starring in the film are Andy Serkis who will be providing motion capture for Caesar and Weta doing CGI, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox and Tom Felton.

Check out the clip…

 

There has been a ton of mixed emotions to this film, some say it will flop right out of the gate, while others remain very skeptical that it can live up to the hype.

There is a website dedicated to “Apes Week” – http://www.apeswillrise.com

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” hits theaters on August 5th, 2011.