THE HANGOVER’s Zach Galifanakis and Bradley Cooper, “Between Two Ferns”

Just about every one of my friends is clamoring to see The Hangover, the latest sophomoric-dude comedy from writer-director Todd Phillips (Road Trip, Starsky & Hutch, Old School). I’m right there with them—-it’s been some time since I’ve seen a good new “underachieving guys undergoing endless mishaps” laugher, and Mike Tyson singing some Phil Collins is priceless.

I’ve had a few chances to catch advance The Hangover screenings but haven’t been able to, so a quasi-review won’t appear until opening day next Friday. In the meantime, though, Funny or Die has the latest edition of The Hangover co-star Zach Galifanakis‘ “Between Two Ferns” interview series, an Inside the Actors Studio spoof that always finds its host shunning his guests with hilarious disinterest. In this one, he’s chatting with another The Hangover lead, Hollywood rising stock-holder Bradley Cooper (most known for Wedding Crashers, and supposedly in the running for Green Lantern and a lead in The A-Team).

This is great stuff, especially the “Nobody gives a fuck” about Failure to Launch part. Have at it:

LINK:

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis from Between Two Ferns

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SCENES OF MINE: THE TERMINATOR (1984)

Terminator Salvation has arrived and promptly left a stain on a great deal of sci-fi heads and general film lovers alike. I, for one, am still surprised, even though better judgment kept warning me that the film wasn’t going to live up to those early trailers. Live and learn, I suppose. Wasn’t the first time that unfairly heightened expectations weren’t met, and certainly won’t be the last (Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is closing in on such a detriment).

The Terminator films that came directly from the mind of the great James Cameron, however, will undoubtedly bust away from Salvation director McG’s wreckage unscathed. I gave 1984’s seminal The Terminator another spin last night, and something unexpected happened: in the wake of Terminator Salvation, the original actually plays better than ever before. The action is taut, the air of menace is suffocating. The Governator gives his most believably intimidating performance ever, and composer Brad Fiedel’s score still sends chills down the spinal cord.

After the jump, you’ll find the guns-blazing scene in the club Tech Noir, one of the flick’s many crowd-pleasers.

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Gaspar Noe’s ENTER THE VOID shaping up to be the colossal mindfuck that I’m hoping for

Those bastards who were lucky enough to be out in Cannes last week got to see yet another new film that I’m hankering to scope: Gaspar Noe’s Enter the Void. If his name doesn’t register, we must remedy that. Gaspar Noe is by far one of the most fearless and innovative filmmakers working today, a French guy packing one seriously left-thinking, limit-pushing mind. I’ve yet to see his debut, 1991’s Carne, but his two subsequent flicks are both wonderfully unique. 1998’s I Stand Alone brings an already-fucked-up character study into an interactive dungeon with a late-game “warning” to viewers that shit is about to derail off the deep end, and it sure does. And then there’s 2002’s peerless Irreverisible, an emotional and sensory whiplash that does the “backwards narrative” approach even better than Memento.

With Enter the Void, his first film in seven years, it seems that Noe has really outdone himself, at least in the sense that he’s undeniably made a film unlike anything else in the market. The reviews from Cannes are unsurprisingly mixed, but all point out how forward-thinking and important the film is, despite a grueling time-length and an overall endurance test that may only work on avid cinema buffs.

Which is why I’d have sex with Mo’nique tonight, without any pre-bedroom liquor sipping, to see Enter the Void tomorrow night. [Reviews and more after the jump]

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THE DESCENT 2 trailer = deja vu of the good variety

One hell of a poster

There’s no greater compliment that I could pay to Neil Marshall’s 2005 horror gem The Descent than this…..Even though many of the film’s death scenes and narrative beats were spoiled for me minutes before the opening scene began, I was still mesmerized and shocked by where Marshall took things. As if the folks at Fangoria hadn’t almost sabotaged my enjoyment of the film by showing a “making of” documentary before the movie itself, an access-granted-short that included behind the scenes look at the deaths of two characters. How enormously brainless could you be? Sure, it was a free advanced screening and all, so I shouldn’t complain, but come on!

That was four years ago, though, and I’ve gotten over it. Best part of all, The Descent has yet to lose any of its watchable mojo. Still as great now as it was then, one of the most claustrophobic and paralyzing movies you could find, and I’m just talking about what happens before those humanoid bastards show up and really kick things into high-horror gear.

My favorite scene

As with any good horror film, there’s an inevitable sequel on the horizon: The Descent 2, produced by Marshall and directed by the original’s editor, Jon Harris. Written by James Watkins, the man behind last year’s all-around-solid Eden Lake. An extended trailer for The Descent 2 made its way online a couple of months back, with it came an overpowering sense of been here, seen this. As in, back when it was called The Descent.

Doesn’t mean that it looks bad; just a bit unnecessary and redundant. Especially when its two lead actresses are the original’s Shauna Macdonald and Natalie Mendoza, the latter who was clearly humanoid food at the OG’s end. Suspect, no question; however, I’m still excited. The Descent 2 screened out in Cannes last week, so I felt it appropriate to present the trailer here, now. Enjoy: [Trailer after the jump]

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