Paramount have released this new commercial / trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen’s new movie, The Dictator which is set to hit the UK 18th May. It has an amazing cast which included Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, Jason Mantzoukas, Anna Faris, Fred Melamed, Rock Kohli, Megan Fox and John C. Reilly but after watching the previous trailer and this new TV spot, it seems to have one of the most risque scripts that we’ve seen from Cohen. The man is used to being sued and causing controversy however so I guess he’s not too worried.

This new clip comes courtesy of The Sun who have debuted the ad ahead of the Super Bowl this Sunday night.

The sound of those rapid-fire, squeaky voices are enough to send some grown-ups running for the hills. Others will take a deep breath and prepare for the super-cute onslaught at the cinema – there has been a two-year respite after all. But once you’ve tuned into the inane Chipmunk banter, film three in the series, Chipwrecked, still manages to charm while thrilling the kids, what with its intrepid little adventurers and energetic musical numbers.

This time, Alvin (Justin Long on helium) and his band, The Chipmunks, including smart Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler) and gullible Theodore (Jesse McCartney), are on their way to some music awards with the Chipettes – Eleanor (Amy Poehler), Jeanette (Anna Faris) and Brittany (Christina Applegate). They travel overseas via cruise ship with their weary guardian Dave (Jason Lee), and although have been warned numerous times to behave, end up accidentally going overboard and getting marooned in a tropical paradise. But the island isn’t as deserted as it seems…

Squarely aimed at the U market, watching the on-deck antics of The Chipmunks, the Chipettes and mentor Dave is very much like watching an extended children’s TV episode about the trials and tribulations of family vacationing, with very tame goofs and pranks – usually involving the haphazard Dave – from a seasonal pantomime. The narrative is straightforward, as are the set-piece setups for kids to see the punch line coming a mile off coast. Once ‘chipwrecked’, there’s precious little that goes on, on the desert island that you wouldn’t want to leave behind, to be honest, but mischievous Alvin – however irritatingly over enthusiastic – still manages to coax a giggle out of you. There is also a nice role reversal between Alvin and Simon that keeps things interesting.

In fact, it’s Simon’s adventure this time that gets the biggest laughs from the kids when he turns all Franglais on us (with the help of Alan Tudyk’s brilliant vocal skills), allowing Alvin to learn a few life lessons in his coming-of-age experience, and for comedy director Mike Mitchell and team to open up the naughty squirrels’ shenanigans and feature other members of the cast in the limelight.

Mitchell’s writing team’s rather odd ode to Tom Hanks’s film Cast Away feels somewhat mismatched and remotely dark for a kiddies’ film, but does create the film’s anti-villain who isn’t at all scary, actually – just plain bonkers, allowing the Chipmunks to go on an Indiana Jones-style rescue through the jungle undergrowth. For adults, there is the added glee of watching the whole cast – and ex-manager Ian – marooned (finally), far away from civilisation and doing harm to reassess their actions on all of us.

The infectious and lively musical numbers will have you toe-tapping your way throughout, too, which are basically high-pitched, often a capella versions of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Pink and Willow Smith’s hits. Indeed, the phrase, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” certainly rings true as your senses are flooded with the Chipmunk drug. The ending is naturally an excuse for another grand musical Glee-style finale so there are no great surprises, and you are well and truly under the spell by then anyway to really care.

Some might argue about how ‘harmless’ a Chipmunk film is on the impressionable young mind, but this adventure takes the cast away from their natural habitat of previous films and shakes things up for anything to happen and some important rules to be learnt. Plus with its catchy musical interpretations, Chipwrecked has to be the best Chipmunk film so far for the uninitiated to be exposed to, offering wholesome family entertainment and a welcome glimpse of the sun, sea and sand on these chilling winter days.

***~~ (3/5)

We got the brilliant first trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator yesterday, which immediately set up the controversy by opening the trailer with footage of a speech from Obama, and promised that fans of his earlier films can sleep safe in the assurance that this is going to be a lot of fun too.

Following on from that, we’ve now got the film’s first poster to share with you, via IMP Awards, in which Baron Cohen has posed for his immortalising portrait, whilst still wearing his green sunglasses. Brilliant.

The film reunites the leading man with Larry Charles, the director of Borat and Brüno, with a script coming from Baron Cohen and former Seinfeld writers Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer, all of whom have since been writing Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which Charles is executive producer and frequent director.

Alongside Baron Cohen will be Sir Ben Kingsley, Anna Faris, Megan Fox, John C. Reilly, and J.B. Smoove. Fox and Reilly both looked brilliant in the first trailer, and I think it was such a good move to keep Faris, the film’s female lead, out of our first look at the film yesterday.

I think a lot of trailers spoil the movie in some ways by putting in all the best bits, so when you go into a movie, you’ve seen most of what’s good about it already. With this, though, Faris being entirely absent from the trailer means we’ve still got a lot to look forward to that we’ve not yet seen anything of, and that is awesome in my books.

The Dictator is coming to our screens on 18^th May next year, which is a date I’m looking forward to even more now that we’ve seen the trailer. Couple it up with this new poster, and I think Baron Cohen and Charles have another success on their hands. As usual, click to enlarge.

Here we have our first look at Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest The Dictator and it’s not a subtle affair.

Following on from the wild and untamed successes of Borat and Bruno, not to mention a couple of supporting roles for Tim Burton and Martin Scorsese in the meanwhile,  this film reunites the actor with director Larry Charles and looks like a return to the character-fuelled outrage we’ve come to expect.

Lining up in support are his Hugo co-star Sir Ben Kingsley, Megan Fox, Anna Faris and John C. Reilly.

The trailer has Fox selling herself, a throwaway reference to a Kardashian and the usual conversative-baiting. It feels like more of the same, but it’ll be interesting to see Sacha Baron Cohen parading his latest creation alongside the assembled supporting cast, who may tame the bearded beast.

Moviefone have debuted the trailer, check out the man and his beard below,

Don’t deny it, we can all relate to those raunchy magazine columns about weight, exercise and even romance. We make promises to ourselves to eat differently, exercise more, and look out for that “special someone,” but how many of us really stick to our plan?  Ally Darling, played by Anna Farris in “What’s Your Number?” goes above and beyond to stick to her guns.  After being denied a date to her sister’s wedding by her current “boyfriend” and being let go by her perverted boss, her day couldn’t seem to get any worse.  With her box of office paraphernalia on her lap, she mindlessly flips through a magazine coming across a mind-boggling fact. “In America, 96% of woman who have been with 20 or more lovers can’t find a husband.”  Shocked by this realization, she immediately starts to tally all those relationships and one-night stands, or “moments of weakness.” (As I’m sure you are doing right this moment!)  After tallying her number, she comes to realize she has maxed out at 19! The next one “who vacations at Casa Esperanza” as she puts it, has to be THE ONE! A night of partying and fun with her sister’s wedding party pushes her over the top, or more like into bed, with Mr. 20 himself.  With her number at 20, Ally finds a way to hold onto her chance at marriage by convincing herself that Mr. Right must have slipped through her fingers.   All she has to do is revisit her past lovers and find the new and improved version of her rejects.

Ally tries her hand at detective work researching via the World Wide Web and comes up empty handed with over 8 million Google hits on one name alone.  Her new ploy seems to be failing until her worry free next door neighbor, Colin, played by Chris Evans, comes stumbling across the hall looking for a little help himself.  It seems like everyday she finds him out in the hall, naked and poorly concealed, (Which is just fine for all the ladies out there!) painfully waiting for his woman friends to leave every morning.  According to Ally this “Playboy” she has living next door is all that is wrong in the world.  With her options dwindling, Ally makes a deal with Colin exchanging full use of her apartment as a hideout after he leaves his dates in the morning, for his extensive help hunting down all of her Exes.

Throughout Colin’s research, he uncovers a past that Ally would have much rather forgotten including a rather slender version of her obese ex, now engaged, a bartending magician who still has a knack for finding coins behind women’s ears, and a gynecologist who can’t recognize faces as well as he can recognize other parts of the body.  In the beginning of their research, Colin sees Ally as nothing but a challenge that refuses to sleep with him, while she is only using him for information.  As the search for the exes becomes more intensive, Ally and Colin end up spending more and more time with one another, unexpectedly learning more about each other in the process.  Their unanticipated friendship is solidified when Colin agrees to going to Ally’s sister’s wedding with her.  Colin’s revolving door lifestyle continues across the hall as Ally continues to go on one unsuccessful date after another. Enjoying his carefree lifestyle, Colin can’t seem to keep Ally off his mind, while Ally can’t seem to enjoy herself because of the same problem.  After spending day after day together their unlikely friendship begins to evolve. Fate takes a turn when Ally decides that maybe numbers don’t matter after all and life is meant to be lived, not restricted.  Taking control of her life, Ally allows herself to explore her feelings for Colin and be happy once again.  Just like in most relationships, Ally and Colin encounter their ups and downs.  Without giving away too much of the story… there are lies told, hair set on fire, bad timing and some awful singing!

Overall, “What’s Your Number?” is a “boy meets girl, girl hates boy, then girl likes boy (surprise, surprise), girl and boy fall in love” kinda story with a little twist involving the past.  Although the past often does haunt love stories, it is usually the past inserting itself in the story, not the main character tracking the past down.  Gabrielle Allan and Jennifer Crittenden, the screenwriters of “What’s Your Number?” continually have us guessing what ungodly situation Ally will face next.  Their contemporary style allows the audience to experience the story from both of the main characters’ point of view. As a spectator, you want Ally to find true love, but hate Colin at the same time for solidifying her lack of faith in men.  Meanwhile, you understand Colin’s love for uncomplicated relationships that start and end within the same 24 hours.  It’s practically like you are feeling the stress of a real relationship in your movie seat!  Thanks to Kathleen Chopin’s brilliant casting, you can live out the complications of a relationship picturing yourself as the gorgeous and down to earth Anna Farris or the hunky, boy next door, Chris Evans.  And with appearances of vegan Zachary Quinto, perverted Joel McHale, disgusting Chris Pratt, proper Martin Freeman, recently out and proud Anthony Mackie, and handsome Dave Annable, you can’t help but look back into your own past and question some of the previous romances you have had!

“What’s Your Number?” is a movie you don’t want to miss if you have ever had the thought…What if?  Mark Mylod, director, catches the insecurity we all face in relationships and are sometimes afraid to admit while playing it over and over in front of our eyes with some help from the brilliant acting onscreen.  If there was ever a role Anna Farris was born to play, it was this one.  She turns every girl’s nightmare of never finding “the one” into pure comedy with a genuine passion and sincere performance onscreen.  Although most of you guys out there will cringe at seeing Chris Evans completely naked with only a bath towel covering the necessary body parts, keeping this movie at an R rating…suck it up!  The girls love it!  Besides the Captain America body, Chris Evans brings it all to the table playing the bad boy who, with the help of Ally, discovers the soft side inside him that wants a woman by his side.  With an upbeat tempo, great sexual chemistry, a contemporary and relatable story, “What’s Your Number?” is a perfect mix of comedy and heart.

***½~ (3.5/5)

Review by Amanda Weber

Over the weekend I was whisked away to magical Santa Monica, Ca to take part in an exclusive roundtable discussion with the two stars of the new romantic comedy “What’s Your Number?”  After our chat with Chris Evans, Anna Farris arrived through the doors in perfect Anna Faris fashion. She was quick to point out that the other room of journalists, across the hall, had an ocean view room.  Immediately it was clear to me that Anna Farris almost perfectly represents most of her characters on film.  She is quirky, charming and honest throughout our conversation.

The film’s premise jumps from a magazine article that Anna’s character, Ally, reads, discussing how 96% of American woman, who have had over 20 sexual partners, never find a husband.  Anna discussed how she was never really allowed to read those types of articles growing up.  She discussed that she liked Ally, as a character, because she’s not your typical Type A career woman. She is sloppy and makes mistakes just like her.  She told us the hilarious story of how she volunteered “her number” to her husband (“Parks and Recreations” Chris Pratt) after only a few dates and how she was hoping he would offer his.  Below is our brief Exclusive Conversation with the Hollywood funny girl herself.

HeyUGuys: You do physical comedy better than anyone else out there.

Anna Faris: [She mimes throwing herself from her chair in] “Wahhh! What do you mean?!” ha ha

HUG: Is that a prerequisite for choosing roles?

AF: Ha Ha, I must fall. No! No! Actually, I don’t like doing it at all. I got stuck doing- ya know with the Scary Movies, I sorta had my training with that. Ever since then people are like “Oh yeah you’re pretty good with physical comedy. We’ll get you to do this, we don’t need a stunt double, we’ll hit you in the head, don’t worry you’re good at it!”

HUG: With you so busy in film and Chris doing “Parks and Rec”, how do you keep yourself grounded and normal?

AF: It’s hard. I think it’s really difficult. We’re both home bodies who grew up in kind of the country in Washington State. So our family is all there and we love, we dream and fantasize about having a farm one day.  I don’t know, I guess we’re kind of lame that way I suppose.  I think it’s because we both enjoy and love acting. We have normal families.  Hopefully when all this disappears, and we are on the farm, we’ll still be happily fulfilled people.

 

To celebrate the hotly anticipated release of What’s Your Number? starring Chris Evans and Anna Faris, in cinemas September 30^th, five lucky winners will win a goodie bag, a signed poster and  and a copyof What’s Your Number? by Karyn Bosnak –  the novel on which the film is based – published by Transworld and available now”

Anna Faris plays “Ally” in this edgy romantic comedy about a woman who reads a magazine article claiming that “women who have had 20 or more partners in their lifetime have a good chance of staying single for life.”  After counting the men in her own life, Ally begins to lose hope of every getting married. Vowing not to exceed her current number, she enlists the help of her handsome neighbour (Chris Evans) and becomes obsessed with tracking down her old boyfriends to see if she may have missed “the one.”

What’s Your Number? is released in UK cinemas SEPTEMBER 30^TH

For more information on What’s Your Number?  visit:  http://www.facebook.com/WhatsYourNumberUK

For your chance of winning this amazing prize, answer this simple question using the form below:

Name the actress who plays Ally in What’s Your Number?

1. Anna Faris
2. Anne Hathaway
3. Julia Roberts

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 10th October at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

© 2011 Twentieth Century Fox

This past weekend I was able to attend the world premiere red carpet event for the new romantic comedy “What’s Your Number?” The film stars Chris Evans and Anna Faris. Monday night I was able to interview a few members of the cast including Heather Burns, Kate Simses, Farris and the screenwriters Gabrielle Allan and Jennifer Crittenden.  We will be posting a more in-depth conversation next week with Evans and Farris from our roundtable conversation, so be on the look out for those.  Until then, enjoy a look from the red carpet of “What’s Your Number?” opening in the US and UK September 30th, 2011.

To mark the release of Take me Home Tonight on DVD and Blu-ray 12th September, Universal Home Entertainment have given us three copies of the movie to give away on DVD. Take Me Home Tonight is directed by Michael Dowse and stars Anna Faris, Topher Grace, Teresa Palmer, Michael Biehn and Michelle Trachtenberg.

Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) has recently graduated from MIT but instead of becoming the successful engineer that his father wishes him to be, he finds himself aimlessly stacking shelves in his local video store.  When his high school crush Tori (Teresa Palmer) unexpectedly drops by the store one day, Matt gets the courage to strike up a conversation and finds himself compulsively lying about having a job at Goldman Sachs in a bid to impress her.

To be in with a chance of winning the movie on DVD simply answer the following question using the form below:

Who plays the character Matt Franklin ion the movie, Take me Home Tonight?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 19th September at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Take Me Home Tonight which is directed by Michael Dowse and stars Anna Faris, Topher Grace, Teresa Palmer, Michael Biehn and Michelle Trachtenberg.

Chris Evans may be gearing up to become a mega star after Captain America: The First Avenger comes out next week but hot on its heels is his other movie, What’s Your Number? which hits UK and US cinemas 30th September.

What’s Your Number also stars Anna Faris, Zachary Quinto, Andy Samberg, Ari Graynor, Martin Freeman and is directed by  Mark Mylod. Have a watch of the trailer below and see if you can guess the ending!

Anna Faris plays “Ally” in this edgy romantic comedy about a woman who reads a magazine article claiming that “women who have had 20 or more partners in their lifetime have a good chance of staying single for life.”  After counting the men in her own life, Ally begins to lose hope of every getting married. Vowing not to exceed her current number, she enlists the help of her handsome neighbour (Chris Evans) and becomes obsessed with tracking down her old boyfriends to see if she may have missed “the one.”

Megan Fox and John C. Reilly will both be taking cameo roles in Sacha Baron Cohen’s next venture, The Dictator, which is to star Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, and Sir Ben Kingsley, THR report.

The film is being directed by Larry Charles, who’s been working with Baron Cohen for the past few years, and also helmed 2006’s Borat and 2009’s Brüno with Baron Cohen of course playing the titular roles in both.

Fox and Reilly’s roles are being kept under wraps for the time being, but no doubt they’ll both be brilliant additions to what sounds like another hilarious and controversial Baron Cohen film. Following the success of his past two films, the actor decided to retire the characters because of their increased recognisability, and he’s now moved onto this project, which will tell,

“the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.”

You can already feel the controversy. Add to that the fact that it’s a loose adaptation of the novel, Zabibah and the King, widely believed to have been written by Saddam Hussein, and it’s pretty much a sure thing that the film is going to be simultaneously criticised and hailed among critics and fans.

Reilly needs no introduction as an actor who can play both very serious and very funny roles, starring as Officer Jim Kurring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia back in 1999, and starring opposite Will Ferrell in Step Brothers three years ago. He’ll also be playing the role of the father, Franklin, in the upcoming adaptation of bestselling novel, We Need To Talk About Kevin, due out on 21st October this year, and which is already being tipped as a contender for next year’s Academy Awards.

After leaving the role of Mikaela in the Transformers franchise, the projects Fox has most recently joined are both comedies, Friends With Kids and Judd Apatow’s next feature, This Is Forty. Both films are due out next year, along with The Dictator, so 2012 is set to be a year we see something a little different from Fox, being cast in funnier roles.

The Dictator has been scripted by Baron Cohen and former Seinfeld writers Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer, all of whom have been writing for the brilliant Curb Your Enthusiasm since then, and Schaffer was also part of the writing team for Brüno two years ago. With such excellent writers, a brilliant director, and an ingenious lead actor with excellent supports, and now great cameo roles confirmed, its release next year on 11^th May is shaping up to be something to look forward to.

What is it about the 80s that provokes such unwavering nostalgia? With Hollywood throwing back with films such as The Rocker and Hot Tub Time Machine, there appears to be a perfectly renewable audience for movies that channel boomboxes, Farrah hair and Back to the Future. Forget wind-turbines, if only we could find a way to fuel society with good will for the 1980s.

Take Me Home Tonight panders to the Brat Pack crowd with a two decade old tale of teenage angst and parental disapproval, finding a Apatow-esque parallel in its 80s setting. Topher Grace stars as Matt Franklin, an aimless graduate who spends most of his time behind the counter of a video store. Hiding out of embarrassed from his high-school-crush-turned-successful-banking-intern (Teresa Palmer), Franklin pretends to be employed by Goldman Sachs – a lie which leads to an invitation to the Labor Day reunion party being held by Matt’s sister Wendy’s (Anna Faris) boyfriend. Stealing a car to better fit his fabrication, Matt and Wendy take unemployed friend Barry Nathan (Dan Fogler) along for a night they will likely never forget.

Aside from the odd humorous reference to the planet’s favourite decade – there is a DeLorean parked at the party and the film’s title is a constellation of assorted 80s movie fonts – Take Me Home Tonight has very little to offer. Boasting forgettable performances from all and sundry, the apparent effort put into making the movie is on a par with the nonchalance that encapsulated the film’s practically non-existent marketing campaign. Consequently, the finished film is barely worth the investigation, let alone the price of admission.

Thoroughly content with itself, the script bares little wit and innovation, leaving the film to rely on a central romance that is staid at best. With Grace sleepwalking the role he perfected through seven seasons of That 70′s Show and Anna Faris underperforming even by her own standards, the recent tradition of shoe-horning an overweight scapegoat into proceedings is as insufficient as ever a method of bolstering an otherwise underwhelming cast of characters. Dan Fogler is no Jack Black/Zach Galifanakis/Jonah Hill and his Barry Nathan quickly exhausts his idiotic routine of immature nut-kicking and general abhorrentness.

In true gender equality, the film’s women are as uninteresting as its empty men. Starring alongside Faris are I Am Number Four’s Teresa Palmer – who appears to be as new to smiling as Kristen Stewart – and a blink-and-you’ll-miss it turn from Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Michelle Trachenberg, in all her face-licking glory. As romance gives way to plot contrivance, you could be forgiven for mistaking either for someone else.

As the supporting characters are left to snort cocaine and – in one of the film’s only memorable scene – drool while crying, our young lovers find a nearby trampoline on which to play a tired game of truth or dare and, because it was cute in (500) Days of Summer, play the HILARIOUS penis game. It really is as uninspired as that, with Matt’s lie inevitably coming back to haunt him with timeable precision. Throw in some dubious morality – the grand theft auto goes bafflingly unpunished stupidity is often mistaken for courage – and a jarringly buxom sex-scene and you have Take Me Home Tonight, a by the numbers romantic comedy completely lacking in either romance or comedy.

If you are the type of person who longs to have been alive in the 80s, where you could “do it” on a trampoline and solve all of life’s problems by riding a giant metal ball into a swimming pool, then Take Me Home Tonight is for you. Should you, however, prefer a little more substance with your dated style, perhaps return to the source for your 80s nostalgia – your already extensive DVD collection.

Take me home tonight is out now!

*~~~~ (1/5)

Anna Faris and Sir Ben Kingsley are set to join Academy Award-nominee Sacha Baron Cohen to star in The Dictator, Deadline and Variety are reporting.

The film will see Cohen working again with the Borat and Brüno director, Larry Charles, who is of course also well known for his work on Seinfeld and, more recently, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage.

Given the incredible success of the two earlier Baron Cohen films (Borat took $260m from an $18m. budget, Brüno took $138m. from $42m.), I think it’s a fair prediction to say that The Dictator will be another great outing for the Baron Cohen-Charles team.

The release date is set for 11th May next year, so we have just over a year to wait to see what will undoubtedly be both a shocking and enjoyable film on the big screen. The Dictator has been scripted by Baron Cohen and former Seinfeld writers Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer, all of whom have been working since on the ingenious Curb Your Enthusiasm  alongside Charles, with Schaffer also a part of the Brüno writing team. Knowing that the film has been written by people who clearly work together so well, it certainly sounds like something to look forward to this time next year.

The film will be,

“the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.”

“Baron Cohen plays a ruthless dictator who heads to the U.S. for a meeting at the United Nations and finds that his number two has replaced him with an unsuspecting sheepherder lookalike. As the dictator wanders the city, he meets the owner of an organic food store. That’s the role Faris is negotiating. She turns around his dictatorial thinking, and there’s a little romance in it as well.”

The film is loosely adapted from the novel, Zabibah and the King, which is widely believed to have been written by Saddam Hussein and his ghost-writers, and was a best-seller in Iraq back in 2000.

Faris’ role is said to need a strong improvisational ability, and I think that she’s perfect for it. She was brilliant back in Scary Movie, all those years ago, and instantly made a name for herself. Her arc at the end of Friends a good few years ago was also excellent, along with the few episodes she was in in Entourage.

Kingsley of course is always capable of bringing something amazing to the table. He and Baron Cohen have been working together on Martin Scorsese’s Hugo Cabret, due out early December this year, so the pair will undoubtedly already have a great chemistry.

All in all, The Dictator is shaping up to be one to look forward to next year. With Baron Cohen playing both the dictator and presumably his lookalike too, we can look forward to seeing at least two sides of him in the film, and both should make for great entertainment. With such a great cast and director already confirmed, and a writing team that has already got a great track record, there’s lot of momentum behind the project and talent enough to make it work when it hits the screen.

I’ve loved the marketing campaign behind 80s wannabe movie, Take Me Home Tonight. They’ve done a fantastic job at parodying what we all know and love from the 80s. Below I’ve placed a new TV spot from the movie along with the music video from it. Have a watch of the music video and see how many 80s movies you can spot that they parody in it. It really is fantastic. Add the ones you spot in the comments section below.

Take Me Home Tonight which is directed by Michael Dowse and stars Anna Faris, Topher Grace, Teresa Palmer, Michael Biehn and Michelle Trachtenberg.

Synopsis: As the summer of 1988 winds down, three friends on the verge of adulthood attend an out-of-control party in celebration of their last night of unbridled youth. Starring Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Dan Fogler and Teresa Palmer, Take Me Home Tonight is a raunchy, romantic and ultimately touching blast from the past set to an awesome soundtrack of timeless rock and hip-hop hits. Recent MIT grad Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) should be working for a Fortune 500 company and starting his upward climb to full-fledged yuppie-hood. Instead, the directionless 23-year-old confounds family and friends by taking a part-time job behind the counter of a video store at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. But Matt’s silent protest against maturity comes to a screeching halt once his unrequited high school crush, Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer), walks into the store. When she invites him to an epic, end-of-summer party, Matt thinks he finally might have a chance with the girl of his dreams. With his cynical twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris) and best friend Barry (Dan Fogler), Matt embarks on a once-in-a-lifetime evening. From stealing a car to a marriage proposal to an indescribable, no-holds-barred dance-off, these friends share experiences that will change the course of their lives on one unforgettable night in the Go-Go ’80s.

It’s set for release in the UK on 13th May. The TV spot comes courtesy of ComingSoon and the Music Video from CinemaBlend.

**Read all the posts in our ‘Love Theatrically’ series here**

#2 – “LOST IN TRANSLATION” (2003)

Directed by Sofia Coppola

Sofia Coppola’s second feature, following her sublime 1999 debut feature “The Virgin Suicides”, explores the themes of displacement, dislocation and humanity’s basic need for connection and whilst it uses the alien backdrop of Tokyo to heighten the sense of loneliness the core emotion is one which many of us have surely felt at some point in our lives. That an individual can stand in a crowded room (or in this case a densely populated city) yet still feel entirely alone speaks volumes about mankind’s intrinsic desire to simply connect and how it’s not so much about where we are as who we’re with.

Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is a man in that very predicament, an ageing movie star who is currently in Tokyo to film an advertisement for Suntory whiskey. Arriving by taxi into a neon-lit, high rise wonderland he stares blearily out of the taxi window only to see himself staring straight back on a giant advertisement board. Yet it’s as if the giant image on the distant billboard doesn’t seem quite right, being both comfortingly familiar yet strangely surreal. In the midst of a midlife crisis his wife seems more concerned in constantly faxing him diagrams of shelving units and discussing which colour carpeting he prefers which only goes to further his sense of existential ennui.

Into all of this comes Charlotte (Scarlett Johannson) a young girl who’s accompanying her photographer boyfriend (Giovanni Ribisi) on an assignment to Tokyo yet feels forever sidelined in favour of glamorous celebrities (Anna Faris, allegedly channelling the spirit of Cameron Diaz). Both Bob and Charlotte are lost souls, equally bored and confused, with the young Charlotte still struggling to find her way in life whilst Bob appears to have all but lost his sense of direction. And yet the two of them ultimately desire nothing more than to rediscover true companionship and a chance meeting in the hotel bar soon leads to a intoxicatingly memorable adventure as the two of them explore the city together and form the type of  bond they’d all but given up hope of ever finding.

By far one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen “Lost In Translation” unfolds slowly and may be considered superficial to some yet casts such a bewitching spell upon the audience that surely only the coldest of hearts will remain untouched come the conclusion. Stunningly shot on location Coppola affords Tokyo a character of its own and results in a film in which the location inhabits the characters as much as they inhabit it.

Performance wise Murray walks away with a great deal of the plaudits delivering what could possibly be the finest performance of his career as he effortlessly combines the charm, wit and sophistication of past roles with a perfectly nuanced nonchalance and world weary approach to life that never feels forced. Johansson, meanwhile, provides the perfect counterbalance for Bob bringing with her the youthful folly and vibrant sensuality so lacking in his life.

Further accentuated by the decision to not subtitle any of the foreign languages such impenetrable lyrical madness only heightens the sense of cultural dislocation and strengthens the bond between Bob and Charlotte as the two of them discover a welcome familiarity amidst this alarmingly unfamiliar climate.

Culminating in a truly heartbreaking finale that sees Bob whisper a few choice words in Charlotte’s ear the film ultimately leaves it up to the viewer to decide upon the precise words that were spoken. Yet the emotion contained within that single moment is crystal clear. For amidst the chaos of their daily lives, the confusion and uncertainty, the sadness and regret and the loneliness and alienation that surrounds them they’ve ultimately discovered a truly precious thing. Whilst strictly platonic an undeniable love has formed between them and however transient it may turn out to be it is, nonetheless, sure to resonate with the two of them for the rest of their lives. For as the poster says, “Everyone wants to be found” and sometimes that special someone can turn up in the most unexpected of places and all but turn your world upside down.

A true work of art “Lost In Translation” emerges as much an experience as a straightforward movie and one that exudes such timeless emotions as to leave the viewer wishing only to get lost in it all over again …

“Well you figure, you sleep one-third of your life, that knocks out eight years of marriage right there. So you’re, y’know, down to 16 in change. You know you’re just a teenager, at marriage, you can drive it but there’s still the occasional accident”

Track #13 – “JUST LIKE HONEY”

Written by Jim Reid and William Reid

(Performed by The Jesus and Mary Chain)

Imagine Entertainment and Relativity Media have released the official Super Bowl TV spot for upcoming retro comedy Take Me Home Tonight.

Directed by Michael Dowse, Take Me Home Tonight stars Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Dan Fogler, Teresa Palmer, Michelle Trachtenberg, Chris Pratt, Lucy Punch, Audrina Patridge and Michael Ian Black.

It’s the late 1980s, when Wall Street is riding high, and it seems as if the entire country is cashing in on the bumper profits. Disgusted with the materialism that surrounds him, Matt Franklin, a brilliant young MIT graduate, has walked out on his well-paid position at a local lab and taken a low-level job as a video clerk, much to his father Bill’s consternation. And the crises keep piling up in Matt’s life. His best buddy Barry has just gotten fired from his job, his brainy sister Wendy is getting hitched to her vapid boyfriend Kyle, and the gorgeous Tori Frederking, long-time object of Matt’s unattainable adoration, is suddenly back in the picture. Now, on one wild, woolly and irresponsible evening, everything is coming to a head, with explosive results.

Take Me Home Tonight will be released in the UK on May 13.

Watch the Super Bowl TV spot below and watch all TV spots and trailer from the evening here.

Watch the Super Bowl TV spot below:

Relativity Media & Rogue Pictures have released the new red band trailer (via IGN) for their new movie, Take Me Home Tonight which is directed by Michael Dowse and stars Anna Faris, Topher Grace, Teresa Palmer, Michael Biehn and Michelle Trachtenberg.

Synopsis: As the summer of 1988 winds down, three friends on the verge of adulthood attend an out-of-control party in celebration of their last night of unbridled youth. Starring Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Dan Fogler and Teresa Palmer, Take Me Home Tonight is a raunchy, romantic and ultimately touching blast from the past set to an awesome soundtrack of timeless rock and hip-hop hits. Recent MIT grad Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) should be working for a Fortune 500 company and starting his upward climb to full-fledged yuppie-hood. Instead, the directionless 23-year-old confounds family and friends by taking a part-time job behind the counter of a video store at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. But Matt’s silent protest against maturity comes to a screeching halt once his unrequited high school crush, Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer), walks into the store. When she invites him to an epic, end-of-summer party, Matt thinks he finally might have a chance with the girl of his dreams. With his cynical twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris) and best friend Barry (Dan Fogler), Matt embarks on a once-in-a-lifetime evening. From stealing a car to a marriage proposal to an indescribable, no-holds-barred dance-off, these friends share experiences that will change the course of their lives on one unforgettable night in the Go-Go ’80s.

It’s set for release in the US March 4th and in the UK on 13th May. Check out the new poster and trailer below.

Please note it, contains swearing and some nudity!

To celebrate the release of “Yogi Bear in 3D”, in cinemas February 11^th, Warner Bros. Pictures are offering one lucky winner and four friends the chance to attend the Gala Screening of “Yogi Bear in 3D” at a London West End venue on Sunday, 6th February.

Live-Action/ CG Animated Adventure in 3D. Everyone’s favourite pic-a-nic basket-stealing bear makes his big-screen debut in the 3D family animated adventure “Yogi Bear.” Jellystone Park has been losing business so greedy Mayor Brown decides to shut it down and sell the land. That means families will no longer be able to experience the natural beauty of the outdoors – and, even worse, Yogi, Boo Boo and all their forest friends will be tossed out of the only home they’ve ever known. Faced with his biggest challenge ever, Yogi must prove that he really is “smarter than the average bear” as he and Boo Boo join forces with their old nemesis Ranger Smith to find a way to save Jellystone Park from closing forever

Yogi Bear in 3D is released in UK cinemas 11 February 2011

For more information visit the official UK website for Yogi Bear in 3D.

For your chance of winning this amazing prize, answer this simple question using the form below:

In Yogi Bear, this six-time Grammy Award-winning singer and star of the recent hits The Social Network and Shrek the Third, stars as the voice of Boo Boo, Yogi’s faithful pal and co-conspirator. Name the actor.

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will end on 2nd February a 12.30 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

© 2011 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved

Here’s the brand new poster and trailer for Take Me Home Tonight which is directed by Michael Dowse and stars Anna Faris, Topher Grace, Teresa Palmer, Michael Biehn and Michelle Trachtenberg.

Plot: Follow an aimless college grad who pursues his dream girl at a wild Labor Day weekend party. He, his twin sister and their best friend struggle with their burgeoning adulthood over the course of the night.

It’s set for release in the US March 4th next year but as yet, I haven’t found a UK release date. Check out the new poster and trailer below.

Two days after Dave posted the third (yes, third) trailer for the 3D/CG Yogi Bear comes this new poster and the marketing arm of Warner Bros. have wisely not repeated the so-obvious-it-can’t-be-a-mistake-can-it? double entendre of this poster.

This latest poster visually assaults you with its promise of hyper kinetic fun, though I still have no idea why Yogi’s mouth inhabits the middle of the letter O.

Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake lend their voices to the two bears and there’s real world support from Tom Cavanagh and Anna Farris. If you’re in any doubt whether this one will appeal to you then check out the trailers and form an orderly queue.

IMPA unloaded this onto the waiting internets.