Jonah Hill may appear to have grown up in Moneyball, and got some intellectual credibility in an adult environment, but he reverts back to the same self-depreciating man-boy role we all know him for in David Gordon Green’s new mainstream comedy, The Sitter. It’s really a half-hearted, mischievous Noughties twist on zany 1980s comedy adventure, A Night on the Town – more commonly known as Adventures in Babysitting, starring Elizabeth Shue, but minus the hot babysitter and the child-friendly fun.

Hill is immature Noah Griffith, a suspended college student fixated on one sexy girl down the road, Marisa (Ari Graynor), who he gives ‘personal favours’ to. Planning to hook up again later that night, Noah begrudgingly agrees to stand in and baby-sit instead, so that his mother can go on a date. Inexperienced and out of his depth, Noah is tasked with looking after the neighbours’ three dysfunctional kids: an anxiety-riddled, pill-popping, closeted son called Slater (Where The Wild Things Are’s Max Records), a potty-mouthed, celebrity-wannabe daughter called Blithe (Landry Bender), and adopted Hispanic son Rodrigo (Kevin Hernandez) who is hell-bent on causing maximum disruption and has an unhealthy interest in cherry bombs. Against the parents’ wishes or knowledge, and with an urgent errand from Marisa, Hill ventures into New York City with the kids to visit drug kingpin Karl (Sam Rockwell). What seems like a fairly straightforward task snowballs into utter chaos, and a few life lessons are learned by all.

Green and writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka never step out of the original 1980s’ mould, delivering the inevitable wild night combination of freaked-out anti-hero babysitter, out-of-control weirdo kids who come to respect their minder, and crazed bad guys on their tail; even the drug explosion incident in the car fails to be fully exploited, sidelined in favour of safer flatulence jokes. However, in true Pineapple Express style, the filmmakers have overloaded the expletives and borderline-offensive racial stereotypes, dished out the serious drugs and turned up the volume, possibly so Hill’s character Noah doesn’t seem as annoying as first thought. That said Hill easily plays within his comfort zone here, dripping with sarcasm and harsh home truths that it merely helps enforce what makes him appealing to fans in such coming-of-age comedies, rather than offers anything new to his CV.

In all honesty, the film’s hit-or-miss first impression all hangs on the opening scene, which gets down to business and firmly establishes this film’s R-rated, frat-boy stance of the Apatow-school ilk. Unlike the original, Green and co aim for the outrageous, rather than the genuinely funny to grab shock laughs; even down to young Blithe’s musical tastes and choice street slang – it’s only funny because it’s a naïve and corrupted kid delivering the adult lines, even though Bender does a commendable job. The real humour is actually in the background and random supporting acts that bolster the whole insanity, especially around Karl’s aerobics lair. Nevertheless, Rockwell is still enjoyable to watch, camping it up with guns blazing, but never giving anything different from the token drug dealers in Pineapple Express and the like.

All of the above absurdity needs to have a purpose, and Hill as Noah is perfectly positioned to be the unwitting messenger and ironically, the voice of reason to coax the kids out of their respective troubles. Green peppers the film with elements of Noah’s unsatisfactory existence, conveniently laying the blame for this screw-up on a parent. Disappointingly, this allows Noah to come out of this virtually unscathed, simply by wearing his heart on his sleeve that leads to the inevitable healing process for him and his charges. It’s lazy, write-by-numbers dramatic comedy that even has nauseating time for picking up a foxy lady. The end result is neither poignant nor clever – unless you’re a confused kid with identity issues, aged 15+, so some good could come from watching this.

**~~~ (2/5)

Jonah Hill is a busy man, and with his a sojourn in 21 Jump Street in our future we sat down with the man to talk about his latest film, The Sitter.

The film has David Gordon Green​ behind the camera whose recent Your Highness wasn’t the success the talent promised and it is hoped that The Sitter is a return to form. Along with Hill the film stars Ari Graynor​, Eddie Rouse, Max Records​, Sam Rockwell & D.W. Moffett.

Here’s a succinct synopsis to tease and intrigue,

A comedy about a college student on suspension who is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him.

The film is with us on the 20th of January, and here is Mr. Hill to talk about it,

Here’s the first poster for Jonah Hill’s new movie, The Sitter which goes down the same sort of line as the red band version of the trailer showing what will happen if you ask him to look after your kids! If you want to see a trailer with the aforementioned things, click here to view the red band version! This movie looks like a 15 or 18 rated version of Adventures in Babysitting​ from back in the 80s and from what we see here, it looks like it could be rather good!

It’s directed by David Gordon Green​ and stars Jonah Hill, Ari Graynor​, Eddie Rouse, Max Records​, Sam Rockwell & D.W. Moffett. It’ll be with us 27th January.

A comedy about a college student on suspension who is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him.

The Sitter is released 27th January.

Source: IMPA

With far less organisms and swear words, here we have the green band trailer for Jonah Hill’s new movie, The Sitter. If you want to see a trailer with the aforementioned things, click here to view the red band version! This movie looks like a 15 or 18 rated version of Adventures in Babysitting from back in the 80s and from what we see here, it looks like it could be rather good!

It’s directed by David Gordon Green and stars Jonah Hill, Ari Graynor, Eddie Rouse, Max Records, Sam Rockwell & D.W. Moffett. It’ll be with us 27th January.

A comedy about a college student on suspension who is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him.

The Sitter is released 27th January.

The title of this post pretty much does what it says on the tin! New movie, The Sitter is in fact, an 18 rated version of 1987 movie Adventures in Babysitting and therefore it looks awesome! Where as AiB starred Elizabeth Shue, this one sees Jonah Hill take the reigns as the babysitter in what has the potential to be a very funny movie!

It’s directed by David Gordon Green and stars Jonah Hill, Ari Graynor, Eddie Rouse, Max Records, Sam Rockwell & D.W. Moffett. It’ll be with us 27th January.

A comedy about a college student on suspension who is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him.

The trailer is introduced by a very slight looking Jonah Hill who has also had a haircut since he made this movie. The intro is as funny as the rest of the trailer so click play and enjoy.

Please remember, this is a Red band trailer for a reason and is NSFW.

Source: IGN

Courtesy of The Playlist [via Rants, Thoughts & Merde] we now have our first look at Jonah Hill in 20th Century Fox’s upcoming comedy film The Sitter.

The Sitter is directed by David Gordon Green (Your Highness) and stars Hill, Sam Rockwell, Ari Graynor, Max Records, Miriam McDonald, Erin Daniels, Kevin Hernandez, Landry Bender, J. B. Smoove and Method Man.

Synopsis: A college student on suspension is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him.

The Sitter will be released in the UK on September 9, 2011.

Bloody-Disgusting posted the teaser trailer for Blinky™ earlier today, and it intrigued me enough to post it here.

Written and directed by Ruairi Robinson, Blinky™, previously titled Bad Robot, stars Max Records (Where the Wild Things Are), Jenni Fontana (TV’s Dollhouse) and James Nardini (TV’s Grey’s Anatomy).

Blinky™ tells the story of a boy (Records) and his robot friend.

Check out the trailer below:

Sam Rockwell has been added to the cast of 20th Century Fox’s The Sitter, TheWrap have confirmed.

Rockwell will star alongside an already stellar cast, which includes Jonah Hill, Ari Graynor, Landry Bender, Max Records, J. B. Smoove and Kevin Hernandez.

David Gordon Green will direct from a screenplay by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka.

The Sitter centers on a college student (Hill) on suspension who is coaxed into babysitting the kids (Records, Hernandez and Bender) next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him.

The Sitter is currently filming in New York and will be released on July 15, 2011.

Max Records (Where the Wild Things Are), Kevin Hernandez (How I Spent My Summer Vacation) and J. B. Smoove (Date Night) have been added to the cast of the 20th Century Fox’s The Sitter.

Records, Hernandez and Smoove will star opposite Jonah Hill, Ari Graynor and newcomer Landry Bender in the forthcoming comedy project to be directed by David Gordon Green.

The Sitter centers on a college student (Hill) on suspension who is coaxed into babysitting the kids (Records, Hernandez and Bender) next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him.

The Sitter is currently filming in New York and will be released on July 15, 2011.

TheWrap reported this one.

We loved Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are and it found its way easily onto my top three films of last year.

Jonze was able to create a perfect Wild Things world, and made one of the finest fantasy films in recent years. I’ve been waiting to enjoy this one again and the DVD and Blu-ray will be out on the 10th of May here in the UK.

Though it seemed to pass a lot of people by the balance can now be redressed with our latest competition, in which you could win one of three copies of the film on DVD.

All you have to do to enjoy the wild rumpus is answer the following, very easy, question.

What’s the name of the young boy in the film?

The small print:

• This competition is open to the UK only.
• Only one entry per household will be counted.
• The competition will close Monday 10th May (release date) at 23.59 GMT.
• The winners will be picked at random from entries received.

The usual T&Cs can be found here.

Competition now Closed

In bringing one of the most beloved children’s book of recent times to the screen Spike Jonze had only one objective in mind: to be faithful to the spirit of Maurice Sendak’s seminal work, and this love for the crazed, childlike escapism of the source material is powerfully bought to the screen.

Adapting Where the Wild Things Are, writer Dave Eggers and director Jonze have channeled their inner child to expand the world of the Wild Things to a glorious and complete experience; it is a sublime fantasy that captures the euphoria and violence of a pure and confused mind. When Max goes wild we follow with an enthusiasm and enjoyment rarely seen in what is essentially a cinematic tone poem. It has the sleepy, illusory feeling of reading your child a story very late at night when rational boundaries are at their weakest and dream and nightmares mix with the waking eye.

There’s an excellent chance you already know the story, in fact this is one of the very rare occasions when you can read the source material twice on your way to the cinema, but for the uninitiated Where the Wild Things Are is the story of one night when a rowdy child retreats to his room and goes on a journey to the island of the Wild Things, a group of ferocious yet friendly creatures who make Max their king and have a wild time. It is a deceptively simple story which has charmed generations and the film remains entirely faithful to Maurice Sendak’s work, yet expands on it without ever deviating from its heart.

Max Records plays Max, a boy with a youthful blend of inquisitive introspection and barely contained wildness, and does a wonderful job of evoking a range of emotions and energy that carries the film with a naturalness that only the close relationship with director Jonze can explain. When the behind the scenes featurettes revealed Jonze jumping, screaming and running amok with Max the enjoyment shared was palpable and has made it into every frame of the finished film.

Records is a wonderful presence and carries the film on his shoulders, and it is his enthusaism that draws us into the world, and in one key moment (when Max declares the Wild Rumpus to start) Max and the creatures dash through the forests to the beach beyond, smashing trees and throwing themselves through the air, and I had a huge smile on my face the whole time. It was the feeling of sudden, violent freedom, and the film has many of these moments.

The film is bookended with scenes in Max’s family home and are more than perfunctory and expository framing for a tall tale in a wild wood, and Max’s real world is given just as much significance. Jonze keeps the camera close to Max at all times, and his intrigue and isolation is prominent, and this sets up the journey Max takes very powerfully. Not a frame is wasted, and though the pace of the real world is slow it is also measured to contrast with the rough and tumble nature of the world of the Wild Things.

The final ten minutes is without dialogue and takes Max back from the island to his return home and his grateful mother, and is imbued with more emotion than almost anything else I’ve seen this year, and what makes it so special is the camerawork Jonze employs, with its lingering close ups and the final few shots of Max and his mother conveying a world of emotion with the bare minimum of movement.

The cinematography is perfect for the fractured streams of consciousness that the film relies on. The camera is rarely static, unless a particular effect is called for; when Max takes the boat across the unknown sea the camera is fixed behind him as he watches his home recede into the distance beneath the ocean of stars above and this is a lovely contrast to the energetic handheld feel of the scenes on the island.

It is a necessary device to keep the playful momentum of the film alive, it is the fragmented pacing that allows the games Max plays with the Wild Things to have such resonance with our inner child. Games as children were played with bursts of sudden, random energy, with the adult constraints of time-scales and consequences never considered and Jonze somehow taps into this fluidity and erratic nature with imagination and a tangible understanding of what it means to unleash the childish nature inherent to us all.

Jonze and Eggers delight in the child-like logic and love for ideas as seen through the eyes of a child (such as the notion that one day the Sun will die). The back and forth between Max and the Wild Things is a masterclass in writing for children and never resorting to infantile baby talk. It is a powerful tool which helps the film immeasurably, even in its language the world of the Wild Things is complete.

Some of the most intriguing elements of the film were revealed early on in trailers and footage which made its way onto the eager internet, and one of the key questions raised was how the Wild Things would look on screen. Would Jim Henson’s creatures look like people in suits, with crude Labyrinth-ine animatronic faces and the answer is yes and no, but let me say that everything Jonze and his amazing effects team do with the Wild Things is an unequivocal triumph.

Specifically the Wild Things look stunning, and the people in suit syndrome is perfect for the film – each casual sway and rambunctious movement suits the film’s aesthetic in a way that seems entirely natural to the world. You forget you are watching constructed creatures; they are characters and much of the work is down to the voice actors and scriptwriters, but the athleticism of the character operators is sublime, and each Wild Thing is its own personality – a perfect fusion of script, visual and practical effects.

Jonze is to be congratulated for conveying with grace and boundless vitality the essence of what it is to be a child, with the confusion and confluence of emotions colliding with the boundaries of the adult world. In the world of the Wild Things Max’s invention and dynamism has real results and if you were to complain about the formlessness of actual plot then you would miss the point, it is like complaining about the chill in the air while you watch a meteor shower.

Where the Wild Things Are is a unique vision, replete with amazing performances, a stunning soundtrack from Karen O. and Carter Burwell, and a powerful, evocative central performance. It remains faithful to the book, capturing the spirit and creating a film like no other I’ve seen in a long time, and I felt like a child once more.

Where the Wild Things Are is out in the UK on the 11th of December and you can hear from the filmmakers here.

Yesterday, Jon was lucky enough to see Where the Wild Things Are. His review is here, and to whet your appetite our friend James Kleinmann has been lucky enough to catch up with the cast and director, Spike Jonze and collected these great audio interviews.

James also interviewed with the child star of the movie with the coolest name in the world, Max Records and Producer, Vincent Landay about what it was that he admired about Spike Jonze’s vision to create this movie.

Where the Wild Things Are is released nationwide December 11th. Check out the interviews below.

[gplayer href="http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/audio/where_the_wild_things_are/landauandrecords_mono.mp3"] Max Records and Vincent Landay: [/gplayer]

[gplayer href="http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/audio/where_the_wild_things_are/jonze_mono2.mp3"] Interview with Spike Jonze: [/gplayer]

A new featurette from behind the scenes of the eagerly anticipated movie Where The Wild Things Are has just been released. The featurette follows the relationship between the film’s director Spike Jonze and the 9 year old lead, Max Records.

In the clip are examples of how close the two are, how Spike managed to get the best performances from Max (via impromptu light sabre fights, hiring a circus troupe et al) and what we can expect from the film when it is released.