Remember Mike Birbiglia, the sort of-funny Georgetown alum and stand-up comedian who performs every year at NSO? Well, according to the Hollywood Reporter, CBS, home of lots of sort of-funny things, has greenlighted his sitcom for the fall. Called Mike Birbiglia’s Secret Public Journal, it will be based on, yes, Mr. Big’s “secret public journal”, which is actually just the name of his blog. A quick perusal of recent entries finds it a bit lacking; on the other hand, the pitch for Seinfeld probably didn’t sound much better than “a stand-up comedian who lives with his girlfriend in Brooklyn and struggles in his efforts to be a grown up, have a relationship and do the right things.” Here’s hoping they change the name to just Birbiglia, as in: “Hey man, what’d you do last night?” “Oh, y’know, just stayed home and watched Birbiglia”.
Only time will tell whether this show will meet with success to rival the critical acclaim of fellow Georgetown alum Mitch Hurwitz’s Arrested Development, or if, also like Arrested Development, it will be a commercial failure. Or maybe even both.
Look, I love Freaks and Geeks. Love it really hard. And I liked a lot of the early Judd Apatow movies (Ron Burgundy!), and I’m in the facebook group avowing that “The Closest Anyone’s Been to Seeing God is Watching Superbad.” So I believe in Apatow. But…Walk Hard was no good, and, alas, the trailers for the four (four!) movies he’s producing in 2008 look, well…underwhelming. When the best thing in all of them is the song choice (which, in fairness, are excellent), we have some problems.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Here are some things I know I like—Jason Segel, of both Freaks and Geeks and How I Met Your Mother (which is really funny and I don’t know why you don’t watch it), and Kristen Bell, of Veronica Mars. But this movie, which stars both of them, looks really, well, typical, more than anything else. I did laugh out loud at the “Kind of, now…” line, and the crab-like Aldous Snow looks pretty funny, but…there’s like four pratfalls in just a 3 minute trailer, Jonah Hill I am waaay over, and even Paul Rudd isn’t funny. Jason Segel’s can still be pretty great—see, the “what, me?” grin in the last shot—but the snarky, supertalented Kristen Bell gets relegated to playing another boring, shrieky Apatow woman, and there’s something even nudity can’t fix.
The Voice’s Oscar-obsessed Shira Hecht will be live blogging the 80th Academy Awards tonight, so check back at 8 p.m. when the red carpet is rolled out and the fun can begin.
This is the edition wherein we showcase upcoming movies where the, or a, main star seems to be a questionable, surprising or downright bizarre casting choice. It could pay off! Or it could not! We’ll just have to wait and see…
In Bruges
Colin Farrell, who, as far as I could tell, had disappeared off the face of the earth after all the drinking and the starlet-bedding, is in no less than THREE new movies in the upcoming months—Woody Allen-goes-dark Cassandra’s Dream, another corrupt brother cop movie called Pride and Glory, and this, In Bruges, written and directed by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, who writes very violent, prize-winning plays of angry men. With its Carnivale-esque fonts and bouncy ethnic “We’re gangsters but we’re funny!” music, it actually looks…kind of good? The opening moment is pretty well done and chilling, the concept is a solid, if common, one, and is it just me or is Colin actually totally funny? His line about why Bruges doesn’t impress him is pretty perfect, and all his little scowls are both cute and kind of really amusing. In Bruges is currently buzzing away at Sundance, and well, I”m pretty excited. Welcome back, Colin.
In Bruges comes out in limited release on February 5. (more…)
Ah, fantasy epic! The books are actually a lot more innovative and, y’know, plotty, than this mash of things blowing up would seem. I think it’s still going to be OK, mainly because the casting is just so perfect. Nicole Kidman in gold is the scariest thing ever, Daniel Craig and Eva Green get to be stunningly gorgeous and good, Ian McKellan, in his butchest role yet, as the voice of an armored polar bear, and Sam Waterson as the Cowboy, er, Scoutperson thing!
No mention of the whole “God and the Church is evil” thing, but maybe they didn’t have time for it, what with all the snow and the sparkly and the heavy handed titles. Still, when Dakota Blue (they clearly cast her because her name is so awesome) yells, “I’ll never be yours!”, I’ve got chills. I think they know what they’re doing.
After the jump, Sarah Michelle Gellar and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir:
Vox Populi is the staff blog of the Georgetown Voice, Georgetown University's preeminent newsmagazine since 1969. The opinions expressed in Vox Populi are those of their authors unless specifically stated.
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