A new Between Two Ferns is always cause for celebration, and this latest installment is among the best.  It begins like most Between Two Ferns: Zach Galifianakis makes deadpan insults towards his guest (in this case James Franco), but then it turns into the music video for the new Lonely Island single, “Spring Break Anthem”, which is appropriately in the style of Spring Breakers but also supports gay marriage.  And because The Lonely Island–which is comprised of Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg–likes to embrace the random, Edward Norton co-stars in this excellent sketch/music video.

Hit the jump to check out the music video.  The Lonely Island’s new album, The Wack Album, will be released on June 11th.

New Line has picked up the action-comedy pitch Spy Guys.  Jorma Taccone (MacGruber) is attached to direct from a script by Adam Sztykiel (Due Date).  The story centers on a framed CIA agent who becomes an enemy of the state while attending a friend’s European wedding.  The spy reveals his undercover identity to his civilian friends, and they go on the run to clear his name.  That’s a solid premise, and it is encouraging that the skewed mind behind MacGruber is in charge.  Plus it is nice to see Taccone get a second chance after his feature directorial debut failed to gross even $10 million worldwide in 2010.

Heat Vision reports that Taccone’s Lonely Island collaborators Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer will produce along with John Rickard (Horrible Bosses).

As you’re likely aware, the 2012 Summer Olympics kicked off in London yesterday. In other words, it’s time for me to care about competitive swimming and gymnastics for the first time since the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. To all of our readers, especially those internationally-based, I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on the Summer Olympics. Is it an event that evokes your inner-patriotism and love of otherwise obscure athletic feats? Do you take great joy in defeating the ol’ U.S. of A. in something other than Math and Science scores? Sound off in the comments.

This Saturday brings us the Man of Steel teaser trailer set to John Williams‘ original Superman score, coverage from our visit to the set of Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis‘ The Campaign, an extended trailer and first official images from Cloud Atlas, interviews with the fellas of The Watch, and Brendan’s latest By the Numbers installment covering The Caped Crusader from Batman: The Movie to The Dark Knight Rises. Unless you’re a Top 5 noob (in which case, welcome aboard!), you know that a brief recap and link to each can be found after the jump.

“Let’s keep it 1950s, kids,” Vince Vaughn‘s character says to his teenage daughter and her prom date in Akiva Schaffer‘s The Watch.  That sentiment could be applied to the film’s cherished values, and the characters’ drive to protect the most boring of places: the suburbs.  The suburbs are where white flew after African-Americans began moving into the cities, and now it’s a safe haven where nothing happens or will ever happen.  The paradox of The Watch is in seeing the heroes (played by Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade) go on a comic adventure to keep the status quo.  But in the dull trappings of Schaffer’s bland direction, Stiller’s killjoy character, and Ayoade’s wasted talented, there’s no comedy or thrills to be found.  It’s a movie where rocking the suburbs won’t wake the neighbors, and only the chemistry between Vaughn and Hill provides any levity to the tame R-rated comedy.

Opening this weekend is director Akiva Schaffer’s (Hot Rod) sci-fi comedy The Watch (previously titled Neighborhood Watch).  The film stars Vince Vaughn,Jonah Hill, Ben Stiller and Richard Ayoadeas a group of neighbors who form a local neighborhood watch group and end up stumbling onto an alien plot to destroy the world.  The film also stars Billy Crudup, Will Forte, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Nicholas Braun.  For more on the film, here’s the latest trailer, a red band trailer, an outtake reel, and all our previous coverage.

The other day I got to sit down with Schaffer for an extended interview.  As a fan of Hot Rod, his digital shorts on SNL, and The Lonely Island, it was one of those interviews that I was really looking forward to.   Thankfully, Schaffer was willing to talk about anything, and during our wide ranging conversation we talked about how The Watch came together, directing such a great cast, deleted scenes, and what will be on the eventual Blu-ray.  In addition, I asked why the Hot Rod Blu-ray is out of print, if the digital shorts will continue now that Andy Samberg has left SNL, and whether The Lonely Island will ever tour or do any sort of concert.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

A new red-band trailer/outtake reel for The Watch has gone online.  For those unfamiliar with the film, it follows a neighborhood watch gang who stumble upon plans for an alien invasion.  There are some regular clips that have appeared in other trailers, and then the outtakes are more like alternate takes that are followed by the actors cracking up at their shenanigans.  I’ll have my review online tomorrow, but I’ll say now that if you want to avoid spoiling some of the jokes for yourself, maybe hold off on watching this until after you’ve seen the movie.

Hit the jump to check out the red-band trailer/outtake reel.  The film stars Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade.  The Watch opens Friday.

It almost seemed like Fox had forgotten about Akiva Schaffer‘s comedy The Watch (it received the blandest poster of the year thus far), but with about a month to go until the film’s release, it looks like the marketing is beginning to ramp up.  A new international trailer has gone online, and it’s got some good laughs throughout.  The plot centers on a group of neighborhood watch guys (played by Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade) who stumble upon an alien invasion plot.  Stiller and Vaughn seem to have settled into their standard personas (uptight guy and fast-talking guy, respectively), but I like seeing Hill as a little bit psycho, and it looks like British actor Ayoade (The IT Crowd) has a chance to steal the show in his big American debut.

Hit the jump to check out the international trailer.  The film also stars Rosemarie DeWitt, Will Forte, and Billy Crudup.  The Watch (formerly titled Neighborhood Watch) opens July 27th.

A new trailer for director Akiva Schaffer’s (Hot Rod) sci-fi comedy The Watch (previously titled Neighborhood Watch) has been released.  The film stars Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Ben Stiller and Richard Ayoade as a group of neighbors who form a local neighborhood watch group and end up stumbling onto an alien plot to destroy the world.  This trailer is essentially an all-ages version of the red band trailer that was released a few weeks ago, with a few bits of new footage interspersed throughout; we also get our first look at the aliens.  This trailer has a few laughs, but as we saw with the red band cut the pic is a pretty hard-R so it’s hard to get a gist of the comedy when it’s cleaned up.  That said, I’m really looking forward to seeing this ensemble of great comedic talents play off of each other with the filter taken off.  Moreover, Hot Rod is wonderfully underrated and I’m eager to see Schaffer bring his brand of weird to a big commercial comedy.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Billy Crudup, Will Forte, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Nicholas Braun. The Watch opens July 27th.

With the massive success of Glee, it was only a matter of time before creator Ryan Murphy brought a musical to the big screen.  Deadline reports that Murphy has lined up Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz, Beyonce, and Andy Samberg to star in the musical comedy One Hit Wonders.  Murphy will direct and co-write the script with his Glee co-creators Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan.  The story “centers on three singers (Paltrow, Witherspoon, and Diaz) who each scored a top hit song in the 1990s before watching their careers go down the drain, and then team up to form a super-group.”  Samberg, in addition to co-starring, will reportedly write music for the film with his The Lonely Island partners Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer.

Hit the jump for my thoughts on the project.

We’ve been bringing you a multitude of updates from director/producer Shawn Levy regarding his upcoming projects over the past few days, and today we’ve got some fascinating info on a couple more films in development.  Steve recently sat down for an extended interview with Levy in which he talked about a Real Steel sequel, Frankenstein, Fantastic Voyage and Interns, The Ten Best Days of My Life starring Amy Adams and Home Movies, the animated re-imagining Kong, The Devil You Know and Fancy Nancy, and yesterday we brought you what he had to say about Table 19, Kodachrome, and Mr. Men.

Today we’re sharing what Levy had to say regarding his untitled Hugh Jackman project that’s being written by Lost co-showrunner Carlton Cuse, an adaptation of How to Talk to Girls, Henchman starring Bill Hader, a Deadliest Warrior movie, Neighborhood Watch, and Levy reveals what’s likely to be his next directorial project and discusses the difficulty of getting Frankenstein and Fantastic Voyage into the production stage. Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

Some of Hollywood’s most iconic practically-achieved characters as of late have been brought to life by Doug Jones (Hellboy).  Probably most well known for his portrayal of Abe Sapien in the Hellboy movies, Jones has also played the Silver Surfer in the Fantastic Four sequel, as well as characters in Pan’s Labyrinth, Doom and Men in Black. Jones will next star as a party-crashing alien in Fox’s Neighborhood Watch, the Akiva Schaffer (Hot Rod) directed comedy starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill.

The plot of Neighborhood Watch is about a group of dads who join the watch to escape the pressures of their families, only to stumble upon an intergalactic plot to destroy the world. Hit the jump for more.

The more I hear about Neighborhood Watch, the more I think it’s going to be one of the best films of 2012.  First, it’s being directed by Akiva Schaffer (Hot Rod), who makes up one third of The Lonely Island and is very funny.  Second, it’s loaded with an all-star cast made up of Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Nicholas Braun.  Finally, the R rated script has been completely rewritten by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Pineapple Express), with producer Shaw Levy telling me at the Real Steel press day, “It’s hands-down top three funniest scripts I’ve ever read.”

Hit the jump for more info and quotes on the project.

We have a few bits of casting news to bring your way this afternoon. First up, Shirley MacLaine has signed on to director Sue Kramer’s (Gray Matters) indie The Locals which also has Alan Arkin and Vera Farmiga in talks to join. Per Deadline, The Locals will seek to place the timeless Romeo & Juliet tale in a contemporary setting and will feature a “Jewish/Italian twist.” Kramer penned the script for the film which will be co-produced by her Bella Films moniker alongside Grow Pictures and Curious Pictures. Production on the pic is set to begin in the Bronx this fall.

Next up, Variety reports that Prom‘s Nicholas Braun has been added to director Akiva Schaffer’s (of The Lonely Island and Hot Rod fame) comedy Neighborhood Watch. Braun joins a cast that already includes Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Rosemarie DeWitt. Watch is written by Superbad cohorts Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and centers on a group of neighbors who, in the process of keeping their streets crime free, find themselves in the middle of a larger conspiracy. The film is due out next summer on July 27th. As for Braun, the young actor also nabbed the lead in Fox’s upcoming comedy Gay Dude and can be seen alongside Paul Rudd, Emma Watson and Logan Lerman in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

While nothing is as exciting as hearing the plot synopsis for the planned Arrested Development movie (yeah, I’m a fan), I’ll admit I’m more than a little intrigued by the Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn team-up Neighborhood Watch. The project has long been in development hell, but recently the pieces have been falling into place. The latest bit of news comes courtesy of THR who report that Rosemarie DeWitt has joined the Akiva Schaffer (Hot Rod) directed comedy, and is set to play Stiller’s wife.

The film centers on a group of dads who use a “Neighborhood Watch” group as an excuse to be away from their families. However, things go amiss when they uncover a plot to destroy the world. DeWitt was recently seen on Showtime’s The United States of Tara, and has starred in such films as Rachel Getting Married and The Company Men. The actress has a full slate of projects in production, including the upcoming The Odd Life of Timothy Green.

Vince Vaughn will reunite with Ben Stiller in Akiva Schaffer’s sci-fi comedy Neighborhood Watch.  According to THR, the plot revolves around a group of suburban dads that use a “neighborhood watch” as a cover to get some away-time from their families.  However, the ruse becomes complicated when the group uncovers a plan to destroy the world.  I will start praying that Vaughn and Stiller don’t reprise their roles as Fast-Talking-Wiseguy-Who-Gets-Humiliated and Timid-Neurotic-Guy, respectively.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote the most recent draft of the script.  Vaughn recently signed on to co-star in Lay the Favorite and he’s circling the comedies 2 Guns and Insane Laws.  The actor was recently seen in Ron Howard’s The Dilemma playing Fast-Talking-Wiseguy-Who-Gets-Humiliated.