Aziz Ansari

PARKS AND RECREATION Season Three DVD Review

by Ethan Anderton    Posted: October 15th, 2011 at 6:03 am

When the NBC comedy series first started, Parks and Recreation only seemed to be riding on the coattails of The Office with its mockumentary style and somewhat weak start in the first season. However, two season later the show has quickly found its footing, crafted some spectacular characters, fantastic comedy and a series that has actually surpassed the quality of the series it once seemed to simply copy. Aside from previous series regulars like Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman and Aziz Ansari consistently delivering some of the best comedic performances on television, the addition of Adam Scott and Rob Lowe as series regulars also bring some magic to Pawnee, Indiana. For a more in-depth analysis of the third season of Parks and Recreation, hit the jump.

Lucasfilm Launches STAR WARS “Use the Force For Good” Cancer Benefit Video Featuring Emma Stone, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, Zach Galifianakis and More

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: September 15th, 2011 at 8:47 am

Star Wars: The Complete Saga hits Blu-ray tomorrow, which means the Lucasfilm marketing machine is in full swing. While many may be deriding the changes that The Almighty Tinkerer has made this time around, not everything Lucasfilm does is nerd-angering. The studio has launched an initiative to benefit the charity Stand Up to Cancer, and they’ve recruited some big names to help out. The Use the Force For Good intiative has kicked off with a video tribute featuring a number of celebrities reenacting scenes from the series. The clip is actually pretty funny, and includes Aziz Ansari, Zach Galifianakis, Bill Hader, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, Jaime King, Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg, Emma Stone, and of course Samuel L. Jackson.

Hit the jump to watch the video. Unsurprisingly, Hader is the highlight, as his penchant for impressions leads to some fantastically goofy reenactments.

30 MINUTES OR LESS Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 12th, 2011 at 4:44 am

In a summer packed with R-rated comedies, 30 Minutes or Less is the last one out the gate.  It’s not the most emotionally fulfilling (Bridesmaids), it’s not the one that delivers the most laughs (Horrible Bosses), and it’s certainly not the worst (The Hangover Part II).  What 30 Minutes or Less has working for it is that it’s short.  There’s hardly an ounce of fat on it and it races from scene to scene trying to get as many laughs in as possible.  The comic ensemble does a terrific job and while director Ruben Fleischer doesn’t show off the visual flair he demonstrated in Zombieland, he keeps the movie crass, fast, and funny.

Comic-Con 2011: 30 MINUTES OR LESS Panel Recap

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: July 22nd, 2011 at 5:25 pm

As part of Sony’s massive Hall H panel today, we were treated to a presentation of Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer’s new film 30 Minutes or Less.  Moderator Ralph Garman began by bringing out Fleischer, Nick Swardson, Michael Pena, and Aziz Ansari. Fleischer explained that Jesse Eisenberg is currently shooting a Woody Allen movie and Danny McBride is busy with Eastbound and Down. However, McBride treated us to a pre-recorded message that began with the actor stating, “If you are viewing this, the apes have won.” In his gut-busting video he proceeded to call every one of the other actors on the panel assholes.  Hit the jump for my full recap.

Free Tickets to the 30 MINUTES OR LESS Comic-Con Screening Featuring Q&A With Ansari, Swardson, Pena and Fleischer

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: July 18th, 2011 at 3:01 pm

With director Ruben Fleischer’s (Zombieland) 30 Minutes or Less opening August 12, Sony is using this week’s Comic-Con to help promote the very funny film.  Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Dilshad Vadsaria and Michael Pena, the film centers on a pizza delivery guy (Eisenberg) who is kidnapped by two men (McBride and Swardson) and forced to rob a bank at the risk of being blown up.

Anyway, Sony is holding a free screening this Friday night at 8pm and we’ve got tickets to give away to some of our readers.  Since I know no one wants to see a movie by themselves, every person getting tickets will get a +1.  In addition, Ansari, Swardson, Pena and Fleischer will intro the film and then participate in a Q&A following the screening!  Hit the jump for details on how to enter, and you can also watch video messages from Eisenberg and Ansari, as well as McBride and Swardson.

New Posters for FINAL DESTINATION 5, KILLER ELITE, and 30 MINUTES OR LESS

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: June 29th, 2011 at 2:09 pm

New posters have been release for Final Destination 5, Killer Elite, and 30 Minutes or Less.  What’s great about each of these posters?  Final Destination 5: You can’t go wrong with exploding skulls.  Killer Elite: Clive Owen ‘stache.  30 Minutes or Less: Absolutely nothing.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  Final Destination 5 opens August 12th.  Killer Elite opens September 23rd.  30 Minutes or Less opens August 12th.

New Trailer for 30 MINUTES OR LESS

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: June 22nd, 2011 at 11:08 am

A new green band trailer for director Ruben Fleischer’s (Zombieland) comedy 30 Minutes or Less has been released. It’s more or less a clean version of the most recent red band trailer, but it’s still a lot of fun. Everything I’ve seen from this movie so far has been pretty much spot-on. Fleischer’s put together a great cast, and the pairing of Eisenberg and Ansari is fantastic.

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Dilshad Vadsaria and Michael Pena, the film centers on a pizza delivery guy (Eisenberg) who is kidnapped by two men (McBride and Swardson) and forced to rob a bank at the risk of being blown up. Hit the jump to watch the trailer. If you missed it, check out Steve’s set visit report/video blog, in addition to his on-set interviews with Eisenberg, Ansari and Vadsaria, Swardson and McBride, and Fleischer. 30 Minutes or Less hits theaters August 12th.

New Red Band Trailer for 30 MINUTES OR LESS

by Jason Barr    Posted: June 17th, 2011 at 1:57 pm

A new red band trailer for director Ruben Fleischer’s (Zombieland) comedy 30 Minutes or Less is now available online and it rings of nostalgia for the time “you and I worshiped the devil for like two weeks.” Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, and Michael Pena, the film centers on a pizza delivery guy (Eisenberg) who is kidnapped by two men (McBride and Swardson) and forced to rob a bank at the risk of being blown up. Thus far, everything I’ve seen from the film has made me laugh and I can’t wait to check it out in theaters on August 12th. Watch the new restricted trailer after the jump.

First Clip for 30 MINUTES OR LESS

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: June 4th, 2011 at 8:37 am

Columbia has released the first clip for 30 Minutes or Less.  The excerpt focuses on the teacher played by Aziz Ansari, here in his first starring role in a feature.  It captures Ansari’s talent for portraying likeable arrogance by mining the comedic gold that is being mean to kids.  Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson, and Dilshad Vadsaria also star in director Ruben Fleischer’s follow-up to Zombieland.  30 Minutes or Less opens on August 12.  Watch the clip after the jump.

Aziz Ansari and Dilshad Vadsaria On Set Interview 30 MINUTES OR LESS

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: May 10th, 2011 at 9:01 am

In Ruben Fleischer’s 30 Minutes or Less, Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation, Funny People), and Dilshad Vadsaria (Greek) play brother and sister who are both close friends with Jesse Eisenberg’s character.   Ansari plays his best friend, while Vadsaria is the girl of his dreams.  When Eisenberg is taken hostage by two criminals (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson), he’s forced to rob a bank and he enlists the help of Ansari to help him survive.

Last summer I got to visit the set of 30 Minutes or Less with a few other online reporters and we got to talk to Ansari and Vadsaria.  While the full conversation is after the jump, here’s 5 things I learned:

• Fleischer wanted to shoot the car chases in the film like The French Connection. Instead of shooting the car scenes against a green screen on a stage, Jesse is really stunt driving and the car is being pulled along on a rig.
• Ansari says Ruben Fleischer was really open to letting him improvise. Before shooting a scene, Fleischer would tell him that if there’s anything he wanted to try, to just try it.
• On trying to come up with good stuff while improvising, Ansari said, “usually when I improvise stuff, I’ll improvise in a take and as the takes go on you refine that improv and rewrite it over and over again. Even with Judd, you’ll improvise like ten things and it will be like “Oh, do those three again.” Like that kind of process. So, yeah, it’s definitely kind of like refining it. It’s not like you throw something out and it’s gold.”
• Ansari describes the film as Superbad meets Heat. Before shooting the bank robbery scenes, he watched Heat and wanted his character to try to act like Robert De Niro in Heat, but have it come off as incredibly stupid.
• At the time, Ansari was writing a movie for Judd Apatow about a guy that was an astronaut.

Hit the jump for more.

30 MINUTES OR LESS Set Visit Recap and Video Blog

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: May 10th, 2011 at 9:00 am

Jesse Eisenberg is sitting on the hood of his pizza delivery car in an abandoned junkyard.  He’s been tied up.  Standing nearby are Danny McBride and Nick Swardson.  They’re wearing normal clothing, except for the gorilla masks to hide their identities.  The two have captured Eisenberg’s character because they have a plan: instead of robbing a bank on their own, they’ve attached a bomb to Eisenberg and they’re making him do the job.  As you might imagine if you were faced with this reality, Eisenberg is freaking out.  However, it’s hard to take it seriously because McBride and Swardson are improvising during every take and each one is funnier than the last.  I’m starting to think 30 Minutes of Less is going to be awesome.

But let me back up a second.

It’s late August, 2010.  I’m in Michigan with some other online reporters on the set of director Ruben Fleischer’s follow-up to Zombieland.  While rumors had him possibly directing Mission Impossible 4, Fleischer settled on 30 Minutes or Less as his second film.  Even though many might have second guessed this decision, after talking with him on set and learning a lot about the movie, I think it was a smart choice.  I’ll explain why and recap the set visit after the jump.

Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lopez, Wanda Sykes, Aziz Ansari and More Join Voice Cast of ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: April 26th, 2011 at 7:22 pm

Hot off the heels of being named the lead in The Bourne Legacy, Jeremy Renner has been tapped to join the voice cast of Ice Age: Continental Drift alongside fellow additions Jennifer Lopez, Wanda Sykes, Aziz Ansari, Keke Palmer and Drake. Returning for the fourth film in the Ice Age series are franchise staples Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Seann William Scott and Josh Peck.

THR reports that Renner will portray Gutt, “a self-styled master of the high seas” while Lopez will take on the role of Shira, a sabre tooth and love interest for Leary’s character. Ice Age: Continental Drift is slated for July 13^th, 2012, and given the commercial success of the franchise it’s safe to assume that more sequels will follow.

Awesome New Teaser Posters for 30 MINUTES OR LESS

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: April 22nd, 2011 at 4:20 pm

A couple of new teaser posters for Ruben Fleischer’s (Zombieland) heist comedy 30 Minutes or Less have been released and they’re absolutely fantastic. The red-band trailer for the film was released yesterday, and these posters echo the smart comedic draw that the trailer teased (ie. Wit in lieu of fatty-fall-down jokes). I really love how the posters hide the faces of the characters, but show just enough to get their personalities across.

The film stars Jesse Eisenberg as a hapless pizza delivery guy who is kidnapped by two wanna-be criminal masterminds (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) and forced to rob a bank. Aziz Ansari and Michael Peña also star. 30 Minutes or Less opens on August 12^th. Hit the jump to check out the posters.

Red-Band Trailer for 30 MINUTES OR LESS Starring Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: April 21st, 2011 at 1:43 pm

The trailer for the upcoming comedy 30 Minutes or Less has gone online.  The film stars Jesse Eisenberg as a hapless pizza delivery guy who is kidnapped by two wanna-be criminal masterminds (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) and forced to rob a bank.  Directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), the film also stars Aziz Ansari and Michael Peña.  Even though this is a red-band trailer, there’s not a lot of profanity.  Instead, it gets laughs from funny dialogue and the chemistry between Eisenberg and Ansari.  What a mind-blowing concept.

Hit the jump to check out the red-band trailer.  30 Minutes or Less opens August 12th.

4 New Images from 30 MINUTES OR LESS Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, and Danny McBride

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: April 19th, 2011 at 8:37 am

Sony has released four new images from the upcoming comedy 30 Minutes or Less.  Directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), the film centers on a couple of wannabe criminal masterminds (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) who force a pizza delivery guy (Jesse Eisenberg) to rob a bank.  The pizza delivery guy enlists the help of his ex-best friend Chet (Aziz Ansari) to pull off the heist.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  30 Minutes or Less opens August 12th.

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