If you missed the red-band trailer for director Paul Middleditch’s horror comedy Rapture-Palooza, you can check out the newly-released toned-down version here.  There’s only a little bit of new footage and it keeps the same jokes from the first trailer (minus the profanity), but star Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) is certainly worth a second look, don’t you think?  She plays the object of affection sought after by the Anti-Christ (Craig Robinson) when the Rapture befalls Seattle.  Her boyfriend (John Francis Daley) will do anything he can to stop her from becoming Satan’s bride.

Also starring Rob Corddry, Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer, Thomas Lennon, Ana Gasteyer, John Michael Higgins, Tyler Labine and Ken Jeong,  Rapture-Palooza opens in theaters and on VOD June 7th.  Hit the jump for the green-band trailer, image, synopsis and poster.

No, they still don’t close the state of Florida, but creative differences have left the Vacation remake stranded on the side of the road for the time being.  Writers/debut directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein (The Incredible Burt Wonderstone) had the reboot all set up with Ed Helms (The Hangover) set to star as Rusty Griswold, Christina Applegate (Anchorman) as his wife and even cameos from the original parental couple, Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo.  Unfortunately, the picture has hit a snag, even though it was in active pre-production with plans to shoot in Atlanta this July.  Hit the jump for more.

The gang is getting back together.  When screenwriters John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein first started talking about their new Vacation film—which stars Ed Helms as a grown Rusty Griswold—the duo made no secret of the fact that they hoped to rope in some of the original castmembers for the pic.  Earlier this month the duo told me that they planned on bringing people back, and now it appears that they’re nearing a deal as Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo are officially in negotiations to reprise their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold in Vacation.  Hit the jump for more.

Rusty Griswold’s wife has been found.  Ed Helms is set to star as the grown-up version of the Vacation character in Horrible Bosses screenwriters John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s upcoming sequel/reboot Vacation, and now the excellent Christina Applegate has entered talks to take on the New Line pic’s female lead.  The story finds Rusty taking his own family on a road trip to Wally World, and THR reports that Applegate is poised to star as Rusty’s wife, described as “strong-willed” and “losing interest” in her husband.

During a recent interview with the scribes, Daley and Goldstein told me that they hope to bring back some of the franchise’s original castmembers in this new film (ie. Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo).  Applegate is a fantastic comedic actress and seems a swell fit to lead the pic opposite Helms.  She is currently filming the sequel Anchorman: The Legend Continues.  Production on Vacation begins this June in New Mexico and Atlanta.

[This is a re-post of my review from SXSW 2013.  The Incredible Burt Wonderstone opens today in wide release.]

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone may celebrate the childlike wonder and unadulterated joy of magic. It may profess the power of awe and possibility. But its true motives are simple and pure: make the audience laugh by almost any means necessary. Those means are usually along the lines of the silly, slightly demented, biting, and occasionally dark humor that may not share the story’s values, but they get consistent comedy out of a charming albeit slightly conventional premise. Working from Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley‘s sharp script with great performances from its cast, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a trick we know, but it’s one performed well.

Screenwriters John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein are quickly becoming the go-to guys when it comes to high-profile comedies.  The duo penned 2011’s massive hit Horrible Bosses and its upcoming sequel, they wrote the script for this year’s great-looking animated follow-up Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, and they wrote and will make their directorial debut on a new Vacation film this year with Ed Helms starring as the grown-up Rusty Griswold.  Their latest film, the magician comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, opens in theaters today and it’s a swell mix of ridiculous characters and delightfully dark humor, with some very funny comedic performances from Steve Carell, Jim Carrey, Steve Buscemi, and Olivia Wilde.

I recently attended the press junket for The Incredible Burt Wonderstone in Las Vegas, and while there I got to sit down with Daley and Goldstein for a one-on-one interview.  The duo talked about their love of magic growing up, how crazy it was to get Jim Carrey in their film, what Carrey brought to the role, the many different versions of the film’s script, and their penchant for taking jokes to some unexpected and wonderfully dark places.  The two also talked about their work on Horrible Bosses 2, Cloudy 2, the Vacation film, Secret Histories, and much more.  Hit the jump to read the full interview.

Opening this Friday is director Don Scardino’s magician comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.  The film stars Steve Carell as a Vegas magician whose relationship with his partner (Steve Buscemi) becomes strained as the two start getting upstaged by a hipper illusionist (Jim Carrey).  The screenplay by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Horrible Bosses) takes the story to some deliciously dark places while maintaining a sincere center, and Carrey is fantastically over the top with his David Blaine-esque magician character, harkening back to the actor’s classically nutty performances from early in his career.  You can read Matt’s positive review here.

I recently got the chance to attend the press junket for Burt Wonderstone in Las Vegas, and while there I participated in a press conference with Steve Carell, Jim Carrey, Olivia Wilde, Steve Buscemi, John Francis Daley, and Jonathan Goldstein.  The cast and screenwriters talked about the experience of filming on the streets of Las Vegas, the parallels between magicians and comedians, attempting to master some slight-of-hand tricks for the film, crafting their outrageous characters, and much, much more.  Hit the jump to read or listen to the full press conference, which also includes a great Rodney Dangerfield story from Carrey.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone may celebrate the childlike wonder and unadulterated joy of magic.  It may profess the power of awe and possibility.  But its true motives are simple and pure: make the audience laugh by almost any means necessary.  Those means are usually along the lines of the silly, slightly demented, biting, and occasionally dark humor that may not share the story’s values, but they get consistent comedy out of a charming albeit slightly conventional premise.  Working from Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley‘s sharp script with great performances from its cast, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a trick we know, but it’s one performed well.

Screenwriters John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein first broke into feature films with 2011’s Horrible Bosses, and the comedy’s enormous success has lead to a flood of high profile writing gigs for the scribes.  I recently spoke with Daley and Goldstein while in Las Vegas for the press junket for the upcoming magician comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (which they wrote), and during the course of our conversation, the two gave me updates on a few high profile projects that they’ve been developing.

We’ll have the full interview available closer to the release of Burt Wonderstone, but today we wanted to share what Daley and Goldstein had to say about the status of a Horrible Bosses sequel and their script for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.  They revealed that they’ve written a couple drafts of Horrible Bosses 2, and they also talked about the process of writing for animation with Cloudy 2.  Hit the jump to read on.

The names John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein will be popping up more and more frequently over the next few years, as the very funny scribes responsible for Horrible Bosses have been working on a number of projects in that successful comedy’s wake.  I recently sat down with the screenwriters in Las Vegas at the press junket for the magician comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (which they wrote), and during the course of our conversation, the two talked about a few of their upcoming films.

While we’ll have the full interview available closer to the release of Burt Wonderstone, today we wanted to share what they had to say about the Vacation movie that they wrote and are directing, and the book series adaptation Secret Histories.  The two revealed that filming on Vacation begins this summer and teased the return of some castmembers from the previous films, and also talked about “world building” with their rewrite work on Secret Histories.  Hit the jump to read on.

The first red-band trailer director Paul Middleditch’s post-apocalyptic comedy Rapture-Palooza has been released online.  The film stars Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect) and John Francis Daley (Freaks and Geeks, Bones) as a couple who must battle their way through the end of the world following The Rapture in order to defeat the Antichrist (Craig Robinson).  I was born and raised in the Bible Belt so the rapture comedy aspect of the film certainly hits home for me, and the cast looks to be having fun with the pic’s outlandish premise.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Rob Corddry, Thomas Lennon, Rob Heubel, John Michael Higgins, Ana Gasteyer, and Ken Jeong.  Rapture-Palooza will be available in theaters and on demand on June 7th.

Earlier this year I got to visit the set The Incredible Burt Wonderstone with a few other online reporters while the production was filming at the Wadsworth Theater here in Los Angeles.  Directed by Don Scardino (whose directed almost forty episodes of 30 Rock) and written by Horrible Bosses screenwriters John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the film stars Steve Carell as a magician whose relationship with his partner (Steve Buscemi) becomes strained after the arrival of a hipper illusionist (Jim Carrey).  Burt Wonderstone also stars Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin, James Gandolfini, Jay Mohr, Michael Bully Herbig and a lot of real life magicians, many of whom were the inspirations for the film.

While on set we got to watch a great scene featuring Carell and Buscemi wearing some outrageous costumes, conduct interviews with a lot of the cast, and we learned a lot about the film.  As a fan of the cast and the filmmakers, it was a really fun day on set that I can’t wait to share with you closer to release, which is March 15.  Until then, check out the first images from the film and the full synopsis after the jump.  Look for the trailer in the coming days.

The longevity of Paul Feig and Judd Apatow’s short-lived 1999 series Freaks and Geeks is both astounding and ironic.  The show was ahead of its time and faced considerable opposition from its home network, NBC, throughout its one-season run.  Over the years, though, Freaks and Geeks has amassed a legion of fans and acted as the launching pad for countless careers.  The main cast of James Franco, Jason Segel, and Seth Rogen now reads like an all-star comedy lineup, not to mention the ridiculous number of stars that had bit parts in the series like Rashida Jones, Jason Schwartzman, Shia LaBeouf, Ben Foster, Lizzy Caplan, and David Krumholtz.

Most of the show’s cast came together for a reunion at PaleyFest last year, but for the upcoming comedy issue of Vanity Fair (guest edited by Apatow), the entire cast and crew was assembled for “An Oral History of Freaks and Geeks.”  In addition to the fascinating article itself, VF has released a number of cast reunion images.  Hit the jump to take a look.

John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, writers of Horrible Bosses and New Line’s upcoming film Vacation (where they’ll also serve as the directors), have been tapped to rewrite Sony’s Secret Histories draft, first written by Tom Wheeler (Puss in Boots).  The feature is based on a U.K. book series by Ari Berk, and is intended to be a live-action/CG hybrid.

Many fans of Freaks and Geeks (and Bones) may be surprised to see Daley transitioning from actor to writer, but he’s been prolific in his screenwriting so far.  After pairing up with Goldstein, a comedy writer, the two have written the Steve Carell-Jim Carrey magician comedy Burt Wonderstone as well as Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers, and are currently working on a Horrible Bosses sequel.  For more on the Secret Histories project, hit the jump.

It looks as if Ed Helms will be playing Rusty Griswold in New Line’s Vacation after all.  Rumors swirled earlier this year that Helms would be taking on the lead role in the continuation of the Vacation franchise, but when Steve asked him back in March if he was involved with the film he said he hadn’t had any conversations about the film.  Horrible Bosses screenwriters John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein signed on to direct their own script back in February, and now Helms has officially entered negotiations to star.  Hit the jump for more.