Seth Rogen

50/50 Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: February 5th, 2012 at 6:00 am

How do you deal cinematically with cancer? That’s the question of Jonathan Levine’s 50/50, which was based on the experiences of its writer Will Reiser. It’s a tough subject matter because cancer touches so many lives and rarely offers happy endings. But 50/50 manages to be charming, and more about friendship and family in crisis than just pain. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars with Seth Rogen, Bryce Dallas Howard and Anna Kendrick in this warm dramedy. Our review of 50/50 on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Seth Rogen’s Directorial Debut THE APOCALYPSE in Negotiations with Sony

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: January 5th, 2012 at 7:13 pm

Hoping to hop on the apocalyptic bandwagon that will surely never get annoying in 2012, Sony Pictures has entered into negotiations to finance and distribute The Apocalypse, an end of days comedy marking the directorial debut of Seth Rogen. Written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg from a story by Jason Stone, the pic was inspired by a short film called Jay and Seth vs The Apocalypse. In it, Rogen and Jay Baruchel play their real life selves while they ride out the end of the world in their apartment. Since two movie stars cooped up during Armageddon clearly isn’t enough, the project has expanded to include James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson now residing in Franco’s (presumably larger?) Los Angeles apartment. We previously reported that the pic would start shooting in February, but it looks as if that will be pushed back until spring. Hit the jump for more on The Apocalypse.

Movie Sequel News Including MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 5, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS 2 and GREMLINS 3

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: December 22nd, 2011 at 4:04 pm

Let’s face it: the holidays are here and most people’s brains are already on vacation. Since it’s just too hard to come up with an original movie idea right now, a lot of talk has turned to potential sequels. Some franchises, like Gremlins and Mission: Impossible already have more than one movie in the books while others, such as Colombiana and Pineapple Express are open to sequels just because they can be. So we’ve ransacked the internets to find some updates on sequels you’ve been dying to see and others you never dreamed of being produced. Hit the jump to check them out.

Seth Rogen to Produce and Possibly Star in Disney Spy Comedy THE B TEAM

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: December 22nd, 2011 at 2:09 pm

Fresh off a supporting role in this year’s stellar 50/50, Seth Rogen is looking to expand his talents behind-the-scenes. While it’s well known that Rogen co-wrote Superbad, Pineapple Express, and The Green Hornet, the actor has also been credited as an executive producer on a number of Judd Apatow’s projects. He was a producer on 50/50, and now Variety reports that Rogen is coming on as a producer of an upcoming Disney property. The project is a spy comedy called The B Team that centers on a top secret agent’s tech support team and researchers who are tasked with rescuing him after he’s kidnapped. Rogen will produce with an eye towards starring, though it’s not specified what role he would take on.

Disney bought the pitch from Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman (Chasing Liberty), but with Rogen’s penchant for writing I wouldn’t be surprised if he made a pass on the script. Rogen will next be seen in My Mother’s Curse opposite Barbara Streisand, and is gearing up to make his directorial debut with Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse.

Sarah Polley’s TAKE THIS WALTZ Picked up by Magnolia for Early Summer 2012 Release

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 17th, 2011 at 12:57 pm

It’s a sad truth that you can’t see everything you want at a major film festival and I was bummed that I missed Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz when I was at TIFF.  However, I rested easy in the knowledge that movie starring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen would probably find distribution and now it has.  Magnolia has sent out a press release announcing their acquisition of the relationship drama and plan to run it through the festival circuit before releasing it into theaters in early summer 2012.

For those unfamiliar with the film, Williams plays a woman who’s married to a good-natured cookbook author (Rogen) but then she finds herself attracted to a handsome artist (Luke Kirby).  I really enjoyed Polley’s previous flim, Away from Her, and I’m glad I’ll be seeing Take This Waltz in the not-too-distant future.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

TOP 5: Fantastic Fest Coverage, 50/50, MACHINE GUN PREACHER, GHOST RIDER 2, Tom Hiddleston Talks THE AVENGERS and THOR 2

by Jason Barr    Posted: October 1st, 2011 at 3:56 pm

With the fall film season now in full swing, I’m 100% ashamed to admit that I’ve yet to see two of my most anticipated fall films: Moneyball and 50/50. Now, I have every intention of ending this charade at some point this weekend but, for now, I hope you’ll give me a pass. If I’ve still yet to check them out when we meet here next week, I’ll understand if you choose to revoke my “mildly credible film blogger” credentials. In the meantime…

…In this week’s “Top 5″ installment, you can find all of our Fantastic Fest 2011 coverage. After that, interviews abound with the cast of Jonathan Levine’s dramedy 50/50, the cast, creators, and real-life inspiration for Machine Gun Preacher, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance director Brian Taylor, and Thor/The Avengers‘ Tom Hiddleston. Check out a brief recap and link to each after the jump.

50/50 Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 29th, 2011 at 10:00 pm

It’s important to have a sense of humor in all things.  Being able to laugh at misfortune doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re diminishing a tragedy’s importance or ignoring the feelings created by hardship.  Laughter isn’t the best medicine (that would be the polio vaccine) but it’s damn useful and Jonathan Levine’s 50/50 manages to find humor in cancer by bringing together great performances and a gentle approach that manages to skillfully balance foul-mouthed dialogue alongside honest drama.

Seth Rogen on a GREEN HORNET Sequel: ‘Not Any Time in the Foreseeable Future’

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: September 25th, 2011 at 5:43 pm

With Michel Gondry’s Green Hornet taking in almost $230 million worldwide (before home video), it is one of those films that could easily get a sequel.  After all, studios are always looking for franchises, and I’m sure Sony was hoping Green Hornet would be a big enough hit that everyone involved would want to make another one.  So when I sat down with Seth Rogen for 50/50 at the Toronto Film Festival, I asked about the status of a Green Hornet sequel.  He told me:

“Not any time in the foreseeable future.  It’s just not something we’re interested in right now.  It’s a lot more fun to make cheaper, much dirtier movies.”

Hit the jump for more.

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.

TIFF 2011: 50/50 Review

by Phil Brown    Posted: September 11th, 2011 at 2:09 pm

No film festival trip would be complete without sampling at least one depressing cancer movie. There isn’t another disease that has produced more nauseating tearjerkers and thankfully 50/50 isn’t one of them. That’s not to say that there’s no danger of having a tear or two jerked out over the course of the movie, it just isn’t the filmmakers’ main goal. You see, what we’re dealing with here is that rare beast known as the cancer comedy and more specifically, a cancer comedy from Seth Rogen. The film has the amiable wondering stoner comedy feel of much of Rogen’s work, the difference being that this time he’s playing best buddy to Joseph Gordon-Levitt who has recently been diagnosed with everyone’s favorite disease-of-the-week (see the title for his odds of survival). It’s a concept that really shouldn’t work, yet it does quite well. There’s something sweetly genuine about the way the characters use comedy as a self-defense mechanism against a terminal illness and it probably comes closer to capturing how those suffering from the disease actually react than any melodrama. Hit the jump for the full cancerous scoop.

TIFF 2011: TAKE THIS WALTZ Review

by Phil Brown    Posted: September 11th, 2011 at 7:52 am

Take This Waltz is a tough film to take in. You wouldn’t guess it from the casual romantic tone and the star-heavy cast that features the likes of Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, and Sarah Silverman, but the film is intriguingly (even frustratingly) morally ambiguous. We’re given the standard rom-com set-up of a semi-content married girl who meets a tall dark stranger who she finds wildly attractive and appealing. Yet, hometown TIFF favorite writer/director Sarah Polly never makes it clear whether her protagonist should be sticking with her comfortable marriage or embarking on a new adventure. It’s nice to see a movie like this that makes you draw your own conclusions, but there’s a pretty big catch. You see, because it’s difficult to tell if the main character makes the right decision, it’s also difficult to tell if she’s even a character even worth liking. Ambiguity is nice, but walking out of a theater feeling like you despise a character who you just spent two hours with isn’t particularly satisfying. Hit the jump for more.

Seth Rogen Confirms He’s Not in THIS IS FORTY, Says JAY AND SETH VS. THE APOCALYPSE Starts Shooting in February

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: September 7th, 2011 at 1:52 pm

Judd Apatow is currently deep into production on his Knocked Up spinoff tentatively titled This is Forty. While the film focuses on Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann’s characters from the 2009 comedy, many wonder which other characters would be popping up in the pseudo-sequel. Charlyne Yi and Jason Segel are both confirmed to appear, but Seth Rogen recently revealed that his character doesn’t show up in the film:

“Yeah I’m not in it, but I went to visit the set and it looked hilarious. It was a good choice, honestly, because I think it would’ve confused people. I’m really looking forward to seeing it; I thought the script was unbelievably funny.”

While it could’ve been cool to see where Rogen’s character is now in relation to Rudd and Mann, it’s not like the actor is dire need of projects. In fact, Rogen also revealed that a long-gestating project set to be his directorial debut, Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse, is actually gearing up to start shooting in February. Hit the jump for more.

Watch a Great Discussion Between Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Screenwriter Will Reiser about 50/50

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: August 19th, 2011 at 1:02 pm

I’ve been hearing great things about Jonathan Levine’s cancer dramedy 50/50 for a while now, and can’t wait to finally see it. The film stars Joseph-Gordon Levitt and Seth Rogen and tells the true story of screenwriter Will Reiser’s struggle with being diagnosed with cancer in his early 20’s. Reiser and Rogen are best friends in real-life, and the film is loosely based on how they dealt with Reiser’s diagnosis.

As a part of Gordon-Levitt’s hitRECord video project, Rogen, Reiser and Gordon-Levitt sat down to discuss the film in a more loose and long-form chat to hilarious result. Reiser and Rogen ended up recounting the very funny story of the first time Reiser told Rogen he had cancer. Hit the jump to watch the chat, which includes some NSFW language. 50/50 also stars Anna Kendrick and Angelica Huston and opens September 30^th.

Watch 25 Actors Before They Were Famous in Three Minutes, Including Seth Rogen, Jack Black and Natalie Portman

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: August 15th, 2011 at 4:16 pm

Thank the Maker for YouTube. With the advent of the video-on-demand digital age, no longer is that TV movie role that Actor X did when he was 11-years-old lost forever, and now someone’s put together a compilation of 25 “before they were famous” first roles for our viewing pleasure. Did you know that Daniel Craig was in A Kid in King Arthur’s Court? How about Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Roseanne or Jake Gyllenhaal in City Slickers? No need to hit up Netflix, some choice scenes are now all in one place.

Hit the jump to watch the montage, which includes 25 sometimes painful scenes featuring Jim Carrey, Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Ryan Gosling, Keanu Reeves, Nicole Kidman, Seth Rogen, Jake Gyllenhaal, Harrison Ford and more.

New Trailer for 50/50 Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen

by Jason Barr    Posted: August 11th, 2011 at 4:25 pm

A new trailer for director Jonathan Levine’s (The Wackness) dramedy 50/50 is now available online. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Anjelica Huston, the film is based on screenwriter Will Reiser’s real-life battle with cancer and focuses on the twists, turns, shock, sadness, and comedic relief that he experienced along the way. Although this new cut features some of the same footage found in the film’s first trailer, it does offer a little more in the way of Anna Kendrick’s performance, a fact that I’ll never have any qualms with. Overall, I’ve heard great things about 50/50 and I can’t wait to see it in theaters.

Check out the new trailer after the jump. 50/50 opens on September 30th.

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