Opening Night kicked off with The Brothers Bloom, a new film starring Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz and Mark Ruffalo from director Rian Johnson, who readers will remember from Brick, a fantastic original take on film noir.

Big Night was equally impressive with Slumdog Millionaire, a film that has received rave reviews from nearly every critic. The red carpet that evening featured a large selection of guests including actor Richard Jenkins, Dr. Marci Bowers, star of the documentary Trinidad, world-renowned cinematographer Wally Pfister and Ari Lehman, the original Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th among others. As the stars entered the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, dancers performed a Bollywood-inspired number on the red carpet.

The festival isn’t just red carpet screenings either.

For 11 days the Starz FilmCenter is transformed into a cinematic paradise with screenings, discussion panels, and in-person Q&A sessions with directors and stars.

One of my personal highlights was the world premiere of His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th, a documentary that examines the entire franchise and, of course, all those who have appeared as one of films most famous murderers through out the years.

The festival experience was further elevated with the captivating He/She and Us discussion panel. The panel featured PJ Raval and Jay Hodges, directors of Trinidad, Dr. Marci Bowers, star of the film and leading gender reassignment surgeon, Kimberly Reed, director of the moving autobiographical film Prodigal Sons, and Matt Kailey of OutFront Colorado. The panelists fielded questions and engaged the audience on topics like gender, sexuality, and even the recent decision about Proposition 8. The audience was so enthralled that the panel ran long and many continued chatting with the filmmakers in the lobby.

There are still five days left in the festival before the Closing Night screening of Last Chance Harvey, starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, on November 22nd. All film lovers are strongly encouraged to make an appearance. The experience is so unique and enjoyable that you’ll be talking about it for years to come and it will surely convert any first-timers into full on festival addicts.

Check out the schedule and descriptions of the film at denverfilm.org/festival.

Zack and Miri seems to follow the recipe for a great comedy. It takes one part View Askew cynical humor, one part Seth Rogen, a sprinkle of familiar faces from the Judd Apatow universe, and a little bit of romantic comedy sweetness, all garnished with a dash of full-frontal Jason Mewes, to make something that achieves what Clerks II only wished it could.

Rogen and costar Elizabeth Banks play the title characters in this romcom about two financially-challenged childhood BFFs who set out to make a porn film to avoid getting evicted. Along the way, they gather a crew of good-hearted misfits to help them achieve their goal. Everything seems to be going according to plan when suddenly Zack and Miri realize they might harbor feelings for each other that go beyond friendship.

Those looking for an Orgazmo-like commentary on the porn universe should stick to Trey Parker because Zack and Miri has much more to do with making your first low-budget film than with having sex on camera. Even Smith acknowledged the autobiographical nature of the film saying that it was inspired by the process of making his first film, 1994’s Clerks.

The scene-stealing turns from Gerry Bednob of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and The Office’s Craig Robinson are proof that casting is everything. Even real life porn queen Katie Morgan gives a humorous, though at times over-the-top, performance.

In one of the funniest scenes, Justin (”I’m a Mac”) Long plays gay porn star Brandon St. Randy, who appears at Zack and Miri’s high school reunion with his boyfriend Bobby Long, played by Superman himself, Brandon Routh. Unaware of her former crush’s sexual orientation, Miri shamelessly throws herself at Bobby in an effort to finally sleep with him. Of course, at the same time Zack is chatting it up with Brandon about being in porn and bursts Miri’s fantasy bubble in a hilarious moment in the middle of the reunion.

The film seems to be a slight turn from Smith’s wordy, dialogue-heavy previous works and a step towards the Apatow gang’s natural dialogue and improvisation that made comedies like Superbad or Forgetting Sarah Marshall so fantastic.

Other bloggers seem to agree with my opinion that this film is one of Smith’s best, particularly in recent years. In fact, I would put it right up there with Dogma in the ranks of top Smith comedies. I can only credit Rogen’s influence for bringing funny back to the View Askewniverse like some sort of comedy Justin Timberlake.

Yes, this new season brings us another cadre of dysfunctional celebrities trying to get sober, or rather, to get more screen time. The patient list includes Busey, King, model/actress Amber Smith, former American Idol contestant Nicki McKibbin, celeb spawn Sean Stewart, former hood ornament Tawny Kitaen, drummer Steven Adler and even an encore performance from everyone’s favorite bumbling train wreck, Jeff Conaway.

Clearly, the term “celebrity” is being used so loosely on tv these days that it might as well mean, “someone who may or may not have done something on tv once in the past 50 years.” Case in point, Conaway’s bizarro girlfriend is trying to suck the last milliseconds out of her 15 minutes of “fame” by resurfacing to beg Dr. Drew to allow her to get treated on the show. She is beyond a lowlife, the kind of person who wants to be on tv so badly that she gets hooked on drugs just so she can go on a rehab show.

Even the cast seemed confused by just exactly who King was. While he’s listed on VH1’s website as a “historical figure” the gang speculated that he was a basketball player, actor, and even a hockey star. Were they alive in the 1990s when you couldn’t turn on the tv without hearing someone referencing King’s infamous “can’t we all just get along” quote about the LA riots?

Still, freaky non-celebs aside, the most entertaining part of the show has to be Busey. He seems to be under the impression that he is a doctor at the facility and keeps saying he is here to help administer treatment and “spiritual motivation” to the other patients. I can only assume that his agent was too afraid to tell him he was being shipped off to a rehab show and just told him he was there to make a guest appearance as a counselor at the facility. I’m staying tuned just to witness his reaction when they break the news to him that he is actually there as a patient, not a “participant” in the recovery process.

With so many “celebreality” shows to fill up your DVR with these days, it’s hard to get enthusiastic about just one. Still, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew has always be strangely addictive. While every reality show star plays it up for the camera, you can’t help but notice the little glimpses of actual behavior as people hit rock bottom and try to claw themselves back up.

All spotlights seem to be focused squarely on Fey every weekend as America fervently tunes in to see her portray Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. But is this good for the Obama/Biden campaign, or simply adding more fuel to the Palin mania sweeping the nation?

Let’s think back for a moment to earlier days on Saturday Night Live, back when Will Ferrell was impersonating George W. Bush prior to the 2000 election. Remember how funny we all thought it was when he used words like “strategery” or made Bush into a lovable moron? America seemed to want to elect this dullard simply for the comedy that could come of his presidency.

Shows like Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s That’s My Bush had the same effect, turning the potential leader of the country into a comedic sitcom husband, complete with a sensible but loving wife and kooky neighbor. While that show had more to do with making fun of sitcoms than making a political statement, it illustrates that the joke de jour back in the day was Bush as the hilarious imbecile.

Of course, take a look at where we are today with the economy and the war and we wonder who’s laughing now.

People were so enamored with the comedic elements of electing someone who was most certainly not the right man for the job that the country ended up making an important decision based, in part, on entertainment value. That’s fine if we were picking America’s Next Top Model, but this is a world leader we’re talking about!

Palin’s association with Fey is creating a bizarre affection towards an exaggerated character who just so happens to be the facade for a real person. Fey is good. She is talented and intelligent. She is successful and creative. On the flip side, Palin is someone who can’t name a single newspaper, doesn’t believe in evolution, and pronounces nuclear “nucular”. These two women couldn’t be more different, but these sketches cement them together, permanently associating one with the other in the realm of pop culture. Like with Ferrell, it concerns me that the entertainment value of a great comedian playing Palin on tv is starting to translate into real fandom for the actual politician.

The main problem seems to be that the entire campaign is playing out on television like some kind of warped version of American Idol. After last night’s debate, NBC’s Brian Williams even made a statement to that effect saying that, while he was there to witness the debates firsthand, he could only guage the public reaction by watching a tv monitor.

Will this election really be decided by whoever “gives good face”, to quote Madonna?

The charismatic qualities of an elected official have always been a factor, but the lines between the tabloid style of today’s television news and actual information seem to have blurred beyond recognition. The news coverage of this election isn’t even style over substance because there is no substance.

This may sound odd coming from someone who runs a pop culture site, but I think America needs to understand the distinction between having a good laugh and making a four year commitment to something based on criteria that have absolutely no real significance. Rock of Love is fun trash tv, the presidential election should not be.

I first took notice of McBride way back in Hot Rod, the critically panned comedy starring the guys from The Lonely Island about a guy with a moped who longs to be a stuntman. McBride played Rico, a crass member of Rod’s crew, and instantly captured my attention with his overly serious and incredibly hilarious delivery.

He was also one of the main reasons I went to see Tropic Thunder, the Ben Stiller/Jack Black/Robert Downey Jr. action comedy about a group of actors who find themselves in the midst of actual warfare. Though I wanted to see the film anyway, I was over the edge when I heard that McBride played a pyro crew guy opposite Nick Nolte. Again, I wasn’t surprised when McBride stole all his scenes, though I was a little disappointed that he wasn’t in more of the film.

McBride solidified his place as my favorite comedy cheeseburger garnish with his stellar turn in Pineapple Express. Like the cheeseburger, the film was excellent to begin with, but every scene with McBride as Red had me laughing so hard I couldn’t catch my breath.

Naturally, I ran home ad added The Foot Fist Way to my Nexflix queue, anxiously awaiting the DVD’s release. Yesterday, I finally received it and popped it in the DVD player.

McBride playes Fred Simmons, a Tae Kwon Do instructor and self-professed “King of the Demo” who runs a little Tae Kwon Do school in his small town. With everything around him being small, Simmons feels like a big fish until he discovers his wife Suzie (Mary Jane Bostic) has cheated on him with her boss.

As his life starts to unravel, he starts getting drunk off his Tae Kwon Do authority and challenging his perceived inferiors. (In one of the funniest lines, he degrades a student saying “If you were in prison, you’d be raped because you exude feminine qualities.”) Along with students Julio (Spencer Moreno) and Henry (Carlos Lopez) and best friend Mike (director and co-writer Jody Hill chanelling Keanu Reeves) he seeks out his hero, martial arts celebrity Chuck “The Truck” Wallace, played by Ben Best.

After making a pilgramage to a martial arts convention, Simmons manages to convince Chuck “The Truck” to make an appearance at his class during the students’ final testing. Things don’t go according to plan when Chuck arrives at Simmons’ house, leaving him to find his own strength and power.

Shot in 2006 for less than the price of an SUV, The Foot Fist Way certainly looks like a low-budget film with basic titles and a grainy visual quality slightly above the original Clerks. The pacing and some of the ancillary performances could use a bit of polish as well, but it’s clear to see that there’s a diamond in the rough.

Just like with some of his larger budget films, McBride simply knows how to deliver a line to achieve maximum comedy. In one scene, he denigrates yoga saying, “Meditation is terrific and all, but I’ve never heard of it saving anyone from a gang rape type situation.” In another, he criticizes a student by telling him, “Your weakness is disgusting to me.”

Many have compared McBride’s performance to the so-serious-it’s-hilarous delivery of Will Ferrell. It may come as no surprise that Foot Fist is one of Ferrell’s favorite films and was released through Ferrell and Anchorman writer/director Adam McKay’s company, Gary Sanchez Productions. Still others say that Fred Simmons is like a hybrid of a Ferrel character and unjustly arrogant boss David Brent from the original UK version of The Office.

Regardless of who might have inspired McBride’s performances, he is sure to inspire a few of his own and become everyone’s favorite comedy garnish in years to come.

Trashwire’s own Pat Sue Gentry shares her thoughts on the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards…

Watching the VMAs last night was, in a word, torture. The only saving grace was Russell Brand, who managed to actually be entertaining during the ignominious joke of a ceremony we were all watching.

At times it was more like the Kids Choice Awards then the VMAs, but during the Lil Wayne performances it sunk down to some kind of “Pimps Up, Hos Down Convention” in Vegas.

The opinions and “messages” ranged from “promise to save sex for marriage”, to “give it up like free lunch”. And we wonder why kids are confused. So now half of the music industry are born-agains, who think everyone else is a super slut?

I was also left feeling like hip hop should really take a long hard look at itself. I used to be a big fan of rap; Dr. Dre, Snoop, Eminem, and Jay Z were played in my car every day, but then it all took a left somewhere and now we have Lil Wayne and T-pain and nothing can make me run from rap music faster than watching dudes whose main talent is knowing how to work a synthesizer yell into microphones while holding their man junk like it’s about to fall off.

I really don’t’ want to know which underwear brand Lil Wayne prefers. I don’t want to see every lyric sung while limping around the stage holding on to his balls. I can’t decide what bugs me the most the clothing style or the lyrics. Rap of today is not even classy enough to be played at truck stop strip clubs.

Someday, can we make fun of that trend like we do of the giant hair bands of the 80’s? Why wait–let the ridicule begin now!!!

Lastly, on Britney Spears’ awards that just kept coming: It is apparent MTV felt really guilty about putting Brit on stage last year when they knew she had more than one wheel in the sand. This year they piled up awards on her and hoped that would make it all better. To be honest, her competition was pretty weak, but right on for Britney and let’s hope it keeps her from sporting the pink wig and going down the rabbit hole again.

Next year, unless I have a lobotomy, I won’t be watching!

This story began as a post on the Trashwire.com blog. If you are interested in contributing to Trashwire, please use the Contact Us form to send us your story.

John Malkovich stars as Osborne Cox, a CIA analyst who is fired from his job and decides to write his memoirs. His disinterested wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) has already been carrying on an affair with Harry (George Clooney), a married federal marshal whose two great passions are sex and jogging.

As the plot thickens, we meet Linda (Frances McDormand) an employee at Hardbodies Fitness Center who searches for love in online dating and obsesses over procuring funds for plastic surgery. When her close friend and fellow dimwitted employee Chad (Brad Pitt) acquires a disc containing material for Cox’s memoirs, the duo decide to blackmail the former analyst despite the warnings from their boss Ted, played by Richard Jenkins.

Like a warped version of The Man Who Knew Too Little meets The Big Lebowski, the various story lines all intertwine and some very brilliant dark humor ensues.

The most most outstanding element of the film has to be the performances from the cast, most of whom had the roles written specifically for them by Joel and Ethan Coen. Malkovich’s very serious nature lends so much to the humor of a character whose self-importance proves to be unfounded and McDormand’s portrayal of a simple woman who thinks she’s a genius is fantastic. Clooney plays on his smooth, James Bond-esque image from films like Ocean’s Eleven with very funny results.

With such an amazing cast, it would be hard to pinpoint a single stand-out, however Pitt steals the show.

In one particularly hilarious scene, Chad calls Osborne to negotiate a “good Samaritan tax” for returning his missing information. Pitt’s “disguised” voice and phrasing on threats about “the security of your shit” are beyond hilarious as are his tough-guy facial expressions in a scene where Osborne and Chad meet face to face in Osborne’s car.

Those who loved No Country for Old Men should know to expect something more in line with earlier quirky films from the Coens like Fargo or Raising Arizona. They retain all the unique characters and plot twists of their more dramatic work, but incorporate the stellar dialogue that made some of their best comedies so memorable.

Burn After Reading opens September 12th.

View the red band trailer here:

Hamlet 2 is the story of Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan), a failed-actor turned high school drama teacher in Tuscon who suddenly finds himself leading a class of “at-risk” students instead of his usual two drama geeks. In an effort to generate some enthusiasm for his productions and avoid losing his job, Marschz creates a sequel to Shakespeare’s classic. Of course, the school and the town are up in arms when they hear that he’s decided to throw in characters like Einstein and Hillary Clinton or included musical numbers like “Rock Me Sexy Jesus”. Soon, the play becomes the focus of a First Amendment battle and Marschz finds some unexpected support from his favorite acturess (Elizabeth Shue playing herself) and ACLU attorney Cricket Feldstein (Amy Poehler).

While Coogan and the rest of the cast put in some great performances, the film seems to struggle a bit with pace. After spending the entire movie hearing people talk about Marschz’s crazy ideas for the play, you can’t help but wish you got more of the production itself.

The films tries to navigate the balance between physical gags and quirky humor and there are a few missteps with tone. The comedy classic Waiting for Guffman gave us fantastic quirky characters and dialogue without the need for physical comedy, but Hamlet 2 works hard to deliver a mix of both. Sure, it’s funny when a student is accidentally hit in the head with a trashcan, but you can’t help but feel like there could have been a funnier avenue than this physical joke.

Still, there are some very funny moments in the film. Poehler, in particular, is outstanding and delivers dialogue with the fantastic smart-ass demeanor that she does so well. Also, both Phoebe Strole and Skylar Astin (both from Broadway’s Spring Awakening) are great as over-enthusiastic drama nerds, and Joseph Julian Soria and Melonie Diaz give great performances as the stand-outs in Marschz’s group of transfer students.

In Brady’s previous feature, Hot Rod, the comedy seemed to come from the performances by the actors. With a cast including Andy Smaberg and Jorma Taccone from The Lonely Island or Danny McBride and Bill Hader (most recently in Pineapple Express) the timing and delivery was outstanding. While Hamlet 2 isn’t quite up to Hot Rod, it still provides more than a few laughs.

Like Superbad’s Seth and Evan, this time our dynamic duo is Process Server Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) and his big-hearted drug dealer Saul Silver (James Franco) who become wrapped up in a deadly drug war after accidentally witnessing a crime. The drug lord and his crooked cop accomplice, played by Gary Cole and Rosie Perez, send two thugs (Craig Robinson of The Office and Kevin Corrigan) to track down Saul and Dale. In the process of evading capture, Saul and Dale must deal with quirky middle man Red, played to almost unthinkable perfection by Danny McBride.

The performances from the cast showcase some of the best comedic acting to date. Franco and Rogen expertly play off each other and there’s no doubt that many of the funniest lines were probably born from improvisation. This lends the film the same realistic tone of dialogue that made writers Rogen and long-time friend Evan Goldberg so great in Superbad.

The most refreshing part of any Rogen/Goldberg movie is the focus on the relationship between the two main characters. Nobody can capture the real essence of best friends like these two! Where most comedies will drag on with some kind of love interest, their films tend to focus on the “bro-mance” of being someone’s BFF. That kind of writing is a rare treasure in a sea of dumbed-down Hollywood buddy comedies.

Now that they’ve written two spectacular films, the bar will be extra high for Rogen and Goldberg when they treat us to their version of The Green Hornet in 2010.

View the trailer here:

As an avid stand-up fan, I was definitely expecting the hardcore Rogan from his numerous YouTube videos or from the press coverage surrounding his fight with noted hack Carlos Mencia. Instead, Rogan seemed chilled out and personable, treating the audience to stories ranging from the birth of his daughter to why it’s a bad idea to keep a tiger in a box.

Of course, there were certainly some dick jokes mixed in the set, but thankfully they were creatively executed and proved to be hilarious. Rogan even managed to mix the cruder jokes into a bit about the Mayan calendar’s prediction that the world will end in 2012.

Instead of standing on the stage and trying to sound cool by giving every detail of every sexual exploit, Rogan managed the difficult task of keeping his act smart and still maintaining the crude humor. Through stories about oral sex or getting caught masturbating, he managed to also discuss evolution and the human genome or events in world history.

At the end of the set, Rogan conducted a Q&A where he riffed on a series of topics shouted out by the crowd.

Of course, eventually someone shouted out “Carlos Mencia” and Rogan addressed his now infamous feud with the rival comic. For those who don’t know, Mencia is universally loathed amongst comedians for being a notorious joke theif. During an appearance at the Comedy Store in LA, Rogan got on stage and called Mencia on it. Since then, a veritable shit storm exploded on Rogan which included a reported banishment from the Comedy Store and a departure from his publicity firm. While this kind of injustice would make most people furious, Rogan stood on stage and calmly explained his position on plagiarism while getting in a few quick jabs at Mencia.

Rogan’s comedy is certainly impressive. He is able to walk a fine line between crude and smart humor and his intelligence shows with each joke he tells. Denver residents should jump at the chance to see such a pro at work.

Catch Joe Rogan this Friday and Saturday at Comedy Works in Denver.

Check out the infamous video of Joe Rogan and Carlos Mencia below: