Daily Loaf

[Note: Cop Out opens today, Fri. Feb. 26, at area theaters. Click here for showtimes, and check out the Daily Loaf Movie Review Index for reviews of more new releases.]

I don’t know about you, but I hated the previews for Cop Out, the latest flick from dick-and-fart-joke king Kevin Smith. To my eyes, the trailers were a mishmash of Tracy Morgan incoherently spouting movie quotes while Bruce Willis laughed, intercut with standard-issue action scenes. Smith is an indie legend who raised $27,000 to shoot his 1994 debut Clerks, in the process spawning a cottage industry around two of that film’s side characters: Jay and Silent Bob. Sixteen years and 8 features later, now he’s directing Bruce Willis action movies? The good news is I had no need to worry; Cop Out turns out to be a spirited resurrection of what I thought was a long-deceased genre: the buddy cop movie.

Read the rest of this entry »

Since Cop Out comes out this week and it looks pretty good, I started thinking about some of the movies it will eventually get compared to. No, I’m not talking about just comedies or Kevin Smith movies — I’m talking Buddy Cop Movies. You know the kind, where two cops with very different personalities work together to solve a case, and in doing so become good friends. I know what you’re thinking: It’s been done before. You’re right! With that in mind, I compiled a list of my favorites.

Note: This is a list of my favorites and is far from definitive. I miss some of your favorites? Let me know in the comments!

10) Starsky & Hutch
Say what you want about this movie, based on the classic TV show, but they got the buddy cop formula right with the casting of Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Granted, that’s about all they got right, but every list of buddy cop movies has to start somewhere.

Read the rest of this entry »

The red band trailer for Kevin Smith’s Cop Out is up, and unlike the previous trailer, this one’s really funny!

The first trailer showed no resemblance to director Kevin Smith’s previous work, famous throughout movie-geek land for the arch wit of the screenplays and low-fi look of the films. You know, like Clerks and Chasing Amy. This new trailer brings more of the jokes that we’ve come to expect from a Kevin Smith flick.

Plus, Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan look really funny, making me (finally) look forward to the movie. Check it out, but because it’s a red band trailer, there are some things that aren’t family friendly. Be careful where you click!

Full trailer after the jump …

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome back to another edition of Kevin’s Korner, where I wrap up all the big movie news into one neat package (sorry, no bow). After last weekends Comic-Con, there is plenty of news, trailers and rumors running around, so I’ll address a few. Also, Harry Potter got beat down by some rodents. Who would’ve predicted that?

Read the rest of this entry »

Note: This is our first Tournament of Summer Movie Blockbuster. In case you missed it, here’s the skinny on the tourney and a full list of competing films. And for news and reviews of this summer’s blockbusters, be sure and check CL’s Movies & TV site.

In Wednesday’s poll results, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial squeaked by Transformers to move on to round two. (Sorry Murray Jr. and offspring!). This weekend, the polls are open for our final Round 1 battle involving a #1 seed, as #1 The Dark Knight takes on #8 Armageddon.

Details on the films and your chance to vote are after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

What if Die Hard With A Vengeance (you know, the one with Samuel L. Jackson and Jeremy Irons as the villian) had been made in 1960’s France? The result would have looked a lot like this (my compliments to Slash Film on the excellent find):

Austin Film Critics have picked their best of 2008, and guess who cleaned up in the Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor categories? JUST TAKE A WILD GUESS. That’s right. The Dark Knight. Fellow Texans the Dallas-Ft. Worth Film Critics Association gave Best Picture to Slumdog Millionaire, as well as Best Director to Danny Boyle for the same flick. Oh, and they also rewarded Heath Ledger with Best Supporting Actor. Read the rest of the winners here.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Film Critics Association, in an obvious cry for attention, have bestowed their Best Picture honor on Wendy and Lucy, which I wrote about in the Dec. 16 Reel Projections. They also gave that film’s Michelle Williams the nod for Best Actress and rewarded Jonathan Demme with Best Director for Rachel Getting Married. And Best Supporting Actor went to Williams’ former boyfriend, and father of her daughter, Heath Ledger. Here’s the rest of the TFCA winners.

Disney has released the first photo of an upcoming Bruce Willis sci-fi film. Behold this mysterious production still from Surrogates. What’s he looking at so intensely off-screen? Could it be one of the surrogate robots? A couch where he can sit down and watch those monitors in comfort? HANS FUCKING GRUBER???!!!

It’s the “I don’t care but somebody out there must” link of the day: Twilight sequel New Moon has a release date. Hoo. Rah.

SPOILER ALERT! Some guy at Chud.com saw the first 22 minutes of Watchmen in Austin, and now he’s spilling his guts all over the interwebs. You’ve been warned. And remember that lawsuit Fox brought against Warner Bros.? An L.A. federal judge has set a Watchmen trial date of January 20, 2009.