For a movie with a comedic premise this simple – essentially: can you believe we made a movie with a premise this simple? – Casa de Mi Padre can feel pretty exhausting. Its comic arsenal is laid bare by the end of the credits sequence: There is Will Ferrell playing a Mexican ranchero and speaking Spanish; Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal as narco peacocks; telenovela melodrama played absurdly straight; self-conscious B-budget goofing; and plenty of guns and flames for ambiance. Are you not entertained?
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SXSWers will get a peek at Will Ferrell's Spanish-language comedy Casa de mi Padre this week in Austin, but here's a quick taste of what you're in for: Ferrell as a Mexican ranchero singing the moonlit ditty "Yo No Se" in a scene from the film, which is best described as something of a Spanish telenovela satire grindhouse comedy.
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Each year SXSW plays host to a slate of risk-taking fare of all kinds, from true indie offerings to upcoming studio releases geared to a slightly more open crowd, and the 2012 film line-up features no shortage of movies poised to earn that precious film festival commodity: Positive buzz. But some projects have more at stake than others -- say, Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard's long-awaited Cabin in the Woods, Will Ferrell's Spanish-language comedy Casa de mi Padre, or the directorial debut of actor Matthew Lillard. On the eve of SXSW 2012 (which runs March 9-17 in Austin, Texas), check out the ten SXSW titles with the most to prove going into their festival debuts.
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Will Ferrell movies can usually be summed up as “Will Ferrell as a…” and you get it. Will Ferrell as a reporter? That’s funny. Will Ferrell as a NASCAR driver? Also funny. But Will Ferrell as a Spanish soap opera action hero? Casa de mi Padre is a Spanish language film starring Ferrell as a rancher’s son who goes to war with drug dealers to protect his brother’s girl (Genesis Rodriguez). Where, exactly, did he come up with this idea?
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As any meander through the movies that have their origins in Saturday Night Live sketches will demonstrate, comedic ideas that work in the short form do not necessarily a funny feature make. You have your Wayne's Worlds, sure, but then you also have your Night at the Roxburys and It's Pats, interminable variations on the same joke dragged out longer than anyone either watching or on the screen wanted. The comedy of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, creators of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, might as well come from a different galaxy as those SNL bits, but Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie has at least one thing in common with The Ladies Man — neither demanded nor benefits from the leap to the big screen.
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The champagne's been tippled, the winners are all celebrating, and somewhere Uggie's getting a LOT of sausages. So let's relive the highlights of the 2012 Academy Awards show! Click through for Movieline's gallery and name your favorite moment from the big night. Was it Best Supporting Actress Octavia Spencer's emotional acceptance speech? Or Descendants co-scripter Jim Rash's impromptu Angelina Jolie impersonation? Those bits and more in vivid photographic detail after the jump!
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SXSW routinely boasts the most varied and neverending film line-up of the year, and the just-announced 2012 behemoth of a roster is no exception. So let's make it a wee bit easier to take in, shall we? After the jump find the buzzworthiest titles among the 100+ features and documentaries debuting this March in Austin, from major upcoming studio peeks (21 Jump Street) to docs (a new Jessica Yu!) and much smaller (but potentially completely awesome) fare.
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Maybe I'm still annoyed nearly ten years after I saw Anchorman in theaters and was so angry with its juvenile, unfunny, dude-baiting humor that I'm sour to any movie whose theme is "Will Ferrell is a hilariously alpha dimwit!" -- but I'm pretty sure Ferrell's new jam Casa de mi Padre with Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna is downright moronic for real. In fact, the sophisticated-sounding title isn't a good fit for the film (though it is written entirely in Spanish) and ought to be replaced. Here are nine titles we'd consider, along with the movie's new teaser trailer.
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Before he made his screen debut in the 2009 biopic Notorious portraying his own father, the late rapper Christopher "Biggie" Wallace, newcomer Christopher Jordan "CJ" Wallace had no aspirations for a Hollywood career. But the acting bug hit and a call from writer-director Dan Rush followed, and within a few years Wallace, now 14, found himself playing opposite Will Ferrell in the achingly bittersweet indie drama Everything Must Go, about an alcoholic salesman struggling to cope with losing it all.
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