Michael Cera's Next Film will be Entirely En Espanol

We all know that the common criticism of Michael Cera—among those who don't like his shtick, at least—is that he always plays the same role. Playing skinny, emotional, whiny and mumbling twenty-somethings has certainly been what put him on the map in movies like Juno and Superbad, and even as a fan of those, I do admit that he's basically just playing the same character he's been doing since his Arrested Development days. Forgettable movies that were made even more forgettable by the sameness of the Cera performances in them (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Year One) certainly didn't help combat the perception that he was a one-trick pony, either.

Does a mustache change your shoeboxing mind, perhaps?

In Youth in Revolt, Cera played an alter-ego of his typical character that tried to change our stereotyping of him. Now the director of that film, Miguel Arteta—whose new movie, Cedar Rapids, happens to open in limited release today—let slip some info on Cera's next foray into branching out: doing a movie entirely in Spanish.

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11/9/10 - DVD New Releases

This week we have quite a few new movies coming out on DVD, the most notable ones being Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Grown Ups. There are some others worth mentioning, such as Charle St. Cloud for all those Zac Efron fans, and Ramona and Beezus for the kids.

 

I find it a shame that Scott Pilgrim vs. The World didn't do better in the box office. Not sure if the star is to blame (Michael Cera has been trying so hard to prove he's not a one trick pony), or if it's because it was based on a comic book (or video game, or insert-other-entertainment-medium here). It's really too bad, because it seems that good movies based on such material seem few and far between.

As for Grown Ups, it's the exact opposite.

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Movie Review - 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World'

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Kieran Culkin Directed by Edgar Wright Rated PG-13

Scott Pilgrim is a comic book series of which the appropriated film title Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is but one installment. The movie version of the story, by Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright, is a combination of those two elements, video games, angst, and Mountain Dew. To accurately portray Pilgrim's little universe, Wright has to make this a truly ADHD experience, with scenes literally interrupting other scenes, none of them seemingly longer than a few accelerated heartbeats. As an exercise, Scott Pilgrim is a breathless showcase for its filmmaker; if Wright took it easy for any extended period of time, it would be very hard to buy the rest of it. As it is, the movie's pacing is young, energetic, and all over the place. For Gran Torino, that would be completely inappropriate, but knowing the characters and the audience equally well, Wright doesn't waste a lot of time on development of secondary characters, only goes for jokes that work, and may have invented some kind of hybrid subgenre in the process. Pilgrim (Michael Cera) describes himself as between jobs. He plays bass in Toronto's own Sex Bob-omb, a band he describes to one Ramona Flowers as "terrible." It's a strange adjective to use given how much he'd like to impress Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). She gives off a vibe that defiantly exclaims "I'm not from around here," and she's not. She's a New York transplant, running from something. But the moment Scott sees her - in a dream - it's all he can do to stop thinking about her. Until he learns she's real, and then all hope is lost. There is a complication with Ramona Flowers, however. She has seven evil exes. From our own perspective, don't we all? Perhaps, but not like this. Ramona's exes all come after poor Scott and if he wants to date this pink-haired New Yorker, he's going to have to "defeat" each of the exes. "Defeat" has different meanings, and part of the fun of this film is seeing them all unfold in such familiar ways, but unique to each other here in the film. Without spoiling too much, it must be said that the homages to video game battles are obvious as are other geek-driven duels that aren't typically part of traditional courtships. She must be special, this Ramona Flowers.

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'Arrested Development' Movie Halfway Written

Only because it's interesting to stay up-to-date on this project and not because I actually believe it's any closer to happening than it was six months or a year ago, but the Arrested Development movie is halfway written, according to the show's creator Mitchell Hurwitz.

"The reason I've been so cagey is fans have been so (eager about it)," Hurwitz said. "I really want to do it. Jason Bateman gave an interesting quote recently saying 'when we get it, we'll read it and decide if we want to do it (Hurwitz gives 'What? Really?' look)." Just this weekend, Michael Cera - the original naysayer about the movie adaptation - said he believed it was happening sooner than later, based on what he'd heard, and that, combined with this statement from Hurwitz, makes Arrested Development topical again.

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Video: New 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World' Clip

It was well-received at Comic-Con and now we'll see how Scott Pilgrim vs. The World translates to anyone not in its exact target demographic. I mean, come on, is there a friendlier movie for that envirornment than a comic book adaptation starring Michael Cera and directed by Edgar Wright?

There's a brand new clip that follows on the heels of the film's San Diego pilgrimage - BOOM! Puntastic! - featuring Cera on the horn with Jason Schwartzman, playing one of the seven evil exes of Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). We also see Kieran Culkin as Pilgrim's roommate, and man, should his career be further along. His work in Igby Goes Down should have given him tons of options. Here's the clip; Scott Pilgrim opens on August 13th.

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