Shavon Keller's blog

I have a new blog about film and television. http://filmfun.today.co... Please check it out, and comments are appreciated. Thanks.
~Shaboomer~

Screenwriter and star Jason Segel is a long time member of the Judd Apatow crew, having started out on Apatow’s television shows as the memorable Nick Andoplois of Freaks and Geeks and a year later as frequent guest star Eric on Undeclared. Apatow has been on a roll with writing, directing, and producing one hit comedy film after another. Although Segel was never fortunate enough to star in any of these films he was quoted stating since Judd wasn’t writing him any lead roles he decided to do it himself. Which is how Forgetting Sarah Marshall came to be and Apatow happily produced it. Even though Segel wrote this film, his character can’t help but remind Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared fans of his previous Nick and Eric characters. He even shares a scene with Undeclared-on-screen-girlfriend Lizzie, actress Carla Gallo.

In Noam Murro’s directing debut of Smart People, released April 11th, he proves that some times smart people can’t always make the smartest decisions.

This slower paced movie is focused more on character development rather than action, but none-the-less it is entertaining and real because of its unique characters.

After experiencing a trauma induced seizure, a self-involved professor, Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid), must re-evaluate his life and become more dependent on others. His doctor, who happens to be one of his forgotten students from years back, Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker), informs him he is suspended from driving for six months. To his unwanted rescue, his free-loading adopted brother, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), comes to stay for a “win-win” situation in his eyes, in which he stays for free and becomes Lawrence’s chauffer. With his visit, Chuck, tries to encourage Lawrence’s over-achieving teenage daughter, Vanessa (Ellen Page) to lighten up and for Lawrence, a widower, to get back in the game and pursue Janet as a love interest.

This week I was a speaker in a Gender Colloquium at Rider University and I decided to include a shortened version of my speech here about Adam’s Rib, Legally Blonde, and the patriarchal unconscious connection in law and film. Enjoy.

The law is seen as an ideal system that mediates all and shouldn’t be altered; but there is the presence of the patriarchal unconscious which creates flaws in this system. The patriarchal unconscious is that unknowingly, just as males are the fathers and head of the households, males are in control of the law system and how it functions. George Cukor’s 1949 film, Adam’s Rib, is a screwball comedy about a married couple, who are also both lawyers that take on the same case defending opposite sides. Adam Bonner tries to prosecute Doris Attinger who is accused of attempting to murder her uncaring husband; while Amanda Bonner defends this woman on the basis of “equal rights under the law,” which Amanda insists if the person on trial were a man he would be vindicated for trying to kill the lover of his unfaithful wife in order to protect his home. Adam’s Rib seems to be a film fighting for women’s rights and against the biased patriarchal unconscious, but on closer analysis one can see that the message seems to lose its hold in the end when Adam wins over his wife, Amanda, and the argument is dropped

With the awesome tagline “From director Frank Oz comes the story of a family that puts the F U in funeral” Death at a Funeral is a quirky hilarious and heartwarming story which focuses on a dysfunctional British family in the morbid setting of a funeral.

The DVD was released last month and was directed by Frank Oz who previously directed such films as The Stepford Wives, Little Shop of Horrors and The Muppets Take Manhattan and was written by Dean Craig.

In this film, all Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) wants to do is provide a nice funeral for his father’s death but as his family and friends are gathered the services stumble upon many interruptions including one man (Peter Dinklage), a stranger to everyone except the deceased, who has a dark secret which he threatens to expose unless financially compensated. Never mind all the drama brought about by Daniel’s family members and friends: competition with his famous writer brother who’s back from the US, a friend who obsesses about his recent rash fearing it may be a deadly disease, his cousin’s fiancé hallucinating on drugs, and his handicapped, bitter pain in the arse Uncle Alfie.

My official blog page: http://shaboomer.wordpr...

I’m very excited about Run Fatboy Run which opens in theaters this Friday 3/28. It was originally released in the UK in September of 2007 and was supposed to be released in the US in December of 2007 but was delayed a few times and now will finally be out in the US this weekend. The film topped the UK box office in its opening week and remained at the top of the chart for four straight weeks. To date it has earned over £10.5 million. Hopefully it will gain similar success here in the US.

The plot of the film focuses on Dennis (Simon Pegg) a slightly overweight and childish middle-aged man who left his pregnant fiancée of five years at the alter. He regrets this action and wants her back but she is now happily with an American played by Hank Azaria. In order to prove himself and win his ex-fiancée back he’s decided to show that he can be dedicated by committing to a Nike River-run marathon in London. Now he must train with the help of his friend Gordon played by Pegg’s good friend Dylan Moran (Shaun of the Dead).