The In-Betweeners and The Hangover tie for ‘funniest movie’ honour

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Signature Entertainment

Our poll to find out the funniest film of the 21st century produced a tie between two recent comedies – ‘The Hangover’ and ‘The Inbetweeners’. Indicating that subtlety might be old skool, these two gross out comedies were clearly popular with  Signature Entertainment’s Facebook fans.

The Inbetweeners

The suggestions were in response to our blog naming the 21best comedies of the 21st Century – and over 24 different films were suggested as the no1 choice for our fans – everything from ‘Jack Ass’ to ‘Kick Ass’ Some were included in our list – with ‘Anchorman’, ‘Juno’ and ‘Shrek’ receiving plenty of support.

The Hangover

 

But there was plenty of backing for films that missed the cut on our list. We didn’t include ‘The InBetweeners’ and there was support for ‘Attack the Block’, ‘Stepbrothers’ and ‘Bridesmaids’ – showing that there is plenty of choice when it comes to listing our favourite comedies.

 

Thanks to all our fans who took part. Five lucky contributors received a copy of cult comedy classic ‘Frenemy’ starring ‘The Hangover’s Zach Galifianakis. For your chance to take part in future polls and product giveaways, simply ‘Like’ our Facebook page.

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The 21 funniest movies of the 21st Century

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Signature Entertainment

Sometimes, when the time is appropriate we love a good laugh and to prove it we are happy to let everyone know our favourite funny movies of this century. We have included only movies that are intentionally funny – not unintentionally hilarious films like any M Night Shymalan movie or ‘2012’

 

The films are roughly in chronological order

High Fidelity

  1. High Fidelity (2000) As touching and as funny as Nick Hornby’s novel, but somehow more….American, this is surely John Cusack’s finest hour. The best movie ever set in Chicago, too

 

  1. Being John Malkovick (2000) Unhappy puppeteer ends up working on the 7 ½ floor of sinister LesterCorp and finds hidden doorway into the brain of a top actor. We rest our case.

 

  1. Almost Famous (2000) If you haven’t seen this brilliant Cameron Crowe movie you are in for a real treat. Based on his experience as a music journalist, despite its rock n roll credentials it’s a sweet coming of age comedy with a great cast.

 

  1. Shrek (2001) Winner of the first Oscar for Animated Movie, the most popular animated movie in the Australian history, the only animated movie ever which doesn’t feature the voice of Robin Williams– its list of achievements go on and on

The Sweetest Thing

  1. The Sweetest Thing (2002) three little words – Diaz Applegate Blair

 

  1. School of Rock (2003) “Math is a wonderful thing. Math is a really cool thing. So get off your ath, let’s do some math. Math, math, math, math, math. Three minus four is?” We say, Jack Black is a wonderful thing.

 

  1. Bad Santa (2003) The perfect antidote to all the ‘peace of earth, joy to mankind’ junk that we have to endure every year – why oh why oh why to do they do that?

 

  1. Shaun of The Dead (2004) funny British comedies are pretty rare. Funny British comedies that make money in the US even rarer. Funny British comedies that do well in the US and feature an apocalyptic uprising of zombies – now that really is rare.

 

  1. Anchorman (2004) It took almost 20 years to film the life story of Frank Bough but it was worth every minute of the wait.

Team America World Police

  1. Team America: World Police (2004) trying to be funny by taking the mickey out of great American institutions like Homeland Security, the United Nations, Matt Damon and Kim Jong-il, this film disgusts us. Under no circumstances should you watch it this movie.

 

  1. Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit (2005) Short of making a model of your private parts, this is the funniest thing ever done with plasticine. Apparently, Christmas was invented so we could celebrate the moment Gromit revives Wallace with his Stinking Bishop [don’t ask].

 

  1. Borat (2006) trying to be funny by taking the mickey out of great liberal causes like feminism, gay rights and Pamela Anderson, this film…Sorry, we’re getting carried away.

 

  1. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) the $8,000,000 movie that earned $100,000,000 – so whose laughing now? Truly a film that is funny but also moving without the usual sentimentality – go see.

 

  1. Knocked Up (2007)  Although we find the idea of anyone having sex with Seth Rogan is pretty fat fetched, we think the idea of unprotected sex is hilarious but remember, kids, unprotected sex and unwanted pregnancy is only funny in Hollywood, not Harlow, Hereford, Hitchen etc etc

 

  1. Superbad (2007) Although we find the idea that Seth Rogan can write is pretty far fetched, he can. He wrote ‘Superbad’ when he was six or something – presumably before he started having unprotected sex and stuff. He did it with Evan Goldberg (the writing, not the sex).

Juno

  1. Juno (2007) How many times do we have to say this? Unprotected sex and unwanted pregnancy is only funny in Minnesota not Manchester, Mitcham and Mordern, Matlock, Market Harborough etc

 

  1. In Bruges (2008) half comedy, half thriller, half hilarious buddy movie – that makes the movie one and half times better than any other movie. FACT. Plus Farrell and Gleeson are the funniest double act since Cannon and Ball. FACT.

 

  1. Wall E (2008) The funniest post-apocalyptic science fiction film ever….sorry, we forgot ‘2012’ didn’t we?

 

  1.  Up (2009) Old man, chubby kid and dog float to South America in a house? What are these film execs on? Can you buy it over the internet?

 

  1. The Hangover (2009) The film that put the gross into ‘10th-highest grossing film of 2009’. Rude, crude, lewd, spewed, nude, blue’d, – we are amused [that doesn’t rhyme but we like it]

 

  1.  Four Lions (2010) Radicalised Islamists? Suicide bombers? Northern Accents? Now that is a recipe for comedy gold if ever we heard one – and we did in this Chris Morris movie about radicalised Islamist wannabe suicide bombers in the North of England.

 

If you think you know any better than Signature Entertainment, please let us know your favourite comedy of the 21st Century.

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First Time is the last time

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Signature Entertainment

Actors who directed just one cinema movie

 

We might be jumping the gun but ‘Love, Wedding, Marriage’ director Dermot Mulroney is now part of a very select club. Almost any actor can develop a second career as a director – ask Clint, George and Ron (Howard) but very few make just 1 movie and then call it a day. We explore the long history of short directorial careers

 

The Godfather – Charles Laughton

Night of the Hunter

Laughton probably represents the model for all actors who want to turn director. By 1955, he was a respected character actor with a 20 year career in movies. He always had ambitions to direct and the chance to direct a version of David Grubb’s thriller set in the Deep South provided him with an ideal opportunity. Despite a stellar cast including Robert Mitchum, ‘Night of the Hunter’ sank without trace at the box office and was passed over by the critics. Today, its heralded as a brilliantly directed movie, ranked #34 in American Film Institute’s 100years/100 thrills list

 

Superman’s ‘Hero’

Everyones Hero

Although he had directed a couple of TV movies, Christopher Reeve’s chance to direct for cinema did not come until 2004 when he started work directing ‘Everyone’s Hero’ – an animated Baseball-themed feature that included a role for his son Dana. Tragically, Reeve never got the chance to complete the film as he died mid-way through production.

 

Smiley’s People

Nil By Mouth

Oscar nominated for his role as George Smiley, Gary Oldman caused controversy with his only film as a director ‘Nil By Mouth’ (1997). Critically lauded and winner of several international awards, the film became notorious for its use of the F-word. Showing Gordon Ramsey how it’s done, the word was used 475 times – that’s once every 3.75 minutes.  Oldman wrote the script, too but it’s unlikely his characters potty mouths are the reason why he never got to direct again.

 

Brando’s Folly

One Eyed Jacks

Overblown, incoherent and controversial – if ever a film reflected its director it’s Brando’s ‘One-eyed Jacks’ a 1961 Western that was to be directed by Stanley Kubrick or Sam Peckinpah. Brando shot almost 7 hours of narrative. Most of it destroyed after he disowned the movie, but the director’s cut still runs to 300mins. Its critical reputation, like Brando’s film career – is mixed.

 

The Odd Couple make a Movie Each

Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon

Jack Lemmon and Walther Matthau made more films together than they made a director.  Strangely, Walt’s only movie – ‘Gangster Story’ (1961) – came early in his career when he was a versatile character actor rather than the great comedian that he became later in the decade. But later success did not bring further directing opportunities. Lemmon’s movie came a decade later and was a gentle comedy that earned his great buddy Matthau an Oscar nod as Best Actor. There was no nomination for Jack – and no more movies to direct either.

 

We hope that ‘Love, Wedding, Marriage’ turns out to be the first of many films behind the camera for Dermot – but if not he is at least in good company.

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Our favourite matrimony-themed romcoms

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Signature Entertainment

Everybody loves a good wedding. So to celebrate the release of Love, Wedding, Marriage we’ve chosen our top ‘wedding’ movies.

 

  1. The Wedding Planner (2001)

The Wedding Planner

Pre-‘Gigli’ JLo was riding a wave of film and musical success, and it all comes together in this 2001 movie directed by Adam Shankman. The plot may be ‘something’ borrowed but both leads are pretty hot, and there is an obvious chemistry. Fact fans: The simultaneous release of The Wedding Planner and her second album J.Lo made Lopez the first person in history to have a number one album and film in the same week

 

  1. What Happens in Vegas (2008)

What Happens In Vegas

Or what happens if you make a romcom for girls and boys men. Although there is the obligatory happy ending, this is a kind of gross out romcom that blokes don’t mind watching. Cameron Diaz proves her comic ability again, Ashton Kutcher looks cute – again. Enjoy

 

  1. Muriel’s Wedding (1994)

Muriel's Wedding

‘You’re terrible, Muriel’ but the film certainly isn’t. PJ Hogan’s Aussie beauty was a real slow burner, turning a satirical and sly modern take on the ‘Ugly Duckling’ set in suburban Porpoise Spit into an international hit. We loved all things Australian then (Neighbours, Strictly Ballroom), we’ve loved Toni Collette since. But the secret was in the Abba soundtrack – a fact that did not escape the producers of ‘Mama Mia’

 

  1. My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)

My Best Friends Wedding

It’s PJ ‘Muriels Wedding’ Hogan again, resurrecting Julia Robert’s career, opening the door to the US for Rupert Everett and boosting the young Cameron Diaz’s career after a run of stinkers. Purely co-incidentally (honestly), Roberts’ love interest is Mr Dermot Mulroney – director of ‘Love, Wedding, Marriage’ and very good he is too!

 

  1. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Before the gypsies got there, there was this smash ethnic romcom that came out of nowhere to become one of the biggest earners and best loved films of 2002. Star Nia Vardolos wrote herself a one woman show as she was sick of ‘resting’; Rita (Mrs Tom Hanks) Wilson saw it and got hubby to finance it – a fairytale of girl power as the film became the biggest grossing independent movie of all time – and next year Tom & Rita celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary

 

Well, that’s our opinion but we would love to hear from you – especially if a movie has had an affect on your love life!

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You want Moore! 5 Reasons to love ‘Love. Wedding. Marriage’

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Signature Entertainment

On 6th February, the romcom ‘Love. Wedding. Marriage’ was released on DVD. There are obviously many reasons to buy it so we’ll concentrate on the top 5

Kellan Lutz

  1. Kellan Lutz

We shouldn’t say it but we will – this boy is hot, hot, hot. Famous as Emmett Cullen in the ‘Twilight’ film series, in this film Kellan gets the chance to develop his acting skills and we get a chance to ogle his pecs. Kellan is one of the models for Calvin Klein X campaign so he’s not afraid to strip down to his bare essentials thankfully.

James Brolin

  1. James Brolin

Anyone looking for a slightly more mature leading man will enjoy James Brolin in the movie. The father of the now better known Josh and Mr Barbara Streisand is looking better than ever in this movie and obviously enjoys himself. He delivers the films best known (and truest) line “the greatest love survives the harshest of conditions” – ain’t that the truth.

 

  1. Valentine’s Day is on 14th Feb

We know it seems obvious but there is a large % of the population that seems to think it moves about like Easter or the start of the football season. So here is a mathematical proof of how buying ‘Love. Wedding. Marriage’ will get you a gold star

14th Feb – 6th Feb 9 (release date) = 8 days to remember to buy the film

 Dermot Mulroney

  1. Another Actor Turned Director

This is actor Dermot Mulroney’s first film as director. The ‘Young Guns’ and ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ star has some tough acts to follow. First films by actor-turned-directors include George Clooney’s ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’, Kevin Costner’s ‘Dances With Wolves’ (ask your dad) and Orson Welles’ ‘Citizen Kane’ (ask your great granddad). So no pressure there Dermo.

 

  1. It’s a trend setter

Well, alright a micro-trend setter. ‘The Marriage Councillor’ is set for release late 2012 and stars Jurnee Smollett as “a newlywed marriage counselor who gives great relationship advice but finds it difficult to address issues in her own marriage” – looks like we go there first!

 

Amazingly, star of the show and People Magazine’s 5th ‘Most Beautiful Person in the World’ Mandy Moore doesn’t even get into our top 5! You can catch the DVD at most branches of Tesco.

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Richard Gere tops ‘most romantic’ poll

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Signature Entertainment

Richard Gere

Richard Gere has triumphed in our poll of the most romantic leading men in film history. The star of ‘An Officer and A Gentleman’ and ‘Pretty Woman’ received almost a quarter of the vote, conducted on our Facebook Page as part of our ‘Love, Wedding, Marriage’ daily prizedraw.

 

Joint runners up were Dirty Dancing’s Patrick Swayze and Clarke Gable – whose last film was made over fifty years ago; proof perhaps that machismo, charm, rugged good looks never date. Playing Rhett Butler in ‘Gone With The Wind’ probably helped too!

 

Hugh Grant fought off George Clooney in the battle for fourth place

 

Today’s generation of leading men polled badly, with Ryan Gosling receiving the same number of votes as Kermit The Frog!

 

Perhaps surprisingly Colin Firth, Harrison Ford and Antonio Banderas picked up only 1 vote each!

 

The top results of our completely unscientific and unrepresentative poll are

Richard Gere 24%

Clarke Gable 11%

Patrick Swayze 11%

Hugh Grant 6%

George Clooney 5%

Gerard Butler 4%

 

Let us know your favourite leading man by posting a comment on our Facebook page

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Mandy Moore on love, her wedding and marriage

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Signature Entertainment

Mandy Moore

The ‘Love Wedding Marriage’ star is a whole lotta talent –coming to fame as a singer, then branching into acting – she even had her own fashion line for a while. Born New Hampshire in 1984, she has sold over 10m records worldwide, toured with N’SYNC and was ranked 5th in People magazines ‘Most Beautiful’ List in 2011.

 

Here she reflects on love – and other important topics

Mandy Moore and Ryan Adams

On her own wedding (to Ryan Adams)

“We figured, ‘Yeah, why not? Let’s do it. It was never important for a wedding to be about anything other than me and my partner. A big celebration was never my cup of tea.”
On Marriage

“I didn’t know if marriage was something that was super important to me. I thought, maybe I don’t need that in my life.”

Her advice on love

“Keep the lines of communication open, take it one day at a time. I feel really lucky…it’s been really easy for in my case – so far!”

On being boring

“I almost wish like I had a little bit more of that (craziness) in me. Not to be cheesy or anything, my life is good and I’m very happy with it, but I lead kind of a boring life outside of doing all of this, honestly”

On NOT planning a film career

“I grew up doing musical theater so I always loved acting as well. I knew that if I got in this business somehow, I’d want to try my hand at doing [acting]. It just happened to sort of luck out. Opportunities come about and doors open and I wanted to take advantage of it. I had a small part in “The Princess Diaries” and I wasn’t going to, obviously, continue if I didn’t like it, and I loved it. I’m like, “This is so different from being an artist and on the road and touring, and in the recording studio.” You get to spend more time with people; you’re in the same place for more than a couple of days. It’s such a team effort. I loved the whole creative aspect of it. It was so different from the music industry. I think that’s why I wanted to continue to do it”

Her favourite song with ‘love’ in the title

“Bizarrely, the first song that I thought of was ‘what’s Love Got To Do With It’ by Tina Turner, haha. That’s not my favourite song though. I would go with the classic ‘All You Need Is Love‘. And I guess that’s all.”

On her first love

“Music is my first love”

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What has this Roman ever done for us?

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Signature Entertainment

Roman Polanski has had an eventful and long career as a movie director – one of the directors whose very name can ‘open’ a movie and whose tangled sexual history has been fodder for the tabloids. But nobody can deny that Polanski has been one of the most influential directors of the last 50 years. He is acknowledged as an influence by directors as diverse as Coen Brothers, Atom Egoyan, Darren Aronofsky, Abel Ferrara, and Wes Craven. and we trace his influence here of some of his best-known films

 

Repulsion (1965)

Hugely important psychological thriller that was highly acclaimed and highly popular on release. More than the slasher, the film was important is examining the breakdown of its lead character – crucially a woman. Lots of movies had based themselves of psychologically disturbed men, but the explore a female character like this was new.

 

Without this film we might never have seen these studies in female breakdown

Images (Robert Altman)

Woman Under The Influence (Cassavetes)

Mulholland Drive (Lynch)

Black Swan (Aronofsky)

Dark Water (Nakata)

 

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Films had dealt with the spawn of the devil, and smart ambitious New York couples but never in the same movie. The first film to do this was Polanski’s 1968 horror. Not only did it win several Oscars, it also cleaned up at the box office. But the films lasting influence is twofold – it made horror movies respectable (because profitable) again for the big studios and made the Devil hot property

 

No Rosemary’s Baby? Then it’s pretty unlikely we would have seen these films made

The Exorcist (Freidkin 1973)

The Omen (Donner 1976) plus its various sequels and remakes

The Sentinel (Winner 1977)

Burnt Offerings (Curtis 1976)

Devil’s Advocate (Hackford 1997)

 

Tess (1979)

There had always been costume dramas but unsurprisingly Polanski added the one ingredient they lacked – SEX. With a ravishing Natasha Kinski bravely cast in the lead role –  in the title role, suddenly old books were hot.

 

Without the injection of sexiness – and the box-office that came with it – we might never have seen these period dramas

Chariots of Fire (Hudson 1981)

A Room With A View (Merchant/Ivory 1986) plus lots of other Merchant/Ivory productions

Jude (Winterbottom 1986) – more Thomas Hardy with a sexy cast

The English Patient (Minghella 1996) – period drama and headed by relatively unknown ‘foreign’ actress

 

This is just 3 of his movies – there is a lot more to be said about this influential Roman.

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Place your bets. Our form guide to the BAFTAs 2012

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Signature Entertainment

BAFTA 2012 logo

We love films and we are partial to the odd 50p each-way bet so we couldn’t resist looking at the runners and riders for the top races in this year’s BAFTA Film awards. The nominations were revealed today (17th Jan) and we’ve already picked our winners.

Best Film Form is hard to read for the top prize as previous winners have either been the very best that year (The Hurt Locker 2010) or not so great but very British (The Queen 2008/ Atonement 2009). With no obvious ‘British’ nominee, we think they will go for pure quality.

Winner: The Artist 4/6  

Best Director We know BAFTA loves Scorsese with 7 nominations dating back over 35 years! But we don’t think ‘Hugo’ will be enough to snatch victory away from the critic’s choice of 2011

Michel Hazanavicius

Winner: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist 6/5  

Best Actor There has not been a strong British-bias in recent years – in fact they have often given the gong to performances to US actors unrewarded at home. However, we think there is a chance to make a decent return on your stake as they honour a truly masterful performance by one of our greatest film actors.

Winner – Gary Oldman for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 4/1  

Best Actress Another BAFTA longtime love is Meryl Streep. She has a total of 10 nominations dating back to 1979. Amazingly she has only one win – for ‘The French Lieutenants’ Woman’ way back in 1981. We think it will be a good bet to see her add another.

Meryl Streep as Mrs Thatcher

Winner – Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady 4/7  

(All odds from Paddy Power and correct at time of posting)

With odds this short there may not be much money to be made but a little side bet always add some interest to what may be a long night! Don’t forget to tell us if you make a mint or loose a small fortune

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Battle Recon AKA

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Signature Entertainment

Battle Recon: The Call Of Duty is also known as ‘Battle Force’ – two great titles for one great film but it carries on a tradition that’s as old as film itself: the alternative title.

Battle Recon The Call To Duty

Of course, there are many really boring reasons why titles are changed. Some films just don’t do that well on their cinema release and those cunning distributors come up with a new name to make it seem like a whole new movie.

 

And of course there are lots of foreign movies that simply need proper English titles for the UK and US markets. Even here you wonder why they bother sometimes. Francois Truffaut’s ‘Jules et Jim’ became ‘Jules and Jim’ for all those who couldn’t pronounce ‘et’. And Luc Besson’s film of the killer with a heart of gold is known throughout the world as ‘Leon’ except to Uncle Sam where it is ‘The Professional’

 

But renaming US or UK films into native language can present a few ‘problems’. So the literal translation of the Chinese titles for popular English-language films includes

  • ‘The Fully Monty’ becomes ‘Six Naked Pigs’
  • ‘Boogie Nights’ translates into  ‘His Powerful Device Makes Him Famous’
  • ‘As Good As It Gets’ combines title and critical comment as ‘Mr Cat Poop’

Boogie Nights

And just to show we are not picking on the Chinese, the Japanese title of ‘Being John Malkovich’ is ‘The Hole of Malkovich’ – hopefully not filled by ‘His Powerful Device Makes Him Famous’

 

‘Two Nations divided by One Language’

But unsurprisingly some of the strangest changes of film titles have seen US movies given new names for the UK market and vice versa, proving yet again the gap between our two countries is bigger than the Atlantic Ocean.

 

As far back as 1927, ‘Underworld’ a US gangster movie was censored in the UK and then renamed ‘Paying the Penalty’ to prove that crime does not pay – unless you are a filmmaker of course.

 

The 1950 drama of a troubled trumpet player was known in the USA as ‘Young Man With A Horn’ but that was obviously far too close to a double entendre here so we saw it as ‘Young Man of Music’. ‘Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle’ meant nothing to UK audience unfamiliar with that hamburger chain, so it became ‘…get the Munchies’ as all  UK-kids are familiar with the after effects of ‘tooting’ as my mom calls it.

Harald and Kumar

‘The Concorde; Airport ‘79’ became ‘Airport ‘80’ to show the UK really is in a different time zone, and UK’s ‘The Madness of George 3rd’ was famously retitled ‘The Madness of King George’ in the USA just in case they thought they had already missed George 1 and George 2

 

But our favourite AKA has to be Michael Reeve’s classic 1968 horror known in the UK and the rest of the world by the very sensible name of its subject matter ‘The Witchfinder General’ but retitled for the US market as ‘The Conqueror Worm’ – !!!!????!!

 

However, if you have any favourite alternative titles we’d love to hear from you.

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