The Wackness Archives - The Playlist

Exclusive: Jonathan Levine Sets Up Comic Zombie Adaptation, ‘Warm Bodies’

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:24:00 +0000

“The Wackness” and “All The Boys Love Mandy Lane” director Jonathan Levine is a busy young man.

He recently replaced Nicole Holofcener as director of the James McAvoy and Seth Rogen cancer comedy, “I’m With Cancer” (though apparently the film has reverted back to an Untitled state for now). And filming is scheduled to start in Vancouver, Canada next month.

However, sources close to the project and producers tell us Levine already has another project in the works which is an adaptation of a comic zombie love story novel that he will write and direct.

Continue reading Exclusive: Jonathan Levine Sets Up Comic Zombie Adaptation, ‘Warm Bodies’ at The Playlist.

‘The Wackness’ Director & Anna Kendrick Join ‘Cancer’ Comedy With Seth Rogen & James McAvoy

Rodrigo Perez — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:42:00 +0000

Interesting. A project we nixed from our Most Anticipated 2010 list at the last minute because it seemed to be going nowhere: “I’m With Cancer” (aka actually technically still Untitled, but hey, we need to refer to it as something) seems to have found new life force.

Nicole Holofcener (“Friends With Money,” “Lovely & Amazing”) was set to direct the cancer-dramedy based on the personal experiences of screenwriter Will Reiser. Seth Rogen was co-starring and producing through his deal with Mandate (that also has his “Jay and Seth Vs.

Continue reading ‘The Wackness’ Director & Anna Kendrick Join ‘Cancer’ Comedy With Seth Rogen & James McAvoy at The Playlist.

The Most Disappointing & Most Overhyped Films Of 2008

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:57:00 +0000

We’re obviously planning a Best of 2008 list and even a Worst of 2008 list, but it never really occurred to us to do the more nuanced, Most Disappointing of 2008 list until we saw Spoutblog‘s list (they crazy about “Che,” let’s leave it at that). Films that disappointed, yes, this is a very subjective list. A lot of people are picking up on the Most Disappointed meme, but some seem to have a strange ideas of what “most disappointed” means.

Continue reading The Most Disappointing & Most Overhyped Films Of 2008 at The Playlist.

Why Indie-Twee, 20-Something Movies Can Be Totally Ghey – Is ‘500 Days Of Summer’ The Shins Of Indie Movies?

Rodrigo Perez — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:19:00 +0000

“Juno,” “The Wackness,” “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” “Garden State” even “The Go-Getter,” one of our friends calls these indie-friendly flicks, “The Shins of Indie Movies,” i.e., the pleasant, but completely toothless and innocuous indie-rock band on Sub Pop records that many of us enjoy, but all are completely aware aren’t exactly high art or life-changing.

These are the “offbeat” and “quirky” romance movies places like Stereogum, Pitchfork and the younger movie crowd tend to adore and we must admit we anticipate and even enjoy many of them too (of the above, “The Go-Getter” is our fave and the least indie offensive), but it’s undeniable that some of these “indie hipster” films can be obnoxious, sickeningly twee and cringe-inducing in their emo-ness.

Continue reading Why Indie-Twee, 20-Something Movies Can Be Totally Ghey – Is ‘500 Days Of Summer’ The Shins Of Indie Movies? at The Playlist.

Contest Closed: Get Some ‘ Wack’ Shit, Yo

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:10:00 +0000

The stoner, kinda-emo, coming-of-age dramedy, “The Wackness” has been doing pretty well at the box-office, even though some bloggers don’t really want to admit that for various reason,(number one essentially being : trying to save face). Anywhoo, in it’s opening weekend, it beat out “Hancock,” to score the highest per-screen average. Pretty good, right?

While it’s mixed reviews don’t quite illustrate the schism between early-bird bloggers’ enthusiasm and more staid critics, there is something to be noted that about that disconnect.

Continue reading ~~Contest~~ Closed: Get Some ‘ Wack’ Shit, Yo at The Playlist.

Hip-Hop Heavy ‘Wackness’ Has Its Dope-Smoking Heart Actually Rooted In Emo

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:14:00 +0000

We saw “The Wackness” back in March and weren’t able or motivated enough to spit out a proper review then and since it comes out today, well, here we are. In our numerous posts about the film — including where we exclusively revealed the film’s soundtrack credits and CD details — we’ve almost said all we can possibly say about it. But let’s give it another quick whirl.

The bildungsroman tale chronicles a troubled teenage drug dealer (the up and coming Josh Peck), who trades therapy sessions for pot with his drug-addled psychiatrist (Sir Ben Kingsley).

Continue reading Hip-Hop Heavy ‘Wackness’ Has Its Dope-Smoking Heart Actually Rooted In Emo at The Playlist.

Exclusive: ‘The Wackness’ Expands In North America

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:09:00 +0000

Sick of hearing about the dope-smoking, New York in ’94-nostalgia-waxing, hip-hop fetishizing, Giulliani-villifying, coming of age tale “The Wackness” starring Josh Peck and Ben Kingsley yet? The film opens today in New York and Los Angeles, and nothing has been announced past that. We’ve been given a first look as the film expands into other markets in the U.S. They are thus.

July 11: SAN FRANCISCO, WASHINGTON, DC, PHILADELPHIA, BOSTON, SAN DIEGO, CHICAGO, SEATTLE
July 18: DALLAS, MINNEAPOLIS, PHOENIX, PORTLAND
July 25: HOUSTON, AUSTIN, DENVER, ATLANTA, PROVIDENCE, RALEIGH-DURHAM-CHAPEL HILL, CHARLOTTE, CLEVELAND, SAN ANTONIO, ALBUQUERQUE, SANTA FE, DETROIT, ANN ARBOR, MIAMI – FT.

Continue reading Exclusive: ‘The Wackness’ Expands In North America at The Playlist.

Some ‘Wack’ Success Leads To New Thrilling Projects For Director Jonathan Levine

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:20:00 +0000

Jonathan Levine’s coming-of-age weed dramedy “The Wackness,” hasn’t even hit theaters yet (this Thursday, July 3), but the young director is already being seen as a viable talent in Hollywood. The filmmaker has been tapped to write and direct a pair of thrillers seemingly eons away from the nostalgic 1994-ish halcyon glow of his indie pot comedy, but not exactly.

The first project, “Positive,” is evidently a romantic thriller that follows a young, 20-something on a roadtrip to Martha’s Vineyard where he is seduced by his fiance’s younger sister, and the second one, “Echelon Vendetta,” is a CIA thriller about a “cleaner” spy who prevents government dirty secrets from being aired – a project he is writing for Sony, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Continue reading Some ‘Wack’ Success Leads To New Thrilling Projects For Director Jonathan Levine at The Playlist.

‘The Wackness,’ ‘Anvil The Story of Anvil!’ Win L.A. Film Fest Top Honors, Willis Is To Blame For W, Wells Still Can’t Get Into ‘Knight’

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:30:00 +0000

The stoner coming of age story, “The Wackness” and “Man On A Wire” were awarded with the top awards at the L.A. Film Festival on Sunday. Hate to break it to anyone, but this film fest doesn’t really rate.[Variety]

Update: In our sickness haze, we should have read a little closer. Our beloved, “Anvil: The Story of Anvil!” won the audience award for Best Documentary. Nice on ’em!. [The Daily Swarm]

What led Oliver Stone to “W”?

Continue reading ‘The Wackness,’ ‘Anvil The Story of Anvil!’ Win L.A. Film Fest Top Honors, Willis Is To Blame For W, Wells Still Can’t Get Into ‘Knight’ at The Playlist.

Soon To Be Indie It-Girl Olivia Thirlby Was Replaced On Soon-To-Be It-Comedy Of Summer 2008, ‘Pineapple Express’

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:01:00 +0000

There’s been about 8,000 pieces on the up-and-coming indie actress Olivia Thirlby and what appears to be her soon-to-be cemented status as the new It-Girl of 2008. There was a spate of these articles around the release of “Snow Angels,” (Time OutNY) and now that she’ll get another starring turn in coming-of-age stoner dramedy, “The Wackness,” everyone (Entertainment Weekly, New York) is regurgitating this thesis once more. Thirlby first turned head’s as Ellen Page’s bff in “Juno,” as she got all the choice bon mots of dialogue (Honest to blog?

Continue reading Soon To Be Indie It-Girl Olivia Thirlby Was Replaced On Soon-To-Be It-Comedy Of Summer 2008, ‘Pineapple Express’ at The Playlist.

Is The MPAA Giving The Special Olympics Of Film Directors A Problem?

Rodrigo Perez — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:43:00 +0000

Kevin Smith – perhaps the most painfully overrated director in the history of indie geek cinema – is apparently gleefully battling over the MPAA over a potential NC-17 rating for his upcoming guffaw-fest “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” starring Seth Rogen And Elizabeth Banks (clearly aping Apatow obvs).

“They are really fucking around with us. Those dicks! A guy fucking a donkey, they ain’t got no problem with. But a man and a woman having sex they seem to have real issues with, for some weird reason.

Continue reading Is The MPAA Giving The Special Olympics Of Film Directors A Problem? at The Playlist.

‘The Wackness’ Hip-Hop Heavy Soundtrack Features Nas, Biggie, Wu-Tang; Hits June 24

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:40:00 +0000

The Sony Pictures Classics coming of age tale, “The Wackness,” is right around the corner, so appropriately enough, the hip-hop heavy soundtrack is coming out on just a short few weeks in advance in June 24 via Jive/Zomba (we also have a first look at the CD artwork).

The film chronicles a troubled teenage drug dealer (the up and coming Josh Peck), who trades therapy sessions for pot with his drug-addled psychiatrist (Sir Ben Kingsley).

Continue reading ‘The Wackness’ Hip-Hop Heavy Soundtrack Features Nas, Biggie, Wu-Tang; Hits June 24 at The Playlist.

Yet Another ‘Wackness’ Trailer, This Time It’s “Official”

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:33:00 +0000

How many “The Wackness” trailers can there be? We’re feeling ‘—‘ this close to just being a marketing schill [ed. wait, isn’t that what a movie blog is anyhow?] Anyhow, yeah, yet another, Sony Pictures Classics really want this thing to be the “Juno” of 2008. We will use this opportunity to remind everyone that we exclusively revealed the tracklist to the soundtrack here first last week. The album comes out June 24 via Jive/Zomba.

Continue reading Yet Another ‘Wackness’ Trailer, This Time It’s “Official” at The Playlist.

Jonathan Levine Talks ‘The Wackness’ Music, Plus New Mixtape & Soundtrack Comes Out June 24

Rodrigo Perez — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:26:00 +0000

The fine L.A. Times music blog (who also has a keen interest in movies), Extended Play, got a chance to sit down with “The Wackness” director Jonathan Levine and talk about the music in the film – 1994 era’d hip-hop that is integral to the film and the place and time to which the story takes place.

As EPlay notes, “The Wackness,” won the Sundance 2008 audience award, was quickly picked up for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics, and now Jive/Sony will be releasing 13-song soundtrack on June 24 (we have the tracklist below; a bonus edition will feature two additional tracks).

Continue reading Jonathan Levine Talks ‘The Wackness’ Music, Plus New Mixtape & Soundtrack Comes Out June 24 at The Playlist.

‘The Wackness’ Mixtape: More Music Inspired By The Film

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:42:00 +0000

The upcoming 1994-set coming of age comedy, “The Wackness” is really going out of it’s way to market itself virally and on the web and make you aware of itself. You’ll recall they just released some fake ’94 public access show onto YouTube and now the filmmakers are hosting free screenings around the country. Even cooler is this Muxtape-like, mixtape application from MixWit that goes a step further by letting you embed the mix right onto your blog, webpage, etc.

Continue reading ‘The Wackness’ Mixtape: More Music Inspired By The Film at The Playlist.

Is “The Wackness’ Star Luke Shapiro Personally Soliciting You With Viral Clips?

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:18:00 +0000

Luke Shapiro, the star of “The Wackness” emailed us this morning with a link to a YouTube viral clip of his hip-hop flavored cable access show. “Sup playboy? finally found this episode in my archives, peep it,” he wrote. Or rather, the unpaid intern probably posing as Shapiro as part of the film’s “viral ” marketing campaign since Shapiro ain’t a real person (he’s played by actor Josh Peck; Shapiro is the main fictional character in the film who sells weed and is obsessed with weed and co-star Olivia Thirlby).

Continue reading Is “The Wackness’ Star Luke Shapiro Personally Soliciting You With Viral Clips? at The Playlist.

The Playlist Summer Movie Preview, Let’s Do This

Rodrigo Perez — Sun, 18 May 2008 18:24:00 +0000

For most movie fans, summer is the grand season; the blockbusters, the spectacles, the tent-pole, flagship studio films, etc. etc. But for film enthusiasts, and us the summer is generally a wasteland if you have a modicum of acumen and a period where he have to suffer through and tolerate the inhospitable cinematic season. Still there’s always something worth checking out and lord knows the tent-poles are easy, fun topics to skewer. So without further ado, the Playlist Summer Movie Preview.

Continue reading The Playlist Summer Movie Preview, Let’s Do This at The Playlist.

And Scene: Method Man As Jamaican Pot Dealer In ‘The Wackness’

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:28:00 +0000

Sony Pictures Classics has released six new clips from “The Wackness” and Slashfilm who are big champions of the coming-of-age film (but who have dogged SPC for it’s apparent “mismarketing” of the film), have all six clips on their site. We don’t suggest you watch them all cause you’re going to spoil dinner for yourself, but we’ve found one clip below that features Method Man as the Jamaican, patois-spouting drug dealer. Considering this thing screened at Tribeca just recently and we saw it back in mid-March, perhaps we’ll spit out a full-review soon.

Continue reading And Scene: Method Man As Jamaican Pot Dealer In ‘The Wackness’ at The Playlist.

2nd ‘The Wackness’ Teaser Trailer Hits

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:04:00 +0000

You’ve already seen the first trailer clip, now here’s the second one. We’ve already written a ton about the weed comedy/bildungsroman story, so we don’t really feel like repeating ourselves other than the film stars Sir Ben Kingsley as a therapist who buys weed from his teenage patient (Josh Peck) who eventually falls in love with his daughter (soon-to-be It girl Olivia Thirlby) and oh yeah, there’s a heavy hip-hop soundtrack to this one.

Some are buzzing about that it’s going to be this year’s “Juno,” because of the cool, hip teen angle, but we’re not convinced and having seen them both, it’s obvious that they’re drastically different (“The Wackness” is much more of a drama than that cute preggers comedy).

Continue reading 2nd ‘The Wackness’ Teaser Trailer Hits at The Playlist.

First Look: Trailer For The Hip-Hop Comedy, ‘The Wackness’

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:32:00 +0000

A lot of people have been greatly anticipating a first-look at the upcoming coming-of-age film, “The Wackness.” MTV got their hands on the exclusive trailer (you can see it below). You can’t really talk about the film without discussing it’s hip-hop heavy soundtrack and earlier this year, we exclusively revealed all the songs used in the film, including classic 1994-era tracks by Nas, Notorious B.I.G., Wu-Tang Clan and Raewkon, A Tribe Called Quest and Biz Markie to name a few.

Continue reading First Look: Trailer For The Hip-Hop Comedy, ‘The Wackness’ at The Playlist.

Tribeca Film Festival Highlights Movies From Harmony Korine, Beastie Adam Yauch, Guy Maddin, ‘The Wackness’ & More…

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:44:00 +0000

New York’s Tribeca Film Festival announced its star attraction films on Monday for its seventh annual cinema regalia.

Running from April 23 to May 4, as Spoutblog accurately points out, it appears that Tribeca is lazily just recycling “festival leftovers.” And this seems to be the case.

The festival has already “scaled back” this year and its A-list material is familiar: Harmony Korine‘s Micheal Jackson and Marilyn Monroe impersonators film, “Mister Lonely” (which already premiered at Cannes 2007), the hip-hop heavy coming-of-age tale, “The Wackness,” which screened at this past Sundance in January, “Savage Grace” (another Sundance ’08 leftover starring Julianne Moore), “Elite Squad” (the Brazilian big winner at the Berlin ’08 fest), “Lou Reed’s Berlin,” (directed by insufferable teddy bear Julian Schnabel and shown at both Sundance ’08 and the ’07 Toronto International Film Festival) and many, many more.

Continue reading Tribeca Film Festival Highlights Movies From Harmony Korine, Beastie Adam Yauch, Guy Maddin, ‘The Wackness’ & More… at The Playlist.

Exclusive: ‘The Wackness’ Soundtrack (And Film) A Paean To Early ’90s Hip-Hop

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:30:00 +0000

Before there was coastal beef, when Biggie was just getting started, before Tupac got got and just after Kurt Cobain popped a hole in his head is where the coming-of-age dramedy, “The Wackness” takes place.

Months ago when the film was just a twinkle in the media consciousness’ eye, it was probably best known as the film where Mary-Kate Olsen made out with Sir Ben Kingsley, (or at least that’s what earned it some initial press), but that’s a tiny fraction of the story.

Continue reading Exclusive: ‘The Wackness’ Soundtrack (And Film) A Paean To Early ’90s Hip-Hop at The Playlist.

Belated: Lackluster Sundance ’08 Closes; ‘Frozen River’ Wins Top Award, We Try & Contain Our Enthusiasm

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:51:00 +0000

So the Sundance ’08 Film Festival ended like what, 4 weeks ago? Ok, just this past weekend, but you’ll notice we weren’t really moved to write about it much and from all accounts, Sundance seemed rather lackluster and we’re glad we stayed home (using those vacation days in Mexico was well worth it).

Due to all the millions of dollars poured out last year on films that totally tanked, buyers were tentative and cagey for the first couple days.

Continue reading Belated: Lackluster Sundance ’08 Closes; ‘Frozen River’ Wins Top Award, We Try & Contain Our Enthusiasm at The Playlist.