Screenings of The Hangover this evening plus a gala screening at the DGA theatre for Nurse Jackie, the new Showtime series, plus an after-event. (Resulting in a regretful blowoff of a special sneak screening of Food Inc. at the Angelika Film Center.) Tomorrow night a Film Society of Lincoln Center evening screening of Michael Wadleigh‘s Woodstock plus a Taking of Pelham 123 press screening. The New York premiere of Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi‘s Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love plus an after-event plus a Woodstock Bluray press event and party the same day. Plus a second screening of Whatever Works. And and and….

Leo likes greyhounds and Antonio Villaraigosa like news anchors — where’s the harm? Nice pedicure, by the way. No offense, but she sounds like she’s about a quarter-of-an-inch deep, if that.

The following IMDB post about Greg Mottola‘s Paul, which starts filming later this month, is apparently legit: “A comedy about being an alien in America, even if you’re not from outer space. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jason Bateman Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig and Sigourney Weaver costarring. Directed by Mottola, written by Pegg and Frost, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner producing, Universal distributing, etc.

Paul is the story of Graham Willy (Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Frost), two sci-fi enthusiasts from the UK, who alight from a visit to San Diego Comic Con to Nevada’s Area 51 for a spot of UFO tourism. But their trip takes a “sudden and dramatic turn when the boys happen upon a crashed government vehicle containing an alien called Paul (voiced by Rogen),” blah blah. They embark upon an adventure,” blah blah. Struggling to help Paul get ET-home while trying to stay ahead of the tenacious government operative, Agent Lorenzo Zoil (Bateman) and Ruth’s zealous, shotgun-toting, bible-bashing father,” blah blah.

Paul will film in the San Diego and Santa Fe areas from June until August.

Here’s a basic view shared by certain people I know: “The sea is calm, you said. Peaceful. Calm above but below a world of gliding monsters, preying on their fellows, murderers all of them. Only the strongest teeth survive. And who’s to tell me it’s any different here on board or yonder, on dry land?” I’m not arguing this perception, but I abhor the manner and tendencies of those who live and act and behave by this view alone. For they are the dark men, the reactionaries, the weak sisters, the conservatives, the fearful, the militant Israelis and Ebenezer Scrooge’s of this realm. Name the film that this mp3 is from — the film, the year, the actor, the original author, etc.

“Okay, I’m big enough to admit when I’m wrong,” writes Marshall Fine. “I apologize for calling Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian the most witless, humor-challenged movie of the summer. The winner and new champion: Land of the Lost. At least there’s truth in advertising. See it and you lose your time, the money you spent on a ticket and, perhaps, the ability to walk upright without dragging your knuckles on the ground.

“With this film, Will Ferrell officially signals the end of his 15 minutes. Indeed, if it weren’t for Matt Lauer, there’d be nary a laugh at all in this excruciatingly lazy and unnecessary film. I repeat: The biggest laughs belong to Matt Lauer.

“Dinosaur urine and poop are the best they’ve got? Oh, wait — I forgot the numerous times the monkey man groped Anna Friel’s breasts. Apparently director Brad Silberling thought it got funnier every time. He was wrong.

“I propose that there should be criminal penalties for wasting $100 million on a movie this dreadful. Maybe someone can implement Hollywood’s version of the hockey penalty box for actors and directors who knowingly make one. Sorry, Will, you’ve got to sit the next one out.

“How could they not know? Probably they didn’t notice because they were too busy standing around on the set, cracking each other up and congratulating themselves on what comic geniuses they are, while collecting massive paychecks. The movie is filled with weak ad-libs, by Ferrell and costar Danny McBride — which makes you wonder how bad the script was, if they thought this stuff was funnier.

“At one point, there’s mention of the YouTube video in which a monkey pees in its own mouth. I’m here to tell you that the 38 seconds of that video is more entertaining than all 106 minutes of this movie.”

“Perhaps more than anyone else in the business, Zach Galifianakis embodies the rebellion against the outmoded Comedy Club circuit — the exposed brick, the two-drink minimum, the indifferent audience, the ‘regular guy with an attitude’ routine — which has come to be labeled the ‘indie comedy’ movement. ‘Zach is so conceptual,’ Sarah Silverman, who has known and worked with Galifianakis since the mid-’90s, told me. ‘He’s definitely part of the excitement of this shift, this idea of comedy as art. Whether he’s at his piano, offering deadpan one-liners, or trying out some brand-new conceptual piece — like the ways he uses musicians, or flip-board messages, or the first thing that comes into his head — he is so totally original and thrilling to watch.” — from Jon Wray‘s 5.28 profile of in the N.Y. Times.

It’s been alleged that somewhere on Tumblr, the blog of MTV Awards comedy writer Scott Aukerman, is a confession that the Bruno/Eminem incident was “yes, staged. That’s all anyone wants to talk about, so let’s get it out of the way. They rehearsed it at dress and yes, it went as far as it did on the live show.”

Over and over the enacting of outrageous/uncomfortable/socially disruptive confrontation scenarios between GenY/late GenX entertainers. Over and over the moment-after suspicions that what we all just saw was staged. Over and over the confirmations arriving a day or two later that we saw was indeed rehearsed and staged.

So for GenY/late GenX comedic entertainers, the enacting of outrageous/uncomfortable/socially disruptive confrontation scenarios is not just a signature thing. It reps a shift in the zetigeist, a movement, “comedy as art.” Putting people on in a somewhat dry and unrevealing manner is all they do in front of audiences — it’s pretty much the whole conceptual magilla with not that much else in the bag. Whatever you think may actually be happening isn’t happening — it’s theatre, bro. And we are going to keep doing this until you’re literally down on your knees and begging for mercy. Because what we do isn’t as much funny as it is fun to talk about afterwards over coffee.

Bar Refaeli is an Israeli model who’s primarily known for her relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio. She’s the 2009 cover model of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (lah-lah) and is currently on the cover of the new Esquire. What’s the emotional-psychological essence of a guy who always goes for sleek leggy models like Refaeli and the nearly identical Giselle Bundchen? Never a buxom girl-next-door or a Reese Witherspoon maternal type — always a striking greyhound.

Film Threat critic Scott Mendelson actually posted this yesterday (5.31) on the Huffington Post, to wit:

“The big gossip news today is that John Travolta will not be doing publicity for Sony’s upcoming The Taking of Pelham 123. Fair enough. The man lost his sixteen year old son in a freak incident just six months ago, so the idea of doing a junket and/or appearing on the late-night talk shows is probably not very appealing right now (if ever again).

“But here’s the awkward situation. It stands to argue that the news that Travolta is not doing publicity, as revealed by the film’s costar (Denzel Washington), makes for a bigger media splash than if Travolta had just gone out and done the traditional publicity tour. Surely if his son had not just died, the footage of Travolta doing this appearance or that appearance wouldn’t be the least bit noteworthy.

“Furthermore, if Travolta had gone the publicity route, having just suffered said family tragedy, each appearance and each interview would have been front-page fodder for the gossip rags and gossipy news sites. Either he opens up about his grief and every quote becomes a ‘must-read heartbreaker’, or he completely focuses on the film, which then is a news story in and of itself (‘Why won’t he talk about it? Is he in denial?’ the tabloids will scream).

“Point being, from a purely objective point of view, can we not conclude that the death of Jett Travolta is actually a boon for Sony marketing and those who desire that The Taking Of Pelham 123 open well in two weeks? Just as the death of Health Ledger and the prostitution-related arrest of Hugh Grant have an added boost to their respective projects,

“John Travolta’s family tragedy will have the effect of turning an arbitrary publicity tour (by Washington and others involved in the film) into a genuine news story that will place the film in the fore minds of readers and viewers everywhere. Sad to say, but the death of Travolta’s son is nothing but good news for the financial success of his latest picture.” (Thanks to Movieline‘s Kyle Buchanan for the heads-up.)

Michael Moore‘s 6.1 rant about how General Motors systematically destroyed itself and decimated the lives of thousands of its employees is well taken and pretty much indisputable. But his suggestions about what should be done now are very wise and forward-thinking. 1. President Obama “must tell the nation that we are at war and we must immediately convert our auto factories to factories that build mass transit vehicles and alternative energy devices.” 2. “Don’t put another $30 billion into the coffers of GM to build cars [but] use that money to keep the current workforce — and most of those who have been laid off — employed so that they can build the new modes of 21st century transportation.” 3. “Announce that we will have bullet trains criss-crossing this country in the next five years “and hire the unemployed to build the new high-speed lines all over the country.” And so on. Worth reading.