Craig Robinson stars in Escape From Planet Earth, which arrived in theaters Friday. Of course, in addition to launching his animated big-screen adventure, he's coming to the end of the road with his NBC series, The Office. Craig filled us in about how he and the cast are faring with just a few episodes left to shoot. He also spoke about his new untitled NBC pilot, which will be helmed by The Office's producer Greg Daniels.
Michelle Obama's brother Craig has a new book coming out April 20 called A Game of Character. In it the first lady's only sibling discusses his basketball coaching career (he currently coaches at Oregon State). But the book also promises a few gems about Michelle. Like that her parents thought she would eat Barack Obama alive when they first met him, which was a shame since he was, according to her father, "not a bad-looking guy."
Here are a few more inside items about the woman formerly known as Michelle Robinson:
Would you pick up this book, or are you cool with these CliffsNotes?
It's OK to be skeptical of the whole hot-tub-as-time-machine thing that is the plot of, ahem, Hot Tub Time Machine. The movie is aware of its own ridiculousness and quickly shepherds you past that little detail so you can let yourself go and thoroughly enjoy it. Being able to appreciate the absurdity of a sci-fi jacuzzi is the first thing you'll need to love this movie; the other thing? A highly dirty sense of humor.
John Cusack, Craig Robinson, and Rob Corddry star as three buddies who try to relive their glory days at the ski lodge they once ruled in the '80s. Clark Duke plays the nephew of Cusack's character, his youth serving to remind the three men of their age and dissatisfaction with their grown-up lives. The perfect storm of debauchery, alcohol, and a shorted hot tub control panel leads them to time travel to their former selves in 1986. It's unbelievably silly, but to see why I lost myself in the madness, just read more
Right on the heels of the sweet geekfest that is Comic-Con, we get a little preview for a movie that deals with the space-time continuum. Kinda. (Well, it also references Stargate fan fiction, so there's an uber-geeky tie-in.) In Hot Tub Time Machine, we follow four guys (played by Craig Robinson, John Cusack, Rob Corddry, and Greek's Clark Duke) who get drunk and travel back in time (via hot tub, naturally). This red-band (read: NSFW) preview doesn't show a great deal of the movie but it makes me giggle because a) these four guys together make a silly bunch, and b) I find it funny to hear John Cusack say the F-word. I don't know why.
The movie opens Feb. 26, 2010, and to check out the preview, read more
First of all, it's called Hot Tub Time Machine. And that's exactly what we can expect to see in this movie: A hot tub that has the power to bring people back in time. The story will follow "a group of guys who have grown frustrated with their adult lives. They return to the ski lodge where they partied as teens to find answers and are transported to 1987 via their hot tub, a bubbly time machine."
Back when this project was first announced (and Popwatch deemed it the stupidest movie title ever), I figured the cast would be largely taken from the Apatow pool — and though Craig Robinson is one of the men in the hot tub, the other two will be played by John Cusack and Rob Corddry, with Greek's Clark Duke playing Cusack's younger brother.
I truly hope this movie is great and funny because I really like all these dudes. All I know is I'm relieved that this hot tub will have nothing to do with Brody Jenner and the young men with whom he is bromantically involved.
Don't get me wrong: Zack and Miri Make a Porno is extremely disgusting at times. But I expected that. I didn't expect it to be quite so sweet or touching (in the emotional way, gutter mind). I'm a huge Kevin Smith fan (as you may have noticed from my Comic-Con coverage of him), and this latest product of his dirty, dirty mind does not disappoint. It's one part sex jokes, one part sweetness and eight parts F-bombs. It's certainly not for everyone and it's not going to go down in history as a cinematic tour de force, but it is hilarious and raunchy and oddly sweet.
Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) have been best friends since childhood, and now they room together in a Pittsburgh apartment. They're not the most ambitious pair, and when they run out of money, they need to come up with some fast cash in order to pay the rent and bills. Thus, they decide to make a porno. Their friend Delaney (Craig Robinson, just as funny as he is on The Office) helps with casting, and soon four more (including real-life ladies from the world of adult entertainment, Traci Lords and Katie Morgan) join the project and the group is on its way to making a pornographic movie. But things get a little complicated (see? I could have used the word "sticky," but I didn't because that would have been gross) when these two just-friends decide to have sex together on camera. The main joke seems to be that pesky things like emotions and love get in the way of great, entertaining porn. For more on why I so enjoyed this movie, read more
So here it is: the "red-band" — aka "super inappropriate for work, especially if the sound is on" — version of the trailer for Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, one of the 13 movies I'm most excited to see this Fall. There's actually not too much in there all of us adults haven't heard before in a Rogen flick (you know, a lot of f-bombs and explicit language used to describe both male and female genitalia). And since Smith fought hard for and won the right to give this movie an R rating instead of NC-17, we know the movie will never get all that crass.
Still, it's . . . about making a porno. So you'll probably laugh a lot when you see this but will feel pretty dirty afterward. In addition to learning that best friends and roommates Zack and Miri (Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) are having trouble making the rent, we meet some of the other cast members, including the scene-stealing Craig Robinson as their friend who auditions women for the porno and a character played by Traci Lords named "Bubbles" who has an interesting, uh, trick.
Like I said: totally unsuitable for work (unless of course you work in porn), or with kids around, or even puppies and kittens peeking over your shoulder. It is dir-tay and I thought twice before posting — but then I felt inspired by the words of young Silver on 90210 who waxed philosophically that it's a blogger's duty to make trouble. The movie's set to hit theaters on Halloween. To check out the trailer just read more
We just got a couple new full-length trailers for movies that, if watching them in a sober state, are pretty much . . . OK. It makes me wonder if maybe — just maybe — they're supposed to be watched under the influence? I'm just speculating here.
After the jump you can find both trailers. Opening August 8, Pineapple Express actually features a pair of potheads — played by Seth Rogen and James Franco — who find themselves being chased by criminals. My favorite parts include Craig Robinson (Darryl on The Office), who's funny even without playing someone with the munchies.
We'd already gotten a tripped-out teaser trailer for Speed Racer, and the full-length trailer is a lot of the same: psychedelic visuals, bright candy colors, cartoon-y characters (since it's, you know, based on a cartoon). I'm more interested in this one because it's just mesmerizing, though I do have to wonder what it might be like to view this film in, shall we say, an enhanced state.
To see what I'm talking about, read more
