#doug mand

[disneytva]

These two gumshoes are pickin' up the slack, celebrate #DisneyTVA40 with the "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers" cards for Disney Lorcana: Azurite Sea.

November 25, 2024

[moviesframes]

The Naked Gun (2025)

Directed by Akiva Schaffer

Cinematography by Brandon Trost

[geekcavepodcast]

The Naked Gun 2025 Movie Teaser Trailer

Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. is following in his father's footsteps.

The Naked Gun stars Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, and Danny Huston. The film is directed by Akiva Schaffer from a screenplay by Dan Gregor & Doug Mand and Schaffer.

The Naked Gun (2025) releases to theaters on August 1, 2025.

[vintagewarhol]

[genevieveetguy]

The Naked Gun, Akiva Schaffer (2025)

[adamwatchesmovies]

Dolittle (2020)

When it comes to Dr. Dolittle, I’ve done my movie homework. I’ve seen all 7 films, from the dull 1967 musical to the direct-to-DVD sequels to the Eddie Murphy comedy. I’ve concluded that it’s impossible to make a good “Dr. Dolittle” movie. This 2020 revival obviously spent tons of money on effects and it amounts to nothing. Even little kids will leave unsatisfied thanks to its jumbled story.

Dr. John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) is a veterinarian who can speak to and understand animals. When Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley) falls deathly ill, only he can find the cure for the poison she’s been given by Lord Thomas Badly (Jim Broadbent). After reluctantly accepting to take young Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collett) as an apprentice, Dolittle and his animal friends set sail to find the “Fruit of Eden”.

The picture believes that as long as someone is talking, the audience will be laughing so it bombards you with a dozen unnecessary "funny" characters. Emma Thompson voices Polynesia, Dolittle’s macaw friend. She’s the sensible bridge between worlds so you could keep her. Rami Malek as the anxious gorilla, John Cena as a perpetually chilly polar bear, Kumail Nanjiani as an ostrich, Octavia Spencer as a one-legged duck, Tom Holland as a dog with glasses, Selena Gomez as a giraffe, and Marion Cotillard as a fox could’ve all been combined into just a few animals or omitted entirely. The worst of the bunch are Jason Mantzoukas as a dimwitted, wisecracking dragonfly and Craig Robinson as a paranoid squirrel. The jokes in this movie all sink to the bottom of the ocean but those two take it to another depth of anti-funniness.

The dialogue is terrible and the physical gags are made to match. Little kids won't know better and will probably laugh but adults will be embarrassed to watch Robert Downey Jr. in a bad wig wildly gesticulating. You think you’ve gotten acclimated to how terrible this is? Just wait until the movie pulls out a reference to “The Godfather” or brings on the bowel and testicle jokes. I’d tell you about the picture's worst scene but you wouldn’t believe me.

Not helping is the needlessly complicated, Swiss cheese-like plot. On the day Queen Victoria sends Lady Rose (Carmel Laniado) to find Dolittle (why'd she send a little girl on such an important mission?), Tommy finds a way into his wildlife sanctuary. Once they embark on the adventure, Rose is left behind and doesn’t do anything for the rest of the film. Why was she included at all?

Dolittle can’t get its narration right and can’t even manage to correctly do a mid-credit gag. Not only is it spoiled by the end credits (which didn’t even look all that good if you ask me) but it follows-up on a character that no one was wondering about. They had the money, they had the star power and it all went to waste. (Theatrical version on the big screen, January 30, 2020)

[bunchofbloom]

I do know some rich people.

[cxglovekernels]

Love Kernels - 29 & 30 April

CAST & CREW

- Emma Willman (Beth) will play the Stand up NY in New York (USA) on 21 May.

- No Film School talked with Dan Gregor & Doug Mand (writer team) about Most Likely to Murder and 'the differences between writing for TV and feature-films, how shooting horror is different than shooting comedy, and how being location-dependent pushes you to make last-minute adjustments'. Chicago Indie Critics talked with Dan Gregor and Adam Pally about Most Likely to Murder, comedy and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The movie is now available on all digital platforms!

FANDOM

- @ccshipper wrote Nathaniel Will Handle It, a Rebecca/Nathaniel story. Summary: I got to thinking about why Nathaniel allows himself to be drawn into shady deals by Rebecca and then that got me thinking about why he wasn't shocked by anything in her medical files. Where did Nathaniel develop such morally relativistic views? Was it while he worked for his toxic father at the law firm? Also why did The Plimptons acquire Darryl's firm and Rebecca's legal acumen?

- @mogitz has posted the third chapter of if it’s me reading the signs…, a Greg/Rebecca story (3/?) Summary: Greg Serrano has always thought of himself as a practical man - not the kind of man who believed in signs or fate or karma. He always had a very basic approach to life: you do your best, and then, eventually, you die (fingers crossed). Rebecca was not that way. Rebecca believed in signs. // A short story about Greg finding out about Rebecca's suicide attempt, and his struggle with whether or not he should go to her. All the "signs" around him seem to be pointing him home. It’s also on Fanfiction.net

- @notbang wrote a Rebecca & Paula, Nathaniel & Darryl, Rebecca/Nathaniel story, written for the prompt Rebecca/Paula or Nathaniel/Darryl + things you said when you were scared?.

- @witchofeindor wonders why it was Oh My God I think I like you in the background of the butt-dial in 3.04, and not Settle for Me.

- @softnow wrote Objectivity (and other lies), a Rebecca/Nathaniel story. They also wrote a Rebecca/Nathaniel story for the prompt You make me want things I can’t have, another Rebecca/Nathaniel story for the prompt Tell me again, and another Rebecca/Nathaniel story for the prompt You’ve thought about this, haven’t you? .

OTHER LANGUAGES

- Flemish site Newsmonkey mentions Crazy Ex-Girlfriend in a list of the 50 best series on Netflix.

A calendar with all the cast & fandom events mentioned in this newsletter can be found here