The Smarmy Carny

Here at The Smarmy Carny, I like to have theme days such as Movie Monday and Thilly Thursday. Theme days help keep me focused when I'm drooling on myself, trying to figure out what topic to post on.

After some thought, Movie Monday and Trailer Tuesday were just too repetetive and too close together to work out well. Trailers can be posted just as well on Movie Monday, so I'm making room by merging the two. Besides, I don't have a day set aside for television.

While I would prefer to have my television day on Thursday (after Lost has aired), Tuesday was the best choice. Besides, Thursday starts with "th" and Tuesday starts with a hard "t" sound.

I hope the change is amicable to all. If not, you'll just have to deal with it, or pay me $100 to change it back. Your call.

Feel free to comment with your thoughts, suggestions, or $100+ offers.

Scotty Pelk, the film geek

Film Geek seems like a fun little independent film for recreational and serious film geeks alike. Watch the trailer on the Film Geek page or on Apple.com and decide for yourself.

The Oregonian suggests that Film Geek "just might be this year's 'Napoleon Dynamite,'" so don't miss out.

Film Geek is a hilarious new comedy about Scotty Pelk, a socially inept video store clerk with an encyclopedic knowledge of film. He runs a website, scottysfilmpage.com, which receives zero traffic. He annoys his customers. He annoys his co-workers. And when he is inevitably fired from his video store job, Scotty finds refuge in Niko, a downtown hipster who teaches him a thing or two about love and life. But Niko’s smarmy ex-boyfriend Brandon won’t go away quietly. As Scotty’s first love turns to obsession, his life begins to change in profound ways.

The trailer includes a hilarious scene with Scotty and a customer looking for a movie that might have "Heaven" in the title. Scotty immediately starts rattling off at least ten such movies of various genres. In fact, once he gets started, he ignores the customer and continues with his list, almost as if he has been challenged. Good times.

The film geek, Scotty Pelk, is played by Melik Malkasian, who played a tribal shaman in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. The female lead, Niko, is played by Tyler Gannon, who also appeared in Thumbsucker, another movie previously featured on Trailer Tuesday.

Film Geek was acquired by distributor First Run Features. As it is a small independent film, It ran in a couple theatres . . . one in Portland and one in New York City. Hopefully, we'll see it soon in theatres or on DVD.

This week's trailer is for Date Movie.

If you liked Scary Movie, you'll probably like Date Movie, as it is advertised as "From the 2 of the 6 writers of 'Scary Movie.'" Scary Movie obviously poked fun at the horror movie genre, but you'll never guess which genre of movie Date Movie mocks.

Date Movie stars Alyson Hannigan. If you don't recognize her as Lily from How I Met Your Mother, Willow from Buffy, or at least as Michelle (the "One time, at band camp . . . " girl) from the American Pie trilogy. At first I rolled my eyes to see that it was yet another fat-suit movie, but then I realized that this was a satirical movie, so the fat-suit was really the best path to take.

As shown in the trailer, Date Movie doesn't stop with only date movies. It 0also spoofs popular comedies such as Napoleon Dynamite, Wedding Crashers, and Meet the Fockers.

Watch the trailer or visit the official site.

Shopgirl tells the story the lives of three people on diverse paths in search of the same thing. Mirabelle is a small town girl and struggling artist overseeing the glove counter at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. She is swept off her feet by a rich, handsome fifty-something. At the same time, she is also being pursued by a struggling musician who offers kindness, but lacks passion, culture, and success. When fate steps in, Mirabelle is forced to choose between accepting financial security in exchange for the sacrifice of her heart or to take a shot on a late bloomer recently showing some unexpected potential.

The movie stars Steve Martin, Claire Danes, and Jason Schwartzman. Jimmy Fallon was originally slated to play Schwartzman's role, but he pulled out before filming began. No matter, as I think Schwartzman can play this sort of role better than Fallon, anyway.

Steve Martin apparently pulled a "Woody Allen" by writing a screenplay where a young girl falls for an older guy . . . and then starring as the older guy.

Watch the trailer at apple.com or the trailer at the official Touchstone site.

Apple has a teaser for Thumbsucker available now.

Will it be any good? Excellent question. Since this is a teaser, it's difficult to tell even how good it might or might not be.

According to various synopses, Thumbsucker is "an honest and funny look at the struggles of people who feel deeply flawed, both those in youth and middle age." 17-year-old Justin Cobb attempts to break his thumbsucking habit, but he resorts to pills, girls, and (of course) new age orthodontistry. Justin's search for "normal" leads him further away from his goal. None of the ancillary characters fare much better in their search, either.

Vince Vaughn plays Justin's debate coach and Keanu Reeves plays his new age orthodontist. I'm guessing that, if this movie is any good, it will be able to transcend that which is Keanu Reeves. Perhaps the role is written to be bland in that Keanu-esque way.

I was ready to close the window when I saw "From the director of 'The Fast and the Furious,'" but I decided to stick with it anyways.

Turns out, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. In typical fashion, the trailer starts out with boring scenes of Jaime Foxx as a pilot for the Navy living it up and talking about women. Shortly thereafter, however, the movie turns into what seems like a non-sappy Top Gun for the early 21st century. It also partly feels like Hunt for Red October, with what seems to be a renegade pilot (or a renegade jet?).

Don't get me wrong — I'm not promising a movie of the quality of Hunt for Red October. In fact, I can guarantee you that this won't meet that standard. It's merely a comparison, so don't harangue me when your false expectations come to fruition.

This is the Stealth Comic-Con Sizzle Piece, which apparently is just another phrase for "really cool trailer." Considering the name, it has probably been tweaked for the geek base quite a bit. Maybe that's the only reason it appeals to me.

Here's a movie for the kids. From the trailer, it looks like the objective of Barnyard is simply to have some loud, obnoxious fun. Who can go wrong with that?

Take a minute to watch the Barnyard trailer and see what you think.