Neighborhood Watch has had a pretty dicey past, but under the eye of director Akiva Schaffer it seems to now be coming together nicely. The film has a new script penned by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg ready to go, and a bunch of casting maybes have become casting confirmations. Ben Stiller is set to star as a city guy who moves out to the suburbs and gets roped into joining a nutty neighborhood watch program. Big time comedic talents Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill have signed on to fill out the watch. Rachel Getting Married actress Rosemarie DeWitt has been tapped to play the Stiller character’s wife. And now another big name is in negotiations to hop on boar as well. Almost Famous actor Billy Crudup is the latest addition, and according to Heat Vision, he’s negotiating to play the character of a creepy and weird neighbor who catches the watch’s attention. Seeing as past synopsis of the film’s plot have pointed to the fact that Stiller and his new buddies find themselves stumbling into an alien plot to overthrow the planet, I think it’s probably a good bet that we’ve just found ourselves our first alien. Seems like a good choice to me. Crudup is just too handsome. It’s… suspicious.

Jonathan Levine‘s 50/50 bares many similarities to a Hal Ashby film. Many writers/directors have attempted to emulate the Harold and Maude director’s style, capturing both the tragedies and odd humor of life, and most of the time they all come off as lazy homage. Like a bad film student trying to ape a filmmaker he or she loves, it’s embarrassing and clumsy. However, writer Will Reiser, co-star/producer Seth Rogen, and director Jonathan Levine managed to make a film inspired by the legend, and yet make their own personal and heartfelt story. A part of that heart comes from the honesty that the filmmakers captured. 50/50 had to jump over some big tonal obstacles, which, as our own review points out, it did so without a hitch. Here’s what Will Reiser and Seth Rogen had to say in our brief chat about Hal Ashby, real life not working on the page, and finding Jonathan Levine:

Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has a pretty good life. He works in Seattle as a producer for a public radio station, his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) is always good for a laugh, he lives happily with his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard), and best of all, he’s exceptionally healthy. An odd back pain sends Adam to the doctor where he discovers he’s suffering from a late stage tumor. The diagnosis shocks him at first as he’s spent considerable time exercising, eating healthy, and avoiding alcohol and drugs, but he quickly moves to anger…because he’s spent considerable time exercising, eating healthy, and avoiding alcohol and drugs. His tumor is a rare type, and while he weighs his options including chemotherapy and surgery he discovers the unofficial odds on his survival over the next few months are fifty-fifty. There’s a one in two chance he’ll be dead before his next birthday. That pretty good life soon collapses around him as he’s forced to face the reality of both his life and death. His journey will expose certain truths about himself, his family and friends, and even a few strangers, and it might even give him a new pick-up line for the ladies… Imagine if Funny People was a comedy. Then imagine it was filled with wit, heart, and an honesty about the relationships we form throughout our lives. Now stop imagining, because that movie you’re picturing is 50/50.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr is all giddy because apparently Joseph Gordon-Levitt has decided to copy his signature hairstyle. Undeterred by folks telling him Gordon-Levitt shaved his head to play the role in 50/50, Kevin tries to lobby other Hollywood actors to copy his image. Unfortunately, What’s Your Number? star Chris Evans refuses to grow a huge belly and Dream House star Daniel Craig just won’t latch onto Kevin’s charming American accent.

A while back Seth Rogen and his usual gang of friends put together a mock trailer for a film called Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse, which was set in the ravaged remains of a post-Apocalyptic Earth and told the story of Rogen and Jay Baruchel trying to get along squatting together in some rubble. Perhaps I shouldn’t call it a mock trailer, because that’s not necessarily true. It was more of an audition tape that hoped to drum up some interest in getting the film made for real, as a feature length project. It seems to have worked. While doing a recent interview promoting the soon to be released 50/50, Rogen let slip to Movies.com that the script was in the can, and that the film would begin shooting in February. Rogen said that his usual co-writer Evan Goldberg was also involved in the project, and that this time the duo would be sharing the title of co-directors as well. Those guys, they’re inseparable. People are going to start talking. Will Baruchel be returning to reprise his role in the short? Of course. And according to Rogen that’s just the beginning. He said, “It’s now much more than just Jay and Seth — there’s many other people vs. the apocalypse now. It’s gonna be crazy.” If you haven’t watched the original trailer yet, give it a go below, and then let me know what you think about it getting the go ahead to become a real movie. I generally

Typecasting is death in Hollywood. If you keep doing the same kinds of roles over and over A) you’ll go insane and B) people will get sick of your shit. But the sad paradox of Hollywood is that once you’ve established yourself as one kind of actor, you’re basically stuck that way because that’s all people will send you scripts for, turning the whole thing into a spiral of bullshit. It’s extremely difficult to break out of, and it’s ended numerous careers. (Some for the better.) Some actors get fed up with it, and then you get the roles where those actors try to break out of their type (often unsuccessfully) and as time goes by they end up looking like movies from some creepy alternate dimension or something. But what’s also weird is going back through an actor’s early filmography and finding insane gems where they’re going totally against their later-established type. For some more famous examples, just look at Keanu Reeves in the Bill & Ted movies or Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Neither of those guys would even put their cigarette out on those scripts now, and that’s what makes seeing them in those roles hilarious. So now, in a far from comprehensive list, we’re going to look at some of the weirdest roles that actors have done outside of their typical repertoire.

Do you believe in aliens? Little green men, hidden by the government for decades? Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in the film Paul sure do, and when they meet one that sounds just like Seth Rogen, they simply can’t believe it… until he starts swearing and smoking pot, ’cause that happens in every Seth Rogen film. So while the characters in Paul are lightening their mood, you can too with this game, suitable for either the theatrical or unrated version of the film, now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Looks like there’s going to be a new R-rated movie about frat houses and the hijinx inherent in the ridiculous notion of a bunch of 19-year-old dudes living together in one big building. Here’s how the story has developed so far. First, a couple of guys named Andrew Cohen and Brendan O’Brien wrote a script for the movie. It’s about a regular-guy family man whose house is unfortunately located directly next to a local college’s alpha male fraternity house. This, of course, leads to him coming into conflict with the young, party happy frat boys, and presumably some tale of living, loving, and learning results. After putting pen to paper, the writing duo then pitched the project to Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, those guys behind Superbad and Pineapple Express and whatnot. They liked it and attached Rogen himself to star as the family man of the film and High School Musical’s Zac Efron as the head frat guy.

The Hall H floor at Comic-Con was an easy audience for it, and Morgan Spurlock took full use of the home field advantage when he introduced a trailer for his new documentary Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope. He’s partnered with Stan Lee, Joss Whedon and Harry Knowles from Aint It Cool to make a film about the event that offers fans the freedom to dust off their Ryuk costume and wear it without shame. The trailer was sleek and featured memories and observations from Whedon, Eli Roth (who brought up the first time he “took a piss next to a stormtrooper and a Klingon), Seth Rogen, Kevin Smith, Seth Green and Guillermo del Toro. All Con favorites, they were joined by a few fans as well as what appeared to be an aspiring artist getting his work reviewed from working comic book producers. The trailer itself was otherwise vague, but it looks like it will have the same humor and heart that Spurlock’s work is marked by, and with full access, there are a ton of great stories that might be told.

If there’s one thing we can say about Seth Rogen, it’s that the man is expressive. Be it his laugh or his goofy mug, the guy knows how to convey emotion without actually speaking the King’s English. Or any other version of English, for that matter. And its that expressiveness that makes this new poster for Jonathan Levine’s 50/50 interesting. As you’ll see when you click through to see the entire thing, as released by Summit Entertainment today, the character Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is about to do something radical based on a recent diagnosis of cancer. From early screenings, I’m hearing some fabulous buzz about this one. That in conjunction with the fact that Jon Levine’s The Wackness was one of the better films I’ve seen in a while has me keeping a close eye on this dramedy. Lets all start by checking out the poster.

While enduring the mild pain caused by Transformers: Dark of the Moon, I thought to myself, “Man, this Sam character is a real prick. What type of people actually like this person? This is the best savior we could get?” I then realized that I often find myself thinking this nowadays. We rarely get great, likable heroes or genuine badasses on film anymore. Most are either mopey, passive, or do morally questionable acts. I’m not referring to anti-heroes — although, I do include one on the list — but, rather, the unintentionally lame mainstream characters that aren’t the most compelling or charming. A few of these not-so-heroic characters aren’t due to bad acting. As you’ll notice, Leonardo DiCaprio made the list for Inception, where he gave a solid performance. While I wouldn’t say that most of the actors featured here impressed anyone, DiCaprio and a few others certainly did. Here are ten mainstream characters that exhibit very little heroics:

When I write this column, I typically don’t get the opportunity to write about movies from my teen years. I, like many, came into a cinephilic love for art and foreign cinema during college, and in that process grew to appreciate The Criterion Collection. Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused (1993), however, is a movie that’s followed me through various changes in my life for (I’m just now realizing as I write this) about half of my time thus far spent on Earth.

Way back in 2009 there was supposed to be a movie called Neighborhood Watch starring Will Ferrel and directed by Wedding Crashers’ David Dobkin, but talent clashed with studio to the point that it didn’t ever happen. Fox isn’t a studio to just lie down and die however. I guess somebody in charge must really like the project, because a whole new wave of talent has been tossed at the script. Things didn’t work out with Ferrell and Dobkin creatively, but recently Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have written a new draft of the script. You might have heard of them, they did stuff like Superbad and Pineapple Express. Oh yeah, and Rogen has acted in so many movies over the last five years that you’re probably sick of him. But don’t worry, Rogen isn’t the new guy rumored to star. Now that there’s a spiffy new version of the script written by top talent comedy mega-star Ben Stiller is being courted to star in the film. Oh. His character would be a city boy who ends up moving to the suburbs and joining the neighborhood watch. What might seem like a pretty boring gig proves to be nothing of the sort when he finds himself right in the middle of some sort of extraterrestrial cover-up. Sounds goofy, so it’s probably going to need a goofy guy to direct.

Striking a balance between humor and humility is one of the toughest things to do in any form of storytelling, but just with this trailer, director Jonathan Levine and a cast that includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anna Kendrick look like they’ve done just that. Plus, they’ve done it while mocking the big baddie of the disease world. Formerly titled I’m with Cancer, 50/50 is a title that keeps the odds of the main character living front and center (even if they basically spoil that point in the opening part of the trailer), and the rest is filled with heads being shaved with questionable trimmers, therapy sessions, and foolish attempts at cancer-based pick-up lines.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr follows Jamie Chung to Thailand, hoping to get married. Unfortunately, someone slips him roofies, which made him black out and spend a drunken night in Bangkok. Once he got out of that city, he headed over to China to become the new pot-bellied dragon warrior. After all, if a cartoon panda can do it, why can’t he? That didn’t stop him from spending another night in the hospital, and maybe a little time in a Bangkok jail. And then the real horror happened… Kevin saw The Tree of Life.

If there’s one family movie franchise I wouldn’t mind seeing more of it’s the epic tale of Po the Kung Fu Panda and his merry band of fighting creature friends, the Furious Five. This sequel to the 2008 hit resurrects and expands upon the original’s blend of creatively filmed action, appealingly broad comedy and classic Chinese motifs interspersed with that age-old animation standard: cute animals. This time, Po the Dragon Warrior (Jack Black) and his team are called upon to protect China from Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), a peacock with a devious plan to right a past wrong and heavy machinery to back it up. The kung fu masters must face immense obstacles, not the least of which is Po’s sudden, shocking realization that his noodle-shop owning goose father (James Hong) isn’t his biological paterfamilias.

The Green Hornet is coming to homes near you on May 3rd, but you can win your DVD copy today, and it’ll be delivered alongside a couple of action figures. Sadly, the prize pack does not include Kato Vision. So what is in the prize pack and how do you win? I’m glad you asked:

There’s an old hobby that most everyone shares of creating dream teams. Maybe it’s figuring out the best possible basketball players to toss onto one roster (which dominates the Olympics in the 90s), maybe it’s thinking up physics-defying, time-travel-based bands which see Robert Plant playing with Buddy Rich and Townes Van Zandt, maybe it’s seeing some of the best in the comedy business come together to merge styles and create a movie. Paul is what it’s like when worlds collide. The dry, awkward humor of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost coming together under satire and humanistic comedy of director Greg Mottola with a healthy blend of Kristen Wiig, Seth Rogen, and Jason Batemen in tow. The results don’t explode into orbit, but the movie is as enjoyable as any other standard road trip comedy out there.

Paramount has greenlit the film, titled My Mother’s Curse, and it is expected to begin shooting in the spring. The story centers around a cross-country trip shared between an inventor (Seth Rogen) and his mother (Barbara Streisand). He is on the trip to hock his wares and she has tagged along to try and reunite with a lost love. The film has been in the works for quite some time, and has just finally gotten the green light. So I guess the question is, what about this project makes it worth so much effort to get it together?  So far there is no news of roles for a lifetime best friend or a way out of his league love interest for Rogen. Could he be making a play to step out of his comfort zone? And Streisand hasn’t acted in a non-Fockers film since 1996, what is her motivation for signing on to such an absurd sounding project?

The Green Hornet hasn’t been treated all too kindly on the interwebs for a while now. Ever since the announcement of Seth Rogen starring in the film, overly sensitive message board regulars have been crying foul. There’s been less-than-flattering rumors regarding the film, most of which were untrue, but what does writer Evan Goldberg think of this? Well, he doesn’t spend a whole lot of time online, but he recognizes and knows the unfair buzz. Goldberg even name dropped an IMDB message board regular who he spent a lot of time antagonizing. Now that the film is out, perhaps those skeptics will give the film a fair shake. The one thing about The Green Hornet that most will take notice to is how much Goldberg and Rogen did the opposite of standard superhero tropes. The lead, Britt Reid, isn’t your usual superhero and is a completely dislikable moron. The love interest isn’t even a love interest. The villain is more sympathetic than the idiotic hero. Britt Reid makes Tony Stark seem like a total boy scout in comparison. Rogen and Goldberg, without a doubt, have created one of the most unconventional and (lovably) unlikable superhero leads ever to grace the screen.