PAUL DVD News And Simon Pegg Book Signings

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: Simon Pegg via Twitter

Two really important notes for all of you Simon Pegg fans out there. First off Simon will be doing a three stop mini tour to promote his book "Nerd Do Well" here in America.

This is what Pegg posted to Twitter on Saturday:

America. D'you like books? Would you like my book. Would you like me to sign said book? Well here's how that can happen http://bit.ly/jciHer

Here is a list of the locations where you, the lucky Pegg worshiping maniac that you are, can meet him:

NEW YORK, NY
STRAND BOOKSTORE, 828 Broadway, Fl 3, New York, NY 10003
Monday, June 13 - 7:00 PM - author event. Talk/Signing
http://www.strandbooks.com/

AUSTIN, TX
BOOKPEOPLE, 603 North Lamar Blvd., Austin, TX 78703
Wednesday, June 15 - 7:00 PM - bookstore.

LOS ANGELES, CA
BARNES & NOBLE #2089, The Grove, 189 The Grove Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Friday, June 17 - 7:00 PM - bookstore. Talk/Signing
http://www.bn.com

No word on whether the Dalek will be on tour with Pegg or not. He sure seems to like the book though.

Secondly, it has just been announced that "Paul" will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on June 13th. No news on a US release yet, but I'm sure that is right around the corner. Here is the press release:

From the team that bought you Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead comes an out-of-this-world gift for Father’s Day and the must-own comedy adventure of the year… PAUL. Comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost team up again in this inventive, laugh-out-loud film as Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost); two sci-fi geeks who embark on an insane road trip that alters their universe forever. Join Graeme, Clive and Paul on their road-trip adventure as Working Title and Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd bring you the hilarious PAUL on two disc DVD, two disc Blu-Ray Triple Play and two disc Limited Edition Blu-ray Steel Book on 13 June 2011.

For the past 60 years, an alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen; Superbad, Knocked Up) has been hanging out at a top-secret military base. When he discovers he's been taken prisoner, the quick-witted, smart-ass alien decides to escape the compound and hop on the first vehicle out of town-a rented RV containing Earthlings Graeme Willy (Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Frost) who are on a pilgrimage to America’s UFO heartland. Chased by federal agents and the fanatical father of a young woman that they accidentally kidnap, Graeme and Clive hatch a fumbling escape plan to return Paul to his mother ship. As the two nerds struggle to help, one little green man might just take his fellow outcasts from misfits to intergalactic heroes.

Co-written by Pegg and Frost, and directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad), PAUL features a fantastic supporting cast of Hollywood actors including Jason Bateman (Up in the Air, Juno), Bill Hader (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Superbad) and Kristian Wiig (Despicable Me, Knocked Up). Packed with brilliant special features, PAUL is the perfect comedy to share with your dad this Father’s Day on DVD and Blu-ray Triple Play!

Blu-ray and DVD Details
Title Paul
Certificate 15
Feature Run Time 1 hour 47 mins
Genre Comedy
RRP (DVD) £19.99
RRP (Blu-ray) £26.99
RRP (Blu-ray Steelbook) £29.99

DVD Special Features:
Extended feature
Audio commentary with Greg Mottola, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost
Bloopers
The Evolution of Paul
Simon Silly Faces
Who the hell is Adam Shadowchild?
Galleries
Between The Lightning Strikes: The Making Of Paul
Audio Description

Blu-ray Special Features:
Extended feature
Audio commentary with Greg Mottola, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Producer Nira Park
BTS Featurette (8 featurettes)
Between The Lightning Strikes: The Making Of Paul
The Evolution of Paul
Bloopers
Who the hell is Adam Shadowchild?
Simon Silly Faces
Galleries

See Also: SHAUN OF THE DEAD In 60 Seconds Scott Pilgrim Style / Paul (2011)(Universal) /Univerasl Picks Up the Tab For PAUL Roadtrip / Shaun of the Dead - Bash 'Em In The Head - T-Shirt / Celluloid Philosophers - Shaun / Hot Fuzz (2007)(Rogue Pictures) / Star Trek (2009)(Paramount) / Pegg Makes His Portrayal Of Scotty A Tribute To Doohan / Simon Pegg Reaches Out To Star Trek Fans / Has Simon Pegg Burned His Star Wars Bridge? / Is Edgar Wright Planning A Gorgo Remake? / Pegg, Wright, And Frost Set To Cause The Worlds End

Paul (2011)(Universal)

PAUL - Brilliant, Brilliant, Bloody Brilliant!
Written By: Ken Hulsey

Last night I was treated to an advanced screening of the movie "Paul" at the Irvine Spectrum hosted by Universal Pictures. As you probably already know, my wife and I are huge fans of both Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and the films "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" so my expectations for "Paul" were set very high.

I am happy to report that those expectations were both met and surpassed.

In my opinion both "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" are both modern classics so the big question on is "how does 'Paul' stand up in comparison?"

Of the three "Paul" is the funniest hands down, and I say that without hesitation. The gags and pop culture references in the film are none stop and if you are fan of both Pegg and Frost you should be out of your seat and on the floor rolling.

Is it low-brow humor? Yes, in its purest form.

At it's basic level Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have essentially taken the Tarnatino (Quentin) approach with "Paul" and mashed up an unrelenting parade of popular movie references and quotes. For most film makers this could spell disaster, but director Greg Mottola (Superbad) managed to put the whole soup together flawlessly.

"Paul" is easily "Jay and Silent Bob" meets "E.T." meets "Spaced" (a 1999 UK comedy series that Pegg both wrote and starred in alongside Frost). It's the ultimate "geek" movie plain and simple with homages to "Star Wars", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "The X-Files", Indiana Jones", "Star Trek" and surprisingly the often misunderstood 1980 fantasy film "Xanadu" which if you remember starred Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly.

Synopsis:

The film opens in the United States in 1947, with a dog named Paul scratching to be let outside, where the sky is covered in eerie lights. When his owner, a young girl, lets him out, he is crushed by a crash landing spaceship. The girl pulls an alien (Seth Rogen) from the wreckage, and names him Paul. He is taken away by the Government and held prisoner for 60 years. He eventually decides to escape from his holding place, Area 51.

Two English comic book nerds named Graeme Willy (Simon Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Nick Frost) have travelled to America for the annual Comic-Con convention and to visit all the sites of major extraterrestrial importance. On the way to their second site, they stop off at a café, where two hunters confront them. As they hurriedly leave, they reverse into the hunters' car, leaving a dent. At the next site, they see a car blasting towards them and, believing it to be the hunters, they speed off in their RV. Eventually, the car catches up, and they realize that it is not the hunters. As it overtakes, it speeds off the road, rolls several times, and comes to a halt in a field. The two shocked men get out to investigate. When they realize that the vehicle is empty and begin phoning the emergency services, they hear a voice saying 'I shouldn't do that if I were you'. They turn around, and a little grey alien comes into view, smoking a cigarette, and tells Clive to put the phone down. Clive faints, and Paul, introducing himself, explains to Graeme that he is on the run and needs their help. Graeme agrees to let him come. When Clive wakes up, he is not happy about the idea, but is eventually brought around.

Along the way, they are forced to take with them a Christian named Ruth (Kristen Wiig), who, until Paul shows her his memories, believes that there is nothing outside Earth and that God created humans. When he shatters her faith in Christianity, she suddenly becomes eager to 'sin', which she was not allowed to do before by her controlling father, who pursues them. She initially doesn't trust Paul, but to prove himself trustworthy, he heals her eye, as she has been blind in it since the age of four. The whole way, three secret agents, apparently eager to kill Paul under orders from a woman over the radio, have tailed them.

After a while, Paul decides to return to the girl whose dog he crashed his ship on and who subsequently saved his life, who is now an old woman, Tara Walton (Blythe Danner). She turns her gas cooker on but never gets round to doing anything with it, because they are interrupted by the agents. As the motley crew drives off with Paul, one of the agents shoots at them, and the gas ignites, destroying the house. Another agent catches up with them but drives off a bridge and is apparently killed.

By this time, Paul has revealed that his people are ready to pick him up, and he is heading to the rendezvous. When they get there, they set off a signal and wait. Eventually, eerie orange lights show up over the surrounding trees, and everyone believes that it is Paul’s race. However, it is an army helicopter, with 'the Big Guy' (Sigourney Weaver) on board, who is actually the woman commanding the three agents. As she and three troops backing her up move to shoot Paul, the third agent, Lorenzo Zoil (Jason Bateman), who turns out to be working for Paul, bursts out of the trees and takes out the men, but is shot in the shoulder. Tara knocks out 'the big guy', but Ruth's father Moses (John Carroll Lynch) appears with a shotgun and shoots Graeme dead. Paul heals him, but inflicts the damage to himself (a possible side effect of his healing powers mentioned earlier in the film). Paul then collapses, exhausted. For a while, the other characters stand around his apparently lifeless body sprawled on the grass. Then, coughing, Paul props himself up, having healed himself. 'The big guy' regains consciousness, but she is almost immediately crushed by an alien ship. Paul leaves in the ship, and takes Tara with him.

During the credits, Graeme, Clive and Ruth are shown two years later, again at a comic convention, promoting their new mega-successful comic book, "Paul".

The cast for "Paul" is very solid with both Pegg and Frost delivering the type of gags that made both "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" two of the greatest comedies of all time. Though I am not a big fan of Seth Rogen he did an excellent job acting as the voice of the lovable pot smoking alien Paul. Other standouts include Jason Bateman as the hard nosed government agent Zoil and Kristen Wiig as the Bible thumping Ruth Buggs who breaks free from her religious shackles and falls for Graeme.

Is "Paul" one of the greatest comedies ever? Undoubtedly, though I wouldn't rank it up there with either "Blazing Saddles" or "The Blues Brothers". I would have to rank it in the top ten ....... maybe even the top five.

Yes, the film is that good!

Readers of MIN will really enjoy this one on all levels. There are tons of references to films and TV series that only reel movie buffs will get, which may not work for some people, but for true fans of the sci fi and fantasy genre it serves as a perfect homage to everything they covet.

"Pau"l is absolutely a "must see" and will undoubtedly go down as another classic from the creative duo of Nick Frost and Simon Pegg!

A+ (+++++)







See Also: Univerasl Picks Up the Tab For PAUL Roadtrip / Shaun of the Dead - Bash 'Em In The Head - T-Shirt / Celluloid Philosophers - Shaun / Hot Fuzz (2007)(Rogue Pictures) / Star Trek (2009)(Paramount) / Pegg Makes His Portrayal Of Scotty A Tribute To Doohan / Simon Pegg Reaches Out To Star Trek Fans / Has Simon Pegg Burned His Star Wars Bridge? / Is Edgar Wright Planning A Gorgo Remake? / Pegg, Wright, And Frost Set To Cause The Worlds End

Univerasl Picks Up the Tab For PAUL Roadtrip

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: WENN

It's great when you get to go on a cross-country holiday ..... and it's even better when you can talk a major movie studio into paying the tab.

That's exactly what actors Nick Frost and Simon Pegg did to prepare for their roles in the upcoming UFO comedy "Paul". The comedic duo decided that the best way to figure out how to approach their parts was to pack up a RV and head strait into America's UFO loving heartland. Much to their surprise, Universal was more than happy to fork over the money to cover the expenses.

Pegg notes,"We did the road trip initially as a way of getting a free holiday out of Universal but it was an incredibly inspiring time and a lot of what happened on that trip, we fed into the script. It was a great adventure."

Nick Frost adds, "It is work but you're also with your best mate, Sigourney Weaver's there and you're driving an Rv in the desert and it's beautiful and the food's great too."

Sounds like a dream I had once. I wonder if I can get Warner Bros to pay for my summer vacation? True, I'm not making a movie but hey it doesn't hurt to ask right?

See Also: Shaun of the Dead - Bash 'Em In The Head - T-Shirt / Celluloid Philosophers - Shaun / Hot Fuzz (2007)(Rogue Pictures) / Star Trek (2009)(Paramount) / Pegg Makes His Portrayal Of Scotty A Tribute To Doohan / Simon Pegg Reaches Out To Star Trek Fans / Has Simon Pegg Burned His Star Wars Bridge? / Is Edgar Wright Planning A Gorgo Remake? / Pegg, Wright, And Frost Set To Cause The Worlds End

"...Star differs from star in glory..."

(Vincent Van Gogh, "Starry Night over the Rhone," 1888)

I Corinthians 15:40-44:

"There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body."

I had a magnificent set of evenings over Memorial Day weekend sitting out among the moon and the stars--even sleeping out all night in my yard one night, it was so glorious--and seeing the lightning bugs begin their summer debut for the season. It was simply a magnificent weekend to be a speck in God's Universe. The sheer size and awesome timelessness of the "big" things in nature--the sky, the stars, the ocean, just to name a few--have always been the major spiritual grounding rods for me, my entire life. People just don't do it for me the way nature does.

I looked at the stars these last few nights and pondered the paradoxical dance that "people" seem to occupy in my existence, thinking how each star, in its own way, is its own "person." How like the stars in the sky, we are called to community, and how each of us in our own way feels called to individuals in that community. Yet for me, the paradox has always been nothing gets my goat like people sometimes. I can only handle people for so long, and then that secular monastic in me takes over and I retreat to my safe hermitage of my country life. There is my daily retreat from work, as well as "add on" forms like my occasional "silent Saturday morning," and my "stay-cation retreats where I never leave home." Yet I never feel "un-called" to be a part of a community. When I am home alone, after a certain amount of time enjoying my alone-ness, I think of what it is I am supposed to "do next" when I enter back into community. When I am in that community, after a while I start daydreaming of what I want to do next in my "alone time." Each needs the other, and truthfully, each feeds the other.

On one of those nights, I sat out and thought about different people with each star--what they were experiencing in their lives, and how it is that I am supposed to combine with them to light up the sky, yet maintain my own individual "star-ness." Each one of us with the incarnational light of God within us, but manifested in so many unique ways.

There seem to be at least three kinds of stars in my life experience. Most valued are the "stars I can always see"--for instance, in the winter, I can always find the constellation Orion, and in the summer I can always fix my gaze on Scorpio. They are like the people in my life who have now been my friends for three decades or more. How we relate to each other has changed drastically over the years--sometimes not even close to the roles in which our relationships started out--but we somehow can always adjust. Sometimes their light is very intense and intimate in my life, and vice versa; other times, the light is dimmer. But they are constants. They are appreciated for both their longevity and their versatility.

Then there are the stars that once were a major focus, but I now no longer pay much attention to. I really don't pay much attention to the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, or the North Star itself, per se. But there was a time I always looked for them. They are like the people who were once very involved and intimate in my life--old lovers, intense best friends, etc.--and somehow no longer figure much into the tapestry other than to be a thread once cherished, but no longer. Some of these fizzled out in a supernova of conflict, whereas others just sort of atrophied and slowly burned to extinction. Sometimes their light returns--but it is almost never of the same intensity that it once was, nor does my need to tend to that light return with the same intensity. I appreciate those stars for the history they have given me, even if it includes hard lessons.

Finally, there are the stars I just got around to noticing, like the time I first recognized all of Ursa Major, rather than just its "dipper." The first time I realized the dipper could be converted to a bear, it was an exciting time. It made the sky seem a little bigger than it used to be. I think about the gifts and talents in people I just now got around to appreciating in people who have been around me all along, or about the new people that come into my life over the years, and something about them challenge me to tend their light and let them tend mine. I appreciate those stars because they represent hope and promise.

Even the stars are perishable--which enhances my knowledge that people are perishable. It makes me understand the urgency of the Gospel of Mark, and in Paul's letters. If even stars are perishable, then people definitely are. Yet timelessness and infinity rides within all of them. What a beautiful, but messy, dance it all is!