Filling his prescription of chill pills.

Let’s see, we have James Franco, a director who goes only by Carter and a debut at the Berlin Film Festival. Could it be that Maladies is everything that we’ve come to expect from Franco and more?

Set in the 1960s, James Franco (kinda looking a bit like Joaquin Phoenix from “The Master” in that pic above) plays a former actor and schizophrenic who lives with his mentally detached sister Patricia (Fallon Goodson) and his cross-dressing best friend (Keener) in the same house. And as you can guess, their lifestyle, coupled with their issues, ruffles more than a few feathers both inside and outside of the house as they try to make sense of their lives. (Via Indiewire)

Hell yes, this is a Franco film if I’ve ever heard one. And now we have a trailer to see just how crazy Maladies will be.

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Noooooooooo!

Recently, Uwe Boll made a film called Auschwitz (insanely disturbing teaser trailer here), which he wanted to submit to the Berlin Festival.  The Berlin Film Festival had the audacity to charge Boll a $170 entry fee, and now Uwe Boll is suing because other movies didn’t have to pay.  I really think the UN should get involved.  Having to watch an Uwe Boll film about the Holocaust seems like Germany’s long-overdue punishment for causing the Holocaust.  Is there film festival at the Hague?  They could play it there.

At issue is the 125 Euro entry fee [$169.34] all films are required to pay to be considered for the Berlin festival. Boll refused to pay the fee to submit Auschwitz, claiming the fest, and director Dieter Kosslick, was acting in bad faith and would not judge the film on its merits.

“Kosslick has been fighting me for the last 25 years, as Berlin festival director and before, when he was head of (German regional film board) the NRW Filmstiftung,” Boll told THR. “I don’t believe the Berlinale handles all films fairly. Kosslick has his deals with the major studios and invites his old pals from the Filmstiftung days. There isn’t fair competition.”

Boll’s suit will claim that many films picked to screen at the Berlinale — particularly prominent Hollywood films — did not pay that fee, making the festival criminally liable. [THR]

Look, dude, you have to pay to get your movie into a festival when others don’t for the same reason I have to pay a cover at bars that let hot chicks in for free: your movies are ugly and they make everyone sad.  (Man, I accidentally just really hurt my own feelings).  Uwe Boll’s comedies are more painful than Al Qaeda beheading tapes, I can’t even imagine what it would be like when he’s making one that’s INTENTIONALLY hard to watch.  He might as well just walk down the aisle slicing everyone’s eyeballs like Un Chien Andalou.

Meanwhile, I’m planning a German-themed Odd Couple called “When Uwe Met Dieter.”