"Hav-ing the time of our liiiiiives, oooooh-oooohhh..."

When Hugh Jackman and Australia director Baz Luhrmann hang out, as you can imagine, it’s just a couple of good ol’ bros, broin’ out, doin’ bro stuff. Watching the footy, blowin’ the foam off a pint of suds, and of course, doing karaoke dressed like Japanese schoolgirls. You know, like bros do. Give me a pound, dog, let’s rock this town.

From Jackman’s recent interview with MTV:

“I actually did karaoke with Rob [Pattinson]. That’s random, isn’t it?” he said. “We were on our way to Japan, and he was promoting ['Twilight'] and I didn’t talk to him at all on the flight, because he’s this really tall guy with a hood over his head literally [ZOMG, R-PATTZ IS IN THE KLAN! -Ed], and every time I’d go to the bathroom, I’d be like, ‘Man, that guy takes some serious sleeping pills,’ because this was him [slumps over] the whole time.”

But the twosome quickly went from strangers on a plane to friends at a bar. “When he got out, I was like, ‘Hey, man,’ and Baz Luhrmann was also on the flight because we were promoting ‘Australia.’ So we went out to this Japanese karaoke bar, and we invited Rob, and he came,” he said. “And it was so much fun. Man, he’s got a voice. Really soulful.”

Jackman expanded a bit on the night’s debauchery, revealing what really goes on at a Japanese karaoke bar, for the uninitiated.

“The first thing you do is you get inside this room, the doors are closed, and there’s, like, eight of you,” Jackman explained. “So it feels a little weird. And then all of a sudden, they open, and they bring in these boxes, which are basically [full of] dress-up [clothes], and it’s all girls’ clothes. I was a schoolgirl, Baz got dressed up, and Rob did not. He was too cool for school.” [hat tip: videogum]

As much as I want to make fun of Hugh Jackman for being a fruity actor who can’t stop singing and dancing for five seconds, in all honesty, hanging out with him actually sounds fun as hell. “At first it felt a little weird, but then they brought us some schoolgirl outfits and Oy was like, ‘Suit up, blokes, it’s toime ta pahty!” I’d be lying if I told you I’ve never been to that kind of party.

And yes, that was an Abba reference in the photo caption. Because I guaran-goddamn-tee you they sang some Abba. Australians love Abba. Those people are the gayest racists on Earth.

"The Baby Goose on the bus goes hunk, hunk, hunk!"

Opening in Wide Release This Weekend: The Ides of March, Real Steel

Opening in Limited Release This Weekend: The Human Centipede 2

FilmDrunk Recommends: 50/50

This is a pretty tame movie weekend despite huge star power, so the obvious expectation should be that The Ides of March will be the critical darling that is outperformed by Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots: The Movie because your kids think that a robot punching another robot in the balls is HILARIOUS. What say you, on with the lofty expectations?

The Ides of March

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79% critics, 84% audience “want to see”

Gratuitous Review Quotes:

“In a raw and riveting face-off in a hotel kitchen, Mike and Stephen have it out on issues that really are life-and-death. Clooney knows how to ignite sparks and build momentum. And he hands the terrific Gosling an all-stops-out role that challenges him on every level – his ravaged face traces the line from compromise to corruption.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“Gosling is the standout among the A-list ensemble, delivering a riveting, intensely focused performance. He has a wonderful moment when Myers is faced with a fateful decision. The next scene is silent, a medium shot of him walking down the street. From the cadence of his walk, we know the choice he’s made. That, ladies and gentlemen, is an actor at work. – Colin Covert, Minnesota Star Tribune

Armchair Analysis: Nobody ravages Baby Goose’s face. This film is obviously going to receive high praise and generate a great deal of Oscar buzz, but is this really a great time for a political drama? I’d rather watch Pauly Shore in Hail to the Queef the way this country is going, but then… I just can’t say no to Silver Fox and Baby Goose.

Seriously, even my panties get moist looking at this picture…

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Did you enjoy X-Men:First Class?  Ha! Fox tricked you! Their fluke enjoyable movie was all just a ruse to make another unwanted sequel to a rightfully forgotten franchise! Ever since Darren Aronofsky pretended to want to direct it for a few months and then went out for a pack of cigs and never came back, Wolverine 2 has been looking for a new daddy.  Now it seems they’ve found it in the form of James Mangold, whose filmography includes some solid flicks like 3:10 to Yuma and Copland, some overrated mehs like Girl Interrupted and Walk the Line, and some stinkers like Kate & Leopold and (*gulp*) Knight and Day. Deadline reports that Mangold is the first choice of both Hugh Jackman** (who apparently holds no grudges about Kate & Leopold) and 20th Century Fox.  So I guess you could say Hugh Jackman is digging for Man Gold.

Negotiations are about to get underway, but I’m told that Mangold will take the helming job on the sequel to the X-Men spinoff film, a post that became vacant when Darren Aronofsky dropped out of the film in March. I’d heard that Mangold was on a very short list coming into this week, along with Warrior director Gavin O’Connor and Brooklyn’s Finest helmer Antoine Fuqua. I’ve heard that Fox will look to start principal photography in the fall. Scripted by Christopher McQuarrie, The Wolverine takes place mostly in Japan. [Deadline]

With James Mangold directing Christopher McQuarrie, there’s a chance we could get Usual Suspects meets 3:10 to Yuma, but also a chance we get The Tourist meets Knight and Day.  Too early to tell, really.  But I’ll say this, I’m already off to a great start on my X-Men-themed gay porn parody, MAN GOLD: JackMan vs. Assbender.

**Does six-foot Hugh Jackman playing a superhero who’s supposed to be short cancel out elfin Tom Cruise playing a guy who’s supposed to be 6’5″?  Discuss.

...Mom?

I’ve been excited for Shawn Levy’s robot-boxing movie, Real Steel, ever since Levy said of the project, “In a movie filled with these mechanical warriors, at its core ‘Real Steel’ is an incredibly human story.”

Now it’s got a full-length trailer, and against all odds, IT LOOKS EVEN MORE RIDICULOUS THAN WE COULD’VE IMAGINED!  Keep in mind as you watch this that Spielberg and Co. over at Dreamworks already have plans for a sequel based on how well it played to test audiences.

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In six months, Dreamworks is scheduled to release Real Steel, a film from Hugh Jackman and the director of Night at the Museum about robots with mohawks who punch each other in the balls and box.  For some, this would be a time of much worry and hand-wringing, wondering if the $80 million they spent on a robot-boxing movie would earn out.  The heads at Dreamworks, on the other hand, believe this to be such a surefire winner of a concept that they’ve already hired a writer for the sequel. 

I’m told the studio has commissioned John Gatins, who scripted the first film, to start on the second installment. It’s unusual to see that occur so early, but I can recall it happening when Warner Bros commissioned a Hangover sequel after early tests showed the movie was going to be a big hit.

DreamWorks has gotten strong response to internal screenings of the film, and at a CinemaCon presentation of footage in Las Vegas. The film is a Rocky-meets-Transformers tale of a prize fighter whose pugilistic skills are rendered obsolete when human boxers are replaced by robots. The fighter (Jackman) becomes a boxing promoter and finds a discarded robot that wins and wins. The fighter also discovers he has a 13-year old son, who comes along for the ride as the robot heads toward the top against scary competition. [Deadline]

Rocky meets Transformers.  Do not nut-punch your robot, you indeed read that correctly. Though if you ask me, it sounds like another Stallone classic, Over the Top.  Specifically the old Norm MacDonald car crash sketch from SNL (included below), where he’s ripping on Stallone for making Over the Top.  “Did you actually read the script for Over the Top and say ‘gee, that’s a good one.’  You combined the the drama of a child custody hearing with, uh… arm wrestling.”

I can’t wait until Real Steel comes out, combining all the touching drama of male-abandonment issues with… uh… robot boxing.

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