Aaron Sorkin repeats himself, and you know it

Aaron Sorkin came back to TV last Sunday with his new HBO series The Newsroom. If you missed it, don’t worry — you’ve probably heard it all before anyway.

On the occasion of the famed, Emmy- and Oscar-winning screenwriter’s return, some eagle-eyed viewer has compiled “Sorkinisms — A Supercut,” showing how even an acclaimed writer — known for his distinct verbal rhythms — has reused bits of dialogue throughout his career.

It doesn’t include The Newsroom, Moneyball or Sorkin’s play The Farnsworth Invention, but even so, it stacks clips of characters in Sports Night, Studio 60, The West Wing and several of Sorkin’s movies uttering the same phrases over and over: serial earnest entreaties to “look at my face,” compulsive endings of assertions with “and you know it” and a cascade of “you think?” that has to be seen to be believed.

(And if you love Sorkinisms anyhow, and really did miss the series premiere of The Newsroom, it’s on HBO’s YouTube channel here.)

The Watch: Finally a funny trailer

The title of the upcoming Ben Stiller comedy, The Watch, used to be Neighborhood Watch until the Florida shooting death of Trayvon Martin at the hands of a neighbourhood watch volunteer. (BTW, the police chief responsible for the initial investigation has just been fired).

Anytoomuchactualinformation, changing the name didn’t do any favours to the movie, because what the frak is The Watch? Is it a movie about a magical timepiece propelling a group of misfit children through a series of other-worldly adventures? Is it a film about the surly proprietor of a clock store who learns a little bit about the meaning of time and how we need to stop wasting it? Or is it a raunchy, R-rated romp about an awkward teen who learns some life skills from peeping at all neighbourhood housewives?

The trailers that have been released so far haven’t done the comedy any favours either. Boring. But, guess what? This one we like.

The Watch opens July 27. It stars Jonah Hill, Vince Vaughn, Richard Ayoade and Will Forte.

Malene Arpe, Toronto Star

Shia gets raw for Sigur Ros

It’s a repetitive clip that, for some, will surely entice repeated viewings all the same. Movie star Shia LaBeouf and dancer Denna Thomsen use dance and full-frontal nudity bring to life a passionate, rocky relationship in the music video for Sigur Ros’ song “Fjogur Piano.”

Given a budget of just $10,000, Israeli director Alma Har’el somehow not only enlisted LaBeouf (reportedly paid $5 million for his role in the most recent Transformers movie) but also included artistic and visually engaging use of a butterfly motif and a colourful underwater drive.

Candy is used as an apparent drug metaphor in the seven-minute clip, set to the Icelandic band’s slow, bleak, piano-driven tune, but Har’el has been quoted “is about addiction to drugs, or sex, or anything — and how you get stuck in a cycle.” At any rate, not safe for work — and not the sort of thing you could ever expect to see on a music-video TV channel.

 

 

 

The Wire: The Musical is the best thing you’ll see today

The Wire: The Musical is the best thing you’ll see today. Funny or Die has outdone itself.

In the video, which is a fake commercial for the musical, several key castmembers, including Felicia “Snoop” Pearson, Michael Kenneth Williams and Sonja Sohn, sing and dance about homicides, drug abuse and dealing dope.

“Experience The Wire’s realistic portrayal of America’s decaying inner cities through the magic of song,” says the voiceover.

If this doesn’t make your day awesome, you need to go lie down.

The Wire: The Musical with Michael Kenneth Williams from Michael Kenneth Williams

Malene Arpe, Toronto Star

Human ventriloquist dummy steals the show

Audience participation is taken to new heights in this video from the UK that has gone viral, garnering close to 900,000 hits and counting.

Ventriloquist Nina Conti, performing on the Russell Howard's Good News show, tells the audience she needs a volunteer dummy as part of her act.

A young man named Luke is pressed into service. What he doesn't realize is that the job comes with a prop: a mask that needs to go over his mouth. Using a remote control, Conti is now able to move Luke's "mouth" open and closed as Conti makes him talk. Watch what happens when the human dummy reluctantly shows off his dance moves.

 

Boy with cerebral palsy inspires his school during track and field meet

 

Matt, an elementary school student at Colonial Hills Elementary School in Worthington, Ohio, has spastic cerebral palsy. He recently had the option to sit out during his school’s track and field day. But he decided to participate in a race anyway. As he struggles to keep going, his classmates rally around him. We dare you not to cry as he finally crosses the finish line, to the spontaneous cheers of a crowd.

Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common type of cerebral palsy. People who have it often have a hard time moving from one position to another and the condition results in stiff, jerky movements.

The video was posted by a YouTube user named MidwestCurrans. According to his profile, the channel belongs to Simon Currans, who lives in New York but posts inspirational videos of his sister’s family in Ohio. This particular (at times blurry) video has been viewed nearly 500,000 times since it was posted this week.