We adore Ben Schwartz! The Funnyman brought his Ben Schwartz and Friends to Toronto finally after the show was post-poned last September at Meridian Hall. The venue this time around was Massey Hall and he filled the house, bringing along Comedians Ben Tarver and Jessica McKenna.
Schwartz has a very impressive body of work, including two Sonic the Hedgehog films, The Other Guys, Everybody’s Fine, The Afterparty, House of Lies and Parks and Recreation.
Upon arriving in Toronto, he got to try Matty Matheson’s top-rated Prime Seafood Palace and called the meal “mindblowing”! Matheson returned then support attending Schwartz’s show, along with Actor-turned-Director Finn Wolfhard.
So happy finally to meet Schwartz after missing him on his last visit here back in 2018, playing Danforth Music Hall along with Thomas Middleditch! An incredibly nice guy!
There will be a third Sonic the Hedgehog film. Can’t wait!
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)
Paramount Pictures Canada x Mr. Will want to give Readers a chance to win Family Passes for four to see SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2!
Screenings will take place as follows:
Toronto – April 2, 2022 (Saturday) – 10:30AM – Yorkdale Theatre
Vancouver – April 2, 2022 (Saturday) – 10:30AM – Cineplex Cinemas Metropolis
Montreal ENG – April 2, 2022 (Saturday) – 10:30AM – Cineplex Cinemas Forum
Montreal FRE – April 2, 2022 (Saturday) – 10:30AM – Cineplex StarCitĂŠ
Calgary – April 2, 2022 (Saturday) – 10:30AM – Scotiabank Theatre Chinook
Synopsis:
The worldâs favorite blue hedgehog is back for a next-level adventure in SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2. After settling in Green Hills, Sonic is eager to prove he has what it takes to be a true hero. His test comes when Dr. Robotnik returns, this time with a new partner, Knuckles, in search for an emerald that has the power to destroy civilizations. Sonic teams up with his own sidekick, Tails, and together they embark on a globe-trotting journey to find the emerald before it falls into the wrong hands. From the filmmakers behind The Fast and the Furious and Deadpool, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 stars James Marsden, Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, Lee Majdoub and Jim Carrey returning, alongside new additions Shemar Moore, with Idris Elba as the voice of Knuckles and Colleen OâShaughnessey as the voice of Tails.
To enter for a chance to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK. Please indicate your City in the comments there. Re-Tweet this Contest Tweet below for an extra chance!
Enter for a chance to #win Family Pass for four to see #SonicTheHedgehog!https://t.co/ntsgMVAJj7 pic.twitter.com/IFCsgVHGwG
â MR. WILL WONG 📸 (@mrwillw) March 28, 2022
Rules and regulations here.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 IS ONLY IN THEATRES APRIL 8, 2022.
(Photo/video credit: Paramount Pictures Canada)
By Justin Waldman
From one of the masterminds between The Lego Movie, Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse, and both 21 & 22 Jump Street, comes a new Crime Thriller to AppleTV+ and it is an absolute delight from start to finish. The entire Series is incredible, with each character getting their moment to shine and share their version of events, all while trying to figure out who committed the ultimate crime â murder. Think if Clue were modern and a TV show, this would be it. Chris Miller knows exactly what he is doing as the Showrunner on this hilarious murderous Thriller, that fans will be heeled over laughing about.
A high school reunion afterparty ends in tragedy, although to be fair who ends up enjoying their high school reunions? Not all of them end in death though, investigated by police about what truly did happen at this afterparty? Everyone is a suspect and Detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish) has to figure out what happened as her career is practically on the line. The entire show focuses on Xavier (Dave Franco), Brett (Ike Barinholtz), Yasper (Ben Schwartz), Aniq (Sam Richardson), Chelsea (Ilana Glazer), Zoe (Zoe Chao) and Jennifer #1 (Tiya Sircar). The first three episodes focus on Aniq, Brett, and Yasperâs accounts of what happened that night, with each episode telling different accounts that has to be pieced together to find who the real killer is.
The way the show shows the different character arcs and the stories that they each show and how each character has different tales of what happened, truly shows the bigger picture and how it all pieces together. However, what we appreciate most about The Afterparty is the way each character’s story gets its own due moment and room to develop. These Cast truly get the proper opportunity to deliver their best and this is palpable as a viewer.
With comedic powerhouses such Tiffany Haddish, Ilana Glazer, Dave Franco, Ike Barinholtz and Ben Schwartz, you bet the laughs are plentiful, and the payoff even better. The Afterparty needs to be seen to be believed.
The first three episodes of THE AFTERPARTY are streaming now on Apple TV+, with the new episodes arriving every Friday.
Based on Kate DiCamillo‘s award-winning Novel “Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures“, FLORA & ULYSSES arrives later this month on Disney+.
Flora (Matilda Lawler) is a ten-year-old comic book lover and she’s dealing with her parents George (Ben Schwartz) and Phyllis (Alyson Hannigan) separating. She rescues a squirrel and names it Ulysses, but realizes that it has superpowers. Her keeping Ulysses is a point of contention between her parents. George is in favour of it and Phyllis, a Writer, is against the idea finding the squirrel is impeding with her creativity and career. Ulysses proves to be more than meets the eye and just might be one thing missing in this family’s life.
See the Trailer:
We had the pleasure of attending the international Press Junket for FLORA & ULYSSES. In attendance were the Cast, Director and Author of the Novel on which the Film is based, including:
Alyson Hannigan (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, How I Met Your Mother) admits she doesn’t like watching herself, but since her daughters Satyana and Keeva were so excited about this, she watched it together with her family.
Hannigan: “They’ve been asking since the day we wrapped, so it’s been a very, very long wait and we got to see it early. They were so excited! From the moment it started, I sorta forgot that I was even a part of it. Watching them, they were so happy – like laugh out loud, beyond belly laughs! I paused because I was worried they were gonna miss the next scene. My husband and I kept looking at each other saying, ‘It’s so good!’. It was such a new experience not being so critical of myself going ‘Oh, I should’ve done it like that!’ – you know that Actor thing – and just being engrossed in this wonderful Movie.”.
Danny Pudi (DuckTales, Community) plays Miller, the Film’s villain who is in pursuit of Ulysses. He talks to some of the Physical Comedy required of him in the Film, including getting attacked by a cat.
Pudi: “It was a lot of letting go. This was my second time working with Lena, I worked with her on a film called The Tiger Hunter and I put it in my contract that I get to work with her on every film for the rest of her career. She told me this would be a complete departure, there’d be a lot of Physical Comedy involved. I love Physical Comedy and I thought it was going to be really fun diving into this world.”.
“In terms of physicality, they would give me pillows to put under my shirt, sometimes this weird, headless, squirrel mushy doll to simulate what the VFX squirrel would look like, then there was a lot of run, dance, jerk your head around and move your body and it was like dance, just letting go. It looked like I was getting electrocuted a lot. Eventually we found something that looked like I was getting attacked by a cat. Thankfully, I’ve been attacked by a few animals in my life so I used that as prep work.”.
Author DiCamillo talks about the story’s comic book influences.
DiCamillo: “I am a comic book fan but not a traditional comic book fan. What I grew-up with and what I love is Charlie Brown and Peanuts. And I actually still read a Peanuts cartoon every morning. It shaped my childhood and still shapes my sensibility. When I was writing the Book, I had Flora love comic book superheroes. When I turned it in, it didn’t have a superhero in it. My Editor said I’d have to make-up a superhero and I thought I couldn’t do that, but then I did. Then I went back and did some prep work reading-up on superheroes. I did it kinda backwards.”.
DiCamillo is asked how different the Film is from her Novel.
DiCamillo: “It’s not my first experience having my book turned into a movie (She also wrote “The Tale of Despereaux“). You kinda think that’s different and this is different, but that kinda went out the window. I read Brad Copeland’s Script and I liked it a lot, but when I watched the Movie, I watched it as my eight-year-old self. I didn’t compare it to the book or anything. I felt what happened between the Script, the Cast and directing is that the themes of the book are amplified. The heart is even bigger and the wackiness is even bigger. The power of connection has been amplified. Whatever’s different is more and better.”.
FLORA & ULYSSES has a playful energy to it and the Cast are asked how much of the Film was improved versus scripted.
Schwartz: “The Script that Brad wrote was so good. When Lena gives us room to play, it’s always within the boundaries of what that scene is and only if it heightens the emotion or Comedy of the scene, without bringing it somewhere else. Matilda and I improvised a couple times, which was very exciting. We sang a whole song which I believe is still in the Movie.”.
Pudi: “First of all, Ben and I have a lot of history over the past three years fighting as brothers (on DuckTales) so that was very helpful. It was very easy to tase him with a tranquilizer gun. The Script was so good, the world was so fully realized that we’d just play around when we were chasing each other.”.
Schwartz: “Danny’s a straight-up action villain in this. I’m very excited about this!”.
Pudi: “I showed- up to set with twirly mustache thinking they were gonna love this. I’m gonna villain it up! And as soon as I showed up, Lena says ‘Shave it!'”.
Matilda is so incredible. My first scene with her I was like a villain, and she had so much emotion behind her in her eyes. I felt like I was an evil person and I felt so bad, but I also was taken aback, I was in awe of her power on-screen. It was so exciting for me to just be a part of this world.”.
FLORA & ULYSSES reunites Schwartz and Pudi along with their DuckTales Co-Stars Bobby Moynahan and Kate Micucci. Director Khan is asked if this was intentional, along with other “Easter Eggs” in the Film.
Khan: “Yeah, you know after we got the first couple, I said, let’s just go with it! Bobby’s reading a DuckTales comic at the beginning. You then see more ducks with the different colours of their collars matching the colours of Danny‘s office. After a while, we realized that the best gold mine in all of Television is DuckTales.”.
“There’s comic book world references for those who are into those. There’s a lot of DuckTales. There’s a lot of Alyson Hannigan love from the past. There’s Buffy hidden in the background, there’s different books of Kate‘s that are hidden throughout, just lots of treats everywhere.”.
How challenging was it working with computer-generated animals? What were the challenges working with a character who’s not there?
Lawler: “Lena, you were kinda my squirrel at some points. You had this little stuffed animal squirrel that you would pretend was doing the scenes, so I could get an idea of what it would be like. During most of the scenes, I had this grey, creepy rat-like thing that was really creepy and some other times there wasn’t anything and I had to pretend like there was something there when there was nothing. So it was definitely interesting and challenging.”.
Hannigan talks about her process getting into her role and also recalls the furthest extent she’s ever gone into Method Acting.
Hannigan: “I remember having a lot of fun working out the awkward entrance with Ben. Do we hug, do we shake hands? That was really fun to do. I love anything where I get to be awkward. I could’ve just done that all day. Everything we did was just different. I think at one point I felt Ben‘s nose.”.
Schwartz: “There could a weird Supercut of us just trying to say hello to each other.”.
Hannigan: “I guess I’m not as ‘method’ as I should be. I tried a lot of lollipops for this role. Before Buffy, I did a show called Touched by an Angel playing a teen who was going to going to give-up her baby for adoption. It was a drama. So to prepare for the birthing scene, the Doctor on-set said they had a woman who is about to give birth and that I could watch. I was like ‘Uh, okay!?’. I was maybe 20. So I walk into this room and this woman is like in the final stages of labour. And the Doctor was like ‘Come on!” and I’m meeting this stranger, watching her give birth and it was incredible. She also made it look so easy as it wasn’t as dramatic as it should be for a TV Show. She lied. She made it look real easy. And I started bawling and was like “Bye!”. It was like her sixth child!”.
FLORA & ULYSSES arrives on Disney+ Friday, February 19, 2021.
(Photo/video credit: Disney)
Check out this new Trailer for FLORA & ULYSSES coming soon to Disney+, starring Ben Schwartz, Alyson Hannigan and Matilda Lawler. The Film is based on an award-winning Novel of the same name.
Synopsis:
The film is based on the Newbery Award-winning book about 10-year-old Flora, an avid comic book fan and a self-avowed cynic, whose parents have recently separated. After rescuing a squirrel she names Ulysses, Flora is amazed to discover he possesses unique superhero powers, which take them on an adventure of humorous complications that ultimately change Flora‘s life–and her outlook–forever.
See the Trailer:
FLORA & ULYSSES arrives on Disney+ Friday, February 19, 2021.
(Photo/video credit: Disney)
Check-out some brand-new Teaser and stills from Netflix‘s SPACE FORCE with a stellar comedic Cast led by Steve Carell!
Synopsis:
A decorated pilot with dreams of running the Air Force, four-star general Mark R. Naird (Steve Carell) is thrown for a loop when he finds himself tapped to lead the newly formed sixth branch of the US Armed Forces: Space Force. Skeptical but dedicated, Mark uproots his family and moves to a remote base in Colorado where he and a colorful team of scientists and âSpacemenâ are tasked by the White House with getting American boots on the moon (again) in a hurry and achieving total space dominance. From co-creators Carell and Greg Daniels ( The Office), SPACE FORCE is a new kind of workplace comedy, where the stakes are sky high and the ambitions even higher. John Malkovich, Diana Silvers, Tawny Newsome, Ben Schwartz also star, alongside co-stars Lisa Kudrow, Jimmy O. Yang, Noah Emmerich, Alex Sparrow and Don Lake. Howard Klein/3Arts ( The Office) serves as executive producer, as well.
See the Teaser Trailer:
See Stills:
SPACE FORCE streams on Netflix Friday, May 29, 2020.
(Photo/video credit: Netflix)
Paramount Home Entertainment x Mr. Will want to give Readers in Canada a chance to win a copy of SONIC THE HEDGEHOG on Blu-ray, and also Digital!
Synopsis:
Powered with incredible speed, Sonic the Hedgehog (voiced by Ben Schwartz), aka The Blue Blur, embraces his new home on Earth. That is, until he accidentally knocks out the power grid and sparks the attention of super-uncool evil genius Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey). Now itâs super-villain vs. super-sonic in an all-out race across the globe to stop Robotnik from using his unique power for world domination. Sonic teams up with The Donut Lord, aka Sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden), to save the planet in this action-packed hit thatâs fun for the whole family.
BONUS FEATURES ON DIGITAL*, 4K ULTRA HD COMBO, & BLU-RAY COMBO:
Commentary by director Jeff Fowler and the voice of Sonic, Ben Schwartz
Around the World in 80 SecondsâSee Sonicâs next adventure!
Deleted ScenesâDirector Jeff Fowler introduces deleted scenes
BloopersâLaugh along with Jim Carrey and the cast
âSpeed Me Upâ Music Video
For the Love of SonicâJim Carrey and the cast discuss what Sonic the Hedgehog means to them
Building Robotnik with Jim CarreyâSee Jim Carrey bring supervillain Dr. Robotnik to life
The Blue Blur: Origins of SonicâExplore the origins of the legendary Blue Blur
Sonic On SetâVisit the set with the voice of Sonic, Ben Schwartz
See the Trailer:
Artwork:
To enter to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK and if you want another chance, Re-Tweet this Contest Tweet from @mrwillw! Specify if you want to win a Blu-ray or a Digital copy. You would get to see it right away with a Digital copy!
Rules and regulations here.
Paramount Home Entertainment release SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, out now on Digital and on DVD/Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD on Tuesday, May 19, 2020.
(Photo/video credit: Paramount Home Entertainment)
Check-out this first look at RUMBLE featuring an amazing Voice Cast!
SYNOPSIS:
In a world where monster wrestling is a global sport and monsters are superstar athletes, teenage Winnie seeks to follow in her fatherâs footsteps by coaching a loveable underdog monster into a champion.
Cast: Will Arnett, Terry Crews, Geraldine Viswanathan, Joe âRoman Reignsâ Anoaâi, Tony Danza, Becky Lynch, Susan Kelechi Watson, Stephen A. Smith, Jimmy Tatro, Ben Schwartz and Michael Buffer
See the Trailer:
Paramount Pictures Canada release RUMBLE Friday, January 21, 2021.
(Photo/video credit: Paramount Pictures Canada)
See the new Pre-Big Game TV Spot for SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!
Synopsis:
Based on the global blockbuster videogame franchise from Sega, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG tells the story of the worldâs speediest hedgehog as he embraces his new home on Earth. In this live-action adventure comedy, Sonic and his new best friend Tom (James Marsden) team up to defend the planet from the evil genius Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and his plans for world domination. The family-friendly film also stars Tika Sumpter and Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic.
See the Trailer:
Paramount Pictures Canada release SONIC THE HEDGEHOG Friday, February 14, 2020.
(Photo/video credit: Paramount Pictures Canada)
Paramont Pictures Canada x Mr. Will want to give Readers a chance to win Advance Passes to see SONIC THE HEDGEHOG in Toronto + Montreal! Screenings are as follows:
Toronto
Saturday, Feb. 8
Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas and VIP, 10:30AM
Montreal
Saturday, Feb. 8
Cinema Banque Scotia Montreal, 10:30AM
Synopsis:
Based on the global blockbuster videogame franchise from Sega, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG tells the story of the worldâs speediest hedgehog as he embraces his new home on Earth. In this live-action adventure comedy, Sonic and his new best friend Tom (James Marsden) team up to defend the planet from the evil genius Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and his plans for world domination. The family-friendly film also stars Tika Sumpter and Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic.
See the Trailer:
Artwork:
To enter to win, click “like” on this Post over at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK. Indicate your City there in your entry in the comments. Share this Post on Facebook for an extra chance or Re-Tweet this Contest Tweet from @mrwillw!
Rules and regulations here.
Paramount Pictures Canada release SONIC THE HEDGEHOG Friday, February 14, 2020.
(Photo/video credit: Paramount Pictures Canada)
For advertising opportunites please contact mrwill@mrwillwong.com