Maybe I missed something, but since when did releasing films on a Wednesday become a commonplace strategy? I know, for years and years, several titles have opened mid-week, albeit typically on a handful of NY/LA screens or to capitalize on a holiday weekend.

But due to some recent moves, every Wednesday in August now has at least one wide release opening on it instead of Friday. On the 6th, we have Pineapple Express and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2; the 13th brings us Tropic Thunder; the 20th, The Rocker; and then Traitor on the 27th.

There are at least three other wide releases on the last three Fridays of the month, but I see no distinct point at which a two-day head start would make any great deal of difference (although I presume that Pineapple still wanted to have seven days on Tropic instead of five when it comes to their similar target demographic).

Was there a holiday I overlooked somewhere? Is it now cooler for kids to go to the movies on a school night once classes are back in session? Do you guys have any theories, or will you still wait for the weekend to catch any of these regardless?

Confirming rumors that we first reported on a couple of weeks back, Robert Downey Jr. has been formally lined up to play Sherlock Holmes in Guy Ritchie's film of the same name. Apparently inspired by Lionel Wigram's comic book as much as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novels, Variety says that the film will begin shooting this October for a scheduled 2010 release.

While Downey Jr. has arguably been making his comeback of sorts since 2005 (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, hear hear!), it's naturally his immense success with Iron Man this past May that has opened a door this big. While I have plenty of faith in whatever direction he's about to take this character, I'm still curious about how British gangster maven Ritchie landed the project and in what direction he's about to take the story.

It's curious that we now have a Tropic Thunder star working on one such project, while that film's writer prepares to take on the Apatow-produced version starring Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen as Holmes and Watson, respectively. But in a world where we get to choose between the prospects of a Victorian-era Tony Stark and a detective prone to streaking in the nude, aren't we all a little spoiled?

For quite a while now, the rumor that Huey Lewis would be performing the theme song for the expectedly hilarious Pineapple Express has been making the rounds, and today... oh, today, it has come to sweet fruition, as the theme song hits first the soundtrack's MySpace profile and then my beating heart.

I can't tell you how much it tickles me to have the sax of the News accompanied by the sound of Huey uttering the word 'chronic'. Then again, I can't tell you how much I'm tickled that we're actually facing a summer movie season that will cap itself off with Huey Lewis doing the theme song for a Judd Apatow-produced, David Gordon Green-directed stoner-buddy action-comedy, followed the week after by Robert Downey Jr. in blackface. Seriously, could you have called that this time last year?

If you don't know why I'm so psyched, I've included the NSFW red-band trailer after the jump, and for those of you who are right there with me, Pineapple Express hits (snicker) on August 8th.

[God bless Spout Blog for bringing this to our attention. I'm tempted to send you guys over a basket full of pineapples just out of principle.]

Columbia Pictures is prepping a comedy in which Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell will play iconic characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, respectively. Already you know if you're going to see this movie or not, right? Count me in the 'definitely interested' pile, but then I'm one of the only people who thought Semi-Pro was freakin' hilarious, so maybe I'm just a sucker for Will Ferrell. And Sacha Cohen as Sherlock Holmes? That sounds potentially priceless. Like Peter Sellers caliber funny. (Maybe.)

Comedy flick gold-miner Judd Apatow is (of course) on board as a producer, but the director has not been specified just yet. (Nor has the name of the movie, come to think of it.) The screenplay comes from Etan Cohen, he of (still funny) Idiocracy and the upcoming (hilarious-looking) Tropic Thunder. As Variety so capably points out, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Ferrell worked together recently (not to mention humorously and very profitably) in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

More info on this comedy project as it becomes available, but I would like to take this opportunity to recommend a very underrated 1988 comedy called Without a Clue. The gag there was that Dr. Watson (Ben Kingsley) was actually the brains of the operation, whereas Sherlock Holmes (Michael Caine) was nothing more than a drunken buffoon of a stage actor. Funny little flick, but I refuse to buy the DVD because it's Pan & Scan only. Which is disgusting.

Plenty of music video directors have gone on to make great films. But what if they were to make a great film based on one of their videos? That's kinda the concept behind a list over at JoBlo.com titled "Music Videos That Should Have Been Movies." Many of my favorites are on there, such as Jamie Thraves' video for Radiohead's "Just," Jonathan Glazer's video for UNKLE's "Rabbit in Your Headlights," and Garth Jennings' video for Blur's "Coffee & TV" (pictured above and watchable after the jump). The last of these is said to be one for the kids, but I'd probably be first in line for a feature-length movie about a milk carton on a mission.

Most of the videos included are quite enigmatic, and JoBlo's Mike Sampson admits that for some he simply wants answers, which could be revealed in the longer format of a narrative feature. Haven't we all wondered what the heck is going on in Mark Romanek's video for Nine Inch Nails' "Closer"? And why's that guy in the "Just" video just lying there? Then there's the more easily adaptable videos, such as Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher". I think they've already somewhat made that movie, titled My Tutor, and there's even a remake on the way, but I'd still be interested in Hot For Teacher: The Movie, directed by Judd Apatow, at Sampson's suggestion.

Last Friday, Judd Apatow was presented with the Visionary Award at The Hollywood Reporter's Key Art Awards. So, before Apatow took the stage to accept his award, they played a pretty fun reel celebrating the man's work. Sure, it's kinda your typical clip montage, but when you're talking about the films of Judd Apatow, said montage will not only be filthy and funny ... but also come with a nice helping of heart.


But because of the harsh, R-rated language, we've included the video after the jump. Did you hear that work people? Harsh, R-rated language. You've been warned ...

P.S. If you look real close about halfway through, you'll see they used a Cinematical post written by yours truly in the montage. Thanks THR!

We've talked about the next Judd Apatow-helmed flick, Funny People, and how one of that film's stars, Eric Bana, is not exactly the kind of guy you picture in an Apatow comedy. Especially when his co-stars are people like Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman. You might say, "Is Bana playing the evil villain who never cracks a smile?" And I wouldn't blame you for thinking that, because if you're not from Australia or familiar with Bana's early work, you wouldn't know that he used to be a stand-up comedian and starred in a very popular sketch comedy series called Full Frontal.

So, for some this might be a nice, refreshing blast from the past. For others, well, welcome to the comedic side of Eric Bana. There's a bunch of other Full Frontal clips on YouTube in case you're interested in watching Bana take on the funny.

News has been slooooowly trickling out about Judd Apatow's directorial follow-up to Knocked Up -- or maybe it just seems like it because there's so much curiosity about the project. Back in March we knew literally nothing other than that it would star Seth Rogen, Adam Sandler, and Apatow's wife Leslie Mann. At the start of the month, Rogen and Sandler revealed the movie would be set in "the world of stand-up comedy," and that it would have serious dramatic elements. A few days after that, we heard rumors that Eric Bana was circling a role in the film. Today, Apatow's people officially made public the film's title -- Funny People -- and the rest of the ensemble cast: Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman and, unsurprisingly, Jonah Hill.

Since people will be doing double-takes when they read "Eric Bana," the Variety article takes pains to point out that Bana began his career in stand-up comedy, and even starred in a pair of sketch comedy series in Australia, before breaking out in Chopper. I had heard that before, but since Bana seemingly hasn't cracked a smile in his entire film career, it remains very weird to me.

No new plot details were revealed, so expect another post in a couple of days when someone decides to let slip another tidbit.

It would be one thing if You Don't Mess With the Zohan was simply bad; after the recent string of Adam Sandler comedies like I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Click and The Longest Yard, You Don't Mess With the Zohan continues the Sandler career path where low comedy is intended to result in high profits. Sandler's films now seem to function mostly as a kind of philosophical experiment: How lazy, sloppy and stupid can a film be and still make money? And let's not mince words here, or hem and haw and add caveats about a few laughs or good intentions: You Don't Mess With the Zohan is astonishingly, impressively, depressingly bad.

And no, this is not some sneering, soft-handed ivory-tower resident looking down on Sandler's work from a lofty height; this is someone who loves a good smart dumb comedy telling you that if you see You Don't Mess With the Zohan, you'll witness a moment where Zohan -- the Israeli commando-turned-hairdresser played by Sandler -- wishes a sad farewell to someone with his junk. We get a close-up of it -- bulging, frame-filling -- and it waggles a little wave to us, sadly, as Zohan wishes goodbye to a girl he might have loved, eyes sad and crotch engorged.

When you look at Eric Bana's resume in Hollywood, you probably wouldn't expect him to show up in a big, splashy comedy. But, back home in Australia, Bana was known for the funny; he's just never had the chance to show it stateside ... until now. CHUD reports that Bana is in talks with Judd Apatow to star in the Untitled Judd Apatow/Adam Sandler Project. According to CHUD's source, Bana would play boyfriend to Leslie Mann.

Just a few days ago, Eugene brought us our first glimpse of the film's plot. Now we know that the flick will focus on the world of stand-up comedians (and for some reason, all I can think of now is Punchline ... but with stand-ups who are actually funny). The project had been on our radar since March, but beyond the good news that Apatow was actually going to direct this time, there wasn't much to report.

Bana is currently wrapping up work on Star Trek and the romantic weepy, The Time Traveler's Wife, before heading off to his next couple of projects. First up is the animated story, Mary and Max, about the friendship between a young girl and a recluse. Then he'll star alongside Terrence Howard in Factor X, a thriller about the BTK killer. At this point I'm starting to hope these Apatow rumors are true, because it looks like Bana could use a laugh.

The Untitled Judd Apatow/Adam Sandler Project is expected to arrive in theaters (with or without Bana) on July 31, 2009.