This week we have Mike Bender, Writer of Not Another Teen Movie and co-creator of Awkward Family Photos.  This Week in Movies is hosted by Farrell Roth and Roger Erik Tinch.

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SHOW NOTES:

As always, the show opens with introductions. Roger Tinch (aka “Tinchy”) now has a headset, meaning better audio!

Farrell also promised at the top of the show to not talk about Amanda Peet quite so much…but then mentioned that Ms. Peet will be co-starring in the forthcoming Jack Black adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels.

Hollywood Headlines (2:30)

- Teaser Trailer for “The Social Network”

Farrell, Roger and Lon discuss the teaser for the upcoming David Fincher film “The Social Network,” about the founding of Facebook.

Tinchy muted himself during the teaser, apparently because Mark Zuckerberg causes him to breathe heavily. The hosts debated whether or not the movie is complete enough to make showing clips possible. Lon commented on how dramatic he found the trailer, and how epic they are apparently planning to make a story that is essentially about a couple of Harvard students building a website.

- New Date for the Oscars?

The hosts discussed the possibility of the Oscar ceremony moving up from late February to January, though Entertainment Weekly is already denying the rumor. Though all agreed it would be nice to have the show earlier in the award season, Lon noted that this would potentially impact the timing of having late-in-the-year films come out on DVD right around the time they win Academy Awards. (2005′s “Walk the Line” provides a good example of a film that’s home video release was well-timed for awards season.

- Secret M. Night Shyamalan Script?

After debating the pronunciation of his name for a while, the hosts discussed rumors that the Twist Master was shopping around a new film slated to star Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow and Bruce Willis. Everyone agreed that Shyamalan should have kept his last few films a secret. Lon then offered a brief rant about the film “The Village,” arguing that the movie breaks a cardinal rule by attempting to backtrack and keep the mystery going after the big reveal is finished. Tinchy defended the film briefly before the show moved on.

Cinema Cipher (13:00)

In this segment, Roger offers some puzzles that offer alternate ways of stating the names of popular films. (For example: “This royal perjured himself” is the clue for the film “The Lion King.”) Winners receive a free month-long subscription to Mubi.com.

This week’s theme is “Sports Films.” (Farrell guessed “Rudy” for all 3.) I’ll include the answers at the bottom of this post.

#1: “The toddler version you could get at a discount”
#2: “At the end of the week, leave these on”

In Theaters (15:15)

“Restrepo”

Tinchy profiled this documentary about soldiers in Afghanistan.

The film is an up-close look at the day-to-day realities of combat in the Afghanistan war, from the perspectives of filmmakers (Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger) who had embedded themselves with a platoon. Tinchy highlighted the film’s chaotic intensity, which Farrell then compared to last year’s Oscar winner “The Hurt Locker.”

“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work”

Farrell also discussed a documentary this week, a warts-and-all profile of comedian Joan Rivers. She commended the film for its direct and thorough approach to its subject, including a discussion of her various plastic surgeries and a look at Rivers immediately after a Botox treatment, and compared it favorably with other recent documentary profiles such as “The September Issue” (about Vogue editor Anna Wintour) and “Valentino: The Last Emperor” (about the infamous designer).

Lon also mentioned the Jerry Seinfeld documentary “Comedian” as a great, insightful look into stand-up comedy as a profession.

Commentary on Commentary (32:30)

Tinchy gives us a taste of the DVD commentary for the Steven Soderbergh film “Out of Sight.” He does the commentary with screenwriter Scott Frank.

Some tidbits:

- Barry Sonnenfeld was originally going to direct, but had some disagreements with Frank when the writer could not define what the film “was going to be like” to Sonnenfeld’s satisfaction. Sonnenfeld had directed the film “Get Shorty,” based on a different novel by “Out of Sight” writer Elmore Leonard.

- Michael Keaton plays the character of Ray Nicolette in both “Out of Sight” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown,” believed to be the only time an actor has played the same character in two otherwise-unconnected films.

- Star George Clooney was very personable and non-diva-like on the set, even shaking hands with inmates at the prison where certain sequences were shot.

- The love scene between Clooney and Jennifer Lopez is intercut with a different sequence of the two flirting in a bar, in a technique reminiscent of Nicolas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now.” Lon noted that, though the technique is similar, it is used for opposite effect in the two films. In “Out of Sight,” it makes the sex scene “sexier,” as you see the flirtation and attraction that brought the two characters together, while in Roeg’s film, it is used to show the mundane, quotidian nature of sex between a couple that has been married for years.

All horror movie fans should watch “Don’t Look Now.” It’s amazing!

On DVD/VOD (46:00)

“Peacock”

Farrell discussed this Direct-to-DVD mystery in which Irish actor Cillian Murphyplays a man who puts on drag and acts as his own wife. Farrell had some issues with this concept, as the other characters in the movie seem to genuinely believe Murphy was two different people, even though it’s obvious it’s one man who sometimes puts on women’s clothes. She did feel that co-star Ellen Page elevated the material with her presence, though she prefers Page’s breakthrough role in “Hard Candy” to anything else she has done subsequently.

The hosts also praised Page’s work in the underrated “Whip It” and discussed whether Rachel McAdams was a better match for Cillian Murphy or Ryan Gosling. Farrell promised to return to this topic when she did her “Commentary on Commentary” for “The Notebook.”

Interview with Mike Bender (55:00)

Screenwriter Mike Bender is the man behind the spoof “Not Another Teen Movie” and the website Awkward Family Photos.

Some highlights of the interview:

- Bender had to fight to keep the now-iconic line “It’s already been broughten!” in the film. Director Joel Gallen had doubted whether it would work.

- The film was not Bender’s original idea; he was brought in by Sony Pictures to rewrite a script that had been pitched as a parody of “Clueless.” He was 23 at the time and had wanted to do a parody film since originally seeing “Airplane!”

- Much of the dialogue was written or improvised on the set.

- Chris Klein was a natural at this deadpan type of comedy. Bender compared him to a young Alec Baldwin. Lon mentioned Klein’s recent, embarrassing “Mamma Mia” audition tape fiasco.

- Bender got his start while working at New Line Cinemas, after writing a script parodying “Titanic” called “Gigantic.” The film never got made but it got him a job working on the MTV Movie Awards.

- Tinchy highlighted Bender’s involvement with the little-seen film “Cheats,” directed by Andrew Gurland. Gurland’s career had some setbacks, particularly after he offended Hollywood heavyweight Bob Shaye in a meeting, but he will return this year with the horror film “The Last Exorcism.”

- Awkward Family Photos gets over 200 photo submissions each day.

- Bender had discussed making an Awkward Family Photos movie, but now believes a musical adaptation is underway.

The Unrentables: “Wisegal” (1:15:00)

The Unrentables are movies that have been available for rent at a local video store for over a year, but have never once been rented.

As always, we thank Laser Blazer, LA’s premiere source for new and used DVD’s and Blu-Rays, for access to their vaults. Without them, we could not find out which movies were…The Unrentables.

Lon looks at the 2008 Lifetime original movie “Wisegal” starring Alyssa Milano, Jason Gedrick and James Caan.

Lon noted the difficulty of making a mob movie – which is essentially all about violence – for basic cable, where you can’t really show a lot of violence. He called it “a Whit Stillman film with greasier hair and a smaller vocabulary.” He also noted the film’s baffling attempts to recreate classic scenes from Martin Scorsese movies as well as its tendency to fall back on crude Italian stereotypes. Finally, Lon discussed the peculiar decision to base a large portion of the plot around mobsters opening up a drag club in their neighborhood.

Answers to Cinema Cipher (1:24:00)

Viewer @generic_mammal got both ciphers correct!

#1: “The toddler version you could get at a discount” (ANSWER: “Million Dollar Baby”)
#2: “At the end of the week, leave these on” (ANSWER: “Friday Night Lights”)

He will receive 2 free months on Mubi.com.

#3: “If Eminem had a team, he could say this.” (ANSWER: “We Are Marshall”)

Answered correctly on Twitter by @achrho. Congrats!

Follow us @TWiMovies for a chance to win more great prizes!f1e743cc5efe464a9985cf835ecd8330