I wasn’t holding out much hope for this one. Like anyone with a brain and a distinct fear of transforming from an adventurous roustabout into an office drone, I have a deep appreciation for the work of James Thurber (not to mention Danny Kaye, who starred in the original adaptation), and when the trailer hit, it looked like Ben Stiller’s take would be much more of a saga instead of a few simple flights from banality.

And while Stiller’s Walter Mitty departs halfway from flights of fancy, the first half is a delight. Mitty is a negative assets manager at Life Magazine – negative assets as in he’s the guy who handles photo negatives, and Life Magazine as in the periodical that Gestapo agents read when they’re tailing Indiana Jones and which, specifically in this flick, is in the process of becoming a purely online publication.

Mitty’s tasked with developing the final cover’s image, which has been misplaced, and which causes the sleazy consultant handling the transition (Adam Scott, in a wickedly dorky beard) to breathe stertorously down his neck.

In addition to that, Mitty’s currently engaged in setting up his eHarmony profile despite having gone nowhere and done nothing, diminishing his chances of attracting the pretty new hire (Kirsten Wiig). Helping him is Todd (a voice that may be recognizable, but whose identity is one of the best reveals, jokes, and sequences in the film), an overly dedicated eHarmony assistant.

The film has a fantastic start, as all the major performers – Stiller, Wiig, and Scott – come from the background of exploiting social awkwardness and revel in creating a facade of meekness in their characters, a meekness that barely veils the passions behind it. Scott in particular, is so good at each little passive-aggressive dig (I especially liked the progression of how he says “guy”: first cloying, then annoyed, then furious). And, thankfully, not all of Mitty’s daydreams are treated as immature revenge fantasies or love-struck dalliances. One sequence in particular gets very creative as Stiller and Scott battle over a Stretch Armstrong doll throughout the streets of New York, using the roads as skis and whatever else as improvised weapons.

You may have noticed that there was not a Box Office Report last week. Due to the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado the major studios made a choice to not announce any returns during the weekend, in tribute to the victims. A classy gesture that we at The Flickcast were all to willing to follow.

In any event there was a rather large Box Office event that happened last weekend, so it bears some discussion this week. The Dark Knight Rises debuted to fantastic numbers that fell short of the lofty expectations of we the prognosticators. Still, it managed to break a couple of records and come out the end of a difficult weekend with $160+ Million dollars in the bank.

Naturally people will compare this opening with that of The Avengers and The Dark Knight, and while it is in the same ball park of those two phenomenons, it failed to capture the cultural zeitgeist that propelled them to the next level.

Take this weekend’s returns as an example. The Dark Knight Rises took in another strong $64+ Million to stand number one for a second weekend, however it dropped over 60% in business from its debut frame. A number that is actually solid for a front loaded comic-book film, but is a deeper percentage dip than The Avengers or The Dark Knight ever took at any point in their respective runs.

I’d almost forgotten that the last time Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn teamed up was in 2004’s Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and if you asked me why I like that movie so much and am pretty indifferent on The Watch, I’d be hard-pressed to explain why. Both have very simple premises, feature largely improv performers, and The Watch has the added benefit of Jonah Hill — playing a younger, more broad version of Walter Sobchek.

Then again, Dodgeball had cleverer jokes, Vaughn in the lead (instead of Stiller), and Rip Torn, who trumps pretty much everything in the universe. It also seemed to be having a lot more fun. The Watch, on the other hand, is kind of like the unpopular kid at the playground that’s consigned itself to the tilt-a-whirl: functioning on autopilot and trying to find bits of entertainment when they come. Even the trailer has no qualms revealing the twist of aliens coming to earth, and since there’s not much else after that, for the first half hour or so, we follow Stiller around waiting for the movie to get going.

While Marvel may be raking it in and giving every other alien invasion movie a run for their money, Fox is definitely turning the genre on his head by way of Jonah Hill, Ben Stiller, & Vince Vaughn in the upcoming comedy The Watch.

Originally titled Neighborhood Watch, now shortened to The Watch, the film accentuates the one thing that most other alien invasion films are missing: dick jokes. Here’s the premise, for those who need that sort of thing.

A group of friends (Stiller, Vaughn, Hill, and Ayoade) form a neighborhood watch group for their suburb to allow them time to bond and escape from their families. However, when the group discovers a plot that threatens the entire world, they are forced to confront it head on.

Take a look at the trailer after the jump, and catch The Watch in theaters on July 27th.

It’s been said that if you screw up once, it’s a mistake, but if you do it three times it’s a style.

Don’t get me wrong, Submarine is a good film with a strong voice, but that’s not to say it’s not without pros and cons.  With a unique tone, interesting characters, and distinctive editing, director Richard Ayoade obviously had a strong vision for this film from the beginning.  The only problem was with the main character, Oliver Tate, who was written as such an offbeat character that there were times at which he was hard to relate to.

Submarine is a film full of feature film newcomers.  Ayoade makes his narrative feature debut as writer/director, a departure from his career as a TV actor and director.  Both of the young actors, as well, come fresh to the big screen.  Craig Roberts, playing Oliver Tate, takes on his first feature lead in this film (he has since starred in Jane Eyre), and Yasmin Paige, coming only from small parts in obscure films, gives a surprisingly beautiful performance as his love interest, Jordana Bevan.

The best performance in Tower Heist comes not from its most bankable stars Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy, rather it’s the nervously underplayed schlub Mr. Fitzhugh, an out-of-work stockbroker played by Matthew Broderick, who’s channeling parts of Bob Newhart and parts of Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion. Director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) tends toward broad comedy, but the funniest bits by far are Broderick’s subtle squeaks of concern.

There’s a scene early on when he’s being evicted from his apartment. The living room is completely empty save for two tents. Broderick explains to the building manager that he’s sold all the furniture. “I told the kids we’re going green,” he gives a resigned shrug, “my kids aren’t very smart.”

The manager is Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), who’s been working at the building for years and is the golden boy of its owner Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), a Madoff-inspired Wall Streeter who, we learn, has taken the employees’ pensions and either stolen them or made some really bad investments (the movie never really makes it clear, but since he’s rich, he’s automatically bad, I guess). The Feds, led by the sexy Claire Denham (Tea Leoni) naturally swoop in to cart off Shaw for some SEC violations, leaving little hope for the tower employees to recover their life savings.

While Tropic Thunder may have been one of the best satires of the Hollywood system and funniest comedies of the past few years, one thing that every person who saw the film couldn’t help but love was the collection of fake movie trailers preempting the film.

Ben Stiller, director of Thunder and the brains behind most of the trailers as well as the classic Heat Vision & Jack pilot, has decided that there’s more than enough interest from fans to support doing more parody trailers that will stand on their own. Here’s the full deal from Deadline.

The new project, essentially a series of at least 12 short trailer parodies, will be distributed online via a partner to be named shortly. The plan is to bring together top actors and filmmakers across all genres to take part. I’m now told that they’ll come one per week, starting in the late fall or winter.

Stiller will produce with Stuart Cornfeld and Mike Rosenstein through Red Hour Digital, with longtime Red Hour collaborator Robert Cohen exec producing and directing some of the shorts. Among the actors and directors who’ll contribute content are Stiller’s Tropic Thunder co-writer Justin Theroux, Night at the Museum scribes Tom Lennon & Ben Garant, and Clueless helmer Amy Heckerling.

Expect to see more directors show interest in this project, as Robert Rodriguez and his band of genre and horror friends have been attempting the same thing after Grindhouse was such a cult success.

Portland, OR based Oni Press is probably most well know for it Scott Pilgrim Versus the World comic series and feature film. They also have many more projects in what Hollywood likes to call “various stages of development” so that means they need a bit of help getting those set up.

Enter the William Morris Agency which has just signed Oni Press for (here’s another Hollywood term for you) “Representation in all areas.” What does that mean? Well, it means the agency will work with Oni and its sister company Closed on Mondays Entertainment to develop more Oni properties into film and television shows.

At the moment, those projects include feature film adaptations The Last Call with producer Barry Josephson, The Leading Man with producer Marc Platt, Frenemy of the State with Imagine Entertainment, The Return of King Doug starring Ben Stiller and produced by Red Hour Films and Ciudad with Joe and Anthony Russo writing and directing.

Closed on Mondays also has what’s called a “first-look deal” with CBS TV Studios to adapt Oni properties for the small screen. That means Oni takes its stuff to CBS first and if CBS decides to make it, great. If not, they can take it somewhere else. In exchange for that right, CBS pays Oni some sort of fee and more if the projhect actually goes into development, is made or ends up on the air.

As someone who’s spent some time with the guys and gals at Oni, I’m always happy when I hear they are doing well. They have some great comics and it would be nice to see more of them brought to the small or big screen.

Okay, I’m Mr. Jerk-Ass Film Critic Who Doesn’t Know Comedy. Some people like comedies where you can sit back and just have fun. Fine with me. For any ardent Meet the Parents fans reading this or anyone who just likes plain and simple comedies, my opinion won’t sway you, so I’ll just warn you that the audience at my screening, who would fall into both groups, didn’t laugh much either, and when there was some laughter, it sounded forced.

For good or bad, it’s not like a review is going to be useful for Little Fockers because a review isn’t going to change the mind of someone wanting to see it, and it’s just going to justify the rest who don’t—the only thing a review for this kind of film would be good for is if the film were actually funny.

It’s not. Case in point, when Stiller injects DeNiro’s Viagra-ized penis with adrenaline to de-Viagra-ize it, Stiller’s little kid walks into the bathroom at exactly the wrong moment. Another time a similarly awkward family moment leads to the child loudly exclaiming, “Shit!” Both shots are set up and executed in such a way that it’s just enough to tease the audience into thinking it might not be the predictable joke and then WHAM, it knifes us by revealing that exactly what we thought was going to happen happened.

Now I like little kids swearing and sticking sharp things into Italian men’s genitals, but that’s the point: I like it. Meet the Fockers doesn’t. The essence of third-grade potty humor isn’t in the dirty word itself; it’s in the excitement and reverence of the third-grader at having learned it.

Say what you want about Ben Stiller or his talent, the man still manages to turn out some pretty entertaining and often successful films. Sure, his brand of humor may not be for everyone or his choice of films might not seem all that inspired, but he still keeps going and still often brings the funny.

This time around Still is back with another chapter in the “Fockers” family comedy series. This new one, called Little Fockers, takes the story of Greg the male nurse (Stiller) and his obsessive father-in-law Jack (Robert De Niro) to the next level: children. Of course, once that happens hilarity and the associated sight gags, misunderstandings and people getting hit in the eye with something ensues.

For more of an explanation of the story, here’s the official synopsis from Universal:

It has taken 10 years, two little Fockers with wife Pam (Polo) and countless hurdles for Greg to finally get “in” with his tightly wound father-in-law, Jack. After the cash-strapped dad takes a job moonlighting for a drug company, however, Jack’s suspicions about his favorite male nurse come roaring back.

When Greg and Pam’s entire clan-including Pam’s lovelorn ex, Kevin (Owen Wilson)-descends for the twins’ birthday party, Greg must prove to the skeptical Jack that he’s fully capable as the man of the house.

Check out all the hijinks in this new trailer after the jump, courtesy of our pals at Yahoo. Look for Little Fockers to invade a theater near you on December 22.