May 2012: DIG Now

May:

Music:

May 15th Rize of the Fenix by Tenacious D

Tenacious D has been gone for a long time. After their movie “The Pick of Destiny” did poorly at the box office, many said that they were done for good. However, like they say in their titular single for their upcoming album “Rize of the Fenix,” “The D will rise again.”

The single is an epic six-minute head-banging, multi-part odyssey through what the band has been up to since “The Pick of Destiny” bombed. Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters returns as their drummer, and lead singer Jack Black delivers some of his best vocals ever.

Yes, Tenacious D is a comedy act, but the humor of their songs fades away after a few listens and then the songs become enjoyable on a legitimate level. It is exciting to see The D going back to their roots and working on just an album instead of the soundtrack to film or TV show. If the first song is any indication, this should really rock.

Movies:

May 4th The Avengers

Finally we get to see if the experiment that began with Iron Man and continued through all Marvel releases ever since will live up to the years of anticipation. Never before has a studio attempted to combine all of their most popular characters into a blockbuster crossover release like this. If it fails, it will retroactively ruin the past five Marvel releases by making them seem pointless. If it is a success, it could be the most epic superhero film ever released.

Luckily, it has a lot going for it. Geek-king and comic fan Joss Whedon of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fame both wrote and directed the film, which is sure to have his signature sense of humor and dedication to the characters. 

May 16th The Dictator

Sacha Baron Cohen became a household name with his hilarious semi-documentary film “Borat.” His new film “The Dictator” is a completely scripted film about Admiral General Aladeen, a fictional dictator from the Middle-Eastern country The Republic of Wadiya. What makes it interesting is that the film is loosely based on a book called “Zabibah and the KIng,” which was written by the late dictator Saddam Hussein. This film should be good for some uncomfortable laughs, and will be a good gauge of whether or not Cohen can handle scripted comedy.

May 15th Men in Black 3

This film could either be really bad or surprisingly good. The second installment of the Men in Black series wasn’t much more than a rehash of the first film. At least this one seems to have a semi-interesting time travel plot that they’ve come up with. Josh Brolin plays a young version of Tommy Lee Jones, and his impression is pretty uncanny. Plus, it seems like the aliens in the 1969 Men in Black headquarters are homages to old-school rubber suited movie monsters, which is pretty great.

TV:

Veep

HBO’s new series “Veep” starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the only survivor of the “Seinfeld curse,” looks hilarious and sharp. It is from Armando Iannucci, the creator of the popular British political satire “The Thick of It,” and is about a fictional female U.S. Vice President. In interviews it has been revealed that the actual president will be a completely off-screen character, meaning the show will be entirely about a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to be one heartbeat away from the U.S. Presidency.

Netflix:

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret

Fans of Arrested Development will enjoy this series created by David Cross about Todd Margaret, a bumbling American temp who accidentally gets the job of selling an energy drink called “Thunder Muscle” overseas in Britain. The series takes place over the course of a few days, and follows Todd through a series of misunderstandings, lies, and mistakes that may lead him to the end of the world, as we know it. This is extremely dark and uncomfortable humor, and might occasionally make you feel embarrassed to be an American.