Penn Jillette Movies

Chicago-based filmmaker Rusty Nails (Acne, The Ramones and I) takes a comprehensive look at the life and career of iconic filmmaker George A. Romero in this documentary that delves deep into the fiercely independent filmmaker's eternal obsession with all things celluliod. Featuring interviews with a diverse collection of collaborators, fans, and followers including Dario Argento, Richard Linklater, Glen Danzig, Stephen King, Penn Jillette, John Carpenter, and John Waters, Dead On: The LIfe and Cinema of George A. Romero reflects on not only the filmmaker's remarkable body of work, but also his unique directorial style and his lifelong journey to create intelligent and thought provoking cinema. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Larry the Cable Guy's Christmas Spectacular features the redneck stand-up comic starring in an adaptation of the classic Dickens Christmas story that has been adapted to suit his particular comic persona. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

As one of the few heavyweight comedians of Vegas's "Golden Age" to topline standup routines in 21st century Glitter Gulch - a time and place that saw him still reeling in massive audiences well into his 70s and 80s - Don Rickles qualifies as a show business legend. Rickles, of course, pioneered the use of insult comedy to mercilessly rib, skewer, and cut down to size anyone who happened to fall into his line of fire, earning him the sobriquets "Mr. Warmth" and "The Merchant of Venom" and lending a whole new meaning to the term "hockey puck." This approach, which seemed unprecedented and even outrageously uncouth in the late 1950s and early 1960s, eventually won Rickles legions of fans and innumerable protégés within show business - everyone from Richard Pryor to Chris Rock and Sarah Silverman. Director John Landis (National Lampoon's Animal House, Trading Places) stands at the forefront of Rickles's fan club and created the documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project as an homage to the comic's life and career. Landis intercuts footage from the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts and Rickles's appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, with extended clips from the shtickmeister's comedy routines and on-camera interviews in which the comedian reflects at length on his approach to comedy and journey through showbusiness. Admirers, colleagues and followers of Rickles also turn up to offer their views on the comedian - including Martin Scorsese, Christopher Guest, Robin Williams, Sarah Silverman, Sidney Poitier, Clint Eastwood and many others. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Todd Robbins hosts this documentary directed by Nick Basile and narrated by Penn Jillette exploring the real lives of the circus sideshow and carnival performers including so called "freaks" as well as fireeaters, magicians and more. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

"A family walks into a talent agent's office..." So begins "The Aristocrats," a joke kept mostly secret by stand-up comedians for decades. An intentionally "bad" joke, the laughs in The Aristocrats aren't in the punch-line (one of the only elements that's the same every time), but in the set-up, made unique by each comedian who tells it in an attempt to fashion the world's dirtiest joke. The cat was finally let out of the bag by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, the seasoned funnymen who gathered together a hundred people to tell a hundred different renditions of the bit. Among those presenting their personal take on The Aristocrats in this film of the same name are Jason Alexander, Robin Williams, Gilbert Gottfried, Jon Stewart, Emo Philips, and Chris Rock. The Aristocrats premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

The comedienne who shot to stardom as "the world's worst housewife" offers an intimate look at her life and career on the eve of her farewell stand-up performance. Phyllis Diller has been keeping her fans in stitches for nearly half-a-century. A gleefully self-depreciating comic whose outlandish sense of style always set her apart from the pack, Diller not only recollects her rise to stardom, but also allows viewers into her home to show just what life is like behind the scenes. A press conference leading up to her final performance showcases the quick-witted Diller at her unscripted best, with additional rehearsal and dressing room footage showing just what an incredible impact she has had on the world of show-business. Additional appearances by Rip Taylor, Don Rickles, Roseanne Barr, Red Buttons, and Lily Tomlin offer a chance for some of Diller's best known fans to reflect on their fondest memories of the star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Prepare to laugh through the bitter truth about everything from alternative medicine to the end of the world with the DVD release of Penn & Teller: Bullshit. Presented in 1.33:1 full-frame, the image sports well-balanced colors and even skin tones. Audio is presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital Stereo, and Spanish Mono with optional English subtitles. In addition to including every episode from the first season of the myth-debunking Showtime series, Showtime Entertainment has also included some fun extras. While a bonus episode entitled "The Ghost Segment" is an entertaining exposi of supernatural scams, its tone doesn't match that of most episodes and it's fairly easy to see why it was left on the cutting-room floor. An interview with frequent Penn and Teller collaborator and vocal skeptic James Randi exposes the more damaging effects of so-called psychics and spiritual mediums, with deleted scenes and outtakes giving the viewer a real sense of how fun it must be to be involved in the production of the show. A brief behind-the-scenes segment provides alternate, shot-on-camcorder takes of Penn and Teller in action on the set, and the "wraparounds," while fairly useless, give a quick look at how the segments are connected before the show hits the air. For the uninitiated, there are also biographies for both Penn and Teller, but then again, if you've already shelled out the hard-earned cash to pick up this entertaining release, you're probably well-aware of what you're getting yourself into. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This award-winning PBS series examines the creative process of artists in different mediums. Here, the late sculptor Nancy Graves reveals how she creates a sense of "anti-gravity" in her colorful sculpture collages, which look as if they are about to tip over. Hosts Penn and Teller offer a series of visual illusions to help explain balance, employing both tightrope walker Brian Dewhurst and a teeter-totter. They throw in some sight gags to keep the video moving. Graves' finished sculpture, a sort-of-clock, is a textbook example of the laws of physics at work, even though it looks like a prop out of Alice in Wonderland. ~ All Movie Guide

Unexpected trouble develops during the Brakiris' traditional Day of the Dead ceremony. Elsewhere, a pair of intergalactic comedians named Rebo and Zooty arrive to give a show for the B5 crew. The two funsters are portrayed by "guerilla magicians" Penn and Teller, with author Harlan Ellison provided the voice of the professionally mute Teller. For the first time since Season Three, someone other than J. Michael Straczynski was responsible for the script; in this instance, the author was Neil Gaiman. A calculatedly "escapist" episode, "Day of the Dead" originally aired on March 11, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, The Fisher King) directed this colorful, stylized, pseudo-psychedelic $21-million adaptation of the 1971 Hunter S. Thompson classic, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey into the Heart of the American Dream, about stoned sportswriter Raoul Duke, Thompson's alter ego, on a wild drug-crazed road trip, a paranoid plummet into the belly of the beast, with his pal, lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta. Originally serialized in Rolling Stone (November 1971), the book catapulted Thompson headfirst toward the Kerouac-Mailer-Capote pantheon and jump-started the entire movement of "gonzo journalism." Carrying a suitcase of drugs, Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp with shaved pate) and his attorney Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) drive a red convertible across the Mojave from L.A. to Vegas, where Duke has an assignment to cover the Mint 400 desert motorcycle race. As the drugs kick in, Duke ventures into voiceover, filling in the blank spots and narrative gaps. "This is not a good town for psychedelic drugs," says Duke, but even so, they consume vast quantities, eventually escalating to ether. Duke notes that with ether "you can actually watch yourself behaving this terrible way, but you can't control it." The two trash their hotel room, and Gonzo goes back to L.A. Thinking the hotel room holocaust will lead to an arrest, Duke begins a drive back to L.A., but after an odd encounter with a highway patrolman (Gary Busey) and a telephone conversation with Gonzo, he returns to Vegas to cover the District Attorney Convention on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs in the glitzy Flamingo Hotel. This time the drugged-out duo trash their Flamingo room. The crazed carnival atmosphere segues into a carney casino, Bazooko's Circus, where a barker (Penn Jillette) spiels amid aerialists, clowns, and a rotating carousel bar. Gonzo worries over runaway teen Lucy (Christina Ricci), who paints portraits of Barbra Streisand. Soon the hallucinations begin: Duke sees Gonzo transmogrify into a demon with breasts on its back, and an acid vision of a Vegas bar features large legit lounge lizards (courtesy of monster makeup man Rob Bottin). Flashbacks depicting Duke's intro to the drug scene jump back to love-Haight relationships in San Francisco's Summer of Love. Cameos and guest stars include Mark Harmon, Cameron Diaz, Flea, Lyle Lovett, Harry Dean Stanton, Ellen Barkin, Tobey Maguire, and Hunter S. Thompson himself. The film features a Geffen Records soundtrack mixing rock of the period with Vegas lounge tunes. Over the years, various script adaptations came and went as did numerous talents; people connected with past efforts to film Thompson's book include Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and writer-director Alex Cox. Shown in competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Monica (Courteney Cox) caters a party for her highly judgmental mom, Judy (Christina Pickles) -- only to lose one of her fake nails in the quiche. Joey (Matt LeBlanc) is huckstered by a fast-talking encyclopedia salesman (played by magician Penn Jillette). And Chandler (Matthew Perry) gets locked into an embarrassing situation by Rachel's (Jennifer Aniston) boss, Joanna (Alison La Placa). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide