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The Actors Behind Jack Ryan: Past, Present, Future

BuzzSugar — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:30:26 -0700

Just yesterday I was talking about how Chris Pine is blowing up after the big success of Star Trek, and his name is already making headlines again this morning. Pine will likely be the next actor to take on the role of Jack Ryan in the next film adaption of the popular Tom Clancy novels. A few actors have taken on the role in the past, and other names have been attached to the project before, so let's take a look at the evolution of Jack Ryan - with a few of my own suggestions for who could take on the role.

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Young Kristen Stewart Practices Her Twilight Gaze, Ben Affleck's Striptease, and Diablo Takes on Sweet Valley High

Molly — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:45:10 -0700

A pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart looks adorable in a Porsche commercial - check out how she was unknowingly already preparing for her big hit. Plus, hot Ben Affleck on set, and Diablo Cody gives us the scoop on how she's planning on adapting Sweet Valley High. All that and more, so watch PopSugar Rush now!

Jon Hamm and Rebecca Hall Move to Ben Affleck's Town

BuzzSugar — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:30:47 -0700

Ben Affleck's next directorial venture, The Town, just got its female lead and a dashing FBI agent in one fell swoop. Recently seen as Vicky to Scarlett Johansson's Cristina in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Rebecca Hall has been cast as a bank teller at the center of this story about bank robbery and romance. Here's more on the film, which Affleck also helped adapt from a Chuck Hogan book:

Affleck is directing, and playing a bank robber who becomes smitten with the teller of a bank he held up. She makes him want to go straight, but she is also the FBI's golden ticket to catching Boston's most wanted bank robber.

Hamm plays the FBI agent who also becomes infatuated with the bank employee, played by Hall.

Like another Affleck-directed movie, Gone Baby Gone, this one will be filmed in Boston. All I know is I certainly wouldn't mind being in the middle of a love triangle with Jon Hamm and Ben Affleck.

State of Play: Surprisingly Gripping Journalism Thriller

BuzzSugar — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:30:35 -0700

In the movies and on TV, investigations always look so exciting and fun - piecing together the facts, swapping clues, untangling the web strand by strand, etc. In a story centered around journalism, this mystery-solving stuff is what makes it fun to watch, especially if there's also a good dose of realism but not so much that it becomes mired in realistic details and we get bored. State of Play very nicely balances these things: It's a sensational murder mystery-thriller but with a scruffy, grumpy journalist lead character and a supporting cast of equally "normal" people. There's enough fiction and embellishment to be escapism, and enough reality to make it believable.

Russell Crowe plays grizzled journalist Cal McAffrey who is something of a legendary dinosaur at the struggling Washington Globe newspaper. His longtime friend, Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck), comes under scrutiny when a woman from his research team dies tragically and the public learns that Collins was having an affair with her. As the police conduct their own investigation, Cal himself tries to get to the bottom of the woman's mysterious death - partially to get a juicy story and partially to help clear his friend's name in the scandalous situation. The young, eager blogger Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) insists on teaming up with Cal on his search as she tries to prove herself as a writer at the Globe. Together they work to uncover the truth, but every new revelation brings with it a twisty new discovery and soon the two journalists find themselves enmeshed in a nasty mixture of political conspiracies and tangled personal relationships. That's all I'll say about the plot, but for more of my thoughts on it all, read more.

Trust and deceit are at the heart of this story, as is the blurred line between formal police investigation (to solve a case) and investigative reporting (to get a scoop). Cal and Stephen's friendship is tested repeatedly as Cal’s desire to get as many details for his story as possible gets in the way of his compassion for a buddy. Past hurts also creep back to haunt them and further confuse Cal's motives for getting to the bottom of things. Yet, thankfully, there's no needless lingering on individual characters' personal lives. What we know of these people is almost completely restricted to how they're involved in the messy web of secrets, and the extraneous stuff is pushed aside in favor of the meat of the story. Even the relationship that forms between Cal and Della is handled with a light, delicate touch. Will this remain a mentor-mentee kind of thing, or is there more there? We don't really need to know because watching the trust and mutual respect blossom between them over the course of the movie is gratifying enough.

Admittedly, I had low expectations for this movie and certain things (like Affleck’s entire performance) never managed to exceed those expectations, but regardless, I think it's a success in that it achieves exactly what films in this genre should achieve. It sweeps us up in an intriguing puzzle and maintains our attention for two full hours, while also posing some interesting questions (what is the role of journalism today - especially in relation to politics? Is journalism dying?). It's not the kind of movie that will make you feel a lot of things, but I went in looking for escape and I got it. It may essentially be a story about journalism, but it still manages to be incredibly engrossing.

Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures

Movie Preview: Affleck, Bateman in Extract

BuzzSugar — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:30:50 -0700

Jason Bateman. Ben Affleck. Director Mike Judge (Office Space). If you like any one of these things, you may want to take a look at the new teaser trailer for Extract, another comedy from Mike Judge that follows an average guy in an average job who's dissatisfied with both his work and his home life. Bateman plays the central character, Joel, the owner of a flower-extract factory whose marital problems with his wife (Kristen Wiig) bum him out - but he perks right up when a pretty new temp (Mila Kunis) joins the company. Affleck (sporting a beard and some long, scraggly hair) plays Joel's lawyer friend.

Extract opens Sept. 4. Check out the trailer after the jump and tell me: Does this look funny to you? Or a bit of the same old, same old? To watch, read more.

Movie Preview: State of Play

BuzzSugar — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:30:37 -0800

Based on the BBC series of the same title, the film State of Play stars Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Ben Affleck, and Rachel McAdams. Crowe and McAdams are reporters who get wrapped up in the case of a congressman's (Affleck) murdered mistress.

From the trailer, it looks like a compelling crime thriller, though I'm not sure how it'll stack up against the acclaimed original series. The fact that it's directed by The Last King of Scotland's Kevin Macdonald is promising, however. State of Play opens April 17. To check out the trailer, read more.

Ben Affleck Tries Comedy Again

BuzzSugar — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:37:21 -0700

At least he's in good company for this one: Ben Affleck is in talks to join the cast of Extract, a comedy by Mike Judge (director of Office Space, creator of Beavis and Butthead). He'll be working alongside Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Mila Kunis and Clifton Collins, Jr.
Variety has more details:

Actor is in negotiations to play an ambulance-chasing lawyer in the pic, which centers on a flower extract factory owner (Jason Bateman) who's dealing with workplace problems and a streak of bad luck, including his wife's affair with a gigolo.

Clifton Collins Jr. is also joining the cast as a factory worker who loses a body part in a freak accident and is now due for a huge settlement.

Granted, I'm more excited to see more Jason Bateman up on the big screen, but I'm also curious to find out how Affleck does with this kind of comedic material. And after seeing Bateman paired with Will Smith this summer in Hancock, I think I'm liking it when he's paired up with "bigger" names and the two can play off one another.

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The Man Behind the Kimmel vs Silverman Videos Gets a Movie

BuzzSugar — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:30:57 -0700

Someone once told me that to make it in Hollywood, one needs persistence, talent and a lot of luck.

Well, these days, add to that a hit viral video because the director of the "comedy shorts" known to most as the F***king Matt Damon and Ben Affleck videos is getting a shot at directing a feature film.

It never occurred to me that there might be an honest-to-goodness aspiring movie director behind those dueling videos. Turns out there was, and his name is Wayne McClammy (even his name is funny) who has worked as a writer and director on Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Sarah Silverman Program.

The film he's set to direct is called Cool School and is about "ad executives in their early thirties who are sent back to high school to learn how to be cool again." What do you think? Is it wise to trust an entire film to a guy known mostly for short viral videos?

Movie Preview: He's Just Not That Into You

BuzzSugar — Tue, 27 May 2008 22:12:46 -0700

So far, the pros for this movie include all the members of a stellar and adorable cast which, as I've reported before, includes just about everyone. Seriously. Based on the preview alone, though, Ginnifer Goodwin looks like she might steal a lot of scenes from the bigger named stars.

The movie is based on the bestselling book that was based on a Sex and the City episode about women overanalyzing men too much when things are sometimes as simple as, "He's just not into you." It's supposed to be liberating. . . or something. I guess the con for me is that I'm not quite clear on how this constitutes a cohesive plot and the trailer is no help with that. At first I thought it was a movie about how men play games and sidestep issues, but then Scarlett Johansson's character plays games, too, so. . . maybe it's just about game-playing.

Anyway, just seeing these familiar faces with The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love," blasting in the background is pretty fun. The movie was originally supposed to come out this summer but has now been pushed back to October 24. I like a good romcom in the fall, so I'm not complaining. To watch the trailer for yourself and tell me what you think, read more.

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Jimmy Kimmel Live Celebrates 1,000 Episodes

BuzzSugar — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:31:53 -0700

It's time for Jimmy Kimmel to pop the champagne and start celebrating because his late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live will hit the 1,000th episode mark tomorrow night.

The late-night talk show landscape is competitive, and breaking in as a newbie without inheriting a throne (see: Jay Leno taking over for Johnny Carson) is no small task. Audiences and A-listers alike usually flock toward a name they know and trust, which makes Kimmel's milestone that much more significant.

It sounds like the show had more than a few obstacles when they first started out, as described by Kimmel to The Hollywood Reporter:

Every interview turned out to be my last with almost everyone. I'm still cleaning up a lot of that mess from the first three months of the show. We forced the Rock, Dwayne Johnson, to ride a dogsled out onto the stage. He didn't want to. My producer didn't want to hear that. It became an unpleasant thing. We were overly aggressive with people. You can't do that and build any kind of goodwill. Fortunately, I think we've turned it around.

He's certainly come a long way from his shlubby, smirky sidekick persona on Comedy Central's The Man Show, and he recognizes that at first he "didn't understand the niceties of being a talk show host." But now, as the Reporter points out, Jimmy Kimmel Live has "clearly struck a chord with younger adults, who respond to the host's low-key hip approach." I myself never thought I'd be able to take Kimmel that seriously but I have to say, I'm warming up to him.

Of course, hilarious skits starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have recently helped earn him some fans and secure his credibility among Hollywood's elite. Are you won over? Where does Jimmy Kimmel rank in your mind among late-night giants like Leno and Letterman? Do you think he'll be around for another 1,000 episodes?

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