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Movie Preview: Dorian Gray

BuzzSugar — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:30:51 -0700

After An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, director Oliver Parker has taken on a third Oscar Wilde work: an adaptation of Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.

The spooky story follows Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes), a handsome young man who becomes the subject of a painting. Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton (Colin Firth) who encourages Dorian to live a more hedonistic lifestyle, and soon Dorian wishes that he could remain youthful forever and that the painting of him would age instead. Strangely, Dorian's wish comes true and he delves deeper into a corrupt world - but each of his dark deeds is portrayed as a disfigurement or deterioration of the Dorian-in-the-painting, reminding Dorian that his soul is marred even if his physical appearance is not.

I remember reading the book years ago so I know that the source material in itself is very, very creepy, but seeing it played out on film seriously intensifies the creepiness. In looking for an eerie experience, I think I'd watch this movie over going to a Saw-themed haunted house any day.

Dorian Gray will receive its world premiere at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival and will open in the UK on Sept. 9. To check out an international teaser trailer, read more.

Easy Virtue: Sparkling Cast Can't Help the Center Star

BuzzSugar — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:30:30 -0700

Easy Virtue, a film adaptation of Noel Coward's jazzy 1920s-set play, pits the old traditions of Europe's landowning gentry against the brash modernity that America had come to symbolize. The old guard is represented by a wealthy British family led by the brittle matriarch Mrs. Whittaker (Kristin Scott Thomas). When her son, John Whittaker (Ben Barnes), marries a sexy race car driver named Larita (Jessica Biel) several years his elder, the entire family is thrown into a tizzy.

Once Biel's character arrives at the Whittaker home she's meant to represent a vibrant and mesmerizing new way of doing things that is utterly offensive to this family so steeped in tradition. But alas, Ms. Biel doesn't quite have what it takes to hold down the center of a film like this and the whole endeavor suffers. To see why, read more.

The cast includes the kind of immensely talented actors who can take on the old-fashioned, quick and witty dialogue with one hand tied behind their backs. Biel tries to keep up and at times she succeeds, but most of the time she simply appears to be swimming upstream. As you might expect, Kristin Scott Thomas deliciously inhabits her icy character with ease and delivers each line as a stinging backhanded compliment. Colin Firth plays her long-suffering husband still hurting from memories of war, and delivers an incredibly funny yet soulful performance. Even Ben Barnes, who is handsome but stiff in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, displays pizzazz as the prodigal son returning home.

As the movie clicks along, though, more and more is asked of Biel as she navigates the cruel and ruthless landmines set out for her by her new mother-in-law and sisters-in-law, and she's not quite able to rise to the occasion. As the tone shifts in the final act from a comedy of manners to a darker drama, the talented ensemble cast does all it can to prop the movie up, but the center can't hold in the end.

Photos courtesy of Sony Picture Classics

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:30:50 -0800

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to my picks below, you can also bring home the comedy Step Brothers today.

X-Files: I Want to Believe
Rejoice, X-Files fans: The most recent addition to the beloved sci-fi saga has arrived on DVD. The movie didn't receive stellar reviews but I don't think that will matter to those who are looking forward to seeing Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) get back on a case together. This mystery involves a missing FBI agent and a psychic priest (played by Billy Connolly). Amanda Peet also appears in the movie as a young agent.

Special features include audio commentary by show creators/movie collaborators Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, a special makeup effects featurette, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.

Two more good ones up next, so read more.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Is there anything more fun than curling up in a blanket with a Narnia movie and something yummy to sip on? I don't think so. I saw this in the theaters and while I had some nits to pick with it, it's hard not to succumb to the magic and whimsy of this favorite childhood book coming to life on the screen. Another pro for me? That the guy playing Prince Caspian, Ben Barnes, is way cuter than I even imagined the good prince to be.

Special features include audio commentary with director Andrew Adamson, bloopers, deleted scenes, and an in-depth look at the talking animals and walking trees that make up the magical world of Narnia.

Wanted
Wanted stars James McAvoy who plays poor, spineless Wesley, an accountant with major anxiety issues who meets Fox (Angelina Jolie), a hot lady who tells him his recently deceased father was actually a talented member of an assassins circle known as The Fraternity. The Fraternity's leader Sloan (Morgan Freeman) recruits Wesley into the ring to go after his father's murderer. What follows is a movie full of guns, blood, and bullets, all of which is now yours to take home to watch in the comfort of your own home.

Special features include extended scenes and a look at the making of the film's special effects.

Families Are Kooky! Previews for Smother and Easy Virtue

BuzzSugar — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:34:25 -0700

These two movies might take place in completely different countries and time periods, but the Monster-in-Law/Meet the Parents/isn't-family-wacky overtones are the same. If there's anything to take away from the trailers for Smother and Easy Virtue it's "beware the in-laws!"

We've been keeping an eye on Easy Virtue for a while now, seeing as it's Jessica Biel's (as a bright blonde?) first big leading lady role in a comedy - a British comedy that takes place in the 1920s, no less. The movie, based on Noel Coward's play, follows an American divorcee, Larita (Biel), who travels to England to meet her new in-laws, having spontaneously married a young Englishman (Ben Barnes). Unfortunately, Larita's new mother-in-law is not too fond of Americans, and regards Larita specifically as a woman of "easy virtue." No U.S. release date yet, but Easy Virtue opens in the UK Nov. 7.

Coming back to present day, the trailer for Smother makes me laugh. To find out why, read more.

In Smother, Dax Shepard (who reminds me of Zach Braff more than a little here) stars as average guy Noah Cooper, whose wife (Liv Tyler) is anxious to make some babies. When Noah's wacky mother (Diane Keaton, whose manic tendencies come in handy here) comes to live with them for a while, Noah begins to have second thoughts about becoming a father. The movie (which has a really adorable poster) apparently opens in limited release next Friday, Sept. 26.

Check out these mother-knows-best trailers below.

Easy Virtue

Easy Virtue Trailer | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Smother

'Smother' Theatrical Trailer @ Yahoo! Video

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Ben Barnes Goes From Prince Caspian to Dorian Gray

BuzzSugar — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:33:44 -0700

Right on the heels of starring in the No. 1 movie at the box office, Ben Barnes has landed another gig - and it's a doozy. The adorable Prince Caspian will play the title character in a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Oliver Parker is "planning to make a visceral, dark horror story and says the themes of stardom are as relevant as ever."

That was my immediate thought as well, that the book's themes of vanity and the desire for everlasting youth and beauty seem to be incredibly relevant to today's world (especially in American society, though Dorian Gray does not take place in America). I had to read this novel in college and I'm so glad I did. It's a riveting - and often scary - read. If you haven't read it, this is the plot description: "Dorian Gray is a young man of impossible physical beauty whose portrait - painted by the artist Basil Hallward - becomes connected on an occult level with the workings of his soul. Drawn into a corrupt and sensual life by the dissolute Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian remains young and beautiful, while the painting ages in his stead, ultimately becoming a monstrosity."

Have you read this work by Oscar Wilde? What do you think of this movie news?

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