BuzzSugar

Buzz News Roundup, 1/12

BuzzSugar — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:30:48 -0800

Hilary Duff is set to star as a young lawyer in the NBC sitcom Barely Legal. - The Hollywood Reporter
French actor, director, and producer Claude Berri has died at age 74. - AP
Kristin Scott Thomas has signed on to play John Lennon's aunt, Mimi Smith, in the movie Nowhere Boy. - Zap2It
Flight of the Conchords fans will now be able to purchase music from each episode the day after it airs. - The Hollywood Reporter
Brendan Fraser will join Harrison Ford in the drama Crowley. - ComingSoon
The Art Directors Guild has announced the nominations for its 2008 Excellence in Production Design Awards, including everything from Changeling and Iron Man to 30 Rock and Weeds. - Variety
Shiri Appleby will play a mom on the CW's hourlong pilot Light Years. - Zap2It

Box Office: The Batman Still On Top

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:30:28 -0700

For the third weekend in a row, The Dark Knight was No. 1 at the box office, narrowly beating The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor for the top spot. The Mummy earned about $42.5 million while The Dark Knight earned $43.8 million. Thanks to this win, The Dark Knight has just about crossed the $400 million line in domestic ticket sales.

Variety notes that most box office watchers had predicted this would be the weekend Batman would lose his crown, but I'm not all that surprised. The third addition to the silly action-adventure Mummy franchise failed to meet even the lowest critical expectations earning far worse reviews than the two before it.

Somewhat hilariously, Brendan Fraser now has two movies in the top five box office earners this week, as the 3-D adventure Journey to the Center of the Earth is holding strong at No. 5. So that would make him. . . a fairly hot box office commodity. Wow.

Elsewhere in the top five, Step Brothers came in third place and Mamma Mia! took fourth.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

A Chat With My Boyfriend About The Mummy

BuzzSugar — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:30:38 -0700

Full disclosure: I've never paid too-too much attention to these Mummy movies starring Brendan Fraser, but I know they're meant to be fun action-adventures that we shouldn't take too seriously. For this third installment, I thought it would be a good idea to take my manfriend along with me to see The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Sometimes instead of spending brain power on a review of a movie like this, it's more helpful to just talk it out with someone who's more likely than I am to passingly enjoy this kind of Summer action flick.

But as generous as my boyfriend can be about action movies and CGI, even he wasn't swayed by the "charms" of Brendan Fraser, and came away feeling like the movie's kind of a mess. I don't want to give away too much of our conversation before the break, other than the big takeaway: he really likes the Yetis, and I don't think he'd object if the fourth movie were to star them instead of the humans.

To check out our review discussion, read more.

We laughed (at all the wrong places), we cried (because of the acting), we conquered (it's over now). Here are some thoughts, with the bolded parts being me and the un-bolded being him:

On a scale of 1-10, 1 being "I wouldn't even pause the remote for this on Spike TV," and 10 being "I want to see it eight times in the theater!" - Where does this movie fall for you?
I would say a three. I would watch it on Spike long enough to be temporarily dazzled by some special effects, but then I as soon as I saw some of the acting I would change the channel. Especially that kid who plays Brenden Fraser's son. That guy should find a new line of work.

Yikes. You've seen the first two movies of this franchise before - have they always been such blatant Indiana Jones rip-offs?
Well, there are often comparisons to Indiana Jones for adventure movies, but this was pretty bad. It was like a pair of fake Adidas that has four stripes instead of three. You know the kind they sell at Wal-Mart or something? The only original things were the Yetis. It's all about the Yetis.

How do you feel about Brendan Fraser the actor, and did this movie change your feelings toward him?
I really liked Brenden Fraser in School Ties, but I think he's found his niche now as family action-adventure guy. He's a physical actor at the end of the day and should have limited lines. That will bring out the best in him. I think the writing for his parts is pretty lame, too, so it's not all his fault.

I kinda wished Brendan Fraser and friends weren't in it and it was just Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. What about you? Or should I just rent Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon if I'm looking for that kind of cast?
Well, Michelle Yeoh is a very good actor, especially in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Jet Li has played great bad guy roles (Lethal Weapon 4). But this is a big American mummy movie, so you can't compare the two.

About those mummies . . .
Yeah, the plot is ridiculous. There are too many books that open eggs, that tell a legend, that open a door, that does something magical, that they have to blow up and cast a spell on. Also, last time I checked, metal wasn't one of the elements (you know, earth, fire, wind, water). Isn't metal found in the ground, so wouldn't that make it earth? Sorry, tangent. Anyway, I also think Jet Li is great in one-on-one situations where he can act a lot with body language and facial expressions. But hearing him yell in a modulated voice over thousands of CGI baddies didn't do anything for me.

OK, if a person really likes Jet Li/kung fu movies, will he/she be annoyed with this?
This is not a martial arts movie. We only see 30 seconds of Jet Li doing anything cool - 30 seconds! Come on, this guy is one of the baddest dudes when it comes to kicking the snot out of somebody. Having Jet Li in this movie is pure pay-day for him and pure name dropping from the studios to get people to see it. At the end of the day, like I said before, there's really only one redeeming quality: the Yetis.

Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures

Box Office: Hellboy and Friends Kick Box Office Butt

BuzzSugar — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:15:15 -0700

Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army won the weekend box office with an estimated $35.9 million, not only handily beating the current competition, but also surpassing the first Hellboy's opening weekend earnings ($23.2 million). Yippee! I'm happy for that ragtag group of superheroes.

On the other end of the spectrum was Meet Dave, which Variety described as "one of the worst opening grosses ever for an Eddie Murphy pic." The details are even more painful. Consider this: It cost $60 million to make Meet Dave and it only earned an estimated $5.3 million over the weekend. That's not a pretty picture.

Hancock remained a draw (fun aside: at the movie theater over the weekend, a group of young boys sped past me while one yelled, "Hurry up! I don't want to miss a single second of Hancock!"), coming in second place, followed by the 3-D action flick Journey to the Center of the Earth. Pixar's Wall-E came in at No. 4 followed by Wanted to round out the top five.

Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures

Movie Preview: The Air I Breathe

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:30:32 -0800

This movie is intriguing for the incredible ensemble cast, although when that's the only good thing its own stars have to say about it, that's not a good sign. The Air I Breathe opens in New York and Los Angeles tonight and I wanted to get your thoughts on the preview, as I'm a little torn. There's a lot of talent piled into this flick (Forest Whitaker, Andy Garcia, Julie Delpy, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Emile Hirsch), but I'm a little confused by the trailer . . . which is maybe the point.

Apparently the plot follows several intersecting stories based on "four emotional cornerstones: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love." IMDB continues, "A businessman (Whitaker) bets his life on a horse race; a gangster (Brendan Fraser) sees the future; a pop star (Gellar) falls prey to a crime boss (Garcia); a doctor (Kevin Bacon) must save the love of his life."

The New York Times reports that debut feature director Jieho Lee describes his movie this way:

"[It's] a film noir variation of The Wizard of Oz and an exploration of the theme of character as destiny."

Huh. Okay. To check out the trailer and tell me what you think, head on over to iVillage.

Photo courtesy of ThinkFilm