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Buzz's 10 Favorite Actors With Famous Parents

BuzzSugar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:30:39 -0800

Mery Streep's 23-year-old daughter Grace Gummer just landed a new gig at Nickelodeon - and it got me thinking about all the big names out there with famous actors for parents. From A-listers like Angelina Jolie and Ben Stiller to small screen stars like Spencer Grammer, take a look at 10 of my favorite actors with famous parents.

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Link Time! Janet Jackson to Open Up on TV About Michael

BuzzSugar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:30:09 -0800

Janet Jackson will be talking about her brother in a new primetime special - TV Squad
The Real Housewives of New Jersey are invading NBC's Mercy. Seriously. - The Ausiello Files
Ryan Seacrest is letting regular people grab money from celebs for his new show Bank of Hollywood - Vulture
Here's a guide to all of the guest stars during November sweeps - TV.com
George Clooney's top 10 movies - Rotten Tomatoes
CBS picks up five more episodes of Accidentally on Purpose - HitFix
Michael Jackson's This Is It takes No. 1 on Billboard - Rolling Stone
Listen to a preview of Adam Lambert's new album - Best Week Ever
Colin Hanks to play "Jack" to Bradley Whitford's "Dan" - Collider
Twilight's Rob and Kristen finally talk about each other. Check out snippets from the interview - PopSugar
Sigourney Weaver and Alia Shawkat sign on for Cedar Rapids - Zap2it
Prepare for the onslaught of skinny jeans: Kings of Leon are creating their own limited-edition clothing line - Spinner

The Great Buck Howard: A Funny Tale of Fading Greatness

BuzzSugar — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:30:13 -0700

The Great Buck Howard is a cute little movie that managed to further endear Colin Hanks, John Malkovich and Emily Blunt to me. It's probably not going to change lives, but it more than suffices as a good distraction. Plus, it's a new and interesting portrayal of that 20-something distress of not knowing the answer to questions like "What do I do with my life? How do I figure out what's next?" Perhaps because I’m not much older than Colin Hanks’s character in the film, I appreciate stories that explore this particular struggle.

It's a common conundrum in this day and age: Average kid Troy (Colin Hanks) graduates college and goes to law school for a while before realizing he doesn't actually want to be a lawyer - so, now what? There's blessed little time devoted to the whole clichéd argument about changing careers (i.e. "Becoming a lawyer wasn't my dream, Dad - it was yours!") and swift movement onto the meatiest part of the narrative: Troy's in-the-meantime job as personal assistant to a famous "mentalist" (not magician, mind you), the Great Buck Howard (John Malkovich). Troy accompanies Buck to all his shows, where Buck mostly plays to small crowds of older folks. Buck's delusions of grandeur make us cringe as it becomes clear that he's not exactly in the big leagues as a performer, and yet with Troy (and everyone else, for that matter) he behaves like a diva. Troy takes the abuse without complaint and he seems to feel pity toward the aging performer. When he meets a pretty publicist named Valerie (Emily Blunt), Troy starts to think more seriously about what's coming next in his life. To see what comes next in my train of thoughts, read more.

With his signature intensity and precision of speech, John Malkovich easily slips into the role of Buck Howard - and what fun for Malkovich to play such a wonderfully larger-than-life character. While certain parts of the story might drag, Malkovich's Buck Howard consistently draws us back in with his outrageously dramatic, egotistical, and unpredictable personality. Malkovich also nicely balances making Buck Howard obnoxious without allowing us to ever hate him.

The story moves into some ordinary territory with the washed-up performer treating his poor, young assistant badly. But Troy, with his even temperament, doesn't seem to mind too much, and the truth is that Buck Howard is a fading trace of an already faded star. Not only is he drifting into obscurity as a performer, but his art itself is not particularly popular nowadays. It also becomes painfully clear that Buck doesn't have anyone in the world that he can rely on. We'd pity this aggravating, lonely man, but we can't because he doesn't seem particularly daunted by his own diminishing fame. Why would he be? He's the Great Buck Howard. In his eyes, he's the greatest.

Furthermore, he still has his fans and he even has the respect of his assistant - largely because Buck has an especially puzzling and impressive trick and Troy can't figure out how Buck pulls it off. In many ways the movie is a coming-of-age story for Troy and as he transitions from his younger self to an adult, he still has this childlike desire to believe in magical things, and not being able to figure out Buck's trick delights and satisfies this part of him. He wants to still believe in the omniscience of someone magical, and the sweetest part about this whole story is that Buck lets him.

Photos courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Movie Preview: The Great Buck Howard

BuzzSugar — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:34:06 -0800

Filed under "Movies I Missed at Sundance, Sadly" is The Great Buck Howard, a quirky comedy with a stellar cast that includes John Malkovich, Emily Blunt, Tom Hanks and Colin Hanks. The story follows law school dropout Troy (Colin Hanks), who answers a job listing to be a personal assistant and "unknowingly signs on to work for a belligerent has-been magician [the "Great Buck Howard," played by John Malkovich] struggling to resurrect his career. This leads to a journey across the country staging the comeback of a lifetime."

John Malkovich is fascinating to watch in pretty much every role he takes on, though I really love it when he gets to play wackier characters . There's no release date for The Great Buck Howard just yet, but for now you can check out the teaser trailer and a couple of clips if you read more.

The teaser trailer:

Colin Hanks clip:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Emily Blunt clip:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Source

Movie Preview: The House Bunny With Anna Faris

BuzzSugar — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:33:43 -0700

It's like Legally Blonde meets The Hottie and the Nottie, with a dash of The Girls Next Door tossed in. The House Bunny follows Anna Faris as Shelley, a Playboy bunny who finds herself "too old" to be a bunny anymore. Thrown out of Hef's mansion, she wanders onto a college campus where she discovers a sorority of "nerdy girls" and she becomes their housemother. From the trailer, it looks like she teaches them how to put on makeup and short skirts (the keys to success, apparently?) though by the end of the trailer Shelley herself seems to have learned about the benefits of being a "smart girl."

Though aspects of this movie make me cringe already, I found myself laughing out loud a few times at the trailer, despite Faris' weirdly slurry speech (anyone else notice this?). The House Bunny opens August 22. To check out the trailer, read more.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Behind the Scenes at Sundance: The Photobooth

BuzzSugar — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:30:27 -0800

This year, I'm once again awestruck by the gorgeous photobooth photos coming out of the Sundance Film Festival. The stars I've been spotting always seem to end up here eventually, posing for a series of portraits with their castmates.

So far, I have to give Emily Blunt and Colin Hanks, who star together in The Great Buck Howard, the award for cuteness this year; their "I've got a secret!"-style photos are just so heartwarming. Some of my other early favorites: festival judge Sandra Oh rocking some seriously punky hair, Jack Black's muscle man T-shirt, and Method Man just, you know, being himself. To go up close with some of this year's Sundance stars, just read more.

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Movie Preview: Untraceable

BuzzSugar — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 08:30:00 -0800

Whether or not this is great in execution, the story idea for Untraceable is pretty darn scary. The movie follows a serial killer who posts video of his victims as he tortures them to death on his website KillWithMe.com. The more people that view the site, the faster the person dies. Diane Lane and Colin Hanks play the FBI agents tasked with finding the killer, though somehow his online activity is untraceable. But the closer Lane's character gets to finding him, the closer he gets to capturing her and her daughter.

Untraceable opens January 25 so to check out the creepy trailer, read more

Colin Hanks Joins Anna Faris in Playboy Comedy

BuzzSugar — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 13:14:29 -0700

It looks like the writers of Legally Blonde are returning to the subject matter they know quite a lot about: sorority life. But this time the untitled project written by Blonde writers Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith will focus on both Playboy bunnies and sorority sisters. Anna Faris was quickly cast as the central character, and now there are several more joining her, including Colin Hanks to play Faris' love interest.

According to Hollywood Reporter:

The script...centers on a Playboy bunny (Faris) who gets kicked out of the Playboy Mansion and becomes the house mother to the lamest sorority on a college campus.

Hanks is the male lead in the film, playing Faris' love interest. [Monet] Mazur ("Torque") will play an evil Playboy bunny, while [Kiely] Williams will play a member of the lame sorority, one who suffers from extreme shyness and communicates via notes and texts. [Tyson] Ritter is a frat guy who is more than he seems, while [Owen] Benjamin is a butler seduced by Mazur. [Beverly] D'Angelo ("Entourage") is the house mom of the bitchy sorority, of which [Rachel] Specter ("Lonely Hearts") is a part.

I was just wondering where the female-led comedies were, and here we have another one lined up. I think Faris and Hanks make an adorable, albeit goofy couple, and I can't wait to learn more about it like, you know, the title.

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The Results Are In: Recast "Growing Pains"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:49:16 -0800

"Growing Pains" started airing on Nick at Nite this weekend, so for last week's Recast challenge, I asked you guys to pick new actors for the roles Dr. and Mrs. Seaver, Mike and Carol, and, of course, Mike's sidekick, Boner. Many of you took it upon yourselves to cast the roles of siblings Ben and Chrissy Seaver, too, and I really admire that extra bit of effort!

This week's Recast winner was Intern07, who recast every role and chose people with uncanny resemblances to the original actors. I particularly love her choice for Chrissy. To see Intern07's list and the "new" cast photo, read more

Ok, so the only "Growing Pains" photo I could find is a little bit too old, since the actors' ages don't exactly meet up. But it's funnier that way, right?!

Dr. Seaver - Bob Saget
Maggie Seaver - Felicity Huffman
Mike Seaver - Colin Hanks
Carol Seaver - Rachel Bilson
Ben Seaver - Zac Efron
Chrissy Seaver - Abigail Breslin
Richard 'Boner' Stabone - Chad Michael Murray