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Box Office: Lakeview Terrace Wins So-So Weekend

BuzzSugar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:00:01 -0700

Lakeview Terrace, a thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson, came in at No. 1 at the box office over the weekend and performed relatively well with an estimated $15.6 million. Second place went to the Coen brothers' comedy Burn After Reading which continues to also do well at the box office, earning an estimated $36.4 million over its first ten days.

Around the No. 3 spot on this weekend's box office report things start to look a little gloomy, starting with the Dane Cook-Kate Hudson comedy My Best Friend's Girl. The movie only earned about $8.3 million, perhaps a result of some harsh reviews (or maybe it was just the poster, as Cook whined, that drove audiences away).

The animated family film, Igor, came in fourth place followed by Righteous Kill in fifth. Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys and The Women rounded out the sixth and seventh place respectively, and a movie I enjoyed, Ghost Town, opened at No. 8.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Do Movie Posters Ever Change Your Mind?

BuzzSugar — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:30:05 -0700

You've probably read by now that Dane Cook has decried the poster for his upcoming rom-com, My Best Friend's Girl, crafting a detailed list on his MySpace page of everything wrong with it. Cook is mostly offended by what he believes to be a poor Photoshop job that results in him looking like a schmuck.

Yet, he also expresses concern that "the wrong poster sends the wrong audience into the theater," a lesson he has purportedly learned the hard way. Which, of course, makes one wonder what kind of audience Cook originally thought would view this movie, and in what drastic ways the audience has now changed based on this poster.

Sidenote: I am seriously enjoying BestWeekEver's version of a poster for the movie that Cook might be prouder to display.

Have you ever been swayed by a movie poster - for better or worse?

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First Look: Dane Cook, Kate Hudson in My Best Friend's Girl

BuzzSugar — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:32:55 -0700

Oh, wow, what have we here? Dane Cook playing a gross jerk again - only this time, he gets paid for it. And, in the end, it looks like he gets Kate Hudson. The trailer for My Best Friend's Girl (previously titled Bachelor No. 2), in which Cook plays a guy who dates a girl (Kate Hudson) with the intention of acting so heinously she's driven back to the arms of Cook's buddy (Jason Biggs), leaves quite a bit to be desired. It looks generic and not particularly amusing, but maybe it will deliver something fresh when we see it in its entirety? Hey, I can give it the benefit of the doubt (especially since the bit with Alec Baldwin is pretty funny). Judgment day will come September 19 when the movie comes out. To check out the trailer and tell me what you think, read more.

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:30:00 -0700

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 the titles below, family-friendly flicks Bee Movie and August Rush are available as well.

No Country for Old Men
If you haven't heard about No Country for Old Men, the staggering, Oscar-winning adaptation of Cormic McCarthy's novel, you might well be living under a rock. Not for those looking for warm fuzzies, this is the Coen Brothers at their best: entertaining, dark, and thought-provoking. Javier Bardem (um, how scary is he on that DVD cover?) won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Anton Chigurh, a demented serial killer whose evilness will haunt you for days. The film also stars Josh Brolin as a man on the run from Chigurh and Tommy Lee Jones a local sheriff on both of their trails.

Though the film's ending is obscure and has left many scratching their heads, I really thought it worked and I was completely entranced by the suspenseful cat-and-mouse plot. If you haven't yet seen this darn-near-perfect flick, now is your chance. Special features include a featurette about the making of the movie and one titled "Diary of A Country Sheriff."

One more release starring a beloved comedian if you read more.

Dan in Real Life
I will be the first to admit this wasn't my favorite movie of all time but like most people, I really love Juliette Binoche and Steve Carell, and I figured you may like to know that this one is out on DVD.

Dan in Real Life is about an advice columnist (Carell) raising three daughters on his own. Yet he could use some advice himself when he meets and develops "eyes" (as they say) for the beautiful Marie (Binoche) - who also happens to be Dan's brother's girlfriend. Much soul-searching over this and other life issues goes down when Marie joins a vacation with the entire extended family. One of the best things about the movie is the great music provided almost entirely by Sondre Lerche.

Dan in Real Life: Real Life Is Boring

BuzzSugar — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:30:42 -0700

My reaction to Dan in Real Life is a big fat "eh." I chuckled a few times, rolled my eyes a little bit, and questioned Dane Cook's sexuality. I also felt some sadness toward Juliette Binoche and Steve Carell, two actors who seem to have been charged with providing the charm for this movie entirely, and who both give up under the pressure. Because I like these actors very much, it depresses me to report that Dan in Real Life is forgettable.

Carell plays Dan, an advice columnist and widower with three daughters. He comes from one of those big, goofy, aw-shucks families you only see in movies. The stupidly flawless kind of family that has crossword competitions! And talent shows! And group aerobics on the front lawn! It's so saccharine my teeth started to ache. Apparently the "humor" of the film is supposed to come from the fact that Dan doles out flecks of wisdom on parenting and life, yet he's illogically overprotective with his own girls and he ends up falling in love with his brother's new girlfriend. Unfortunately, it's not humorous enough to be a comedic success, and not compelling enough to be heartwarming. To see more of what I mean, read more

Here's my main annoyance with the movie: it's supposed to be ironic because he's an advice columnist who can't seem to succeed as a father/brother/son/boyfriend/person? He's human and flawed? Who cares? For one thing, they don't do nearly a good enough job making us see what a "fantastic" advice columnist Dan is. So why should we care when he's attracted to his brother's girlfriend? For another thing, while I love Steve Carell, his attempts to be (I think) a struggling widower who's clumsily entering back into the dating world come off as distracted, slightly ashamed and a little sleepy. Nothing about this movie gets me to care about Dan, in his real life or otherwise.

The best things about the film are Juliette Binoche and the music, provided entirely by Sondre Lerch. Binoche is beautiful, self-assured, funny and warm as The Perfect Woman, Marie. The moments that have any real spark at all are when Binoche has reason to be passionate. When Marie is jealous of Dan's date with another woman, she burns Dan's pancakes the next morning and glares at him while he eats them in front of her, a moment that contains a surprising mix of comedy and sexual tension. These fiery moments are only that, however: momentary, and they are mostly dependent upon Binoche's irresistible charm. Lerche's music adds a relaxing ease to the movie, making otherwise lame scenes tolerable.

The narrative, such as it is, doesn't just trudge along dopily, it meanders and veers woozily from side to side. At no point did I have confidence that this was all leading someplace satisfying. The artful, truthful beauty that director Peter Hedges achieved in Pieces of April is utterly missing. It's like his creativity plodded around in a circle for a while before curling up and going to sleep. I had a kind of naive optimism about this movie but found that real life really is pretty disappointing - even in the movies.

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Good Luck Chuck: Cheap Jokes and Gross Comedy

BuzzSugar — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:30:36 -0700

I went into Good Luck Chuck with nothing more than a faint hope that I might be pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, the movie fails to offer anything beyond what the decidedly un-funny previews suggest. The gross humor - like the gazillion gratuitous boob shots (none of them Alba's) and an incredibly awkward Dane Cook sex montage - comes off as simply crude and cringe-worthy.

The movie begins with pre-teen Charlie’s first game of spin-the-bottle when the bottle lands on a brooding 10-year-old goth girl. When he denies her 7 minutes in heaven she put an anti-love hex on him. Charlie grows up to become a successful dentist who is blissfully unaware of his inability to love, simply taking advantage of the beautiful women who inexplicably throw themselves at him (so, it wasn't that bad of a hex, really). It’s not until his ex-girlfriend uses her wedding toast to thank him for helping her find her match that Charlie realizes something may be amiss with all of the no-strings attached action he’s been getting. To find out what else happens, read more

At the wedding, Charlie also meets Cam (Alba) a penguin keeper that he thinks he could really fall for. Yes, a penguin keeper. He finds her extreme klutziness endearing and immediately begins to pursue her. He wants to change his ways and get serious with her but his uber-creepy friend Stu (Dan Fogler) won’t hear of it. Stu has a plastic surgery practice and specializes in - what else? - boob jobs. He lives vicariously through Charlie’s overactive sex life since his crude moves prove fruitless with the ladies. His sexual frustration leads to many obvious boob jokes and one disturbing scene in which he pleasures himself with a grapefruit and a dish scrubber. I’ll leave the details up to your imagination.

Overall, the crass jokes fall flat. It seems an odd choice to have the burden of physical comedy rest upon Alba, while Dane Cook takes on the role of the romantic. Alba's "cute but clumsy" comes off as "pretty but dumb." It’s Cook’s comedic timing that keeps the movie bearable, but he’s not believable as the romantic hero.

As the credits start to roll and you breathe a sigh of relief that you’re finally free, the movie ends on a note even more disgusting than any of the proceeding scenes. You’ll never look at Dane Cook or a cute stuffed animal penguin the same way again. But hey, when you’re making a bad movie, go big or go home. In this case, it’s the audience that should really just stay home.

Photos courtesy of Lionsgate

Do You Want to See Good Luck Chuck?

BuzzSugar — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:08:00 -0700

I know that both Dane Cook and Jessica Alba have some fans out there, though I must say I don't know how I feel about the previews I've seen for their upcoming comedy Good Luck Chuck. It could be cute, or it might be obnoxious. What do you think?

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

First Look: Steve Carell in Dan in Real Life

BuzzSugar — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:28:11 -0700

There is something about the endearing everyman-ness of Steve Carell that just makes me want to root for the characters he plays, no matter what. In the trailer for his fall movie Dan in Real Life, that feeling is only intensified as he plays a widower raising three daughters. He falls for a woman (Juliette Binoche! Hooray!) who turns out to be his brother's (Dane Cook, booooo) new girlfriend.

The trailer, while not fall-down funny, is very sweet-looking and features some great lines. Dan in Real Life is scheduled to open October 19. To watch the trailer, read more

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Kate Hudson Cast in Bachelor No. 2

BuzzSugar — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:21:35 -0700

The facts:
Kate Hudson has been cast in the comedy Bachelor No. 2, a movie that "revolves around a man who is hired by men who have been dumped to take their ex-girlfriends out on nightmare dates, thereby convincing the women to return to their boyfriends. But trouble arises when [the man]'s character is hired to take out the ex-girlfriend of his best pal."

The bad news:
Dane Cook is Hudson's romantic co"star."

Sigh.
Poor Kate. I guess a girl's gotta make a buck somehow.

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Buzz News Roundup, 5/30

BuzzSugar — Wed, 30 May 2007 12:30:21 -0700

Jenna Fischer of "The Office" is in pain but recovering after her scary fall, she tells USA Today.
Billboard brings news of the Download Fest lineup and it's intriguing: The Cure, Neko Case, Modest Mouse, Wolf Parade, Kings of Leon and several others are included.
Amber Heard of "Hidden Palms" will star in dramatic teen movie Get Some, reports Zap2It.
In branded entertainment news, Pond's and the upcoming Debra Messing show "Starter Wife" are in cahoots, intent on making Messing's character "a Pond's woman," Slate tells us.
MyNetwork TV, that channel that sprung up wherever your UPN station used to be, is planning a lot of reality TV for fall, Variety reports.
Dane Cook somehow got another movie part, this time playing another love-challenged dude in the comedy Bachelor 2, says Hollywood Reporter.
The Police have agreed to play an all-acoustic set for an MTV's "Unplugged," taking place on July 13, reports Fox News.
According to NME, Green Day is releasing their own version of the "Simpsons" theme song in conjunction with their appearance in The Simpsons Movie.

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