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Buzz In: What Musicals Do You Want to See on the Big Screen?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:30:17 -0800

Did you guys hear? The screen musical is back! Well, at least according to Hugh Jackman, who kicked off his Oscar ceremony musical medley on Sunday by talking about the box office success of Mamma Mia!.

It does seem like we get a good on-screen musical every few years, between Dreamgirls and Hairspray and even Chicago a while back.

I would love to see Mr. Jackman himself singing and dancing in the movies very soon, which got me thinking about musicals that should get a big-screen adaptation while the iron is apparently hot. I think Spring Awakening would be pretty great as a movie, and there's been some buzz for a while about getting Wicked on the big screen as well.

What musicals do you think would make good movies? And do you agree with Jackman that this is a trend worth rooting for?

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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 01 May 2007 03:31:01 -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.

Dreamgirls
The Dreamgirls DVD features about a million extra things, including but not limited to: 12 extended and alternate scenes, the music video for Beyonce's "Listen" along with Beyonce's screen test for the film, a feature-length making-of documentary, Anika Noni Rose's audition, and "Steppin’ To The Bad Side" – the choreography audition. The film itself follows a trio of friends who hit it big as a girl group and then experience the highs and lows of fame and fortune. You may have heard that Jennifer Hudson won this year's Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. Yet the tables may turn at the MTV Movie Awards, as she and Beyonce vie for Best Performance. I thought this movie was pretty good, though I maintain that Eddie Murphy gives the most amazing performance of all.

Two more great DVDs, so read more

Little Children
Adapted from Tom Perotta's absorbing novel, Little Children tells a tale of suburban woe. Kate Winslet turns in a wonderfully nuanced performance as Sarah, a stay-at-home mother who finds herself bored with the other moms and often annoyed by motherhood itself. When she meets stay-at-home dad Brad, however, life gets a little rosier. The two form a friendship which soon turns into something deeper. Meanwhile, a disturbed man with pedophilic tendencies invokes the fear and ire of the townspeople. The direction is impressive, lending a hazy summertime feeling to issues that dive into very dark places. This is a rare time when I don't know which to recommend more: the novel or the film.

Alpha Dog
When Alpha Dog first came out, Justin Timberlake shocked many (myself included) by earning major kudos for his performance in this disturbing film. Based on a true story, Alpha Dog follows Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch), a drug dealer in a privileged L.A. suburb who becomes one of the youngest men to ever be on the FBI's most-wanted list. He and his friends imitate what they believe to be the glamorous gangster lifestyle, and when Johnny's competitor Jake Marzursky (Ben Foster) cheats him out of a chunk of money, Johnny kidnaps Jake's younger brother, Zack (Anton Yelchin). A total of 38 people witness the three days during which Zack is Truelove's prisoner, but no one thinks to break up the party and notify the police - until it's way too late.

What's Buzzworthy? Movie Musicals

BuzzSugar — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 04:28:01 -0700

It seems that after the success of Chicago and most recently Dreamgirls, filmmakers are scrambling to make - or remake - musicals into films. In the not-too-distant future we can expect to see in the theaters Hairspray, Mamma Mia and a remake of Fame.

In my opinion, however, it's not often that musicals really work on film, so go ahead and prove me wrong by telling me about the movie musicals that you think were well-done. To get you started, I've bookmarked Chicago, which even I have to admit is impressive without falling into total cheesiness.

Using BuzzSugar's cool Buzzworthy bookmarking tool, just find the musicals you love on the Web, bookmark them as Buzzworthy, and tag or title your choices with the word musicals. Then, I'll post some readers' favorites next week. So go ahead, closeted musical fans - show me some jazz hands!

To find out how to create a Buzzworthy bookmark, read more
Don't worry: TeamSugar makes it easy to bookmark and capture anything on the Web that you consider "Buzzworthy." If you already have a "That's Fab" button on your browser's tool bar, you can use that to bookmark your Buzzworthy items. If you don't have the TeamSugar bookmarking button on your toolbar, you can learn how to get it by watching this video.

Oscar Worthy? Jennifer Hudson's Scene-Stealing Song from Dreamgirls

BuzzSugar — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:19:00 -0800

The studio kept this clip under wraps leading up to this year's Oscars, but if you've yet to see Dreamgirls, you can now watch the video of Jennifer Hudson performing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," her scene-stealing and impassioned ballad. You guys were pretty conflicted over whether Hudson deserved to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, so maybe this clip will help you decide. (Thanks to Best Week Ever for directing me to the video.)

I, for one, think it's a very impressive performance as far as musicals go, and there's no arguing that Hudson has an amazing voice. But I still don't think she deserved to win an Oscar; to find out why, read more

First, let me just say, it was great to see how happy Hudson was on Oscar night, and I got into the excitement of seeing a young actress win for her first movie. But then again, it was her first movie, so while we know now that she can kill at musical theater, we don't really know if she has any versatility whatsoever.

But that's beside the point, really. My main gripe with Hudson's win can be summed up in two words: Adriana Barraza. I just rewatched Babel last night, and seeing Barraza's brilliant performance again made me realize how much she was robbed. (Others argue that Rinko Kikuchi should have won, and she was probably robbed too.)

In her role as the nanny Amelia, Barraza cycled through a stunning cycle of emotions - from a subtly concerned caretaker in the beginning of the movie to an ordinary woman torn apart by utter despair during the desert scenes in the film's climax. Never has a film elicited such a feeling of dread from me, and I credit Barraza's acting for most of that.

Mostly, I found myself wondering if Hudson saw Babel and, if so, if she really thinks her job was harder than Barraza's. What do you guys think?

Photo courtesy of Paramount

Oscar Song of the Day: "Listen," Beyonce

BuzzSugar — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:33:09 -0800

If there's anyone who can beat Randy Newman at the Oscar game, it's Beyonce. Endearing veteran Newman earned his 17th nomination this year, for "Our Town" from the movie Cars. But the perennial nominee has only won once, and this year, he faces tough competition from Dreamgirls, whose soundtrack features three of this year's five nominated songs. Of those, the Beyonce belter "Listen" - despite being fairly dull - is probably the number most likely to win. To hear the track, read more

Oscar Nominee: Dreamgirls for Art Direction

BuzzSugar — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:18:35 -0800

Every week up until the Oscars, I'll be featuring the nominees in the various visual categories. In this final week, I'll be looking at the nominees for best art direction, which encompasses the entire look and feel of a film from the scenery to the lighting. Yesterday, we saw a gallery from Pan's Labyrinth, and today's featured movie is Dreamgirls.

For this film, the art director and set designer were charged with translating a stage musical into a big-screen extravaganza without losing that bright-lights glitz. In addition, the filmmakers had to create an appropriately retro environment. To see what they came up with, read more

View 21 Photos ›

Photos courtesy of Paramount

Oscar Nominee: Dreamgirls for Best Costumes

BuzzSugar — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 07:30:11 -0800

Every week up until the Oscars, I'll be featuring the nominees in the various visual categories. Last week, I started with cinematography, and this week I'll be looking at the nominees for best costumes.

Yesterday, we checked out the the highly coveted wardrobe of The Devil Wears Prada, and today's featured movie is Dreamgirls. For this musical saga of a fictional Motown group, costume designer Sharen Davis (who also received an Oscar nomination for Ray) had to dream up ostentatious but authentic-looking fashions as the characters went through countless costume changes both on stage and off. To see a gallery of fashion from Dreamgirls, read more

View 21 Photos ›

Photos courtesy of Paramount

Who Would Win the Oscar for Best Villain?

BuzzSugar — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:51:26 -0800

Ok, so there isn't really an Oscar category for Best Villain, but if there were, who would win this year?

Which Platonic Duo Deserves an Academy Award?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 05:00:32 -0800

Some of these non-romantic couples took care of each other; others practically defined the word "catfight." Which movie duo deserves an Oscar this year?

2007 SAG Awards: The Winners

BuzzSugar — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 22:36:41 -0800

The Screen Actors Guild Awards were held Sunday night in Los Angeles, giving us more leading indicators for the Oscars plus the fun "best performance by a cast" nominees. Though most of the wins weren't surprising, I was glad to see so many of my favorite shows honored, and I think the win for Little Miss Sushine is perfectly apt. Here's a list of who snagged SAG honors.

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Helen Mirren, The Queen

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

To see the rest, read more

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Little Miss Sunshine

PRIMETIME TELEVISION

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Jeremy Irons, "Elizabeth I"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Helen Mirren, "Elizabeth I"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Hugh Laurie, "House"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Chandra Wilson, "Grey's Anatomy"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
"Grey's Anatomy"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
"The Office"

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