BuzzSugar

Buzz In: What Movies and Series Do You Watch With Your Dad?

BuzzSugar — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:00:38 -0700

Happy Father's Day, everyone! In honor of the day, I want to hear about your favorite entertainment options for when you want to do a little bonding with your dad.

This might seem a little twisted, but my dad and I both love the movie Fargo, and the quirky, dark comedy is one of our staples. We also love cheering for favorite teams on the high-energy reality show The Amazing Race. And for the perfect dose of macho drama, nothing beats The Sopranos.

When you and your dad are jonesing for some entertainment, where do you turn?

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Movie Night: Deep-Freeze Films

BuzzSugar — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 15:54:42 -0800

So many movies, so little time. Thankfully, BuzzSugar is here to help you sort through them all! Every Thursday, we'll choose a theme for a weekend Movie Night and feature three must-see movies in keeping with the topic. This week's Movie Night: deep-freeze films. So if the weather outside is frightful this time of year, make a protective pillow fort and turn on these icy-themed films.

The Ice Storm
Tobey Maguire stars as teenager Paul Hood, who returns from boarding school to a deteriorating world. His family is struggling to stay together, the Watergate scandal is threatening to unravel Washington, and a fierce ice storm is gearing up to freeze over his suburban Connecticut town. With a strong cast which includes Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and Christina Ricci, The Ice Storm depicts how the atmosphere of free experimentation and liberalism prevalent in 1973 caused a freezing of one family's morals. The literal freezing of the physical world outside as a figurative device is heavy-handed at times, but also effective, and visually startling.

Two more so read more

Fargo

In Fargo, the only thing thicker than the Minnesota accents is the snow cover. An iced-over Upper Midwest landscape serves as the perfect setting for this noir thriller, which is one of the best examples of the Cohen brothers' ability to combine the bleak with the bitingly funny. Fargo tells the story of hapless used-car salesman Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) who gets embroiled in a botched murder, while Frances McDormand pulls off a near-flawless performance as Marge Gunderson, the very pregnant detective investigating the case. Other highlights include Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare reimagining Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as incompetent criminals.

The Cutting Edge
I know so many people who like the movie The Cutting Edge but won't admit to it. True, it's not a complex, socially important film, but it is very fun and satisfying to watch. Moira Kelly is charming as the beautiful but spoiled figure skater Kate Moseley, who, in order to remain in the 1988 Olympics, must team up with a new skating partner. Her coach brings in hockey player Doug Dorsey, and the two make beautiful figure eights together. Their personalities, however, do not harmonize. Competition movies are so much fun because of how predictable they are, especially when they feature a relationship that is feisty and argumentative but which you know is only masking passionate attraction. Guilty pleasure, much?

Link Time! Soupy Sales Passes Away

BuzzSugar — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:30:25 -0700

Comedian Soupy Sales dies at 83 - Movieline
Fargo Rock City, Chuck Klosterman's novel, is being turned into a movie - The A.V. Club
Sylvester Stallone is working on Rocky 7 - Worst Previews
Here's a schedule for upcoming Halloween episodes and specials - TV.com
Melrose Place's Colin Egglesfield reveals how he feels about losing his role on the show - Watch With Kristin
Justin Theroux is producing a comedy called Air Guitar - Coming Soon
Tracey Morgan has some really sweet words about Lorne Michaels (but don't worry, there's still swearing) - Vulture
Amelia director Mira Nair says Amelia Earhart was modern and would be considered an iconoclast now - TrèsSugar
HBO series In Treatment is getting a third season - HitFix
Joss Whedon talks about Dollhouse's absence from November sweeps - MTV Movies Blog

A Serious Man: Seriously Hard To Wrap Your Head Around

BuzzSugar — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:00:10 -0700

I like the Coen brothers. I loved No Country For Old Men, I still enjoy quoting Frances McDormand lines from Fargo - I even appreciated their most recent project, Burn After Reading despite lukewarm reviews. So I went into A Serious Man with high expectations. Perhaps a bit too high.

The Coens go incredibly dark and thought-provoking this time around, and unfortunately without any big-named stars attached like Clooney a la Reading or O Brother, Where Art Thou?, A Serious Man probably won't live on as one of their more memorable films for viewers. In fact, many people will probably feel put off by it. To see what I mean, read more

A Serious Man opens like a horror movie, which isn't surprising given the Coen's propensity for heavy themes (and often a few stab wounds) in their stories. The music is a big player, creating tension that doesn't let up for the audience even when the screen goes to black. But the antagonizing score fits well within the nightmare existence of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a professor and devoted family man in '60s suburbia. First, his wife announces that she's leaving him for a touchy-feely close-talker; his unemployed brother spends entire 24-hour periods in his bathroom; and one of his foreign students is threatening to sue him. Really, the only thrill Gopnik ever gets in life is when his neighbor Mrs. Samsky sunbathes nude.

Poor Gopnik is a wound-up guy, and you feel for him and with him. (It's true; I had to decompress after this movie.) His world is spiraling out of control, so he seeks out three rabbis for a solution. Does Gopnik get the enlightenment he seeks? Not exactly, and neither do we as the audience.

There's not a single bad thing I can say about any of the actors. Each one was believable and charmingly offbeat in their role. The Coens are brilliant with character nuances - even some of the small two-minute parts managed to get laughs - but the larger picture just seemed murky from the get-go. The first five minutes of the film starts with a man in a village who accidentally invites a ghost home for dinner. It's all in Yiddish with subtitles, and it's almost like watching a stand-alone play, but I'm still not sure what it had to do with the rest of the plot, other than the Jewish religion and setting a dismal tone. So right away I felt semiconfused, but entertained nonetheless - which is pretty much how the duration of it went for me.

The film does have some great scenes - I loved the interaction between Gopnik and his foreign student, and his wife's new boyfriend Si is particularly funny - but trying to piece it together is a bit like banging your head against the wall (just like in the movie's trailer). I get that Gopnik's life sucks, but other than that, it's hard to tell exactly what we're supposed to glean from the story. I think that was sort of the point the Coens were trying to make - Gopnik doesn't get the answers he seeks, and neither do we.

Go see it if you're a hardcore Coenaholic, and enjoy the funny scenes without trying to analyze it too much. But if you prefer to dissect your movies, I'd say rent this one at home, because you may need to watch it twice.

What movies are you seeing this weekend? Review them in our Movie Review Group!

Photos courtesy of Focus Features