BuzzSugar

Wedding Movie Gets Whitaker, Ferrera and Mencia

BuzzSugar — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:30:42 -0700

Looks like all the wedding stuff on the Sugar network (especially this post) might come in handy for the characters in an upcoming untitled wedding comedy by Fox Searchlight. Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia are signed on to play two dads and America Ferrera is the bride-to-be. Here's more:

Described as a clash-of-cultures comedy, story centers on two overbearing fathers (Whitaker, Mencia) who must put aside their differences to plan the wedding of their son and daughter (Ferrera) in less than two weeks.

Hmm . . . I wonder who will play the groom. Who could you see alongside the beautiful Ferrera? It sounds like a cute movie and I adore Forest Whitaker, though it'll be interesting to see the Oscar winner yukking it up with Carlos Mencia in Mencia's first major feature film role. It could be sweet if this came out around Father's Day next year. What do you think?

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Buzz Brainteaser

BuzzSugar — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:30:58 -0700

Welcome to Buzz Brainteaser, the trivia feature on BuzzSugar! Every weekday I'll test your knowledge about TV shows, music, and movies. If you enter in the correct answer, you win points!

Forest Whitaker has directed several movies, including what 1995 film?

Forest Whitaker to Direct and Star in Louis Armstrong Biopic

BuzzSugar — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:37:07 -0700

It's a wonderful world for Forest Whitaker.
According to Variety, Whitaker will direct and star in a Louis Armstrong biopic titled What a Wonderful World. The story will have the help of a Paris-based production company, Legende, the company behind another musician biopic, La Vie en Rose.

Some facts:
The movie, which is "the first big-screen project to be authorized by the Armstrong estate, will kick off during the musician's impoverished early years in New Orleans and primarily chronicle his career as a trumpet virtuoso and improvisational singer."

Whitaker's thoughts:
"'Armstrong left a monumental mark on our lives and our culture,' said Whitaker, who portrayed jazz great Charlie Parker in Bird. 'He lived an amazing life and, through his art, shifted the way music was played and would be heard after him, not just here in the U.S. but all over the world.'"

What do you think of movie biopics?
Louis Armstrong's music never fails to make me happy; I can't explain why, exactly. So, I'm interested in a big film about his life. I was recently reading, however, a rundown of all the things wrong with making biopics (they are "more about the lead actor/actress than about the subject," etc.), and there are some valid points there. At the same time, I kind of can't wait to see Whitaker bring Louis Armstrong to life on the big screen. What do you think?

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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:30:48 -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 you can now rent the Diane Lane thriller Untraceable, Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth, and Mad Money.

The Great Debaters
The Great Debaters stars Denzel Washington (who also directs), Forest Whitaker and newcomer Nate Parker in a movie that is maybe formulaic but also poignant and powerfully acted. As I pointed out in my review, the film borrows the the same elements of storytelling you find in underdog sports movies and inspirational teacher movies. However the film, based on a true story, is no less inspiring thanks to some moving performances.

The movie takes place in Texas circa 1935 when schools were segregated and economic times were hard all around. A group of young black college students work to become a debate team worthy of challenging Harvard. Washington plays the hard-driving debate team coach who encourages his students to succeed. You've definitely seen this all before in one form or another, but it's a great family rental with an inspirational message. The movie was honored earlier this year with an NAACP Award to boot.

Special features include deleted scenes and featurettes titled, "The Great Debaters: An Historical Perspective," and "Learning the Art: Our Young Actors Go to Debate Camp."

One more release to go so read more

Autism: The Musical
I have been curious about this documentary ever since it showed at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival and I'm so glad it's out on DVD now, as I missed its airing on HBO a couple of months ago. The film has earned high praise and was even one of the Academy's 15 documentaries considered for an Oscar nod.

As Netflix puts it, the documentary follows "five autistic children as they develop and rehearse The Miracle Project, an original musical about autism." Between this flick and The Great Debaters I'd say you've got yourself a great family movie night here.

Special features include deleted scenes, a featurette called, "About Autism Speaks" and a filmmaker biography.

Box Office: A Memorable Prom Weekend

BuzzSugar — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:30:38 -0700

Maybe it's that time of the year, or perhaps there was a strong nationwide desire to see a scary movie, but whatever the reason, horror flick Prom Night was crowned queen at the box office this weekend. Variety reports that the movie's $22.7 million marks the best opening for a horror picture so far this year, possibly due to the teen-friendly PG-13 rating.

Though Street Kings is loaded with bloodshed and big names like Forest Whitaker and Keanu Reeves, it was still no match for the teen screamfest, earning second place with an estimated $12 million. 21, on the other hand, is still performing well, taking the third spot with $11 million. It was followed by Nim's Island, Leatherheads, and Horton Hears a Who.

Little family comedy Smart People starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page, and Dennis Quaid came in No. 7 earning about $4.2 million. The overall box office is still experiencing a slump compared to last year. I wonder if Forgetting Sarah Marshall will get more folks to the theaters next weekend?

And if you're curious about Prom Night, head over to movies.ivillage.com for the trailer and video clips.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Vantage Point: A Pretty Solid Action-Mystery

BuzzSugar — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:29:56 -0800

Here's what I liked about Vantage Point: It's a gradually unfolding thriller-mystery with elements of an action movie thrown in. Here's what I don't like about Vantage Point: While it benefits from being both thriller-mystery and action flick, it also falls into the same traps as many other movies in these genres. In trying to keep our attention, the film employs this tactic of repeatedly winding back the clock to show what's happening in every character's story in a certain time span. But while this is neat the first few times, it becomes laughable after a while - literally, laughable. The audience I was with started to anticipate the rewind and would roar with laughter every time it happened. As an action film, there's a lot of gunfire and bombing and people betraying other people by killing them, all of which is fine. But then there's an impossibly long and exhausting car chase that makes this hour-and-a-half movie feel twice as long.

Regardless of those minor criticisms, however, Vantage Point is still one of the finer movies like this to come out in a long time. The action centers around a speech the President is supposed to make in Salamanca, Spain, yet everything goes awry when two shots ring out across the square and the President is struck down. Soon after, two bombs explode in the city. Rewinding the clock several times allows us to follow many different points of view and piece together the full picture of what went down. That's just the basic outline of this tense, twisty tale, though, so read more.

There's a wide range of characters to follow, centering mostly on a shaky Secret Service man, Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) who took a bullet for the President a year ago and is on this job to try and prove that he's back to normal. There's the American news crew (led by a sharp Sigourney Weaver) that captures important footage while covering the speech. There's a Spanish couple: a policeman and his shady girlfriend. There's the sweet, friendly American tourist (Forest Whitaker, who I adore more every time I see him in a role) using his handheld camera to film everything around him - including key moments in the day's events. Every story, rewound to the same point in time, provides more clues to who's out to get the President - and who's getting in the way. And in the middle of it all is a car chase scene that seems to last forever.

It has the same tone and similar plot points as the show 24, which is compelling for fans of 24, though also leaves no real reason to see this movie on the big screen. Still, I found myself lost in this mystery, anxious to figure out how each of these storylines intersects with the others. I rooted for some characters and wanted to boo others. The dialogue is sometimes ridiculous, and despite the gasp-inducing twists and turns, the ending is so predictable it elicited hearty laughter from the audience. The Bourne Ultimatum it isn't, but it's much more successful than many movies that try to do similar things.

Photos courtesy of Sony 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

Buzz News Roundup, 1/16

BuzzSugar — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:31:56 -0800

The American Idol premiere was its lowest rated in four years, TV Week reports - but it still got more than 33 million viewers.
Variety has more details on Apple's new iTunes movie rental service.
Studios have canceled dozens of deals with producers as a result of the strike, writes The Hollywood Reporter.
While the Grammys and Oscars are in question, the NAACP Image Awards will go on as planned, the New York Times reports.
Forest Whitaker may star in Patriots, a post-Katrina sports drama directed by Tim Story, writes ComingSoon.
According to Billboard, Alicia Keys' album returns to its No. 1 spot on the charts, though the Juno soundtrack is up there, too, coming in as the No. 3 bestselling album in the country.
The Hollywood Reporter has news that Will Smith's son Jaden Smith will star in the sci-fi thriller The Day the Earth Stood Still.
According to ComingSoon, the director of 27 Dresses, Anne Fletcher, has signed on to direct Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock in the romantic comedy The Proposal.
The Decemberists' Colin Meloy will release a live solo album in April, Pitchfork reports.

Photo courtesy of Fox

Movie Preview: The Great Debaters

BuzzSugar — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:26:01 -0800

Right as everyone's buzzing about Denzel Washington's award-worthy turn in American Gangster, we get a trailer for The Great Debaters, another movie that has Washington's magical charm all over it. Add to that an inspirational historical plot fraught with race tensions, and a tight-looking cast - which includes another Oscar favorite, Forest Whitaker - and you've got the makings for a huge Hollywood success.

Washington plays Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at the all-black Wiley College in Texas in 1935. He helps form the school's first debate team which goes on to challenge Harvard's team in the national championship.

Weird sidenote: One of the young actors in this movie is actually named - and I'm not kidding - Denzel Whitaker. He's not a relative of either Denzel Washington or Forest Whitaker, though he was named after Denzel. Weird, right?

To watch the heartwarming trailer for The Great Debaters which opens December 25, read more

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Buzz News Roundup, 11/2

BuzzSugar — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:30:30 -0700

Variety writes that Fox has set a release date for the second X-Files movie: July 25, 2008.
All My Children star Justin Bruening will be the new Knight Rider, reports Zap2it.
ComingSoon reports that Natalie Portman is starting a production company and will make her directorial debut with A Tale of Love and Darkness.
According to Hollywood Reporter, FX has ordered a fifth season of Rescue Me.
Variety reports that Forest Whitaker will produce a Showtime series called Mr. Untouchable about a "flashy Harlem heroin dealer."
James Marsden will join Cameron Diaz for the thriller The Box, writes Zap2It.
A YouTube series called We Need Girlfriends could become a CBS comedy produced by Sex and the City's Darren Star, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
According to Billboard, Jewel is going country with her brand-new Nashville-based label.
Variety has news about a sequel to Dances With Wolves, titled The Holy Road and directed by Simon Wincer.
Dennis Miller has signed on to host the NBC game show Amnesia; details are at The Futon Critic.

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