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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:30:14 -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, the Oscar-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side is also now available on DVD.

Iron Man
Hurray! It feels like just yesterday the Summer box office was electrified by this superhero hit. I really loved it (and saw it twice in the theaters), mostly due to a super cool performance by Robert Downey Jr. and the skillful storytelling abilities of director Jon Favreau. Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, and Terrence Howard also do well in this fun action movie. It's a good way to go back in time and shake off those dark, depressing blues you may have caught from your 10th viewing of The Dark Knight.

Special features include deleted and extended scenes, featurettes titled "I Am Iron Man: 7-Part Making-of Documentary," "The Invincible Iron Man: 6-Part History of the Hero," and "Wired: The Visual effects of Iron Man." Something I'm really curious to see in the extras is a Robert Downey Jr. screen test and a featurette on his acting process. More time with RDJ is always good.

Two more spiffy choices, so read more!

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Another comedy from the Apatow universe to add to your at-home collection (or your Netflix queue): Forgetting Sarah Marshall, starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, and Mila Kunis in a story about a guy trying to get over his most recent ex. And this could be considered a good thing or a warning, depending on your opinion: VMA host Russell Brand is in this movie and has a ton of screen time.

The unrated version is cryptically described as including scenes "you couldn't see in theaters" which I pray does not mean more of Jason Segel's private parts. I saw plenty myself, how about you? Other special features include a gag reel and a featurette titled "Line-o-rama: Lines you'll be reciting for ages."

Sports Night: Complete Series
On days like today, I really wish Aaron Sorkin would stop fiddling around on Facebook and get back to writing really awesome TV shows. He's definitely more hit than miss on the small screen and today's release of the special anniversary edition of his acclaimed Sports Night is an example of what it's like when he's hit his stride.

If you've never heard of the show, it's loosely based on ESPN's Sports Center, and it takes a look at the behind-the-scenes dynamics. The awesome cast is led by Peter Krause and Felicity Huffman who skillfully deliver those faster-than-the-speed-of-light dialogues that Sorkin is so good at writing.

The special edition DVD set includes new interviews with Sorkin, cast members Josh Charles, Robert Guillaume, Felicity Huffman, Peter Krause, and Joshua Malina; a featurette where real SportsCenter employees compare their experiences with the characters on Sports Night; a look back with creators Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme; and of course, gag reels.

Box Office: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler Win the Weekend

BuzzSugar — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:30:38 -0700

It's always exciting when a comedy that's genuinely funny does well with audiences, and that was the case this weekend with the female buddy comedy Baby Mama starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

The ladies won the top spot with an estimated $18.3 million, handily beating out the other comedy opening over the weekend, Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. EW reports that while this wasn't the best movie opening for either Fey or Poehler, their film did much better than many box office watchers predicted. In fact, Baby Mama gave Universal Studios its first box office winner of the year.

The Forbidden Kingdom was No. 3 and Forgetting Sarah Marshall was right behind in the fourth spot, with both films earning approximately $11 million their second weekend out - a respectable achievement.

While Fey and company had good reason to pop the champagne, another film didn't post opening-weekend results worthy of celebration. Deception, starring Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, and Michelle Williams, "fared dismally," as Variety put it. The thriller barely beat Street Kings for the No. 10 spot, earning only $2.2 million over the weekend. I thought that the very talented cast did the best they could with poor material, but apparently that wasn't enough of a draw.

So, which movies did you check out this weekend? Did any of you see both Baby Mama and Harold and Kumar?

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Box Office: Forbidden Kingdom Kicks the Competition

BuzzSugar — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:30:28 -0700

Forbidden Kingdom gave kung fu fans the match up of their dreams, pairing up martial arts screen giants Jackie Chan and Jet Li for the first time. Together the two stars proved to be a formidable force at the box office, earning the top spot over the weekend with an estimated $20.9 million. Forgetting Sarah Marshall came in second place, earning $17 million.

Variety reports that while this opening represents a vast improvement over recent Apatow films like Drillbit Taylor and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, it still wasn't a return to the box office glory of his mega-hits like Superbad, Knocked-Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Prom Night continued to do well, coming in at No. 3 followed by the weekend opener starring Al Pacino, 88 Minutes which only took in $6.8 million. Nim's Island rounded out the top five followed by 21, Street Kings, and Horton Hears a Who. In the ninth spot was the Ben Stein documentary about intelligent design, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Lots of Laughs, Not a Lot of Heart

BuzzSugar — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:30:30 -0700

For the first half of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I laughed out loud almost nonstop. Deliciously rife with Apatowian elements - bumbling self-deprecating characters, bawdy jokes, "call-'em-like-I-see-'em" bits of social commentary - it's a satisfying parade of sarcasm and sight gags. It even begins with a shamelessly, utterly nude Jason Segel, a move I fully admire. Yet somewhere along the line everything starts to lose steam, and it's hard to care much about any of the characters - least of all our schlubby protagonist. And sure, it's still funny, but - awesome musical puppet interpretation of Dracula notwithstanding - the heartbeat of the film weakens tremendously.

Of course, for many people this won't matter, and the fact remains that it's still a good comedy in that it makes us laugh. But is it a tight story with great characters? I'm not so sure. In case the extremely pervasive marketing techniques for this movie never permeated your consciousness, here's the story: Pete Bretter's (Segel) TV actress girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) breaks up with him. Grief-stricken, Pete sleeps with as many women as possible before finally deciding a trip to Hawaii will better help him forget Sarah Marshall. But when he reaches the lush, beautiful hotel, there she is - with her new boyfriend, Brit rocker Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). Awkwardness ensues as Pete obsesses over Sarah and also tries to avoid her. Enter hot girl hotel employee Rachel (Mila Kunis) who is happy to take Pete's mind off Sarah, which only ignites Sarah's jealousy. Soon, Pete must decide what - and who - he thinks will make him happiest.

For more of my take on it all, read more.

In a largely character-driven comedy, the problem is that we're not entirely sure how to feel about most of the characters, and eventually we give up and feel nothing. This is a directional issue that most afflicts our main twosome, Pete and Sarah. I get the feeling that I'm supposed to hate Sarah, but frankly, I just can't. She shows a vulnerable side, opening up and crying to Pete about what made her break up with him and though her reasoning seems sensible, we're still supposed to hate her. Also, by the time it all comes out, we've been so entertained by all the slapstick and silliness that we end up judging and mocking Sarah's vulnerability, and it feels awkward. So, maybe it's not so much that there is no heart to the story, but that it comes too late to take very seriously.

Same goes for Pete's journey. When Rachel inspires him to jump off a cliff into the ocean (after they've talked about him taking risks with his career, insert heavy-handed life metaphor here), I find it difficult to care about what's going on with him. The following montage of scenes indicating that he's on the up and up (he attends a stranger's wedding! He swims with kids! He refuses alcohol!) rings empty, and again, I can't seem to care about this guy. Thus, whether or not Pete ends up with Rachel, a character I find to be incredibly obnoxious and, well, trashy, isn't something that concerns me in the least, especially since, while he's a relatively nice guy (or, "too sensitive," as Rachel so helpfully puts it), he's sort of a blah person. As the epicenter of an entire narrative, he doesn't quite manage to hold it all together.

There is one character who is both well-defined and endlessly entertaining, and that is Sarah's new man, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). This is the perfect situation: a fantastically gifted comedic actor combined with a solidly formed character. At least with Aldous we know where he stands and what he's about: egotistical fame-hungry rock-n-roll personality by day, tireless lothario by night - all the while maintaining this relaxed comfort with the world, this assumption that pleasure will find him. This movie won't make it to my DVD collection, but I do want a clip montage of Aldous Snow-isms to cheer me up on sick days.

Bottom line: It's not my favorite comedy ever, but the character of Aldous and a bunch of funny jokes make it more or less worth the price of admission.

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To see the trailer and more clips from Forgetting Sarah Marshall check out movies.ivillage.com.

Link Time! 4/10

BuzzSugar — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:31:21 -0700

TV Squad is all ga-ga over the packaging of the Mad Men DVD set - and for good reason!
So, according to Vulture, maybe David Archuleta didn't have such a tough time deciding to sing "Angels," after all.
Someone on Pushing Daisies is gay, and if you want to know who, head to AfterElton.

After watching another schlubby guy-hot girl movie (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Cinematical asks, where are the movies where unattractive women score hot guys?
Hey, it's Give Me My Remote's first Office Thursday in months!
Cute alert! The Paste Magazine blog alerts me to the fact that Shel Silverstein's books and albums are being reissued.
Sure, Lifetime's gaining Project Runway - but, as Popwatch points out, that might not offset its loss of The Golden Girls reruns to the Hallmark Channel.
This week's Hump Day Hottie on FilmExperience was Dennis Quaid, which I find totally awesome.

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Link Time! 3/25

BuzzSugar — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:29:31 -0700

FitSugar wants to know: What are your thoughts on these billboards promoting Forgetting Sarah Marshall?
Popwatch asks about the shows you meant to watch, but never got to see before they were yanked (like the recently canned Jezebel James).
Speaking of which, TV Filter wonders: What killed Jezebel James - the time slot, the concept, something else?
Vulture has the - good? bad? baffling? - news that Scarlett Johansson's album has gotten at least one good review.
Got questions for the cast of the book-to-film adaptation of Twilight? Submit them to the MTV Movies Blog.
TV Squad looks at the magic that can happen when television and real life collide.
TV with MeeVee wonders what a TV series version of Children of Men might look like in the hands of Battlestar Galactica's David Eick.

What Do You Think About Guerilla Marketing Tactics to Promote Movies?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 05:30:01 -0700

Hollywood, like any industry, has become increasingly creative in promoting its products, including the use of sneaky/innovative guerrilla and viral marketing tactics. For example, political advertisements for Harvey Dent have popped up on billboards in several cities (with a website that was live long before that) as part of the marketing campaign for The Dark Knight (Harvey Dent a.k.a. Two-Face will be played by Aaron Eckhart).

Then there was all that viral stuff surrounding the super secretive Cloverfield just before its January release. And who hasn't seen the Sarah Marshall-bashing websites and posters promoting the upcoming Judd Apatow-Jason Segel project?

I'm curious: do you think these tactics are effective ways of breaking through the advertising clutter?

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Jason Segel to Make Muppet Movie

BuzzSugar — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:29:30 -0700

This is some of the most endearing movie news I've heard in a long time: Jason Segel (star of Freaks and Geeks, How I Met Your Mother and the upcoming comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall) will collaborate with director Nick Stoller on a new Muppets movie. Here's the cute part, though: He got the idea from his Forgetting Sarah Marshall character. Variety has more:

In Sarah Marshall Segel's character writes a Dracula musical performed by puppets. Those cloth creatures were custom-made by the Henson puppeteers, and the experience emboldened Segel to pitch his concept for a Muppets movie when he was invited in for a general meeting with exec Kristin Burr. Segel got a deal in the room and enlisted Stoller to co-write and direct the project.

I just love the idea of Segel being struck with the inspiration to do a Muppets movie while working with puppets, it makes me think that he could sense Jim Henson's spirit. Or something. In other Muppet news, did you know that there is a MuppetWiki? It's true!

Are you excited to see the Muppets on the big screen again?

Segel photo courtesy of CBS
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2007: Year of Apatow

BuzzSugar — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:22:47 -0800

I said it back in May, and it's still true as the year winds down: Judd Apatow is everywhere. The man whom the Los Angeles Times named "the mayor of comedy" had two of the Summer movie season's biggest hits, signed on for several more highly anticipated projects, had a New York Times Magazine cover story all about him, and generally became a household name - not bad for a self-described schlub in an unglamorous polo shirt. Want to reminisce about Apatow's big year? Just hit start.

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Movie Preview: Kristen Bell, Jason Segel in Forgetting Sarah Marshall

BuzzSugar — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:30:09 -0800

What with the names Kristen Bell, Jason Segel and Judd Apatow all attached, I've been looking forward to the comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall for quite some time so today's trailer is a welcome sight. Jason Segel (previously of Freaks and Geeks, now on How I Met Your Mother) wrote the script and Apatow produced the film which, from the trailer, seems a little tame. It's not altogether un-funny, but it doesn't look like it'll be joining the ranks of Apatow's greatest hits. There's also a bit at the very end of the trailer that I don't think is necessary at all and it just makes me kind of hate the main character.

Segel plays a guy whose girlfriend (Bell) breaks up with him. When he goes on a Hawaiian vacation to try and forget about her, he ends up at the same resort as his ex - and her new boyfriend.

There are some laughs to be had in the trailer, and I almost always find Kristen Bell to be charming, so to check out the preview, read more

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