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G.I. Joe: A Real American (Box Office) Hero

BuzzSugar — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 07:00:58 -0700

Did you know that G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra posted the highest opening for an August non-sequel on Friday? Well, now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Over the weekend, the movie grossed an estimated $56.2 million domestically, and, combined with overseas numbers, took in an estimated $100.3 million worldwide. As Variety points out, Paramount is having a stellar Summer this year: "Not only has the studio launched another franchise in G.I. Joe, it has reenergized the Star Trek franchise and continued successfully mining the Transformers property."

Julie and Julia also opened over the weekend and grossed just over $20 million, coming in second place. The animated guinea pigs in G-Force pulled in about half that but still came in at No. 3 at the box office. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince followed closely behind at No. 4 while Judd Apatow's Funny People "fell a steep 65 percent" in its second week, rounding out the top five with an estimated $7.9 million.

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

What's Your Favorite Judd Apatow-Directed Movie?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:30:26 -0700

When I saw Funny People last week, I was quick to call it my least favorite of the three movies Judd Apatow has directed. I just didn't have quite the same feeling as I did after seeing 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up when I wanted to watch them again and again. Out of the three, I have a particularly special place in my heart for 40-Year-Old Virgin, but tell me - what's your favorite Judd Apatow movie?

Box Office: People Love Funny People

BuzzSugar — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:30:02 -0700

Though the Judd Apatow movie Funny People opened in first place at the box office this weekend with a respectable $23.4 million, that number is "the lowest tally for a No. 1 film this Summer." It's an interesting season when Bruno's opening weekend surpasses that of a Judd Apatow-Adam Sandler-Seth Rogen film.

After the guinea pigs in G-Force took the box office crown from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last weekend, the two hit films nearly tied this time around with both hovering around the $17 million mark. Harry Potter beat G-Force by less than $1 million. The latest in family-friendly entertainment, Aliens in the Attic, took in a dismal $7.8 million over its opening weekend, though it did come in fifth at the box office, just after The Ugly Truth.

The best news comes from the indie film arena, as 500 Days of Summer and The Hurt Locker continue to have impressive per-screen averages.

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Funny People or Julie and Julia: Which Interests You More?

BuzzSugar — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:30:47 -0700

In my poll last week, many of you expressed interest in seeing the Judd Apatow-directed Funny People in theaters. Next weekend the Meryl Streep-Amy Adams movie, Julie and Julia, about one woman's quest to try every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering The Art of French Cooking opens in theaters as well. One focuses largely on two men (played by Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen) along with issues of mortality, comedy and male friendship, while the other is based on the lives of two women who, at the very least, shared a love of good food.

These are some of our only options these days for mainstream (and widely released) adult comedies-with-heart, so I ask you: Which are you more interested in seeing?

Funny People one-sheet courtesy of Universal Pictures, Julie and Julia one-sheet courtesy of Sony Pictures

Funny People: Apatow Almost Gets It Right

PopSugar — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:30:01 -0700

Before we get right into my thoughts on Funny People, let me preface by saying that I loved Judd Apatow’s first two films, The 40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. I would count both among the best comedies to hit Hollywood in the past few years, and I had full faith that he would hit another home run with his third directorial stint. I understand that he was ready to try something new and a get a little more serious, but looking back at his first two achievements I have to wonder: when the formula works so well, why mess with it?

Adam Sandler stars as George Simmons, a middle-aged comedian who's found fame and fortune thanks to a movie career filled with silly, Eddie Murphy-esque characters. His house is a palace, but George's selfish behavior has pushed away all of his friends and family. This leaves most of his social interactions with his personal staff, female conquests, and his fans. When George learns that he’s dying from a blood disorder, he decides to go back to his roots in standup comedy while taking on aspiring comedian Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) as his assistant. As George assesses what could be the end of a lonely life, Ira slowly becomes his closest friend and sidekick.

That's just the beginning, so to see what I thought of the film, just read more.

While George isn’t exactly the most likable character around, Adam Sandler does a great job of capturing his moody (and often downright mean) personality. The role is perfect for Sandler as it gives him a chance to shine as the effortlessly funny comedian we all know and love, but at the same time deliver a strong performance as an ailing man who is trying to change his life in the 11th hour.

Seth Rogen is equally impressive and perfect as innocent, puppy dog Ira. Rogen's no stranger to playing the everyman kinda guy, but this is the first time I feel like he's playing a role with no hint of sarcasm or arrogance. Ira could easily be mistaken for another lovable loser, but Seth shows that he’s so much more than that. There’s also something endearing about seeing Ira’s wide-eyed enthusiasm juxtaposed with George’s apathetic nature as they face the world of standup comedy as a team.

Beyond Sandler and Rogen, the film’s supporting cast provides a lot of life (and many of the laughs) to the story. Leslie Mann really brings out Adam’s sweeter side as Laura, George's "one that got away," and Eric Bana gets a rare chance to show his comedic chops as her bread-winning husband. Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman round out the group as Ira’s quirky and witty roommates. As an added bonus, Apatow and Mann’s daughters, Maude and Iris, are adorable as Laura’s kids.

As promised in the title, Funny People delivers jokes, and plenty of them. Granted, more than half of them are about the male anatomy and another large percentage are directed at Seth Rogen’s weight loss, but they're still there. The problem is that the laughs aren't free. George’s illness creates a dark cloud that hangs over the story, even when he learns that he has a good chance of pulling through. Apatow has your heart in his hands because everyone in the audience knows that there's a potential death scene lurking around every corner.

The movie has a lot of depressing moments, but what's even sadder is that the biggest takeaway of the film is the length. At over two and a half hours, the movie drags and is entirely too long. Apatow wanted to take his time to make his point, but by the end he had lost me and I just didn’t care that much about the film's final message.

Funny People has a lot to offer and isn’t terrible by any means, but it is hands-down my least favorite of Apatow's three films. I'd still give him golf claps, but there just isn't enough to earn a standing ovation this time around.

Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures

Watch, Pass, TiVo or Rent: Funny People

BuzzSugar — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 06:30:11 -0700

For Judd Apatow's third directorial feature film, Funny People, he has Seth Rogen starring as a fledgling comedian who looks up to the seasoned comedian/Hollywood actor, George Simmons (Adam Sandler). George learns that he has an untreatable blood disorder and that he has one year to live. He notices Ira's act one night and takes Ira under his wing - though it doesn't change the fact that George is a prickly, difficult guy. The movie explores the world of comedy and the quirky sort of mentor/mentee relationship that forms between a newbie performer and a guy who's "made it" - but at a cost. Leslie Mann also stars as George's "one that got away."

Will you venture out to the theaters for this one, wait for the DVD, catch it on TV someday, or skip it altogether?

Movie Preview: Judd Apatow's Funny People

BuzzSugar — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:24:06 -0800

The trailer for Judd Apatow's new comedy, Funny People, has arrived, and it looks like a bittersweet mix of Apatowian humor and genuine emotions. Apatow's wife Leslie Mann stars as the love interest of Adam Sandler's character, with an ensemble filled out by Eric Bana (sporting an all-natural Australian accent), Seth Rogen (naturally), Jason Schwartzman, and those two adorable daughters of Apatow and Mann. It looks like this movie could contain everything I so enjoyed about Knocked Up: a lot of laughs but also a lot of heart.

To check out the trailer, read more.

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Judd Apatow's Next Project Gets Funny People

BuzzSugar — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:36:36 -0700

News and rumors have been trickling in surrounding Judd Apatow's next directorial venture, a dramedy about stand-up comedy which now has the title Funny People. Like You Don't Mess With the Zohan, this will be a collaboration between Apatow and Adam Sandler, with both guys' production companies backing the project.

About the plot, Apatow has been "deliberately vague. . . allowing only that the movie takes place in the world of standup comedy and the focus is on a comedian who has a near-death experience." The cast includes such funny folks as Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman and Jonah Hill. So, same old Apatow faces (Mann, Rogen, Hill) with some nice new peeps (Schwartzman, Bana).

I'm especially excited about Eric Bana, who is a funny, funny guy. As Variety explains, "Bana began his career as a comic on the standup circuit in Australia and starred in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal and The Eric Bana Show before remaking himself as a dramatic actor." If you haven't seen his impression of Tom Cruise, you should probably click here.

I just hope they get some other notable stand-ups to make appearances somehow, like Bill Cosby or Seinfeld. I'm also curious about which peripheral character Paul Rudd will be playing, since Apatow always includes him somehow.

Source and source

Buzz Interview: Eric Stonestreet on Playing Modern Family's New Dad Cam

BuzzSugar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:30:49 -0800

Freshman comedy Modern Family has filled a void in my life - I find myself laughing out loud each week, and I'm not the only one digging it. A huge part of the show's greatness can be attributed to its amazing cast; one of my favorites is Cameron - one half of a same-sex couple adjusting to life with a new baby. Eric Stonestreet, who plays Cam, sat down with me to talk about the show's crazy success and the real-life experience he used to portray a clown in next week's episode, "Fizbo."

On whether he expected the show to be so successful: No. I had a very, very good idea that based on the writers’ history and their very extensive careers that we had a really, really good shot at being something great. Anybody that tells you in this business they knew it was going to be this well-received is crazy. Actually, being this well-received makes you a little nervous.
On whether the success is a surprise: It’s a bit of a surprise with how outwardly supportive the critics have been, but by the same token, how outwardly supportive and sort of in love with the show fans have been. I think that’s the thing that really feels like lightning in a bottle - when you have both of those things in place. Typically, you have huge fan support and the critics tell you it’s the worst thing they’ve ever seen, or you have critical acclaim and the fans are like, 'what is this show, we don’t get it.' So I think the fact that we have both is rare and exciting.

To hear Eric spilling about upcoming episodes of Modern Family and his clown college rejection, just read more.

On his real-life clown experience: I, as a kid, have early documented pictures of me being very intrigued by clowns. The circus came to town in Kansas City every year around my birthday, so naturally my parents took me for my birthday. Once I saw that clowns were people with makeup and funny wigs and costumes, I was in. By nine, I was getting clown suits made for me by my Grandma Louise, at 11 there were articles written about me in Kansas City about how I wanted to become a one-man show performing for senior citizens and kids forever. You’ll see that article in the episode "Fizbo" that was written about me then. I didn’t want to be an actor; I always wanted to be a clown, and acting sort of found me when I was in college. So to be able to bring back what inspired me to act as a kid to prime time is more than I would have ever imagined possible for myself.
On whether he'd be a clown now if he weren't an actor: No. I auditioned for Barnum and Bailey Clown College and they denied me twice. They did not let me in, those clowns.
On what's next for Cameron, Mitchell, and baby Lily: We have an episode coming up where we’re Ferberizing the baby when she won’t go to sleep, and Mitchell is very much committed to letting her cry it out, and Cameron of course can’t for the life of him imagine why you would let a baby cry it out like that, so there’s drama there. It’s what’s great about the show - yeah, they’re a couple of guys raising a baby, but the focus really on that relationship is the challenges of a relationship, the challenges of parenthood, and just trying to find the happy medium of keeping up a relationship while raising a kid.
On the holiday episode: We have the Christmas episode coming up, where you find out that Cameron had created a choir group, a caroling group, a few years back and he was removed and kicked out of his own caroling group by one of the carolers. That episode is really about forgiveness and the Christmas spirit. It’s a very sweet episode.
On his dream guest stars: I can’t imagine who else they’re going to get. That’s the brilliance and awe-inspiring aspect of this show, that people are watching it and people are enjoying it and willing to participate. I can’t wait to see who they find for Cameron’s parents. I have some ideas of who I want, but I’ll be excited to see who’s coming.

Rob, Kristen, and Taylor Are This Week's Entertainment

BuzzSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:56:22 -0800

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner have been posing for photo ops all over town - check out Pop's favorite promo tour moments - and it wouldn't be complete without an interview with Entertainment Weekly. In the cute interview, the costars quip about everything from Rob's attachment to his signature hair to Kristen's confession that she'd like to quit smoking to Taylor's obsession with hitting the gym for New Moon. There're also tidbits about Rob and Kristen's off-screen relationship and how Robert handles fandom. They're clearly a tight-knight trio, so check out the highlights below. If you can't get enough Twilight, keep the convos going in the Twilight Saga community group, and be sure to check back next week for my own interview with Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz!

Robert Pattinson on his hair in Eclipse: I swear to you I’ve never experienced anything like this. It's every single day. In Twilight, they wanted me to have extensions down to my hips.
Kristen Stewart: He's a liar. He doesn't remember. He's remembering how they made him feel, but they were just, like, down to here [pointing to her shoulders].
Pattinson: So I told them, "Look, that's just not going to happen." I said, "It looks like this already – I'll come to set like this." I sound so stupid, but in a lot of ways the hair is 75 percent of my performance, so in the second one I said, "Listen, I need to tone down the hair. Let's make it a little more real, a little bit more . . . Method.” [Laughs] And then in the third one, I'm doing fight scenes and there's a strand going down my forehead and they're like, "We need to do it again because no one will recognize you! No one will know who it is!" I'm like, really, is my face that generic?
Stewart: They want proof that you're doing your own stunts, man!
Pattinson: I have to look like the poster at all times. Just in case they want to use any clip for the trailer. Any clip at all! There were about five people in different departments who, because of my forelock, ended up in tears.

For tons of more quotes, just read more.

EW: How are you all coping with living in a fishbowl?
Pattinson: It really depends on the mood. When I met you last year [before Twilight came out], I was doing interviews very sporadically and I never got recognized. Now it's like anywhere I go there's immediate recognition. So there's more of a responsibility . . .
Stewart: I don't mind working every day. It's just, suddenly, I have this other role. And that's really disappointing. All I'd like to do is go outside with a book and figure out what to do with the day. And if I can't do that, then I'm just going to sit in my hotel room on my balcony and chain smoke. [Pauses] I'm going to stop smoking. I'm not such a good smoker, anyway. It's not in my bones. I'm gonna drop it.
Pattinson: The three of us have been working for two years [straight]. It does feel like your day has a shape just as soon as you wake up. I just forget what it's like when you're free.
EW: Taylor, you're the only one who almost lost a shot at the sequels. Do you have a different relationship with fame because you had to fight for your job?
Lautner: No, I kept my eye on the prize 100 percent of the time. I was motivated. I wasn't even thinking about anything else.
Stewart: Thank God you got the job. I wouldn't have wanted to deal with you if you didn’t. After all those months of working out!
Lautner: I just wanted to focus on what I could control, and I worked really hard.
EW: You mean in the gym? Because I see your abs everywhere these days.
Lautner: Yeah, the gym was a major part, but I really studied the books and the character, too. And it all turned out good.
EW: Kristen, it must be nice to watch the guys' appearances get obsessed over for a change.
Stewart: Seriously, it's a trip to sit back and look at the sexual objectification of these dudes. I've never been asked to do any of this stuff.
EW: You guys are lucky. You clearly all dig each other.
Lautner: The amount of time we have to spend with each other – if I didn't like these two, it would be exhausting.
EW: Rob, you made Remember Me this summer, between sequels. Was that the set in New York, where you were knocked into a cab by hordes of fans?
Pattinson: That was completely made up. I was walking across the street, and there was one cab going about one mile an hour and it nudged my leg. The story ended up being how I got hit by a cab because of a mob of screaming fans, [but] it was 4 o'clock in the morning and there was one person there – a paparazzi. . . . And then there was another time – apparently they said on the news that I had a drug overdose. The security guy saw it on TV, and I wasn't in my room, and he was like, "Uh-oh!" It's just so weird. I wake up and my room is too messy to order room service, and so I end up eating a pack of M&M’s for breakfast – and it takes me about five hours to find it. That's my first five hours of the day. [Laughing] And then you see the news and think, "Who cares if he had a drug overdose? It would probably make him more interesting!"
EW: Kristen and Rob, why do you think people are so obsessed with the state of your off-screen relationship?
Pattinson: Good question. That's a little thing I have to think about every day.
Stewart: Maybe it's just my personality, but I'm never going to answer it. I probably would've answered it if people hadn't made such a big deal about it. But I'm not going to give the fiending an answer. I know that people are really funny about "Well, you chose to be an actor, why don’t you just f---ing give your whole life away? Can I have your firstborn child?"
EW: You don’t think just saying, for example, "Listen, we dated for a few months, it was weird, we're better off as friends" would end the speculation?
Pattinson: No way.
Stewart: People are deeply judgmental and I'm not strong enough. I would love to be like, "I don't care what anybody thinks." But I'm a very private person. And think about every hypothetical answer: "Okay, we are. We aren't. I’m a lesbian." I've thought about this a lot. There's no answer that's not going to tip you one way or the other. I'm just trying to keep something. If people started asking me if I was dating Taylor, I'd be like, "F--- off." I would answer the exact same way."