BuzzSugar

Buzz News Roundup, 10/8

BuzzSugar — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:31:12 PDT

Julie Taymor, director of Across the Universe and Titus, will bring Shakespeare's The Tempest to the big screen with an interesting cast: Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons, Djimon Hounsou, Russell Brand and Alfred Molina, among others. - Hollywood Reporter
Jason Priestley will direct an episode of 90210, and Shannen Doherty is in talks to return as Brenda. - Entertainment Weekly
David E. Kelley is pitching yet another legal drama, this time to CBS and NBC. - Zap2it
There's a Get Smart sequel in the works, with Steve Carell on board to reprise his role as Maxwell Smart. - ComingSoon
FX has canceled The Riches, while TBS has renewed My Boys. - Broadcasting and Cable
David Cronenberg is in negotiations to direct the political thriller The Matarese Circle, with Denzel Washington attached to star. - Variety
T.I. has scored his third straight No. 1 album. - Billboard
Enchanted director Kevin Lima will next take on a live-action Tom Thumb movie. - Variety

Bridesmaids Helps Bring Us "Out of the Dark Ages"

Annie Scudder — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:18:20 PST

Bridesmaids is getting lots of love tonight at the Critics' Choice Awards, including winning the best comedy award! The women-driven comedy was considered exceptional for winning over both critics and audiences, but director Paul Feig told PopSugar that he thinks the trend is here to stay. On tonight's red carpet, Feig pointed to the 1930s and '40s when great female movie stars had smart roles on par with their male counterparts, and said the success of Bridesmaids and the plethora of new women-driven TV suggests we're "coming out of the Dark Ages." As for a Bridesmaids sequel, costar Wendi McLendon-Covey say it could happen, "If Kristen [Wiig] and Annie [Mumolo] ever have a free moment again." See shots of the Bridesmaids crew at tonight's show.

Scream 4: A Bloody, Funny, and Worthy Scre-Boot

Molly Goodson — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:57:53 PDT

You know the sound of that dreaded ringing phone; you're ready for it, but no matter how often you remind yourself that it's coming, there's just something about the start of the Scream movies that gets me every time. From that very moment, Scream 4 throws you right back into the beloved franchise with a fresh, updated take on a very familiar story. The original Scream opening scene with Drew Barrymore put the movie on the map, and once again the first sequence is everything you want - tongue-in-cheek, funny, and of course, very bloody. For that reason and others, this is perhaps the most similar to the first of all the sequels. Or, to quote the film, it really is more of a "scre-boot" than a "shreik-uel."

Director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson are both at the top of their games with Scream 4. For all the criticism Scream 3 received, Craven stays loyal to the essence of Scream in this one. Ghostface and his very shiny knife are chill-inducing, red-herring abound, and it's a horror movie about loving horror movies. Williamson somehow retains the ability to write snappy, believable teen dialogue, save one final monologue about fame that goes a bit over the top.

Technology plays a central role in the story, with iPhones, apps, and web cams making frequent appearances, which is certainly a sign of the times. Scream 4 will serve as a snapshot of 2011 in the same way Scream is so indicative of the late '90s, belly shirts and all. Still, I'm not sure there are any high schoolers out there live streaming their whole life from a headset.

To read my biggest gripe about the movie, how the veteran cast members do, and the bottom line of who will love this just

Woodsboro hasn't changed much in the past 10 years, and neither have Gale Weathers-Riley (Courteney Cox), Dewey Riley (David Arquette), and Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell). The inclusion of the veterans is crucial to making Scream 4 work, and they remain the heart of the series. Gale and Dewey have stuck around town, and he's now the Sheriff while she's no longer working as a reporter and is instead plagued with a case of writer's block. Sidney is back in town on her book tour, with her a final stop being in her hometown on the anniversary of the Woodsboro Massacre. Her memoir is about coming out of the darkness, and her character has gotten stronger after all she's been through. Instead of running away from Ghostface, Sidney is now on the offensive to protect her cousin, Jill (Emma Roberts), and family. Campbell shines as a more daring adult Sid who is ready to fight until the end.

The death count is far higher than any of the previous Screams, so don't get too attached to the hot, young star-studded cast. For that reason, the downfall of this film is that it has less character and relationship development. At times it feels like the script moves from kill to kill without explaining any of the motives or backstory. There's little time to be worried about what door Ghostface is lurking behind, since the killer is too busy slashing everyone in sight. For instance, the movie alludes to Jill's boyfriend Trevor (Nico Tortorella) cheating on her, but they don't explain or expand on the story from there. The film will also have the viewers picking suspects, though that part of the story is underutilized as well. None of the characters are pointing fingers or making accusations, which is usually part of the fun.

Hayden Panettiere and Alison Brie are highlights of the new Scream-ers, as Jill's badass friend and Sydney's sassy publicist respectively, and the trio of guys, Tortorella, Erik Knudsen, and Rory Culkin each have their moments. Cox and Campbell, who both look like they haven't aged a day, are fantastic reprising their classic roles, and Arquette is lovable as ever as Dewey. Bottom line: Scream 4 won't have you jumping out of your seat, but it's smart, witty, unpredictable, and a blast to watch.

Source: The Weinstein Company

Matthew Talks Ditching His Dream of Becoming an Attorney, Being a Dad, and Ryan Phillippe For The Lincoln Lawyer

Lindsay Miller — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 11:23:00 PDT

Matthew McConaughey was looking good as the center of attention at the big premiere of The Lincoln Lawyer last Thursday, and he started the day at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, where he chatted with reporters about the legal thriller. The actor plays wheeling-and-dealing attorney Micky Haller in the new movie, which costars Ryan Phillippe and Marisa Tomei and is out in theaters March 18. We heard from Matthew on the reason he decided to leave his own dreams of practicing law behind, why he didn't want to meet Ryan before they filmed their first scene together, and how his car is one of his favorite places to be. Here's what he had to say:

On why he didn't want to meet Ryan before shooting: You know, with Marisa Tomei who plays my ex-wife, yeah. We have a history, so when you meet us on film, we’ve met. William H. Macy, we have a history. Ryan - he’s a client, I’m his attorney. We first meet each other in this story. I didn’t want to show him my hand. I didn’t want to share anything about what I was thinking. And I didn’t want to know anything from him. I didn’t even really want to kind of get to know him in any way. I felt more comfortable just [saying] "I’ll meet you on screen the day we’re doing our work . . . I’ll meet you through the character." It wasn’t until it was over that we looked at each other and went, "Nice work, man. Hey, how ya doing?"
On whether he has a driver like his character: I prefer to drive in my real life. Behind the wheel is my favorite spot. My own car is a mobile office. I love sitting in a car seat, controlling my music, controlling the temperature, backing the seat up, putting my leg out, moving the rearview mirror, the sideview mirror. When I lived in my trailer and was traveling across the United States, [and someone would say] "OK, it’s Thursday. I can come in Saturday morning to meet you." And I’d look at the map and say, "Well, I’m heading East. I’ll be in Tucson by Saturday morning. Why don’t you fly into Tucson airport, I’ll pick ya up, and I’m gonna keep driving East. We’ll spend the day together and then you get a flight back out of El Paso. And I’ll drop you off there." Some of the best business I ever did.
On how having kids changed his car: It’s all mixed in, man. They don’t have the carseat down, do they? Have you ever tried to get one of those in quickly? I’m not very good at it. And they’re not easy to clean at all. Always crap stuck in there. Now stuff is mixed in, but I know anything the kids or anything I need, it’s somewhere in my car. Sometimes, I’m out and I go, "Oh, I forgot that." And I go, "No, it’s in here somewhere." Sometimes it means getting out and digging in the back, but it’s in there somewhere.

For the rest of the interview with Matthew, just

On why he decided not to become a lawyer: That was my plan, when I was going to college, was to do that. Well, I looked up one morning and noticed that to do what I wanted to do was going to be two more years of this school and four more years - "I’ll be 28 when I get out to start to practice a craft and have a career?" I was like, "No way, man. What about my 20s? I got some things I’d like to say now and try and do." So I actually changed my course and went to film production and studied on that side of the camera, and you all know the story between junior and senior year. I met Richard Linklater and got my first role in acting, went back to school, graduated, got my degree, then came out here and started working.
On researching the part: What I saw was, these guys are movers and shakers. The phone’s always ringing, someone’s at the door, they’re wheeling and dealing and papers stacking up, and they’re saying, "Yeah, I’ll do this for you if you do this for me." And then when I went to some cases at the federal courts, you see how these guys are performers. Some of them good, some of them not so good. You see how it matters what judge is in there. The judge I was in there with didn’t have patience for these stories that these defense attorneys would weave into. He’d interrupt them and go, what is your point? What is your point? Other judges would let them go on for hours and days. These kinds of attorneys down in downtown LA, they’re not wearing Dolce suits. They’re down there with the clients they’re representing and they’re slick, but they’re street-smart slick, and they are wheeling and dealing and constantly on the move.
On his character's approach to the law: This guy still has a real draw to humanity, the people that he represents, these sort of bottomfeeders in society that can't really defend themselves. But he’s not naïve by any means. He still may have some ideology about defending these people that can’t defend themselves, but he’s pretty much a pragmatist and understands how the system works. And understands you gotta know how the system works to make it work for you. So he bends his own rules, he plays both sides of the law. It’s not really a moral or immoral question to him. I’d say he’s more amoral and he makes it work for him.
On what's next for him: I’ve got Bernie coming out. I did it with Richard Linklater. And I’ve got Killer Joe . . . which is from a Broadway play.
On whether he'd sign on for a sequel to The Lincoln Lawyer: Two things would make that so. It takes three things, but two things would make it so. One, it’s got to be a good movie. I think we made a good movie. Two, it’s got to perform at the box office. There’s a number, and I don’t know the number, but there’s a dollar number that it has to make for the financiers to say, "Let’s pony up for the next one." That’s just a fact. Third is, yeah, if it’s a good script, I’d love to.