BuzzSugar

Oh, Sad: Girls Just Want to Have Fun Remake in the Works

BuzzSugar — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:30:33 PDT

Man! This one hurts a little. Twentieth Century Fox and Lakeshore Entertainment are planning a remake of the 1985 teen movie Girls Just Want to Have Fun. The film starred little baby-faced Helen Hunt and Sarah Jessica Parker as two teenage friends who love to dance and long to make their way - despite, of course, disapproving parents because parents just don't understand - onto their favorite show: Dance TV.

That part of the news is not too hard to swallow, since everything's being remade these days. '80s remakes, remakes, everywhere. But here's the kicker: according to Variety, "The comedy will be developed as a potential star vehicle for Miley Cyrus."

So, allow me to amend: this one hurts a lot. Miley Cyrus?! Really?

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Movies For Those Who Love to Dance (or Just Watch It on TV)

BuzzSugar — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:30:40 PDT

Do you feel that, too? That giant hole in your Wednesday and Thursday nights that used to be filled with glorious dance (and Nigel Lythgoe)? It's just one week since the finale, and I'm already suffering withdrawal from So You Think You Can Dance. My backup dance show, America's Best Dance Crew, is also nearly done. So I thought I'd share some of my favorite dance movies of all time to get me through these tough times. To see some of my picks, hit "Start."

Photo courtesy of Fox

"Girls Just Want to Have Fun": A Tribute

BuzzSugar — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:30:24 PDT

Last week seemed like a particularly rough time for celebrity deaths, and in the shuffle it would be easy to overlook Robert Hazard, who's hardly a household name. But the musician and songwriter, who died last week at age 59, gave Cyndi Lauper one of her biggest hits, and so I wanted to take a minute to pay tribute to the man behind "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."

As the story goes, Hazard wrote the poppy song in a motel bathtub in Delaware in the late '70s. Lauper's version appeared on her debut album, She's So Unusual, in 1983 and quickly climbed the charts, peaking at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 and being named 1994's Video of the Year by MTV. It went on to spawn an '80s movie of the same name and dozens of covers, including one recently by Miley Cyrus.

I can't describe the original version as anything but a joy; it always gives me a little jolt of energy. I also love how much the song changes when put in different hands; some, like singer-songwriters Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, make it melancholy (check out their version), while others manage make it even peppier (the Chipettes on The Chipmunks, for example). Even Weird Al has had his bit of fun with it.

To check out the classic music video and a bunch of versions of the song,

read more. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Source

FABTV: Girls Just Want to Have Fun Dance-Off

FabSugar — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:11:22 PDT

This is a long FABTV so feel free to fast forward through the movie bits and only watch the radical dance moves. But, if you have not seen Girls Just Want to Have Fun - the ultimate Sarah Jessica Parker flashback - excuse yourself and go rent it stat. As I was saying . . . dance off! At the end of every great dance movie is a great dance scene. SJP and her Joey-Lawrence-look-a-like dance partner/boyfriend seriously cut a rug in matching crop tops and crazy jazz hair. They triumph the rich bitch and her robotic partner with their ultrasynchronized flips and agility. For the ultimate, go to 4:08 and take it in. Oh, and is "Dancing in Heaven" not the best digi dance song?

Movie Night: Sarah Jessica Parker Movies

BuzzSugar — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 09:30:31 PDT

On the heels of her latest movie news, this week's Movie Night is all about Sarah Jessica Parker. She will forever be associated with Carrie Bradshaw on "Sex and the City," but the truth is, she's played some delightful non-Carrie-like characters in her day.

Banish from your mind Failure to Launch and If Lucy Fell, and check out three of my favorite movies that feature SJP. And instead of photo stills, this week I found short clips from each of these movies. This first one is truly a little bit of '80s bliss.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun
For this movie description - in case you somehow missed the movie back in the mid-1980s - I'm deferring to the Netflix write-up because it's rather hilarious: "Janey (Sarah Jessica Parker) is a shy good girl. Lynne (Helen Hunt) is a cool rock chick. But when the two friends scheme to get Janey on television's biggest after-school dance show, they find themselves on a wild adventure filled with cute boys, hot dancing, prudish nuns, mean rich kids, parents that just don't understand, and girls doing what they know best...just having FUN!"

For two more SJP suggestions and clips,

read more State and Main When I need to be cheered up, this David Mamet movie about a doomed movie shoot never fails to do the trick. Sarah Jessica Parker plays a Hollywood starlet who refuses to do a key nude scene (despite the fact that she's well-known for dropping trou in other films) because she wants to restore her saintly image. Besides Mamet's witty dialogue, the best part about this movie is the cast, which also includes Philip Seymour Hoffman as a mopey screenwriter, William H. Macy as a self-important director, and the hilarious Alec Baldwin as ~~himself~~ a drunken, philandering movie star. L.A. Story More than just a great SJP movie, this is one of the best Steve Martin movies ever (which makes sense, seeing as Martin wrote the screenplay, basing it on "A Midsummer Night's Dream"). Sarah Jessica Parker plays the young, flighty California girl to Martin's midlife crisis. Victoria Tennant plays the lovely French horn-playing neighbor living next door to Harris (Martin) and who rounds out the little love triangle. The story is funny, whimsical and has that light California feeling with a sprinkling of dour Steve Martinisms.

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Pilot Scoop: GCB

Shannon Vestal — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:30:48 PST

ABC is bringing some sauciness to the midseason lineup with new comedy GCB, starring Leslie Bibb. Bibb plays Amanda, a recently-widowed woman who has to move back to her hometown for a fresh start. Unfortunately for her, the girls she knew in high school have grown into vindictive women who haven't forgotten how nasty Amanda was back then. If you're interested in this hourlong comedy, check out my pilot review to see if it sounds like something you'll want to add to your DVR.

What it's about: After Amanda's philandering husband accidentally drives off a cliff, she moves herself and her kids to Dallas and into the home of her mother (Annie Potts). As she tries to settle in, she faces off with Carlene (Kristin Chenoweth) and her band of religious but catty minions who want to see Amanda brought down.
Where it works: The casting is great, particularly Bibb as the lead character (anyone who loved Popular back in the day will delight in seeing her) and Chenoweth as a hypocritical bible quoter. But no one is as spot-on as Potts as Amanda's dignified but feisty mom.
Where it doesn't: The pilot is a little too campy for its own good; the larger-than-life characters seem like they could be fun, but they also seem a bit too two-dimensional.
When it's on: Sundays at 10 p.m. on ABC, starting March 4
You might like this show if: You're a fan of any of the Real Housewives installments.

To see some photos and watch a preview of GCB, just keep reading.

Real Talk With TV Broke Girl Beth Behrs

LearnVest — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:59:07 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Since when is being broke funny?

Since CBS released its new sitcom 2 Broke Girls, in which actress Beth Behrs plays a recently humbled heiress, Caroline, who moves to Brooklyn to hide out after her father loses their family fortune in a Ponzi scheme.

Caroline winds up living with her perpetually poor fellow waitress, Max, played by Kat Dennings, and the two hatch a plan to save their wages and start a cupcake business.

Recession-era cupcake businesses have been all the rage lately (see: Bridesmaids), but shows addressing personal finances - or lack thereof - with humor and honesty is something we don’t see very often. Caroline and Max manage to plan for their future while hustling for their present - and survive on a shoestring with admirable grace. We love that these characters live richly, even on a tight salary: After all, that's what LearnVest is all about.

And, of course, any show where the leading ladies discuss interest rates is right up our alley.

Check out our exclusive talk with Behrs on her penny-pinching past, her first pair of Louboutins - and why she still chooses to live with a roommate in real life. It turns out that we can learn something from celebs about money.

LearnVest: As a 26-year-old in Hollywood, how much of Caroline and Max’s financial struggle can you relate to?

Beth Behrs: Literally up until we shot the pilot, I was working as a nanny five days a week and then as a bartender and concierge at The Geffen Playhouse on the weekends. So, I can definitely relate to being broke, right out of college and working tons of odd jobs to just pay the rent.

Real-life waitress stories and more from Behrs.

5 Fun Things I Learned on the New Girl Set

Shannon Vestal — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:22:01 PST

The Winter TCA is all about the shows premiering in the midseason schedule, but reporters got to take a break from all the upcoming series to visit the set of a Fall hit: New Girl. I checked out the digs while stars Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, and Lamorne Morris and creator Liz Meriwether answered questions and spilled some fun details about the Fox show.

The apartment is meant to look like industrial. Meriwether said that there was a distinct idea for the apartment Jess shares with the boys. "We just wanted the feeling of a space that once was a factory and now is a loft," she said, mentioning that it's also set in downtown LA, where there are a lot of these spaces.
There's one element of the apartment Meriwether gets asked about all the time: the urinals. "I get a tweet every week about whether urinals are in the bathroom," she said. There are - I saw them.
Deschanel's style bleeds into Jess's. "I think it always ends up seeping into the characters I play - my own personal style," the actress said. "I have sort of a very distinct sense of fashion for myself and what the characters should wear, so it does always end up sort of just edging its way into the wardrobe for whatever I'm working on."
The costume designer has a TV classic on her resume. Deschanel praised the woman behind New Girl's wardrobe, Deborah Maguire, and revealed that she worked on another show that featured goofy roommates. "She's amazing. She did Friends. She's ridiculously talented and I'm obsessed with her, I love her so much. She's a fashion soulmate, so we just nerd out on fashion."
Jess and Nick are probably not getting together anytime soon. "I'm not sure that's what this show's about in this season," Meriwether said when asked how long the sexual tension between Jess and Nick can last before anything happens with them. "It's about Jess and Nick sort of coming out of these bad relationships and trying to learn how to be people again and try to learn how to date again. I feel like they have a long way to go as characters.

Photo courtesy of Fox

New Girl's Jake Johnson on His Onscreen Relationship With Zooey Deschanel and His "Very Awkward" Nude Scene

Shannon Vestal — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:31:30 PST

Jake Johnson plays Nick on New Girl, one of three roommates of Zooey Deschanel's Jess. Though Nick and Jess are just friends, there's a palpable sexual tension, and I chatted with Johnson about their relationship, as well as Nick's complicated friendship with Schmidt. He also talked about a recent experience of getting naked for the show and his role in cult video phenomenon Drunk History. Read on to find out what Johnson thinks of Nick and Jess and why Nick's so grumpy all the time.

BuzzSugar: We saw some footage of you, naked, in an upcoming episode - how was the nudity experience?
Jake Johnson: Well, my nudity experience took place at three in the morning in LA near the ocean, and I was told to strip down until I was basically wearing cream underwear that were really tight, and I ran into the ocean. So my nudity experience was very cold, and very awkward.

Buzz: Was that your first time doing nudity?
JJ: No, we did an episode called "Naked," episode two, where I got pretty damn naked in that.

Buzz: But you're still covered somehow, so Zooey Deschanel has not seen you naked.
JJ: No, she hasn't officially seen my junk. But you can pretty much see the junk in those outfits.

Buzz: What do you think of Nick and Jess's relationship? Do you like them being pushed together?
JJ: You know, I don't think they're pushing us closer together anymore. I think there's something between the two characters, but I think they are - like in real life - if you feel a connection with somebody but also live with them, you don't actually want to do it, because it could get very real very fast. And I think that's where Nick and Jess are. I think they've noticed each other, I think there's an attraction, but I don't think either of them wants to have a live-in boyfriend or girlfriend, who they just met.

To find out more Nick tidbits as well as the Drunk History origin story, just keep reading.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Fincher's Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Film

Becky Kirsch — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:55:26 PST

It's hard to describe The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo without giving away major plot points that would spoil twists and turns to audiences that haven't already devoured Stieg Larsson's novel of the same name. To those who already know the story, I can tell you that David Fincher's adaptation is (mostly) loyal, with a couple of changes that actually function as surprise treats for those who have read the novel. To those who aren't familiar with the story, I can tell you to buckle your seatbelt. The imagery that unfolds over the opening credits of the film, set to Trent Reznor's take on "Immigrant Song," is intense, and edgy, and strangely intriguing - which is perfectly fitting for the film.

Daniel Craig plays Mikael Blomkvist, a charismatic journalist who's been commissioned by an elderly man named Henrik Vanger (an excellent Christopher Plummer) to solve a seemingly impossible mystery: to find out who murdered his great-niece over 40 years ago. Once Blomkvist accepts the challenge against his better judgment, he unwittingly starts digging up old family secrets that prove to be much more dangerous than what he'd expected.

When Blomkvist hits a roadblock in his digging, he enlists the help of a research assistant, the titular girl with the dragon tattoo. She's better known as Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a leather-clad, skinny girl who is as brilliant as she is brusque. She's guarded (for a very good reason), but she can't say no to Blomkvist's offer to track down "a killer of women." The unlikely chemistry between Craig and Mara is surprising, fun, and manages to eke out a few light moments (particularly when Salander is scoffing at Blomkvist's computer skills).

To find out more about why the film is great, just

read more. With that said, there's a reason why Fincher has been touting his film as the "feel bad movie of Christmas." Larsson's novel takes sadistic, often jaw-dropping turns, and Fincher ensures that his film will have the same unsettling effect. He doesn't hold back, as certain scenes will have you squirming in your seat. Though it's even more graphic than what I was prepared for, the emotional toil only makes you want the hero and heroine of the film to triumph all the more. And triumph they do: Mara is mesmerizing as Salander, from her accent to her facial expressions to her few moments of comedic timing. She is fully immersed in the pierced, antisocial hacker: you won't find any traces of the fresh-faced girl we met in The Social Network. Mara brings a tiny bit more emotion to the film than the Salander in the novel, which proves to be an important device as we no longer have the luxury of seeing inside the psyche of such a complex character. What makes The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo such a satisfying thriller are the additional touches: the unsettling, snow-covered setting in Hedeby island off the Swedish mainland is creepy for its isolation and howling winds alone. The score plays to your emotions without hitting you over the head with an overly haunting soundtrack. But ultimately, it's Mara's performance that will keep your knuckles white and your eyes glued to the screen.

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures