BuzzSugar

What to Rent: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:45:00 PST

Entertainment time! Ready to beef up your ever-growing list of movies to watch? Here are the big DVD releases hitting today.

Coco Before Chanel

My friend Fab said she enjoyed this look at the fashion icon's life in her pre-label days, so I'm dying to get a glimpse of Coco Before Chanel at home - in the comfort of my very un-glamorous sweatpants, of course. Amelie actress Audrey Tautou stars as Gabrielle Chanel, the seamstress who used her handiwork (and her tenacity) to create a fashion empire. The Oscars have already recognized the film's pretty costuming, but I'm equally anxious to watch it for her love affairs and for Chanel herself, a total rebel and an incredible plum female role.

Extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes and an audio commentary.

65%

Law Abiding Citizen

Warning: Beware if you have a queasy stomach. Law Abiding Citizen is a thriller about the justice system, but Saw-like killing sprees abound. The film centers on Gerard Butler as a family man who goes on a slasher bender after his daughter and wife are murdered. Jamie Foxx costars as the lawyer he's targeting for revenge. For the sake of full disclosure, I was not a fan when the movie came to theaters, but you may want to consider it if you love Gerard Butler - or just pure, bloody entertainment.

Extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette, audio commentary, and a mash-up trailer.

25%

One more release to check out when you

read more. Good Hair Comedian Chris Rock serves as your tour guide on this inside look into the world of hair, and the extensive lengths women (and men) will go to for the ideal 'do. Good Hair gives us several eye-opening factoids about the nature of the industry (including a shocking relaxer demo) and way more laughs than I expected. While Rock doesn't delve into a few of the subjects as much as I would like, his brand of funny gives a new slant to the documentary genre that's refreshing. Extras include an audio commentary with Chris Rock. 94%

Weekend Movie Reviews, Taylor Lautner Shirtless, and Miley Breaks Hearts on Twitter

Molly — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:30:03 PDT

It's the weekend, and are you trying to figure out what movie to see? Check out our quick reviews of Couples Retreat, Good Hair, and The Boys Are Back. Plus, a very Barack Obama wedding, and Billy Ray Cyrus pleads for Miley to return to Twitter. Not to mention, there's Taylor Lautner shirtless to finish off the week. Watch the PopSugar Rush Weekend Edition now!

Weekend Movie Reviews, Taylor Lautner Shirtless, and Miley Breaks Hearts on Twitter

Molly — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:26:51 PDT

It's the weekend, and are you trying to figure out what movie to watch? Check out our quick reviews of Couples Retreat, Good Hair, and The Boys Are Back. Plus, a very Barack Obama wedding, and Billy Ray Cyrus pleads for Miley to return to Twitter. Not to mention, there's Taylor Lautner shirtless to finish off the week. Watch the PopSugar Rush Weekend Edition now!

Taylor's Shirtless Photo Shoot, Billy Ray Wants Miley to Tweet, & Our Weekend Movie Reviews

PopSugarTV — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:15:26 PDT

Taylor Lautner gets shirtless and playful for the cameras on the beach, Billy Ray Cyrus joins fans to get Miley back on Twitter, and Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene are hosting a Halloween bash!

Good Hair: A Funny, Informative Doc For Everyone

Shannon Vestal — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:06:03 PDT

Chris Rock's first shot at a documentary was spurred on by a simple question his daughter asked: "Daddy, why don't I have good hair?" Good Hair is Rock's quest to find out what that is, and why we - men and women, black and white - care so much.

It's not a race relations angle as much as the trailer makes it seem, but rather an investigation into the phenomenon his two young daughters are growing up into: that straight European hair is what's desirable, beautiful, and worth lots of money and pain to get.

Check out Bella's review, and to hear what I liked about the film, just

read more. As a documentarian, Rock excels at putting his subjects at ease, and his experts run the gamut. There are African-American women (particularly actresses like Nia Long and Eve), who can report their feelings firsthand about their hair and the extra pressure from Hollywood they endure to conform. Ice T is hilarious whether he's talking about silicone or wearing curlers in his hair for mugshots. Rock even gets Maya Angelou and Al Sharpton to deliver some of the documentary's biggest laughs. Yes, that's the kind of doc this is - one in which a political figure can make the momentous occasion of lobbying for Martin Luther King Jr. Day into a knee-slapping anecdote. Watching a doc with as many one-liners as a Judd Apatow flick, I left wondering why more comedians don't make documentaries. Then again, Rock shows that he's green as a nonfiction filmmaker when he initiates conversations only to abruptly drop them. There is a lot to be said for black women striving for straight hair in a cultural context, and Rock raises this issue, but doesn't make a strong point about it. Particularly frustrating is Rock's discovery that most of the human hair sold as weaves in the US comes from India; specifically, from worshipers in India who sacrifice their hair to God in a ritual called Tonsure. Rock shows the Tonsure ceremony and the hair removal, but stops short of questioning what I think is a gross offense. That's not to say Rock doesn't have some major revelations; he exposes the harms of sodium hydrochloride, also known as chemical relaxer (street name: "creamy crack"). His tenaciousness at that issue makes me wish he'd delved further into the other important matters of the movie. On the whole, though, this is a solid effort for a first documentary, and it's surprisingly weighty subject matter. When you might think that he's gone a bit too far from his own point of reference, he brings it back to why he's looking at "good hair" in the first place -for his daughters. From salons in Beverly Hills to barber shops in Compton, Rock makes you laugh while opening your eyes to a hairy social subject. Photos courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Good Hair Has a Greater Point

BellaSugar — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:00:22 PDT

If you've ever felt as though you'll look bad unless you straighten your hair, get highlights, go blonde, get a perm, or cover your grays, you should see Good Hair. If you care about the effects narrow normative beauty ideals have on the people around you and the larger world, you should see it. Heck, if you've ever felt like you "needed" to do anything to be attractive or accepted, you should see it.

This movie's great triumph - and great tragedy - is that it deftly picks apart our social constructions of beauty and shows us just what they look like underneath. And believe me, though it's sometimes funny, it's certainly not pretty. Chris Rock has, disarmingly, disturbingly, hilariously, and sometimes very poignantly explored the minefield of hair products and social signals that African-American women are forced to navigate. The result is a film that's brimming with life as well as contradictions. See this film, and you'll never look at a hair process (or extensions, for that matter) the same way again.

Shirtless Taylor Lautner Plays It Up For the Camera

PopSugarTV — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:02:18 PDT

Taylor Lautner wore a wet t-shirt for a photo shoot on the beach! And later on PopSugar Rush, Billy Ray Cyrus wants Miley to return to the Twitterverse and our editors review Vince Vaughn and Chris Rock's new movies!

How-To: Raven Symone's Sweet, Nude-Toned Good Hair Premiere Makeup

BellaSugar — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:00:29 PDT

At the premiere of Chris Rock's documentary Good Hair (which I am waiting with bated breath to watch) last night, there was a lot of glam - and a whole lot of fake hair, as at any red carpet event. Gabrielle Union and Nia Long looked unbelievably gorgeous, as usual, but my favorite look of the night had to be Raven Symone's: it was cute, very wearable, and in a palette that's perfect for the new season. To find out how to get her nude and neutral-shaded look, just keep reading

Buzz's Picks For Fall Movies: Best of the Rest

BuzzSugar — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:30:03 PDT

Fall means back to school, cooling temperatures, changing leaves . . . and a whole lot of new movies. I'm helping you sort through the coming releases by giving you my recommendations - I already talked about which dramas, comedies, and romances to see - but there are a few movies that don't fit perfectly into any of those categories. But what they are is exciting - check out the best of the rest of upcoming Fall flicks.

Movie Preview: Chris Rock's Documentary, Good Hair

BuzzSugar — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:30:14 PDT

Chris Rock's documentary Good Hair already made me feel a little emotional back in January when I saw the video of him talking about his project just before it screened at Sundance. In that video, Rock explains that he always believed that if he told his daughter how beautiful she is and how much he loves her all the time, he could help her avoid developing self-esteem issues. But his daughter still told her dad that she didn't like her hair - she wanted "good hair." In his movie, Rock explores this topic - the hair industry in general and the idea of "good hair."

The new trailer for his film is great - entertaining and funny, but also thought-provoking. The movie will have a limited release starting Oct. 9. To check out the trailer,

read more. Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions