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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:45:38 -0800

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.

Burn After Reading
The Coen brothers do criminals well and in this film they got an impressive group of actors to play "accidental" criminals in a very funny way. Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand play Chad and Linda, two gym employees who find a CD in the locker room that contains data belonging to a former CIA analyst. Assuming that someone will pay big bucks for the return of the sensitive info, they attempt to blackmail the analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich). But old Ozzy is far more concerned about his recent unemployment and impending divorce from his wife (Tilda Swinton), who's having an affair with a pinhead womanizer played by George Clooney.

The whole thing ends up feeling like kids playing a spy game but the laughs are smart and result is solid entertainment.

DVD featurettes include: "DC Insiders Run Amock - An all-star cast creates the world of Washington, DC," and "Welcome Back, George" described as a comedy piece featuring Mr. Clooney as he returns for his third collaboration with Ethan and Joel.

Two more up next so read more.

Hamlet 2
Note: For some reason, this title was released on Dec. 21. Go figure. Anyway, it's still pretty newly on DVD!

This little comedy was all the rage at last year's Sundance Film Festival and then kind of fizzled its way through the theaters without too much notice from audiences. But I think it's the kind of flick destined to have a cult following, so now that it's on DVD it can spread through college dorm rooms and 20-somethings' apartments.

The movie stars Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener and Amy Poehler, and follows a teacher who is trying to save the drama department by writing a sequel to Hamlet. One of the co-writers is Pam Brady, who has written lots of funny stuff like the South Park movie, Team America, and Hot Rod.

Special features include deleted scenes and a sing-along.

The Women
This remake of George Cukor's 1939 classic stars Meg Ryan as Mary Haines, whose fabulous life comes to a screeching halt when she finds out (thanks to her gossipy manicurist, played by Debi Mazar) that her husband is having an affair with the Saks perfume "spritzer girl" (Eva Mendes). Things only get more complicated when her tight group of girlfriends (played by Annette Bening, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Debra Messing) try to help her put the pieces back together.

Special features include additional scenes, a visit with the cast and crew, and a look at the evolution of the story from 1936 stage success to classic 1939 movie to this contemporary update.

Nicolas Cage Tops a Slow Weekend Box Office

BuzzSugar — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:45:46 -0700

Well, the Fall movie season came in with a whimper. According to Variety, "The first weekend after Labor Day is always sluggish, but this year the frame was affected by the start of the NFL football season and was particularly dreary." Bangkok Dangerous came in at No. 1, but it only earned an estimated $7.8 million and narrowly beat Tropic Thunder, which earned an estimated $7.5 million.

The House Bunny came in third place, followed by The Dark Knight in fourth and Don Cheadle's thriller Traitor in fifth place. Interestingly, Hamlet 2, which received major buzz at this year's Sundance Film Festival, is not doing too well in theaters and has only grossed an estimated $4.3 million over the two weekends it's been out.

Kind of a bummer of a weekend, but don't worry-next week The Women and Burn After Reading hit theaters! Who's excited?

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Tropic Thunder Is No. 1 For the Second Week in a Row

BuzzSugar — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:15:55 -0700

Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder won the top spot at the box office for the second weekend in a row, earning an estimated $16.1 million. This makes Tropic Thunder, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight the only movies to have stayed at No. 1 for two consecutive weeks this Summer (so that's two major box office winners for Robert Downey Jr.!).

Following closely behind in the No. 2 spot was The House Bunny, which earned an estimated $15.1 million its first weekend out. Coming in third was the Death Race remake with about $12.3 million. In fourth place was The Dark Knight, followed by Star Wars: The Clone Wars at No. 5.

I didn't think the Rainn Wilson comedy The Rocker would do very well, but I'm surprised to see how badly it did. The comedy failed to crack the top 10 and only earned about $2.7 million.

Hamlet 2, which was all the rage at Sundance this year, had a limited release and brought in an estimated $435,294. The offbeat comedy will have a wider release this Wednesday.

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

What to Download: New Music on iTunes

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:30:27 -0700

Tuesdays are big in entertainment-ville: Not only do all the new DVD releases hit Netflix, but new music also pours into stores, including iTunes. So I take a spin through each week's iTunes music releases and pick out some albums and tracks worthy of a download. Here are today's selections:

Rock me: The buzzed-about upcoming comedy Hamlet 2, about a high school musical sequel to Shakespeare's Hamlet, has its soundtrack out today. It feels wrong to laugh at these song titles, but I can't help it - and that might be a sign of how I'll respond to the movie itself. Tracks include "Rock Me Sexy Jesus." The rest, you'll have to check out on your own, because I feel dirty typing some of them.

California folk: Tristan Prettyman is one of those relaxing, sunshiny singers who's always good for chilling out (see also: Jack Johnson). Today iTunes has an exclusive live session full of lovely songs - including a surprising cover of Britney Spears's "Toxic" and a great original song called "Madly."

I've got a mellow lad up next, so read more.

Lazy music: Neil Halstead, a member of the band Mojave 3, has been making sleepy, lazy, lovely music for a while now, and I've been looking forward to his new solo album, Oh! Mighty Engine. So far, so good! I've already downloaded "Sometimes the Wheel" and "Paint a Face."

Link Time! 4/17

BuzzSugar — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:30:36 -0700

Maura Tierney apparently wants her character to be killed off ER, so TV Squad wonders: How should Abby die?
FilmExperience has the lowdown on Baz Luhrmann's challenge for young filmmakers.
According to Cinematical, there's now an R-rated trailer up for one of this year's most well-received Sundance movies, Hamlet 2.
Vulture has video of Jason Segel's five best moments on the short-lived series Undeclared.
Got a question for Neil Patrick Harris? Popwatch needs more ideas for what to ask him in an upcoming interview.
Stereogum has some thoughts on Lily Allen's new tunes "I Don't Know" and "I Could Say."
Awesome! A Pop Candy reader writes about her experience as an extra on the set of Lost.

Source

Hamlet 2, American Teen Among First Big Deals at Sundance

BuzzSugar — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:30:37 -0800

Buying started slow at Sundance this year, but things started picking up on Tuesday. Check out a rundown of some recent acquisitions:

Hamlet 2, which stars Steve Coogan as a high school drama teacher, sold to Focus Features for $10 million - making it one of the biggest deals ever in the history of Sundance and putting it in the same league as Little Miss Sunshine. I didn't get to see this one, though the screenings for it at Sundance have been packed.
Another one of the first non-documentary feature films to be picked up was Henry Poole Is Here, which sold for about $4 million on Monday night. I couldn't be happier about this one; it's an uplifting story with some fine performances - particularly by Luke Wilson and Adriana Barraza. It even includes one of my new favorite movie lines.

The documentary American Teen was another hot property, selling to Paramount Vantage for $1 million. I was actually at a morning screening for this when the news of this acquisition broke, which was very exciting. The documentary was made by filmmaker Nanette Burstein and follows four teens at an Indiana high school throughout their senior year. During the Q&A after the screening, Burstein said she chose a school in the Midwest because she felt there was "an innocence and a timelessness" to that area. Stay tuned for more of my thoughts on this film!
The black comedy Choke, based on Chuck Palahniuk's novel, sold for about $5 million.

P.S. - I took that picture myself!

Hamlet 2: The Teen Comedy

BuzzSugar — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:30:00 -0700

Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.
Variety brings us news of a little something called Hamlet 2 (yes, as in a sequel to Shakespeare's Hamlet), a film starring Steve Coogan and Catherine Keener. The project will be the first produced by Eric Eisner's (son of former Disney chief Michael Eisner) production company L+E.

What's the deal?
The movie is a high school comedy focusing on "a teacher who tries to save his drama department by writing a sequel to William Shakespeare's Hamlet." One of the co-writers is Pam Brady, who has written all sorts of funny (or at least half-funny) stuff like the "South Park" movie, Team America, and Hot Rod.

Could be cool.
As Cinematical points out, the teen romp 10 Things I Hate About You is based on another Shakespearean work (and if you can name the title you can win points!), and that's a fun movie. Maybe this will be hilarious and just as fun.

Now the question is, what's next? What Shakespearean will be fodder for another teen flick?