BuzzSugar

Movie Preview: Did You Hear About the Morgans?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:30:12 -0700

I wonder if this movie, Did You Hear About the Morgans?, was one of those things that sounded good as a concept, but somehow deflated in execution? Opening around the holidays, the movie tells the story of the Morgans, an unhappily married couple who witness a murder and are spotted by the killer. Thus, they need to leave their slick Manhattan lifestyles behind and go into the witness relocation program in Wyoming where - you guessed it - they slow down and focus on each other enough that their marriage might actually get a second chance.

I think it's supposed to be a romantic comedy, but I have watched this new trailer a few times and I keep searching for something funny in it, and (besides Sarah Jessica Parker running after a horse at the end) I keep coming up dry. Maybe you'll have better luck, so to check it out, read more.

Buzz News Roundup, 10/31

BuzzSugar — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:15:56 -0700

Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant are in negotiations to star as a New York couple in an untitled romantic comedy for Columbia Pictures. - Variety
John McCain will appear on Saturday Night Live this weekend. - AP
Bradley Whitford and Romany Malco will star in a buddy comedy pilot for NBC. - The Hollywood Reporter
James Marsh's documentary Man on Wire, became the top-reviewed movie of all time on movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, surpassing Pixar's acclaimed Toy Story 2. - ComingSoon
Fox will not renew King of the Hill, but the show will be on the air through the 2009-10 season anyway. - Zap2it
Who needs Project Runway? Bravo has three other fashion reality shows lined up. - Variety
Beth Harbison's comedic bestseller Shoe Addicts Anonymous will be adapted for the big screen. - The Hollywood Reporter

Source

Buzz News Roundup, 10/20

BuzzSugar — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:32:54 -0700

Though many people thought The Soloist (and its lead actors, Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.) would be up for Oscars this year, Paramount has pushed the movie's release from Nov. 21, 2008 to March 13, 2009. - Variety
Hugh Grant is bowing out of the romantic comedy Lost for Words due to differences of opinion on the script. - ComingSoon
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been picked up for a full second season. - Broadcasting and Cable
Hope Davis and John Mahoney are joining the cast of In Treatment. - Zap2it
The Grammys nominations announcement will be an hourlong TV special this year, airing Dec. 3 on CBS. - Billboard

Survivor host Jeff Probst has created a new reality show in which dying people live out their final wishes. - Entertainment Weekly
Liza Minelli is returning to Broadway for two weeks in December performing a show called Liza’s at the Palace. . ! - Variety
Luke Grimes has been cast as Ryan on Brothers and Sisters. - E! Online

Source

Music and Lyrics: In Praise of Pop

BuzzSugar — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:03:27 -0800

In Music and Lyrics, Hugh Grant plays Alex Fletcher, an aging pop star from an '80s band called Pop who, in his heyday, looked like a cross between Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes and Wham!’s George Michael. He has been reduced to performing at theme parks and on the VH1-esque “Battle of the 80’s Has-Beens” until one day he receives word that Cora Corman, the pop princess du jour, wants him to help her compose a song for her new album.

Although Alex hires a professional lyricist, it's only when Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore) comes to water his plants and shows a surprising knack for songwriting that the tune - and their love - come together. Music, meet lyrics.

A mixed bag, to be sure, Music and Lyrics gets off to a clunky start and ends in a predictable pool of feel-good treacle. But it’s the chewy center of this Tootsie Pop of a film that makes it worth watching, so

The scenes between Barrymore and Grant in Alex’s Manhattan apartment, as they attempt to cobble together the catchy tune “Find A Way Back Into Love,” are reminiscent of Woody Allen’s great 70’s New York films like Annie Hall. Here, Grant and Barrymore (who do their own singing) share a relaxed, silly, and sweet rapport that makes their surprising chemistry work. As Sophie paces around clicking her pen, we discover that she has given up her desire to write because of an ex-lover who convinced her she was no good.

Melodies are like sex, Sophie theorizes, and lyrics are like getting to know one another. The build-up of Alex and Sophie’s attraction around this conceit of song-writing actually works. You get caught up in their romance, and although you know they sleep together, it’s the long-awaited performance of their completed song that that constitutes the true climax of Music and Lyrics.

It is in these song-writing scenes, as well, that the film forges its “defense of pop” thesis. Pop is an oft-maligned genre, but Sophie tries to convince Alex that both his band Pop and the genre itself have their virtues. “How many novels does it take to create the feeling of one good pop song?“ she asks. She’s got a point, I found myself thinking. Certain good pop songs allow us to mainline their emotions, providing quick hits of fun or even redemption in one short, sweet package. Like a good pop song, the romantic comedy must also find a balance between fluff and meaning, and Music and Lyrics interjects enough “minor key” moments into its silly notes that you actually walk away feeling that you’ve met people you care about.

In the end, Music and Lyrics makes a claim for a nostalgic kind of pop, before the over-produced likes of Britney and Avril came along. At the end of the film, when Cora and Alex finally perform “Find a Way Back Into Love,” Cora eschews her Britney-esque stage antics (involving Buddha and a lot of gyrating) and just sings the heartfelt duet. I’m humming the song right now as I write this, and I agree with the teenage girl I overheard as I left the theater saying, “I want that song as my ringtone!”

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Movie Preview: Music and Lyrics

BuzzSugar — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 08:12:43 -0800

In the new romantic comedy Music and Lyrics, Hugh Grant plays a washed up singer in need of new lyrics. Drew Barrymore plays the person who helps him write those lyrics, and they grow fond of each other. Predictions: Drew Barrymore is a cutesy goofball, and Hugh Grant is a sexless, aging bloke with some dry one-liners and near-vertical eyebrows.

Who knows? Maybe this movie will surprise me by being super interesting and fun. Until I find out, though, I'm going in with a wary eye. Look for my review on Wednesday, and to watch the trailer, read more