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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 06 May 2008 07:30:26 -0700

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. In addition to the titles below, you can now rent or own the Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler weepie, P.S. I Love You.

I'm Not There
I'm Not There was a highly buzzed-about film last year with a lot of the attention focusing on director Todd Haynes' unique conceptualization of Bob Dylan's (or, "a musician like Bob Dylan") life through the years. The talent associated with this film was staggering but the untimely death of one of the stars, Heath Ledger, added even more poignancy to Haynes' ambitious endeavor.

In the movie, six different actors emulate Bob Dylan using different names and appearing in different eras. I wasn't the biggest fan of the film, but other folks were enamored with this movie, more willing than I to ignore the annoying parts and focus on the great performances by Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett (who won the Independent Spirit award for her role), and Christian Bale. This is a good addition to your queue if you have been curious about this film but would enjoy the luxury of a fast-forward button.

Special features include commentary by director/co-writer Tod Haynes, red carpet footage, and deleted scenes.

Two more titles if you read more.

Teeth
GiggleSugar watched this oddly funny and scary movie about a teenage girl who, as IMDB puts it, "discovers she has a physical advantage when she becomes the object of male violence" or as Giggle put it, "her vagina has teeth." Giggle found it to be much more than the vulgar horror flick one might expect from this premise, where you simply watch a "vajayjay rip men to shreds" (sorry, Giggle has so many amazing lines in her review I can't stop quoting her). Instead, Teeth is a genre bending, wickedly scripted good time - but definitely not for the faint of heart.

Special features include commentary by writer/director Mitchell Lichenstein, behind-the-scenes footage, and deleted scenes.

First Sunday
David E. Talbert is sort of a creative jack-of-all-trades: playwright, novelist, and - in the case of this movie starring Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan - writer/director. The film follows two amateur crooks as their plan to rob a church goes terribly wrong and they find themselves with a full-blown hostage situation. I've read that it's a bit cluttered but definitely a fun little farce, so I figured I'd wait for the DVD with this one.

Special features include a gag reel, outtakes, David E. Talbert's camera wrap speech, and a "Hood Robbin' With the First Sunday Cast and Crew" featurette.

Announcing the Winners: The 2008 Independent Spirit Awards

BuzzSugar — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 17:02:53 -0800

Juno, I'm Not There, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly were big winners at Saturday's beachy, laid-back Independent Spirit Awards, which recognized the year's best independent films. Juno won awards for Best Feature, Best Actress, and Best First Screenplay, while Diving Bell won awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography - a precursor to tomorrow's Oscars?

Meanwhile, Cate Blanchett won an acting award for I'm Not There, and the film also received the Robert Altman Award, which recognizes an outstanding ensemble cast. That award led to a touching tribute to Heath Ledger from director Todd Haynes, who said he still has a hard time imagining the film world without Ledger in it.

To see the full list of winners, just read more.

BEST FEATURE
Juno

BEST DIRECTOR
Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
The Lookout
Director: Scott Frank
Producers: Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Laurence Mark, Walter Parkes

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)
August Evening

BEST SCREENPLAY
Tamara Jenkins (The Savages)

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody (Juno)

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Ellen Page (Juno)

BEST MALE LEAD
Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Savages)

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There)

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Chiwetel Ejiofor (Talk To Me)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Janusz Kaminski (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Crazy Love

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Once
(Ireland)

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD (Given to one film's director, casting director and its ensemble cast)
I'm Not There
Director: Todd Haynes
Casting Director: Laura Rosenthal
Ensemble Cast: Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bruce Greenwood

I'm Not There: You Shouldn't Be, Either

BuzzSugar — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:59:00 -0800

It must be something with the name Todd that motivates talented directors to make films that have the potential to be great, but then ruin them with complicated casting and an overly ambitious plot. First it was Todd Solondz (director of the wonderful Welcome to the Dollhouse) who cluttered Palindromes by employing eight different actors to play the same 13-year-old girl; now it's Todd Haynes who uses a very similar technique in the truly awful I'm Not There. Instead of a 13-year-old girl, the actors portray Bob Dylan, and this time around there are six actors instead of eight. One would think that two less actors would make the movie a little less jumbled. It didn't.

The reason I'm Not There is even more perplexing than Palindromes (which I didn't believe was possible) is that in addition to six actors emulating Bob Dylan, they each have different names and live in different eras. At least Palindromes was linear and each of the eight actors used the same name. In I'm Not There "Bob" is referred to as John, Jack, Jude, Woody, Arthur, and Billy. Confused? I certainly was! If you want to read the only two compelling reasons to watch this film read more

Undeniably the strongest part of this film is the music. Just like Across the Universe, the other film this year that featured a catalog of songs from a specific artist (in that case, The Beatles), the true standout is the vocal artistry of Bob Dylan. Although most of the songs included are a little more obscure (surprise), there are tried-and-true favorites like "All Along the Watchtower," and "Highway 61 Revisited." If you're a Dylan fan, take my recommendation and just buy the soundtrack. But, if you still want to see this film, there is one thing worth watching.

The one, and only, reason to actually go see this film is for the incredible work done by Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, and Christian Bale - all of which is almost undone by the ridiculously ill-conceived Richard Gere as Billy the Kid/Bob Dylan. I honestly don't blame Gere for his lacking performance, he did the best he could with the cards he was dealt. The other actors, most notably Blanchett and Bale, have more realistic Dylans to portray, and each do so beautifully.

There are other things I could mention about the film: the political subtext (the film deals with the JFK's death, the civil rights movement, Vietnam), Michelle Williams and Julianne Moore's cameos, or Heath Ledger's nude scene, but I'm afraid this might entice you to see the film. And I'd rather you buy the soundtrack, if you must.

Photos courtesy of The Weinstein Company

The Many Faces of Bob Dylan and the New Trailer for I'm Not There

BuzzSugar — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 04:30:00 -0700

Wow, Christian Bale is almost unrecognizable in these photos from the set of I'm Not There, the Bob Dylan biopic in which seven different actors will be playing the beloved musician. Between these photos, the images from the set of The Dark Knight, and the trailer for his upcoming Western 3:10 to Yuma, we're getting quite the Christian Bale fix these days, which I'm sure you all don't mind too much.

In addition to Bale, we've caught glimpses of various other Dylan incarnations as played by Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett and Ben Wishaw. Now, there's a newly cut - albeit brief - teaser trailer for I'm Not There in which we see flashes of all these Dylans. For photos of all the Dylans along with the new I'm Not There trailer, read more

Another of Christian Bale:

Heath Ledger:

Richard Gere:

Cate Blanchett:

Ben Wishaw:

And apparently, this kid is also going to play a version of Bob Dylan:

I'm Not There photos source
Marcus Carl Franklin photo source

First Look: Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There"

Molly — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:30:01 -0700

When I first heard that Cate Blanchett was going to be one of the actors portraying Bob Dylan in a new biopic about the singer, I'm Not There, I was intrigued.

When I first saw this photo of Cate as Bob Dylan, I was impressed.

But when I saw this first clip from the movie, all my hopes were dashed. I'm certainly not trying to knock Cate's acting chops - if any woman could pull it off, it would be her - but this is downright ridiculous. I mean, unless I was under the wrong impression and this is supposed to be a comedy...but I don't think that is the case.

David Cross is playing Allen Ginsberg? And driving around in a zany golf cart-ish mobile? Uh, okay!

Honestly, it's a little painful, but maybe it will be better in context? Let's hope. To see the clip just read more

Source

I'm a Huge Fan: Robert Pattinson and Remember Me Exclusive Interview!

Molly — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:45:00 -0800

Remember Me is finally out today and here's our last installment of I'm a Huge Fan: Robert Pattinson! Our winner Tracy has been amazing ever since she first heard the huge news and here's a peek into her big day. She was surprised with a complete red carpet makeover! Tracy was styled head-to-toe in H&M's new Garden Collection (which is available in stores March 25!), had her hair done by the amazing Sally Hershberger Salon team of Rodrigo Padilla and Erin Bogart, and her flawless makeup was thanks to Benefit's global trend artist Maggie Ford Danielson- so clearly she looked incredible! Then, it was time to hit the red carpet and interview Robert Pattinson and the rest of the cast. Watch her exclusive Robert interview here and see the whole series as well!

Zooey Deschanel Is With the Band

BuzzSugar — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:30:14 -0800

I've always had a bit of a girl crush on Zooey Deschanel, and not just because of her films. The actress has become a hipster darling of sorts thanks to her cute retro look and side gig with She and Him, which is why she seems perfectly cast for HBO's dramedy I'm With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie. Deschanel has signed on for the new series, based on Pamela Des Barres’s memoir about running around with musicians and movie stars in the late '60s. Des Barres has shared her experiences bedding the likes of Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, and Don Johnson, so expect to see their doppelgangers pop up during the course of the show. How fun will it be to see actors playing icons like Mick?

Deschanel may not have scored any award noms for my beloved (500) Days of Summer, but perhaps an Emmy is in her future instead. The premise sounds a bit like the story of Penny Lane, a la Almost Famous, and Deschanel definitely fits right in to the era. If I'm With the Band manages to hit a similar note - with a killer soundtrack to boot - count me in. How about you?

Twilight Cast Update: Lautner and Kendrick Score New Roles

BuzzSugar — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:30:07 -0800

Anna Kendrick and Taylor Lautner seem to be the two New Moon stars vying most likely to succeed: both have just been cast in upcoming, high profile projects.

Taylor Lautner will be sharing the screen with none other than Tom Cruise in Northern Lights as a "gifted, young, aerobatics pilot who faces off with his controlling, billionaire father and falls in love with a gifted, female pilot." Cruise would play his father, which is not the least of the surprises; Lautner is also reportedly earning $7.5 million, according to Nikki Finke, which would make him the highest-paid teen in Hollywood.

Meanwhile, Kendrick, riding high on her success and awards buzz with Up in the Air (loved her? Vote for her on our ballot!) , has sewn up a role in Seth Rogen's dramedy based on the book I'm With Cancer. The It Girl's role is as a young, inexperienced psychologist who helps James McAvoy with his disease and recovery. First Robert Pattinson and Clooney, now James McAvoy? Even if she doesn't get that Oscar nomination, she's already won the best-lookin' costars.

Judy Greer Is Giving TV Another Go

BuzzSugar — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:30:41 -0700

Back in August, the overwhelming majority of you said that Judy Greer deserves more leading roles, and now she's getting one. The actress will be returning to the small screen in I'm With Stupid, a new comedy in development for ABC.

Based on the novel by Elaine Szewczyk, the show will focus on Manhattanite Kas Sienkiewicz (Greer), whose life takes an unexpected turn when she has a vacation fling with a park ranger in South Africa, and a few days later he shows up on her doorstep and moves in.

Greer seems to have a pretty loyal fan base out there, but it wasn't enough to save Miss Guided. I'm a bit skeptical about this project, but maybe it's just the title that's throwing me off. What do you make of this news? Will you welcome Greer back to TV with open arms?

James McAvoy Jumps Aboard Seth Rogen's Cancer Comedy

BuzzSugar — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:30:00 -0700

I know, I know - the words "cancer" and "comedy" don't exactly go together, but Seth Rogen and James McAvoy are ready to make us believe otherwise. The guys are set to star in a film adaptation of Will Reiser's novel, I'm With Cancer. Reiser also wrote the screenplay, which tells the story of his own experience battling and defeating cancer in his 20s. The movie will be directed by Nicole Holofcener, and Rogen will pull double duty as a producer.

McAvoy will star as Reiser's onscreen counterpart, and I have to say that I'm excited to see him return to comedy. He first caught my eye as the wacky brother in Wimbledon (yes, I love that movie and will not be ashamed), but since then it's been mostly heavy stuff like Atonement and The Last King of Scotland. As for Rogen, I just hope he's ready to start answering a lot of questions about why he chose this project right after Funny People - back-to-back comedies about terminal illness?