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Link Time!

BuzzSugar — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:40:23 -0700

The original cast of Fame: Where are they now - Moviefone
Rumor has it that George Clooney is directing Matt Damon in Aaron Sorkin's Hamdan v. Rumsfeld - MTV Movies Blog
Ben Whishaw talks about working with Jane Campion and getting into character as a dreamy John Keats for Bright Star - Movieline
Taking Jennifer's Body to task for its 911 and Great White club tragedy allusions - Vulture
"At Merlotte's": The True Blood sitcom, complete with laugh track! - PopWatch
John Malkovich joins Diane Lane and Dylan Walsh for horse-racing period flick Secretariat - Coming Soon
Not Into Dollhouse yet? Apparently it's all about the unaired 13th episode - TV.com
The Wrestler's Darren Aronofsky is set to direct large-scale bank robbery flick Heist - Cinematical
Did Jay-Z get to T-Pain? T-Pain's latest single "Dope" uses no autotune - HitFix

The Great Buck Howard: A Funny Tale of Fading Greatness

BuzzSugar — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:30:13 -0700

The Great Buck Howard is a cute little movie that managed to further endear Colin Hanks, John Malkovich and Emily Blunt to me. It's probably not going to change lives, but it more than suffices as a good distraction. Plus, it's a new and interesting portrayal of that 20-something distress of not knowing the answer to questions like "What do I do with my life? How do I figure out what's next?" Perhaps because I’m not much older than Colin Hanks’s character in the film, I appreciate stories that explore this particular struggle.

It's a common conundrum in this day and age: Average kid Troy (Colin Hanks) graduates college and goes to law school for a while before realizing he doesn't actually want to be a lawyer - so, now what? There's blessed little time devoted to the whole clichéd argument about changing careers (i.e. "Becoming a lawyer wasn't my dream, Dad - it was yours!") and swift movement onto the meatiest part of the narrative: Troy's in-the-meantime job as personal assistant to a famous "mentalist" (not magician, mind you), the Great Buck Howard (John Malkovich). Troy accompanies Buck to all his shows, where Buck mostly plays to small crowds of older folks. Buck's delusions of grandeur make us cringe as it becomes clear that he's not exactly in the big leagues as a performer, and yet with Troy (and everyone else, for that matter) he behaves like a diva. Troy takes the abuse without complaint and he seems to feel pity toward the aging performer. When he meets a pretty publicist named Valerie (Emily Blunt), Troy starts to think more seriously about what's coming next in his life. To see what comes next in my train of thoughts, read more.

With his signature intensity and precision of speech, John Malkovich easily slips into the role of Buck Howard - and what fun for Malkovich to play such a wonderfully larger-than-life character. While certain parts of the story might drag, Malkovich's Buck Howard consistently draws us back in with his outrageously dramatic, egotistical, and unpredictable personality. Malkovich also nicely balances making Buck Howard obnoxious without allowing us to ever hate him.

The story moves into some ordinary territory with the washed-up performer treating his poor, young assistant badly. But Troy, with his even temperament, doesn't seem to mind too much, and the truth is that Buck Howard is a fading trace of an already faded star. Not only is he drifting into obscurity as a performer, but his art itself is not particularly popular nowadays. It also becomes painfully clear that Buck doesn't have anyone in the world that he can rely on. We'd pity this aggravating, lonely man, but we can't because he doesn't seem particularly daunted by his own diminishing fame. Why would he be? He's the Great Buck Howard. In his eyes, he's the greatest.

Furthermore, he still has his fans and he even has the respect of his assistant - largely because Buck has an especially puzzling and impressive trick and Troy can't figure out how Buck pulls it off. In many ways the movie is a coming-of-age story for Troy and as he transitions from his younger self to an adult, he still has this childlike desire to believe in magical things, and not being able to figure out Buck's trick delights and satisfies this part of him. He wants to still believe in the omniscience of someone magical, and the sweetest part about this whole story is that Buck lets him.

Photos courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Buzz News Roundup, 2/13

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:30:16 -0800

Jennifer Hudson and The Secret Life of Bees were big winners at the NAACP Image Awards. - Reuters
Columbia Pictures is bringing a time-traveling Jane Austen drama to the big screen, based on the British miniseries Lost in Austen. - ComingSoon
Director Christopher Nolan's next project has nothing to do with Batman: He'll direct an original screenplay he wrote called Inception, a sci-fi action film, for Warner Bros. - The Hollywood Reporter
John Malkovich will square off against Josh Brolin in Jonah Hex, the Warner Bros. adaptation of the DC Comics property. - Variety
Armie Hammer has been cast as Serena's new boyfriend on Gossip Girl. - E! Online
After playing Ozymandias in the upcoming Watchmen, Matthew Goode will join Amy Adams for the romantic comedy Leap Year. - Zap2It
Anne Hathaway will topline Twelfth Night in Central Park this Summer in the role of Viola. - AP
U2 will play five nights straight on Late Show With David Letterman in March. - The Hollywood Reporter
Peter Gabriel has withdrawn from performing at the Academy Awards, refusing to perform a shortened version of his nominated song from Wall-E, "Down to Earth." - Variety

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Movie Preview: The Great Buck Howard

BuzzSugar — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:34:06 -0800

Filed under "Movies I Missed at Sundance, Sadly" is The Great Buck Howard, a quirky comedy with a stellar cast that includes John Malkovich, Emily Blunt, Tom Hanks and Colin Hanks. The story follows law school dropout Troy (Colin Hanks), who answers a job listing to be a personal assistant and "unknowingly signs on to work for a belligerent has-been magician [the "Great Buck Howard," played by John Malkovich] struggling to resurrect his career. This leads to a journey across the country staging the comeback of a lifetime."

John Malkovich is fascinating to watch in pretty much every role he takes on, though I really love it when he gets to play wackier characters . There's no release date for The Great Buck Howard just yet, but for now you can check out the teaser trailer and a couple of clips if you read more.

The teaser trailer:

Colin Hanks clip:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Emily Blunt clip:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

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Buzz News Roundup, 12/3

BuzzSugar — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:30:17 -0800

Folk music legend Odetta has died at age 77. - AP
Shia LaBeouf will play the title role in the big screen version of John Grisham's upcoming legal thriller The Associate. - Variety
In addition to Reaper, the CW's midseason schedule includes 13: Fear Is Real. - Zap2it
Kanye West edged Guns N' Roses and Taylor Swift for the top spot on the Billboard charts. - Billboard
VH1 has picked up a matchmaking reality series from Drew Barrymore's production company. - Variety
It's possible that Kevin McKidd will star as Thor in Kenneth Branagh's film project. - ComingSoon
John Malkovich and Hugh Laurie will be the final two Saturday Night Live hosts of the year, Malkovich this weekend and Laurie on Dec. 13. - The Futon Critic

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Changeling: An Emotional Meat Grinder

BuzzSugar — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 05:30:10 -0700

Clint Eastwood sure isn't one to shy away from dark, gut-wrenching material for his directorial projects, and Changeling is no exception. I went into the screening bracing myself for sorrow and pain, but I didn't brace myself enough. Changeling contains all the heavy sentimentality of Million Dollar Baby and that punch-in-the-stomach anguish of injustice found in Mystic River. Add to this the terrible real-life tragedy involving innocent children and you've got a very difficult (though worthwhile) movie-watching experience.

In 1928, single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) returns home from her job at the telephone company to discover that her son Walter has gone missing. After a few months, the LAPD claim they've found her son and they bring a child, claiming to be Walter, to Christine. She insists he isn't her child but the shady police captain, J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan), desperate for the LAPD to have a positive story in the news, bullies Christine into believing that she's just a woman who has been driven to hysterics by grief and worry. All of Christine's further attempts to convince the police department that her son is still at large are shot down until Jones finally hauls Christine away to a mental institution to shut her up. For more of the story and some of my thoughts on it all, read more.

Christine's only ally is Gustav Briegleb, a Presbyterian reverend who makes it his mission to expose the corruption of the LAPD. Ultimately, detective Lester Ybarra follows a lead that brings him to Wineville, California where the disturbed Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner) has been committing heinous crimes against children. Gordon's trial comes about at the same time that Christine and Gustav are bringing charges against the LAPD. All the while, Christine doggedly continues her search for Walter, spurred by her belief that he's still out in the world.

There are so many aspects of this movie that claw at the heart. There's the missing child storyline, and the infuriating treatment of Christine Collins when she asks for a decent amount of help from the LAPD. Then there's the horrifying situation (made more horrifying by the fact that it's a true story) involving Gordon Northcott in Wineville. And there's the outrageous incarceration of Christine Collins (and any other woman who dares take the LAPD to task) in the mental institute. It's just a constant barrage of emotional beatings that had me squirming in my seat, more uncomfortable than I've been at a movie in a long, long time. By the end of it, I was exhausted.

Eastwood has captured the time period remarkably well, down to the last careful detail, and any film that can evoke such fury, horror, and aching sympathy is certainly one for the ages. Angelina Jolie's performance is excellent and focused, and while it's strange to see her play someone so meek, I easily bought her as a gentle, average mother caught up in a situation more harrowing than your worst nightmare. An equally powerful performance, however, is Jason Butler Harner's as the mentally unstable Gordon. Of course we loathe this character, but Harner somehow brings a bewildering and terribly sad humanity to an otherwise monstrous person. Amy Ryan is also riveting - making her role both pitiable and strong - as another woman who has been wrongfully committed to the mental institute. These performances, along with Eastwood's direction make for a staggering film, even if it does leave your heart feeling shredded.

Photos courtesy of Universal

Movie Preview: Angelina Jolie in Changeling

BuzzSugar — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:33:29 -0700

As is the case with many of this Fall's most anticipated films, Clint Eastwood's Changeling looks to be heavy, dark and emotionally draining. Luckily, Eastwood got Angelina Jolie, no stranger to this type of material, to play the heart-wrenchingly sympathetic protagonist. The movie screened at Cannes and many who have seen it agree that it will have no problem nabbing Oscar nominations. From the trailer, I can certainly see why.

In the film, set in the late-1920s, Jolie plays Christine Collins, a mother whose son has gone missing. A boy shows up claiming to be her son, but isn't, and Christine must then fight against corrupt police officers (who consider the case closed) in her frantic search for answers. Last month we got a first look at a clip from the film, which was tense and difficult enough, but this new trailer includes more details of the harrowing story. It also prominently features John Malkovich's character, which has piqued my curiosity about this film even more.

The historical drama hits theaters in wide release October 31. To watch the trailer, read more.

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Movie Preview: The Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading

BuzzSugar — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:41:35 -0700

OK, now this is a movie trailer! The Coen Bros. latest venture, Burn After Reading, now has a red-band trailer (which in this case means they're using some NSFW language) and it is funny-goofy-weird-dark. Which is to say, awesome. The people in this movie are so fantastically talented, and combined with the Coens' dark and bizarre direction, this movie looks totally promising.

The trailer is a little confusing, but the IMDB plot description puts it like this: "A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it."

I could watch Brad Pitt act like a total goofball all day.

Burn After Reading opens in theaters September 12. To check out the trailer and tell me if you think there are more Oscars in the Coen family future, read more.

Photo courtesy of Focus Features

Beowulf: See It in 3-D or Not at All

BuzzSugar — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:27:27 -0800

"I. Am. BEOWULF!" roars a computer-generated (and significantly enhanced) Ray Winstone over and over and over again. The animated epic story of Beowulf is impressive from a visual standpoint - it really is like living inside a video game - though story-wise it's empty and forgettable. But if nothing else, you will absolutely remember who. Is. Beowulf.

I managed to see Beowulf in an IMAX theater, donning some giant, goofy 3-D glasses. In this way, the movie is spectacular. You'll be splattered with blood, threatened with sharp spears, and nearly dropped into the sharp-toothed mouths of terrifying beasts. It is, quite simply, amazing. I completely understand Robert Zemeckis' desire to bring this story to life via animation. Using (and improving upon) the motion-capture technology he tried with The Polar Express, the humans look as real as possible (more or less) while still existing in a mystical land alongside monsters, mermaids and water serpents.

Overall, it's a cool idea. In execution, it's enjoyable enough, though I'm not sure I would have liked it half as much if I were not watching it on an IMAX screen in 3-D. However, having said that I agree with the complaint of a fellow reviewer that if you turn your face even the slightest bit, the 3-D image is skewed and unpleasant to look at. Sitting in the same position with my head frozen in place for two hours and watching a 3-D movie left me with neck pains as well as a headache. For more about the pros and cons of this movie, read more

As cool as Beowulf looks, it succeeds visually at the expense of interesting storytelling. Winstone voices the great warrior himself, though his "onscreen" self is a far cry from the doughy man we've watched in things like Sexy Beast. In a handsome war hero's body, Beowulf is our protagonist who arrives in Hrothgar's kingdom with his entourage. As Beowulf consistently reminds everyone, he's here to "kill your moanstah," the horrifyingly disgusting creature named Grendel (Crispin Glover) who terrorizes Hrothgar's people. In a laughable scene, Beowulf insists on fighting the monster in the nude, his manhood expertly hidden by various "coincidental" objects in a scene that mirrors the hide-the-pickle scene from Austin Powers.

There are moments like these that provide some much-needed levity, though there are many other moments that unintentionally generate laughter, like the "shot" of Grendel's Mother's (Angelina Jolie) stiletto heel-shaped feet (not shoes, feet). Indeed, this movie seriously pushes that PG-13 rating to the max. Just because it's animation doesn't make Grendel's Mother's buxom body any less near-nude.

Anyway, Beowulf fights Grendel and succeeds, only to then have to answer to Grendel's Mother. Once he meets her, he is seduced by her womanly charms (as she literally melts his sword in some not-so-subtle imagery) along with the promise of kingly glory. Herein lies the moral, I guess, of the movie (though not necessarily the literary work on which it's based): hubris and pride will doom the greatest of warriors.

The actors are quite good in this arena, with John Malkovich particularly standing out as the darkly complicated Unferth, though despite how close these animated figures have come to approximating human beings, there's an emptiness to them that still seems creepy. Their bodies have a strange weightlessness, and they often remind me of the human characters in the Shrek movies. Also, at times Angelina Jolie's character somehow looks worse than she does in real life (and I'm talking about scenes in which she is supposed to be stunning), which seems preposterous given that she is already unbelievably beautiful.

Bottom line: It's visually neat, if not a bit of an assault on the senses, but I sincerely hope this isn't our "future of filmmaking" as the promos for this movie keep promising.

Images courtesy of Paramount

Buzz News Roundup, 5/4

BuzzSugar — Fri, 04 May 2007 17:03:43 -0700

Time Magazine names Sacha Baron Cohen, Cate Blanchett, Shonda Rhimes, Tina Fey and Tyra Banks among the 100 most influential people in the world.
The CW is producing a dating show where bachelorettes will compete to date a farmer, Variety reports.
John Malkovich may join George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the Coen Brothers latest project, Burn After Reading, says Reuters.
The Raconteurs and the Hives will collaborate on a new song, reports NME.
Showtime's "Weeds" will return Aug. 13, Zap2it reports, with Matthew Modine joining the cast.
Billboard has details on Ryan Adams' new album.
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