BuzzSugar

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:30:00 PST

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 view Cate Blanchett's award-nominated performance in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and The Jane Austen Book Club, which I featured as one of my February Must Haves. Additionally, the Jodi Foster thriller The Brave One, which I liked well enough, is now on DVD.

The Assassination of Jess James by the Coward Robert Ford
This movie adaptation of Ron Hansen's acclaimed novel brings to life two infamous personalities of the American wild West. Notorious outlaw Jesse James (Brad Pitt) befriends what amounts to a latter-day celeb stalker, Robert Ford. Played by Casey Affleck who has been nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal, Ford is a man looking for fame and will do just about anything to attain it.

I enjoyed this movie, despite some awkward pacing and artifice. The visualizations of the West and solid performances make this a great choice for home-theater viewing.

It's a fun week for DVDs so

read more. Across the Universe I once described the look and feel of Across the Universe as a shroom-induced dream set to Beatles songs, and I stand by that description. Using the Fab Four's music, a romantic plot line, and trippy visual effects, director Julie Taymor takes audiences through the ups and downs of the 1960s. The result is an ambitious, psychedelic attempt to capture a moment in time, and I give it an "A" for effort. The burning question you'll probably have when viewing these crazy visuals is, "How'd they do that?" Thus, the two-disc DVD set is highly satisfying with all its making-of featurettes. Also, the commentary by Taymor gives great background on why she chose the '60s as her backdrop and how the Beatles inspired her.
2 Days in Paris Julie Delpy wrote, stars in, directed, and composed the music for this comedy that co-stars Adam Goldberg. I had a chance to talk with Delpy about this film, and it was clear she has a serious interest in exploring what makes modern relationships tick. The film follows a neurotic yet lovable couple that spends two awkward days in Paris where Marion's (Delpy's) family forces them to confront their relationship issues, not to mention their cultural differences. Overall, the movie is a charming take on all the work that goes into love nowadays. Special features include five deleted scenes and an interview with Julie Delpy.

Movie Preview: The Air I Breathe

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:30:32 PST

This movie is intriguing for the incredible ensemble cast, although when that's the only good thing its own stars have to say about it, that's not a good sign. The Air I Breathe opens in New York and Los Angeles tonight and I wanted to get your thoughts on the preview, as I'm a little torn. There's a lot of talent piled into this flick (Forest Whitaker, Andy Garcia, Julie Delpy, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Emile Hirsch), but I'm a little confused by the trailer . . . which is maybe the point.

Apparently the plot follows several intersecting stories based on "four emotional cornerstones: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love." IMDB continues, "A businessman (Whitaker) bets his life on a horse race; a gangster (Brendan Fraser) sees the future; a pop star (Gellar) falls prey to a crime boss (Garcia); a doctor (Kevin Bacon) must save the love of his life."

The New York Times reports that debut feature director Jieho Lee describes his movie this way:

"[It's] a film noir variation of The Wizard of Oz and an exploration of the theme of character as destiny."

Huh. Okay. To check out the trailer and tell me what you think, head on over to iVillage.

Photo courtesy of ThinkFilm

No Country for Old Men Is a Red Carpet for Hot Men

PopSugar — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:27:54 PST

It was all about the guys at last night's LA premiere of No Country for Old Men. Thandie stood out in her colorblock dress in the midst of cuties like Casey Affleck and Olivier Martinez. Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem star in the film, which is the Coen Brothers first Western. Javier recently talked to Parade about his reservations about using a gun on-screen, saying,

"I've done only two movies, where I hold a gun. Once I did it in '96. It was an experience. I hate it. It's not that I hate the movie. I think the movie is fun. It was called Perdita Durango. Here it was translated as Dance With the Devil. It was very violent. I had good fun with the director, but I hate the experience of killing people. Eleven years after, I do a movie with the Coens (No Country for Old Men) where I am a killer. It took me a little while to say yes to this even though the Coens are my favorite directors."

It's pretty sweet to hear about an actor who doesn't care for playing with guns and being the bad boy. We bet his girl Penelope Cruz appreciates his soft side even more than we do.

Lots more pics from the premiere including Julie Delpy, Gina Gershon and Tommy Lee Jones looking a little haggard so just read more

View 15 Photos ›

Images include Casey Affleck, Dawn Jones, David Denham, Gina Gershon, Javier Bardem, John Malkovich, Josh Brolin, Jordan Ladd, Julie Delpy, Olivier Martinez, Thandie Newton, Marc Streitenfeld and Tommy Lee Jones.

Interview: Julie Delpy of 2 Days in Paris

BuzzSugar — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 04:30:00 PDT

Julie Delpy is almost frighteningly talented. She writes, acts, directs, and composes music - and she does all four in 2 Days in Paris, one of my favorite films of the year so far. Delpy and Adam Goldberg play Marion and Jack, a lovably mismatched couple who spend a disastrous two days with Marion's family. The movie goes beyond culture-clash humor and settles in the much richer territory of romantic relationships, which is what Delpy and I talked about on her recent trip to San Francisco.

You’re really all over this story: you’re in it, you wrote it, you directed it. I’m wondering where it came from for you.
Well, I wanted to do a story about something that scares me the most, which is - apart from death or losing someone I love physically, outside of the big, really horrible stuff in life - breaking up with people. I just wanted to approach it in a comedic way, because all my life, breaking up has been horribly painful - or being dumped, even more painful. But breaking up with someone is very painful too. It's almost impossible for me. I get too attached to people, I can't hurt people. I’ve done it a few times. I did it very badly too, because I don't know how to manage, so I disappear, like I could be dead, I’m so bad at it. And when I feel that someone doesn’t love me anymore and I can see that in their eyes, it's heartbreaking.

I went in thinking "Oh, it's going to be one of those culture clash things." But it's so much more about their relationship.
I mean, the culture difference stuff is fun, but it's mostly about conflict within a relationship and how to make a relationship work. Especially with two neurotic people. Psychotic and neurotic.

They’re so imperfect together, and then that’s kind of perfect.
Yeah, yeah, I know! Adam was always worried that my character was so unlikable. He kept telling me all the time, "She’s so horrible, your character" and "my character, I don’t want to make him unlikable." And to me it was much more exiting to make unlikable characters likable. He’s always grumpy, and he’s kind of an unbearable guy, but at the same time, with all the shit that happens to him, you start to really feel for him. She’s unbearable - I mean, she snaps at people, she's flirtatious, she’s like the worst nightmare - but at the same time, she snaps at racists, at pedophiles, you know and she's in a way protecting him. So to me it was a lot of fun to take these characters that are so anti-heroes and make them into almost likable people, or at least people you follow and embrace until the end of the film.

2 Days in Paris: Perfectly Imperfect

BuzzSugar — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 05:45:00 PDT

I'm almost afraid to write about 2 Days in Paris, as if somehow, by writing about it, it won't be a precious memory in my mind anymore. That sounds sappy and overwrought, but the fact is, I adored this movie more than any other movie I've seen in a long time. It's possible that the movie happened to hit all the right notes at all the right times for me personally. It's also possible that 2 Days in Paris is just a very good movie. I believe it's the latter.

Julie Delpy (who also wrote, directed, and composed music for the film) stars as Marion, a French photographer with an eye defect who goes on a vacation to Europe with her American boyfriend, Jack (Adam Goldberg), a hypochondriac with a jealous streak. In the movie's first moments, you see the couple asleep on a train, she wearing a silkscreened T-shirt with a picture of a gun that is, not coincidentally, pointing right at Jack. The two of them are on their way back from a trip to Venice that, while not exactly a disaster, was not a whirlwind of romance either. Before heading home, they need to pick up their cat at Marion's parents' house in Paris - and that's where things really get bad.

Jack, who speaks not a word of French, feels marooned in a foreign land where everything is moldy and everyone has dated his girlfriend. Marion is no saint, either, having dallied with her share of men; she plays right into Jack's phobias by stroking the sweater of a fireman who comes to the apartment one morning and taking Jack to a party filled with probable exes. They're already a bickering couple, but Jack's suspicions - and Marion's egging on - propel them to quarreling of world record proportions. The "crazy American in Paris" stuff is funny, but where the movie really hits home is in its portrayal of flawed adult love, so

read more Jack and Marion seem like such a mismatch; we can sense the love between them, but their insecurities and fears keep it from coming out. Marion is beautiful and smart and funny, but she's also deeply angry; when she picks a fight with a cab driver, Jack looks like he would rather just be stranded on the streets of Paris than have to defend this crazy woman. For his part, Jack is sarcastic and neurotic and jealous, though it's not without reason. I kept wishing for them to just cut each other a break, but instead of bugging me like it would in most movies, their arguments felt raw and real. You know those fights you have with someone you love, epic battles where you're just yelling and screaming and suddenly you realize you have no idea what you're even angry about or how the fight started? This movie is like one of those fights, but with the most tender outcome possible. The movie has its missteps; Marion's parents (played by Delpy's actual parents, both French actors) are best when dealing with Jack and Marion, not pursuing story lines of their own. There also are a few scenes toward the end of the film where Marion's ugly side gets so outrageous that I wondered if Delpy had gone too far; they're awkward and uncomfortable, presumably on purpose, but they nearly undermined my belief that Marion was a good person underneath her copious flaws. But I can overlook those problems, because 2 Days in Paris is, at its heart, a smart, sweet, and truly unconventional love story - the kind of love story we hardly ever see on screen. It's not a sweep-you-off-your-feet romance; it's not a fiasco. It's just two fundamentally screwed-up people doing their best to muddle through, being perfectly imperfect together. Source

One Night To Celebrate 2 Days in Paris

Molly — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:54:34 PDT

Julie Delpy and Adam Goldberg came out to celebrate their new movie, 2 Days In Paris at the Hollywood premiere last night. Unfortunately Christina wasn't on Adam's arm, but he was looking remarkably (and semi-unrecognizably) cleaned up for the event. The funny looking independent film comes out in NYC and LA on Friday and in selected cities a week later, but stay tuned later this week to read Buzz's interview with the fabulous Julie Delpy! Fun.

Rewind: This Week's Buzz

BuzzSugar — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 11:30:00 PDT

If you could recast "Full House" in this day and age, which actors would you choose?
After winning his umpteenth Daytime Emmy Award, Bob Barker said "The Price Is Right" could use a "lady host," like Rosie O'Donnell. Do you think Rosie could replace Bob Barker on the show?
Mandy Moore's latest album, Wild Hope is streaming online right now.
Upon hearing the news that Monopoly may be made into a movie, I wondered what kinds of movies could spring from other board games.
How would you like the first season of "The Tudors" on DVD? Enter my "Tudors" DVD set giveaway!

Trailers galore! The latest and last Simpsons Movie trailer is now online, as are the ones for Julie Delpy's 2 Days in Paris, and August Rush which stars Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
Exciting "Heroes" casting news! Claire will get a new boyfriend, and six other people will also be joining the cast, including a white dude who will play the ancient Samurai master Kensei.
If you like Bob Dylan but don't know which album to pick up next, check out my new "Getting Into" feature where I suggest albums for folks at all levels of fandom.
These are the Top 5 TV Moments that make me cry just thinking about them. What are yours?

Movie Preview: Julie Delpy's 2 Days in Paris

BuzzSugar — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:34:41 PDT

2 Days in Paris first caught my eye back in April when it screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, and now that I've seen the trailer I'm salivating to see this film. I love pretty much anything Julie Delpy touches, and seeing as she wrote, directed, edited and stars in 2 Days in Paris, she's touched this project often and much.

The movie follows Marion (Delpy) who brings her American boyfriend (Adam Goldberg) on his first trip to Paris. There, he struggles with the language, encounters countless ex-boyfriends of Marion's and learns all about the differences in how Americans and the French view sexual relationships. Delpy seems gorgeous, adorable, smart and funny... as usual.

If you're a Delpy-phile like me - and even if you're not - you should check out the movie when it opens August 10. To watch the trailer in the meantime (and to see a picture that made me chuckle),

Adam Goldberg and Julie Delpy's Two Days in Paris

PopSugar — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:04:15 PDT

Julie Delpy screened her new film Two Days in Paris at the Tribeca film festival. In the comedy, which she produced, wrote, and directed, she plays a French woman who takes her boyfriend (Adam Goldberg) on his first trip to Paris. Adam's character evidently has some problems adjusting to the cultural differences which causes problems for the couple. Looks like things are going pretty well for him in his own love life - he brought his adorable girlfriend Christina Ricci as his date to the screening. Too bad they didn't walk the red carpet together.

For more pics just read more

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Source & Source

Tribeca Film Festival Kicks Off

BuzzSugar — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 06:03:50 PDT

Film-lovers are freaking out today as the Tribeca Film Festival kicks off in New York. This year promises plenty to talk about, from little-known international titles to intriguing documentary fare to mainstream crowd-pleasers. There are way too many interesting-looking films screening at the festival to touch on here, but I will highlight a few that make me feel the saddest about not being there this year.

2 Days in Paris
The elegant Julie Delpy does it all for this film, as the writer, director, editor, producer and star. The "snappy, comic" story follows Marion (Delpy) who brings her American boyfriend (Adam Goldberg) on his first visit to Paris. Culture clashy mishaps ensue.

Suburban Girl
Forget Alec Baldwin's indelicate dealings with his daughter for a moment and focus on how awesome he can be to watch on screen sometimes. Adapted from The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, Suburban Girl follows Brett (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a young book editor who falls for an older man (Baldwin) with a history of being a playboy.

Several more if you

read more Hard As Nails Unordained youth minister Justin Fatica preaches religion hard core to the MTV crowd by getting in their faces, doing physical challenges and yelling a lot in this unflinching documentary. If you'll pardon the pun, the trailer seriously scares the bejesus out of me. Playing the Victim The description for this Russian film is just plain intriguing: "In this black-humored Russian Hamlet by one of Moscow's top theater directors, a young slacker receives nocturnal visits from his father's ghost and literally 'plays the victim' in crime reconstruction videos." The Third Monday in October This documentary definitely takes the "awww..." award previously handed to films like Spellbound and Mad Hot Ballroom. Filmmaker Vanessa Roth follows four student council races in various middle schools across the country. Family issues, school pressures and hormones abound. To warm your heart a little, watch the trailer. Autism: The Musical Thankfully, this isn't a musical about autism, but rather a documentary that "follows five autistic children in Los Angeles as they write and rehearse their own full-length musical, tossing aside all stereotypes in the process." Blue State This lighthearted story centers around John (Breckin Meyer) who puts out an ad through "Marry-a-Canadian," an organization that pairs up Canadians with frustrated liberals looking to break free from America's political rut following the 2004 election. Chloe (Anna Paquin) answers his ad and the two embark on an adventurous road trip. The Man From the Embassy This film's description brings to mind the kind of tender relationship that springs up between Leon and Mathilda in The Professional: "The empty existence of a German official living in Tbilisi, Georgia, brightens when he forms a tenuous friendship with a 12-year-old girl living in one of the city's refugee camps. But corruption, violence and accusations of pedophilia taint their growing bond, echoing post-Soviet Georgia's uneasy relationship with the West." Live! Hopefully nobody from Fox will watch this movie and get any bright ideas: A television network takes riskily airs a reality show in which everyday people play Russian Roulette with a loaded gun on live TV. Source