BuzzSugar

Nine: The Tinsel on Your Tree of Christmas Movies

BuzzSugar — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:30:29 -0800

It's impossible for Nine not to be compared to Chicago. Both are film adaptations of Broadway musicals, both boast all-star casts and both are directed by Rob Marshall. Even further, both casts are primarily made up of gorgeous women revolving around a leading man. Nine has plenty of glitz, glamour, and fun to make for a solid two hours of entertainment, but unfortunately it may be remembered as the film that's like Chicago, but not as good.

The film is actually based on a musical that's based on an Italian play that's based on director Federico Fellini's movie 8 1/2. Got all that? In Nine, Daniel Day-Lewis works his Italian accent as Guido Contini (based on Fellini), a famous director who's struggling to find inspiration for his much-anticipated ninth film. Pushing 50, Contini finds himself in the midst of a mid-life crisis and seeks escape from the adoring public and paparazzi that are everywhere he turns (not to mention his own cast and crew that are waiting on a script). Here begins Contini's self-reflection through the many women that have influenced him over the years: from his deceased mother (Sophia Loren) to his sexy mistress (Penelope Cruz) to his neglected wife (Marion Cotillard).

To find out what works in the film and what doesn't, just read more.

Like Italy itself, Nine has style, glamour, and passion bursting at every seam. From the costumes to the lighting to performances, there's plenty of the razzle dazzle that we all expect from a musical. The performances aren't half-bad either; it's refreshing to finally see Kate Hudson out of romantic comedy mode (and singing, no less), but Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard truly steal the show as the two principal women in Contini's life. Their characters are polar opposites - Cruz's Carla is fiery and dramatic while Cotillard's Luisa is quiet yet fierce - but it's impossible to take your eyes of either of the gorgeous and talented actresses.

I'm a bit more conflicted about Daniel Day-Lewis's performance. The actor blows my mind with his chameleon-like abilities (I was constantly asking myself if this was really the same guy who screamed "I drink your milkshake" just last year), but was he really the right choice to play Contini? Day-Lewis is fun to watch and charming for sure, but I couldn't help but wonder if the role would have been even sexier and spicier with original choice Javier Bardem as the lead.

As for the musical numbers, each one is wonderful and impressive in its own right. The majority of the numbers are solos as Guido and his entourage of women take the stage one at a time to tell their own part of the story, but that doesn't mean the ladies can't bring down the house all on their own. Particularly memorable are Fergie's tour de force "Be Italian" and Kate Hudson's over-the-top, music video-like "Cinema Italiano." When the ladies perform the sets are designed to look like the Broadway stage and I found myself on the verge of clapping after many of them. The problem is that the musical numbers don't totally gel with the rest of the plot; each time a song comes on we are taken out of the present-time plot to spotlight one of Contini's women, and I would have liked to see a more seamless transition.

The secret to watching Nine is to just sit back and enjoy the ride. There's plenty of sexy songs, watchable actors, and funny moments to make for a flashy, fun film.

Photos courtesy of The Weinstein Company

Kate and Heidi's Aspen Run-In, Madonna Talks More Adoption, and We Review Nine and It's Complicated

Molly — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:30:00 -0800

It's our last PopSugar Rush weekend edition of 2009! Kate Hudson, Goldie Hawn, Heidi Klum, and Seal shared a laugh when they ran into each other in Aspen yesterday. Plus, Madonna reveals that she has more adoption plans in the future. Our Watch, Pass, or Rent reviews for the week are for Nine and It's Complicated. Watch PopSugar Rush now, and happy holidays!

Buzz's 10 Favorite Actors With Famous Parents

BuzzSugar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:30:39 -0800

Mery Streep's 23-year-old daughter Grace Gummer just landed a new gig at Nickelodeon - and it got me thinking about all the big names out there with famous actors for parents. From A-listers like Angelina Jolie and Ben Stiller to small screen stars like Spencer Grammer, take a look at 10 of my favorite actors with famous parents.

View Slideshow ›

Gael Garcia Bernal Is Earthbound With Kate Hudson

BuzzSugar — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:45:45 -0700

Kate Hudson's career was off to an amazing start with her award-worthy performance in Almost Famous so many years ago, but somewhere along the way she veered into the romantic comedy world and got stuck there. She's been fighting her way out of her pigeonhole with roles in Nine and The Killer Inside Me, and her next romance sounds more serious and less slapstick. She'll star in Earthbound, playing a woman who falls in love with her doctor as she battles a terminal illness.

The subject matter is obviously sad and it still seems like it has the possibility for soapiness, but here's some good news: Gael Garcia Bernal is in talks to join the project. I know that most Bernal fans are collectively groaning at this news, but perhaps a costar like Bernal is exactly what Kate needs to reestablish herself as a serious actress. Maybe it's just me, but I'm hoping to see Hudson shine in her next films and beyond now that she's finally put a little distance between herself and Matthew McConaughey.

Movie Preview: Nine

BuzzSugar — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:00:11 -0700

"Be Italian!!"

Wow! The first trailer for Nine, a movie-musical by the director who brought us Chicago, is a feast for the eyes and the ears. There are sexy women galore (Kidman! Cruz! Hudson! Cotillard! Sophia Loren!) in nothing but their skivvies dancing and doing the splits and generally looking like tortured artistic souls.

No one looks quite as tortured as Daniel Day-Lewis (replacing Javier Bardem) as famous film director Guido Contini, who's struggling to juggle his relationships with all the gorgeous women in his life, including his wife, his mistress, his muse, his agent, and his mother. It's an amazing cast full of Oscar winners, and the music sounds great. And hey, Fergie's in it, too.

Nine will be released November 25. To take a look for yourself, read more.

Source

2009 Tribeca Film Festival Spotlight: Kate Hudson's Cutlass

BuzzSugar — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:15:00 -0700

I've been perusing the long list of interesting-looking movies scheduled for this year's Tribeca Film Festival, which continues in New York this week. It will be a while till many of the buzzworthy feature films hit theaters, so I'm excited that some of the festival's short films are online for anyone to view. One of those I was particularly curious to see is Cutlass.

The 16-minute film marks Kate Hudson's directorial debut, and she also wrote the screenplay. Compared to most shorts (at least the ones without celebrity directors), this movie has a pretty amazing cast, including Kristen Stewart, Kurt Russell, Virginia Madsen, Dakota Fanning, and Chevy Chase. The quick summary of the story: A mom (Madsen) can relate to her daughter (Fanning) about wanting to buy something really, really badly. The cinematography looks gorgeous, as does Stewart, who plays a younger version of Madsen's character and is kind of a knockout as a blonde.

You can watch the entire movie right here, so to check it out and let me know what you think about Hudson's filmmaking skills, just read more.

Bride Wars: Trite and Joyless

BuzzSugar — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 05:45:13 -0800

Movies about weddings can be so fun and girly and sweet. It's easy to get swept up in the sparkly rings and the hunt for the perfect dresses and the cream-colored towering cakes. Plus, at the heart of Bride Wars there's also this relationship between two BFFs and I'm all for movies with an emphasis on the strength of female friendship. But this film doesn't do right by either the fun bridal aspect or the "girlfriend" aspect and comes up seeming empty and kinda sad.

Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Liv (Kate Hudson) are the bestest of friends who spent much time as children dreaming of (and role-playing) their weddings. Now that they're adults (Liv a harsh, high-powered businesswoman and Emma the sensitive low-paid schoolteacher), they plan to be each other's maid of honor and as luck would have it, they both get engaged around the same time. But when they meet with wedding planner extraordinaire Marion St. Claire (Candice Bergen), an administrative hiccup causes the two weddings to be booked at the Plaza Hotel on the same date. When neither one will move her wedding, the two brides-to-be turn against each other, trying to sabotage the other's wedding, and their friendship suffers. For more of my thoughts on all this, read more.

For a "comedy," there's not much humor involved, and regardless of whether the intention was to satirize bridezillas, the truth is that the whole thing has this eerie antiquated feeling to it. What year are we living in? What era is this when two grown women have spent their lives - and apparently their whole friendship - aspiring mostly just to have lavish weddings? And then, when the weddings are booked on the same day, they attack each other? How is this that important? One of them is even demoted at her job because, as it appears in the movie, her hysterical little lady brain can't handle the stress of destroying her "best friend's" wedding and navigating the big bad business world. At the core of it all, their main "problem" is hard to accept. Just move the dang wedding!

During the moments when they’re supposedly these superclose best-best-best friends, I just can't buy it. They don't really seem to even like each other. But then when they are scheming and tricking each other, it's just kinda boring. Emma gets an orange tan. Liv's hair turns blue. Yawn. For one thing, we see most of this in the trailer so none of it is a funny surprise. For another thing, it's not particularly interesting or clever - it's merely cruel and catty.

Anne Hathaway saves some scenes with her endearing ways and that big ol' toothy smile. But Kate Hudson just looks. . . mean. She looks angry and mean all the time. Even when she’s supposed to be happy or sweet or apologetic there's no getting past that meanness. Something about her look in this movie, combined with her hateful, selfish character makes it difficult to like or care about Liv.

The movie redeems itself a little toward the end when the women have had their own journeys that ultimately lead them closer to each other and more in tune with the women they want to be, etc. etc. etc. But the sweetness of this doesn't quite make up for the joylessness of all that came before it.

Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

Kate Hudson Joins the Amazing Cast of Nine

BuzzSugar — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:33:02 -0700

Not only has Kate Hudson been added to the already-magnificent cast of Nine, a film adaptation of the award-winning musical, but the role and a song were added to the movie specifically for her.

The musical, inspired by Fellini's 8 1/2, is said to be "sultry and enchanting," and the same could be said about most of the cast members. Daniel Day-Lewis plays "world famous film director Guido Contini as he prepares his latest picture and balances the numerous women in his life."

The women playing Contini's women? They include Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Penélope Cruz, and now Kate Hudson.

Of his new cast addition, director Rob Marshall (Chicago) remarked, "It's wonderful having Kate join this extraordinary cast! Her revelatory skills as a singer and a dancer lead to the creation of the role of 'Stephanie,' a fashion reporter from Vogue working in Italy. An exciting new song, written by our composer Maury Yeston, has been added for her as well."

What do you think about this? Compared to the other people on this cast list, is Kate Hudson of the same caliber? Do you look forward to her contributions to a Rob Marshall musical movie?

Source

First Look: Dane Cook, Kate Hudson in My Best Friend's Girl

BuzzSugar — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:32:55 -0700

Oh, wow, what have we here? Dane Cook playing a gross jerk again - only this time, he gets paid for it. And, in the end, it looks like he gets Kate Hudson. The trailer for My Best Friend's Girl (previously titled Bachelor No. 2), in which Cook plays a guy who dates a girl (Kate Hudson) with the intention of acting so heinously she's driven back to the arms of Cook's buddy (Jason Biggs), leaves quite a bit to be desired. It looks generic and not particularly amusing, but maybe it will deliver something fresh when we see it in its entirety? Hey, I can give it the benefit of the doubt (especially since the bit with Alec Baldwin is pretty funny). Judgment day will come September 19 when the movie comes out. To check out the trailer and tell me what you think, read more.

Steve Martin and Diane Keaton May Reunite for Comedy

BuzzSugar — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:29:47 -0700

There are some cinematic couplings that are so full of cuteness that I get giddy at the thought of them reuniting. Steve Martin and Diane Keaton are one such couple, having totally endeared themselves to me in Father of the Bride (I just pretend that little sequel doesn't exist).

Now, these two may couple up again for One Big Happy, a comedy by Party of Five creators Chris Keyser and Amy Lippman. Variety reports that while there aren't many details just yet, they do know that it is a "family comedy about a couple and a family reconnecting amid various obstacles."

I'm so excited by this news, and I hope costarring with Steve will get Diane back on track and help us forget some of her recent projects (ahem, Mad Money).

Based on box office returns, it looks like a lot of people love to see hard-bodied costars Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson onscreen together. And, of course, there's the big upcoming reunion of Kate and Leo in this year's Revolutionary Road. I think reuniting When Harry Met Sally's stars Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in a movie might be fun, too. What other movie duos would you love to see re-coupled?

Source