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Movie Preview: George Clooney in The Men Who Stare at Goats

BuzzSugar — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:30:50 -0700

After watching the trailer for The Men Who Stare at Goats, I think George Clooney's upcoming movie is going to live up to its quirky title. Based on columnist Jon Ronson's book and inspired by a true story, the film follows Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), a journalist who heads to Iraq to gather research for a story about a secret psychic military movement. Enter Clooney as Lyn Cassady, a soldier who calls himself a Jedi and seems to have the power to back it up. Two minutes of banter between wacky Lyn and straight-laced Bob has already left me wanting more. Add Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey to the mix as Lyn's fellow soothsayers (not to mention Boston's "More Than a Feeling") and I'm pretty much sold.

George Clooney hits the big screen in all his mustachioed glory on Nov. 6. To see the full trailer, just read more.

Movie Preview: Kevin Spacey in Shrink

BuzzSugar — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:30:03 -0700

The story in Shrink seems not unlike that of another movie that I recently previewed, The Answer Man: The guy who's supposed to have all the answers (in this case a famous shrink) is in fact, just as screwed up as the rest of us. Shrink, however, seems to have a few more layers and a little more weight. In fact, I found myself totally absorbed in this story - just by watching the trailer.

The synopsis is as follows: "Unable to cope with a recent personal tragedy, LA's top celebrity shrink turns into a pothead with no concern for his appearance and a creeping sense of his inability to help his patients." No release date yet, though the trailer says Shrink will open this Summer. To check it out, read more.

Buzz News Roundup, 5/20

BuzzSugar — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:30:47 -0700

Working Title production company is developing a live musical version of their hit Bridget Jones's Diary films. - Variety
Focus Features has set George Clooney to play an assassin in A Very Private Gentleman, an adaptation of the Martin Booth novel. - ComingSoon
American Idol's Tuesday show was the lowest rated finale performance episode of the series. - TV Week
A contemporary, 3-D adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic story The Fall of the House of Usher is in the works. - The Hollywood Reporter
Scrubs could possibly be set somewhere other than Sacred Heart next season. - TV Guide
Green Day topped this week's album sales charts. - Billboard
George Orwell's Catalonia will get a big screen adaptation with Colin Firth and Kevin Spacey attached to star. - ComingSoon
The CW's Fall plans: hot singles, hot vampires, hot models. - TV.com
Oscar nominee Melissa Leo will play the mother to Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale's characters in The Fighter. - Variety

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Buzz News Roundup, 5/13

BuzzSugar — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:30:51 -0700

Al Pacino is in talks to star in Blink, an adaptation of Malcolm Gladwell's nonfiction bestseller to be directed and written by Traffic director Stephen Gaghan. - Reuters
Philip K. Dick's sci-fi book Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said will be adapted for the big screen. - Variety
Party Down has been renewed for a second season. - E!
Lie to Me has also been renewed, and the series Human Target and Sons of Tucson have been picked up. - The Futon Critic
Kevin Spacey will play Washington power broker Jack Abramoff in the true story-based thriller Casino Jack. - ComingSoon
Things aren't looking good for the pilots starring Lauren Graham and Katee Sackhoff - or for Sit Down, Shut Up. - TV.com
Chrisette Michele beat out Ciara and Hannah Montana for the No. 1 spot on this week's Billboard charts. - Billboard
Nicole Kidman has dropped out of Woody Allen's latest, untitled project. - Variety
A live-action movie version of American Gladiators is in the works. - ComingSoon

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2009 Tribeca Film Festival Spotlight: Moon

BuzzSugar — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:30:29 -0700

I've been perusing the long list of interesting-looking movies scheduled for this year's Tribeca Film Festival, which starts this week. Some of them, like Moon, are already earning buzz, and I'm anxious to find out what festivalgoers think once they've screened.

Starring Sam Rockwell, Moon is the directorial debut of David Bowie's son, Duncan Jones. The movie has already built some momentum from this year's Sundance Film Festival and now there's a trailer for it. And the trailer is creepy.

The movie takes place in the not-so-distant future and follows astronaut Sam Bell (Rockwell) who is completing a three-year stint on the moon where his only company has been a computer (voiced by Kevin Spacey) named GERTY. From the looks of the trailer, all that time alone on the moon starts to seriously affect Sam's emotional state. Most of the reviews so far say that this is a pretty terrific entry to the sci-fi/horror genre that's buoyed by a great performance from Rockwell.

Ready to see for yourself? Just read more.

Moon at IGN.com

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Clooney Assembles the Men Who Stare at Goats

BuzzSugar — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:30:37 -0700

George Clooney is producing and starring in Men Who Stare at Goats, based on the book by Guardian columnist Jon Ronson. The cast is shaping up nicely, with a few more solid actors joining Clooney: Kevin Spacey, Ewan McGregor and Jeff Bridges. The Hollywood Reporter has more about the project:

Goats is set in Iraq and centers on Bob Wilton (McGregor), a desperate reporter who stumbles upon the story of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassady (Clooney), who claims to be a former secret U.S. military psychic soldier who was re-activated post-9/11.

Goats chronicles the two men's travels through Iraq and offers glimpses into the supposedly real secret Army unit tasked with creating soldiers with paranormal powers.

Bridges will play Bill Django, the founder of the psychic soldier program and Lyn's mentor. Spacey will play Larry Hooper, a former psychic soldier who is running a prison camp in Iraq.

Normally I'm not quite so intrigued to see military movies but the paranormal/psychic element of this story - and the fact that it's based on a work of non-fiction - has seriously piqued my interest. What do you think? Curious? Or would you go see it anyway since Clooney and McGregor are in it?

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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:30:50 -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.

21
The box office winner 21 is the kind of movie I'd be happy to come across on basic cable whilst channel surfing. It has a likable cast and a not-mind-numbing-but-not-confusing plot that is perfect for a day on the couch. The movie stars newly anointed heartthrob Jim Sturgess as a geeky genius MIT senior who's having trouble drumming up enough tuition money. He's soon recruited by the no-good professor Rosa (Kevin Spacey) into a secret little card-counting operation (which includes five other MIT students, one of whom is played by Kate Bosworth) to scheme Vegas out of a lot of cash.

It's based (loosely) on the true story documented in the memoir Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, and overall I had a good time seeing it in theaters. Special features on the two-disc edition include featurettes titled "The advantage player: The cast explains the game of blackjack and card counting," and "Money Plays: A tour of the good life."

One more for TV fans so read more.

Las Vegas: Season 5
Hey hey, it's a Vegas kind of day. For fans of the sexy NBC drama Las Vegas the fifth and final season on DVD is reason to celebrate because now your at-home collection can be complete.

The series stars manjoyment heavyweight Josh Duhamel along with Vanessa Marcil and Molly Sims. They were also able to nab Tom Selleck to lend some star power to the last season as two regulars (James Caan and Nikki Cox) exited early. Special features include a gag reel.

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Movie News Roundup: Stephen King, Kevin Spacey, Sam Raimi Get Busy

BuzzSugar — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:36:49 -0700

Lots of intriguing movie news coming out of Hollywood today:

Kevin Spacey will star in the indie film Shrink as a depressed therapist who likes to ah, partake of the ganja. (A pot-smoking therapist? That sounds familiar.) His clients in the movie will include "Hollywood characters" like Robin Williams, Keke Palmer, Laura Ramsey and Gore Vidal, among others.
Columbia and Sam Raimi will team up together again after their Spider-Man ventures for yet another adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel. Lehane's books make excellent screenplays, apparently, as Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and the upcoming DiCaprio-Scorsese project Shutter Island have all been adapted. Next up, Raimi will direct a film version of The Given Day, which follows Boston cops in 1919.
Speaking of adaptations, the rights to an as-yet-unpublished Stephen King novella Throttle - which he wrote with his son Joe Hill - have already been optioned. The story is about "father-son members of a motorcycle gang that's chased through the desert by an 18-wheel tanker truck." The novella will be a part of a 2009 anthology dedicated to I Am Legend author Richard Matheson.

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Citizen, Liberty, and Buzz Watch HBO's Recount!

BuzzSugar — Sun, 25 May 2008 07:30:12 -0700

HBO's movie Recount is on tonight at 9 p.m.! Is it watchable? Heck yes! Citizen, Liberty and I watched it at Citizen's house - she concocted a drink called a "Hanging Chad" which was sweet, dessert-y and left a way better aftertaste than the original. Want to know what we thought before you commit to two hours? Here you go!

Will Liberty and Citizen have it out over Warren Christopher? Will Buzz strangle them for not stopping talking the entire movie? To find out, read more.

To watch or not to watch? I'd vote for it. It's a well-done movie that will - mark my words - be up for awards when the time comes. Plus it's, you know, important and stuff.

21: Predictable, Generic Fun

BuzzSugar — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:32:04 -0700

Well, it turns out this writer was right: you could absolutely review 21 based on the trailer alone. Having seen previews for this movie (or even having seen a cinematic work put out by Hollywood once or twice), the movie is predictable from start to finish. But you can also probably predict how you'll feel about 21 from the trailer. If it looks entertaining to you, that's because it is, with its glittery Vegas backdrop and good-looking cast. If it looks predictable and cheesy, well, it's that, too. The "twists" come at you a mile away and the themes (searching for a father figure, defining oneself not by wealth, etc., etc.) rain down on your head like a plague. But at the same time, it's a PG-13 movie clearly trying to appeal to a younger audience, and it probably will. It's going to be flashy and obvious. It's going to be fond of montages and driving music. For what it is, it's a pretty fun time.

Jim Sturgess plays the endearingly geeky genius MIT senior Ben Campbell, whose ability to attend the school of his dreams, Harvard Medical School, is blocked by a pesky little $300,000 tuition. When the shady Professor Rosa (a disappointingly one-note villain's performance by Kevin Spacey) discovers Ben's ability to do math under pressure and keep his cool, he folds Ben into his secret little card-counting operation. This business, as Mickey Rosa calls it, consists of five MIT students who work together to scheme Vegas casinos out of some major cash - using math. To see what else happens and more of my take on it, read more.

At first, Ben is anxious about the whole thing, but of course, as he starts to succeed, it becomes easier and easier to enjoy the big money he's pocketing. Plus, "the prettiest girl at school," Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth, in a mostly forgettable role) is involved in the scam, giving Ben further incentive. Thus, the geeks become the gangsters. Yet when Ben has a falling-out with Rosa, his newfound pompousness moves him to suggest the students continue without the teacher. Only thing they don't count on is a casino security head (Lawrence Fishburne) with his own bitter vendetta against Rosa and his little "business."

The movie is too long, has surprisingly little real action and lots of low moments that drag. There are, however, fast-paced montages (the Learning the Ropes montages, the Winning Big montages, the Spending Spree montages, the Generally Living the High Life montages) set to any number of the soundtrack's hipster tunes, and quick zooms onto cards and chips aplenty. Most of all, there is a fondness for the slow-motion. If I've learned anything from the movies, it's that you can take any group of average schlubs, make them walk toward the camera in a fan formation, employ some thumping bass and some slow-motion and suddenly it's Gangsta Paradise. This applies to MIT students, too, apparently. And yeah, it's generic. But it's fun, too.

To see the trailer and more clips from 21 check out movies.ivillage.com.

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures