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Reese Witherspoon Takes This Means War to South Korea

Allie Merriam — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:27:54 PST

Reese Witherspoon popped up in Seoul this morning for a This Means War press conference. She made the trek to Asia alongside her movie's director, McG. Reese left LA on Monday for the latest leg of her promotional tour. Reese spoke about her children, Ava and Deacon, to assembled reporters. She said, "Balancing work and family . . . this is very hard. And I think many women in the world experience that. I am very lucky that I have a very supportive family. My mother helps me quite a bit. And I only make one movie a year. I try to be very careful with which movie I decide to make, because it takes my time away from my family. So I try to only pick the best scripts and work with the best people."

Reese made a quick change following her morning Q&A, which she conducted in a hot pink Michael Kors dress. She slipped into a floral-embellished LBD for this evening's premiere, again with McG by her side. It seems Reese and McG made the trip without their significant others. Reese didn't pose alongside husband Jim Toth, nor did McG with his longtime girlfriend Bridget Moynahan.

McG Talks Taking Reese From Cute to Sexy and This Means War's Surprise Ending

Lindsay Miller — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:05:00 PST

This Means War director McG is no stranger to working with some of Hollywood's hottest leading ladies. On his latest film, the man behind Charlie's Angels says he tasked himself with setting Reese Witherspoon's America's Sweetheart image off on a steamy new trajectory. I chatted with McG at the recent LA press day for the project about Reese's sex appeal and smarts, as well as why the ending he chose for the film might even surprise his cast. Check out the interview and catch This Means War when it hits theaters on Valentine's Day!

Bridget Moynahan and Boyfriend McG Take Her Son, Jack, Out on Easter

Lindsay Miller — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 13:19:01 PDT

Bridget Moynahan hopped on her bike while her son, Jack, took a ride on her director boyfriend McG's shoulders yesterday. The threesome met up in NYC to enjoy the Easter holiday together. McG and Bridget have been seeing each other for about a year, and it looks like he's becoming a part of the family. Jack, who just visited Disneyland with dad Tom Brady, is getting close to his fourth birthday this Summer in August. Bridget has been spending most of her time on the East Coast with her son as she shoots Blue Bloods, which takes place in the Big Apple. She might be a busy mom, but she also keeps her model body in great shape and recently even posed nude for Allure along with stars like Ashley Tisdale and Keri Hilson.

Link Time - Khloe and Lamar Get Their Own Reality Show

BuzzSugar — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:00:33 PST

It's official: Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom are getting a show on E! - EW
The best 2011 films for sci-fi fans. Mark your calendars now! - Moviefone
Get a sneak peek at Camelot with Jamie Campbell Bower. Hot - TV Squad
Awesomely mean movie insults (warning: some language is NSFW) - Vulture
Gemma Arterton joins Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters - MTV Movies Blog
Kathy Griffin puts the kibosh on My Life on the D-List - E! Online
Paul Greengrass may direct Cleopatra with Angelina Jolie - Film School Rejects
McG will direct Ouija - Collider
The Golden Globes announce presenters, including Robert Pattinson - People
Leighton Meester talks Country Strong and what she learned from Gwyneth - PopSugar

Terminator Salvation: Why So Serious?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:30:27 PDT

I remember being awed by James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day when I first saw it in theaters. I was young, but I knew even then that this was the kind of blockbuster that only comes around once in a while. It had heart-stopping action sequences, and parts were genuinely terrifying. I was drawn in by a charismatic, wisecracking teenager named John Connor, who would grow up to become a powerful post-apocalyptic leader of the human race. And the best part was the funny and touching relationship young Connor developed with the Austrian-accented Terminator sent to save him from the future.

Now, here comes director McG, reviving the franchise with Terminator Salvation by taking us into the nightmarish future that previous movies only hinted at. The year is 2018, and Skynet, an evil computer robot dictator, has bombed up the earth. Only a small population of humans has survived. Large and in charge is none other than John Connor, all grown up and looking like Christian Bale. In fact, grown-up Connor sounds just like Bale's other famous Summer movie character, Batman. And like Bale's Batman, his Connor is very serious - because, you know, these are serious times. But this movie would have been a lot more entertaining if both McG and Bale had lightened up a bit. To see why,

The movie actually opens in 2003, where we meet Marcus Wright (played by newcomer Sam Worthington), who is a murderer on death row. He donates his body to science, and before we know it he's emerging muddy from a pile of futuristic rubbish without a clue as to what's gone down. Wright might be human, he might not be, and that's the question that haunts him throughout the movie. Worthington is a godsend in the role, and he manages to infuse his brutish, indestructible character with some humanity.

Things get interesting when Wright bumps into a young teenager named Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) - who, we know from previous movies, will become John Connor's father. Some time in the future (even beyond 2018), Reese will travel back in time to impregnate Connor's mom, Sarah (Linda Hamilton, whose voice appears in the movie).

The timeline gets even more mind-blowing when Connor realizes that a teenager out there is his dad and Skynet is working on killing him. I kept thinking, "If Skynet kills Reese does Connor go poof right now?" A big disappointment, though, is that Reese isn't, like his son was once upon a time, more of a smartass. There is so much opportunity in this story to give Wright and Reese some fun dialogue, but alas, they don't say much to each other and spend most of the movie running from a wide variety of incredibly loud robots.

Overall, dialogue is the big thing missing from this movie. There are impressive action sequences galore, but no one really talks. And the talking that is there is earnest but somehow empty. McG and his team don't bother digging into - and having fun with - the lore that Cameron created, and it feels like a missed opportunity. Also, while everything is open to interpretation, I would have thought more effort would have been made to preserve the original tone. Edward Furlong established John Connor as a scrappy and unlikely hero with a wicked sense of humor. Christian Bale is humorless, dour, and void of human emotion. In other words, he's robotic - and the movie follows his course. In the end, it's hard to figure out which robot you want to win.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Christian and Sibi Bring Terminator Back

Molly — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:00:00 PDT

Christian and Sibi Bale posed together in black at last night's LA premiere of Terminator: Salvation. After his rant, Christian's been cautious about doing press for the movie, though most of you don't hold the incident against him. While he's never one to be lighthearted, he's even tentatively joking about the on-set blowup. Eric Dane skipped out on watching himself on last night's dramatic Grey's Anatomy finale, while Kelly Osbourne showed off her bleach-blond do. The movie doesn't hit theaters until next Wednesday so even if he doesn't love it, Christian's red carpet responsibilities aren't quite over yet.

To see more from the premiere just

View 15 Photos ›

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Spring Awakening Movie in the Works and the Director Is . . .

BuzzSugar — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:30:29 PDT

I think instead of a drum roll I'm going to need a record scratch here: McG (yes, the Terminator Salvation director) is in talks to direct and produce the film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening. Interestingly, I was just talking about how fun it would be to see this musical as a movie - but McG wasn't exactly the director I had in mind. Apparently, he's interested in creating an edgier version of the coming-of-age story set in 19th-century Germany.

McG is mostly associated with movies that go "bang," and I figured he was basically the second coming of Michael Bay. The Hollywood Reporter argues he's not actually that strange a choice because he has roots in the music business. These roots include shooting music videos and producing Sugar Ray's first album. Sugar Ray prepares someone to adapt a musical that artfully addresses delicate subject matter related to adolescent sexuality. Intriguing.

What do you think? Are you excited this musical is coming to a big screen someday? Are you baffled by McG's involvement, or are you willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt?

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BuzzSugar at WonderCon: Star Trek and Terminator Preach to the Choir

BuzzSugar — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:30:10 PST

It was an insane - not to mention insanely fun - weekend at WonderCon here in San Francisco. I already reported back on the exciting Watchmen panel, and now I'm giving the lowdown on the panels I attended for Star Trek and Terminator Salvation. The directors of both movies showed up to explain to a crowd of devotees how they think they've done right by fans with these reboots. To read what J.J. Abrams and McG had to say about reviving beloved franchises with care,

Warning!: The following might be considered spoilery.

Star Trek:

Well, Heroes may not be pleasing all the fans lately, but Zachary Quinto (who plays Spock in the movie) remains a hot commodity to this crowd - the lady screams were loud and long when he appeared onstage. Chris Pine (Kirk) and Zoe Saldana (Lt. Nyota Uhura) also showed up alongside J.J. Abrams for the panel.
Anton Yelchin has big parts in both Star Trek and Terminator but didn't take the stage for Star Trek.
Everyone talked with deep reverence for the Trek canon, though their levels of fandom vary (Abrams admitted he never really watched the show but was still excited about this movie).

It sounded like Quinto got a lot of time with Leonard Nimoy, and Pine said of following in William Shatner's footsteps, "Mr. Shatner's incredibly funny . . . it's that twinkle in his eye that's like, you know, anything can happen. Something I couldn't try to re-create for the life of me."
We saw a brand new world premiere trailer that is similar to the last one, but includes new goose-bump-inducing scenes like a young Kirk sitting down in the captain's seat on the Enterprise bridge for the first time.
J.J. Abrams threw the crowd some Cloverfield sequel news crumbs, too, saying, "We have an idea for something that's pretty cool . . . the idea is pretty sweet!"

Terminator Salvation

Director McG entered the stage and was pumped about his movie. He kicked things off with the premiere of a whole new trailer that fans will see before Watchmen and that is totally different than anything we've seen so far. This one focuses more on story and less on robots, as we learn that humans are being collected and harvested by Skynet.
One of the funniest moments of the panel was when McG responded to the moderator's request to address the now infamous Christian Bale on-set meltdown with, "What don't you f*cking understand?"
Talent included Yelchin (who plays Kyle Reese, Connor's dad), Bryce Dallas Howard (Kate Connor), Common and Moon Bloodgood. They all seemed genuinely impressed and speechless after seeing this new trailer along with the crowd for the first time.
Another cute moment came from Common who answered a question about how he got involved with this movie: "I wanted to do a movie with Christian Bale."
We saw a few more unfinished clips and it's a lot of action, a lot of robots, etc. Pretty heart-pounding, though not at all unexpected.
I thought it was funny how everyone on the panel constantly gushed about the first two Terminator films - the elephant in the room being the third movie, directed by Jonathan Mostow. Everyone sort of agreed to be polite about it but it was clear they consider it a blemish on the franchise.
Finally, McG danced around it a bit, but he made it seem like the odds were pretty decent that the T-800 will make an appearance, which is the model Arnold Schwarzenegger played in the series. Will the Governator make an appearance? I'm betting yes.

McG Calls Christian Bale on His Blackberry Pearl

GeekSugar — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:00:48 PST

As I said on Twitter over the weekend, there was a party going on at Wondercon, and it was called the Terminator: Salvation panel! I witnessed firsthand how quickly McG can get a crowd of geeks excited for a killer robot flick, and he started the hour off with a call to his buddy Christian Bale, who unfortunately was not at the event on Saturday. Whipping out his Blackberry Pearl, we all got a chance to chime in on the message left on Christian's home voicemail, and the director even slipped in a little jab referencing the stars' -ahem- freakout on set. Check out the fun in the video below.

Buzz News Roundup, 1/7

BuzzSugar — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:30:23 PST

Beyonce Knowles, Alicia Keys, and Jennifer Hudson all racked up both acting and singing nominations for the NAACP Image Awards. - AP
Kelsey Grammer will star in a new ABC comedy pilot about a Wall Street executive who loses his job and has to move back to his hometown. Hilarious! - The Hollywood Reporter
Garrett Hedlund will star in Disney's Tron movie, the studio's sequel to the 1982 cult classic. - ComingSoon
Speaking of Disney, the studio has set McG to direct its family film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo. - Variety
CBS's Rules of Engagement will return to TV on Monday, March 2. - The Futon Critic
Taylor Swift notches her fifth non-consecutive week atop The Billboard 200 with "Fearless." - Billboard
Scrubs janitor Neil Flynn will star opposite Patricia Heaton in the sitcom pilot The Middle. - TV Guide
There's lots of haggling going on over ER producer John Wells's next show, Police. - Variety
D.J. Caruso (Disturbia, Eagle Eye) will direct Jack the Giant Killer, a drama that takes an adult look at the Jack and the Beanstalk legend. - ComingSoon

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