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Box Office: Lakeview Terrace Wins So-So Weekend

BuzzSugar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:00:01 -0700

Lakeview Terrace, a thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson, came in at No. 1 at the box office over the weekend and performed relatively well with an estimated $15.6 million. Second place went to the Coen brothers' comedy Burn After Reading which continues to also do well at the box office, earning an estimated $36.4 million over its first ten days.

Around the No. 3 spot on this weekend's box office report things start to look a little gloomy, starting with the Dane Cook-Kate Hudson comedy My Best Friend's Girl. The movie only earned about $8.3 million, perhaps a result of some harsh reviews (or maybe it was just the poster, as Cook whined, that drove audiences away).

The animated family film, Igor, came in fourth place followed by Righteous Kill in fifth. Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys and The Women rounded out the sixth and seventh place respectively, and a movie I enjoyed, Ghost Town, opened at No. 8.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

My Best Friend's Girl Hits Theaters Today!

Sponsor — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:45:22 -0700

In theaters tonight, Kate Hudson is back on screen playing smart, beautiful and headstrong Alexis, the girl of Dustin's (Jason Biggs) dreams. When Alexis starts feeling suffocated after just five weeks with Dustin, she breaks it off. Enter Tank, the rebound specialist played by Dane Cook who is hired by Dustin to help win Alexis back by offending her so much that she goes running back to Dustin. It seems all does not go according to plan, however. Check out the hilarious trailer below and find out the full story this weekend in theaters nationwide!

Do Movie Posters Ever Change Your Mind?

BuzzSugar — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:30:05 -0700

You've probably read by now that Dane Cook has decried the poster for his upcoming rom-com, My Best Friend's Girl, crafting a detailed list on his MySpace page of everything wrong with it. Cook is mostly offended by what he believes to be a poor Photoshop job that results in him looking like a schmuck.

Yet, he also expresses concern that "the wrong poster sends the wrong audience into the theater," a lesson he has purportedly learned the hard way. Which, of course, makes one wonder what kind of audience Cook originally thought would view this movie, and in what drastic ways the audience has now changed based on this poster.

Sidenote: I am seriously enjoying BestWeekEver's version of a poster for the movie that Cook might be prouder to display.

Have you ever been swayed by a movie poster - for better or worse?

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.

Jennie Garth Leaves CBS Pilot . . . For 90210?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:30:55 -0700

Could the 90210 spinoff be getting one of the original residents of the zip code to join the cast? That's the speculation after Jennie Garth left her CBS pilot suddenly after a read-through on Monday.

Garth was supposed to play the female lead in My Best Friend's Girl, a comedy about tension that develops between two best friends when one starts dating the other's wife, but she left in what was described as "a mutual decision." And the Hollywood Reporter says Rob Thomas, who wrote the original script for the spinoff, had been courting her to return as Kelly Taylor - possibly playing a fashion design teacher at Beverly Hills High.

The story notes that Garth might have left the CBS show for other reasons, including the recent death of her father. But let's just go with the 90210 speculation for a moment: Would that be a step up for the show - or a step down for Garth? Would you be more or less inclined to watch the spinoff if Kelly Taylor were a regular on your TV screen again? After all, she was one of your favorites . . .

Meanwhile, Tori Spelling desperately wants to join the show, which seems like it just spells disaster all around. No word yet on whether she's been contacted by the producers, but for some reason, I'm going to guess no.

Source

Kate Hudson Cast in Bachelor No. 2

BuzzSugar — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:21:35 -0700

The facts:
Kate Hudson has been cast in the comedy Bachelor No. 2, a movie that "revolves around a man who is hired by men who have been dumped to take their ex-girlfriends out on nightmare dates, thereby convincing the women to return to their boyfriends. But trouble arises when [the man]'s character is hired to take out the ex-girlfriend of his best pal."

The bad news:
Dane Cook is Hudson's romantic co"star."

Sigh.
Poor Kate. I guess a girl's gotta make a buck somehow.

Source

Buzz Gift Guide: The Girly Girl

BuzzSugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:30:56 -0800

We've all got one: that best friend, sister, cousin, or co-worker who just can't enough pink. She's the one who's hosting the Sex and the City marathons and insisting that everyone drink cosmos. Luckily, the girly girls of the world are among my favorites to shop for!

Confessions of a Shopaholic is the perfect chick flick to watch with friends, while Madonna's Celebrations anthem is a must for great pre-party tunes. Be sure to check out all of my gift guides plus holiday coverage across the PopSugar Network as the most wonderful time of the year steadily approaches!

Talking New Moon With Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene

BuzzSugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:15:50 -0800

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner may be dominating the promotional circuit right now, but they're not the only cast members with something to say about New Moon. I had the opportunity to chat with costars Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene, aka Emmett and Alice Cullen, during their recent stopover in SF. They chatted about their characters, the vampire craze, and what it's like to be a "Twilight celebrity." Here are highlights:

On why so many people are crazy for the Twilight Saga:
Ashley: I think this film in particular is highly relatable. There are a lot of situations that people can relate to. The love story - everyone can relate to being in love or being in lust. You add the vampire, and it adds that next level fantasy. Vampires are mysterious and sensual and dangerous and unattainable. And everyone wants what they can't have. I think on another level that this came together at the perfect time. All the elements just fit, the casting was spot on, and we're in a difficult time right now with our economy. That's why you never have a drop in ticket sales because everyone wants an escape, and this movie is very much an escape from reality.
Kellan: It's a good escape but also it deals with so many situations, on so many positive notes. Just looking at it from the vampire coven to the wolf pack. It just deals with everyday issues just on bigger levels, in a way. And you have Bella as the keystone in many situations. You can just all relate from different countries to issues within the United States. It's easily relatable.

To read a lot more about working with three different directors and why they feel so lucky, just read more.

On how their portrayals of the Cullens are similar or different from the books:
Kellan: We got the jobs because we brought something new to it. You can interpret the characters each their own, but I think it's what we did alongside. Just like Kristen said - she's playing Bella but she's putting her Kristen spin on it, just like all of us are. And I think that's what's making it unique. We're still following the cheat sheets that Stephenie created by making the books, and there's Wikipedia. We have a lot of information to go off of. But I hope it's what I did in my audition that set it apart from the other guys trying out.

Ashley: I think it's mannerisms too. People do fall in love with this book, but I think part of it is that they always want more. You can't write out every human mannerism. You can imagine it, but seeing the emotion in someone's eyes and seeing them be affected it - it was kind of easy to give something to it, because we were just being people. We kinda just got lucky.
On how much more of the Cullens we can expect in the remaining movies:
Kellan: Realistically, we stick pretty close to the books. Obviously us Cullens would love to be in the books a lot more, which would mean we'd be in the movies a lot more. Talking New Moon, the scenes that the Cullens - except for Ashley, playing Alice who gets to go to Italy and be a main lead in the movie - us Cullens, we have to stick really close to the books, and the scenes that we're in are really crucial to the story, as you know - the birthday scene, the voting scene. I don't know, it was kind of a tease. Chris Weitz is such an amazing director, and for us, for myself - I only worked about a week on that movie. And it didn't even seem like I really got a taste for what it was.

Ashley: In the third film, you'll see a lot more of the Cullens because it's all of us collaborating and then getting ready to fight this war that's coming up. In the second one, my character got a much larger role because Alice is the Cullen, other than Edward, that really embraces Bella and they end up becoming best friends. In the beginning, you see her throw this huge party for Bella, and then Alice is the one who does, in fact, come back for Bella when everyone else decides to skip town. Alice is responsible for dragging Bella over to Italy, and she and I the whole time are fighting to save my brother's life. And then of course we get held up by the Volturi and stuff like that. My character got to grow a lot, which is really cool. You get to actually see the relationship develop between Bella and Alice, where in the first one you didn't. The first one was very much about the romance and showing the audience why these two people are willing to die for each other.
On working with a different director on each film:
Ashley: Each director is going to be very different. They're artists as well, and I don't think any of them are quite the same. The books, when you read them, all have very, very, different tones. So I think it's highly appropriate that we switch directors each go. The first one is very much a romance and is a very scenic, beautiful film. And Catherine's really, really great at capturing that. She's very high energy and works well in chaos and stuff like that. And it was fantastic because we didn't quite know what we were getting ourselves into, and so it was nice to have her to guide us when we were freaking out a little bit. She was just so high energy, and it was really contagious. We were sad to lose her and move on to the second film, but then we got Chris Weitz and he's the complete opposite! But great as well. He's so giving and caring and collaborative and created this atmosphere that was kind of a safe haven for us. And it was really nice because we didn't know, switching directors, if they were gonna embrace us or if they had a completely different vision than what we created in the first one. It was nice that he was right there on the same page with us. And the second one is a warmer film, even from the color scheme. The first one is very blue tones, and the second one is much richer and warmer and I think he did a great job at capturing that. And we just finished shooting with David Slade, and I think he's highly appropriate as well. He just finished shooting 30 Days of Night and Hard Candy, and they're both very dark, edgy films. And Eclipse is very much that. It's all centered around the anticipation and us getting ready to fight this huge war. We just finished filming, we haven't gotten to see much of it, but I think it's gonna be fantastic. He is, technically, the most advanced director. The angles that he shot and how he knows that tweaking something can affect a whole scene and the lenses. He was really nice to work with.
On coping with the fan effect and being a "Twilight celebrity"
Kellan: That's what blows my mind, 'cause I feel like it's really unearned in a way. The fans are making our careers. Without them, we wouldn't be working and doing the saga. There's so many times that trilogy books become a movie and the first one bombs, and then that's it. And you're always hopeful that you get to do them all. Especially since we're all in love with our characters. I love Emmett Cullen to death, he's my favorite character I've ever played. It's just so cool to have made it this far, and I think we all hope that we get to finish this series and do Breaking Dawn. This is such a blessing, it's every actor's dream to be part of something like this. It's not terribly hard either. We don't shoot halfway around the world; we don't shoot for a year of our lives. I know a lot of us have homes, we have pets, we have family. And it's really nice to shoot on the West Coast, either Portland or Vancouver, and have the chance to fly down if we need to. But it's definitely amazing to be part of something like this. And I don't think any of us knew how crazy it would be and how exhilarating it would turn out to be. Going to the premiere, really just, wow. I don't even remember it because I was really just starstruck by how many fans and signs and cameras. It felt like I was just walking through a strobe light room. It's amazing.

Ashley: I still think we can't really wrap our heads around what's going on and what's happening. We're still in the midst of filming and kept very busy from one film until the next. It's only these brief moments where you sit back and are actually able to take a breath where you go "Whoa. Wow. This is crazy." I mean, the amount of tickets they've already sold for New Moon - I'm pretty sure I can't even get a ticket if I tried to see my film in Jacksonville and it's mind boggling. We're just very lucky. I went into this film thinking "Oh my gosh, I got a job" and the it turned into the biggest break of my life. I think we all feel very blessed to be a part of this.
On how it feels to be part of Twilight fan fiction:
Kellan: It's an escape, in a way. We do live in a trivial time period right now. There's so much depression that it's kinda cool to be a part of something where people use it to be an escape. In a way that's kinda what Stephenie did -she had a dream and just elaborated on it. It became a huge success and it's really encouraging that people are doing the same and just making up this journey.

Ashley: That's why people love it so much I think. You can take it and make what you want of it. Before the demographic was teenage girls, but now it's women of every age and guys are starting to get into it, too. It's because there is that element of fantasy. If you're 8 years old you look at it one way; if you're 80 years old you look at it another. I think it's fantastic that we can draw such a huge crowd. The other thing is - it blows my mind but people are making connections over this film and over this book. there are mothers and daughters and grandmas who can all sit and talk about the same story and all fantasize about it and I think that's a really cool thing. I think it's rare.

To see all of our Twilight and New Moon coverage, check out TwilightSugar!

90210 vs. Melrose Place: Which Was More Scandalous?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:30:22 -0800

This week's 90210 and Melrose Place combo don't have a ton of shocking moments, but it's obvious both shows are gearing up for major stuff to go down. (Like a drug bust, murder arrest, and Heather Locklear, for instance?!) We do, however, get some nice moments between the characters. Teddy, for one, is acting like an angel - although I can't tell if it's sincere, because I've made it a rule not to trust a guy who ties sweaters over his shoulders. And the gang from Melrose have a nice come-together moment around the pool, which I'd like to see more of.

Not that everything is warm and fuzzy. Hardly. There's still scandal to go around, so ready to decide which gave us more gossip-worthy material? Just read more.

90210 point: Navid discovers Jasper selling Adrianna drugs in her car in the school parking lot. Navid calls Adrianna to confront her, but she of course denies his accusations. Jasper also says the story isn't true and threatens Navid in a "hypothetical" way. Like, "hypothetically if I was a drug dealer, you wouldn't want to mess with me, because I know bad people." Real discreet stuff.
Melrose Place counterpoint: The blood tests from last week's discovery of Sydney's murder weapon come back - and Auggie is the guilty party. Auggie might as well be off the show already, because he is nowhere to be found, supposedly on a trip in Mexico. Ella's relieved, Riley has doubts, and Violet continues to defend him, seeing as how they slept together and she's crazy. When she told Riley that she and Auggie were "intimate" with each other, I nearly ralphed.

90210 point: Debbie is in the doghouse with Dixon. He tries to go comfort Sasha after her "miscarriage," and Debbie admits that Sasha faked the pregnancy - and that she hid the truth. Dixon's unreasonably angry with Debbie, telling her "you're not my real mom anyway." Come on, Dixon. Deb doesn't deserve that.
Melrose Place counterpoint: David sneaks over to Michael's house while he's at work and borrows Noah. He takes his little bro to a fair, but things go amiss when Noah climbs a wall and falls. David rushes him to Lauren at the hospital, and she administers treatment - but not before Michael gets wind of everything. He's understandably furious but later tells David that he's glad he cares about Noah. Could this be the start of an actual relationship between the father and son?!

90210 point: Liam is on the rampage after he tells Mr. Matthews that Jen is psycho and Ryan doesn't believe him. He takes his attitude out on Ivy, Teddy, and an entire group of surfers. Later, Liam explains his behavior, opening up to the guys (and Ivy) about his history with Jen, and the entire thing culminates in a cheesy friend speech to take Jen down, complete with a high-five. [eye roll]
Melrose Place counterpoint: Violet is back to blackmailing Michael. This time, we find out that she's wanted for a court trial for previously resisting arrest. She enlists Michael, suggesting that he find her a lawyer in return for her discretion about their one-night stand. He, in turn, threatens her back, telling her that he can make the sentencing go against her unless she erases the sex video. Which she does . . . or so it seems. I'm still not 100 percent sure that it won't pop up later, but the power play between the two of them was an episode highlight for me.

90210: With Silver's half birthday approaching, her mom decides to make up for years of missed celebrations and throw her multiple parties at once, dressing up their entire house in different themes. The whole thing seemed like a stretch - really, Teddy called his dad's set designer friend to rig up the ambiance? - but it was still nice to see her and her mom get their moment together. Unfortunately, at the end of the episode, Silver goes to wake her mom in the morning and realizes that her mom has passed away.
Melrose Place counterpoint: Whoa, whoa, whoa - Ella makes a move on Jonah that's bold even for her. It all starts when she needs him to pose as a publicist at a lunch with a hot new indie director. The director comes on to Ella, and Jonah swoops in to put off his advances by pretending to be her fiance. They share a steamy kiss to be extra-convincing, and sure enough, once the director is out of sight, Ella suggests that the two of them go to a nearby hotel, so Jonah can see what he's been missing. He angrily tosses Ella's advances by telling her he's in love with Riley. You could tell part of her feels hurt by his words - and that part of him doesn't actually mean them.

90210 point: Annie is falling hard for Jasper. Their back and forth "I love yous" were pretty sickening, and she even gets in a sting at Dixon, defending Jasper and telling Dixon he's a bad judge of character because of Sasha. But the most cringe-worthy part is Annie tells Jasper that she wants him to be her first - and they start tossing on the bed as the episode wraps. Oh, Annie - you're so gonna wish you had given it up to Ethan instead.

Melrose Place counterpoint: You saw it coming: Lauren and David finally kiss! David's actually a standup guy this episode by taking care of Noah, but his speech to Lauren about how he wants her to see the best in him was unexpected - and welcome, in my opinion. Lauren of course is hesitant due to her call girl lifestyle, which David still doesn't know about. I just hope they don't let that hold her back too long, so we can explore these two as a couple.

This is tough one to call, since neither show packed a ton of drama, relatively speaking. I'm going to go with Melrose Place though, since we find Auggie's blood on the murder weapon, Ella propositioning Jonah, and David and Lauren locking lips. But would you argue for 90210 instead? I'll agree that it did include some pretty nasty lines, and obviously Silver's storyline with her mom carries some weight.

Let me know your pick in the comments, then head over to the 90210 Superfans group in the Buzz Community to discuss the show in more detail.

Photos courtesy of The CW

Buzz Interview: Sonya Walger Talks Pulling Double Duty For FlashForward and Lost

BuzzSugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:30:00 -0700

I've been hooked on FlashForward since I saw the pilot back at the TCA, thanks to the intriguing premise and action-packed episodes. Earlier this week I had the opportunity to chat with Sonya Walger, who stars as Olivia and also plays Penny on Lost. While she made sure not to reveal any spoilers, Sonya talked about her character, the comparisons between shows, and more.

On how her friends and family have responded to the show: They've been completely thrilled. It was fun, I was in London just last week. I had a few days off so nipped home to see my mom. It's so fun to have the show airing simultaneously there, in a real time experience. Everyone's excited about it. It's really exciting.
On having a new TV family: It's lovely. It's lovely to have a place to belong to and come to every week. The scripts are so fun to get. They're really exciting. Week after week it's just a treat to come home and find them on your doorstep.
On her hopes for Olivia and Mark's relationship: You hope for Olivia's sake and for their little girl's sake that they can stay together; but at the same time I wouldn't wish Olivia to stay in a relationship that was miserable and making her and the three of them unhappy. You just want the best for your character, really.

To see what else Sonya had to say about Lost, Halloween, and her other favorite show of the Fall, just read more.

Would she take an opportunity to see a flashforward of her own? No, I'd hate it. I would turn it down, I wouldn't want anything to do with it.
On the comparisons between Lost and FlashForward: I feel the comparisons are inevitable, to be honest. Any time you've got a big show with an ensemble cast and they're all reacting to the same big event, then of course you're going to get Lost comparisons - particularly when you've got two cast members who are from the old show. I think and hope that quite quickly the comparisons will turn off. I think the shows are radically different; I think the way they unfold, the story lines, the scope of them, there's not that deep embedded mythology of Lost, we don't have that. We have big payoffs that happen in every single episode so you're not forced to wait for six seasons to find out what's going on. There are reveals that happen constantly. I think FlashForward will prove a much less daunting show to join. I think that one of the things about Lost is that the last season is starting and I can't imagine viewers will want to be joining it now when they've never seen it before, whereas I think that FlashForward is much more accessible. If you haven't seen the first five episodes you could easily join in and know exactly what's going on.
Other favorite shows of the Fall season?: I love Modern Family, I think it's a really smart, clever show.
On her Halloween plans: I'm going to be on a plane flying to Melbourne. So short of spooking the pilot, I don't have any plans.