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Up and The Hangover Have a Photo Finish at the Box Office

BuzzSugar — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:30:16 -0700

Adults flocked to see The Hangover over the weekend, helping the comedy earn an estimated $43.3 million. However, it wasn't quite enough to bump Pixar's family-friendly movie, Up, out of the top spot with its estimated $44.2 million. Despite coming in second place, The Hangover's debut far exceeded expectations and is "the third best opening ever for an R-rated comedy."

Meanwhile, Will Ferrell's Land of the Lost is being called the first "bomb" of the Summer. The adventure flick, which received pretty bad reviews, came in at No. 3 with only $19.5 million over the weekend.

Nia Vardalos's romantic comedy My Life in Ruins also debuted this weekend, coming in at No. 9.

Up image courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures and The Hangover photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Preview For My Life in Ruins Is Long, Kinda Boring

BuzzSugar — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:00:26 -0700

First off, this strange little trailer thing with subtitles is freakishly long (over four minutes!) and feels longer. This does not bode well for the comedy from My Big Fat Greek Wedding's Nia Vardalos.

When last we heard about My Life in Ruins, it was because Vardalos became the first filmmaker to be allowed to shoot inside the Acropolis. I was totally excited for this movie at that time. Now? Not so much.

From the trailer I'm guessing that - not unlike My Big Fat Greek Wedding - our protagonist learns how to love herself, loosen up and be confident, and from there everything falls into place for her. But the getting-there part looks ridiculously boring. When the majority of laughs come from Rachel Dratch's supporting character, we're in trouble.

Frankly, I am so disappointed! I really wanted Vardalos to have a big hit with this movie but she just isn't very engaging in the preview. Maybe there will be a better, official trailer before (if?) My Life in Ruins opens in theaters (the date of which is unknown). To check it out for yourself, read more.

Update: The video was removed from YouTube, but it looks like you can still view the preview here.

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Nia Vardalos: First Person to Film at Acropolis

BuzzSugar — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:30:00 -0700

Nia Vardalos, of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame, is apparently a beloved treasure in Greece. So great is her pull that she was granted permission to film her next romantic comedy My Life in Ruins at the 2,500-year-old Acropolis at Athens, a first-time event for the ancient site.

While acquiring this permission entailed plenty of schmoozing on Vardalos' part, her popularity in Greece certainly didn't hurt. According to the Reuters article, "One of the most important factors was that Nia is beloved in Greece. She is a daughter of Greece and represents a positive representation of what being Greek is," said Michelle Chydzik, a producer on the film.

There are, of course, restrictions to the filming, including:

They get exactly one day to shoot at the ancient ruins.
No one can eat or drink at the site.
No hanging lights off columns.
No faking any of the sites, even with a fake background or column. "If you are standing at the Temple of the Oracle, you have to say it is the Temple of the Oracle. You can't cheat it even in the location. You can't walk 50 feet away and say that that's the temple," Chydzik said.
Because tourism is very important to the country, no site or road may be closed or restricted on account of the filming.

The government also requested some changes be made to the script, particularly for a part when two characters are drinking beer on the ruins' premises. This moment was rewritten because alcohol is not permitted.

She hasn't had a ton of success since My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but I think of Vardalos as the little indie filmmaker that could. Seriously, how cool is she?

Source and source

The Holiday: Frothy and Fun As a Cup of Cocoa

BuzzSugar — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 07:38:44 -0800

Holiday romantic comedies are bound to be a bit cheesy. When the movie is actually called The Holiday, cheesiness is almost guaranteed. But this latest romp from director Nancy Meyers, which hits theaters tomorrow, rises to the top of its frothy, feel-good genre. The self-aware storyline centers on two women-movie-trailer producer Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and British weddings columnist Iris (Kate Winslet)-who swap houses for the holidays to get away from their less-than-satisfactory love lives. Amanda, who sleeps with her Blackberry and has just ruined another relationship with her workaholism, goes to live in Iris's quaint Surrey cottage, while Iris takes up residence at Amanda's palatial LA haunt to forget her three-year unrequited love.

In the beginning, that scenario lends itself to too many scenes of lonely women talking to themselves; the ones featuring Diaz's high-strung Amanda are nearly intolerable. But when a trio of men enter the picture-including Iris's sexy, suntanned brother Graham (Jude Law)-things get a lot more interesting, so read more

Shortly after arriving in LA, Iris meets two very different men: a witty film-score composer named Miles (played with rare and refreshing subtlety by Jack Black) and Arthur (Eli Wallach), her octogenarian neighbor who also happens to be a legendary screenwriter. Back in England, Amanda makes the acquaintance of the hunky Graham when he shows up drunk at his sister's cottage, not knowing that she's gone on holiday.

To add drama to many of Amanda's scenes, the director employs a clever device: voice-over narration by that ubiquitous movie-trailer guy. Iris and Arthur, meanwhile, spend lots of time discussing the common conventions of script writing. That film-centric subplot on both continents gives the movie a sort of cheeky self-awareness about its own filmic-ness. That way, when the inevitable romantic-comedy cliches and convenient plot twists sneak in, it's more amusing than annoying.

I don't know what's gotten into me: maybe it's the holiday spirit or that my viewing of "The Holiday" comes on the heels of watching one of the worst romantic comedies I've even seen, Trust the Man, on a recent plane ride. (It wasn't even mentioned in the in-flight magazine, which makes me suspect that we were being subjected to a bizarre social experiment.) But implausibly neat and tidy plot aside, the way the characters interact in this movie rings very true to life. Particularly in the Iris/Los Angeles subplot, The Holiday addresses some very universal relationship truths in a clever way. I can't really say the same for the somewhat silly Amanda/Graham romance back in England, but at least there I had the Jude Law eye candy to keep me interested.

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