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Link Time!

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:30:16 -0700

The 100 worst-reviewed movies of the last decade - Rotten Tomatoes
Paul Dano has joined the cast of Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz's movie Wichita - Vulture
The CW is going to shoot a reality about real-life NYC socialite Tinsley Mortimer - The Wrap
That's right: The Real Housewives of Atlanta have made a music video - Show Tracker
The 5 greatest hit-man flicks - Cinematical
David Mamet's Anne Frank project has been rejected by Disney - MTV Movies Blog
The top 10 TV character comas - TV Tango
Find out how much your favorite TV characters would earn in real life - SavvySugar
Of the cast of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, who would you most want to be stuck in a car with? - PopWatch
NBC has ordered a script for a new show called Slacker Sons - Variety

Movie Preview: Deschanel and Dano in Gigantic

BuzzSugar — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:45:51 -0800

This trailer for the movie Gigantic may not be the cutest Zooey Deschanel trailer I've seen recently (that would probably be the one for her recent Sundance film) but it’s definitely pretty cute. Gigantic features a romantic pairing that, interestingly, I reported on a year ago almost to the day: Paul Dano (just a few years after Little Miss Sunshine, he's all growed up and playing a man) and Zooey Deschanel. Dano plays Brian, a mattress store employee who hopes to adopt a baby, and Deschanel plays Happy, a woman who falls asleep on one of his mattresses and interrupts his normal little life. John Goodman seems completely lovable as Happy’s overprotective father. It really warms my heart to see John Goodman playing the adorable dad in so many movies recently. He’s just so believable in these roles.

Gigantic opens April 3, and you can check out that cute trailer I mentioned if you read more.

Source

Holmes, Kline, Reilly and Dano Set to Star in The Extra Man

BuzzSugar — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:33:21 -0800

The story of a male escort is one that producer Springer Berman believes will resonate with many folks during these tough economic times. Jonathan Ames's novel The Extra Man will be adapted for the big screen with a few big names attached to star: Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes and John C. Reilly. Here's more on the project:

Kline plays a failed playwright who works as an escort for rich widows on the Upper East Side. He develops a mentor-student relationship with a troubled aspiring playwright (Dano).

"This is a film for our times, these hilarious characters living on the edge of enormous wealth, scrapping for small pieces of the pie," [producer Springer] Bregman said. "I suspect a lot of people will be able to identify nowadays."

Hmm. . . I wonder what role Katie Holmes will play - hopefully not one of these rich widows because. . . yikes that's some age gap. Are you familiar with this book?

Source and source

Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel: Adorable Indie Duo

BuzzSugar — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:30:26 -0800

Here's an indie duo I never expected, but am so glad to see: Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine, There Will Be Blood) will star in and executive produce the indie "offbeat romantic comedy" Gigantic, with the awesome Zooey Deschanel joining him.

First-time director Matt Aselton must be totally psyched to get these two darlings in his debut project. According to Hollywood Reporter, "the script revolves around a mattress salesman and a young woman he meets at his store."

I can easily see these two having a kind of quirky-sweet chemistry, can't you? What do you think about Paul Dano and Zooey Deschanel onscreen together?

Source and source

Best Picture Breakdown: There Will Be Blood

BuzzSugar — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:30:14 -0800

From now until the 2008 Oscars air on Sunday night, I'll be breaking down the five contenders for Best Picture, giving you the scoop on why each film could win and why it might not stand a chance. Today, I'm kicking off the series with a closer look at There Will Be Blood.

Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is a stark and stunning look at greed, power, and success viewed through the lens of the oil boom of the late 1800s and early 1900s. The bulk of its acclaim has come for Daniel Day-Lewis's performance as tycoon Daniel Plainview, but the movie has many other things going for it, as its eight Oscar nominations - for diverse categories including cinematography and sound editing - show. To see how I think There Will Be Blood will fare in the Best Picture race, just read more.

Why It Might Win

Three words: Daniel Day-Lewis. His Daniel Plainview is a greed-driven maniac, neglecting all - social conventions, religion, even his own son - in the service of his quest for power, fortune, and oil, oil, oil. Delivering the year's biggest movie catchphrase ("I drink your milkshake") is just the icing on the cake.
It's well-rounded. As its Oscar nominations show, it's strong in a number of different filmmaking categories, from the visual (including Best Art Direction) to the auditory (Best Sound Editing). It's still a shame that Jonny Greenwood's score was disqualified, because his music added yet another compelling dimension to the film.
It's ambitious. Through its focus on Plainview (and its secondary story of Paul Dano's young prophet), it seeks to tell a bigger story about religion, greed, community, and fatherhood.

Why It Might Not Win

It could have used some editing. As I noted in my review, the movie is a series of interlocking conflicts that can, at times, detract from the central story. A few of the subplots just didn't feel necessary enough to justify the film's 158-minute running time.
Day-Lewis truly does make this movie. The Academy could be content with rewarding him with the Best Actor nod and giving the overall prize to another film.
It could be a victim of its own success. Its ambiguous ending could be frustrating for some viewers, and voters who heard the movie described as "the next Citizen Kane" could have expectations too high for this film to meet.

Chance of winning: Moderate to good

Photos courtesy of Paramount Vantage

There Will Be Blood: Savagely Stirring

BuzzSugar — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 05:45:00 -0800

The opening scenes of There Will Be Blood are like a preview for the superb Daniel Day-Lewis performance to follow. For the movie's first 15 or so minutes, there is not a bit of dialog - only silence interspersed with the dissonant, deep-stringed musical score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood. The action focuses solely on the grueling labor at hand. It's a striking way to start a story and also a metaphor for Day-Lewis's portrayal of Daniel Plainview, whose outbursts are as sinister as his silence and who lives for nothing but the pursuit of oil.

Based loosely on Upton Sinclair's Oil!, this movie is strange and hard to pigeonhole, and that's one of the main reasons I enjoyed it. It's a tale of two megalomaniacs, representing capitalist and religious greed, that at times has the feel of a horror film. The other big reason to savor There Will Be Blood is for Day-Lewis's eerie performance, which is hands down one of the year's best, so read more.

The majority of the movie's action takes place in the early 20th century in a small California town where Plainview has come to prospect with his 10-year-old son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier). If Plainview and his men find oil, he pledges to fund the local church, run by a weaselly little preacher named Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). Though the town eventually strikes it rich, the wealth comes at a cost, including disasters and family drama, failed attempts at religious conversion, and one heart-breaking accident.

Dano, who I loved in Little Miss Sunshine, is great as the politely manipulative Eli, a pre-TV version of a televangelist. And Day-Lewis is one of those rare actors totally consumed by a character - not because he puts on an accent or grows facial hair (although he does) but because everything about his manner and psyche seems transformed. With Plainview, he perfectly illustrates the struggle between greed versus compassion, creating a man so misanthropic, he cannot even bring himself to care about the people he longs to love.

The problem with There Will Be Blood is that it lacks a unified, tension-building plot and instead feels more like a series of interlocking conflicts. Director Paul Thomas Anderson chooses to focus more on the struggle between capitalism and religion than that of greed versus compassion, but by the shocking and riveting final scene, it's not clear which side he wants to win.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Vantage

The Results Are In: Recast Reality Bites

BuzzSugar — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:28:43 -0800

Every Wednesday on BuzzSugar, I post a Recast challenge, where I ask you to choose new actors for a classic TV show or movie. The reader who submits the best cast wins a BuzzSugar t-shirt!

There are tons of young actors to choose from for this week's recast challenge of Reality Bites, and it was interesting to see the combinations you all came up with. I love the idea of Thora Birch for Lelaina, as bart simpson suggested, and many of you put down America Ferrera as Vickie - another great choice.

alynn's idea of Devon Gummersall playing Michael made me nostalgic for Brian Krakow - and I also think he'd make a great Michael. Deidre's idea of Joseph Cross (Running with Scissors) as Sammy Gray is totally perfect, and finally, klugea's suggestion of Justin Bobby from The Hills playing Troy made me laugh out loud.

Overall, however, my favorite recast list this week comes from anniemation! To see who anniemation picked, along with a new cast photo, read more

anniemation's cast:
Lelaina Pierce - Ellen Page
Troy Dyer - Emile Hirsch
Vickie Miner - Alia Shawkat
Michael Grates - Zachary Levi
Sammy Gray - Paul Dano

Where the Wild Things Are: A Passionate Ode to Childhood

BuzzSugar — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:30:00 -0700

There's been a bit of a controversy over how to market Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book, Where The Wild Things Are. Is it for kids? Adults? Adult hipsters?

The answer is anyone who wants to feel what it's like to be a child, and not in the fun-loving, no-responsibilities way. As adults, we tend to forget the insecurity and fears we had as kids, which the film's young character Max is in the throes of. There's just enough exposition before the fantasy begins: Max has a single mom (Catherine Keener) and an older sister who has recently outgrown him. His first few acts at home show his innocence and the savage emotions under the surface. He knows it as being "wild."

Where the Wild Things Are isn't a heavy-handed allegory, or an edgy children's movie; it's a loyal tribute to the way kids think and feel. To see what else I thought of the film, just read more.

Max reaches the world of the wild things after throwing a particularly heinous fit, prompting his mother to yell, "You're out of control!" After running away, Max finds himself on a boat that finally brings him to a strange land. This is where the wild things are. The creatures Jonze has created are aesthetic wonders: creepy, hostile, and huggable at once. These aren't Jim Henson's Muppets, but real characters, led by Carol (voiced by James Gandolfini). The rest of the group is comprised of Lauren Ambrose as aloof KW, Catherine O'Hara as prickly Judith, Paul Dano as timid Alexander, Chris Cooper as Douglas, and Forest Whitaker as Ira.

Each creature has a fully realized personality, with flaws and varying temperaments; their faces are so emotive and their dialogue so human that their scenes with Max are as real as those with his mother. This group is not easily classified as friend or foe - they're dysfunctional in their relationships and don't always treat each other well. One of the most successful elements of the movie is the dialogue of the wild things, which is rooted in Max's head.

In many ways, screenwriter Dave Eggers's job was tougher than Spike Jonze's, because it's imperative to remember the way children think. Max's interactions with Carol and his new clan are made up of the kind of things a kid would hear from his parents and peers and then internalize. In fact, in the wild world, Max declares himself king to bring order, and he summons up speeches from the authority figures that he's pulling away from in his real life. Naturally, he's too young to recognize how his subverted position is significant.

Max's relationship with Carol is most telling. As the de facto leader of the group who can't handle sadness, loneliness, or jealousy, he acts out as a mirror of Max while still being his own character. The richness of Carol and the creature cast stays with you; when Max has to say goodbye to his friends, your heart breaks.

Jonze impressed me with his non-conformity; in another movie, Max would have demonstrated the grand lessons he learned from his time on the island, but in this one, he doesn't have to learn anything. He just gets to feel and experience and appreciate his emotionally fragmented new friends. It's devastating as a viewer, especially if you can put yourself back in that childlike place when your feelings were so raw and simple.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.