BuzzSugar

Link Time! 12/2

BuzzSugar — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:32:32 -0800

A key question: Are aliens more romantic than vampires? - TV Squad
The gift that keeps on taking: 15 terrible presents in TV and film - including "she gave me a pen" from Say Anything and the Red Ryder BB gun from A Christmas Story. - The Onion's A.V. Club
Check out a new track from Lily Allen. - Stereogum
Discuss: The worst holiday movies. - Cinematical
So jealous of this Privileged set tour. - Give Me My Remote
Ray Winstone has been cast as Caesar in the Cleopatra movie musical, which director Steven Soderbergh calls "Viva Las Vegas meets Tommy." - MTV Movies Blog
Wanna win an autographed copy of Influence by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen? - FabSugar

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Buzz News Roundup, 11/5

BuzzSugar — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:37:47 -0800

Nikki Blonsky will guest star on Ugly Betty as an assistant at Elle who bonds with Betty. - Zap2it
Charlize Theron is negotiating to star with Tom Cruise in The Tourist, a remake of the French thriller Anthony Zimmer. - ComingSoon
True Beauty, a reality show from Tyra Banks and Ashton Kutcher, will premiere Jan. 5. - The Futon Critic
Paramount has acquired the graphic novel Battling Boy for Brad Pitt to produce through his company, Plan B. - Zap2It
Ray Winstone and Ray Liotta have joined Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Sam Riley and 50 Cent to star in 13, a remake of the French film 13 Tzameti. - Variety
Tina Fey is officially retiring her Sarah Palin impression. - Entertainment Weekly
Jenna Fischer has nabbed the lead role in an indie dramedy titled A Little Help. - ComingSoon

Buzz News Roundup, 9/12

BuzzSugar — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:30:45 -0700

Two more chick lit tomes will be getting the big screen treatment: How to Be Single by Liz Tuccillo (He's Just Not That Into You) will be produced by Drew Barrymore's production company, while Devil Wears Prada author Lauren Weisberger's book Chasing Harry Winston has also been bought up. - The Hollywood Reporter, Variety
Tina Fey or Casey Wilson might play Sarah Palin on SNL this weekend. - Newsday
Two new doctors are coming to Grey's Anatomy. - Entertainment Weekly
Ray Winstone will replace Robert De Niro in the drama Edge of Darkness, starring alongside Mel Gibson. - ComingSoon
The screenwriter of The Usual Suspects is developing a TV show for both Mexican and US TV. - TV Guide
Christina Ricci and Cedric the Entertainer are joining the romantic comedy All's Faire in Love, which centers on a Renaissance Faire theater troupe. - The Hollywood Reporter
Katee Sackhoff will play a LAPD detective in an NBC pilot. - Zap2it
Fox will be getting a third TV series from chef Gordon Ramsay. - Variety

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Buzz News Roundup, 5/30

BuzzSugar — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:45:01 -0700

According to the AP, Melissa Gilbert will once again star in Little House on the Prairie - but this time as "Ma" Ingalls in a stage musical version of the show.
Harvey Korman, the Emmy-winning actor from The Carol Burnett Show has died at age 81, Zap2It reports.
Billboard has the news that Toni Braxton has canceled all her scheduled shows in order to concentrate on her health.
The memoir of Elissa Wall, Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs, will be adapted for the big screen, Variety reports. The book is also one of CitzenSugar's suggested reads right now.

According to Disney execs, their latest Narnia movie, Prince Caspian is not doing well at the box office simply because of the timing of the movie's release, writes ComingSoon.
According to Zap2It, Ray Winstone has joined the cast of HBO's police drama pilot Last of the Ninth.
UK band James will release their first album in seven years this September, Billboard reports.

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Beowulf: See It in 3-D or Not at All

BuzzSugar — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:27:27 -0800

"I. Am. BEOWULF!" roars a computer-generated (and significantly enhanced) Ray Winstone over and over and over again. The animated epic story of Beowulf is impressive from a visual standpoint - it really is like living inside a video game - though story-wise it's empty and forgettable. But if nothing else, you will absolutely remember who. Is. Beowulf.

I managed to see Beowulf in an IMAX theater, donning some giant, goofy 3-D glasses. In this way, the movie is spectacular. You'll be splattered with blood, threatened with sharp spears, and nearly dropped into the sharp-toothed mouths of terrifying beasts. It is, quite simply, amazing. I completely understand Robert Zemeckis' desire to bring this story to life via animation. Using (and improving upon) the motion-capture technology he tried with The Polar Express, the humans look as real as possible (more or less) while still existing in a mystical land alongside monsters, mermaids and water serpents.

Overall, it's a cool idea. In execution, it's enjoyable enough, though I'm not sure I would have liked it half as much if I were not watching it on an IMAX screen in 3-D. However, having said that I agree with the complaint of a fellow reviewer that if you turn your face even the slightest bit, the 3-D image is skewed and unpleasant to look at. Sitting in the same position with my head frozen in place for two hours and watching a 3-D movie left me with neck pains as well as a headache. For more about the pros and cons of this movie, read more

As cool as Beowulf looks, it succeeds visually at the expense of interesting storytelling. Winstone voices the great warrior himself, though his "onscreen" self is a far cry from the doughy man we've watched in things like Sexy Beast. In a handsome war hero's body, Beowulf is our protagonist who arrives in Hrothgar's kingdom with his entourage. As Beowulf consistently reminds everyone, he's here to "kill your moanstah," the horrifyingly disgusting creature named Grendel (Crispin Glover) who terrorizes Hrothgar's people. In a laughable scene, Beowulf insists on fighting the monster in the nude, his manhood expertly hidden by various "coincidental" objects in a scene that mirrors the hide-the-pickle scene from Austin Powers.

There are moments like these that provide some much-needed levity, though there are many other moments that unintentionally generate laughter, like the "shot" of Grendel's Mother's (Angelina Jolie) stiletto heel-shaped feet (not shoes, feet). Indeed, this movie seriously pushes that PG-13 rating to the max. Just because it's animation doesn't make Grendel's Mother's buxom body any less near-nude.

Anyway, Beowulf fights Grendel and succeeds, only to then have to answer to Grendel's Mother. Once he meets her, he is seduced by her womanly charms (as she literally melts his sword in some not-so-subtle imagery) along with the promise of kingly glory. Herein lies the moral, I guess, of the movie (though not necessarily the literary work on which it's based): hubris and pride will doom the greatest of warriors.

The actors are quite good in this arena, with John Malkovich particularly standing out as the darkly complicated Unferth, though despite how close these animated figures have come to approximating human beings, there's an emptiness to them that still seems creepy. Their bodies have a strange weightlessness, and they often remind me of the human characters in the Shrek movies. Also, at times Angelina Jolie's character somehow looks worse than she does in real life (and I'm talking about scenes in which she is supposed to be stunning), which seems preposterous given that she is already unbelievably beautiful.

Bottom line: It's visually neat, if not a bit of an assault on the senses, but I sincerely hope this isn't our "future of filmmaking" as the promos for this movie keep promising.

Images courtesy of Paramount

Link Time! 11/6

BuzzSugar — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:32:21 -0800

TV Squad mulls the news that ER could get one more season.
Forget voicing Beowulf, Ray Winstone wants to talk Indiana Jones 4 over on the MTV Movies Blog.
Popwatch decides Prison Break is "going nowhere slowly." On the other hand, TV with MeeVee thinks the show could teach 24 a few lessons.
Pretty Much Amazing rounds up the Arcade Fire's covers of Springsteen, the Smiths, and Clinic.
TV Filter has some suggestions for the fourth season of Weeds.
Head over to AquariumDrunkard for a review of the companion soundtrack to the Bob Dylan movie I'm Not There.
Give Me My Remote wonders: What one TV episode is on your desert island list?
Cinematical has a weird vintage clip of a young Morgan Freeman on the old television show The Electric Company.
Stereogum has a new live video of Wilco playing at Austin City Limits.

Photo courtesy of NBC