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"The Real World" Heads to Sydney

BuzzSugar — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:30:39 -0800

For its 19th season - wow, has it been that long? - MTV's "The Real World" is heading to Sydney, Australia. Having already invaded many exotic (Key West, Hawaii) and not-so-exotic (Denver) locales in the States, the show is going abroad for the third time in its history (London and Paris were first).

I recently visited Sydney and was blown away but what an exciting, hip and beautiful city it is. In fact, the setting is almost - almost - enough to make me excited about "The Real World" again. After all, Sydney has many things to offer that should make for excellent "Real World" viewing, including:

24-hour bars.
Hot lifeguards.
Very nice, patient people who speak English.
Numerous opportunities for very bad sunburns.
Extremely confusing urban planning.
The treacherous Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb. (With luck, this will make a housemate cry.)
Giant bats with meter-wide wingspans. That's right: giant bats.

The Sydney season will start filming in a matter of weeks and is set to premiere sometime in late 2007.

What to TiVo: Saturday

BuzzSugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:50:20 -0800

ABC has College Football
CBS has a repeat of The Mentalist and is new with 48 Hours Mystery
FOX is new with Cops and America's Most Wanted
NBC has repeats of Mercy, Law & Order, and Law & Order: SVU
Bravo has Brokeback Mountain
E! has The Wedding Singer
MTV has repeats of South Park, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, Twilight: Love Bites, and MTV News: New Moon Revealed
USA has Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
VH1 has Trading Places
Late-night highlights include Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dave Matthews Band on Saturday Night Live on NBC

What to TiVo: Wednesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:50:00 -0800

ABC is new with The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and In the Spotlight With Robin Roberts: Janet Jackson
CBS is new with New Adventures of Old Christine, Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY
FOX is new with So You Think You Can Dance and Glee
NBC is new with Mercy and Law & Order: SVU
The CW is new with America's Next Top Model
E! is new with True Hollywood Story: Football Wives
Bravo is new with Top Chef: Las Vegas
Comedy Central is new with South Park, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report
FX is new with Nip/Tuck
MTV is new with Real World/Road Rules Challenge
Late-night highlights include Robert Pattinson on The Late Show With David Letterman on CBS; Amerie on Lopez Tonight on TBS; Seth Green, Heidi Montag, and Spencer Pratt on The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien on NBC; 50 Cent on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC; Kristen Stewart on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on NBC; and David Duchovny on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson on CBS

2012: Apocalyptic Good Times

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:30:00 -0800

In terms of end-of-the-world movies, 2012 packs it all - a love story, teary family moments, action-packed adventure, over-the-top-CGI, and a ton of recycled film cliches - in a two and a half hour package. That's lengthy by today's standards, but I wasn't bored for a minute. This is pure escapist entertainment.

The film opens in 2009 as a scientist in India and his American associate Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) discover that the Earth's core is overheating. His forecast: Tectonic plates will shift, thereby causing a worldwide catastrophe that will wipe out the human race.

Dun, dun, dun! (Doesn't take long to pull you in, does it?) To hear my full assessment, read more.

The real action goes down three years later in 2012 when, according to the Mayan calendar, the Earth will reach its end. The entire So-Cal coast starts crumbling, so our hero Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) and his family begin a journey to China where the governments around the world have supposedly assembled spaceships to carry select humans to safety.

What? You expected this to be plausible?

Of course not, but the film does include tons of cool CGI - volcanos, snow storms, giant tsunamis. It's like every disaster movie you've ever watched combined. (That should come as no surprise seeing as how the director is Roland Emmerich who created The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day, and Godzilla.)

As for the characters, we've seen them all stereotyped in other films before, but they're still enjoyable here. (Even though I admittedly winced over a Russian family complete with a fur coat, tiny dog, and an employee named Sasha.) This is thanks to the actors who play their parts with believability, even when the scenes feel ridiculous. Ejiofor portrays a great bleeding heart swept up in a governmental plan that's looking out for No. 1, and Cusack pulls off his father role without being over-the-top or sappy. Also, watch for Woody Harrelson as a nutty conspiracy theorist living in Yellowstone National Park.

2012 is purely meant to be fun, and it succeeds. There's a constant barrage of cliff-hanger moments that never let up, and though you pretty much know where things are headed, it's easy to get sucked in.

(Don't forget that if you see a movie that you'd like to review, you can post your write-up in the Movie Review Group in Community - I may even post it here on the site!)

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures

Fantastic Mr. Fox: Lives Up to Its Title

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:30:00 -0800

For the past five years, Wes Anderson's wide fan base has been waiting for his first fully animated film. Would his adaption of Roald Dahl's children's book, Fantastic Mr. Fox appease the same crowd that holds Bottle Rocket and The Royal Tenenbaums near and dear to their hearts? The answer is an emphatic yes, and the best news is that you don't even have to enjoy Anderson's other work to fall in love with this film.

The story follows the wily Mr. Fox, a professional robber turned family man (er, fox) who just isn't satisfied with his quiet life working as a newspaper columnist. Even a move to prime real estate isn't enough to satiate his appetite for a little trouble making, and Mr. Fox (or "Foxy" as his friends call him) decides to take on the biggest adventure of his life. That's just the tip of the iceberg though, so read more.

Mr. Fox isn't your average wild animal; in fact he's just the opposite. He lives a civilized life with his wife Felicity (Meryl Streep) and 12-year-old son, Ash, making an honest living as a newspaper columnist. Like a kid who can't sit still, Mr. Fox has trouble curbing his desires to rebel and go back to his life stealing squab and running into trouble. Against his wife's wishes, Mr. Fox convinces his dim-witted but trusty sidekick Kylie (Wally Wolodarski) to take on one last hurrah. The crime? Ripping off the three biggest (and meanest) farmers around - Boggis, Bunce and Bean. When Mr. Fox starts an all-out war, he is forced to join forces with his family, friends, and neighbors - and that's where the fun begins.

The film's brilliance lies in the fact that Fantastic Mr. Fox is a movie for grown-ups disguised as a kiddie flick. Even with Anderson's name stamped all over it, there's no denying the furry animals dressed as humans. The animation makes the plot play out like a story book come to life; we're taken deep into the fox hole and beyond in a world that looks like a dollhouse made for fuzzy creatures. Kids will love the adventure and the colors, but the witty dialogue and quirky characters are made for the grown-ups.

The movie features a crew of lovable characters who deliver hilarious one-liners when they aren't breaking into impromptu dances. There's nothing new about a movie featuring animals acting like humans, but the actors make the movie the gem that it is. Jason Schwartzman playing a crabby 12-year-old but using his regular deep voice is genius. Clooney and Bill Murray (as badger, Mr. Fox's lawyer) bantering back and forth but replacing swears with the word "cuss" never gets old (as in "This place is a cluster cuss" and "What the cuss is wrong with you?").

Rare is the animated film with this much wit, cleverness, and chemistry between characters, but Fantastic Mr. Fox hits it right on the head. Score one more for Mr. Anderson.

(Don't forget that if you see a movie that you'd like to review, you can post your write-up in the Movie Review Group in Community - I may even post it here on the site!)

Vampire Diaries "History Repeating": The Good, The Bad and The Bloody

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:30:00 -0800

Dear The Vampire Diaries, I see your master plan now: it's to bring it every week now. Please continue to do so. Moving on, this week we learned more about Bonnie and her family ties, revealed Damon's master plan, and met the new mysterious, history teacher.

But that's not even half of the amazing things that went down, so to see the good, the bad, and the bloody from this week's episode, just read more.

The Good

Bonnie's talisman/necklace is bringing her nightmares and visions of her ancestor Emily, who we learn was definitely Katherine's handmaiden back in the day. Her appearances are so creepy, but I was kind of digging that the scares were coming from a non-vampire source.
Damon and Stefan's interactions this week are brilliant. The role reversal, where Stefan takes on Damon's persona and Damon mocks Stefan in kind, are priceless. There even seems to be some genuinely affectionate times between the brothers, but was it just Damon's vulnerability/lack of strength due to avoiding human blood?
New characters for this show have tended to be pretty intriguing, and new teacher Alaric Saltzman is no exception. The dreamy Alaric, played by Legally Blonde's Matt Davis, has a shady past (dead wife who was almost certainly murdered) and every sign points to him being a vampire: the sun-protecting ring, the lingering exchange of Jenna not inviting him in. It's almost too obvious. If he is a vamp and not some other supernatural being, then what role does he play? I'm sure he must know the Salvatores.
Gratification! In one episode, we get two mysteries solved: why Damon came back to Mystic Falls and what's up with Emily and her necklace. The master plan - and Damon's reason for return - is Katherine. Specifically, to rouse her from the spell that left her trapped but unharmed (well, relatively unharmed, considering she was already dead) underneath the church 100 plus years ago. It's news to Stefan that Katherine didn't perish in the fire, but that's not the only revelation about her; the boys trade barbs about their last encounters with their shared first love, and they both end up wounded. I think Stefan is lying when he insists that Katherine compelled the brothers into loving her and that it wasn't real; why else would he have come out of hiding to pursue Elena?
One seed-planting I appreciated: The Gilbert family history. You know Jeremy's on the verge of discovering something big. I have my theories.

The Bad

Right about now I feel the need to introduce something I'd like to call Twilight Corner. It'll be where I bring up any glaring similarities The Vampire Diaries has to that other vampire story. This week, it's Stefan leaving Elena, telling her it's for the best. I smirked early on, when Stefan tells Elena that he's backing off from school, that it's the right thing to do; but I pretty much spit my water out at the end of the episode when Stefan tells Elena he's leaving to protect her while they're in the woods. Shades of New Moon! Generally, the show has distinguished itself from Twilight but that's waaay too close for comfort.

The Bloody

Damon swears off drinking human blood in a demonstration of goodwill to Stefan after killing Lexie last week. My my. Damon, showing repentance? What is this crazy fake world coming to? However, he doesn't maintain his new diet for long: he takes a big bite out of a possessed Bonnie after she, as Emily, destroys the amulet and Katherine over the Fells Church ruins.
OK, let's talk past bloody: We got more of the story of the history of Mystic Falls, including what sounds like an epic, ongoing battle between vampires and humans. It was no accident that Katherine was in that church, having been rounded up by the townspeople to be killed. And she wasn't alone; Emily sealed up the whole church, full of other vampires, who potentially could have been freed upon the town this week. Stefan accuses Damon of not wanting to free Katherine out of love, but revenge, rather; he nearly introduces an army of angry, ancient vampires on the ancestors of the people who exterminated them. Personally I think it was a little bit of both for Damon - love and revenge. He almost has his soul mate and a group of allies back in his life.
I'm counting Damon's broken heart as a casualty this week, as cheesy as that sounds. I just can't ignore how wrecked his face looks at the end of the episode. We went from seeing how inhumane Damon is just last week, to being confronted by an emotional man who faces a final loss of love. Ian Somerhalder, you're rocking it.

What did you think of "History Repeating"? Are you disappointed at all that Katherine didn't rise from the grave tonight, along with a crew of her nearest and bloodthirstiest? Do you even believe she's totally gone? And what about Jenna's situation - are both Logan and Alaric out to suck her blood? For more chatting beyond this week, join the Hooked on Vampire Diaries group in the Buzz Community!

Photos courtesy of The CW

What to TiVo: Thursday

BuzzSugar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:50:33 -0800

ABC is new with Flash Forward, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice
CBS is new with Survivor, CSI, and The Mentalist
FOX is new with Bones and Fringe
NBC is new with Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, and 30 Rock
The CW is new with Vampire Diaries and Supernatural
Bravo is new with Real Housewives of Orange County
Comedy Central is new with Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report
FX is new with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The League
Lifetime is new with Project Runway
MTV is new with World's Strictest Parents and Gone Too Far
Late-night highlights include Larry David on Lopez Tonight on TBS; Penelope Cruz and Dolly Parton on The Jay Leno Show on NBC; Amanda Peet on The Late Show With David Letterman on CBS; Al Gore, Jim Parsons, and Jason Mraz on The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien on NBC; Danny DeVito and Switchfoot on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC; Kate Walsh on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on NBC; and Danny Glover on Last Call With Carson Daly on NBC

What to TiVo: Wednesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:50:05 -0800

ABC is new with the 43rd Annual CMA Awards
CBS is new with the New Adventures of Old Christine, Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY
FOX is new with So You Think You Can Dance and Glee
NBC is new with Mercy and Law & Order: SVU
The CW is new with America's Next Top Model and has a repeat of Vampire Diaries
E! is new with 15 Remarkable Celebrity Body Bouncebacks
Bravo is new with Top Chef: Las Vegas
FX is new with Nip/Tuck
Comedy Central is new with Secret Girlfriend, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report
MTV is new with Return to Duty and Real World/Road Rules Challenge
VH1 has 40 Greatest Reality Moments 2
Late-night highlights include Queen Latifah on Lopez Tonight on TBS; Kate Walsh, Andre Agassi, and Norah Jones on The Late Show With David Letterman on CBS; Sandra Bullock on The Jay Leno Show on NBC; Heather Locklear on The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien on NBC; Dominic Monaghan on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC; Joan Cusack and Carly Simon on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on NBC; and Jared Leto on Last Call With Carson Daly on NBC

Buzz-Worthy Video: An Ode to Lost

BuzzSugar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:30:14 -0800

If you count yourself among the many avid Lost fans in the world, then you know that the show isn't a subject to be taken lightly. There's no talking during episodes, and definitely no asking questions. Sound familiar? Check out this viral video from a bunch of dudes calling themselves "Donkey Wheel" - singing a song simply titled "We Like Lost." It plays off the show as well as Lonely Island's "We Like Sportz," making sure to call out all of our favorite characters and random references. Even Carlton Cuse gave it his stamp of approval via Twitter. It's not a substitute for the real thing, but it might just help ease the pain of waiting a few more months until season six.

What to TiVo: Friday

BuzzSugar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:50:28 -0800

ABC is new with Supernanny, Ugly Betty, and 20/20
CBS is new with Ghost Whisperer, Medium, and NUMB3RS
FOX has repeats of House and Bones
NBC is new with Law & Order
The CW is new with Smallville and has a repeat of America's Next Top Model
Bravo has Legends of the Fall
E! has repeats of Leave it to Lamas, Wildest Dating Show Moments, and The Girls Next Door, and is new with The Soup
FX has Shallow Hal and Grandma's Boy
MTV has repeats of South Park and Real World/Road Rules Challenge
USA is new with Monk and White Collar
VH1 has Rock Docs NWA: The World's Most Dangerous Group
Late-night highlights include Ricky Gervais on The Late Show With David Letterman on CBS; Elizabeth Banks on The Jay Leno Show on NBC; The Pixies on The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien on NBC; Ted Danson, Khloe Kardashian, and Lamar Odom on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC; Rosie O'Donnell and Ian Somerhalder on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on NBC; and Ewan McGregor and Regina Spektor on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson on CBS