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Elizabeth Banks Joins Russell Crowe in French Film Remake

BuzzSugar — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:30:07 -0700

Have you seen the French thriller Pour elle? I haven't, but now I'd like to before the English-language remake comes to theaters, courtesy of Paul Haggis (writer/director of Crash). The remake, titled The Next Three Days, had already nabbed Russell Crowe for the male lead and now it looks like Elizabeth Banks will play his wife.

The plot description for Pour elle reads: "Lisa and Julien are married and lead a happy uneventful life with their son Oscar. But their life radically changes one morning, when the police comes to arrest Lisa on murder charges. She's sentenced to 20 years of prison. Convinced of his wife's innocence, Julien decides to act. How far will he be willing to go for her?" Diane Kruger, currently starring in Inglourious Basterds, plays the wife in the French version.

I find Banks so funny and refreshing in her comedic roles, but she's been going kind of dramatic on us recently, playing a scary stepmother in The Uninvited and portraying Laura Bush in W. Do you like seeing her in more dramatic roles? To check out a French trailer for the original movie Pour elle, read more.

The trailer is in French with no subtitles but it's still chilling, even if you don't understand the language.

Buzz News Roundup, 7/31

BuzzSugar — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:30:55 -0700

Amy Poehler will anchor a couple of episodes of Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Thursday to promote Parks and Recreation. - Entertainment Weekly
Matthew McConaughey and Eva Mendes are in talks to star in the drama Southbound. - ComingSoon
Russell Crowe will star in The Next Three Days, the adaptation of the 2008 French film Pour Elle, for Crash director Paul Haggis. - Variety
Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah, and Carter Jenkins have joined the all-star cast of Garry Marshall's romantic comedy Valentine's Day. - The Hollywood Reporter
House executive producer David Shore is working on a remake of The Rockford Files for NBC. - Variety
Ridley Scott is reportedly confirmed to direct the Alien prequel. - Entertainment Weekly
Kimberly Peirce, the award-winning filmmaker behind Boys Don't Cry, is working with Judd Apatow on an "untitled romantic sex comedy." - ComingSoon
Christopher Gorham will join Piper Perabo in USA's Covert Affairs, while Donal Logue will star in FX's Terriers. - The Hollywood Reporter
Ron Howard is in talks to direct The Parsifal Mosaic, an adaptation of the espionage thriller by The Bourne Identity author Robert Ludlum. - Variety

Box Office: Zac Is the Man of the Hour

BuzzSugar — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:30:05 -0700

Looks like young Mr. Efron is proving to be a bankable actor, as his movie, 17 Again, debuted at No. 1 this weekend, earning an estimated $24.1 million.

Meanwhile, Russell Crowe's political thriller, State of Play, came in second place with an estimated $14.1 million. Monsters vs. Aliens came in at No. 3, and it looks like there's only so much tween-love to go around, which might explain Hannah Montana: The Movie slipping from the No. 1 spot last week to No. 4 this week. Fast and Furious rounded out the top five.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

State of Play: Surprisingly Gripping Journalism Thriller

BuzzSugar — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:30:35 -0700

In the movies and on TV, investigations always look so exciting and fun - piecing together the facts, swapping clues, untangling the web strand by strand, etc. In a story centered around journalism, this mystery-solving stuff is what makes it fun to watch, especially if there's also a good dose of realism but not so much that it becomes mired in realistic details and we get bored. State of Play very nicely balances these things: It's a sensational murder mystery-thriller but with a scruffy, grumpy journalist lead character and a supporting cast of equally "normal" people. There's enough fiction and embellishment to be escapism, and enough reality to make it believable.

Russell Crowe plays grizzled journalist Cal McAffrey who is something of a legendary dinosaur at the struggling Washington Globe newspaper. His longtime friend, Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck), comes under scrutiny when a woman from his research team dies tragically and the public learns that Collins was having an affair with her. As the police conduct their own investigation, Cal himself tries to get to the bottom of the woman's mysterious death - partially to get a juicy story and partially to help clear his friend's name in the scandalous situation. The young, eager blogger Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) insists on teaming up with Cal on his search as she tries to prove herself as a writer at the Globe. Together they work to uncover the truth, but every new revelation brings with it a twisty new discovery and soon the two journalists find themselves enmeshed in a nasty mixture of political conspiracies and tangled personal relationships. That's all I'll say about the plot, but for more of my thoughts on it all, read more.

Trust and deceit are at the heart of this story, as is the blurred line between formal police investigation (to solve a case) and investigative reporting (to get a scoop). Cal and Stephen's friendship is tested repeatedly as Cal’s desire to get as many details for his story as possible gets in the way of his compassion for a buddy. Past hurts also creep back to haunt them and further confuse Cal's motives for getting to the bottom of things. Yet, thankfully, there's no needless lingering on individual characters' personal lives. What we know of these people is almost completely restricted to how they're involved in the messy web of secrets, and the extraneous stuff is pushed aside in favor of the meat of the story. Even the relationship that forms between Cal and Della is handled with a light, delicate touch. Will this remain a mentor-mentee kind of thing, or is there more there? We don't really need to know because watching the trust and mutual respect blossom between them over the course of the movie is gratifying enough.

Admittedly, I had low expectations for this movie and certain things (like Affleck’s entire performance) never managed to exceed those expectations, but regardless, I think it's a success in that it achieves exactly what films in this genre should achieve. It sweeps us up in an intriguing puzzle and maintains our attention for two full hours, while also posing some interesting questions (what is the role of journalism today - especially in relation to politics? Is journalism dying?). It's not the kind of movie that will make you feel a lot of things, but I went in looking for escape and I got it. It may essentially be a story about journalism, but it still manages to be incredibly engrossing.

Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures

Movie Preview: State of Play

BuzzSugar — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:30:37 -0800

Based on the BBC series of the same title, the film State of Play stars Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Ben Affleck, and Rachel McAdams. Crowe and McAdams are reporters who get wrapped up in the case of a congressman's (Affleck) murdered mistress.

From the trailer, it looks like a compelling crime thriller, though I'm not sure how it'll stack up against the acclaimed original series. The fact that it's directed by The Last King of Scotland's Kevin Macdonald is promising, however. State of Play opens April 17. To check out the trailer, read more.

Body of Lies: Tense in Some Parts, Tedious in Others

BuzzSugar — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:30:41 -0700

Body of Lies has slipped on and off my radar over the past couple of months. It's hard to ignore because it's Ridley Scott working with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, and yet the previews haven't looked all that original. But I went anyway, hoping to be entertained and thinking that if it turned out to be thought-provoking as well, all the better.

The thing is, this movie doesn't do more than it has to in terms of both entertainment and thought-provocation. There's a tedious quality to it that, despite some good action scenes and funny lines, is hard to shake. That said, I appreciate that Scott aims to give us a slightly different, more psychological view of life on the ground for American operatives in the Middle East. But to see why I'm a bit torn about this movie, read more.

DiCaprio (sporting some icky facial hair and a strange accent) plays Roger Ferris, a CIA agent operating in the Middle East on the hunt for an elusive Bin Laden-type mastermind named Al-Saleem. He's only ever a cell phone call away from his boss, Ed Hoffman (Crowe), who runs the show from the comfort of his suburban home in the Washington DC area and some kind of mission control room where he can view Ferris's whereabouts via satellite. The whole thing has a Big Brother feel to it while demonstrating how easy it is for people (like the calculating Hoffman) to detach from the messy moral issues that take place on the ground.

Both characters come to embody the different aspects of a war of this nature: Crowe's paunchy Hoffman pragmatically give orders through a lazy Southern accent while stuffing his face with food. Meanwhile, DiCaprio's Ferris blends into the Arab world and earns their trust, only to pick shrapnel out of his skin when things go awry due to the impatience of his boss. It's kind of a funny thing watching Crowe peer over his glasses in comfy armchairs while DiCaprio rolls around from one explosion to the next the whole movie. In this world, catching terrorists is a mad scramble, with agents literally rummaging through the post-bombing rubble looking for evidence and information. There's nothing particularly organized or methodical about it until they partner with the most interesting character in the movie, Hani, the head of Jordanian intelligence.

The introduction of Hani, played beautifully by the handsome Mark Strong, is where things get good as he warns the Americans not to lie to him and to let him do his job. Of course, Hoffman decides they need results more quickly and he pressures young Ferris to embark on a risky scheme behind Hani's back. Unfortunately, this all happens during the last third of the movie, and up until this plot-thickening it's all rather pointless and predictable, not to mention boring.

Though torture is used and both lead characters give monologues about winning the war on terror, the movie's focus has less to do with any kind of political statement and more to do with use and abuse of relationships as mere means to an end (in this case capturing jihadists). It fails to bring to the table in a new and entertaining way what we already know about spies: no one is to be trusted, human life is disposable, and technology only complicates matters. As a result, Body of Lies has some bright spots of action and intrigue sprinkled throughout an otherwise forgettable entry into the political thriller genre.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Watch, Pass, TiVo, or Rent: Body of Lies

BuzzSugar — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:30:32 -0700

For this next installment of Watch, Pass, TiVo, or Rent (my version of Do, Dump, or Marry), I'm curious to know what your thoughts are on this Friday's new release from Ridley Scott: Body of Lies.

Starring Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio, the story follows a CIA operative on the trail of a high-ranking terrorist in Jordan. Apparently, "the spy is aided by the head of Jordan's covert operations in an uneasy alliance that leads to cultural and moral clashes between the men." The actors are good and Ridley Scott has brought us such films as Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise, and American Gangster.

So, what'll it be?

One-sheet image courtesy of Warner Bros.

Buzz News Roundup, 9/29

BuzzSugar — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:30:29 -0700

Kenneth Branagh is in talks to direct the live-action Thor movie. - Variety
Jesse McCartney and Ken Marino will guest-star in upcoming episodes of Greek. - Zap2it
It's official: Bruce Springsteen is the entertainment for this year's Super Bowl halftime show. - Billboard
Bravo will air reruns of Swingtown but has no plans to produce new episodes. - Hollywood Reporter
Um, wait, what? It looks like Russell Crowe will play both the Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood in Ridley Scott's movie Nottingham. - ComingSoon
HBO is developing a series called Americatown about the exodus of US citizens to another country after a period of financial decline. - TV Guide
A dispute over the release date of the Kate Winslet WWII-era romance movie The Reader has been settled: The film will open Dec. 12. - Variety
Pam's ex-boyfriend Roy is booking a return trip to The Office. - E! Online

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Movie Preview: Ridley Scott's Body of Lies

BuzzSugar — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:30:09 -0700

Does the Body of Lies trailer come with the scent of Oscar noms, or am I getting ahead of myself here? Nobody knows just yet, but with heavy-hitting stars like Leo and Russell Crowe and the dark intensity that director Ridley Scott brings to all his projects, we may be looking at a future critical darling here. Then again, I thought Scott's American Gangster would do way better at the Oscars than it did, so maybe I should just stop with the predictions for a while.

In Body of Lies, which is based on a novel by David Ignatius, "a former journalist injured in the Iraq war is hired by the CIA to track down an Al Qaeda leader in Jordan." The new trailer features things like furrowed brows and pounding music. I will be very curious to catch this when it opens in theaters October 10. To watch the preview and tell me what you think, read more.

Sienna Miller Cast as Maid Marian in Nottingham

BuzzSugar — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:34:21 -0700

Sienna Miller will play Marian to Russell Crowe's Sheriff of Nottingham, BBC News reports today. Miller confirmed recently that barring any actors strike, she'll take on the role of Maid Marian in a version of the Robin Hood story titled Nottingham. Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland is crafting the script (he won the little gold man in 1997 for L.A. Confidential) and Sir Ridley Scott is reportedly signed on to direct. BBC News describes the plot:

The movie is a twist on the classic story, with the Sheriff of Nottingham cast as a sympathetic figure up against a not-so-heroic Robin Hood.

I know there are some mixed feelings out there about Sienna Miller, so tell me: What do you think about her playing Maid Marian?

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