BuzzSugar

Separated at Birth: Clive Owen Intrigue Movies

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:30:59 -0800

This weekend the Clive Owen movie The International will debut in theaters. Aside from some key differences, this movie looks a bit like another Clive Owen movie that will be out in March titled Duplicity. Both appear to deal with large international corporations and potentially involve espionage. Both also see Clive in many suits without ties, and both pair Clive with an A-list female costar. But which Clive movie is which? Should you see both? After the jump I have a pretty little chart that breaks down some of the differences between both upcoming Clive movies so you'll be able to make an educated decision. To see my "separated at birth" chart, just read more.

	The International	Duplicity
Costar	Naomi Watts	Julia Roberts
Release Date	Feb. 13	March 20
Vibe	Serious thriller with a lot of action sequences, plot may require brain power	Cheeky spy movie in which con job serves as reason for main characters to flirt
How Do You Prefer Your Clive?	Disheveled, unshaven, using guns, slightly emotionally withdrawn, intense	Clean cut, witty, puppy dog eyes, flirtatious
Corporation at the Center of the Plot	A large international bank	Two large corporations that make stuff
Potential for Clive Love Scene	Low. Most likely a kiss near the end.	Very high. The trailer reveals his shirtlessness.
You Should See if You:	Enjoy movies written and/or directed by Tony Gilroy like Michael Clayton	Are able to erase the memory of Clive and Julia's dysfunctional characters in Closer from your mind

The International one-sheet courtesy of Sony Pictures and Source

Separated at Birth: Three Lincoln-Related Projects

BuzzSugar — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:37:52 -0700

Apparently, this is the year for Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. Much of Hollywood seems to be fascinated with the legendary president and his assassin right now, with a biopic and a HBO miniseries already in the works. Now, there's a Showtime series in development that would focus on Booth and his brothers - a dysfunctional family drama of sorts that I'm guessing ends with a president shot dead.

I'm having trouble keeping these various projects straight in my mind. Should I care most about Lincoln himself, how his assassin got caught, or how his killer came to be a presidential shooter in the first place? Here's a handy chart to help you decide:


Name	The Booths	Team of Rivals	Manhunt
Medium	TV (Showtime)	Film	TV (HBO)
Stars	To be determined	Liam Neeson (Lincoln), Sally Field (Mary Todd Lincoln)	To be determined
Focus	John Wilkes Booth and his two dysfunctional brothers	Lincoln himself	"Lesser-known players" in the hunt for Lincoln's killer
Hollywood "Big Name"	Executive Producer Kevin Bacon	Director Steven Spielberg	Writers David Simon and Tom Fontana
Book Inspiration	None	Team of Rivals	Manhunt
Presumed Outcome	Lincoln dies	Lincoln dies	Lincoln dies

Source and Source

Separated at Birth: UK Singing Soundalikes

BuzzSugar — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:30:55 -0700

It seems like you can't turn on the radio or surf the music blogs these days (or walk into a Starbucks, for that matter) without hearing a lady singer who is from the UK and sounds strikingly similar to Amy Winehouse or Lily Allen. It's as if all aspiring British female vocalists born between 1979 and 1991 were only given Dusty Springfield and Etta James records to listen to for inspiration.

Winehouse and Allen reintroduced the "soulful songstress with attitude and distinctive vocals" persona to the mainstream when they took the USA by storm a few years ago. However, they now appear to be imploding personally, leaving a hole in the genre that record labels have rushed to fill. I'm not complaining, as I happen to really enjoy this kind of music, but how to tell all this talent apart? There are a lot of 'em, and in addition to having similar musical styles, their names (er, um, "name," as the case may be for several of them) are hardly distinctive. It's confusing! For your benefit and mine, here's my attempt to break it all down:


Name	Duffy	Adele	Estelle	Kate Nash	Gabriella Cilmi
Recent Album	Rockferry, 2008	19, 2008	Shine, 2008	Made of Bricks, 2008	Lessons to Be Learned, 2008 (not yet for sale in US)
Single to Download	"Mercy" or "Warwick Avenue"	"Chasing Pavements"	"American Boy"	"Foundations" and "Merry Happy"	"Sweet About Me" (not yet available in US)
Identifying Features	"Mercy" featured on Grey's Anatomy; album sold at Starbucks	Voice getting a lot of hype; lacks the bad-girl storytelling of the others	As good at rapping as singing; big names like Kanye West and John Legend behind her	More Lily Allen than Winehouse; a great choice post-breakup	Technically Australian, a budding talent now working it in the UK
iPod Replay Potential*	3	4	8	7	6

*scale of 1-10, 1 = "What's this lady doing on my iPod?" and 10 = "Cannot get enough - it's the soundtrack of my life!"
Source and Source

Separated at Birth: Lipstick Jungle and Cashmere Mafia

BuzzSugar — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:30:00 -0800

A week from tonight, the Cashmere Mafia vs. Lipstick Jungle battle finally kicks into real gear when Lipstick airs its premiere episode. OK, so it's not as much of a throwdown as I once hoped: Cashmere hasn't been looking so hot in the ratings, and thanks to the strike, the shows will only overlap for three weeks.

Still, now that I've seen two episodes of Lipstick and four of Cashmere, I can't let the opportunity pass to compare and contrast the similarly named shows. Still confused about which one came from a book (that would be Lipstick) and which one got costume designer Patricia Field (that's Cashmere)? Here's a breakdown of their differences - some serious, some frivolous, just like the shows themselves.

	Cashmere Mafia	Lipstick Jungle
Network	ABC	NBC
Sex and The City Representative	Darren Star	Candace Bushnell
Number of Friends	4	3
Meaningful Character Name	Zoe Burden, overworked mother	Victory Ford, failing fashion designer
Series Name Said in Series	Yes	Not yet
Most Cringe-Worthy Line	"Kinda like a little bone voyage."	"Do you know how old I am?"
Average Age of Its Stars	38	37
# of Affairs in First Episode	One	One
Blind Date?	Yes (Mia with a neurosurgeon)	Yes (Victory with a billionaire)
Implausibility (from 1-10)	9	8.5

Separated at Birth: The Chucks of Entertainment

BuzzSugar — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:30:00 -0700

Here's a tip for getting a movie or TV show made in Hollywood these days: Name a main character Chuck. Two movies and a series have "Chuck" in their title; three more have Chucks in key roles. Can't tell Chuck Bartowski from Chuck Bass? Check out this guide:

Separated at Birth: The Homeless Soloist vs. The Homeless Champ

BuzzSugar — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:36:25 -0700

Today there came news that Robert Downey Jr. will be starring opposite Jamie Foxx in the musician biopic The Soloist. Reading up on the movie's plot, however, it sounds awfully similar to a movie currently out in theaters that stars Josh Hartnett and Samuel L. Jackson, Resurrecting the Champ. Thus, I've made up the following chart so the two don't get too confusing:


Name	Chuck Charles	Chuck Levine	Chuck Bartowski	Chuck Darling	Chuck Logan	Chuck Bass
Affiliation	"Pushing Daisies"	I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry	"Chuck"	"Back to You"	Good Luck Chuck	"Gossip Girl"
Played by	Anna Friel	Adam Sandler	Zachary Levi	Kelsey Grammer	Dane Cook	Ed Westwick
Identifying feature	Is brought back to life by show's main character	Tries to "marry" his firefighting partner for pension purposes	Has spy secrets downloaded into his brain	Fell from grace after cuss-filled tirade on TV	Is the guy girls sleep with before meeting their true love	Is a womanizer who tries to take advantage of drunk girls

Title	Setting	Stars	Premise	Release Date
Resurrecting the Champ	Denver	Josh Hartnett, Samuel L. Jackson, Teri Hatcher, Alan Alda	A young sportswriter (Hartnett) thinks he’s found the story of his life when he meets a homeless man (Jackson) who claims to have been thisclose to being a boxing champ in the past.	Currently in select theaters
The Soloist	Downtown Los Angeles	Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr.	”Downey will play Steve Lopez, the Los Angeles Times columnist who discovered Nathaniel Ayers, a downtown L.A. homeless man who was a skillful violinist. After learning that Ayers was a prodigy until schizophrenia made it impossible to continue, Lopez wrote columns about the musician and developed a relationship that changed both their lives.”	2009

Source

Separated at Birth: Revolutionary Road vs. Reservation Road

BuzzSugar — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:21:30 -0700

There has been much buzz surrounding the project that is bringing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet back together for the first time since Titanic, a family drama based on a 1961 novel titled Revolutionary Road. Yet there's another movie that comes out this fall with a similar title which is also set in suburban Connecticut! Titled Reservation Road and also based on a novel, the thriller can easily be confused with Revolutionary Road, so I've devised a handy-dandy chart to help keep them straight:

Title	Original Author and Publication Date	Setting	Premise	Road Significance	Stars	Release Date
Revolutionary Road	Richard Yates, December 1961	Mid-1950s suburban Connecticut	Young parents April and Frank Wheeler struggle with the confines of suburban life and the repressive social atmosphere.	Revolutionary Road is where the Wheelers live.	Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon	Fall/Winter 2008
Reservation Road	John Burnham Schwartz, October 1999	Modern-day suburban Connecticut	The story revolves around one grieving father’s hunt for his son’s killer while another father begins to drown in his own guilt.	Reservation Road is the site of the boy’s death.	Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connolly, Mira Sorvino, Elle Fanning	October 19, 2007

I've read both books and they're each worthy of a read before the film versions hit theaters. Between the two, however, I'd more recommend Revolutionary Road for its rich writing, depth and startling peek into the private life of a 20-something couple during a fascinating bygone era (the 1950s). Reservation Road is also a terrific read as a gripping, poignant page-turner. Both are roads you should wander down.

Separated at Birth: "Don't Forget the Lyrics" and "The Singing Bee"

BuzzSugar — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:15:07 -0700

Fox and NBC kicked off their karaoke wars this week with the premieres of "The Singing Bee" and "Don't Forget the Lyrics." While I was secretly hoping the shows would slink away into "National Bingo Night"-style obscurity, "The Singing Bee" became the summer's most-watched program on Tuesday, and "Lyrics" held its own on Wednesday (it also airs another new episode tonight). Lest you be confused by the similar-sounding shows, I've put together this handy guide to help you tell them apart:

	"The Singing Bee"	"Don't Forget the Lyrics"
Network	NBC	Fox
Host	Joey Fatone	Wayne Brady
Prize Money	$50,000	$1 million
Cute Mascot	Cartoon bumblebee	None
Use of "Walk Like an Egyptian"	Yes	Yes
Philosophy	"You don't have to sing it well; you just have to sing it right"	"Can you keep singing when the music stops?"
Obvious attempt to embarrass the host	Contestants had to sing "Bye Bye Bye"	None yet
Go-go dancers	Yes	No
Descended from	The National Spelling Bee	"Who Wants to be a Millionaire"
Similarity to actual karaoke	6 out of 10	9 out of 10

Photos courtesy of NBC and Fox

Separated at Birth: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and "Women's Murder Club"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 10:40:26 -0700

From "Bones" to "The Closer," female detectives are hot right now. So hot, in fact, that two suspiciously similar projects, "Women's Murder Club" (pictured above) and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, are currently in development (the latter just cast Anika Noni Rose). Lest you be confused should the topic arise at your next cocktail party, I've put together this handy guide to telling the projects apart.

Title	What is it?	Adapted from	Premise	Location	Stars	It's like ...
"Women's Murder Club"	A new ABC drama scheduled for Friday nights in the fall	A series of books by James Patterson	A group of women working in the justice system come together to solve crime	San Francisco	Angie Harmon, Paula Newsome, Aubrey Dollar, Tyrees Allen	"Law & Order" meets Steel Magnolias
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency	A new movie by Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella	A series of books by Alexander McCall Smith	An African woman establishes herself as her country's first female detective	Botswana	Jill Scott, Anika Noni Rose	"Murder She Wrote" in the savanna