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Movie Preview: Carey Mulligan in The Greatest

BuzzSugar — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:30:00 -0700

She may not have won the Oscar, but Carey Mulligan has still been thrust into the collective consciousness because of An Education. With roles in Wall Street 2 and now The Greatest, it's clear the uber-talented newcomer isn't going anywhere. In the trailer for The Greatest, she plays Rose, a teen who falls for her first love - only to lose him almost immediately in a car accident they're both in. The story shifts to her boyfriend's grieving family, headed by Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon, who have no choice but to take Rose in when she finds herself pregnant with their son's baby.

As much as the movie looks like a tearjerker, it also seems to be a very eloquent portrayal of grief, and being able to forgive and love again. The trailer itself is an emotional roller coaster - try to watch it without getting a lump in your throat - but because the acting looks superb, I won't miss it.

To watch the preview, just read more.

The Lovely Bones: A Fractured Fairy Tale

BuzzSugar — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:30:00 -0800

I've long questioned Hollywood's desire to bring Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones to the big screen. The book itself delicately straddles tragedy and beauty in its first-person account of a 14-year-old girl who is murdered and watches her family's unraveling from Heaven. Though I held out hope that Peter Jackson would be able to balance the same themes, it was all for naught: his big-screen version of The Lovely Bones is ambitious, but irredeemably disturbing.

I'd heard that Jackson left out the fact that his main character, Susie Salmon (played by Saoirse Ronan), is raped in the book, and that the murder occurs offscreen, which made a certain amount of sense - it's not necessary to show either to convince you that her ordeal is terrifying. But after seeing the film, it baffles me that Jackson chose to include other grisly scenes and imagery. What's even more questionable is the portrayal of Susie's "in-between" - her purgatory on the way to Heaven that's sometimes a perfect world and other times hellish.

Had Jackson chosen instead to focus on the ordeal of the Salmon family after Susie's departure - the most compelling part of the movie - I think he would have had a chance at making something more powerful. To see what I mean, just read more.

Susie's cartoonish in-between detracts from the performances of her family members back on earth, particularly Mark Wahlberg's. As her anguished father who is coping with Susie's murder by hunting for clues, Wahlberg impresses more than costar Stanley Tucci, who earned a Golden Globe nomination for the role. Tucci's portrayal of Mr. Harvey, I'm sad to say, goes over the top - with his obvious wig, facial prosthetics and unintentionally goofy laugh, it borders on caricature.

Susan Sarandon appears solely to steal scenes as the family's pill-popping, boozehound Grandma, imparting a lightness on the film that Susie's world tries for, but fails to convey. Indeed, when the focus shifts away from the supernatural to document the fissures that afflict the Salmon family, we get somewhere. Just as quickly, though, those scenes of substance are pulled away from you, and we're back to Susie's confounding half-life.

Instead of spending so much time on a nightmarish land of CGI, Jackson should have worried more about giving the characters more satisfying scenes of closure - that's what would have made the audience feel better about Susie's fate.

Photo courtesy of Dreamworks

Movie Preview: Michael Douglas in Solitary Man

BuzzSugar — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:30:00 -0800

The first trailer for Solitary Man is making the rounds, and I'm admittedly confused about what to expect from this one - is it a May-December rom-com a la Woody Allen, or a drama about one man's midlife crisis? Perhaps both?

The film follows an aging Casanova (Michael Douglas) who dates a woman (Mary Louise Parker) to boost his car business - only to ruin things when he sleeps with her daughter (Imogen Poots). Along the way, you also have his own daughter (Jenna Fischer in a non-Pam role!), his ex-wife (Susan Sarandon), an old friend (Danny DeVito), and Jesse Eisenberg, who appears to be his mentee of sorts.

The thought of Douglas romancing someone in college gives me gag reflexes, and there seems to be some sort of mafia/hitman tie-in, too. (Groan.) Still, how can such a good ensemble cast be wrong? I'm really hoping to like this one, but check it out and give me your early opinion when you read more.

Movie Preview: Ed Norton and Ed Norton in Leaves of Grass

BuzzSugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:30:00 -0800

That double Ed Norton in the title is not a typo; Leaves of Grass stars the talented actor in a dual role, as polar opposite twin brothers.

As twins, Norton really goes for it - one twin, Bill, is straight-laced, while the other, Brady, is a mulleted hick with a heavy Southern accent. I've missed Norton's presence, but I'm wondering if this is going to a be an amazing acting opportunity or an embarrassing diversion for him. Joining him in the cast sans outrageous accents is Keri Russell, Susan Sarandon, and Richard Dreyfuss. It's a little hard to tell the tone of the movie from the trailer; it's been described as a comedic thriller, but I can't tell if it wants to be Adaptation or Joe Dirt.

To see the trailer, just read more.

Buzz News Roundup, 8/26

BuzzSugar — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:30:19 -0700

It looks like Susan Sarandon will be joining the cast of Oliver Stone's Wall Street 2. - Entertainment Weekly
This week's episode of True Blood was the first HBO series episode to top five million viewers since the finale of The Sopranos drew 11.9 million two years ago. - Variety
Columbia Pictures has hired screenwriters Adam Fierro and Glen Mazzara to write Hancock 2, the sequel to the Will Smith superhero movie. - ComingSoon
A movie is in the works about the life of Brian Epstein, who discovered and managed the Beatles from 1961 through 1967, when he died of a drug overdose at 32. - Variety
Kate Gosselin will fill in for Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View on Sept. 14 and 15. - AP
The next Batman movie may be shot entirely in IMAX format. - ComingSoon
The Who guitarist Pete Townshend is planning another musical, this one titled Floss. - Reuters
FX has picked up the dramatic series March to Madness, all about the glory and the seedy side of college basketball, from executive producer Don Cheadle. - Broadcasting & Cable

Movie Preview: Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones

BuzzSugar — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:40:49 -0700

If you've read the book The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, you'll know that it's a heartwrenching, mysterious tale about family, death - and whatever comes after death. Peter Jackson's film adaptation has been a point of discussion ever since it was announced over two years ago, from the casting choices to the question of how to adapt a story like this, which regularly blurs the line between reality and the supernatural. Jackson's 1994 movie Heavenly Creatures does this very thing as well, which made him a good choice for this particular challenge.

The new trailer for the film, which opens Dec. 11, starts out tender and soft before building to a tense and chilling crescendo. Atonement's Saoirse Ronan plays Susie Salmon, a young teen who narrates the story after she's been murdered. She observes her family as they try to piece together what happened to her, and it's all a big tangle of scariness, sadness, and aching sweetness. To watch the trailer, click here.

Sarandon, Goodman Join Pacino in HBO's Dr. Kevorkian Movie

BuzzSugar — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:30:54 -0700

HBO Films' biopic of Jack Kevorkian, You Don't Know Jack, already has its Dr. Kevorkian in Al Pacino. Now Pacino has castmates in Susan Sarandon and John Goodman. The biopic is loosely based on the book Between the Dying and the Dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian's Life and the Battle to Legalize Euthanasia. Goodman will play one of the authors of the book, Noel Nicol, Kevorkian's friend and co-worker whose "medical training as a corpsman and laboratory technician enabled him to assist Kevorkian on many occasions, while his laboratory supply company often provided materials for Kevorkian's efforts."

Meanwhile, Susan Sarandon will play Hemlock Society activist Janet Good "who becomes one of Jack's staunchest supporters, working side by side with him to make humane suicide available to the terminally ill and suffering. After she is herself diagnosed with terminal cancer, she avails herself of Kevorkian's services, choosing her own time to die, surrounded by her friends and loved ones."

Sarandon and Goodman already starred together in last year's Speed Racer, though this project will obviously be quite the drastic departure from that one. It is good to see great actors getting some substantial roles, though I'm awaiting this particular project with a mixture of curiosity and anxiety.

Are you interested in seeing a Dr. Kevorkian biopic?

Link Time! 1/27

BuzzSugar — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:30:39 -0800

Something to ponder: Do we want a Charlie's Angels 3? - Cinematical
Susan Sarandon is also coming to ER in the same episode as George Clooney. - Watch With Kristin
Spike Lee plans to use James Brown's real voice - not Wesley Snipes's - in his biopic of the Godfather of Soul. - MTV Movies Blog
The Once couple's band, The Swell Season, will continue on even though their dating relationship is over. - Hollywood Insider
What series (like, say, Lord of the Rings) do you revisit over and over? - Popwatch
Check out the veggie sex PETA ad that NBC pulled from its Super Bowl lineup. - TV Squad
How does Gossip Girl love LG? Let us count the ways. - geeksugar
We can now hear Scarlett Johansson's cover of Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye,", which will be featured on the soundtrack for He's Just Not That Into You. - Stereogum

Source

2009 Sundance Spotlight: The Greatest, Good Hair, and Mystery Team

BuzzSugar — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:25:44 -0800

While I won't be heading down to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival this year, I will be sorting through the humongous pile of festival entries to share with you some of the films I think look most promising. From quirky documentaries to talented young filmmaker debuts to a potential runaway hit, Sundance is filled with entertainment possibilities. Here are today's selections:

Good Hair
It's impossible not to feel a little emotional listening to Chris Rock describe how the idea for this documentary came about. In the video clip below, he says that despite how much he tells his daughter how beautiful she is every day, she still cried to him once, "Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?" Troubled by this, Rock "committed himself to search the ends of the earth and the depths of black culture to find out who had put that question into his little girl's head!" He himself claims this might be the best movie he's ever made. Intriguing? I'd say so.

To check out the comedian talking about his project, plus the lowdown on two other Sundance movies, read more.

The Greatest
Starring Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon (that's them, making out in the ocean!), The Greatest marks the debut of a young filmmaker and screenwriter, Shana Feste, and follows a family coping with the sudden death of their teenage son. Newcomer Carey Mulligan plays the girlfriend of the son who shows up to further complicate the grieving process for the parents. There's some buzz about both Brosnan's and Sarandon's performances as well as talk that this could be a "career-launching" role for Mulligan. Check her out in a scene with Susan Sarandon:

Mystery Team
Bookmark this trailer as "not suitable for work" due to language but make sure to check it out because it's pretty hilarious. Mystery Team stars a bunch of sketch comedy guys (who also wrote, directed, and produced the film) and follows a group of kid detectives that no one takes seriously. Some of the dialogue reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite but the rest of the movie seems like something all its own. Here's the preview:

Photos and The Greatest clip courtesy of Sundance

Buzz Brainteaser

BuzzSugar — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:30:40 -0800

Welcome to Buzz Brainteaser, the trivia feature on BuzzSugar! Every weekday I'll test your knowledge about TV shows, music, and movies. If you enter in the correct answer, you win points! Susan Sarandon has been nominated for five Academy Awards and has won one. For her role in what movie did Susan Sarandon win an Academy Award?