BuzzSugar

Grey Gardens: Appropriately Bleak, Yet Illuminating

BuzzSugar — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:30:30 PDT

It takes serious moxie to make a feature film from an excellent documentary, especially one as cultishly beloved as Grey Gardens. But, hey, it worked for Milk, and dare I say, it works for the new HBO movie, premiering this Saturday night and starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange.

Like the 1975 documentary by Albert and David Maysles, this Grey Gardens zooms in on "Big Edie" (Lange) and "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale (Barrymore), aunt and first cousin to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The story follows the pair from their flossy socialite (if emotionally unstable) beginnings to the bizarre codepedence of little Edie's adults years, spent living with her mother in their decaying Hamptons mansion, surrounded by diseased cats, feral raccoons, and armoire-size mounds of filth.

The making of the documentary is a plot point in HBO's rendition, so die-hard fans will appreciate the movie's ability to illuminate the once dark and murky parts of the Beales' story. For what I thought,

read more. Speaking of die-hard fans, I suspect Barrymore is one of them: she turns out an eerily accurate portrayal of Little Edie that is authentic, disarming, and far from impersonation. At times, I forgot it was Barrymore, which is something I've never thought before about her acting. Her face perfectly conveys Edie's flightiness and fear, as she feels obliged to stay with her mother yet lacks the wherewithal to live another life. Like the documentary, Grey Gardens succeeds by not being strictly linear, flashing backward and forward to form the story's beginning, middle, and end. As Big Edie's husband leaves and the meager allowance runs dries, Little Edie's shaky big city dreams are dashed; on the night she returns, her mother's first question is, "Did you get the cat food?" In Jackie O. accents, the movie answers a question asked by anyone who has seen the documentary: how did it get this bad? Watching the HBO movie, we learn that it got even worse before their famous cousin (portrayed in a cameo by Jeanne Tripplehorn) bails the Beales out. Unfortunately, but perhaps expectedly, the updated film can't match the raw masterpiece of the original. In its musical score and its vision, Grey Gardens lacks the artfulness of its source. To see this movie without also seeing the documentary would be like not reading Lolita because you already saw the movie. Both offer very different interpretations and, taken together, they form a fascinating biography.

Photos courtesy of HBO

This Weekend: The Cutting Edge 1, 2, and 3 (Yes, 3!)

BuzzSugar — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:30:37 PDT

"Toooooe piiiiiick!"

If that still ranks among your all-time favorite movie quotes, then you might be interested to know that The Cutting Edge franchise is basically taking over ABC Family this weekend. The reason: the premiere of the third (yup, third) movie in the series, The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream, which airs Sunday night.

By now, you know the basic story. This time, it's hot skating bachelor Zack Conroy (Matt Lanter) who brings a hockey player Alejandra "Alex" Delgado (Francia Raisa) into the figure-skating fold after his former partner - and, naturally, ex-girlfriend - breaks her leg. I assume gold medals and whiffs of romance ensue. Oh, and their coach this time is none other than Jackie Dorsey (Christy Carlson Romano), star of The Cutting Edge 2 and the daughter of the couple from the first Cutting Edge. Way to keep it in the family!

Like all Cutting Edge movies, I'm expecting the third installment to be awesomely over-the-top. The original airs tonight at 8 p.m. EDT and PDT, with The Cutting Edge 2 following at 8 p.m. Saturday. They'll also air back-to-back starting at 4 p.m. on Sunday, leading into the premiere of The Cutting Edge 3 at 8 p.m.

I've got the trailer for the new movie, plus clips from the previous two for old time's sake, if you just

read more. The Cutting Edge 3: The Cutting Edge 2: The original: Source

Watch, Pass, or Rent Video Movie Review: The Vow

Shannon Vestal — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:07:28 PST

Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams take aim straight at your heart with this weekend's romance The Vow, but is the drama worth taking a trip to the theater? Watch the video movie review to find out.

The Breaking Dawn Part 2 Trailer Is Coming Soon

Shannon Vestal — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:48:06 PST

The trailer for Breaking Dawn Part 2 will be shown before The Hunger Games - Moviefone
Speaking of, here's how there could be another Twilight movie - NextMovie
Find out when America's Next Top Model: British Invasion is premiering - Buddy TV
Listen to all the songs from the Glee Valentine's Day episode - Zap2It
See what critics are saying about this weekend's new releases - Rotten Tomatoes
Read about all of Daniel Radcliffe's post-Potter controversies - The Daily Beast
TV shows that have lasted too long, inspired by House - HuffPostTV
25 romantic movies and the inspirational fashion of their stars - FabSugar

Buzz Time Machine: Ryan Reynolds Gets Schooled by a Teenage Witch

Lizzie Fuhr — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:00:00 PST

Long before Ryan Reynolds was kicking ass and taking names in Safe House, he landed a pretty different gig as a bad-boy jock on the Sabrina The Teenage Witch TV movie. Reynolds played Seth, your standard '90s smooth talker, who becomes the love interest of Sabrina. During a school dance, Seth pressures Sabrina to head to Lookout Point - and I'll let you see what is supposed to go on there. The whole thing looks like a bad after-school special until Sabrina does what she does best. Don't click away without watching Ryan Reynolds get schooled in this video!

See Steve Carell and Keira Knightley's Apocalyptic Movie Poster

BuzzSugar — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:46:24 PST

Check out the poster for Seeking a Friend For the End of the World - Moviefone
Read about the romance Justin Long is writing and starring in - NextMovie
Is Real Housewives of Miami coming back for another season? - BuddyTV
Get a peek at The Secret Circle's Valentine's episode - Zap2It
The 10 best movies of character actor Luis Guzmán - Rotten Tomatoes
Watch Michael Showalter confirm the Wet Hot American Summer sequel - HuffPostTV
Find out why Paradise Lost has been scrapped - /Film
10 movies that would be great in 3D - GeekSugar

What to Expect When You're Expecting Set Visit: Elizabeth Banks on Her Fake Bump and Personal Baby Joy

Becky Kirsch — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:05:11 PST

Some of the biggest names in Hollywood will share the big screen in the upcoming comedy What to Expect When You're Expecting, which follows different mothers-to-be as they prepare for the arrivals of their bundles of joy. Cameron Diaz, Brooklyn Decker, Anna Kendrick, and Elizabeth Banks are among the famous ladies who strapped on fake baby bumps to portray different kinds of pregnant women, and Banks's character, Wendy, doesn't exactly have an easy time of it.

I visited the Atlanta set of the film last year, where Banks was shooting a climactic scene in which her character addresses all the woes of pregnancy - in an auditorium with a rather large audience. The hilarious meltdown, which you can see in the opening of the trailer for What to Expect When You're Expecting, includes harsh truths like "I'm calling it: pregnancy sucks." It was great fun to see Banks film the passionate speech again and again, especially since the funny lady mixed up her one-liners from one take to another. What was even more interesting was seeing all of the extras who played the audience members, since the group of women was a mix of actual pregnant women and women rocking fake baby bumps.

I chatted with Banks about her own experience filming the movie, and she revealed that she actually felt like she was in her own little movie, since she doesn't have much screen time with her costars. Banks was refreshingly honest about not having any parenting tips and also admitted that though welcoming her son, Felix, has brought her a great deal of joy, it hasn't changed her stance on how she feels about kids in general. Here's more of what Banks had to say about pregnancy and motherhood:

What inspired you to take this role?
Elizabeth Banks: I cried when I read the script. It has a really great ending: at the end of the movie, everybody has a baby! It really is just a very relatable story for everyone: anybody who is a parent, has considered being a parent, has a baby, whatever. It's just very universal, what happens in the film. We really explore so many great storylines and different paths to getting a child. I had a unique path to getting my son, so I understand how everybody's path to their child is different.

How does it feel to wear the bump?
EB: It's sweaty! [Laughs] I think it's probably a decent approximation; it weighs a good 10 lbs. The boobs weigh about 6 lbs. They are really unbelievable. It's fun. It definitely makes you sit and walk in a totally different way. As an actor, it's a great prop.

How did you change when you became a mom?
EB: I get drunk much faster and easier, and it's a big problem, so I can't go out very much. I find that I underestimated the amount of joy. I'm really learning about my capacity for joy through my son.

To see what Banks had to say about baby fever and her parenting tips, just keep reading.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt to Direct a Romantic Comedy With Scarlett Johansson

BuzzSugar — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:46:42 PST

All the details on Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut - NextMovie
Here are some ideas about who might father Sue's baby on Glee - BuddyTV
See pics of Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron in Prometheus - Rotten Tomatoes
Read about the comedy that will reunite Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn - /Film
Watch Zooey Deschanel's SNL promos - HuffPost TV
See Oscar banners featuring classics like Annie Hall - Moviefone
Find out when the Pauly D spinoff is premiering - Zap2It
Here's a soundtrack to soothe your broken heart - Flavorwire
What relationships were like in the days of Downton Abbey - TrèsSugar

The Muppets' Music Man Bret McKenzie on His Oscar Nod and Taking a Silly Job Seriously

Lindsay Miller — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:50:41 PST

Bret McKenzie is up for an exceedingly rare honor this year, with his ballad "Man or Muppet" earning one of just two nominations in the Oscars' best song category. I caught up with The Muppets' musical supervisor today at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank to chat about the awards attention and the unique experience of penning music for Kermit and company. The New Zealand native talked about fighting the temptation to use the word "motherfrogger" in his songwriting and the roundabout way he came on board The Muppets project in the first place. Bret - who previously was best known as one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords - also shared his hopes of bringing FOC to the big screen. Check out our conversation below:

PopSugar: It's got to be an honor to be nominated for an Oscar, but also in a year when the Academy only bothered to nominate two songs.
Bret McKenzie: They barely nominated anyone! When I found out, it sounded like there'd been a mistake, and yeah, it's a huge honor. It's great and it's really exciting, and I'm not complaining that there's only two nominees the year I'm nominated. I mean, this is the best chance I'll have of winning an Oscar, ever. It couldn't have been better, unless there was just one nomination, and then it would be a very dull ceremony . . . There's a lot of legendary musicians - tunesmiths - in that list of possible nominations. So it's all very surreal to think that I got in ahead of Elton John.

PS: And Madonna. Those two had a little rivalry going on.
BM: I know. I got nervous about what Elton John's husband was going to say about me. It's crazy, and it's great for The Muppets film, because we're all really proud of the film and it wasn't ever really going to get a best actor. Hey, Jason's good, that's not what I mean, but Kermit, Miss Piggy - they can't win these awards - and comedies don't generally get recognized at these awards ceremonies, so it's kind of cool. It's almost like the film as a whole is being recognized with this category.

For more from our chat with Bret, including what he says about his plans for a Flight of the Conchords film, coaching Jason Segel, and the pressure he felt on the project, just

read more! PS: What was the biggest unexpected challenge for you writing music for the film? I know you talked about one draft of a song where you referred to a Muppet as a piece of felt and were told you couldn't do that. BM: Yeah. Little piece of felt, and you couldn't say things like motherfrogger, even though it's very tempting. There were lots of hard parts to it. The Muppets can't sing certain notes. They can't sing too high or the voice changes and doesn't sound like the right character. There were so many weird things. I spent hours recording penguins and rats, and what's weird is that it's such a silly job, but you have to take it very seriously. So I would be in the studio for days, maybe a whole day recording penguins, and then I'm like, "I'm not happy with how the penguins are sounding! Where's penguin four?" You know, getting demanding. "We lost penguin track four! I can't hear the penguin!" PS: I was watching the movie again last night and watching Jason Segel's performance of "Man or Muppet." Did you coach him on any of his rockstar moves? Because he pretty much nailed it. BM: He nailed it. That's my favorite moment in the film. When he buckles down in the rain, that was one of my favorite shots. I was so proud of what James [Bobin, the director] and those guys achieved, because I wasn't there on set, I just saw them syncing the video, and I was like, "Wow, guys. You nailed it." What we did do in the studio, as Jason and I had a technique where I would sing a line, and he'd watch me through the window, and then he'd sing it back. So we did this thing where, I was really into the drama of it. So, I was like, "Am I a Muppppettt?" [balling his hands into fists] And he'd be like, OK, record. "Am I a Muppppettt!" So we kind of worked together to get that style. PS: Did it shatter some of your childhood illusions to have the guy that does Miss Piggy's voice come work with you [in the recording studio]? BM: Yeah. Well, it wasn't Frank Oz. The guy Eric, who does it now, yeah. That was strange. And the day that we recorded Kermit the Frog doing "Rainbow Connection" - I was sort of pinching myself, because that was probably one of the real moments for me where I realized that my world had really changed. That I'd come from New Zealand, I'd grown up with Kermit the Frog, and now I was in Hollywood in a studio recording Kermit the Frog. It felt like worlds had collided. PS: Was there pressure knowing there was already this great catalog of Muppet songs? To try to add to that or top it in some way? BM: I knew I wouldn't top "Rainbow Connection," but I was very intimidated, but the way I worked on the job was it actually started with me just writing one song, so I didn't feel the pressure of writing the whole movie. I think it would have been different if I'd been hired from the outset to do all the music. So I wrote one, then another, and gradually wrote more and more, so that helped. PS: What song did you write first? BM: The opening song. That's the one they needed, that's the one James asked me to write first. The script was probably on a second draft, and they were in preproduction, so I came in quite late. And the way they were doing it was, they got 100s of demos submitted from all sorts of songwriters, and surprisingly - even though they got some really great people to do demos - people weren't quite hitting the right tone. The Muppet tone. I'd just come off the Conchords tour and I had some time, and James asked if I was interested in doing that opening song, because he had a kind of specific thing he needed from that song. He needed it to be really Muppet-y, that song, and he had a great idea for the whole town joining in, it starting off small and becoming a big musical number, and that came together really well. PS: Is this experience maybe something you want to bring to a Flight of the Conchords movie? BM: Yeah, exactly. Having done this movie now, we're in a much better place to do a Conchords film, because James is more experienced - well, we're all more experienced. Not specifically, but James Bobin - well, we're all very keen to do another studio musical, because I really enjoyed being able to do comedy musical numbers on such a grand scale, and I think next time, I really think it will just get better and better. Because it's such a fun genre, and we've done like 50 songs for TV now, and now The Muppets movie, and I feel like we've accidentally sort of become musical comedy experts. PS: What do you imagine Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords are up to these days, in their universe? BM: In the Lower East Side? That's a good question. I reckon they probably got a regular gig now. Like, at a Chinese restaurant. Photo courtesy Disney

Watch a Preview For Cougar Town Season 3

BuzzSugar — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:14:18 PST

Watch 10 minutes of Cougar Town's season premiere - Zap2It
10 shows you might like if you watch Criminal Minds - BuddyTV
See who will be learning how to pick up chicks with James Franco in The Game - NextMovie
Watch the latest trailer for G.I. Joe: Retaliation - Rotten Tomatoes
Rapper M.I.A.'s most controversial moments - The Daily Beast
Check out photos from Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - /Film
Find out about the book adaptation Amy Adams will star in - Moviefone
Guess which rock star is coming to Once Upon a Time - HuffPost TV
Get the details on the amazing dress Blair wears to kiss Dan on Gossip Girl - FabSugar