BuzzSugar

Buzz News Roundup, 12/3

BuzzSugar — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:30:17 -0800

Folk music legend Odetta has died at age 77. - AP
Shia LaBeouf will play the title role in the big screen version of John Grisham's upcoming legal thriller The Associate. - Variety
In addition to Reaper, the CW's midseason schedule includes 13: Fear Is Real. - Zap2it
Kanye West edged Guns N' Roses and Taylor Swift for the top spot on the Billboard charts. - Billboard
VH1 has picked up a matchmaking reality series from Drew Barrymore's production company. - Variety
It's possible that Kevin McKidd will star as Thor in Kenneth Branagh's film project. - ComingSoon
John Malkovich and Hugh Laurie will be the final two Saturday Night Live hosts of the year, Malkovich this weekend and Laurie on Dec. 13. - The Futon Critic

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

Who Do You Think Will Have the Biggest Post-Twilight Career?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:00:42 -0800

Alice Cullen is moving beyond Twilight: Actress Ashley Greene is in talks for a ghostly film titled The Apparition. The story follows a couple who is haunted after an experiment goes awry. Greene would play the female lead, so no more playing second fiddle to Bella!

I'll be honest, I wasn't all that familiar with Greene - or some of the other New Moon actors - before Twilight took off. Kristen Stewart's career was perhaps the most well known, but the gang's notoriety couldn't even touch the recognition they receive now. They're already landing big-name magazine covers, and I'm sure films like The Apparition are just the tip of the iceberg for Greene and the group as Twilight mania continues.

It makes me curious though - who do you think is going to get the most out of the film's success? Obviously, your first pick might be heartthrob Robert Pattinson, but let's not forget that it's sometimes hard for an actor to break out of a role that made him huge, since everyone associates them with the part. Maybe Kristen Stewart is a stronger choice since she had already established a growing career before Twilight took over? Or maybe even someone who's more on the sidelines, like Kellan Lutz?

What to Download: New Music Today

BuzzSugar — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:30:59 -0700

It's Tuesday! I've already given you some picks to beef up your Netflix queue, but now it's time for your iPod. Check out today's new music releases for what you should download.

The birth of new sound: The latest from The Flaming Lips, Embryonic, is the musical equivalent of an acid trip. The band reportedly improvised a lot in the studio, so the entire album feels raw and pretty much all over the place. MGMT joins in on the track Worm Mountain, Karen O lends silly animal noises (yes, really) to I Can Be a Frog, and a mathematician spouts out equation, x=y type stuff on Gemini Syringes. Weird? You bet. Every track is experimental, which means you'll either embrace it for its free-spirited creativity, or write it off as too strange. Either way, it's worth checking out.

Pop culture candy: Hell has frozen over - Jack White is on the 90210 soundtrack. Hey, I'm not knocking TV music - I've already professed my love for it - but I was surprised to see The Raconteurs associated with a CW show. The band lends a wicked guitar riff to the first track Many Shades of Black (featuring soulful singer Adele) to start the album off. The rest of the playlist includes a mix of new offerings from indie artists and more mainstream pop, but my favorites are the sleepy Valium by MuteMath and the Postal Service-ish Sunburn by Owl City.

See one more release when you read more.

Bah-hum-blah: I was pumped when I heard that Bob Dylan was making a holiday album. It may be Halloween time now, but I always love a good carol, and Christmas in the Heart includes 15 of my favorites. But that's where my excitement ended. Dylan's voice will always be uniquely his, but the throaty quality seems out of place here, singing famous ditties like Here Comes Santa Claus. It's almost like your uncle had too many spiked ciders and started caroling. Even so, I'll probably still download I'll Be Home For Christmas or Winter Wonderland just so I'm not a total Scrooge - the proceeds go to the charity Feeding America.

Movie Preview: The Fantastic Mr. Fox

BuzzSugar — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:30:31 -0700

Some of my favorite directors are just rollin' out the trailers today - first the Coen brothers with A Serious Man, now Wes Anderson with his forthcoming project The Fantastic Mr. Fox. This animated film is based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name and follows a family of foxes and their animal associates as they struggle against the farmers who want to dig out their neighborhood.

I'm not sure whether the first word to describe this trailer should be "bizarre" or "hilarious" - but either way, I know I want to see this movie. George Clooney as Mr. Fox and Bill Murray as the "demolitions expert" badger seem like particularly inspired bits of casting, and Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox isn't far behind. The trailer really won me over about halfway through, when the foxes start doing things like making bandit masks out of spare tube socks and drugging beagles with blueberries. Not unlike Where the Wild Things Are, it looks like a cross between a children's classic and a film hipsters will adore.

The movie - which Anderson co-wrote with The Squid and the Whale's Noah Baumbach - will be opening the London Film Festival in October and then hitting US theaters on Nov. 13. To check out the trailer, just read more.