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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:30:50 -0800

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to my picks below, you can also bring home the comedy Step Brothers today.

X-Files: I Want to Believe
Rejoice, X-Files fans: The most recent addition to the beloved sci-fi saga has arrived on DVD. The movie didn't receive stellar reviews but I don't think that will matter to those who are looking forward to seeing Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) get back on a case together. This mystery involves a missing FBI agent and a psychic priest (played by Billy Connolly). Amanda Peet also appears in the movie as a young agent.

Special features include audio commentary by show creators/movie collaborators Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, a special makeup effects featurette, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.

Two more good ones up next, so read more.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Is there anything more fun than curling up in a blanket with a Narnia movie and something yummy to sip on? I don't think so. I saw this in the theaters and while I had some nits to pick with it, it's hard not to succumb to the magic and whimsy of this favorite childhood book coming to life on the screen. Another pro for me? That the guy playing Prince Caspian, Ben Barnes, is way cuter than I even imagined the good prince to be.

Special features include audio commentary with director Andrew Adamson, bloopers, deleted scenes, and an in-depth look at the talking animals and walking trees that make up the magical world of Narnia.

Wanted
Wanted stars James McAvoy who plays poor, spineless Wesley, an accountant with major anxiety issues who meets Fox (Angelina Jolie), a hot lady who tells him his recently deceased father was actually a talented member of an assassins circle known as The Fraternity. The Fraternity's leader Sloan (Morgan Freeman) recruits Wesley into the ring to go after his father's murderer. What follows is a movie full of guns, blood, and bullets, all of which is now yours to take home to watch in the comfort of your own home.

Special features include extended scenes and a look at the making of the film's special effects.

Box Office: The Dark Knight Continues to Reign

BuzzSugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:30:00 -0700

In its second week in theaters, The Dark Knight continued to trample both the competition and box office records. According to Variety, it brought in $75.6 million from the 4,300 theaters screening it. This means that the Batman sequel brought in $300 million in less than 10 days, and grossed more than any other film has in its second weekend, a record previously held by Shrek 2.

Batman's competition mostly came from Step Brothers. The R-rated comedy took in $30 million which secured it the no. 2 spot. It seems that much of America did not have Will Ferrell fatigue after all.

Mamma Mia! grabbed the third spot with $17.2 million, bringing its total to $62.7 million.

The rest of the top five included The X-Files: I Want to Believe, which brought in $10.2 million, a very small number for what was expected to be a Summer blockbuster. To put that into perspective, the first X-Files film earned just over $30 million its first weekend during June of 1998. Journey to the Center of the Earth took fifth place, earning $9.4 million.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

X-Files: I Want to Believe: Sadly, a Disappointment

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:30:07 -0700

You can count me among the fans - but not the super-fanatics - of The X-Files when it aired in the '90s. I may not have been as insane about it as others, but I kept up with the weird, spooky drama and I looked forward to new episodes. Plus, Gillian Anderson's character, Dana Scully, is a strong, female sci-fi heroine of sorts, and I really looked up to her at the time. Oh, and of course David Duchovny's Fox Mulder was definitely crushworthy so all in all, it was a highlight of my TV-viewing universe. This is why I had nothing but high hopes for X-Files: I Want to Believe, and I tried to ignore those pesky questions during the build up to the release like: "Really, ten years later?" and "Will people still, in fact, want to believe?"

I should also point out that this movie has been promoted as a stand-alone story, meaning that even folks who have little knowledge of the series would be able to get on board and enjoy a dark thriller with a compelling mystery. In fact, details of the plot have been kept so tightly under wraps my assumption was that they must have thought of something really awesome to hinge a new movie around - hence everyone's willingness to get back together years after the series left the airwaves.

Which brings me to the bad news first (and I won't give away spoilers): the so-called "mystery" that has been so shrouded in secrecy is truly nothing very exciting. In fact, it hardly stands up to the most mediocre of episodes, which only adds to my perplexity over this movie. Truth be told, I'm pretty bummed out. To see why, read more.

When the movie opens it has been six years in "real time" since we last saw everyone in the series finale, and we learn that Fox Mulder is no longer with the FBI and is a bit of a recluse (well, we're meant to assume this because he is bearded and sits around clipping newspaper articles like a crazy person). Meanwhile, Scully is a surgeon at Our Lady of Sorrows Hospital where she is personally invested in saving a terminally sick boy, to the displeasure of her colleagues.

Also, two FBI agents (played by Amanda Peet and Alvin "Xzibit" Joiner) are feverishly looking for a missing colleague using the help of a psychic priest named Father Joe (Billy Connolly), but they really need the one agent who has experience with this kind of stuff: Agent Mulder. With the help of Scully the FBI pulls him back in and X-Philes will sigh with relief at how quickly he's back to his obsessive ways.

It's Scully who has probably changed the most; she's no longer just a pragmatic voice of reason, but resolute in her unwillingness to "look into the darkness" any longer. A lot of screen time is focused on faith, losing faith, that darkness, etc. Like the television series, it's dark and brooding, but without a strong case to solve all this analysis and back-and-forth between the two former agents is tepid. It's sad to see these two so empty. I missed the occasional wry glint in Mulder's eye and I wanted to see Scully quit dragging her feet and jump on board the case despite her reservations. But between all that angst and a story that's mostly uninteresting (I wish there had been something extraterrestrial about it, or maybe some magic - anything too crazy to believe!) the whole thing is mostly just so-so.

Still, even after all that head-scratching and some boredom, I love Mulder and respect Scully and I suppose after such a mediocre return to the X-Files that's probably the silver lining. Which is to say: it could have been worse but I wish it were so much better.

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

How Well Do You Know the X-Files?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:30:13 -0700

Here we are, 10 whole years after the last X-Files movie and fans of the show will finally get another (perhaps last?) taste of two of the most beloved sci-fi characters of our time: Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. While X-Files: I Want to Believe is supposed to be a stand-alone story (so, you don't have to know the whole history of the show to enjoy it), I still think we could all use a little brush-up on our X-Files trivia.

If you, too, are hearing that spooky theme music in your head, take my quiz!

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Take the quiz

New Trailer for The X-Files: I Want to Believe

BuzzSugar — Mon, 12 May 2008 10:32:21 -0700

OK, X-philes, ready for the most exciting one minute and 30 seconds of your day? There's a new, official trailer out now for the upcoming X-Files movie and it's pretty great. There's more of what we saw in the teaser trailer (Billy Connolly being spooky, people frantically digging in the snow, etc.) but there are also more details and the creepiness factor has been upped.

Also, I'm convinced that the eerie theme music that goes with The X-Files can rival other recognizable theme songs and movie scores for its ability to create instantaneous chills.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe opens in theaters July 25. To check out the new trailer, read more.

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Buzz News Roundup, 4/16

BuzzSugar — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:32:48 -0700

According to the AP, the upcoming X-Files movie has an official title! It's now called The X-Files: I Want to Believe, and will still open July 25.
Richard Gere is joining two movie projects, writes Variety. He'll costar alongside Hilary Swank in the Amelia Earhart biopic, and he'll star in the cop drama Brooklyn's Finest.
Iron & Wine, Flight of the Conchords, and Wolf Parade are among the bands scheduled for Sub Pop Records' 20th anniversary party this Summer, Billboard reports.
ComingSoon reports that Danielle Panabaker will play the female lead in the remake of Friday the 13th.
Get ready for more "green" storylines: NBC is bringing back Green is Universal for Earth Day, and The Futon Critic has the details. Meanwhile, the Hollywood Reporter writes that Fox has started an eco campaign of its own.
The writer responsible for adapting Bringing Down the House into 21 is at it again, writing the screenplay version of a lottery scam memoir, Money for Nothing, writes Hollywood Reporter.
Hollywood Reporter writes that Stan Lee will launch yet another superhero franchise, titled Legion of 5.
The New York Times has a very sweet piece on the classic Disney animator Ollie Johnston who died on Monday.
According to ComingSoon, Demi Moore has landed roles in two indie movies: Happy Tears, in which she'll star alongside Parker Posey, and Bunraku, starring Woody Harrelson.

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