BuzzSugar

What to Rent: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 06:45:00 PDT

Jennifer Aniston, Ben Stiller, and Carey Mulligan headline this week's new DVD releases. Should you fire up your Netflix? Read on to find out.

The Bounty Hunter

Handcuffs and double entendres get put to use as Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler take their flirtation on screen. Butler plays the title character; Aniston is his bail-skipping ex-wife who also happens to be a reporter tracking down a murder story. Critics blasted the script for being too formulaic, so perhaps this rental should be reserved for Aniston fans only. DVD extras include three making-of featurettes.

Greenberg

Director Noah Baumbach tells the story of Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller), a 40-something loner with no sense of life direction. But once Roger meets Florence (Greta Gerwig), a personal assistant in her mid-20s who feels similarly lost, he tries to have - or better yet, not have - an actual relationship with disastrous results. Stiller turns in a nicely subdued performance; but his character is so unlikeable that he often makes the film hard to take. Gerwig's Florence, however, is completely charming to compensate for Roger's abrasiveness, making her one to watch. DVD extras include featurettes with Baumbach.

73%

One more rental to check out when you

read more. The Greatest Heavy on the melodrama, The Greatest follows two parents (Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan) overcoming the tragic death of their son (Kick Ass's Aaron Johnson). To make matters more complicated, the young girl he got pregnant (Carey Mulligan) shows up on their doorstep. As the characters try to help each other grieve, there are plenty of waterworks and overwrought dialogue. What saves the film: another captivating performance by Mulligan. If you're as smitten with her as I am, consider adding this to your queue. DVD extras include deleted scenes and cast interviews. 49%

Watch, Pass, or Rent: Date Night and The Greatest

PopSugarTV — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:01:00 PDT

BuzzSugar explains why you should run out to see Date Night this weekend but can probably wait for the DVD of The Greatest.

Watch, Pass or Rent Movie Reviews: Date Night and The Greatest

BuzzSugar — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:00:00 PDT

Trying to figure out which new movies are worth a trip to the movie theater? Check out the video reviews of Date Night and The Greatest and hear whether our editors think you should head to the theater or save your money.

Tom Sturridge Keeps in Touch With Robert Pattinson, The Situation's Shirtless Beatdown, & SATC 2 Clues!

Molly — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:30:00 PDT

Tom Sturridge talks about keeping in touch with Robert Pattinson at the NYC screening of his film with Rachel Bilson. Jersey Shore's The Situation goes shirtless to take a beating in a commercial, and the best clues from the new Sex and the City!

PSR 4/9/10: Tom Keeps in Touch With Rob, The Situation's Shirtless Beatdown, & SATC 2 Clues!

PopSugarTV — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:17:03 PDT

Tom Sturridge talks about keeping in touch with Robert Pattinson at the NYC screening of his film with Rachel Bilson, Jersey Shore's The Situation goes shirtless to take a beating in a commercial, and the new Sex and the City trailer includes Aidan and Stanford as a bride! Be sure to follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook for all the latest celebrity gossip!

The Greatest: Doesn't Live Up to Its Lofty Title

Lauren Bradshaw — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:30:00 PDT

Calling a movie The Greatest is setting it up for high expectations. Making it about a family's mourning makes things even stickier. How do you depict grief without getting bogged down in melodramatics? It's a dilemma that The Greatest doesn't quite seem to overcome.

The movie opens with high school seniors Rose (Carey Mulligan) and Bennett (Aaron Johnson) in bed together. After four years of gazing at each other longingly, they finally got up the courage to speak to one another earlier the same day - and now here they are, losing their virginity. Following their roll in bed, they go for a drive where Bennett parks in the road to tell Rose he loves her. And then his car gets hit.

It's a quick run of events that bring the audience face to face with what this film is ultimately about - dealing with death. As Bennett's parents Allen and Grace (Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon) sit in the funeral car with their younger son Ryan (Johnny Simmons), no one says a word. Allen stares ahead in shock. Grace and Ryan look out the windows. For a solid two minutes we feel a sense of the sadness and tension they're going through in a way that seems honest. However, as their story unfolds, rudimentary problems arise. To see what I mean,

read more. Once the family returns home, each person copes with Bennett's loss in his or her own way. Grace sobs into her pillow, whenever she's not obsessively trying to glean details about the accident from the driver in the other car (Michael Shannon), who's still in a coma. In turn, Allen bottles up his feelings, taking more of the strong, silent route. As for Ryan, he attends a counseling group for teens who have lost siblings - not for his own breakthrough mind you, but because he says, he felt like it's what you're supposed to do. He even strikes up a romance (with Zoe Kravitz), so the support group almost seems more like a way for him to meet girls. Then Rose appears on the family's doorstep, a young girl whom they never met - and she's pregnant with Bennett's child. With no real parents other than a mother in rehab, Rose moves in to ultimately learn about her baby's father, despite the fact that no one in the house appears able to talk about him. The family obviously has its share of problems, as does the plot. We are introduced to Allen's female associate whom he obviously had an affair with, but little more of their relationship is revealed, and she's ultimately dropped. Same goes for Kravitz's role. What's worse - in the screening I attended, there were several unintentional laughs. The likely culprits: a few scenes that border on cliche, and a weeping breakdown by Brosnan that feels slightly off-putting coming from a former 007. On the upside, Sarandon can play a tortured mother with her eyes closed, and Mulligan once again mesmerizes with her ability to hold the audience's attention. She is ultimately why I wanted to see this movie, and she's still my favorite part having left it. As for the rest - frankly, who likes a downer?

If you'd like to review a movie you've seen recently, check out the Movie Reviews Group in community. I may even feature your critique on the site!

Movie List Challenge: Favorite Tearjerkers

BuzzSugar — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 09:30:00 PDT

Put your mini tissue pack in your purse: opening this week, The Greatest stars Carey Mulligan as a lovelorn pregnant teen whose boyfriend is killed in a car accident. After surviving the crash, she must move in with his grieving family. Clearly, it's a recipe for tears, shaking shoulders, and a runny nose.

Not that there's anything wrong with that - I've been known to pop in a movie for the sole purpose of giving myself a good cry. My go-to is Steel Magnolias, and I never have a dry face when I watch the end of My Girl. So for this week's Movie List Challenge, I want to hear about the films that make you sob. Sad tears, happy tears, whatever: make your list of favorite tearjerkers and submit it to the Movie List group in the community. I'll be checking in with your submissions, so you may see your post right here on the home page!

Carey Has Good Company For Her Screening of The Greatest

PopSugar — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:30:44 PDT

Carey Mulligan stepped out in LA last night for a screening of her upcoming film The Greatest. Her boyfriend, Shia LaBeouf, didn't go along for the evening in accordance with their rare red carpet appearance policy, but she did have the company of a similarly plaid-wearing Tobey Maguire and her costar Pierce Brosnan. Their movie opens in limited release next Friday, and in-demand Carey continues to line up new roles. She's likely to take a turn playing Eliza Doolittle in a remake of My Fair Lady, according to the project's writer Emma Thompson.

More photos of The Greatest premiere so read more.

View 10 Photos ›

Movie Preview: Carey Mulligan in The Greatest

BuzzSugar — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:30:00 PDT

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

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

BuzzSugar — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:25:44 PST

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