BuzzSugar

Are You Interested in Projects About World War II?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:30:48 -0700

Usually when Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg team up to tell stories about World War II, the results are pretty spectacular - witness Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. So I'm expecting a lot from The Pacific, the pair's follow-up miniseries for HBO. The project doesn't have an air date yet, but a lot of work has clearly gone into this 10-episode chronicle of three marines fighting in the Pacific: it started shooting in 2007, and it's rumored to have a $200 million budget.

The trailer's out now, and it looks like a slick and epic project. But it also got me thinking: World War II has been popular fodder for years now, not just for Spielberg and Hanks but for lots of other film and TV storytellers. Do you think there are still more compelling stories to be told about that era? Or do you tune out at the very mention of victory gardens and D-Day?

Box Office: Angels and Demons Is No. 1

BuzzSugar — Mon, 18 May 2009 07:15:54 -0700

The film adaptation of Dan Brown's bestselling novel, Angels and Demons starring Tom Hanks, is a global sensation after earning an estimated $104.3 million at the international box office over the weekend.

Here in the US the holy thriller swiped the top spot from Star Trek, which still performed strongly, coming in at No. 2 with an estimated $43 million domestically. According to Variety, positive word-of-mouth thanks to stellar reviews is probably the reason Star Trek continues to be quite the box office powerhouse.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, and Obsessed rounded out the rest of the box office top five coming in third, fourth, and fifth respectively.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Angels and Demons: Information Overload

BuzzSugar — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:30:29 -0700

Angels and Demons reunites Tom Hanks and Ron Howard for another Dan Brown adaptation. While Brown's book was a prequel to the author's best-selling The Da Vinci Code, this installment in the movie franchise is set up as a sequel.

The Da Vinci Code received awful reviews when it debuted, mostly due to its excruciatingly slow pace. It then went on to earn a gazillion dollars, proving there's an appetite for escapist movies involving Vatican conspiracy theories. But while the pacing is much improved in Angels and Demons, the mindless entertainment part is basically ruined thanks to an enormous amount of expository dialogue. Every time the action starts to click along, every time the mystery deepens, Hanks's professor character shows up with another long-winded history lesson that's completely pointless in terms of understanding the plot. In other words, it's a buzzkill.

To see why this would be a much better experience if the professor were muzzled, read more.

The story begins promisingly enough with some high-stakes circumstances. The beloved pope is dead! The preferiti - the four cardinals up for pope - have been kidnapped! The kidnapper is leaving clues full of strange symbols! This must be a job for a symbologist!

Enter Harvard scholar Robert Langdon (Hanks), whom we first see buff and tanned (and without that terrible bouffant he sported the last time) swimming laps. A man with a briefcase approaches. In the first of many "Thank you, Captain Obvious" moments, Langdon pops up for air and explains in great detail that a symbol on the briefcase must mean the man is from the Vatican. And then the man says, "Yes. I am from the Vatican." That's the sort of thing that happens all throughout this movie.

Regardless, the chase is on to save the cardinals from a mad man who Langdon believes is part of an ancient group of scientists/terrorists called the Illuminati. Adding to the suspense is a dangerous "God particle," stolen from an Italian biophysicist named Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), ticking away like a time bomb and threatening to blow the Holy City to smithereens.

Further complicating the story is a cast of Vatican power players filled out by three excellent actors: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Stellan Skarsgard, and Ewan McGregor. I wish these characters had their own movie in which they could maneuver around each other in the aftermath of the pope's mysterious death. But no, they have to call in that yappy professor, who takes forever to explain things the audience has already figured out.

While the first half of the movie is predictable and mind-numbing, the final act is so preposterous it's actually fun. The climactic scene is so silly and nonsensical you'll likely have fun talking about it for days (I know I have). The set design and costumes are actually quite beautiful, as is the cinematography, which gives many of the scenes a lovely, heavenly glow.

In the end the ingredients are all there for a stylish and fun (and most holy) suspense thriller. Too bad Howard and his team ruined it by talking too much.

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures

How Well Do You Know Tom Hanks?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:30:39 -0700

Tom Hanks's new movie, Angels and Demons, hits theaters today. Every time I see that guy on the big screen these days, I can't help but marvel at his career. The man has been making blockbusters for decades, and he's one of the most powerful, not to mention beloved, forces in Hollywood.

His career has involved acting both on big screens and small, and he's worked with so many talented actors and directors along the way. I get a kick out of Tom Hanks trivia and thought you might have fun testing your knowledge as well. Ready? Good luck!

Source

Take the quiz

Watch, Pass, TiVo or Rent: Angels and Demons

BuzzSugar — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:15:26 -0700

Though Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons is a prequel to his bestseller The Da Vinci Code, the film adaptation was developed as a sequel. In the movie, which opens this Friday, Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon who "discovers evidence of the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati" whose most despised enemy is the Catholic Church. Together with an Italian scientist named Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), Langdon "will follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that mark the Vatican's only hope for survival."

Do you plan on seeking out this mysterious thriller in the theaters, on DVD, or when it happens to be on TV someday? Or maybe never?

One-sheet courtesy of Sony Pictures

The Great Buck Howard: A Funny Tale of Fading Greatness

BuzzSugar — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:30:13 -0700

The Great Buck Howard is a cute little movie that managed to further endear Colin Hanks, John Malkovich and Emily Blunt to me. It's probably not going to change lives, but it more than suffices as a good distraction. Plus, it's a new and interesting portrayal of that 20-something distress of not knowing the answer to questions like "What do I do with my life? How do I figure out what's next?" Perhaps because I’m not much older than Colin Hanks’s character in the film, I appreciate stories that explore this particular struggle.

It's a common conundrum in this day and age: Average kid Troy (Colin Hanks) graduates college and goes to law school for a while before realizing he doesn't actually want to be a lawyer - so, now what? There's blessed little time devoted to the whole clichéd argument about changing careers (i.e. "Becoming a lawyer wasn't my dream, Dad - it was yours!") and swift movement onto the meatiest part of the narrative: Troy's in-the-meantime job as personal assistant to a famous "mentalist" (not magician, mind you), the Great Buck Howard (John Malkovich). Troy accompanies Buck to all his shows, where Buck mostly plays to small crowds of older folks. Buck's delusions of grandeur make us cringe as it becomes clear that he's not exactly in the big leagues as a performer, and yet with Troy (and everyone else, for that matter) he behaves like a diva. Troy takes the abuse without complaint and he seems to feel pity toward the aging performer. When he meets a pretty publicist named Valerie (Emily Blunt), Troy starts to think more seriously about what's coming next in his life. To see what comes next in my train of thoughts, read more.

With his signature intensity and precision of speech, John Malkovich easily slips into the role of Buck Howard - and what fun for Malkovich to play such a wonderfully larger-than-life character. While certain parts of the story might drag, Malkovich's Buck Howard consistently draws us back in with his outrageously dramatic, egotistical, and unpredictable personality. Malkovich also nicely balances making Buck Howard obnoxious without allowing us to ever hate him.

The story moves into some ordinary territory with the washed-up performer treating his poor, young assistant badly. But Troy, with his even temperament, doesn't seem to mind too much, and the truth is that Buck Howard is a fading trace of an already faded star. Not only is he drifting into obscurity as a performer, but his art itself is not particularly popular nowadays. It also becomes painfully clear that Buck doesn't have anyone in the world that he can rely on. We'd pity this aggravating, lonely man, but we can't because he doesn't seem particularly daunted by his own diminishing fame. Why would he be? He's the Great Buck Howard. In his eyes, he's the greatest.

Furthermore, he still has his fans and he even has the respect of his assistant - largely because Buck has an especially puzzling and impressive trick and Troy can't figure out how Buck pulls it off. In many ways the movie is a coming-of-age story for Troy and as he transitions from his younger self to an adult, he still has this childlike desire to believe in magical things, and not being able to figure out Buck's trick delights and satisfies this part of him. He wants to still believe in the omniscience of someone magical, and the sweetest part about this whole story is that Buck lets him.

Photos courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Tom Hanks Hops on the Live-Action Toy Movie Bandwagon

BuzzSugar — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:30:53 -0700

Tom Hanks is no stranger to acting with - or as - toys in the movies. He played a toy designer in the movie Big and lent his voice to one of film's most famous toys of all, Woody the cowboy from Pixar's Toy Story. So it's no surprise that he would want in on the live-action toy movies sweeping the land - Transformers, G.I. Joe, Candyland, etc.

Hanks is looking to star as Major Matt Mason, a toy astronaut developed in the '60s by Mattel when every little kid dreamed of rocketing off to the moon like Neil Armstrong. Screenwriter Graham Yost, who worked with Hanks before on HBO's From the Earth to the Moon, will write the script. Of course, Hanks also has previous astronaut experience from Apollo 13.

Must be nice to be as big a star as Hanks and bring the toys of your childhood to life on the big screen. This toy came before my time, but I like the idea of Hanks on the moon again - how about you? Now if only a big box-office female star could get to work on Jem.

Source and Source

Sleepless in Seattle to Become Broadway Musical

BuzzSugar — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:30:54 -0800

"Horses, horses, horses, horses. . . ."

I hope one of the songs in the Sleepless in Seattle Broadway musical begins like that, patterned after Meg Ryan's little moment singing along to the holiday tune in her car. According to Variety, the script for Sleepless in Seattle - The Musical is about half finished, and about 18 songs have been written. The article notes, "Sticking to plot of the Sleepless pic, the new tuner follows a cross-country romance arranged by a young boy for his widowed father. Storyline will remain set in the early 1990s."

I'm glad to hear that, since I think part of the movie's greatness is that it's so quintessentially '90s - back before Internet dating made it not so unusual at all to find love 3,000 miles away (actually, before the Internet made it much easier to find people in general) and before acronyms (like Jessica's MFEO = Made For Each Other) were commonly used as text message communication. I'm not going to lie, I'll probably see this production, just to find out how on earth they do it.

What do you think? And what are some suggestions for musical numbers to include in the stage musical? Would you want to see it?

Source

Movie Preview: Angels and Demons

BuzzSugar — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:30:04 -0800

We got a taste of Ron Howard's followup to his 2006 film The DaVinci Code a few months ago, and a longer peek aired during the Super Bowl. Now, a full-length trailer for Angels and Demons, in all its dramatic mysteriousness, has hit the web. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, this time working to "solve a murder and prevent a terrorist act against the Vatican." Joining him in the film is Ayelet Zurer as Langdon's new female cohort and Ewan McGregor as the Camerlengo. Oh, Ewan. He looks so handsome, even in priestly garb.

Though Dan Brown's book is a prequel to The DaVinci Code, this film adaptation is a sequel. Angels and Demons opens May 15. To check out the full-length trailer, read more.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Movie Preview: The Great Buck Howard

BuzzSugar — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:34:06 -0800

Filed under "Movies I Missed at Sundance, Sadly" is The Great Buck Howard, a quirky comedy with a stellar cast that includes John Malkovich, Emily Blunt, Tom Hanks and Colin Hanks. The story follows law school dropout Troy (Colin Hanks), who answers a job listing to be a personal assistant and "unknowingly signs on to work for a belligerent has-been magician [the "Great Buck Howard," played by John Malkovich] struggling to resurrect his career. This leads to a journey across the country staging the comeback of a lifetime."

John Malkovich is fascinating to watch in pretty much every role he takes on, though I really love it when he gets to play wackier characters . There's no release date for The Great Buck Howard just yet, but for now you can check out the teaser trailer and a couple of clips if you read more.

The teaser trailer:

Colin Hanks clip:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Emily Blunt clip:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Source