BuzzSugar

Tom Hanks Hops on the Live-Action Toy Movie Bandwagon

BuzzSugar — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:30:53 PDT

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

Mattel Plans More Toy-Inspired Movies

BuzzSugar — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:31:54 PST

The Transformers movie clearly turned out to be massively successful for the Hasbro toy company, and talk of a sequel swiftly followed the first movie's release. Then a G.I. Joe movie went into development, followed by a deal with Universal to make at least four movies based on Hasbro products, including Ouija, Candyland and Battleship, among others.

Not to be outdone, rival toy company Mattel got to work on a live-action "300-style" He-Man movie (with rumors of Brad Pitt taking the main role) and now there are a few more toy-inspired projects on the way. Apparently the company hopes to make an action film based on Hot Wheels, and at long last, Barbie will get her very own live-action feature film (though, as we all know, it's not exactly easy to find real women with the Barbie doll's measurements, or those who walk only on their tiptoes).

Obviously these projects are done with the intention of selling more toys, but do you think there's anything cool or interesting about them? And what kind of character will Barbie be?

Source and source

Hysteria Director Tanya Wexler Talks Vibrators, Faking It, and Duck Sex

Tara Block — Fri, 25 May 2012 04:00:15 PDT

Don't be shy . . . It's time to talk sex toys! And Hysteria director Tanya Wexler is writing us a prescription for pleasure. Tanya's film - what she calls "the vibrator movie you can bring your mom to" - is in limited release and stars Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Rupert Everett. When working on a romantic comedy that centers around the invention of the vibrator, you end up with some entertaining and embarrassing situations along the way, and lucky for us, Tanya spilled all the hilariously dirty details. From teaming up with the film's partner Jimmyjane for a drive-by vibrator drop-off to a certain female Oscar-winner to trying unsuccessfully to get ducks to shag on command, Tanya was bursting with great stories from working on this very unconventional film. And while Tanya isn't ashamed to discuss the sexy subject matter of her latest film with us, the mother of four and her partner of 21 years did have a tricky challenge telling her preteen kids what her movie was about. (She eventually gave them the script and let them figure it out themselves!) Check out our interview with the fun-loving director now, and we dare you not to have a girl crush on her by the end!

TrèsSugar: What were some of the challenges to getting a movie made about vibrators?
Tanya Wexler: Getting the script right was tricky because if you just make a movie about the invention of the vibrator, it's actually a really short movie: you go "bzz" and it's done. And we had a kind of light romantic comedy. I say I made the vibrator movie you can bring your mom to. But some people wanted it to be raunchy or some people wanted it to be more serious and about feminism. People project a lot onto this movie of what they want, because there isn't a lot out there about vibrators and women's pleasure, and we still don't really deal with that topic very well, or we're overly antsy around it. And as a result, people have a lot of ideas of what the movie could and should be, and you can't please everyone. [laughs]

TS: Ha, good one.
TW: It's nonstop!

TS: Do you find sex toys inherently funny or something to be seriously celebrated?
TW: Yes!

TS: Both?
TW: Yes! Yes. I think they make me laugh, and I think that the inner kind of Beavis and Butt-head in all of us goes "[laugh]." You know, that inner 13-year-old, like, "Hahaha vibrator . . . " and yet they're awesome and fun.

TS: What shocked you the most when researching the movie?
TW: That ducks are the rapists of the bird world, and you'll see when you see the movie, because there's a little bit of questionable duck behavior - or awesome duck behavior - in the movie. It's totally a sidebar, but you cannot make ducks shag on command. I'm just saying.

TS: What about the whole history of hysteria being a medical condition?
TW: When I first heard the idea, I was like, "What do you mean it was invented in Victorian times?" I knew about hysteria, but the idea that the treatment was manual [British accent] massage deparaxism - which is what they called it - and, of course, the denial. The most shocking thing is the denial, that they didn't think it was sexual.

TS: Do you think they were really in denial?
TW: No, I don't think that some people were. My college roommate was with her high school boyfriend for two years and she had never had an orgasm. I think there's all kinds of denial, especially with women's sexuality. So the fact that there are young women today who haven't had an orgasm, whether self-induced - which is insane - or with a partner, then why wouldn't we think back then that women wouldn't know what orgasms were?

They would get a massage, and the doctor's saying, "Without a penis, this isn't sex, because sex is about procreation," so what is this? The best physical therapy you've ever had. So once you don't think of it as something other than what the doctor's supposed to do to cure your uncontrollable crying or uncontrollable laughter or whatever, then it's just an awesome muscle spasm. If you don't think women have their own inherent sexuality, then you're not thinking about it like that.

Keep reading for Tanya's thoughts on Fifty Shades and more!

Battleship: Needs a Lifesaver

Maggie Pehanick — Fri, 18 May 2012 06:00:00 PDT

I don't remember aliens making an appearance in my own childhood sessions with Battleship, but I suppose when you try to make a toy into a feature-length film, you're afforded a few liberties. Unfortunately, the producers of Battleship may have spent too much time finding creative ways to explode things and not enough time on a plot, ending up with underutilized actors, in a wishy-washy destruction story.

Battleship starts out in 2005, when the US establishes the Beacon Project, an effort to reach out to potential life forms on a planet that has a similar climate as the Earth. The government sets up a powerful signal on Hawaii capable of sending transmissions to the foreign territory. Little do they know the frequencies are being received, and not by friendly folks. Enter brothers Alex (Taylor Kitsch) and Stone (Alexander Skarsgard). Stone is clean-cut and responsible while Alex is generally a mess. We first meet them in a bar scene that turns to Alex breaking into a convenience store to steal a chicken burrito for his future girlfriend, Sam (Brooklyn Decker). Thanks to Kitsch's surprising physical comedy skills, the scene is the highlight of the movie. It all goes to the aliens after that.

Read the rest of my thoughts on Battleship after the break.

Tech We Want to Steal From The Avengers

Anna Monette Roberts — Wed, 02 May 2012 03:23:46 PDT

Even superheroes would be nowhere without their gadgets. As we gear up for the highly anticipated release of The Avengers on Friday (catch up on everything you need to know here), we're getting super(hero) excited about the futuristic, high-tech gadgets on display in this Marvel Comics extravaganza. If this movie is to be trusted, the future of technology is all about ultrathin touchscreens and holographs. Take a look at seven mind-blowing gadgets and high-tech toys from The Avengers that we wish we could get our hands on in real life.

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

Link Time! Alicia Silverstone Bites Into a Vampire Romance

BuzzSugar — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:30:38 PST

Alicia Silverstone is joining Amy Heckerling's vampire comedy Vamps - News Briefs
A new, longer trailer for Toy Story 3 - Vulture
Calling all Hogwarts fanatics: the Wizarding World of Harry Potter website is live - MTV Movies Blog
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is being remade. Bring back Dolly! - Cinematical
The Griswold Vacation reboot is going to Wally World again - /Film
Alex O'Loughlin to play the lead in Hawaii Five-0 - PopWatch
Pierce Brosnan, Ed Harris, and Jim Gaffigan head to Salvation Boulevard - Collider
First photos of Robert Pattinson filming Bel Ami - PopSugar
The new Spider-Man will be out in 3-D on July 3, 2012 - Hollywood Insider
Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins, and Imogen Poots join the cast of Jane Eyre - The Playlist
The 25 worst romantic comedies ever - Inside Movies

4 Details to Look Forward to in Pixar's Brave

Kelly Schwarze — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:16:16 PDT

The magic of Pixar's Oscar-winning films is in their ability to take seemingly ordinary story lines about childhood toys or a garbage-collecting robot and transform them into emotional narratives about love and life. The studio's upcoming Summer film Brave is its first foray into the familiar coming-of-age tale, this one as told through the experiences of a defiant teenage girl. Pixar's first female lead, Merida, is a princess with an affinity for archery in ancient Scotland who refuses to give up her freedom by submitting to an arranged marriage and sets off to change her fate.

Though the movie isn't due for release until June 22, 2012, we caught an unfinished preview of the first 30 minutes of Brave, and there's a lot to get excited about in this Pixar period piece. Here's why the film is worth the wait:

Pixar Technical Wizardry - Brave demonstrates the studio's technical prowess at its best. Merida's gorgeous curls (seen in the above picture) are no easy feat of animation. There's a reason so few of your favorite animated characters have big, curly hair - it's very difficult to create on the computer. Over 111,000 individual curls were hand-drawn for Merida's mane, which was then digitally rendered as 1.8 million strands. Pixar then had to create a physics simulator to mathematically control how the waves move in the wind and exist within gravity.
The Art - Without verging into awkward moments of uncanny valley, Brave has moments of startling realism amid its fantasy story line. The overcast skies and moss-covered landscape of Scotland have been painstakingly studied, drawn, and shaded to create a setting worthy of this new legend. By the time filming wrapped, 111,394 storyboard drawings were created, a number that far exceeds the preproduction that went into most other Pixar films.

Keep reading how the film's great for gingers and view the official trailer after the break.

Suri and Katie Holmes Have Girls Night Out in Manhattan

Molly Goodson — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 07:01:49 PDT

Katie Holmes, Suri Cruise, and Katie's mom Kathleen headed out for dinner at The ABC Kitchen in Manhattan last night. Suri got to wear her pajamas for the outing on what was a warm Spring evening in NYC. The trio of ladies have been spending time together in the Big Apple this week. Suri led the way for a toy store trip yesterday and held onto Katie and grandma Kathleen's hands leaving Whole Foods the other night. Katie has been focused on her fashion line between movie projects, but the Cruise family will soon be kicked back into high gear when Tom hits the road to promote Rock of Ages.

Watch, Pass, or Rent Movie Reviews: Toy Story 3 and Jonah Hex

BuzzSugar — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 12:00:23 PDT

Beating the heat with a Summer movie and need some guidance on what to see? Let a Buzz editor advise you on whether you should check out this week's new releases, Toy Story 3 and Jonah Hex - or skip them!

Video: Harry Potter, Twilight, and More Get Auto-Tuned at the Oscars!

Shannon Vestal — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:55:58 PST

As host Anne Hathaway said, this year's Academy Awards kind of were the "young and hip" Oscars. They made the effort, anyway, from the choice of hosts to skits like the auto-tuned movie montage. Making a joke about how musicals were big this year, Franco introduced the parody, which features 2010 movies like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I, The Social Network, and Eclipse. Watch as Justin Timberlake's "billion dollars" speech and Taylor Lautner's abs become fodder for hilarious lyrics!