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Buzz In: Who Should Play Wonder Woman?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:35:05 -0700

Not that a solid plan for a Wonder Woman movie has been set in motion yet (Joss Whedon was allegedly involved and then dropped out of the project, leaving people to wonder who else should direct it -any thoughts?), but people keep buzzing about who would play the strong, lovely superhero if a movie about her ever finally shapes up. Some have mentioned Jessica Biel and Megan Fox, while Moviefone's extensive list of possibilities goes so far as to include Britney Spears and Shannon Elizabeth as options (their list also includes some ladies I think come closer to true possibilities, like Kate Beckinsale).

The latest actress to toss her hat in the ring? Jennifer Love Hewitt, who apparently longs to be in an action film and recently said, "I want them to make the movie of Wonder Woman and I want to play Wonder Woman so bad, I think it'd be really fun."

The DC Comics Amazonian princess was originally created "as a distinctly feminist role model whose mission was to bring the Amazon ideals of love, peace, and sexual equality to 'a world torn by the hatred of men.'" What present-day actress do you think could take on this character?

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Rewind: This Week's Buzz

BuzzSugar — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 08:00:38 -0700

Hooray for "Ugly Betty"'s Becki Newton! Check out my interview with the thoughtful and funny lady. Also, did you notice how funny Tyler Labine was in "Reaper" this week? I interviewed him, too!
Welcome back, fall TV! Want to weigh in on what you thought of this week's wave of season premieres? Check out my rundowns of this week's "Heroes," "House," "Private Practice," "Reaper," "The Office," "Grey's Anatomy," "Chuck" and "Ugly Betty." If you watched closely this week and think you know your stuff, take my TV quiz!
Speaking of fall, get in the mood for the chilly season with Matt Pond PA's distinctly autumnal album Last Light. I think it's pretty darn great.
Tell me: in this hypothetical situation, who would you cast in a modern remake of Fast Times at Ridgemont High?
Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman star in Hotel Chevalier, Wes Anderson's short film that is now available for free on iTunes.
What's your favorite one-liner from TV or movies? I had a hard time choosing between "I'll have what she's having" (When Harry Met Sally) and "May the Force be with you" (Star Wars).

What Do You Think About Jessica Biel Playing Wonder Woman?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:27:38 -0700

Nothing's completely final yet, but Variety is reporting that Jessica Biel is in talks to play Wonder Woman in the Justice League movie. What do you think about Biel in this role?

And if not Biel, who do you think should play Wonder Woman?

Source and source

FlashForward Breakdown, "Believe"

BuzzSugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:30:32 -0800

The most central characters of FlashForward take a backseat this week, letting Bryce and Aaron take the spotlight. It's a nice relief from Mark and Demetri's constant agonizing over their own fates (though we still get a dose of that, too).

We learn that Bryce has been keeping a big secret, and Aaron's reunion with his daughter isn't all he had expected it to be. Ready to get into it? Just read more.

I want to believe: We finally get some insight into why Bryce tried to kill himself: he has stage four cancer and has been keeping it a secret from everyone but his therapist. We also get to see his saving grace - in his flashforward, Bryce is laughing and smiling in a restaurant with a pretty Asian woman. Determined to make his fate come true, Bryce takes up Japanese (with Nicole's help) and even heads to Asia when he's supposed to be in Houston testing out a wonder drug. Here's what confuses me: in Bryce's vision, he sees himself saying "you're really here" and he knows it's months into the future. Why does he try to rush fate? I wasn't surprised at all when he and Keiko don't make the connection in Japan (though I did feel a bit disappointed for him). Side note: Nicole is totally falling for Bryce.

Across the pond: Bryce isn't the only one who is featured this week; we get some background info on the (literal) woman of his dreams. Keiko is a young, bright woman living with her parents and working for a robotics firm. Though her life looks perfect on paper, Keiko is bored at work and with her personal life, longing to play her guitar and find her soulmate. She gets a shiny new outlook on life when she sees Bryce in her vision, and we realize that their meeting doesn't take place in Japan after all, but in LA.

Family ties: Aaron is having a hard time adjusting to life with Tracy. Her continual drinking habit causes a fight between them; Aaron can't be around alcohol, and Tracy feels entitled to drink after all she's been through. Tracy storms out and Aaron blames himself for her addiction and her post-war transformation. Mark only makes matters worse when he accuses Aaron of telling Olivia that he was drinking in his flashforward, and Aaron tells Mark he shouldn't be his sponsor anymore. Losing his sponsor can't be good for Mark and his vision.

Other major plot points:

Demetri finally makes strides on figuring out who called him about his murder. The call is traced back to Hong Kong, and though Stan doesn't want Demetri heading overseas, Mark offers to go with him in secret.
The FBI agents discover that suspect zero wears a ring with an alpha symbol on it but aren't sure what to make of it.

Did you like this week's episode, or were you longing for more action? Will Nicole get in the way of Bryce and Keiko?

FlashForward Breakdown, "Playing Cards With Coyote"

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:30:30 -0800

After Al's tragic suicide on last week's episode of FlashForward, this week shows how the idea of "changing the game" has affected all the characters. Mark and Olivia start to find new hope for their relationship, Lloyd teaches Simon a lesson, and Aaron learns more about where his daughter has been for the past two years.

Ready to get into all the details? Just read more.

"The future can be changed": Al's death makes headline news when Celia gets her letter in the mail, instilling hope in Mark and Demetri - for a bit. Mark whisks Olivia off on a romantic getaway and things seem to be much happier between the two. But once they're back to regular life, they both get a reality check: Mark gifts her the lingerie she's wearing in her flash forward, and Aaron's reunion with Tracy makes Mark go back to believing that the visions may be set in stone.

The stars are aligned: Mark thinks he has a big lead when some footage shows up of a man he recognizes from his vision - a woman named Ingrid reports a crime and her phone images reveal a man with a tattoo of three stars on his arm. Thinking it's the same pern who breaks into his office in the future, Mark immediately dedicates himself to finding the guy. Using Ingrid as bait, Mark manages to take kill him, and rushes home to Olivia to tell her that they're going to have a second chance because he changed the game. But then - surprise! There's a whole crew of dudes with that tattoo. Um, seriously Mark? This never occurred to you? It's not like the guy has an unmistakable tattoo of Edward Cullen on his arm.

That was a crazy game of poker: Feeling guilty about that whole deadly experiment thing, Lloyd sends out an email to a few colleagues saying "We have to take responsibility." Of course, Simon isn't pleased about Lloyd's plans to go public and wants to settle their argument over a game of Texas hold 'em. There's plenty of trash talking from Simon, who thinks that he and Lloyd are gods for the impact they've had on the planet. He tosses around ideas of fate (was anyone else thinking about Lost's Charlie and his fate finger tape?) and just when Simon thinks he's sitting pretty, Lloyd turns the tables with a sleight of hand. (Some U2 lyrics come to mind here). Somehow I still don't think Simon is going to make it easy for Lloyd to publicize what they've done.

Reunited and it feels so good? Tracy is back at home with Aaron, but she's not exactly the same girl that went off to war. She's lost her leg in combat and suffering from PTSD, which she's reluctant to discuss with her dad at first. Feeling confident from his flash forward, Aaron encourages Tracy to open up about what happened overseas. She finally reveals that her near-death experience was an ambush from Jericho, a group of military contractors that she ratted out after seeing something she shouldn't. Tracy is paranoid after living a life on the run for two years (and is not at all pleased when Aaron talks to Mark about her situation). Though keeping track of all the different characters and their separate story lines is getting confusing, I'm liking this new development in Aaron's story.

Other plot points:

Janice tries to quit but Stan won't let her. As she continues to contemplate Al's death and her vision, she starts looking into sperm donation - does this mean those are tears of joy in her flash forward?

Ingrid says that she remembers one of the shooters saying "QED," which is also brought up during Simon and Lloyd's poker game.

Ingrid and her bird collection can be added to the list that already includes the crows and the bird crashing into Fiona's window.

So, is that Simon strangling Nicole in her vision? Creepy. I'm wondering if she finds out his secret and tries to intervene.

How'd you feel about this week's episode? Any new theories on what's going to happen over the next few months? Let's get the conversation going!

Motherhood: A Harried-Mom Tale That Often Feels Tired

BuzzSugar — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:30:20 -0700

When you have a parenting movie set in New York, you should know better than to expect a warm-'n'-fuzzy story about the joys of having kids. In fact, Motherhood is out to prove that mothers have it rough.

The film follows Eliza Welsh (Uma Thurman), a Manhattan writer dealing with a cramped apartment, busy husband, and side-street parking while raising her two kids. A day in her life feels like a really, really long 24 hours. Eliza runs around frantically trying to prepare for her 6-year-old's birthday while composing an essay for a parenting magazine contest and squeezing in a sample sale with her mommy friend Sheila (Minnie Driver). We know that Eliza was once a great writer, but when she had kids, she decided to give up her job to raise her family. Now, she's a shell of her former self in frumpy clothes and messy hair. Simply put, Eliza is dealing with the classic parent conundrum: how do you care for your kids and still retain something for yourself? The answer? It ain't easy.

For more about what I mean, read more.

Eliza doesn't try to feign martyrdom. In fact, she often whines about her plight in a way that screams, "I'm angry, dammit!" And at first, you're angry for her too. (No woman deserves to put up with all that she does.) But as the film goes on, Eliza's bitterness knocks you over the head, and you have to you wonder - is she like this every day? Yeesh.

Luckily we have Eliza's friend Sheila for some needed comic relief. Sheila is the cool single mom to the more neurotic Eliza - she mouths off cheeky one-liners and uses her son's motorized bath toy for her "alone time." Jodie Foster also delivers a hilarious cameo as a celebrity mom swearing at the paparazzi on the playground - aka, herself. Both women keep Eliza's "what-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong" storyline from wearing too thin.

Mothers will probably identify with either Eliza or Sheila but what about the rest of us? While the actors perform well and the movie provides laughs for those who can relate (read: parents), most of the jokes don't feel fresh, and you've probably seen similar setups on shows like The Middle or In the Motherhood or any of the other dozens of family comedies in recent years. Props to the filmmakers for giving mothers their due, but if you're not one yourself, an hour and a half with Eliza may be enough to make you rush out of the theater and buy birth control.

An Education: A Wonderful, World Weary Coming of Age Tale

BuzzSugar — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:30:00 -0700

There's very little time left for Carey Mulligan to be an unknown. She plays the central character in An Education, and it's a mesmerizing, star-making turn.

Nick Hornby is behind the screenplay, which follows 16-year-old schoolgirl Jenny as she navigates her strict school-minded parents and the affections of a man twice her age in '60s London. Though some might be turned off by the Lolita-esque premise, this isn't a movie about a May-December romance but the story of Jenny's discovery of the world and adulthood.

To see what I liked about the movie, just read more.

Peter Sarsgaard is the older man, whom he plays with the seductive blandness the role calls for. It's not Sarsgaard's character, David, who tempts Jenny; it's the idea of him. Before David shows up, Jenny has a path set forth by her parents and her English teacher: Oxford.

When David enters the picture by chance, Jenny suddenly has a choice: Oxford or the glamorous life David exposes her to that doesn't require a college degree. She declares her first date with David as the best night of her life. It's easy to see why: fabulous dinners and concerts in London with David's friends, played by Rosamund Pike and Dominic Cooper. Pike is really too worldly looking to be playing such a dim bulb, but she's luminous as a representation of Jenny's possible future.

Jenny soon learns that David’s seemingly easy life may not be what she truly wants, and she finds herself at a crossroads. The movie does an excellent job at making you live the conflict too - it's not obvious what life Jenny will choose, even though a traditional Hollywood movie would make it clear what the "right" thing to do is. Instead, you find yourself in Jenny's shoes thanks to the engrossing performance of Mulligan, whose angelic face and throaty voice shift easily from dedicated student to London sophisticate.

Mulligan's likability is matched only by her Oxford-pushing father, played by Alfred Molina. Some of the most entertaining scenes are those in which Molina is either brusquely insulting one of Jenny's suitors or being entranced by David himself. At first I wondered why Jenny's parents would let her go off so easily with David when I watched the trailer, but it plays out plainly: David is irresistible. Like a snake-oil salesman, that is. He feeds Jenny and her parents what they want to hear, and when things go awry, Jenny angrily confronts her father about how he could have been so seduced by David. This is one of the lessons Jenny learns from her affair with David; that despite education, maturity, and age, authority figures are fallible.

The other authority figures of this movie are compelling as well: Olivia Williams plays Jenny's encouraging teacher (whose radiance can't be hidden by a pair of horn-rimmed glasses) and Emma Thompson has a cameo as a rigid headmistress who seems to take pleasure in threatening Jenny about her future.

However, no one shines brighter than Mulligan. Her Jenny is a strong, bright young woman who never completely loses her way, despite the situation she gets caught up in. It's her performance in An Education you'll be talking about when you leave the theater - and maybe in a few months when awards season begins.

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures

90210 vs. Melrose Place: Which Was More Scandalous?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:30:29 -0700

We're now in our third week of episodes from The CW's Tuesday night guilty-pleasure block, and while both 90210 and Melrose Place are in full swing, the latest batch of drama wasn't my favorite. Both shows seem to be setting up for some action-packed episodes later on in the season, but for now, let's discuss which was more juicy this week.

Ready to figure out which episode get this week's crown of shameless scandal? Weigh in on the debate when you read more.

90210 point: The episode kicks off with Adrianna dreaming of Navid, but it quickly turns into an ab-tastic vision of Teddy shirtless. Obviously she can't get the six pack out of her head and later locks lips with Teddy - and, of course, Silver catches a glimpse.
Melrose Place counterpoint: The gang gets a new landlord, and it's none other than Sydney's sister Jane. Violet greets her with one of her creepy dead-eyed smiles, and Jane wastes no time blackmailing Ella.

90210 point: Dixon and his adult lady friend take it to the next level, hardcore! Massages, hotel rooms, showering together. . . that is, until Sasha discovers the trunk full o'porn in the trunk of the Lamborghini. Dixon continues to dig himself deeper into a mess of lies, I continue to wonder how the hell this woman hasn't figured out that he's only 17 yet.
MP counterpoint: When the cops come knocking at her door, Violet abandons ship and jumps out the window. She and Jane have a creep-off when Violet tells her that she's a long-lost niece, and Jane has her thrown in jail.

90210 point: Liam and Jen take us on an emotional roller coaster. First Liam turns the tables on Jen when he gets dirt on her gold-digging past! But then Jen pulls the sweet and innocent act on Naomi instead of telling her that she slept with Liam, as Liam had requested. I felt so defeated until the episode's final moments where we learn that Liam has Jen's nasty confessions on tape.
MP counterpoint: Lauren heads to a hotel to meet Toby, and another dude quickly recognizes her as being a prostitute. First she gets offended, then agrees to sleep with him - but he won't pay up. Lauren has her first taste of the hard life when the john throws her in the corner, until she finds herself a madam.

90210 point: When Annie's hit-and-run homeless guy leaves $100K to West Beverly in his will, his creepy nephew comes out of the woodwork. By the end of the episode he offers to "take Annie for a ride" and she accepts. I do not like where this is going.
MP counterpoint: Michael hires a guy to follow David; David figures it out and punches the guy in Auggie's restaurant. Auggie is not pleased.

90210 point: Navid and Adrianna finally get it on.
MP counterpoint: Ella and David finally get it on.

So who's the big winner of the week? I'm giving this one to 90210. Partly because Liam finally figured out how to take Jen down, and partly because I really enjoyed the inclusion of an actual high-school level crime - cutting class! What do you think? Does crazy Violet warrant more credit in the scandal department?

Photos courtesy of The CW

90210 vs. Melrose Place: Which Was More Scandalous?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:38:15 -0700

This week brought us another double whammy of 90210 and Melrose Place. I honestly didn't go into the evening with high expectations - between last week's sexting episode and sibling baddie Jen, I figured both shows would take a breather this time 'round. And they nearly did. However, even though there may not have any murders or nude photos, we still got a few I-can't-believe-they-did-that moments.

90210 won last week's faceoff - could Melrose take it this time? Help me determine which show was more racy (warning: spoilers!) when you read more.

90210 point: The Naomi-Annie war continues. Naomi denies that she ever saw Annie's topless photo prior to the public text message; Annie counteracts by roping in Liam and lying, telling Naomi that they did have sex after all. Annie also throws in her face how every guy she's been with likes her more. Ouch.
Melrose Place counterpoint: We get lots of flashbacks between Sydney and Michael, and just how much dirt she had on him, including her threatening to expose their affair and his involvement in her faux death. Hmm . . . was that enough reason to kill the woman?

90210 point: I thought new preppy Teddy was just a boring nice guy, but drama is a brewin'. Last night, he made nice with Navid on the yacht - and then two seconds later, he tried to hit on Adrianna.
MP counterpoint: Riley doesn't tell her parents or friends that she's engaged, and then after a good wine buzz, she kisses Auggie. Huh?! I guess I saw this coming - Jonah and Riley couldn't be cute and happy for more than four episodes - but I was still sort of surprised.

90210 point: Dixon's head is getting seriously big - what's with his hipster getups? - and he dates an older woman who has no clue about his age. (Wasn't she curious why all of his friends looked 17? Come on.) In an extreme move to keep up the lie, he "borrows" Navid's Lamborghini . . . and ends up in Napa.
MP counterpoint: Violet may be even more bat-crazy than we thought. This time, she breaks into Sydney's apartment, tries on her clothes, and steals one of her dresses to seduce Auggie. I believe the Greeks have a term for this.

90210 point: Looks like Kelly and Principal Wilson may be starting up a secret romance. She sends him a text at the end of the episode, which he hides from his wife, and he suggests getting lunch together.
MP counterpoint: Taryn Manning cameos as a pop star in a weird costume that looked like a robot-alien hybrid. Not necessarily scandalous, but still pretty friggin' weird.

All right, so this is a tough competition, but I'm going to have to call it a tie. Usually I would say that Dixon and Annie gave 90210 the upper hand this week, but Silver made a surprisingly mature move with Dixon's new gal pal, thereby bringing the shows to a neck-and-neck finish. I also have a total new appreciation for Silver now. Over on Melrose, I was thrilled to see the old character interaction in flashbacks (and a preview of Jane's return next week!), but wonder if that's just me, since I watched the old show. Were new viewers bored by that?

What do you think of last night's episodes? Anything in particular that made your jaw drop?

Photos courtesy of The CW