BuzzSugar

Buzz News Roundup, 1/23

BuzzSugar — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:30:09 -0800

It's true: Dakota Fanning has been offered a role in New Moon. - Entertainment Weekly
Samantha Who? has been bumped for The Bachelor but will have Angie Harmon in the cast when it returns. - TV Guide
Tom Wilkinson and Jim Belushi are rounding out the cast of Roman Polanski's The Ghost. - ComingSoon
Hooray, an actors' strike is looking way, way less likely. - AP
ABC has piked up a pilot based on The Witches of Eastwick, while NBC has ordered a medical pilot called Mercy. - The Hollywood Reporter
Tom Hanks and Oprah are producing a film adaptation of the bestselling book The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. - Variety
13: Fear is Real is moving to Fridays, and Privileged repeats will take its spot on Wednesdays. - The Futon Critic
Keira Knightley and Colin Farrell are set to star in London Boulevard, a crime drama that marks the directing debut of The Departed screenwriter William Monahan. - ComingSoon
Steve Martin's banjo album The Crow: New Songs For the Five-String Banjo will be available Jan. 27. - Billboard

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Buzz News Roundup, 12/24

BuzzSugar — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:00:10 -0800

Clive Owen is in talks to star in a movie titled Cartagena as an undercover agent amid Colombian drug cartels. - Hollywood Reporter
The Screen Actors Guild has delayed a vote that could call for a strike until at least Jan. 14. - The New York Times
Tina Fey has been voted the AP's entertainer of the year. - AP
America's Best Dance Crew will return to MTV on Jan. 15 for season three. - The Futon Critic
Citing "cultural sensitivities," Warner Bros. has decided not to release The Dark Knight in China. - Variety
Dexter co-star Lauren Velez has been cast for multiple episodes on Ugly Betty, but the details of her character might be spoilery. - The Hollywood Reporter
Kelly Clarkson's new single, "My Life Would Suck Without You," will hit U.S. radio outlets Jan. 19. - Billboard
HBO has picked up a series based on the documentary Cocaine Cowboys, to be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay. - Zap2it

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Buzz News Roundup, 11/24

BuzzSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:30:10 -0800

The stage musical version of Irving Berlin's White Christmas will come to Broadway this Winter, offering seasonal competition to The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. - Variety
Shopgirl director Anand Tucker will direct Amy Adams in the Dublin-set romantic comedy Leap Year. - ComingSoon
The Screen Actors Guild will ask its members to authorize a possible strike. - Zap2it
Another one joins George Clooney in the cast of Jason Reitman's (director of Juno) next project, Up in the Air: Vera Farmiga will play the romantic interest for Clooney's character. - Variety
Horatio Sanz and Jessica St. Clair have joined the cast of ABC's In the Motherhood. - TV Guide
Jay-Z and Coldplay will play a few tour dates together next year. - Pitchfork
Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein, Notes From the Underbelly) has joined Grey's Anatomy as a patient for a multiepisode arc. - Entertainment Weekly
Screenwriter John Michael Hayes, nominated for Academy Awards for the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Rear Window and for Peyton Place, has died at age 89. - AP

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Could There Really Be an Actors' Strike?

BuzzSugar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:30:02 -0700

I've been trying to ignore reports that the Screen Actors Guild, which represents 120,000 actors, could go on strike. Just not listening. If I don't pay attention, they'll go away, right? La la la . . .

Except, well, those reports just keep rolling in. Come Monday (June 30), SAG's contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (yup, the same group the writers struck against earlier this year) is up. And that means we could once again be punching our tickets to picket-land.

If the contract expires on Monday with no deal, that doesn't automatically mean a strike is in the works. The SAG membership would have to vote to authorize one, and they haven't been asked to do that yet. Plus, there's a smaller union that represents actors that will vote on a contract July 8, and the thought is that SAG won't do anything official till the results of that vote are in. But already, Hollywood is getting ready for work to stop again. To see what's happening right now, just read more.

According to a story in today's New York Times:

Most movie studios are planning to shut down production by Monday.
TV series are rushing to get episodes finished so the Fall TV season could still theoretically launch on time.
A ton of pilots are being shot now for shows that aren't expected to air till 2009 - much earlier than usual.

If there were a strike, some TV shows (24) would be able to start the season as normal, while others (Grey's Anatomy) wouldn't. Presumably, we'd also have to brace ourselves for lots more picketing, some delayed movie releases, and another spate of reality shows.

Could you handle another Hollywood strike?

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Law Abiding Citizen: Deserves a Death Sentence

BuzzSugar — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:30:13 -0700

Oh, Gerard Butler, what were you thinking? You might be able to forgive the 300 actor for starring in this horror flick disguised as a meaningful thriller, but he also served as producer to help finance the train wreck. Did he not even read the script?

Law Abiding Citizen opens with Butler as Clyde Shelton, a devoted father and husband who witnesses the murder of his family by two psychopaths after a break-in. When his lawyer, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), strikes a deal in the case that lets one of them free, Shelton begs Rice to reconsider. And that’s where Shelton's deadly resentment - and the slasher flick stuff- begins.

To hear more about what I mean, read more.

Ten years later, Shelton returns to seek vengeance against Rice and the entire Philadelphia legal system through a series of mass killings and car bombs. The man is understandably still distraught over his family’s deaths, but he’s clearly gone cuckoo.

This is when the movie becomes less of a drama and starts resembling the Saw franchise instead. While Shelton starts off as the good guy, he's later partaking in gruesome torture scenes that leave him completely in covered in blood like the prom scene in Carrie. To make matters worse, Shelton throws out bad jokes as he's wreaking havoc for a few cheap laughs. It negates any possibility for the audience to feel sympathy for Shelton, and the attempted shock value also completely ruins the movie's credibility.

The film wants to make us question the inner-workings of law - when dealing with a killer, is it better to leave things to the justice system or take matters into your own hands? Really though, it would’ve worked better as a cheesy horror movie. It has all of the requirements: splattered body parts, a giant chain saw, abandoned warehouses, goofy wigs and costumes, creepy music, the obligatory muffled voice on the end of the phone - and loads of plot holes. Like, why is Shelton rich enough to buy all of his assassin-style supplies and how does he know how to use them all? The film attempts to answer the question for us later in the film, but it feels tacked on and much too late.

In other words, if you do go see this film, don't try to think too much about it. Foxx and Butler do their best with what they're given, but the film is only good for a couple of thrills that make you jump in your seat. As for me, I just wanted to walk out.

P.S. Don't forget to check out the Movie Reviews community group if you want to weigh in about your own weekend film picks.

Pick the SAG Winners, Win a Year of Netflix!

BuzzSugar — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:31:01 -0800

The Screen Actors Guild Awards are the only trophies sure to be presented to an audience of glammed-up celebrities this awards season as long as the writers' strike is still in full swing. We at Sugar are hoping this all gets settled in time for the Oscars, but we're also not going to miss the chance to do the SAGs up big.

That's why we're launching a contest to pick the winners in several of the major categories. Here's what you need to do to enter: Just log into your TeamSugar account and fill out this ballot before noon PST on Jan. 27. The person with the best guesses wins one full year of Netflix service. If you're not a registered user, be sure to sign up before filling out your ballot. For the official rules click here. Good luck!

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