BuzzSugar

A Good Year For Elizabeth Banks

BuzzSugar — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:00:39 -0800

Among all the great entertainment in 2008, a few people clearly stood out, including the beautiful and funny Elizabeth Banks. Why was this year good for Elizabeth Banks? Because she was everywhere.

The woman was in six - count 'em, six! - movies that were released this year. Some were ridiculous and silly (Meet Dave with Eddie Murphy, Meet Bill with Aaron Eckhart, Role Models with Paul Rudd) while one was ridiculous and raunchy (Zack and Miri Make a Porno alongside Seth Rogen). She got to be in the sweet movie Definitely, Maybe with Ryan Reynolds, and she did a serious Laura Bush impersonation, with Josh Brolin as her George, in Oliver Stone's W. And in just a few weeks we'll see her play a freaky stepmother in the scary movie The Uninvited.

She's got range and beauty and crazy comedic skills, and I wish every year could bring us this much Elizabeth Banks.

Source

Box Office: Twilight Drains the Competition

BuzzSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:30:47 -0800

Anticipating Twilight might just be this weekend's big box office winner, I asked you guys to ring in with some possible box office headline puns for the news this morning. Well, briggs313's suggestion in the post was awesome, so I went ahead and used it - thanks briggs313!

Twilight's debut on the big screen was a smash success, earning $70.6 million over the weekend and breaking several records. It has the honor of being the biggest debut ever "for a female director and also beats the $57 million debut of Sex and the City in May." The studio was so impressed with the buzz around the screen adaptation of the popular book that they went ahead and announced plans for the sequel, New Moon, on Saturday.

It seems Twilight sucked up all the young adult love, which may have contributed to the disappointing opening of Disney's Bolt over the weekend. The animated pup earned about $27 million and came in at No. 3, behind Quantum of Solace which had the No. 2 spot. The top five was rounded out by Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa in fourth place followed by Role Models in fifth.

Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment

Box Office: Quantum Leaps Into First

BuzzSugar — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:30:29 -0800

The new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, leaped to box office success in its opening weekend, coming in at No. 1 with an estimated $70.4 million. This was a record breaker, in fact: According to Variety, it was "the biggest opening ever for a James Bond title and a major victory for a film franchise nearly half a century old."

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa came in at No. 2, followed by Role Models, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and Changeling rounding out the top five.

Another movie earning a bunch of buzz, Slumdog Millionaire, also did well over the weekend in a limited opening. I'm excited to see that one myself. Did you head out to see Bond? What did you think?

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures

Box Office: Madagascar Wins Lion's Share of the Bucks

BuzzSugar — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:30:09 -0800

The animated sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa was a big hit with audiences over the weekend, earning a whopping $63.5 million. In fact, it set some records and "narrowly scored the best opening of the year for a family toon, as well as the seventh best bow of all time." Madagascar 2 just barely surpassed Wall-E which brought in $63 million its opening weekend.

In the No. 2 spot came the Paul Rudd comedy Role Models that exceeded expectations with an estimated $19.3 million. High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Changeling, and Zack and Miri Make a Porno rounded out the top five followed by Soul Men, which opened at No. 6.

Picture courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Role Models: Setting a Good Example For Comedic Movies

BuzzSugar — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:30:35 -0800

For the second time in recent history, I left an R-rated comedy feeling really happy. First Kevin Smith's crass, dirty film about low-budget porn turns out to be rather sweet, and now Role Models. Though full of crude language and nasty jokes, the movie is really a twisted sort of coming-of-age story - for the adult characters more than the kids - that's ultimately heartwarming.

Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott) are two energy drink reps who have been with the company for several years now. Danny has grown frustrated with what he sees as a dead-end career, while Wheeler is something of a frat-boyish slacker who rather enjoys his low-commitment lifestyle. One day, however, Danny's aggravation overwhelms him and he and Wheeler end up getting in trouble with the law. They choose to put in 150 hours of service at a mentoring program rather than go to jail, and they meet their charges: Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson). For more of the story and my thoughts on it all, read more.

Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott make a great, well-cast team, but my favorite actor in the whole thing is Jane Lynch, who plays the ex-convict director of the mentoring program. She keeps a watchful (if not slightly twitchy) eye on the two men as they attempt to bond with Augie and Ronnie. These relationships are rocky at first (since the big joke here is that these two schlubs are allowed to be role models at all), but in the end, everyone learns a little something about himself.

I have paid attention to director David Wain's career ever since he was a member of MTV's awesome/bizarre sketch show The State, and though I love Wain's Wet Hot American Summer, I understand that it's something of an acquired taste. When his movie The Ten came out last year, though, I was disappointed. Now it seems Wain has struck a good balance: Taking a simple story (two guys who join a mentoring program and struggle to connect with their charges) and infusing it with his weird, sometimes awkward, sometimes crass sense of humor. This way, we're not overloading on the cheesy, mundane stuff of the ordinary mainstream comedy, but it's also not just one long string of bizarre jokes.

The message (if one is wont to look for such things), too, is particularly accessible to the 20- and 30-somethings of America. Danny experiences a specific kind of ennui, a sense of despair at not knowing what makes life meaningful. This idea that the key to happiness is community and helping others can been found in countless movies, but here it's coming all wrapped up in sarcasm and sex jokes and the cute, droll Paul Rudd. But then, of course, as soon as we realize that there might be a goopy central theme to all this, someone punches someone else in the crotch and we're back to just having a good time. It's both funny and satisfying.

Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures

Movie Preview: Role Models

BuzzSugar — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:30:31 -0700

Does the world need another one of these man-child comedies? Old School, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Drillbit Taylor, Step Brothers . . . it just keeps happening. There's the guy (or usually more than one guy) who's schlubby and immature and thinks behaving like an adult is akin to destroying one's soul. He "hilariously" messes up over and over again until the sensible killjoy female character frowningly sets him on his way down the Right Path. It's kinda been done. A lot.

Role Models finds Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott playing energy drink reps who mess up so much that they're told by sensible killjoy (played by Elizabeth Banks) that they need to become basically Big Brothers to some kids (one of whom is played by Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who is pretty funny in the preview). The movie opens Nov. 14. To see the trailer, read more.

Role Models - Theatrical Trailer | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Source

Gwyneth Paltrow to Join Nicole Kidman in The Danish Girl

BuzzSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:30:55 -0800

About a year ago Nicole Kidman signed on to play a transsexual in The Danish Girl, and now Gwyneth Paltrow has signed on to play her (his?) wife. Taking over a role originally slated for Charlize Theron, Paltrow will play Greta, an artist in 1920s Copenhagen who encourages her husband (Kidman) to pose as a female model - but has mixed feelings about the matter when her husband decides to undergo a sex change operation.

This is the second recent project that Charlize has dropped out of only to make room for another big star (the first is The Tourist), but do you think Gwyneth will be a better fit for the role?

Link Time!

BuzzSugar — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:30:15 -0700

Eddie Murphy is out and Marlon Wayans is in for the Richard Pryor biopic - Cinematical
Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel to The Phantom of the Opera gets a premiere date! - Playbill
5 TV shows that deserve the big-screen treatment - TV.com
Modest Mouse has a brand new video, and it's trippy - Stereogum
The Good Wife and NCIS: Los Angeles get picked up for full seasons - HitFix
Check out this list of poorly cast film roles - Moviefone
EW reveals Part 1 of their 40 Bad Romantic Comedies - EW
Take this America's Next Top Model beauty quiz! (Then check back later for mine.) - BellaSugar