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Hollywood Halloween: 10 Costumes Inspired by This Year's Movies

BuzzSugar — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:30:59 -0700

Still hunting for that perfect Halloween costume? Never fear, for I am willing to share some of my ideas with you, culled from this year's flicks. Everyone loves a good pop culture reference, and the best part is that these are super easy to put together last minute. From spooky to hilarious, there's a little something for everyone, so take a look.

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Star Trek to Re-Release in IMAX - Will You See It Again?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:30:00 -0700

This Friday, Paramount will re-release Star Trek in IMAX theaters for a two-week run. When the movie first opened, it only got a two-week IMAX run then as well, since IMAX theaters were needed for Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. More theaters didn't become available again "until Museum 2, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince were done with their consecutive runs."

IMAX or otherwise, Star Trek did extremely well for itself at the box office the first time around - do you think you'll watch it again? Or maybe for the first time? Or have you starred there, trekked that?

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

With 10 Slots, Should Star Trek Get a Best Picture Nomination?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:30:24 -0700

Now that the Academy will be selecting 10 Best Picture Oscar nominees instead of five, it opens up the possibility for certain films to be recognized that otherwise might be passed over. So far this year a few movies have resonated with critics and audiences alike, and perhaps none as much as Star Trek. Do you think Star Trek is worthy of a Best Picture nomination?

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Up Soars at the Box Office

BuzzSugar — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:15:14 -0700

Pixar's Up had a great weekend at the box office, coming in at No. 1 with a whopping $68.2 million. That makes Up the third biggest Pixar debut ever (out of ten) behind The Incredibles and Finding Nemo. It's also worth noting that Up's debut bested Wall-E, which opened last year to $63.1 million.

Interestingly, this particular box office win "validates Disney’s decision to let its Pixar unit put creativity before commerce. Some Wall Street analysts . . . had predicted the film would have a difficult time attracting children because of its geriatric action hero." Hurray for putting story first!

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian continued to do well and scored second place over the weekend. Drag Me to Hell debuted at No. 3 followed by Terminator Salvation and Star Trek.

Image courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

Box Office: Night at the Museum Beats Terminator!

BuzzSugar — Tue, 26 May 2009 07:30:52 -0700

Ben Stiller's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian blew Terminator Salvation out of the water over Memorial Day weekend, earning an estimated $70 million.

However, despite coming in second place, McG's effort to revive the popular sci-fi franchise is still a success, earning a solid $53.8 million. That's impressive considering Terminator's less-than-glowing reviews, as well as competition in the action-adventure genre from Star Trek, which came in third place.

Angels & Demons came in at No. 4 followed by Dance Flick which debuted at No. 5.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

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

Should William Shatner Have Been in the New Star Trek?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:30:26 -0700

During the run-up to the premiere of J.J. Abrams's wildly successful Star Trek reboot, William Shatner was not shy about expressing how hurt he was to be left out of the movie.

Recently, two of the movie's writers said in an interview that there was a scene written for him originally. Ultimately, though, their idea didn't feel "organic" enough and they didn't end up using it.

Now that I've seen the movie I still can't decide if including Shatner would have been a good idea or not. On one hand, it's a nice nod to older fans and could have been an easy passing-of-the-torch gesture. On the other hand, if a scene doesn't work it doesn't work, and making a good movie was obviously the top priority for Abrams and his team.

What do you think? Should the new Star Trek filmmakers have found a way to include Shatner?

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IMAX Rip-Off: Does This Anger You?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:30:50 -0700

Funny man Aziz Ansari has stumbled upon an IMAX controversy and he is mad. Ansari discovered over the weekend that the IMAX experience you pay an extra $5 for doesn't necessarily mean you get the giant screen.

Witness his rage:

I went with a friend of mine to see Star Trek: The IMAX Experience at the AMC Theatre in Burbank today . . . HOWEVER, we get in the theatre and its just a slightly bigger than normal screen and NOT the usual standard huge 72 ft IMAX screen. I was very upset and apparently this problem is happening all over at Regal and AMC theatres.

Basically, the company has a fancy digital-projection system that fits onto regular screens. Ansari hilariously refers to this regular-sized screen you pay extra for as "BULLSH*T IMAX" and is urging a boycott of all things IMAX-related. One reporter, who analyzed this deception almost a year ago, has this to say about it: "I object when anyone claims that two patently different things are the same. Where I come from that's known as 'lying.'"

I never knew that I could pay five extra bucks and only get a regular-sized screen. What about you? Does this outrage you?

Source

Box Office: Trek Hits No. 1 at Warp Speed

BuzzSugar — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:30:33 -0700

J.J. Abrams' reboot of Star Trek was a smash success this weekend with an estimated $76.5 million (including $4 million Thursday night), taking the top spot at the box office (though not surpassing X-Men Origins: Wolverine's opening weekend take of $85 million, as so many of you thought it would). This was "the biggest Trek opening yet, soaring past the previous high of Star Trek: First Contact, which started at $30.7 million or the equivalent of over $50 million adjusted for ticket price inflation."

Meanwhile Wolverine "wilted to an X-Men franchise low" in the wake of Star Trek, coming in at No. 2 with an estimated $27 million. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past took the third spot, followed by Obsessed and 17 Again in fourth and fifth place.

Sounds like good word of mouth quickly spread about Star Trek. Were you swayed by the stellar (ha, ha) reviews? Did you head out to see it?

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Star Trek: Move Over Kirk, Spock Is Hot

BuzzSugar — Fri, 08 May 2009 10:30:01 -0700

To be honest, I'm not a huge Star Trek fan. Obviously as a member of the human race who was raised in the United States, I've been exposed to the original television show and many of its different iterations. I've even seen some of the movies including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (responsible for my lifelong fear of earwigs) and the movie I commonly refer to as "the one with the whales," aka Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

So, getting me to be excited for anything Star Trek related is a bit of an uphill battle. Given that, it's a pretty amazing thing director J.J. Abrams and his team have accomplished with this reboot. The movie successfully turns back the clock on a franchise four decades old and brings it back to life with an adrenaline shock to the system that will leave you breathless. And in pure Abrams fashion, the story and characterization do not suffer. The result is popcorn cinema at its best. Despite not being a Trekkie (or Trekker, or whatever you call megafans these days), I can't stop thinking about this movie. To see why, read more.

The question I had going into this movie was: How does one reimagine Star Trek for today's audience without completely alienating hardcore fans? The answer, it turns out, was to simply start over. In a clever twist, the opening sequence sets into motion events that alter the space/time continuum. Yes - and this will come as no surprise to Lost fans - Abrams uses time travel that bends around certain facts. Rather than disregard Trek lore, the filmmakers simply figured out an acceptable way to start fresh with the characters.

Because of these time-bending events, James T. Kirk, the future captain of the USS Enterprise, grows up fatherless in Iowa. He's brilliant but extremely self-destructive. Meanwhile, on Vulcan, a young Spock is teased and discriminated against for having a human mother (Winona Ryder). We know the two young men are destined to meet but when they finally do it's different than what you might imagine. When Kirk (played by Chris Pine with a wink and nod to the original performance) meets Spock (Zachary Quinto) at the Starfleet Academy they do not get along. Kirk is all swagger and machismo. Spock is, of course, logical but Quinto plays him with a smug know-it-all edge that hints at the human emotions beneath the surface.

However, when the movie's villain Nero (Eric Bana) declares war on Vulcan and then Earth, it's all-hands-on-deck time and the two must work together. A bunch of green, yet familiar, cadets - Dr. "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Sulu (John Cho), Chekov (Anton Yelchin), and eventually Scotty (Simon Pegg) - suddenly find themselves in charge of a brand-new ship. There are moments when seeing these good-looking youngsters in such a well-known uniform feels a little bit like the Trek version of Muppet Babies. But that feeling is fleeting and for the most part the performances are heartfelt and quite funny.

In the midst of chaos and war, Kirk and Spock become friends - but not before Spock violently pins Kirk's cocky butt to the floor. In Abrams's universe, Spock aims for logic but often succumbs to his emotions, messy though they may be. Pine charges through the film with all the charisma needed in a golden-haired leading man, but in a lot of ways this is Quinto's movie and he actually turns Spock into something of a sex symbol. Some fans might find these changes to the characters' personalities sacrilegious, but I just appreciate the fact that their friendship provides the movie with an emotional center.

In the end, the experience is completely satisfying. There are in-jokes galore that even a Trek philistine like myself found thrilling and there are action sequences that had me on the edge of my seat. It's thoughtful, it looks great, and it's completely absorbing. In terms of epic action-adventures, it doesn't get much better than this.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures