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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:30:43 -0700

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue.

The Incredible Hulk
Last Summer I predicted that The Incredible Hulk might be the season's forgotten superhero movie, nestled as it was between the releases of Iron Man and The Dark Knight, and not having quite the existing fan base that Hellboy II did. It was definitely a huge improvement over the last time someone tried to bring the green giant to the big screen, but it still had a hard time standing out in the 2008 Summer of the Superhero Movie.

But hey, that's what DVDs are for! And I think this is a perfectly thrilling option to take home and curl up with, especially if you never got around to seeing it in the theaters. Special features include an alternate opening and a making-of featurette.

Two more up next, so read more.

The Strangers
Holy cow this movie scared the bejesus out of me. The timing of the DVD is of course perfect for the current spooky season. Starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, The Strangers is exactly what I would screen at my house for a creepy late-night at-home movie-watching party around Halloween.

Even the Netflix plot description freaks me out: "Young suburban couple James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler) welcome the peace and quiet of a secluded family vacation home - that is, until three masked home invaders make them realize how dangerous isolation can be. "

Special features include deleted scenes and a featurette entitled, "The Elements of Terror." Eek!

The Go-Getter
It's been kind of a long haul for this little indie movie from its appearance at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival to today's DVD release. It stars Zooey Deschanel and Jena Malone and I thought the trailer looked intriguing but missed it in the theaters. I think I'll be adding this to my Netflix queue.

The plot is as such: "After the death of his mother, 19-year-old Mercer (Lou Taylor Pucci) steals a car and sets out to find his long-lost half brother. As he steers out of town, the car's owner, Kate (Zooey Deschanel), calls the cell phone left inside. Oddly, she's empathetic, and the two develop an unusual bond over the course of Mercer's journey." Special features include a commentary track.

Caption It: Which Caption Should Win?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:30:37 -0700

This week's Caption It comes from Marvel's The Incredible Hulk:

Your caption ideas have been great (what the heck could these two be saying to each other?) but we can only chose one. Vote from the finalists listed below. Which caption should win?

Source

Box Office: Cuteness Will Always Triumph

BuzzSugar — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:30:12 -0700

The cutest robot to hit the screen in a long time, Wall-E, proved irresistible to audiences over the weekend, earning the top spot at the box office with an estimated $62.5 million. According to Variety, this is the third best opening for a Pixar film after The Incredibles ($70.5 million) and Finding Nemo ($70.2 million).

The Angelina Jolie-James McAvoy action flick Wanted nabbed the No. 2 spot with a respectable $51 million, and Get Smart stayed strong in the third spot earning $20 million over the weekend.

While most had adorable robots on the brain this weekend, some were still looking for some big panda fun and kept Kung Fu Panda going strong at No. 4, beating The Incredible Hulk which landed in the fifth spot.

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

Caption It!

BuzzSugar — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:00:21 -0700

Welcome to the Caption It game on BuzzSugar! Every other Wednesday, I'll post a photo still from a TV show or movie here and challenge you to think of the most hilarious caption possible. I'll announce the finalists the following Tuesday, and you'll get to vote for the best caption; the winner will get a fabulous BuzzSugar T-shirt!

You guys had a field day with the Swingtown picture and your suggestions were seriously hilarious. There could only be one winner, though, and the honor goes to khowell, whose caption wins last week's poll:

"If you think these are impressive, you should see the butcher's sausage."

Next up for this week's challenge, which is taken from the Marvel blockbuster, The Incredible Hulk:

Leave your captions in the comment space below before 5 p.m. PDT on Monday, June 30, to be considered for a spot in the voting round. Have fun! To see a photo of the BuzzSugar T-shirt, just read more.

The BuzzSugar t-shirt

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Box Office: Carell & Co. Outsmart the Guru

BuzzSugar — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:30:14 -0700

Looks like enough people were craving the silly fun of an updated Maxwell Smart story this weekend, making the Steve Carell-Anne Hathaway comedy No. 1 at the box office. The Mike Meyers comedy The Love Guru was expected to show Get Smart some stiff competition during the opening weekend for both movies. Instead, The Love Guru brought in $14 million to Get Smart's $39 million, and failed to crack the top three.

At No. 2 was Kung Fu Panda, which bumped the more recent Incredible Hulk to third place. The Love Guru came in fourth, followed by M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening.

This weekend the crown will most likely go to Pixar's latest (and much-promoted) project, WALL-E about a little robot with the saddest, most endearing "eyes" ever. The action flick Wanted, however, may entice that coveted young male demographic, and will probably do quite well for itself.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Don't Forget! Log In for a Chance to Win $200 in Fandango Bucks!

BuzzSugar — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:31:37 -0700

It may feel like the Summer movie season kicked off ages ago what with the smash success of Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and the Sex and the City movie but really, we're just getting started, folks. My summer is going to be packed with movies and I figured yours might be, too. That's why I'm giving away $200 worth of Fandango tickets every Friday this June!

You still have time to take my newest quiz, which focuses on trivia about the Hulk now that the new, box-office topping edition of The Incredible Hulk has hit theaters. You must take the quiz before 5 p.m. PDT on Thursday, June 19 to be entered. You just have to log into your TeamSugar account and take the quiz to be entered - it doesn't matter how well you score.

If you don't win, don't worry - I'll post a new quiz every Friday till the end of June. But why hold out for the next one when you can take the Hulk quiz right now? If you don't have a TeamSugar account, what are you waiting for? Go here to sign up. For the official rules, click here - and good luck!

Ed Norton Skips Hulk Promotion: Admirable or Childish?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:30:37 -0700

It's no secret that Edward Norton, star of The Incredible Hulk, was not thrilled with the direction Marvel Studios and the director of the film took the script that Norton helped write.

There's been a lot of speculation around the fact that because the studio and the director pulled rank on him, he refused to do very much promotion for the film (the only late-night stop he made was Jimmy Kimmel). Norton's camp says he was never supposed to do more publicity than that and this is just much ado about nothing.

It's hard to believe he wasn't asked to do more to promote a major blockbuster leading up to its opening. If he's embarrassed by the film, I can see how it would be hard to discuss with reporters, but then again that's sort of his job as "star of the movie," isn't it? If he wants to have more control of a film, maybe he should just direct.

What do you think? Was he well within his right to skip press after his creative input was denied? Or is he being slightly immature?

Source

Box Office: Hulk Has Incredible Opening Weekend

BuzzSugar — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:00:53 -0700

It looks like fans can't get enough of Marvel superheroes on the big screen as the company scored another hit this summer with The Incredible Hulk. Despite average reviews and the fact that Ed Norton's conflict with the studio over the final cut of the film became widely known, The Incredible Hulk pulled in an estimated $54.5 million over the weekend.

Kung Fu Panda held strong in second place while M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening exceeded many expectations by landing in the third spot with about $30.5 million.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan was No. 4 followed by Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at No. 5 and Sex and the City at No. 6.

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The Incredible Hulk: Most Improved But Not the Best

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:30:47 -0700

Bringing Marvel's Hulk to the big screen is a challenging undertaking. For one thing, the idea of the Hulk is just funny: when a guy loses his temper he morphs into a giant green monster who smashes things. Plus, that green monster in ripped-up pants is just cartoonish, any way you slice it. You can always update Iron Man's suit with sleeker corners and more abilities or give Batman cooler gadgets, but how do you make a green monster-man something today's audience will take seriously?

So, given these obstacles, and the fact that Ang Lee did everyone a favor by demonstrating what not to do if you want the fanboys to show up, the most recent incarnation of The Incredible Hulk is pretty much a success. All things considered, the CGI looks great, there is plenty of action to keep hearts pounding, and Ed Norton and Liv Tyler turn in wonderful performances with the lines they have. That said, it's no Iron Man and I'm about 99.9% sure once The Dark Knight hits theaters we may all forget this movie even happened.

To find out why this Incredible Hulk will be remembered as the superhero movie that gave us something to do between Iron Man and Dark Knight, read more.

First of all, it's worth the ticket price alone to see Ed Norton with this much screen time. Despite the fact that he isn't given much material to work with and not a minute is spent on character development, he still manages to convey the emotional toll that spontaneous, out-of-control monster transformation can take on a person. I was also pleasantly surprised by the chemistry Norton and Tyler have together.

Taking a cue from the movie itself, I'm not going to waste time on plot, and you just kind of accept certain things about each of the characters. For example, Norton's Bruce Banner is very concerned with the weapons General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (played by a superbly chilly William Hurt) will create with the science behind whatever turns Bruce into the Hulk. I'm not sure where Bruce's initial concern comes from, nor do I understand what motivates Thunderbolt's obsession. But right when this started to bother me, the movie kicked into high gear with lots of action sequences and scary CGI and I forgot what I was puzzling over before.

It's in this way that the pendulum swings just a bit too far in the other direction from Lee's film. Sure, it can be boring to spend too much time building up the sad events that lead to the Hulk's creation. But when you nearly banish all dialogue and scenes that include a little humanity, you end up with a fun ride that lacks a heart (despite the cast's best efforts to inject one). So, while I laughed (it has some genuinely witty moments) and clung to my chair (Poor Hulk! Stop shooting at him!) I didn't leave with the emotional connection I had with Iron Man.

In any other year a B+ superhero movie would be something to get excited about. But 2008 is shaping up to be the summer of the superhero - and everyone else is bringing their A-game.

To see the trailer and more clips from The Incredible Hulk, visit movies.iVillage.com

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Log In for a Chance to Win $200 in Fandango Bucks!

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:30:32 -0700

It may feel like the summer movie season kicked off ages ago what with the smash success of Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and the Sex and the City movie but really, we're just getting started, folks. My summer is going to be packed with movies and I figured yours might be, too. That's why I'm giving away $200 worth of Fandango tickets every Friday this June!

From now until the end of the month, you'll have several chances to win Fandango bucks right here on Buzz. Here's how it works: Each Friday, I'll post a quiz with a few trivia questions related to the films opening that weekend. You just have to log into your TeamSugar account and take the quiz to be entered - it doesn't matter how well you score.

This week's quiz focuses on trivia about the Hulk in anticipation of The Incredible Hulk. You must take the quiz before 5 p.m. PDT on Thursday, June 19 to be entered. If you don't win, don't worry - I'll post a new quiz each Friday till the end of June. If you don't have a TeamSugar account, what are you waiting for? Go here to sign up. For the official rules, click here - and good luck!

Take the quiz