BuzzSugar

Buzz News Roundup, 1/26

BuzzSugar — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:34:48 -0800

NBC's Amy Poehler comedy has a likely title: Public Service. - New York Times
Anchor Bay has bought the rights to the comedy starring Ashton Kutcher, Spread, which just premiered at Sundance. - Variety
The next Real World season will be set in Cancun. - The Hollywood Reporter
It looks like the next Batman movie, a sequel to The Dark Knight, will hit theaters in 2011. - ComingSoon
Radiohead, Kanye West, and Paul McCartney have joined the lineup of performers for this year's Grammy Awards. - Billboard
A 3-D porn movie is in the works in Hong Kong. - Variety
Fox has ordered a pilot for the US remake of Absolutely Fabulous. - Zap2it

How Much Do You Know About The Real World?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:36:32 -0800

The Real World, the show that truly gave reality TV its start, kicks off its 21st (!) season tonight in Brooklyn. Through the years, the show has spanned the globe as countless groups of strangers fight, date, and "start being real" as the cameras look on. How much do you know about this MTV institution? Take my quiz!

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TV Tonight: The Real World Turns 20

BuzzSugar — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:30:06 -0700

Think fast: Which Real World was your first? Mine was the San Francisco season, the show's third, with the consciousness-raising storylines of HIV-positive Pedro and the attention-grabbing antics of troublemaker Puck. That season got me hooked on the show, which I followed regularly for the next decade or so, watching as group after group of attractive 20-somethings moved into an immaculately decorated house together to "stop being polite and start getting real."

Tonight, the 20th edition of The Real World premieres on MTV. It's strange to think how different television has become since the series first took the air in 1992. I'm sure there were reality series before The Real World, but the show's influence is unmistakable in so many of today's shows - notably anything that puts strangers in a house together just to watch what happens.

For the longest time, there seemed to be something pure in The Real World - like the people had chosen to do the show more for the experience and less for the exposure. But recent seasons have seemed less honest and more like all the other reality shows the series spawned, with cast members seeming to have great aspirations of Hollywood fame. So it's oddly appropriate that for its 20th season, The Real World is blatantly going Hollywood. Every member of the cast aspires to work in entertainment, whether as an actor, a model, a reporter, or a singer. On the one hand, that could make the made-up drama even more annoying, since it's clear everyone wants to get noticed; on the other hand, at least they're being honest about it.

Will you be checking out this milestone season of The Real World? To watch a preview, just read more.

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The Buzz Reel: The Week's Best and Worst TV

BuzzSugar — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 08:10:16 -0800

Every week on BuzzSugar, I round up the week's best, funniest, strangest, and most embarrassing moments in television for your amusement. Until recently, you could only read about those highlights and lowlights in the Highlight Reel, but now, you can watch them on BuzzSugar's new weekly clip show, The Buzz Reel!

On this week's Buzz Reel, we've got tons of great clips from all of your favorite shows, including "The OC," "The Office," and "Ugly Betty," plus lots of horrifying reality TV and much, much more.

To watch the show, read more

BuzzReel - February 9th 2007

TV Tonight: "The Real World: Denver"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:24:31 -0800

I don't know how it happened, but I'm completely hooked on "The Real World: Denver." Not just "oh, I'll watch it if it's on" hooked; more like "better set the TiVo" hooked. For the past two weeks, the seven strangers have been in the woods, training with Outward Bound. I suppose that's the thing to do if you're in Colorado, but all that rock climbing and pooping outdoors was starting to feel a little too wholesome. Luckily, tonight's episode looks to be full of all the hot-tub nudity, drunken make-out sessions, and sexuality-switching of the "Real World"s of yore. To see a clip, read more

The Highlight Reel, 12/29: The Week's Best and Worst TV

BuzzSugar — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 10:46:12 -0800

Every Friday, I round up the week's best, funniest, strangest, and most embarrassing moments in television for your amusement. It was slim pickings over the holidays this week, but I still found a few priceless bits to share.

Thanks to the year-end "clipdown" episode of E!'s "The Soup" for reminding me to revisit this too-funny moment from "Dancing with the Stars," in which Joey Lawrence ... um, I'm not sure there are really words for what he does. I'll borrow from one of the judges, who called it "George Michael meets the Village People on a cruise to Brazil."
OK, I admit it: I turned on the yule log in HD for a while on Christmas Eve. Here's the thing: Logs are really ugly in high definition.

Colie, the self-described "kissing slut" on "The Real World: Denver," learns she has mono. After her doctor asks how close people in the house get (wink, nudge), Colie says: "Theoretically speaking, everyone in the house could come down with mono in a month."

To see the rest, read more

A truly bizarre incident from the Christmas episode of "Deal or No Deal": Big Bird randomly appeared and sneaked up on contestant Lamar Wilson - who is, I should emphasize, a grown man. Wilson ran away, obviously not amused, but returned to face down the yellow puppet who clearly reminded him of some really traumatic childhood experience. Nobody else - not the audience, not host Howie Mandel - seemed to think this was the slightest bit strange.
You know the John Mellencamp song "Our Country" from those ubiquitous Chevy ads that are supposed to make us proud of America by juxtaposing weird images of puppies and war? Apparently Mellencamp's label is worried the ads have overexposed the song, thus dooming his new album. I still say that's nothing compared to the sheer annoyance the inescapable ad campaign has inflicted on TV-watchers everywhere.

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What to TiVo: Saturday

BuzzSugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:50:20 -0800

ABC has College Football
CBS has a repeat of The Mentalist and is new with 48 Hours Mystery
FOX is new with Cops and America's Most Wanted
NBC has repeats of Mercy, Law & Order, and Law & Order: SVU
Bravo has Brokeback Mountain
E! has The Wedding Singer
MTV has repeats of South Park, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, Twilight: Love Bites, and MTV News: New Moon Revealed
USA has Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
VH1 has Trading Places
Late-night highlights include Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dave Matthews Band on Saturday Night Live on NBC

What to TiVo: Wednesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:50:00 -0800

ABC is new with The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and In the Spotlight With Robin Roberts: Janet Jackson
CBS is new with New Adventures of Old Christine, Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY
FOX is new with So You Think You Can Dance and Glee
NBC is new with Mercy and Law & Order: SVU
The CW is new with America's Next Top Model
E! is new with True Hollywood Story: Football Wives
Bravo is new with Top Chef: Las Vegas
Comedy Central is new with South Park, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report
FX is new with Nip/Tuck
MTV is new with Real World/Road Rules Challenge
Late-night highlights include Robert Pattinson on The Late Show With David Letterman on CBS; Amerie on Lopez Tonight on TBS; Seth Green, Heidi Montag, and Spencer Pratt on The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien on NBC; 50 Cent on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC; Kristen Stewart on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on NBC; and David Duchovny on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson on CBS

2012: Apocalyptic Good Times

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:30:00 -0800

In terms of end-of-the-world movies, 2012 packs it all - a love story, teary family moments, action-packed adventure, over-the-top-CGI, and a ton of recycled film cliches - in a two and a half hour package. That's lengthy by today's standards, but I wasn't bored for a minute. This is pure escapist entertainment.

The film opens in 2009 as a scientist in India and his American associate Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) discover that the Earth's core is overheating. His forecast: Tectonic plates will shift, thereby causing a worldwide catastrophe that will wipe out the human race.

Dun, dun, dun! (Doesn't take long to pull you in, does it?) To hear my full assessment, read more.

The real action goes down three years later in 2012 when, according to the Mayan calendar, the Earth will reach its end. The entire So-Cal coast starts crumbling, so our hero Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) and his family begin a journey to China where the governments around the world have supposedly assembled spaceships to carry select humans to safety.

What? You expected this to be plausible?

Of course not, but the film does include tons of cool CGI - volcanos, snow storms, giant tsunamis. It's like every disaster movie you've ever watched combined. (That should come as no surprise seeing as how the director is Roland Emmerich who created The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day, and Godzilla.)

As for the characters, we've seen them all stereotyped in other films before, but they're still enjoyable here. (Even though I admittedly winced over a Russian family complete with a fur coat, tiny dog, and an employee named Sasha.) This is thanks to the actors who play their parts with believability, even when the scenes feel ridiculous. Ejiofor portrays a great bleeding heart swept up in a governmental plan that's looking out for No. 1, and Cusack pulls off his father role without being over-the-top or sappy. Also, watch for Woody Harrelson as a nutty conspiracy theorist living in Yellowstone National Park.

2012 is purely meant to be fun, and it succeeds. There's a constant barrage of cliff-hanger moments that never let up, and though you pretty much know where things are headed, it's easy to get sucked in.

(Don't forget that if you see a movie that you'd like to review, you can post your write-up in the Movie Review Group in Community - I may even post it here on the site!)

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures

Fantastic Mr. Fox: Lives Up to Its Title

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:30:00 -0800

For the past five years, Wes Anderson's wide fan base has been waiting for his first fully animated film. Would his adaption of Roald Dahl's children's book, Fantastic Mr. Fox appease the same crowd that holds Bottle Rocket and The Royal Tenenbaums near and dear to their hearts? The answer is an emphatic yes, and the best news is that you don't even have to enjoy Anderson's other work to fall in love with this film.

The story follows the wily Mr. Fox, a professional robber turned family man (er, fox) who just isn't satisfied with his quiet life working as a newspaper columnist. Even a move to prime real estate isn't enough to satiate his appetite for a little trouble making, and Mr. Fox (or "Foxy" as his friends call him) decides to take on the biggest adventure of his life. That's just the tip of the iceberg though, so read more.

Mr. Fox isn't your average wild animal; in fact he's just the opposite. He lives a civilized life with his wife Felicity (Meryl Streep) and 12-year-old son, Ash, making an honest living as a newspaper columnist. Like a kid who can't sit still, Mr. Fox has trouble curbing his desires to rebel and go back to his life stealing squab and running into trouble. Against his wife's wishes, Mr. Fox convinces his dim-witted but trusty sidekick Kylie (Wally Wolodarski) to take on one last hurrah. The crime? Ripping off the three biggest (and meanest) farmers around - Boggis, Bunce and Bean. When Mr. Fox starts an all-out war, he is forced to join forces with his family, friends, and neighbors - and that's where the fun begins.

The film's brilliance lies in the fact that Fantastic Mr. Fox is a movie for grown-ups disguised as a kiddie flick. Even with Anderson's name stamped all over it, there's no denying the furry animals dressed as humans. The animation makes the plot play out like a story book come to life; we're taken deep into the fox hole and beyond in a world that looks like a dollhouse made for fuzzy creatures. Kids will love the adventure and the colors, but the witty dialogue and quirky characters are made for the grown-ups.

The movie features a crew of lovable characters who deliver hilarious one-liners when they aren't breaking into impromptu dances. There's nothing new about a movie featuring animals acting like humans, but the actors make the movie the gem that it is. Jason Schwartzman playing a crabby 12-year-old but using his regular deep voice is genius. Clooney and Bill Murray (as badger, Mr. Fox's lawyer) bantering back and forth but replacing swears with the word "cuss" never gets old (as in "This place is a cluster cuss" and "What the cuss is wrong with you?").

Rare is the animated film with this much wit, cleverness, and chemistry between characters, but Fantastic Mr. Fox hits it right on the head. Score one more for Mr. Anderson.

(Don't forget that if you see a movie that you'd like to review, you can post your write-up in the Movie Review Group in Community - I may even post it here on the site!)