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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:30:15 -0800

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. In addition to the selections below you can also take home Battlestar Galactica: Season Four and Righteous Kill.

Pineapple Express
You guys, Pineapple Express is not just a stoner movie, OK? James Franco was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work! This is award-worthy stuff! I kid, I kid. But it is funny to me that Franco is up for a serious award for playing a pot dealer who has lines like, "Pandora can't go back into the box - he only comes out."

This movie was a lot of fun to see in the theaters and as a DVD it will probably get the most play in dorm rooms, frat houses, and 20-something apartments across the nation. Seth Rogen and James Franco are a match made in stoner heaven, but be warned: The movie is actually pretty graphically violent (just a heads-up if that's a buzzkill for you).

Special features include an extended version of the film, commentary with the filmmakers and cast, and of course, the gag reel.

Three more up next so read more.

The Wackness
The Wackness first premiered at last year's Sundance Film Festival and quickly charmed audiences. I myself was smitten when I later saw the movie at the Tribeca Film Festival. Starring Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley, Olivia Thirlby and, briefly, Mary-Kate Olsen, it's a quirky story of young love on the Upper East Side in 1994.

I highly recommend this movie (despite that one cringe-inducing moment). In fact, like Pineapple Express, The Wackness features a whole lot of pot smoking, so today's What to Netflix is practically a themed movie night!

Special features include a featurette entitled "Keeping it Real: A Day in the Life of Writer/Director Jonathan Levine," behind-the-scenes footage, and deleted scenes.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl: Season One
Showtime's Secret Diary of a Call Girl, is sly and slick, pulling back the curtain on the world of sex-for-money in London and leaving you feeling like the ultimate insider. The show stars Billie Piper as Belle, a high-class hooker - and the alter ego of Hannah, an everyday gal who prefers jeans and books to corsets and stilettos. There's not as much sex in the show as you would initially assume but there is a lot of charm. If you missed the first season of this show when it was on the air, now's the time to catch up.

DVD extras include a featurette titled "Billie Piper - Coming to America."

The Tudors: Season Two
Hey, ye olde Tudors fans! Season two is now out on DVD, which is fun because I prefer to watch this show in one big clump rather than week-to-week. Jonathan Rhys Meyers returns as the young King of England who gets down to business divorcing the queen in order to make room for the ambitious Anne Boleyn. In this season the historical period known as the Reformation is ushered in, as King Henry looks to break from the Catholic church and faces resistance from his own court - not to mention Pope Paul III, played by the wonderfully chilling Peter O'Toole.

Special features include a featurette on the descendants of Henry, a premiere episode of This American Life: Season 2, and photo galleries.

Link Time! 7/15

BuzzSugar — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:30:30 -0700

FilmExperience asks: If you could weekend at the beach with any movie character, who would it be? (Their pick: Madison the mermaid from Splash.)
The TV Addict has audio from chatting with Wentworth Miller and Sarah Wayne Callies at yesterday's TCA Prison Break-fast.
Popwatch's Annie Barrett laments the fact that movies she'd like to see in the theater don't stick around the theaters long enough for her to see them and she wants to start a chain of Theaters for the Lazy.
Vulture wonders whether Kids or The Wackness is more authentically 1994.
Stereogum has the new Radiohead video for "House of Cards," which makes my eyeballs hurt a little bit.
TV Squad reveals that there's a campaign afoot to save The Mole - and the show's own producers are waging it.
Cinematical marvels at the insane anticipation and hype surrounding The Dark Knight - among geeks and non-geeks alike.
Calling all fans of The Smiths: Take BellaSugar's new "Beauty Product or Morrissey Song?" quiz!

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Buzz In: What Are the Worst On-Screen Kisses?

BuzzSugar — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:00:33 -0700

After viewing The Wackness I had lots of nice overall feelings about the movie but one tiny little part of it still makes me go, "Eeesh!" And that would be the part where Mary-Kate Olsen makes out with Ben Kingsley. Yeah, that makeout session (because it's definitely more than a little peck!) gave me the opposite of warm-fuzzies inside.

The romantic pairing up of old and young, sometimes given the lovely term "May-December romance," can be kinda icky to witness. Steve Martin locking lips with Claire Danes in Shopgirl is another one that sends an uncomfortable shiver up my spine.

It's not always the age thing, though. Sometimes there's poor chemistry, or one of the actors looks like he's falling asleep during a supposedly passionate embrace. There are awkward ones, like the tongue kiss between Sarah Michelle Gellar's conniving Kathryn and Selma Blair's painfully naive Cecile in Cruel Intentions. And there's the small screen, too: How awful was that kiss between Joey and Rachel on Friends? I distinctly remember yelling at my TV, "Stop! No! This isn't right!"

Those are just a few of kisses that have made me squirm in my seat, and as Defamer recently pointed out, there's often some squirming on the set as well during these kissing scenes. What are some of the worst screen kisses you can think of?

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Buzz News Roundup, 6/30

BuzzSugar — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:34:21 -0700

American Idol's Kristy Lee Cook has signed a recording deal with Arista Nashville, USA Today reports.
According to the Futon Critic, AMC has enlisted Ian McKellen and Jim Caviezel to star in a six-part miniseries remake of the TV show The Prisoner.
Variety reports that The Real World producers Bunim-Murray could be tapped to run Project Runway when the show moves to Lifetime.
Ne-Yo has bumped Coldplay out of the No. 1 spot on the UK singles chart, Billboard reports.
The Wackness and the documentary Man on Wire were audience favorites at this year's Los Angeles Film Festival, Variety writes.
Neal McDonough is the latest actor to join Desperate Housewives as a possible love interest for Edie, Zap2it reports.
Billboard announces that Bon Jovi will play a free show in Central Park on July 12.
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and Google are teaming up for an Internet-only animated series that will be released this Fall, writes the New York Times.

Photo courtesy of Fox

Ben Kingsley Is the Man of the Hour

BuzzSugar — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:30:36 -0700

Ben Kingsley has always been a man of many faces (and accents), but lately it seems like he's popping up in every movie (and every time with a different accent). I knew he was in War, Inc. with John Cusack, and in one of my Tribeca favorites, The Wackness. And then when I checked out the trailer for Elegy (which is mesmerizing only because Penelope Cruz is so smoking hot no matter what she does), there he was again!
In addition to these recent theatrical releases, Kingsley has four films in various stages of production and four more titles in pre-production.
To check out my guide to recent and upcoming films featuring man-of-the-hour Ben Kingsley, hit "Start."

View Slideshow ›

Tribeca Review: The Wackness

BuzzSugar — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:30:52 -0700

Previously, I'd mostly known The Wackness as that weird-looking Sundance movie in which an Olsen twin makes out with Ben Kingsley and which features a ton of pot smoking. While those things are true, I also gotta say I really liked this weirdo pot-smoking movie. I can easily see why The Wackness won the audience award at Sundance this year: it's funny, it's got that tender boy-grows-up storyline, and there's plenty of sex, drugs and a ridiculously awesome, rap-heavy soundtrack.

Also, it's got Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby and Ben Kingsley at the heart of it, which is what ended up endearing this movie to me most of all. Peck plays Luke Shapiro, a kid on the Upper East Side who deals pot and feels alone amongst his classmates. He lives with parents who fight about money nonstop and he sees a therapist, Dr. Squires (Kingsley) in exchange for weed. Luke soon graduates high school and starts another summer of peddling his goods from out of an ices cart. He befriends his therapist's stepdaughter Stephanie (Thirlby) and then quickly falls in love with her. That's not all, though, so read more.

Discovering that his family might be getting evicted, Luke solicits Dr. Squires' help with his business, gaining a higher-end clientele so he can more quickly earn cash. Luke and Dr. Squires become close friends just as Squires feels more and more estranged from his wife. Meanwhile, Stephanie's commitment issues start to worry Luke, as she's the first girl he's ever truly loved. Mary-Kate Olsen's part is minimal at best. She plays a trippy flower child who buys from Luke and, well, makes out with Dr. Squires.

Screening this movie at Tribeca was the perfect move, and not just because the script includes countless quips about Mayor Giuliani. It's shot with a great affection for New York, framing many of the scenes in parks or on rooftops, relying on the soft sunlight to imbue a kind of hominess and comfort to this city that never sleeps. It isn't the glamorous, impossibly clean New York of mindless romcoms, it's the hometown to these kids who have grown up on the Upper East Side but still try to talk like gangsters. They've got money to burn and they burn it on pot, rather than fashion. Sometimes the pot theme lends a sleepy quality to it all, though there are also little dreamlike fantasy interludes in which we catch a glimpse inside Luke's imagination and rather than being ridiculous, it's actually adorably endearing. I guess that's the bottom line here: I thought this movie would be ridiculous and instead it wormed its way into my heart.

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Movie Preview: The Wackness

BuzzSugar — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:30:27 -0700

The Wackness was one of the films that received a lot of buzz during the Sundance film festival - even taking home the 2008 Audience Award. When I first heard about the film it was hard to piece together what this thing would be about, especially with the bizarre combo of Mary-Kate Olsen and Ben Kingsley.

Finally, The Wackness has a trailer and I can see that the story centers around some teenagers mostly concerned with "chillin'" in New York. Based on the preview, Juno's Olivia Thirlby and Drillbit Taylor's Josh Peck are the two talents at the forefront of this oddball dramedy. Despite reactions I got from folks at Sundance that ranged from "meh" to "amazing!" I'm still really looking forward to seeing it.

The trailer looks like a quirky tale about urban teens - and drugs - and I get the feeling that even if the movie strikes some false notes, the performances will make it worthwhile. I guess we'll see when The Wackness hits theaters in limited release July 3. In the meantime, you can watch the trailer if you read more.

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Live From Park City, It's the Sundance Film Festival!

BuzzSugar — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:30:55 -0800

It's cold! It's crowded! It's the 2008 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah!

I've been here a couple days now and have luckily managed to the avoid black ice and nosebleeds. On the downside, this year's festival seems to be so popular, it's hard to get into the film screenings! Still, this is my first time here at Sundance and I am in awe of this experience. So much great art, so much enthusiasm, so many film fanatics, each with his or her own celeb sighting. Gotta love it. I have a few days left here, but I've gathered some initial thoughts and observations:

Buzz around town is that American Teen is the documentary of choice. The movie "intimately follows the lives of four teenagers in one small town in Indiana through their senior year of high school." Morgan Spurlock's super-secretive Where In the World Is Osama? premieres today, however, so we'll see where it lands in the list of favorite docs.
The Wackness has been getting audience reviews that range from "eh" to "amazing!" One person I chatted with said it might appeal most to people who have done lots of drugs.

Sundance Spotlight: The Wackness

BuzzSugar — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:30:00 -0800

I am so thrilled to go to Sundance this year, and I can't wait to see as many movies as possible while I'm out there! For the next few days I'll be highlighting some of the films I'm most curious to see. Today's spotlight: The Wackness

I first heard about The Wackness in conjunction with these photos which certainly do seem to embody the term "wackness". . . if there were such a term. I'm totally intrigued by the idea of Mary-Kate Olsen and Ben Kingsley onscreen together; I'd go to see a movie just for that.

The story is set in 1994 for reasons I don't yet understand and "centers on a troubled teenage drug dealer and a drug-addled psychiatrist - after the former trades pot for therapy sessions, then falls for the doctor's daughter." We'll see how this goes. Even if it ends up being a totally crazy train wreck, I'm excited to be around as a witness.

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Mary-Kate and Ben Kingsley Are The Wackness

Molly — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:31:03 -0700

It's no secret that I love me some Mary-Kate Olsen and was especially excited to hear about her career taking a positive step with her role on the excellent (and coming back tonight!) "Weeds," but this newest bit of casting news is a little disheartening to say the least.

First of all, it's titled The Wackness
Yup, that's right. She and Ben Kingsley are starring in a comedy inexplicably set in 1994 about "a troubled teenage drug dealer and a drug-addled psychiatrist - after the former trades pot for therapy sessions, then falls for the doctor's daughter." Yikes.

The Good?
Sir Ben Kingsley generally makes pretty good career decisions, right? Sigh, least MK has "Weeds."

The Bad?
Sadly it seems, everything else. From the ludicrous plot line to the outrageous costumes (check out some on set photos here), I fear this may not be the role that catapults little MK to the acting elite. And Ben Kingsley's hair and shoes are definitely not helping. I suppose there's always a chance it'll be a good movie, but at this point I'm just hoping it's forgotten quickly.

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