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2 Days in Paris: One Photography Dilemma

GeekSugar — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:01:20 -0700

Now out on DVD, the movie 2 Days in Paris is full of hilarious observations, most of them about relationships, but there was one that really stuck with me, as a travel and photography buff. Early in the movie, Julie Delpy's character Marion discusses a problem with Adam Goldberg's (Jack's) camera. Relentlessly taking photos, Jack didn't seem to be an excessive photographer - that's what you do on vacation, isn't it?

But Marion's argument was enlightening: by constantly taking photos, you're taking yourself out of the situation. By only seeing your surroundings through a lens, are you really seeing it all? When you're just thinking about capturing an image of what you did so you can show someone later, you're there, instead of your actual "there." You're removed from the experience. To see what I think of this, just read more.

While I doubt that I'll take far fewer photographs on a trip, Marion's monologue struck me. I do think that I've gotten caught up in what my photos will look like, and I've known many people to visit a place just to say that they were there. The trick is to be able to experience, and savor - and balance that with getting some great shots.

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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:30:00 -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 titles below you can view Cate Blanchett's award-nominated performance in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and The Jane Austen Book Club, which I featured as one of my February Must Haves. Additionally, the Jodi Foster thriller The Brave One, which I liked well enough, is now on DVD.

The Assassination of Jess James by the Coward Robert Ford
This movie adaptation of Ron Hansen's acclaimed novel brings to life two infamous personalities of the American wild West. Notorious outlaw Jesse James (Brad Pitt) befriends what amounts to a latter-day celeb stalker, Robert Ford. Played by Casey Affleck who has been nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal, Ford is a man looking for fame and will do just about anything to attain it.

I enjoyed this movie, despite some awkward pacing and artifice. The visualizations of the West and solid performances make this a great choice for home-theater viewing.

It's a fun week for DVDs so read more.

Across the Universe
I once described the look and feel of Across the Universe as a shroom-induced dream set to Beatles songs, and I stand by that description. Using the Fab Four's music, a romantic plot line, and trippy visual effects, director Julie Taymor takes audiences through the ups and downs of the 1960s. The result is an ambitious, psychedelic attempt to capture a moment in time, and I give it an "A" for effort.

The burning question you'll probably have when viewing these crazy visuals is, "How'd they do that?" Thus, the two-disc DVD set is highly satisfying with all its making-of featurettes. Also, the commentary by Taymor gives great background on why she chose the '60s as her backdrop and how the Beatles inspired her.

2 Days in Paris
Julie Delpy wrote, stars in, directed, and composed the music for this comedy that co-stars Adam Goldberg. I had a chance to talk with Delpy about this film, and it was clear she has a serious interest in exploring what makes modern relationships tick. The film follows a neurotic yet lovable couple that spends two awkward days in Paris where Marion's (Delpy's) family forces them to confront their relationship issues, not to mention their cultural differences. Overall, the movie is a charming take on all the work that goes into love nowadays. Special features include five deleted scenes and an interview with Julie Delpy.

Interview: Julie Delpy of 2 Days in Paris

BuzzSugar — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 04:30:00 -0700

Julie Delpy is almost frighteningly talented. She writes, acts, directs, and composes music - and she does all four in 2 Days in Paris, one of my favorite films of the year so far. Delpy and Adam Goldberg play Marion and Jack, a lovably mismatched couple who spend a disastrous two days with Marion's family. The movie goes beyond culture-clash humor and settles in the much richer territory of romantic relationships, which is what Delpy and I talked about on her recent trip to San Francisco.

You’re really all over this story: you’re in it, you wrote it, you directed it. I’m wondering where it came from for you.
Well, I wanted to do a story about something that scares me the most, which is - apart from death or losing someone I love physically, outside of the big, really horrible stuff in life - breaking up with people. I just wanted to approach it in a comedic way, because all my life, breaking up has been horribly painful - or being dumped, even more painful. But breaking up with someone is very painful too. It's almost impossible for me. I get too attached to people, I can't hurt people. I’ve done it a few times. I did it very badly too, because I don't know how to manage, so I disappear, like I could be dead, I’m so bad at it. And when I feel that someone doesn’t love me anymore and I can see that in their eyes, it's heartbreaking.

I went in thinking "Oh, it's going to be one of those culture clash things." But it's so much more about their relationship.
I mean, the culture difference stuff is fun, but it's mostly about conflict within a relationship and how to make a relationship work. Especially with two neurotic people. Psychotic and neurotic.

They’re so imperfect together, and then that’s kind of perfect.
Yeah, yeah, I know! Adam was always worried that my character was so unlikable. He kept telling me all the time, "She’s so horrible, your character" and "my character, I don’t want to make him unlikable." And to me it was much more exiting to make unlikable characters likable. He’s always grumpy, and he’s kind of an unbearable guy, but at the same time, with all the shit that happens to him, you start to really feel for him. She’s unbearable - I mean, she snaps at people, she's flirtatious, she’s like the worst nightmare - but at the same time, she snaps at racists, at pedophiles, you know and she's in a way protecting him. So to me it was a lot of fun to take these characters that are so anti-heroes and make them into almost likable people, or at least people you follow and embrace until the end of the film.

2 Days in Paris: Perfectly Imperfect

BuzzSugar — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 05:45:00 -0700

I'm almost afraid to write about 2 Days in Paris, as if somehow, by writing about it, it won't be a precious memory in my mind anymore. That sounds sappy and overwrought, but the fact is, I adored this movie more than any other movie I've seen in a long time. It's possible that the movie happened to hit all the right notes at all the right times for me personally. It's also possible that 2 Days in Paris is just a very good movie. I believe it's the latter.

Julie Delpy (who also wrote, directed, and composed music for the film) stars as Marion, a French photographer with an eye defect who goes on a vacation to Europe with her American boyfriend, Jack (Adam Goldberg), a hypochondriac with a jealous streak. In the movie's first moments, you see the couple asleep on a train, she wearing a silkscreened T-shirt with a picture of a gun that is, not coincidentally, pointing right at Jack. The two of them are on their way back from a trip to Venice that, while not exactly a disaster, was not a whirlwind of romance either. Before heading home, they need to pick up their cat at Marion's parents' house in Paris - and that's where things really get bad.

Jack, who speaks not a word of French, feels marooned in a foreign land where everything is moldy and everyone has dated his girlfriend. Marion is no saint, either, having dallied with her share of men; she plays right into Jack's phobias by stroking the sweater of a fireman who comes to the apartment one morning and taking Jack to a party filled with probable exes. They're already a bickering couple, but Jack's suspicions - and Marion's egging on - propel them to quarreling of world record proportions. The "crazy American in Paris" stuff is funny, but where the movie really hits home is in its portrayal of flawed adult love, so read more

Jack and Marion seem like such a mismatch; we can sense the love between them, but their insecurities and fears keep it from coming out. Marion is beautiful and smart and funny, but she's also deeply angry; when she picks a fight with a cab driver, Jack looks like he would rather just be stranded on the streets of Paris than have to defend this crazy woman. For his part, Jack is sarcastic and neurotic and jealous, though it's not without reason. I kept wishing for them to just cut each other a break, but instead of bugging me like it would in most movies, their arguments felt raw and real. You know those fights you have with someone you love, epic battles where you're just yelling and screaming and suddenly you realize you have no idea what you're even angry about or how the fight started? This movie is like one of those fights, but with the most tender outcome possible.

The movie has its missteps; Marion's parents (played by Delpy's actual parents, both French actors) are best when dealing with Jack and Marion, not pursuing story lines of their own. There also are a few scenes toward the end of the film where Marion's ugly side gets so outrageous that I wondered if Delpy had gone too far; they're awkward and uncomfortable, presumably on purpose, but they nearly undermined my belief that Marion was a good person underneath her copious flaws.

But I can overlook those problems, because 2 Days in Paris is, at its heart, a smart, sweet, and truly unconventional love story - the kind of love story we hardly ever see on screen. It's not a sweep-you-off-your-feet romance; it's not a fiasco. It's just two fundamentally screwed-up people doing their best to muddle through, being perfectly imperfect together.

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Movie Preview: Julie Delpy's 2 Days in Paris

BuzzSugar — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:34:41 -0700

2 Days in Paris first caught my eye back in April when it screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, and now that I've seen the trailer I'm salivating to see this film. I love pretty much anything Julie Delpy touches, and seeing as she wrote, directed, edited and stars in 2 Days in Paris, she's touched this project often and much.

The movie follows Marion (Delpy) who brings her American boyfriend (Adam Goldberg) on his first trip to Paris. There, he struggles with the language, encounters countless ex-boyfriends of Marion's and learns all about the differences in how Americans and the French view sexual relationships. Delpy seems gorgeous, adorable, smart and funny... as usual.

If you're a Delpy-phile like me - and even if you're not - you should check out the movie when it opens August 10. To watch the trailer in the meantime (and to see a picture that made me chuckle), read more

Ha ha:

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One Night To Celebrate 2 Days in Paris

Molly — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:54:34 -0700

Julie Delpy and Adam Goldberg came out to celebrate their new movie, 2 Days In Paris at the Hollywood premiere last night. Unfortunately Christina wasn't on Adam's arm, but he was looking remarkably (and semi-unrecognizably) cleaned up for the event. The funny looking independent film comes out in NYC and LA on Friday and in selected cities a week later, but stay tuned later this week to read Buzz's interview with the fabulous Julie Delpy! Fun.

How Men vs. Women Vote on Celebrity Bikini Bodies

Molly — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:15:29 -0700

On Monday, we kicked off the 2009 PopSugar Bikini Body Bracket to narrow down 64 insanely hot celebrity ladies in swimsuits throughout the month of July and crown one winner. Virtually impossible, I know.

For the first two days of the bracket we watched you all vote and the closest margins were Reese Witherspoon vs. Sheryl Crow and Audrina Patridge vs. Katy Perry - those are some tough matchups. We also weren't surprised to see Pop favorites like Jennifer Aniston, Britney Spears and Rihanna on their way easily to round two.

This morning our friends over at Sports Illustrated Hot Clicks sent over their readers and whoa, just like that everything changed! I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how our predominately female audience was voting versus how the male influx changed the tides. Remember, the voting on round one ends on Saturday at midnight so there's still time to vote here and of course, when you finish any round you are entered to win an iPhone!

To see how the men voted vs. how the women voted just read more.

Nicole Richie vs. Paris Hilton Our readers were all about Nicole, but after a few hours of testosterone-influenced voting, Paris Hilton has the lead.
Britney Spears vs. Heidi Montag Turns out, the guys aren't as turned off by Heidi as some of you all are. She's still trailing Brit by a bit, but Mrs. Pratt is closing in.
Kristen Bell vs. Sienna Miller The two blond beauties make a close matchup, but men can't seem to get enough of cute Kristen Bell who has taken the lead over Sienna.
Reese Witherspoon vs. Sheryl Crow Reese scored the number 2 spot on the PopSugar 100, but when the SI readers came to town they were all impressed with the crooner's rock hard abs as she scooted ahead of Reese.
Rihanna vs. Hayden Panettiere: Number one seed Rihanna was off to a quick lead, but barely-legal Hayden caught the eyes of the guys.
Favorites All Around... Leighton Meester, Bar Refaeli, Gisele Bundchen and Jennifer Aniston are looking like shoo-ins right into the next round of the bikini bracket!

So what do you think about these generalized findings - interesting or predictable?

Sugar Bits - Pregnant Kelis Files For Divorce From Nas

PopSugarUK — Fri, 01 May 2009 01:07:17 -0700

Kelis has filed for divorce from Nas. The couple met at an MTV Video Music Awards after-party in 2002 and married in 2005. Kelis is seven months pregnant with Nas's son. Her rep said: "We request the media to respect her privacy during this very difficult time". - People
Dita Von Teese is going to dance as part of Germany's Eurovision Song Contest performance. - Mirror
A 39-year-old supermarket worker has been convicted of stalking and harassing Tyra Banks. The sentencing is scheduled for 18 June and he could face 90 days in jail. - New York Times
Hayden Panettiere has auditioned for the updated remake of Footloose, with the filmmakers apparently "really impressed" with her singing. - E! Online
Britney Spears has extended her European tour, adding a dozen new dates. In addition to her eight day residency at London's O2 Arena and a show at Manchester's MEN Arena in June, she will then perform in Dublin, Paris, Antwerp, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw and finish in Berlin on 26 July. - BBC
Carol Ann Duffy will be named as the new Poet Laureate today. She will take over from Andrew Motion, who has held the post since 1999. She will be the first female laureate in the post's 341-year history. - Telegraph

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What To Sky+: Thursday

PopSugarUK — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:00:00 -0800

BBC2 has a new series of The Graham Norton Show
BBC3 has Natalie Cassidy's Real Britain
ITV1 has Billy Connolly: Journey To The Edge Of The World
ITV2 has Paris Hilton's British Best Friend
Ch4 has Red Riding
E4 has Skins
More4 has The Daily Show, ER and Brothers and Sisters
Five has new series Stylista
Sky Indie has 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Sky Comedy has As Good As It Gets
Film4 has Frequency

Paris Talks Sex, Lies and Lindsay with Glamour

PopSugarUK — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:00:00 -0800

After seeing in the New Year in Australia, Paris Hilton arrived back in Los Angeles with her new BFF yesterday, and wasted no time in getting to a beauty salon on Melrose Place for a pampering session. While she was in London for Paris Hilton's British Best Friend, which airs on ITV2 later this month, Paris found time to chat with British Glamour about sex, surgery, lies, and Lindsay Lohan. Here are the highlights:

On whether she's buying a house in London: "No, people just make up stories, but I would like to move here one day and raise my kids in the UK so that they have British accents and manners."
On how much of what she reads about herself is lies: "95% is BS. I read a story about myself dancing sexily in front of Prince William and Harry, when actually I was just sitting there and they came up and said, 'Hey, nice to meet you'."
On whether she's ready for kids yet: "I'd definitely love to have them in the next two years. I want a boy first, to watch over my girls, and I'll name my first girl London because I love that name. I'd like three or four in total."

To find out what Paris had to say about how many people she's slept with, why she won't have breast implants, and what the deal is with Lindsay Lohan, just read more.

On how many people she's slept with: "I've only done it with a couple of people. People make up stories, but mostly I just kiss. I think it's important to play hard to get. Nobody wants the fake Prada bag; they want the brand new bag that no one can get and is the most expensive. If you give it up to a guy he won't respect you; he'll want you much more if he can't have you".
On why she said she'd never get breast implants: "I'm really scared of needles, plus I like looking natural and flat chested. When I was younger I was obsessed with wearing padded bras and stuff, but as I get older I realise that I like myself the way I am."
On whether she's proper friends with Lindsay Lohan now: "We're fine now. I think she's really changed. I saw her a month ago and she was really sweet and seemed really happy and we're all adults now. Actually I've just decided not to fight with anyone because it's really not worth it."
On Gordon Brown: "[P]eople keep coming up to me here [London] and asking me to run for Prime Minister. 'We hate him,' they say".

You can read the full interview in the February issue of British Glamour, out tomorrow.

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