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Guess Who Said It?

FitSugar — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:30:41 -0700

Can you guess which American Pie actress said this about lifting?

"Women need to not be afraid of lifting weights because they help you be toned."

A Fourth American Pie May Be Coming to Theaters

BuzzSugar — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:30:11 -0700

More sequels, you say? Yes! Instead of continuing the direct-to-DVD American Pies, Universal is apparently planning a fourth American Pie for theatrical release. According to Moviehole, "The success of the direct-to-video spin-off films (American Pie: Band Camp, American Pie: Naked Mile and American Pie: Beta House - all featuring Eugene Levy) has Uni thinking it might be time to return the series to its roots - alas, it’s back to Jim, Michelle, Finch, Stifler. . . and whoever else can be roped back into the fruity follow-up."

Because the Pie films are centered around sex, my guess would be that this fourth one might be about Jim and Michelle's sex life after marriage, and perhaps with a couple little ones around. Would you be interested in a fourth theatrical serving Pie?

Also, fun fact: before she was Betty Draper, Mad Men's January Jones starred in American Wedding. Something tells me she won't be making an appearance in the fourth American Pie movie. . . though that could be funny.

Source

Movie Night: O, America

BuzzSugar — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 13:00:00 -0700

In keeping with this week's Independence Day theme, this week's Movie Night consists of three movies having to do with the U.S. of A. I've already recommended American Beauty in a previous installment of Movie Night, but that's another great one to watch this week!

American Pie
A staple in many an American teenager's cinematic repertoire, American Pie oozes with adolescent sexual frustration and poses hilarious worst-case scenarios. As a foursome of guys gets ready to graduate high school, they turn their attention to the one thing left to do before senior prom: lose that pesky virginity. They each approach this challenge in their individual ways and with varied results, though they all learn some kind of lesson in the end. Eugene Levy plays Jim's (Jason Biggs) well-meaning but horrendously awkward father in what has become one of his signature roles. American Pie also brought the term "MILF" into common usage, and anyone familiar with the movie now knows the ending to any story that starts with "This one time? At band camp?"

Two more movies if you read more

In America
There are scenes from this heartwarming family drama that bring tears to my eyes just thinking about them. The movie follows Irish parents Sarah (Samantha Morton) and Johnny (Paddy Considine) whose only son has died. So, they take their two young daughters to New York City in search of a new life and an escape from their grief. There they endure dismal living conditions, demeaning jobs and unbearable summer heat - but they also befriend an artist living downstairs (Djimon Hounsou) who helps them learn how to heal each other. The performances in this movie are deeply moving, particularly that of Samantha Morton, who will break your heart only to sew it back up again.

American Splendor
Paul Giamatti, in a role he was simply born to play, portrays Harvey Pekar in this biopic about the surly, misanthropic comic book writer who ultimately found himself famous. Working as a file clerk in Cleveland, Harvey Pekar wrote comic books about his life for over 20 years and called them American Splendor. The comics aren't adventurous or fantastical, but they rather detail the minutiae of Pekar's day-to-day experiences. Eventually he meets Joyce Barber (played to sardonic perfection by Hope Davis) and together the two navigate Harvey's newfound cult popularity. Pekar chronicled his average American life with humor and bleak honesty, and the movie captures this superbly. It also won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and was honored with a prize at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

Top 10 Movie Dads

BuzzSugar — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 23:52:44 -0700

Father's Day is only a few days away, and as I search around for some way to properly honor my dad this year, let's take a look at some of the coolest, funniest, bravest or just plain "dadliest" dads in movie history. Honorable mentions include Daniel Hillard, Mrs. Doubtfire; Ted Kramer, Kramer vs. Kramer; Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather; Jack Byrnes, Meet the Parents; and Sonny Koufax, Big Daddy. As for the ones that made the final cut, read on...

10. Mr. Levenstein, American Pie
Mr. Levenstein's (Eugene Levy) earnest bumbling when it comes to discussing matters of sexuality with his son Jim (Jason Biggs) is so misguided and yet so endearing. The filmmakers take your average awkward exchange between father and teenage son and multiply it by about a thousand, creating moments of excruciating embarrassment many of us have only had nightmares about.

9. Peter, Michael and Jack, Three Men and a Baby
What's more endearing than three grown male friends teaming together to collectively parent a baby girl left on one of their stoops? Nuthin'. It's fun to watch three bachelors adjust their lives to include little Mary, from taking her to work with them to shielding her from the drug dealers that are chasing them down. Ah, those early formative years.

Eight more if you read more

8. The Old Man, A Christmas Story
Darren McGavin as "The Old Man" to Ralphie "you'll shoot your eye out" Parker scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. He's certainly not the sweetest dad on the list, but he's definitely unforgettable. Like Roseanne on my Mother's Day Top Ten TV Moms and Daughters list, The Old Man was much more true-to-life than many of the dads on TV and in movies. He's tempermental, impatient and a little self-centered. But he also loves his kids. He just has a less sappy way of showing it.

7. Clark Griswold, National Lampoon’s Vacation
Before Little Miss Sunshine, there was Vacation, the classic family road movie. Even in the most slapstick moments of this cross-country adventure, Chevy Chase as daddy Griswold is driven by one tender desire: to give his family the best vacation possible. But on the way from Chicago to Wally World, he's stymied by multiple obstacles, many of which he brings on himself. But in the end, he's still a worthy navigator of any beloved station wagon.

6. Leon, The Professional

Yes, I know Leon is not Mathilda's (Natalie Portman) real dad in The Professional, but the way he warms to her, protects her, and truly loves her by the end of the movie (even putting on a pink bandana!) is utterly heart-rending. Especially seeing as he's kind of a cold-blooded killer in the beginning and Mathilda teaches him how to feel love again. Sigh!

5. Sam Dawson, I Am Sam

This is one of those movies I can't even think about without feeling like I'm going to cry. Back when people weren't overexposed to Dakota Fanning she played Lucy Diamond Dawson, a precocious little girl (as always) with a mentally challenged dad, Sam (Sean Penn). Sam named his daughter Lucy Diamond after the Beatles song, and raised her on his own. Yet as she gets older, Lucy intentionally holds herself back at school to avoid seeming smarter than her dad. Thus ensues a legal battle, to Sam's great anxiety. Luckily, they have an excellent lawyer on their side: Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer). Sam's abilities may not be the same as other dads, but his love and devotion toward his daughter are just as strong - if not stronger.

4. Gil Buckman, Parenthood
The problems plaguing the Buckman family are myriad - and mighty familiar to just about anyone with a family. Like many dads, Gil (Steve Martin) is struggling to hold everything together and just barely succeeding. In this poignant dramedy, Martin strikes a perfect balance between desperation and levity, whether he's making makeshift cowboy chaps out of a bathmat for his son's birthday party, trying to explain away his sister's vibrator as an electric ear cleaner, or solemnly realizing that his even own father needs advice sometimes. Steve Martin really is one of the "dadliest" of all movie dads - his roles in Father of the Bride and Cheaper By the Dozen only further prove how well he can play the harried, frustrated yet ever-proud father.

3. Daniel, Crash

Whenever I think of Crash - which is a movie that has a lot going on - my first thought is of Daniel (Michael Pena) and his daughter Lara. Having experienced a stray bullet coming through her bedroom window, Lara is fearful and has taken to hiding under her bed. Daniel teaches her that she can tie an invisible cape around her shoulders and be protected. Later in the movie, of course, there is a callback to the cape which totally gives me the chills, even now. Ah, invisible cape!

2. Chris Gardner, Pursuit of Happyness

In this rare motion-picture depiction of a single dad, Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is hardly perfect, focusing relentlessly on the future while making some scary sacrifices in the present. As he gets beat-down working as an unpaid intern and living in shelters, Gardner tries to never let his son know how bad things are, and when that becomes impossible, he does the next best thing. He makes the kid understand that even when things get really really bad, dad will be there to protect him.

1. Guido Orefice, Life is Beautiful
The funny, sweet, do-no-wrong Guido Orefice (Roberto Begnini) tops my list of Movie Dads because he gave his son Giosué some of the best gifts in the world. Even in the most dire of situations, Guido is all about Giosué - making him laugh and generally distracting him from the gruesome world of war. The ending, when I first saw this movie, made me gasp. It could be called "manipulative" in how firmly this movie yanks on the heartstrings, but I completely fell for it - and for Guido.

What to TiVo: Saturday

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:50:14 -0800

ABC has College Football
CBS has repeats of NCIS and CSI:NY, 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
ABC Family has Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
AMC has The Matrix
E! has Swingers and repeats of Leave It to Lamas and Girls Next Door
Comedy Central has American Pie
Lifetime has The Break-Up
MTV has repeats of South Park and Jackass
Late-night highlights include January Jones and Black Eyed Peas on Saturday Night Live on NBC

Ready to Try the World's Best Apple Pie?

YumSugar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:00:29 -0800

Because I haven't been a huge pumpkin pie fan until extremely recently, I've tried to take advantage of Fall's other stellar produce to end the season's celebrations on a sweet note. Like everyone says, there's nothing more American than apple pie. To that I'd like to add: there's nothing that exemplifies Autumn more than the smell of a baked-from-scratch apple pie. This one is perhaps the best I've ever tasted! It's piled high to the sky with fresh apple filling, and the crust calls for shortening instead of butter, which makes it exceptionally flaky. To make this for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or just because, keep reading.

Happy Hour: Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale

YumSugar — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:15:11 -0700

These days, my street isn't the only thing covered with pumpkins; so is my kitchen. I've been using the gourds in everything from moist pumpkin bread to chicken pumpkin stew, and so I decided it was high time I enjoyed it in ale form, too. Although it's believed early American icons like George Washington and Ben Franklin enjoyed pumpkin ales, one Bay Area craft brewhouse, Buffalo Bill's, brought the beer back into vogue when it became known for its special blend in the 1980s.The whisky-colored amber ale ($7.99 for six), which is brewed with fresh roasted pumpkins and malted barley, possesses only a delicate squash flavor, but has lingering pumpkin pie spices like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg that become more prominent as the beer warms. Because it doesn't have a malty flavor or the bitter taste of hops, Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin a great find for people who aren't that into traditional beer. What's your favorite Fall ale?

The American Pie curse

PopSugar — Wed, 11 May 2005 16:22:12 -0700

Star magazine called this one. There seems to be a curse on the stars of American Pie. Shannon Elizabeth split from husband Joseph Reitman; Chris Klein never made it to the alter with Katie (who moved on up to Mr Cruise). Jason Biggs supposedly was so desperate there were reports that he was looking for love on JDate. Natasha Lyonne is a terrible tenant who has a warrant out for her arrest. Then there's Tara Reid - what can I possibly say about her that you haven't already heard.

And now, to add to the unlucky in group, Mena Suvari is splitting from her husband, Robert Brinkmann. The Insider broke the news.

Lucky for Stifler, he's in Dukes of Hazzards.

What to TiVo: Saturday

BuzzSugar — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:50:09 -0700

ABC has College Football
CBS has repeats of Three Rivers and 48 Hours Mystery
FOX is new with Cops and America's Most Wanted
NBC has repeats of Mercy, Trauma, and Law & Order: SVU
ABC Family has The Goonies
E! has Chasing Amy and repeats of The Girls Next Door and The Soup
Comedy Central has American Pie
MTV is new with Made and has a repeat of My Super Psycho Sweet 16
Showtime has a repeat of Dexter and is new with the rockumentary Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful
Late-night highlights include Megan Fox and U2 on a repeat of Saturday Night Live on NBC

Why We Overeat: We Crave Fattening Foods

FitSugar — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:00:38 -0700

Juicy hamburgers, crispy French fries smothered in cheese, brownie sundaes topped with ice cream - why can't we say no to these fattening foods? We can't help it, according to Health magazine. Dr. David A. Kessler, author of The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite says, "We’re hardwired to hunger for fatty, sugary, salty foods because, back when our ancestors were foraging for every meal, palatable eats meant extra energy and a leg-up on survival."

Well thank you Mr. Caveman for my desire for greasy pizza and cheesecake. Not only do high-fat foods taste great, but when you devour them, a signal is sent to your brain that you're satisfied and happy. Your brain also forms long-term feel-good memories of the experience, which makes you crave it again and again. Even seeing or smelling certain fattening foods can spur pleasant thoughts that make us crave it. Well I guess old habits die hard. It does make me feel better to know that my brain's hunger for triple chocolate mousse pie is a force stronger than my willpower.

How can you combat this hardwired desire? Find out when you read more.

The best thing you can do is know which high-fat foods are triggers for you. Dr. Kessler says since certain moods, times of day, or places can spark our need for our favorite treats, avoid giving into your cravings. This will prevent the link from forming between foods and their triggers. Also set yourself up for success by avoiding foods that you can't say no to. That means you might want to find a different route to work that doesn't take you past a chocolate shop.