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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:30:59 -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. Besides the movies below, you can also find the Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal soccer charmer Rudo y Cursi, as well as TV shows Californication: Season 2 and House: Season 5.

Adventureland
This nostalgic coming-of-age comedy stars Jesse Eisenberg and angsty starlet-du-jour Kristen Stewart as co-workers and romantic prospects in an '80s-era theme park.
I loved director Greg Mottola's tender depiction of a frustrating but hopeful time in one guy's life. It's got more heart than the director's previous effort, Superbad, but just as many laughs.
The DVD extras include deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, cast commentary, and a feature music selection that lets you select scenes by picking the soundtrack song.

88%

Check out two other comedies out on DVD today when you read more.

Sunshine Cleaning
Fans of Amy Adams and Emily Blunt will be into Sunshine Cleaning, a dark comedy about two down-on-their-luck sisters who find success in cleaning up gruesome crime scenes. I drew some parallels to earlier indie comedy Little Miss Sunshine when I reviewed it (blame the van and Alan Arkin), and like its predecessor, there's a certain lightness in the bleak world of the featured profession.
Extras on the DVD include not just the usual commentary, but also a mini-documentary on real-life crime scene tidiers.

73%

Duplicity
Gorgeous actors Clive Owen and Julia Roberts reteam in this slick comedic caper, light years away from their prickly married couple in Closer.
I appreciated the scenery, but not necessarily the plot - it was a bit too twisty, to the point of unevenness. Still, you'll enjoy the two leads here if you're not too exasperated by the hairpin storyline.

65%

Box Office: Fast and Furious Races to the Top

BuzzSugar — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:30:05 -0700

Wowza! The fourth installment of the Fast and Furious franchise debuted this weekend and earned an estimated $72.5 million, easily taking the No. 1 spot at the box office. Variety reports this represents one of the biggest box office surprises of the season and is the biggest April opening ever.

Monsters vs. Aliens continued to do solid business and came in second place with an estimated $33.5 million. The top five was rounded out by The Haunting in Connecticut, Knowing, and I Love You, Man in third, fourth, and fifth place respectively. Finally, a movie I really enjoyed, Adventureland, debuted at No. 6.

Did any of you see Fast and Furious? Did your theater have shaky seats?

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Adventureland: Dead-End Jobs Never Looked So Fun

BuzzSugar — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:30:31 -0700

The director of Adventureland, Greg Mottola, is no stranger to the Summer comedy. His last film, the funny (and sometimes vulgar) Superbad, was a big hit with audiences and followed two high school buddies through one crazy night at the end of their senior year. Adventureland follows a recent college grad through one crazy Summer, so it's no surprise that the director's movies would be compared to each other.

However, now that I've seen the movie I take issue with the recent ads that go something like, "If you loved Superbad you'll really love this one!" I actually think this movie has more in common with the likes of American Graffiti in terms of capturing the cultural milieu of a generation, and maybe even Juno for the warm way it approaches post-adolescent angst.

Maybe my comparisons won't sell millions of tickets but I loved this movie, and I think that in addition to laughing a lot you'll likely leave the theater in a happy haze of nostalgia. To see why, read more.

Jesse Eisenberg plays James Brennan, a recent college graduate whose plans to travel abroad over the Summer before heading to grad school in New York fall through. Forced to move home to the 'burbs of Pittsburgh, James takes a job at a craptastic theme park where he befriends other young employees, like the cynical, Russian-lit enthusiast Joel (played wonderfully by Martin Starr) and a college student home for the Summer named Em (Kristen Stewart).

I enjoyed Eisenberg in The Squid and the Whale so it's interesting to see him in an even more grown-up role like this one. He and Michael Cera have a similar gawky cuteness to them, but where Cera's characters tend to mumble and clam up in the face of a socially nerve-racking situation, Eisenberg's James is quite verbal (he wants to be a writer) and is often guilty of the over-share. He's got eyes for Em and fills in Stewart's cool silences with a lot of cringe-worthy - but endearing - chatter about what he's trying to do with his life. It's charming to see him stumble his way through a romantic relationship with Em, and when it comes to his future he vacillates between over-confidence and sheer terror at the unknown. His journey is not only entertaining but totally relatable.

While it's not perfect, there's so much good stuff going on in this movie it's hard to fit it all into one little post. Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig are predictably hilarious as the amusement park's managers (Hader is rocking an awesome mustache, too), as are a lot of the douchey park-goers. I like that Em isn't just the pretty, cool girl at the park, but comes with her own set of complicated family issues and relationships that give her depth and make her love story with James all the more compelling. Their chemistry together is another positive that can't be denied.

This coming-of-age story set in the '80s will probably make many folks feel nostalgic for their youths, but I think more than anything, the movie nails what it is to be on the brink of adulthood, working a dead-end job. I've worked my fair share of weird jobs in high school and in college (and post-college if I'm being honest), and the great thing about Adventureland is that it makes me remember the positive side of that time of life, before I had things even remotely figured out. It makes me recall how free and innocent it was, despite all the anxiety.

Photos courtesy of Miramax

Watch, Pass, TiVo or Rent: Adventureland

BuzzSugar — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:15:11 -0700

It seems like ads for this little teen comedy have been everywhere I turn these days, and I can't figure out what to think of it. The trailer I saw in the theaters made me laugh out loud, but the previews on TV lately have made it seem a little dumb and cheesy. What do you think?

Adventureland follows James (Jesse Eisenberg) during his first Summer after college graduation as he works at the amusement park Adventureland. There he meets the cute Em (Kristen Stewart) and deals with some quirky bosses and co-workers (including the folks who run the park, played by the hilarious Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig).

Is this an in-theater movie for you, or a rental? Maybe you'll just wait until it's randomly on TV someday, or skip it altogether?

Image courtesy of Miramax

Life's an Adventureland For Ryan, Kristen and More

Molly — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:45:00 -0700

Ryan Reynolds didn't quite fulfill our shirtless wish just yet, but he did look quite handsome on the red carpet at the LA Adventureland premiere last night. On the other hand, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Bill Hader coordinated their plaid shirts. Ryan wasn't the only one who stepped it up - fresh from filming New Moon in Vancouver, Kristen Stewart looked sexy in her minidress. Between her many ongoing projects lucky Kristen manages to keep herself surrounded with some of the most sought after - not to mention hottest - guys in Hollywood.

To see more from the premiere including Kristen Wiig, Greg Mottola and more just read more.

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Images include: Bill Hader, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Greg Mottola, Kristen Stewart, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Reynolds

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Movie Preview: Adventureland

BuzzSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:30:23 -0800

From the director of Superbad comes another offbeat teen comedy, Adventureland. Kristen Stewart (who must be pretty stoked today at the insane success of her latest movie Twilight) stars alongside Jesse Eisenberg, both playing employees at the amusement park Adventureland. The story mainly follows Eisenberg's character and as far as I can tell, it's a comedy about the relationships that form at this kid's funny little first job out of college. Bill Hader seems like he might be a bit of a scene-stealer as the guy who runs Adventureland with his lady, played by Kristen Wiig.

Adventureland opens March 27, 2009. To watch the trailer, read more.

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Superbad Director Greg Mattola to Helm Another Teen Boy Comedy

BuzzSugar — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:29:22 -0700

This is not Judd Apatow.
With the titles Superbad and Knocked Up being bandied about together as this summer's greatest comedies, it might be easy to confuse the folks behind the two projects. Judd Apatow directed Knocked Up, and was a producer on Superbad. Greg Mattola directed Superbad.

So what's next for Mattola?
Next up, Mattola will be directing another teenage boy comedy, titled Adventureland. Mattola wrote the script as well, and apparently he had just completed it when Apatow contacted him about directing Superbad. Jesse Eisenberg, who starred in The Squid and the Whale, will play the lead.

The story is as follows:

Story, set in the summer of 1987, concerns an uptight recent college grad who's forced to take a minimum-wage job at the local amusement park after realizing he can't afford his dream European tour. The experience helps him to loosen up a bit as he finds first love, forms new friendships and matures just in time to enter the real world in the fall.

Sounds like fun.
I'm loving these comedies set in the '80s, and I really enjoyed what Mattola did with Superbad. I gotta say, though, I hope there are some funny parts for girls as well as for the guys in this one.

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Zombieland: The Feel-Good Zombie Flick of the Year

TresSugar — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:30:23 -0700

A Note From Buzz: With so many new movies this week, my friend Très was nice enough to apply her scary-movie expertise to review the box office's newest zombie flick.

In the United States of Zombieland, zombies outnumber people. A mad-cow tainted burger tipped the population in favor of the drooling, limping, and grunting set, and now zombies roam a crashed-car littered, empty-minimall-blighted zombiescape.

Columbus (Adventureland's Jesse Eisenberg), the virginal antihero of horror-comedy Zombieland, has learned to survive this zombie apocalypse by keeping a list of necessary survival skills. Rule #1? Cardio. If you don't want zombies gnawing on you like an hors d'oeuvre, you'd better be fast and limber. In addition, beware of bathrooms, practice the "double tap" (make sure your zombie's actually dead after you kill him), and don't be a hero. (Regarding this last rule - some rules were made to be broken.)

When Columbus meets up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a swaggering cowboy type with a penchant for tank-like cars, shotguns, and Twinkies, and the spitfire sister duo of Wichita (Emma Stone) and Arkansas (Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin), Zombieland takes off like a scary/fun amusement park ride. To find out what happens on this motley crew's wild road trip from hell, read more

There's something funny about zombies and the zombie genre, and in his first feature film, director Ruben Fleischer plays their comic possibilities to the hilt. Zombies don't have what you'd call well-rounded personalities; they're pretty predictable. They have bad attitudes, come out of nowhere, grunt, and see all nonzombies as food to feast on. They're the perfect foil (or straight men, even) to a cast of characters with more than enough personality to make up for the zombies' boorish one dimensionality.

Take nebbishy Columbus. The world changed for him, he tells us in an early voice-over, when a pretty neighbor he calls #406, asks to stay over because a crazed homeless man tries to bite her. Sadly, although she falls asleep on Columbus's shoulder, she wakes up as a rabid zombie and begins chasing him around his apartment, forcing him to repeatedly knock her over the head with a toilet lid. "The first time I let a girl in my life," deadpans Columbus, "and she tries to eat me."

This kind of witty dialogue abounds in Zombieland, and although fans of gore and violence against zombies will be more than satisfied (Tallahassee's scenes of zombie-killing, especially, have a Tarantinoesque choreography to them), it's really the mismatched goofball characters and how they bond and evolve, surprisingly, that hold the film together. A hilarious cameo from Bill Murray in the Beverly Hills sequence of Zombieland, also, is practically worth the price of admission.

Harrelson chews the scenery as Tallahassee, but as we find out, part of the reason he's hell-bent on killing zombies is because they took away his baby boy. As for the sisters, tough-girl Wichita just wants to take care of her little sister Arkansas (who, as a good shot, doesn't seem to need much help), but a beautiful girl has needs, too, and before long she develops feelings for Columbus. Will he or won't he finally be able to live out his nerd-boy fantasy of brushing the hair over a girl's ear?

You probably know the answer to that question, but just because Zombieland adheres to certain formulas doesn't mean that it doesn't revive them in witty ways. Although the zombie-killing gore fest may not be for everyone, Zombieland's amazing visuals, charming characters, and witty dialogue may leave a goofy grin on your face as you leave the theater.

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures

Adventureland Premiere

PopSugar — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:35:03 -0700

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The Many Faces of Kristen Stewart Grace Dazed and Confused

PopSugar — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:30:00 -0700

Kristen Stewart struck a few poses for the upcoming September issue of Dazed and Confused. She opened up in Entertainment Weekly about New Moon and got spunky for the magazine's video with Taylor Lautner, but in this interview she talks about a few more personal things. Kristen chatted about her movie choices, as well as what it's like dealing with her sudden fame - for more quotes and photos, check out D&C's website. Here's more:

On Adventureland: "With Adventureland, and pretty much everything else I’ve done, I’ve been lucky because they’re characters I really identified with. Sometimes, I’ll read something and it has something about it that makes you need to live it, and if you don’t, it’s like an unconsummated relationship."
On the downside of fame: "Anything you say can come and bite you in the ass. It’s not even like you say things you don’t mean, it’s just that sometimes they come out wrong."On the paparazzi: "The fact is, the paparazzi and most interviewers, they want your soul. It’s so scary because your persona . . . and I guess I now have one, because people think of me in a certain way . . . is all based entirely on quick snippets of crazed moments in your life. And that is what people then base their entire opinion of me on!"

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Photos courtesy David Sherry and stylist Katie Shillingford