BuzzSugar

Movie Preview: Bart Got a Room

BuzzSugar — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:30:37 -0800

I saw Bart Got a Room at last year's Tribeca Film Festival and totally enjoyed it - if you'd like, you can read my review (without getting spoiled). Now there's a trailer for it and it's apparently "coming soon." I highly recommend putting this one on the to-see list for some time when you need a pretty light, easy movie that isn't too taxing, isn't too substantial and leaves you feeling good in the end.

Set in Florida, the movie follows Danny (Steven Kaplan), a teen who wants nothing more than to get some action on prom night. Over the course of the film, we watch the excruciating three weeks leading up to the big night as Danny secures everything (tux, limo, hotel room) - except for the girl. William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines play Danny's divorced parents while Alia Shawkat plays Danny's good friend.

It's a sweet little movie with some great Big Band music throughout. To check out the trailer, read more.

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Tribeca Review: Bart Got a Room

BuzzSugar — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:29:54 -0700

Bart Got a Room isn't high art and it's not fall-down funny, but it's easily the sweetest of all the Tribeca films I caught and the one movie I would wholeheartedly recommend. It's silly and goofy and fun, all the while washed in bright hypercolor Florida shades of pink and turquoise. It trots along quickly to swinging, squealing Big Band tunes, which is a funny juxtaposition of the old timers' Florida retirement community with the painfully hilarious adolescent experience at the center of the plot. At times the film seems to be reaching for something it can't quite grasp, but it still shakes out to be a great indie comedy.

Steven Kaplan plays high school senior Danny Stein, whose life’s challenge has come down to finding a date to the prom. Despite receiving an invitation from his best friend Camille (Alia Shawkat), Daniel wants a girl he can take back to the hotel room after the dance. And the hotel room has become the most important factor of all now that word has gotten around that "even Bart got a room.” The significance of this - and the elusive Bart's identity - is a mystery until the very end, but it’s clear that if even Bart's getting a room, then Danny Stein surely must have a prom to remember. So he goes on a quest for a prom date with the support of his divorced parents (William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines) who are each experiencing their own romantic adventures.

To see what else I thought of Bart Got a Room, read more.

The framing of time in the movie, with cards coming up to indicate “3 Months to Prom,” “2 Months to Prom,” etc. gives it a satisfying structure as Danny's quest for a prom date grows more and more frantic. Meanwhile, he dives into some of his biggest questions and concerns about relationships in general. He wonders if his parents maybe didn’t have to get divorced if they'd been more realistic about what relationships entail ("What's wrong with a little boredom?" he asks of his dad). He starts to realize that his date - and his prom experience overall - doesn’t have to be perfect, either. This whole movie is just sweet and lighthearted with an ending that left me wiping tears even as I laughed, not at all unlike the ending of Little Miss Sunshine. If you liked that movie, and funny indie films about bumbling high schoolers might make you laugh, you’d do well to check out Bart Got a Room someday.

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Link Time! 4/24

BuzzSugar — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:33:12 -0700

Vulture wonders which of this summer's superhero movies might suck.
When MTV Movies Blog caught up with Seth Green recently, he shot down all the rumors of an Austin Powers 4.
TV Squad has a look at some Saturday Night Live players who made it big.
Cinematical wonders: Who's more uncomfortable with onscreen nudity, men or women?
Want to see what Liz Lemon looked like in 1992? Give Me My Remote has the horrifying video.
Meanwhile, the TV Addict takes a look at Janeane Garofalo and Cherry Jones in the first photo from 24's seventh season.
Popwatch has a sneak peek at the Tribeca movie I recently told you about, Bart Got A Room.
Stereogum has heard all of the Evil Urges album, the latest from My Morning Jacket, and they have a lot to say about it.

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Tribeca Preview: Bart Got A Room

BuzzSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:30:14 -0700

Sure, maybe we don't need another coming-of-age comedy with awkward geeky boys, but I'll still watch one. Especially one with William H. Macy who was funny/pathetic in his Sundance comedy The Deal (not to be confused with Deal, which should not be confused with 21 - or Rounders, as Brittfish pointed out), along with Cheryl Hines and Alia Shawkat (who is pretty busy these days).

The Tribeca description of Bart Got A Room states that "director and writer Brian Hecker takes us back in time to a quirky world full of plastic flamingos, golf carts, and teen anxiety." The pink flamingos and golf carts are because the movie's set in Florida. Teen anxiety, in this case, is caused by young Danny's (Steven Kaplan) desire to get some action on prom night. He's got everything - limo, tux, hotel room - except for the girl. Apparently the film follows Danny on an excruciating three weeks as he searches for a prom date. I seriously can't wait to see this one when I get to Tribeca.

Interview With Alex McCord: Real Housewife Talks Children

LilSugar — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 08:00:11 -0700

Made famous by her family's everyday antics on Bravo's show, The Real Housewives of New York City, Alex McCord has written a parenting book that will hit bookstore shelves at the end of this year or the beginning of next. Rather than an instructional read, the text will be a he said, she said penned by Alex and her hubby, Simon, about raising their young sons - Francois, 5, and Johan, 3, - in an urban environment. And, since they don't always agree, Alex said it makes for an interesting read.

I recently had a chance to chat via phone with the reality star who wouldn't say who was the most maternal housewife or which castmates's parenting style she identified with, but was happy to dish on what really happened during last season's finale and the fact that she and Simon initially didn't plan to enter parenthood.

lilsugar: At a time in your children's lives when most parents are looking to purchase a parenting book, what made you feel equipped to write one?
Alex McCord: I remembered the books that resonated the most with me when I was pregnant and they were not how to books written by doctors and psychologists, but collections of stories about people living their lives with children and what happened - the good, the bad, the ugly - and by reading that you could see what they learned from it. I had started writing down stories myself in 2004 when I was a mom of one. And now that we have the show, we have the platform to do something like this. There's a huge demand for slice of life entertainment and that's the same viewpoint that we are approaching this book from. It's crazy, off the wall stories about something that happened when we were out with the kids, something that happened when we were at home and my take on it and Simon's take on it.

To see what Alex had to say about childcare and the construction hazards filmed in their home, read more.

lilsugar: What is unique about the way you and Simon are raising the boys?
Alex McCord: We share everything 50 percent. We are both so invested in giving our children a good experience. We live in a very liberal city and environment which we love and have a really strong family unit. We both lost our fathers at a very young age. Simon was 5 and I was 11 and you don't know how long you are going to get to be together. The relationships with your family are the primary thing that shapes your outlook on life. It's absolutely vital to make sure that it is high quality - it's the most important job you can do. We have an appreciation for that while having full lives that involve traveling, both of us working full time, though at the moment I am looking for work full time. We do a lot of things with our children that other people thought were strange. We traveled extensively with them since Francois was 13 days old. We also came into this not wanting to have children. When we first got together, as individuals we decided we did not want to be parents and then once we were married and had been together a while, we changed our minds and threw ourselves into the experience of being parents. We couldn't be happier the way things turned out.

lilsugar: On the show you had a live-in French speaking au pair. Is she still with you?
Alex McCord: The au pair program is just for a year so we had au pairs for three years and when we finished with our last au pair, we made the decision to bring on a full time nanny instead. She does not live with us, but is with us quite a lot. We were ready to have someone not live with us.

lilsugar: Can you speak to Francois's behavior in last season's finale? Was it just a long dinner and a restless child or is that the freedom of expression you want your children to have?
Alex McCord: Hardly. It was a bunch of things. It was our naivete about the way reality shows are put together. We had never watched reality shows before doing this show. It was a family dinner with all of the children expected to attend. Dinner ran two hours late because of late arrivals of the cast members. There's a lot that you didn't see that night. It's the job of the producers to create entertaining television and more often than not with children, no one wants to see beautiful children behaving beautifully. You don't see me taking for a time-out, you do see someone asking Simon if we let our children act this way, and he says, "Oh, yeah sure we do", but the sarcasm doesn't read. We were sorry to see that it came out the way it did.

lilsugar: Did you have any regret of allowing him to be filmed. Are you more protective as a result and is that why we see less of your sons this season?
Alex McCord: We wanted them to be involved to the extent that they wanted to be if that makes any sense. It's really difficult to film a show with children. There is a lot of waiting around and we need you to do this or that and that's not natural for kids. If you want to capture those moments that are real, then you really need to manage it so that they are in for a few minutes. If you get something great. It's not good TV for kids to be held in a room for hours. We tried to balance.

lilsugar: What about the safety hazards that were filmed in your home in both seasons? Or are those areas that were filmed, but are off limits to the boys?
Alex McCord: Completely. All the construction happened behind a dead bolted door that was sealed with plastic all over the entire doorway. For example, this season when we took Jill on a tour when we got home from St. Bart's, that was the first time they ever saw it.

lilsugar: Why didn't anyone tell me blank about motherhood?
Alex McCord: Why didn't anyone tell me how much a very jaded individual would love motherhood.

lilsugar: You know you're a mother when?
Alex McCord: You know you're a mother when you can have conversations with both your children at the same time while preparing dinner and tracing out a project for work.

lilsugar: What's the best trick your mother or father taught you?
Alex McCord: Don't condescend to your children.

lilsugar: Helicopter mom or free range kids?
Alex McCord: Neither. You never want to be a parental extreme, it's really a balance. There are times when you need to be right there with them and that can be construed as helicoptering and there are times when you really need to step back and let them do their own thing and make their own mistakes.

Everyone's got an opinion on this parenting book so don't forget anonymous comments are open.

Sugar Shout Out: Casa Is Giving Away 12 Months of Flowers!

PopSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:50:00 -0700

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