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BuzzSugar at WonderCon: Star Trek and Terminator Preach to the Choir

BuzzSugar — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:30:10 -0800

It was an insane - not to mention insanely fun - weekend at WonderCon here in San Francisco. I already reported back on the exciting Watchmen panel, and now I'm giving the lowdown on the panels I attended for Star Trek and Terminator Salvation. The directors of both movies showed up to explain to a crowd of devotees how they think they've done right by fans with these reboots. To read what J.J. Abrams and McG had to say about reviving beloved franchises with care, read more.

Warning!: The following might be considered spoilery.

Star Trek:

Well, Heroes may not be pleasing all the fans lately, but Zachary Quinto (who plays Spock in the movie) remains a hot commodity to this crowd - the lady screams were loud and long when he appeared onstage. Chris Pine (Kirk) and Zoe Saldana (Lt. Nyota Uhura) also showed up alongside J.J. Abrams for the panel.
Anton Yelchin has big parts in both Star Trek and Terminator but didn't take the stage for Star Trek.
Everyone talked with deep reverence for the Trek canon, though their levels of fandom vary (Abrams admitted he never really watched the show but was still excited about this movie).

It sounded like Quinto got a lot of time with Leonard Nimoy, and Pine said of following in William Shatner's footsteps, "Mr. Shatner's incredibly funny . . . it's that twinkle in his eye that's like, you know, anything can happen. Something I couldn't try to re-create for the life of me."
We saw a brand new world premiere trailer that is similar to the last one, but includes new goose-bump-inducing scenes like a young Kirk sitting down in the captain's seat on the Enterprise bridge for the first time.
J.J. Abrams threw the crowd some Cloverfield sequel news crumbs, too, saying, "We have an idea for something that's pretty cool . . . the idea is pretty sweet!"

Terminator Salvation

Director McG entered the stage and was pumped about his movie. He kicked things off with the premiere of a whole new trailer that fans will see before Watchmen and that is totally different than anything we've seen so far. This one focuses more on story and less on robots, as we learn that humans are being collected and harvested by Skynet.
One of the funniest moments of the panel was when McG responded to the moderator's request to address the now infamous Christian Bale on-set meltdown with, "What don't you f*cking understand?"
Talent included Yelchin (who plays Kyle Reese, Connor's dad), Bryce Dallas Howard (Kate Connor), Common and Moon Bloodgood. They all seemed genuinely impressed and speechless after seeing this new trailer along with the crowd for the first time.
Another cute moment came from Common who answered a question about how he got involved with this movie: "I wanted to do a movie with Christian Bale."
We saw a few more unfinished clips and it's a lot of action, a lot of robots, etc. Pretty heart-pounding, though not at all unexpected.
I thought it was funny how everyone on the panel constantly gushed about the first two Terminator films - the elephant in the room being the third movie, directed by Jonathan Mostow. Everyone sort of agreed to be polite about it but it was clear they consider it a blemish on the franchise.
Finally, McG danced around it a bit, but he made it seem like the odds were pretty decent that the T-800 will make an appearance, which is the model Arnold Schwarzenegger played in the series. Will the Governator make an appearance? I'm betting yes.

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:30:01 -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. In addition to the titles below you can also watch the Tom Hanks-Julia Roberts political movie Charlie Wilson's War and the horror flick One Missed Call.

Cloverfield
With the release of Cloverfield to DVD it seems like this is one JJ Abrams chapter that has officially come to an end (well, at least until the sequel comes out, and the viral marketing campaign for that will surely precede it by about a year). Cloverfield was so overly hyped that I had some reservations going into the movie, but I was happy to report that I had been worried for nothing. It is a frightening monster movie that kept my heart racing.

This movie also earned a reputation for the shaky-cam visual style making some people feel nauseated, though if you were worried about that on the big screen, your home entertainment center will likely make for a much mellower experience. The movie follows a gaggle of 20-somethings at a going away party in New York. When the city comes under attack by a monster, what ensues is a great balance of action, relief, tender moments and "real-life" drama and humor.

As expected, this DVD is packed full of special features including commentary by director Matt Reeves, alternate endings, and the making of the film.

Two more excellent (albeit dark) films out this week, so read more.

The Savages
The Savages has some amazing talent in it, including the incomparable Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman who play siblings, with a touching performance by Philip Bosco as their father. The story centers around a scenario few of us will escape in our lifetime: dealing with an aging parent. In the movie, this situation is made even more complicated by the fact that the father has been estranged from his children for decades. The film was one of the year's best and earned Oscar nominations for both Laura Linney and writer Tamara Jenkins.

Special features include an "About the Savages" featurette, some director's snapshots and an extended scene.

The Orphanage
Omigosh, if Cloverfield isn't scary enough for you, I can guarantee that this film will haunt you for days, if not weeks. Giggle reviewed The Orphanage for me while I worked up the nerve to check it out for myself, and then once I did I totally agreed with every thing she wrote.

This Spanish-language film doesn't rely on CGI effects or grotesque torture scenes to scare the you-know-what out of you. Instead, it's an old-fashioned ghost story that follows a woman who returns to the orphanage of her youth to refashion it as a school for disabled children. But when her son starts to exhibit disturbing behavior, she is pulled into the creepy secrets of the house and thus unfolds a super scary movie. I highly recommend this one but you may need a shoulder to bury your head into or a hand to hold - I would not tackle this alone!

Special featurettes include: "When Laura Grew Up: Constructing the Orphanage"; "Tomas' Secret Room (The Filmmakers)"; and "Horror in the Unknown: Makeup Effects."

Box Office: Hannah Montana Juggernaut Makes History

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 07:30:00 -0800

While most of us had our attention turned to the Super Bowl this weekend, Miley Cyrus fans headed to the theaters in droves to make Disney's 3-D pic Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour the highest-grossing Super Bowl movie of all time.

Jessica Alba's thriller, The Eye came in a distant second, pulling in $13 million compared to Hannah Montana's $29 million. The Katherine Heigl-James Marsden romantic comedy 27 Dresses came in at No. 3, followed by Juno. After being knocked down last week, Juno's return to the top five brought the indie's total gross up to $110 million.

Meanwhile, Cloverfield continued its slide down the list to No. 9, bumped out of place by flicks like Rambo, and Untraceable. Looks like moviegoers were in the mood for leading ladies this weekend!

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Did I Call it or What? Cloverfield Sequel Already in the Works

BuzzSugar — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:30:38 -0800

As soon as I saw Cloverfield I knew immediately that there would be sequels. Making one stand-alone video of a Manhattan monster attack means there could be any number of other videos out there with similar footage - from the New York attack, or from other cities the monster demolished. Basically, all they need to come up with are the various reasons for people to be using a handheld camera.

This easy setup for a sequel combined with the fact that Cloverfield cost $25 million to make and raked in $46 million over its opening weekend alone has now motivated Paramount to team up with director Matt Reeves again for a Cloverfield sequel. Variety states today that the Cloverfield sequel might even be Reeves next project.

While I know I totally called this, there's a part of me that already feels a pending weariness toward the Cloverfield movies. Part of the satisfaction with Cloverfield was the intrigue surrounding it - the sequel(s) will have to consistently think of ways to surprise us. Also, they may want to figure out how to avoid that shaky-cam nausea.

What do you think about a Cloverfield sequel?

Photo courtesy of Paramount

Box Office: Spartans Defeat Rambo

BuzzSugar — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 05:30:54 -0800

The 300 spoof movie Meet the Spartans took the box office crown this weekend, just barely edging out the latest Rambo for first place. Still, Rambo's numbers are encouraging to studio heads, who appear to be "thinking about reviving Rambo as a franchise." According to Variety, Harvey Weinstein remarked, "Based on these numbers, there should be another one."

Meanwhile, 27 Dresses and Cloverfield swapped places, with Dresses coming out ahead in third place. Cloverfield suffered a decrease in sales of over 68% - maybe news got around about the movie's camera work making audiences vomit. Newbie Untraceable followed up just behind Cloverfield in fifth place, knocking Juno out of the top five for the first time in many weeks.

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Did Cloverfield Make You Puke?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:30:13 -0800

Personally, I had a good time watching Cloverfield, and while the camera work is a bit nauseating at first, I didn't really have any urge to, well, barf. That doesn't appear to be the case for everyone though, and since its huge opening last weekend the movie has been plagued by some bad word of mouth. Zap2it reports one woman's rough experience immediately after watching the movie:

"I'm really nauseous right now - just hold on for a second," she said, before walking down the hall and retching into a trash can.

Wow. Some are actually predicting these reports might seriously affect ticket sales. So what about you: Did watching Cloverfield make you want to hurl?

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Link Time! 1/24

BuzzSugar — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:30:46 -0800

Several entertainment bloggers have launched an Adopt a Writer site, which will feature interviews with striking writers.
Cinematical ponders the possibility of a third Fantastic Four movie. Would this be necessary at all?
In honor of the Price is Right getting six primetime episodes, TV Squad has a list of the six worst prizes you can win on the show.
Stereogum has posted video of Lisa Loeb playing inside an Ikea store.
TV with MeeVee wonders whether David Simon is too angry for his own good on this season of The Wire.
Hypeful helpfully puts together Rob's party mix from Cloverfield.
Meanwhile, Popwatch hails the return of Erykah Badu.

Box Office: Cloverfield's Monster Weekend Breaks Records

BuzzSugar — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:30:09 -0800

January usually isn't the month to expect big things at the box office, but Cloverfield just changed all of that. JJ Abrams' monster flick was No. 1 at the box office this weekend, earning an estimated $41 million and setting an all-time January record, Variety reports. Katherine Heigl's 27 Dresses came in a respectable No. 2 earning $22.4 million - another great opening for this time of year.

On the other hand, the ladies of Mad Money didn't fare well at all over the weekend, coming in low down the list at No. 7. The Bucket List took the third slot while audiences continued to enjoy the little comedy that could, Juno, which came in No. 4.

Despite this weekend's huge numbers, we might not be done yet: Studios could gross even more today if moviegoers head to the theaters on their day off.

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Cloverfield: Something's Coming. . . And It's Awesome

BuzzSugar — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:36:25 -0800

I am genuinely surprised by how much I love Cloverfield, the JJ Abrams-produced monster movie which, despite being heavily promoted through viral marketing schemes, has largely managed to remain shrouded in mystery up until today's release. The viral stuff was starting to get exhausting - and ridiculous - and I worried that all this hubbub would be for naught, and all of us Abrams fans would be fiercely disappointed. I was wrong. It's not going to win tons of awards, but in the genre of monster movies, this is one of the best I've ever seen.

Filmed in the shaky-cam style of Blair Witch Project, it's a little nauseating at first, but easy to get used to. Enough time has passed since the Blair Witch Project that this seems like a legitimate cinematic technique again. In fact, it works better this time around since technology in everyday life has become more common, every public event nabbed immediately on dozens of cameras and cameraphones. It's not so unusual that a crazy monster attack on New York would be caught on a 20-something's video camera. And this is exactly what happens. To find out what else goes on, read more.

The bulk of the action begins with a surprise bon voyage party for Rob (Michael Stahl-David) being thrown by his brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and Jason's girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas). While prepping for the party, Jason gives his friend Hud (T.J. Miller) the camera, instructing him to take testimonials from the guests. Yet Hud never really puts the camera down, even when the party learns that the city is under attack - by a monster. From here the party spins into panic mode and everyone scatters while the monster slips around buildings, glimpses of it caught in the light of helicopters. A group of partygoers try to stay together and set out to find their friend Beth (Odette Yustman).

The best part about the story is also the best part about the storytelling technique. The movie truly begins with the original footage on the videotape: Rob filming his longtime crush Beth in bed, groggily waking up from their night together. Throughout the entirety of the film, this taped-over footage is slipped between super intense monster scenes, providing a jolting - and much-needed - shift from tension to relief, from a horrible present to a happier past.

In general, I think Abrams does well with this balancing act, though it's unclear how much of the end product of Cloverfield is him and how much is director Matt Reeves. This balance is probably the best thing about the movie: this perfect combination of tension and relief, anticipation and action, "real-life" drama and humor. They did well to have the cameraperson, our narrator of sorts, be Hud, a bumbling guy whose baffled quips from behind the camera often provide comedic relief. The movie never gets too precious and never takes itself too-too seriously. And still, when that monster is on screen it’s really, really scary.

As a sidenote, there are some absurdities that will simply have to be swallowed, like when the group - some of them in heels - walks from Spring Street in Manhattan to 59th Street in very little time and with no physical consequence. There aren't too many of these outrageous things, though, and by the end of the film, all is forgiven.

The movie so easily sets up the possibility of sequels (there could be any number of these "recovered videos" from the monster attack, and could even find one from every major city), so definitely expect to see Cloverfields 2-10 or so. There is, in fact, something hoarsely whispered at the very end, after the credit roll (yes, I geekily stayed in the theater through the entire credit roll, made rather enjoyable by the choral piece "Roar!" which was specially composed for Cloverfield), but I couldn't make out the words. If you're a nerd like me and stay through the credits, let me know what you think is said.

To see the trailer and more clips from Cloverfield check out movies.ivillage.com.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Young Hollywood Comes Out For Cloverfield's LA Invasion

Molly — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:01:32 -0800

J. J. Abram's anticipated new release, Cloverfield, premiered in LA last night and the town's hottest stars and starlets couldn't stay away. Lindsay Lohan strutted her stuff and scowl in a skin tight LBD on the red carpet for the first time since rehab. Pete and Ashlee were enthusiastic about the big event - and don't forget to tell us your questions for Ashlee. The girls of The Hills were out in full effect with LC who has a newly announced upcoming runway show, Audrina, Heidi and Spencer who obviously couldn't keep their hands off each other. Plus, hey, present for you - here's a little John Krasinski the man you most want to see more of in 2008. Since it's been so long since a new episode of The Office, it's better than nothing. This may not be your No. 1 choice of movies this weekend, but I'm excited to see how it fares after all the hype.

To see a whole lot more from the premiere including Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, Ashley Tisdale, Natasha Henstridge, Zoe Saldana, Will.i.am, JJ Abrams, Zachary Quinto, Stacy Keibler, Michelle Trachtenberg, Harold Perrineau and others just read more.

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Images include: Ashlee Simpson, Pete Wentz, Ashley Tisdale, Lindsay Lohan, Chris Pine, Jessica Lucas, Mike Vogel, Natasha Henstridge, Zoe Saldana, Will.i.am, JJ Abrams, Lauren Conrad, Frankie Muniz, Kristin Cavallari, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, John Krasinski, DeRay Davis, Masi Oka, Zachary Quinto, Stacy Keibler, Michelle Trachtenberg, Harold Perrineau

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