BuzzSugar

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:36:22 -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.

Mamma Mia!
Mamma Mia is a lot of things: fun, sparkly, full of handsome middle-aged men, kind of a hilarious hot mess, etc. It's also now a Golden Globe nominee, which is not something I would have imagined possible for this movie but there you have it! Still, a lot of people will be excited to add this one to their Netflix queues (or to receive it as a gift) to sing along and dance to in the privacy of their own homes (I'm looking at you, Mom).

The special features are totally what you would expect to accompany this musical on DVD. They include - what else? - a sing-along that includes onscreen lyrics for 22 musical numbers, as well as a deleted musical number titled "The Name of the Game." There's also commentary from director Phyllida Lloyd, a featurette on the making of the movie, and some deleted scenes and outtakes.

Two more releases up next so read more.

The House Bunny
Anna Faris is one of the most endearing young comedic actresses these days which is why I was more or less on board for The House Bunny. The movie follows Playboy bunny Shelley (Faris) who has been kicked out of the Playboy mansion after her 27th birthday and finds herself moving in as house mother for the "misfit girls" at the Zeta Alpha Zeta sorority house. The girls need to recruit more ladies to their house and they turn to Shelley to help them improve their reputation. The whole thing is super formulaic and nothing to write home about but there are moments that made me giggle and Faris is really entertaining in this role.

Special features include deleted scenes, a featurette about the love interest in the film (played by Colin Hanks) and another one titled "From Song to Set: Katherine McPhee."

Generation Kill
If you didn't catch this HBO gem when it aired this year, I highly recommend making the time to do so now that it's out on DVD (in fact, it may be easier to watch back-to-back rather than waiting a whole week to see what happens next). The seven-episode miniseries from The Wire's David Simon and Ed Burns delivers everything you'd expect from a Simon/Burns project. Based on a book by journalist Evan Wright, the series is a gritty and realistic portrayal of the Iraq War. The cast is also awesome and includes Alexander Skarsgård (currently starring on True Blood), James Ransone, Stark Sands and Jon Huertas.

Special features include a featurette titled "Generation Kill: A Conversation With the 1st Recon Marines," and deleted dialogues.

TV Tonight: Generation Kiill

BuzzSugar — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:00:23 -0700

In a Summer where HBO is lacking any of its signature series, the network's hopes must be sky-high for Generation Kill. The seven-episode miniseries from The Wire's David Simon and Ed Burns premieres Sunday night, and from the early reviews, it seems like it's everything I'd expect from a Simon/Burns project.

What that means: On the plus side, it's well-written, in-depth, and revealing. This review called it "rewarding in its complexity," not unlike The Wire. That, of course, comes with an inherent minus: The series is complex and not always easy to watch - or even tell who's who, especially in the first episode or two.

Personally, I'm planning to watch with a glossary, a chain of command chart, and a map at the ready; they're all available over here. Even if it is confusing at first, I have confidence that it will pay off in the end. (Also, special note for Wire fans: James Ransone, who played Ziggy in season two, has a major role.)

Will you be tuning in? To watch a preview (which has some profanity; you've been warned) and a "making of" video, just read more.

Source

Link Time! 7/1

BuzzSugar — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:31:04 -0700

Popwatch writer Annie Barrett has a hilarious note that her mother passed to her father on a plane, explaining how to adjust the volume on an iPod, which prompted Annie to ask: What's the most basic technological instruction you've had to explain to the tragically unhip?
Best Week Ever is holding a quirk-off between Daniel Day-Lewis and Jeremy Irons.
LilSugar wants to know if you can handle any more Real Housewives.
Inspired by Amanda Seyfried's character's dilemma in Mamma Mia, FilmExperience wonders which of her three possible daddies would be your daddy: Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth or Stellan Skarsgård?
TV Squad names some of the best Six Feet Under corpses, including the one that makes me scared to ever put my head through the roof of a limo.
Cinematical ponders whether or not Robin has any place in Christopher Nolan's Batman movies.
Lucky TV with MeeVee has seen three hours of Generation Kill, and it sounds like everything I'd hope it would be.
One brave contributor to The TV Addict lays out some reasons for hating Lost.

First Look: Generation Kill on HBO

BuzzSugar — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:32:39 -0700

HBO may not have any series on its schedule for the Summer, but it does have Generation Kill, a seven-part miniseries about the new face of the American military.

The miniseries, written by The Wire's David Simon and Ed Burns, is based on a book of the same name by Rolling Stone writer Evan Wright. In 2003, Wright was embedded with a Marine Corps special operations unit with the motto "Swift, Silent, Deadly." The book painted a portrait of the soldiers in his unit as they lived on the front lines of a war that was then just beginning.

Though Simon and Burns don't know the military nearly as well as they knew Baltimore, Generation Kill seems like a logical step after The Wire nonetheless. The stories of rank-and-file soldiers confronting a military bureaucracy probably have something in common with those of rank-and-file police officers, dock workers, and teachers confronting a machine much larger than themselves. Plus, Simon and Burns have experience bringing a certain dark humor to even the most grim and gritty situation.

Generation Kill will run for seven Sundays beginning July 13. Want to get a taste of what it's about? You can check out the trailer and a clip from the scene where Wright meets the troops for the first time if you read more.

What To Sky+: Wednesday

PopSugarUK — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0800

BBC1 has Jimmy's Food Factory and Spooks
BBC2 has Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two
BBC4 has Where Is Modern Art Now?
ITV1 has I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here
ITV2 has Gossip Girl and I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Now
Ch4 has The Family, True Blood and Generation Kill
E4 has How I Met Your Mother
Sky1 has Project Runway
Sky Premiere has Twilight and Twilight Special
Sky Classics has East of Eden

What To Sky+: Wednesday

PopSugarUK — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0800

BBC1 has Jimmy's Food Factory, Waterloo Road and Spooks
BBC3 has The Noughties: Was That It?
ITV2 has Gossip Girl
Ch4 has The Family, True Blood and Generation Kill
E4 has How I Met Your Mother
More4 has The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Sky Indie has High Fidelity, Sky Comedy has Shrek the Third

What To Sky+: Wednesday

PopSugarUK — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0800

BBC1 has Jimmy's Food Factory and a new series of Spooks plus Interview with the Vampire: the Vampire Chronicles
BBC2 has Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two
BBC3 has The Noughties: Was That It?
ITV2 has Gossip Girl
Ch4 has The Family, True Blood and Generation Kill
E4 has How I Met Your Mother
Sky1 has Project Runway
Sky Indie has Paper Moon
Sky Drama has Brideshead Revisited

What To Sky+: Wednesday

PopSugarUK — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:00:00 -0700

BBC1 has Jimmy's Food Factory and a new series of Waterloo Road
BBC3 has Camp Rock
ITV2 has Gossip Girl
Ch4 has True Blood and Generation Kill
E4 has How I Met Your Mother
Five has Britain's Best Brain
Sky1 has Project Runway
Sky Indie has There Will Be Blood

Robbie Will Receive Outstanding Contribution Brit Award

PopSugarUK — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:30:17 -0700

Robbie Williams will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award at the 30th Brit Awards on February 16, 2010.

The news comes after his critically acclaimed comeback gig for the BBC Electric Proms on Tuesday night, and ahead of the release of his new album Reality Killed the Radio Star.

The Chairman of the Brits Committee, Ged Doherty, stated:

"Robbie is one of the outstanding artists and performers of his generation. It will be an absolute thrill to have him at the BRITs' 30th anniversary show receiving the Outstanding Contribution Award. We are delighted."

He's certainly done a lot for British music, and holds the record for winning more Brit Awards than any other artist. Do you think he deserves this award?

View 3 Photos ›

According to NGOs, 90 Percent of Afghan Women Are Abused

TresSugar — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:00:00 -0700

This sobering CNN video takes us into one of only a dozen women's shelters in Kabul, Afghanistan. According to nongovernmental agencies, 90 percent of Afghan women are victims of domestic abuse.

One woman is at the shelter trying to escape 15 years of abuse from her husband for not being able to conceive a child. As she speaks, a slash on her throat is visible and highlighted by stitches. She would like to see her family again, but she fears she will be killed if she goes home. Another woman has tried to kill herself three times to escape the abuse of a man who often chained her to a wall, setting her free only when it was time for her to cook. In a country where women are viewed as property, even children aren't spared. A 9-year-old tells her story of being raped at age five.

Manizha Naderi, the director for Women for Afghan Women, risks her life to take them in. Listen to her explain the way that the expectation for how women are treated is handed down from generation to generation. By providing a safe space, Naderi lets them know they have an option.