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Narnia's Prince Gallops Away With the Box Office

BuzzSugar — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:15:21 -0700

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian handily won the top stop at the box office over the weekend, though it failed to bring in as much as the first Narnia film did in 2005.

In the "yikes" department, Speed Racer (already struggling at the box office) dropped from third place to fourth, only earning an estimated $7.6 million this weekend. Iron Man continued to set records, holding strong at second place while What Happens in Vegas took third. In fact, Iron Man was the first film to earn over $200 million at the domestic box office this year, according to Variety. Baby Mama closed out the top five.

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney

Coveted Crib: The Speed Racer Set

CasaSugar — Fri, 16 May 2008 06:15:07 -0700

Add equal parts midcentury-modern furniture, futuristic detailing, and pop-art colors, and you've got the recipe for the eyecatching set design of the Speed Racer movie. For a peek at the house, take a look at the slideshow, which was recently featured in the LA Times. If you want all of the details, definitely check out the full slide show and article on the LA Times site. For now, full speed ahead! Source

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Sugar Bits - Jennie Garth Signs on For New 90210

PopSugar — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:38:07 -0700

After weeks of rumors, it's official: Jennie Garth is reprising her role as Kelly Taylor for the new 90210 spinoff series. -Hollywood Reporter
Iron Man maintained its top spot in the box office this weekend while What Happens in Vegas and a disappointing Speed Racer still battle it out for second place. - BuzzSugar
Jenna Bush and Henry Hager got married this weekend at the presidential family's Crawford, TX, Ranch. Check out a slideshow of their wedding album! - CitizenSugar
Contrary to previous reports, Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson are not engaged; the ring she was seen wearing was for her upcoming movie Bride Wars. - Us Weekly
American Idol's producers have banned David Archuleta's father from being backstage due to his alleged meddling with David's performance. David's father convinced David to change song lyrics against the producer's wishes, and consequently the show had to pay a fine. - TMZ
Charges against Anne Hathaway's boyfriend Raffaello Follieri for writing a bad check were dropped when he paid up the outstanding $215,000 in full. - People
Dennis Farina was arrested this weekend after a loaded gun was found in his luggage. - AP
A London judge granted Heather Mills and Paul McCartney a preliminary divorce today. If no objections arise, the divorce will be finalized in six weeks with Heather Mills retaining custody of their daughter Beatrice. - Reuters

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Box Office: Iron Man Continues to Soar

BuzzSugar — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:30:32 -0700

Update: As of this afternoon, What Happens in Vegas beat out Speed Racer for the No. 2 spot at the box office, Variety reports.

It will come as no surprise to the majority of movie critics who screened Speed Racer that the highly anticipated Wachowski brothers' flick had a disappointing opening weekend.

Not only did Speed Racer fail to knock Iron Man out of the top spot (the Marvel action hero brought in another $50 million over the weekend), but it's still unclear if the film can truly claim second place as What Happens in Vegas is hot on its trail in what Variety is calling a "photo finish." Vegas only earned an estimated $200,000 less than Speed Racer and both films are currently hovering around the $20 million mark.

In addition to poor reviews, another problem Speed Racer had is that it seemed to only appeal to kids, and filmmakers were shooting for a broader audience. An executive for the film told Hollywood Reporter, "What's hurting us is that the picture is playing very young." The Hollywood Reporter article also points out that if this is the case, then they'll have a hard time when even more competition heads to the theaters next weekend in the form of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Made of Honor fell to fourth place followed by Baby Mama to round out the top five.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Speed Racer: One Long Hangover

BuzzSugar — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:31:25 -0700

My eyeballs hurt. My head hurts. I feel tired. Watching Speed Racer has me feeling all the nastiness of a hangover but without any of the hard-partying fun. I tried coming up with other analogies for the experience of seeing this nauseating, candy-colored whirlpool of a movie, with most of my attempts having to do with sugar, dizziness and a resultant sad, empty feeling, but it appears that most other reviews have already done the legwork in this regard.

Some of the descriptions with which I most heartily agree include the following:

From MSNBC's Alonso Duralde:
"Imagine someone pouring hot, melted Starburst candies into your corneas, and you just begin to approximate the experience of Speed Racer, an ice-cream headache of a movie."
From The New Yorker's Anthony Lane:
"The entire movie, indeed, is what Tom Wolfe would call a Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, complete with achingly blue skies, customized deserts, fantastical mountains, and everything from Goodman’s shirt to Ricci’s fingernails daubed in lollipop hues; it makes the world of Pee-wee Herman look like Anselm Kiefer. So how did this rainbow of velocity end up bleached of fun?"
From Film Journal International's Frank Lovece:
"It's all a bombastic mishmash that makes you feel like you've been stuffed inside a kaleidoscope and shaken for two hours."
From The New York Observer's Rex Reed:
"I can sit through just about anything, but I draw the line at two hours and 15 minutes of fuchsia vomit. To suffer through this kind of hell, movie critics deserve combat pay."
And my very favorite, from New York Magazine's David Edelstein:
"The film is like a nightmare in which you’re trapped in an arcade with screens on all sides and no eyelids."

So, you're probably getting the picture, but still, read more.

Speed Racer tells a fairly convoluted story of greed, the evils of capitalism, family and car racing. Speed is a boy (played by Emile Hirsch) whose sole interest is driving a race car. He idolized his brother Rex until Rex apparently brought shame to the sport and died in a fiery crash. Now Speed loyally races for his father's motor company and he ignites the rage of crazy corporate tycoon Royalton (Roger Allam) when he refuses to race for the Royalton company. Royalton is a shady organization that forces its racers to cheat and demolishes anyone who threatens to beat one of their own, since a Royalton loss would bring down Royalton stock value. See? There is a whole subplot about stocks! I'm not even a kid and I was so bored by so much of this film.

The performances are more or less fine (I think?) given the situation, though the actors often appear to be cracking under the immense strain to breathe real life into a world that literally doesn't exist around them. Clocking in at two hours and 15 minutes, this assault on the senses is way too long to hold the brief attention span of a child, and it's frankly just not enjoyable for adults. So, aside from the visuals (which are cool for about twenty minutes, but what to do with the last 115?), I frankly can't recommend seeing this movie. There's just no point.

To see the trailer and more videos from Speed Racer, check out movies.ivillage.com.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

What to Download: New Music on iTunes

BuzzSugar — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:31:36 -0700

Tuesdays are big in entertainment-ville: Not only do all the new DVD releases hit Netflix, but new music also pours into stores, including iTunes. So starting today, I'll be taking a spin through each week's iTunes music releases and picking out some albums and tracks worthy of a download. Some inaugural selections:

Calling all cool cats: The Last Shadow Puppets is a side project band of Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane from The Rascals. Their album is smooth and reminded one iTunes commenter of James Bond, which I think is right on. Their album topped British charts and I personally will be downloading the entire thing.

Elvis! No, the other Elvis.: Elvis Costello and the Imposters have a new album out called Momofuku, and it's already a hit with his fans and critics alike. Check out the single No Hiding Place if you want a taste of why people love the guy.

The guy who sang that One Tree Hill song: Gavin DeGraw is back with a self-titled album full of songs in the same style that made him somewhat of a hit-maker a couple of years ago. His sound falls somewhere between easy listening and contemporary rock, and if you're looking for something mellow, this new album's for you.

For a couple more suggestions, read more

For the kids: We knew the Barenaked Ladies were really good at making cute and fun pop songs for adults. Now they're doing it for the kids on their new album, Snacktime. The song about ninjas is hands down my favorite, and even though I'm childless, I might not be above listening to these tunes myself!

Do you feel the need for speed?: I bet you thought the musical score for the Speed Racer movie was going to be an over-produced, techno-sounding mash with lots of "toot toot"s in there, didn't you? I sure did. To my surprise, the theme song for the movie is a swinging tune with a brass section to boot. I think it would be right at home on a cocktail party mix CD. Check it out here.

Christina And Emile Race To Radio 1

PopSugarUK — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:01:53 -0700

I still can't help looking at Christina Ricci and thinking Wednesday Addams or of her in Casper, or Now And Then, but she's been totally grown-up for quite some time now (although she's still pocket-sized!) and is currently in London promoting Speed Racer. The rather good-looking (albeit the hat) Emile Hirsch and Christina popped into Radio 1 yesterday to go on lovely Edith Bowman's show, where they munched KitKats, drank Ribena and talked about monkeys. If you missed it, you can listen to it here.

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Jason Levin/Martin Geldart/Grzegorz Hibner/BigPicturesPhoto.com

Speed Racer Rides into Rainy London

PopSugarUK — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:06:00 -0700

It was umbrellas at the ready when the stars of Speed Racer hit the red carpet at the film's UK premiere in London yesterday. While Christina Ricci kept it professional at all times with a smile on her face, Rocco Ritchie's body language said it all! Braving the weather with dad Guy and sister Lourdes, the Ritchies weren't going to let the public forget Madonna's album release. UK stars as diverse as Sir Ian McKellen and S Club's Tina Barrett joined the party, as Christina slipped into a beautiful coat for the after party and John Goodman styled it out on the car. Nice work!

For loads more pictures of the red carpet and the after party, including Susan Sarandon, Emile Hirsch and Kick Gurry, read more

Red Carpet

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After Party

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Images Include: Christina Ricci, Guy Ritchie, Lourdes Leon, Rocco Ritchie, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Emile Hirsch, Kick Gurry, Rain, Tina Barrett, Sir Ian McKellen

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Link Time! 4/29

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:30:35 -0700

TV Squad wants to know why some people seem to hate Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
Cinematical wonders how you feel about it when famous people play themselves.
You Ain't No Picasso has the video of Prince covering Radiohead's "Creep" at Coachella.
The TV Addict has a chat with Gossip Girl's Jessica Szohr.
PopSugar wonders whether you love or hate Scarlett Johansson's new video for "Falling Down."
Stereogum chats about Tegan and Sara's witty onstage banter, complete with video evidence.
Seat42f has an interview with Moonlight star Jason Dohring.
Speaking of Moonlight, Popwatch saw that show's shirtless opening scene last week and now wants to know about some of the other most gratuitous moments in TV history.
The MTV Movies Blog talks to Emile Hirsch about whether a Speed Racer sequel is inevitable.

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Speed Racer Takes a Backseat to Charity For the Weekend

PopSugar — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:30:42 -0700

The cast of Speed Racer saw a perfect opportunity to promote their film at the 2008 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race in Long Beach on Saturday. Emile Hirsch and Matthew Fox looked cool and casual as they watched from the sidelines, while the ladies got a bit more dressed up. Christina Ricci wasn't going to let a sports event stop her from looking girly in her high heels and cute hair - what do you think of her wavy bob? Drew Lachey slipped into a jumpsuit to race for charity and Nick couldn't resist pulling the bunny ears for the photo op - we guess that's just what big brothers are for.

More pics of everyone above, plus Wilmer Valderrama and John Goodman, so just read more.

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Images include: Christina Ricci, Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Drew Lachey, Nick Lachey, Wilmer Valderrama, Lea Lachey, Ben Devlin, Gerardo Bonilla, Tim Brown

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