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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:30:50 -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. In addition to my picks below, you can also bring home the comedy Step Brothers today.

X-Files: I Want to Believe
Rejoice, X-Files fans: The most recent addition to the beloved sci-fi saga has arrived on DVD. The movie didn't receive stellar reviews but I don't think that will matter to those who are looking forward to seeing Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) get back on a case together. This mystery involves a missing FBI agent and a psychic priest (played by Billy Connolly). Amanda Peet also appears in the movie as a young agent.

Special features include audio commentary by show creators/movie collaborators Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, a special makeup effects featurette, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.

Two more good ones up next, so read more.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Is there anything more fun than curling up in a blanket with a Narnia movie and something yummy to sip on? I don't think so. I saw this in the theaters and while I had some nits to pick with it, it's hard not to succumb to the magic and whimsy of this favorite childhood book coming to life on the screen. Another pro for me? That the guy playing Prince Caspian, Ben Barnes, is way cuter than I even imagined the good prince to be.

Special features include audio commentary with director Andrew Adamson, bloopers, deleted scenes, and an in-depth look at the talking animals and walking trees that make up the magical world of Narnia.

Wanted
Wanted stars James McAvoy who plays poor, spineless Wesley, an accountant with major anxiety issues who meets Fox (Angelina Jolie), a hot lady who tells him his recently deceased father was actually a talented member of an assassins circle known as The Fraternity. The Fraternity's leader Sloan (Morgan Freeman) recruits Wesley into the ring to go after his father's murderer. What follows is a movie full of guns, blood, and bullets, all of which is now yours to take home to watch in the comfort of your own home.

Special features include extended scenes and a look at the making of the film's special effects.

Link Time! 7/29

BuzzSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:31:17 -0700

The TV Addict just found this 90210 iPod and is curious to know if it comes pre-loaded with Color Me Badd, among other things.
Office Tally has video of the intro from The Office writers panel at Comic-Con, which recast the opening credits with writers in place of actors.
MTV Movies Blog wonders what you would ask a Twilight star if one were standing right next to you.
Citing a certain scene from this week's Weeds, Popwatch asks about the TV sex scenes that left you breathless.
Stereogum has video of Gnarls Barkley covering Radiohead's "Reckoner."
TV With MeeVee watched all of The X-Files in about two months and has some thoughts on the end of the experiment.
Cinematical has the seven most overly used lines in movie trailers (including "In a
world. . .").
Who do you think should win Design Star? Head over to CasaSugar to vote.

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X-Files: I Want to Believe: Sadly, a Disappointment

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:30:07 -0700

You can count me among the fans - but not the super-fanatics - of The X-Files when it aired in the '90s. I may not have been as insane about it as others, but I kept up with the weird, spooky drama and I looked forward to new episodes. Plus, Gillian Anderson's character, Dana Scully, is a strong, female sci-fi heroine of sorts, and I really looked up to her at the time. Oh, and of course David Duchovny's Fox Mulder was definitely crushworthy so all in all, it was a highlight of my TV-viewing universe. This is why I had nothing but high hopes for X-Files: I Want to Believe, and I tried to ignore those pesky questions during the build up to the release like: "Really, ten years later?" and "Will people still, in fact, want to believe?"

I should also point out that this movie has been promoted as a stand-alone story, meaning that even folks who have little knowledge of the series would be able to get on board and enjoy a dark thriller with a compelling mystery. In fact, details of the plot have been kept so tightly under wraps my assumption was that they must have thought of something really awesome to hinge a new movie around - hence everyone's willingness to get back together years after the series left the airwaves.

Which brings me to the bad news first (and I won't give away spoilers): the so-called "mystery" that has been so shrouded in secrecy is truly nothing very exciting. In fact, it hardly stands up to the most mediocre of episodes, which only adds to my perplexity over this movie. Truth be told, I'm pretty bummed out. To see why, read more.

When the movie opens it has been six years in "real time" since we last saw everyone in the series finale, and we learn that Fox Mulder is no longer with the FBI and is a bit of a recluse (well, we're meant to assume this because he is bearded and sits around clipping newspaper articles like a crazy person). Meanwhile, Scully is a surgeon at Our Lady of Sorrows Hospital where she is personally invested in saving a terminally sick boy, to the displeasure of her colleagues.

Also, two FBI agents (played by Amanda Peet and Alvin "Xzibit" Joiner) are feverishly looking for a missing colleague using the help of a psychic priest named Father Joe (Billy Connolly), but they really need the one agent who has experience with this kind of stuff: Agent Mulder. With the help of Scully the FBI pulls him back in and X-Philes will sigh with relief at how quickly he's back to his obsessive ways.

It's Scully who has probably changed the most; she's no longer just a pragmatic voice of reason, but resolute in her unwillingness to "look into the darkness" any longer. A lot of screen time is focused on faith, losing faith, that darkness, etc. Like the television series, it's dark and brooding, but without a strong case to solve all this analysis and back-and-forth between the two former agents is tepid. It's sad to see these two so empty. I missed the occasional wry glint in Mulder's eye and I wanted to see Scully quit dragging her feet and jump on board the case despite her reservations. But between all that angst and a story that's mostly uninteresting (I wish there had been something extraterrestrial about it, or maybe some magic - anything too crazy to believe!) the whole thing is mostly just so-so.

Still, even after all that head-scratching and some boredom, I love Mulder and respect Scully and I suppose after such a mediocre return to the X-Files that's probably the silver lining. Which is to say: it could have been worse but I wish it were so much better.

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

How Well Do You Know the X-Files?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:30:13 -0700

Here we are, 10 whole years after the last X-Files movie and fans of the show will finally get another (perhaps last?) taste of two of the most beloved sci-fi characters of our time: Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. While X-Files: I Want to Believe is supposed to be a stand-alone story (so, you don't have to know the whole history of the show to enjoy it), I still think we could all use a little brush-up on our X-Files trivia.

If you, too, are hearing that spooky theme music in your head, take my quiz!

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Take the quiz

Better Together Than Apart

BuzzSugar — Mon, 26 May 2008 13:15:27 -0700

Be it TV or movies, some pairs and trios create more magic together than they do apart. Sometimes a person's entire career is thanks to someone else with whom they do great work. And sometimes a new pair is born right before our eyes - like the combination of Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr., arguably the key factor in Iron Man's success. I've rounded up a few folks who I love together more than apart. To start my slideshow, hit "Start."

View Slideshow ›

The Fox Fall Schedule: My Take (With Video!)

BuzzSugar — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:45:13 -0700

Fox just revealed its Fall and mid-season schedules, including the addition of big new sci-fi dramas, the return of 24 (complete with that two-our prequel airing in November) and a new comedy. Now that I've had a chance to think about the schedule and watch some clips, here are my thoughts:

In the Fall, Tuesday night will be pretty darn cool with the return of House followed by the new J.J. Abrams thriller Fringe. I'm excited about this new Abrams series - based on the clips I've seen it looks like The X-Files meets Lost with a tiny bit of Alias sprinkled in. Plus a lot of needles. The mood is dark and tense but the oh-so-adorable Joshua Jackson is back to his wise-cracking ways.
Joss Whedon's Dollhouse will not arrive until mid-season and will be paired up with 24. Between that and their big Tuesday night, Fox is going to be dishing out a ton of sci-fi dramas. I'm OK with this since the sci-fi genre lends itself to great characters and gives us a bit of everything: romance, intrigue, mystery, action, even comedy. I think it's a smart type of show to stock up on, especially from the folks who do it best (Abrams, Whedon).
One interesting thing to note for Dollhouse and Fringe is that they are both what Fox is calling "remote free TV." They promise to have significantly fewer commercials through the entire run of their seasons. Also, both dramas are introducing what they described as "ingénues" in Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse) and Anna Torv (Fringe). Who knows? Maybe these ladies will become the next Jennifer Garner or Gillian Anderson.
I really love Niecy Nash and think the premise of the new comedy Do Not Disturb is cute (as is Jerry O'Connell). I'm not totally sold on whether or not it's built to last, but I'll cross my fingers. I did see some clips of Mitchell Hurwitz's first animated comedy, Sit Down, Shut Up, and wiped away some tears from laughing. The cast of voices is great, though we've got a while before that one's on the air.

I've got some clips and photos from both new shows this fall, and you can check them out if you read more.

Fringe

View 5 Photos ›

Do Not Disturb

View 4 Photos ›

Dollhouse

View 3 Photos ›

Photos courtesy of Fox

New Trailer for The X-Files: I Want to Believe

BuzzSugar — Mon, 12 May 2008 10:32:21 -0700

OK, X-philes, ready for the most exciting one minute and 30 seconds of your day? There's a new, official trailer out now for the upcoming X-Files movie and it's pretty great. There's more of what we saw in the teaser trailer (Billy Connolly being spooky, people frantically digging in the snow, etc.) but there are also more details and the creepiness factor has been upped.

Also, I'm convinced that the eerie theme music that goes with The X-Files can rival other recognizable theme songs and movie scores for its ability to create instantaneous chills.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe opens in theaters July 25. To check out the new trailer, read more.

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PaleyFest: Mad Men and X-Files Close Out the Week

BuzzSugar — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:30:01 -0700

The Paley Festival has officially wrapped up its two-week stand in Los Angeles, closing out its run with panels featuring the creators of The X-Files and the cast and creative team behind Mad Men. While I'm sorry I couldn't be there for myself, at least there are video highlights to share!

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson didn't attend Wednesday night's X-Files panel, but that doesn't mean there wasn't scoop to be had about the upcoming movie. A new trailer premiered during the panel, but it's since been pulled down from YouTube (come on, Fox, please?). E! has interviews with producers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz. The Futon Critic has a liveblog of the event, and The Hollywood Reporter has its own account. A couple of tidbits:

The movie doesn't have a title yet - or rather, Carter knows what he wants to call it, but whether that becomes the official title is still in Fox's hands.
The producers just kind of figured out the show's mythology as they went along. The movie, meanwhile, will be more "monster of the week," less aliens.
The issue of whether Scully's baby is normal "will not go unconsidered" in the movie.

For a video clip and some of the highlights from Mad Men, just read more.

Mad Men closed out the festival on Thursday, and The Futon Critic gamely produced yet another liveblog. The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, wrote that the panelists seemed giddy about their success. Even the show's creator seemed a bit taken aback by all the praise his series has received. Some highlights:

Try as I might, I can't get used to seeing Jon Hamm anything less than completely clean-shaven. He proudly said (as you can see in the video below) that his show's not a guilty pleasure; it's just a pleasure, period.
The biggest spoiler that show creator Matthew Weiner was willing to reveal about the second season: "It's still in the 60s." Heh.
Weiner also talked a lot about how some of the magic in the show lies not in revealing things but in intentionally not revealing them - whether secrets or cleavage.

Here are videos from the panels:

The X-Files:

Mad Men:

Photos and videos courtesy of The Paley Center

First Glimpse of the X-Files 2 Teaser Trailer

BuzzSugar — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:29:55 -0800

Sure, this bootleg video of the X-Files 2 teaser trailer is low-quality and full of "X-phile" audience members screaming like banshees, but still - it's our first glimpse at the X-Files 2 movie! I look forward to A) a real version of the teaser trailer, and B) a full-length trailer, but for now this video - grabbed at the recent WonderCon - will have to do. It's definitely exciting to see Mulder and Scully back together in this spooky world, so to check out the video, read more.

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The X-Files Sequel: Fewer Aliens, More Ghosts

BuzzSugar — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 14:32:46 -0800

Not only did some new production stills come out today for the X-Files sequel, but new details about the plot have been revealed. Or, more specifically there are details about what's not going to be included in the next X-Files movie: mythology.

According to USA Today, this next movie "will dump the long-running 'mythology' plotline - that aliens live among us and are part of a colonizing effort - that made it one of the most popular television shows in the late 1990s but ultimately drove away some viewers who found it too complex and ambiguous." Series creator Chris Carter is quoted as saying "We want a stand-alone movie, not a mythology conspiracy one."

What does this mean, exactly? To find out, read more.

Carter is remaining mum on any and all plot specifics, though there's mention of the stand-alone episodes that aired and didn't have to do with the long-running story, episodes that centered on "cults, ghosts, psychics and ancient curses." The hope is that focusing the movie on this sort of thing will attract a wider audience than just the show's core fan base. For fans, filmmakers think the Mulder-Scully relationship will still be a big draw. Carter claims the duo had "an intellectual romance that's very rare and restrained compared to so many relationships on TV. I think that's what appealed most to the fans."

What do you think? Are you anxious to see Mulder and Scully teamed back up again, hacking away at supernatural mysteries?

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