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Buzz Gift Guide: A Bounty For Boys

BuzzSugar — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:30:41 -0800

Welcome back to my Buzz Gift Guide series for all the entertainment lovers in your life. On Monday I dug up some gifts for the little ones in your life and today I'm brainstorming ideas for the teenage dudes in your world who are pop culture sponges.

If I had a teenage brother I'd insist he own a complete set of Indiana Jones DVDs including (but more importantly, not limited to) this year's fourth addition to the franchise. In regard to other franchises, I've noticed that some teenage guys (and by "some" I mean my younger cousins) are always quoting Family Guy and The Simpsons and might have fun with these characters to stick up on their walls.

For the wannabe rock star in your life there's always Guitar Hero World Tour which expands the game from a lone guitar player to a full band that includes drums (it actually looks like a lot of fun!). You may know a young lad who enjoys that Shaun White snowboarding video game, so he might like listening to the pretty cool soundtrack from it, and finally, I'm sure many teens would be stoked to own Iron Man.

Check out HolidaySugar for all of our holiday coverage and gift guides.

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:30:14 -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, the Oscar-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side is also now available on DVD.

Iron Man
Hurray! It feels like just yesterday the Summer box office was electrified by this superhero hit. I really loved it (and saw it twice in the theaters), mostly due to a super cool performance by Robert Downey Jr. and the skillful storytelling abilities of director Jon Favreau. Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, and Terrence Howard also do well in this fun action movie. It's a good way to go back in time and shake off those dark, depressing blues you may have caught from your 10th viewing of The Dark Knight.

Special features include deleted and extended scenes, featurettes titled "I Am Iron Man: 7-Part Making-of Documentary," "The Invincible Iron Man: 6-Part History of the Hero," and "Wired: The Visual effects of Iron Man." Something I'm really curious to see in the extras is a Robert Downey Jr. screen test and a featurette on his acting process. More time with RDJ is always good.

Two more spiffy choices, so

How Well Do You Know Robert Downey Jr.?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:30:02 -0700

If I had to give Robert Downey Jr. a Hollywood nickname it would be "enigma" because he has been a puzzling and contradictory force. By now everyone knows the story of his professional ascent (nominated for Oscars and such) and descent (arrests, a lot of booze, drugs, etc.). And while his talent has never been disputed, his personal antics have left many wondering if he would ever truly fulfill his enormous potential, or if his self-destructive tendencies would sabotage his work.

And then came Summer 2008. Iron Man was a huge hit and he's earning good reviews for his comedic, slightly controversial role in Tropic Thunder, out this week. So, in honor of RDJ's return to grace, I challenge you to a quiz!

Source

RDJ to Play a Cowboy Who Battles (What Else?) Aliens

BuzzSugar — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:29:07 -0700

Robert Downey Jr. is officially one of Hollywood's hottest commodities after the huge success of Iron Man this summer and it looks like studios are no longer skittish about placing their big-budget films on the shoulders of the star who was once considered a liability. RDJ will star in the film adaptation of the graphic novel Cowboys & Aliens, which has been in the works for nearly 10 years. The script that finally set the wheels in motion came from the writers of Iron Man and Children of Men, which is a good sign.

The Hollywood Reporter has the description of the plot:

The story centers on an Old West battle between the Apache and Western settlers, including a former Union Army gunslinger named Zeke Jackson (Downey), that is interrupted by a spaceship crashing into the prairie near Silver City, Ariz. The story draws a parallel between the American imperialist drive to conquer the "savage" Indians with its advanced technology and the aliens' assault on Earthlings, who must join together to survive the invaders' attack.

DreamWorks has tentatively set a release date for 2010.

Are you familiar with this graphic novel? Are you excited to see Downey Jr. back at the top of his game?

Source and Source

Buzz In: Which Movies Have You Seen Multiple Times in the Theater?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:30:31 -0700

And no, multiple viewings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show doesn't really count. I'm talking about the movies that so captivated your imagination you just had to go back for more. Or the movies that were such a fun event, you piggiebacked along with different friends and family members to keep the party going all weekend.

Just this past weekend, I know there were plenty of girls' nights out. . . and then girls' afternoons out and girls' Sunday evenings out for the Sex and the City movie. When the first Spider-Man came out, I couldn't get enough and may have seen it four times in the theater. I've also heard some mom friends talk about how many times they escorted their kids to Enchanted over the holidays. And um, I might have known someone, who — ahem! — may have seen The Cutting Edge several times in the theater when it came out in 1992.

What movies have you seen more than once in the theaters?

Source

Box Office: SATC Sticks a Stiletto in the Competition

BuzzSugar — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:45:14 -0700

As the saying goes: If you build it, they will come. Which was indeed the case this weekend for Sarah Jessica Parker and Michael Patrick King's two and a half hour fête gifted to devoted fans who showed up in droves to support Sex and the City's move to the big screen.

The movie smashed every record for an R-rated comedy and proved that women can drive box office sales just like men. SATC earned an estimated $55.7 million prompting Warner president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman to quote in Variety:

This has become a cultural phenomenon. What this shows is that given the right project, you can create a frenzy for the female aud, just like we are used to with boys and men.

The film was "the strongest ever for a movie carried by a female lead," beating the record-holder Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Sarah Jessica Parker told the New York Times, "I am so excited about the possibilities for movies about women.”

Dropping to the No. 2 spot, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull still had a strong second weekend earning an additional $46 million. Even the third spot was a shock to many with the seriously spooky The Strangers taking in an estimated $20.7 million. That's really good if you compare it to the approximate $9 million the movie cost to produce. Iron Man dropped to the fourth spot followed by The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian at No. 5.

Photos courtesy of New Line Cinema

Box Office: Indiana Whips the Competition

BuzzSugar — Tue, 27 May 2008 07:00:00 -0700

Traditionally, Memorial Day weekend is very kind to Summer blockbusters, and this year was no exception for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. According to Variety, the return of the Steven Spielberg franchise was his biggest movie opening ever, hauling in an estimated $126 million over the four-day holiday.

While these results are a career high for Spielberg, the film itself did not break any box office records related to this holiday weekend or any other long weekend openings.

Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian dropped to second place followed by Iron Man. The fourth spot went to What Happens in Vegas, which continues to perform well, followed by Made of Honor at No. 5 and Baby Mama at No. 6.

John Cusack's War Inc. — also starring Hillary Duff — opened in limited release and did not make the top 10.

Photos courtesy of Paramount

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

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

My Shout Out to Jon Favreau

BuzzSugar — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:31:04 -0700

Now that the dust has settled around the huge Iron Man opening last weekend, I wanted to take a moment to give the director of the movie a little shout out. As buzz around Iron Man started to build, I heard a lot of people remark at what an odd canon of work Favreau has created as a director (even more so when you stick in his acting jobs) and that trusting him with the reigns of a giant film with a big-budget comic book movie seemed strange at first.

But just like casting Robert Downey Jr. struck me as totally inspired, I think Marvel knew what they were doing when trusting their big movie venture with Favreau. While his body of work may appear to be a bit random (Zathura: A Space Adventure, Elf, Swingers, Made, guest appearance on Friends), upon closer inspection it's clear that one thing ties it all together: a healthy respect for good old-fashioned storytelling. He knows what goes into a spinning a great yarn, and part of that is casting incredibly engaging lead actors (Will Ferrell in Elf, RDJ in Iron Man, etc.).

To read more about why I'm glad this guy was given the chance to direct Iron Man, and why I'm excited to see what he does next,

Iron Man 2 Coming April 30, 2010

BuzzSugar — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:26:23 -0700

Iron Man 2 Coming April 30, 2010
Right on the heels of the uber-successful Iron Man this weekend, Marvel is announcing that the sequel will be hitting theaters April 30, 2010. Marvel also announced the release dates of other projects, like Thor and The Avengers. Check out a good rundown of this new info here.

Box Office: Audiences Make Iron Man the Year's First Blockbuster

BuzzSugar — Mon, 05 May 2008 08:30:41 -0700

It wasn't just comic book fans that lined up this weekend for Iron Man, it was everybody! And I mean, everybody. The film raked in an extremely impressive $104.2 million its opening weekend, which is a staggering amount for any studio, much less for the first title fully produced and paid for by Marvel Studios.

I recently watched some footage of director Jon Favreau at a 2007 Comic-Con panel where he said, "If you make a good movie, the box office will be there." And boy, was he right. He also said that he cast the movie the way he might approach casting the (mostly independent) films he normally works on. Again, his instincts are proven right as the stellar reviews (including my own) praising the performances no doubt aided such a successful opening.

Variety reports Iron Man is the 10th best opening ever and "the second-best debut for a non-sequel after Spider-Man," which opened to $114.8 million on the same weekend in 2002.

Meanwhile, it was the romantic and the comedic films that rounded out the rest of the top five. Patrick Dempsey's so-so romcom Made of Honor was No. 2 and pulled in a respectable $15.5 million. It was followed by Baby Mama in the third spot, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall came in at No. 4. Finally, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay earned $6 million in the No. 5 spot.

Who saw Iron Man? Did you catch the teaser trailer after the credits?

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Rewind: This Week's Buzz

BuzzSugar — Sat, 03 May 2008 08:00:36 -0700

I can't tell you how much fun I had at the Tribeca Film Festival this year. In addition to making new friends, I saw some terrific (if quirky) movies, like The Wackness, Trucker, and Bart Got a Room. I also gave a word of warning for the bleak and disturbing Savage Grace which still makes me feel kinda icky.
I saw The Life Before Our Eyes, a movie adapted from my April book club selection and I found the movie to be visually gorgeous but also puzzling. Ah well, the book was still a lovely read. Which reminds me — check out my May selection for the book club.
The title Made of Honor confused me and much of the blogosphere this week. Baffling non-puns aside, the movie was, well, boring. All is not lost, though, because it gave me an excellent picture for the Caption It contest.
Woo-hoo! May is going to be a fun month! I've rounded up some of my must-haves for the month, including the Sex and the City movie. Speaking of which, I put together a slideshow all about the essential episodes to catch before the big movie release on May 30.
American Idol was shaping up to be a bit of a snoozer with the Neil "Sparkly Tops" Diamond songbook. But then, just when I was about to doze off, PaulaGate came crashing through. What did you think about her little on-air hiccup?
So now that shows like Gossip Girl and Grey's Anatomy are back in full swing are you still watching as much TV? Or are there some shows you've quit?
There were some cool and even moving music videos out this week, like this one from R.E.M. and an important message from Radiohead. Coldplay even gave us a glimpse of a song from their upcoming album.
Finally, if you're looking for entertainment this weekend I highly recommend seeing Iron Man in the theaters and settling in Sunday night for the season premiere of This American Life on Showtime.

Iron Man . . . Wait, Don't Leave Before End of Credits

brian — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:55:08 -0700

Lisa and I just came back from the best comic book movie ever made, period. I agree with Buzz's glowing review. When you do go see it, you must stay till after the credits . . . as they give us a great teaser for Iron Man 2.

To see a photo of the teaser

Iron Man: The Most Fun Ever

BuzzSugar — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:30:22 -0700

All hail John Favreau for rescuing the Summer blockbuster! Iron Man is the most fun I've had watching a movie in a long time. Going into the screening, I was wary of a premise centered around a giant robot superhero. I figured it would be a recipe for a lot of CGI and explosions and not much else, something any old director with a giant budget can churn out this time of year. However, as soon as the first scene opened, AC/DC's "Back in Black" guitar riff filled the theater and I got my first glimpse at Robert Downey Jr.'s acerbic smirk, something told me I was wrong.

If Spider-Man's alter ego is a dweeb and Batman's Bruce Wayne is kind of a "Debbie Downer," then the human inside this iron suit, Tony Stark, brings us a new kind of superhero: the coolest cat in the room. I haven't read the Marvel comic the movie is based on, but I think the cool factor has less to do with the original character and more to do with the spin director John Favreau puts on it — along with Robert Downey Jr.'s mesmerizing and nuanced performance.

Can you tell yet that I'm excited about this film? To see what else I loved and what I thought of the other performances from Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, and Jeff Bridges,

Movie Preview: Iron Man

BuzzSugar — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 13:00:00 -0800

Many of you Lost fans automatically got a first peek at this trailer on Thursday night when it aired during "The Constant." For everyone else, here you go: Robert Downey Jr. and his devil-may-care attitude plays Tony Stark, a weapons designer who creates a crazy metal suit when he's taken hostage in Afghanistan. He uses the suit to help him break free and return to the U.S. where he leads a double life as Iron Man, the self-made superhero. Iron Man opens May 2. To check out the trailer, complete with some driving classic rock,

First Look: Iron Man

BuzzSugar — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:21:48 -0700

Well, it's a little ahead of schedule, but the teaser trailer for Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr., has hit the Web. It's more "trailer" than it is "teaser," which is great because we definitely get a good sense for what the movie entails. It looks like Robert Downey Jr. was perfectly cast in this role as the smart-mouthed comic book character "Iron Man" who straps on "billions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art armor and weaponry each night to fight crime, terrorism and corporate espionage." The trailer, which naturally features the Black Sabbath song by the same name, is pretty neat, so to check it out,

Comic-Con Report: Sandman, Iron Man, and Spock

BuzzSugar — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:29:21 -0700

Comic-Con is now in full swing down in San Diego, and Team member Phasekitty is blogging from the scene — be sure to check out her great reports from the convention floor. She already told us about "Lost," and here are some highlights from the other panels:

First of all, check out this photo Phasekitty snapped of the awesome poster for Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp! She also got a look at the art for that JJ Abrams project definitely not named Monstrous.
At the The Paramount Pictures panel, JJ Abrams confirmed that Zachary Quinto is the new Spock! What's more: "They also announced that Leonard Nimoy would return to reprise his role as well, so it seems there will be a 'Young Spock' and 'Old Spock.' Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy came out and joined the panel to rap a bit about how excited they are to make the flick."
Karen Allen (Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark) is officially signed on for Indiana Jones 4! Phasekitty says her appearance "made the crowd go mad with excitement."
Phasekitty said the Iron Man portion of the panel was the best: "Jon Favreau came out and introduced some footage that was to be shown in Marvel's panel on Saturday, but he simply couldn't wait for people to watch it. Most of the footage showed Robert Downey Jr. looking fantastic as Tony Stark, but went on to show a lot of the origin of Iron Man, the first gray suit, and ending with some amazing shots of Iron Man flying. I've got high hopes for this movie and the footage they showed was very strong."

A bunch more, including Neil Gaiman's appearance, so

For Your Viewing Pleasure...

BuzzSugar — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 17:00:13 -0700

I recently came across a couple of movie stills that I thought were super cool, so here they are in a nice end-of-Monday post. Knowing how many of you are John Krasinski fans, too, I knew you'd appreciate this first one from the set of Leatherheads. The movie is George Clooney's third directorial venture, and I can't wait to see what he does with the comedic material.

I'm also sharing this latest image from the Iron Man movie starring Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow. I first saw this picture in Entertainment Weekly, and gazing at it for too long makes me weirdly queasy. To check it out,