What are you doing this weekend? Want to check out a new movie?
Here is what’s new in theaters on Friday 6/18/10:
Toy Story 3 – Tom Hanks, Tim Allen (Voices) (Animated) Lee Unkrich (director)Jonah Hex - Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich Jimmy Hayward (director)
Cyrus - John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass (directors) *Limited Release
Oprah Winfrey just celebrated her 10th anniversary of O Magazine and according to Advertising Age, she celebrated by showering her staff with some pretty extraordinary gifts….
It’s always an exciting time when a film or television show tapes in Chicago. It’s even more exciting when one of the biggest franchises in the film world comes to town and sets up shop. Production on the latest Transformers film is coming to Chicago and the city couldn’t be more happy about it….
Chicago will play host to ‘Transformers’ film production July 10 – August 19.
So a teaser trailer was just released for next summer’s The Smurf’s. 90% of the clip is useless, but you do get a chance to see what the smurfs will look like in the live action film. I think they look pretty good, but whether the film will be or not, only time will tell.
So all of you hard-core movie fans out there know what every Tuesday is, right? It is new DVD release day. I look forward to this day every week and I always have my Netflix set up ahead of time to make sure I get the newest flicks that are out there. Here’s a short list of what is coming out today:
Movies: Youth in Revolt – Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday When in Rome – Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel The Book of Eli – Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis Happy Tears – Demi Moore, Parker PoseyTelevision: American Dad – Volume 5 Everwood – Season 3 Family Guy – Volume 8 Hawthorne – Season 1 Leave it to Beaver – Season 3 My Three Sons – Season 2
The award show with possibly the coolest trophy out there, a surfboard, released its list of nominees today. The 2010 Teen Choice Awards, hosted by Katy Perry, will be handed out on August 9, 2010.
Awards are handed in out in categories such as movies, television, sports, comedy and music. Each category is then broken down into subcategories which allows for multiple nominations for some and for a record number of total nominees.
MOVIES
Choice Movie: Action Adventure
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Kick-Ass
Robin Hood
Sherlock Holmes
The Losers
Choice Movie Actor: Action Adventure
Nicolas Cage, Kick-Ass
Russell Crowe, Robin Hood
Matt Damon, Green Zone
Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes
Channing Tatum, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Choice Movie Actress: Action Adventure
Cate Blanchett, Robin Hood
Mila Kunis, The Book of Eli
Rachel McAdams, Sherlock Holmes
Sienna Miller, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Zoe Saldana, The Losers
Choice Movie: Sci-Fi
2012
Avatar
District 9
Iron Man 2
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Choice Movie Actor: Sci-Fi
Sharlto Copley, District 9
John Cusack, 2012
Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man 2
Jude Law, Repo Men
Sam Worthington, Avatar
Choice Movie Actress: Sci-Fi
Scarlett Johansson, Iron Man 2
Rachel McAdams, The Time Traveler’s Wife
Gwyneth Paltrow, Iron Man 2
Amanda Peet, 2012
Zoe Saldana, Avatar
Choice Movie: Fantasy
Alice in Wonderland
Clash of the Titans
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Choice Movie Actor: Fantasy
Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland
Jake Gyllenhaal, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Taylor Lautner, The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Robert Pattinson, The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Sam Worthington, Clash of the Titans
Choice Movie Actress: Fantasy
Gemma Arterton, Clash of the Titans, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Rosario Dawson, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Kristen Stewart, The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Mia Wasikowska, Alice in Wonderland
Emma Watson, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Choice Movie: Drama
The Blind Side
Dear John
The Last Song
Remember Me
The Runaways
Choice Movie Actor: Drama
Jake Gyllenhaal, Brothers
Tobey Maguire, Brothers
Robert Pattinson, Remember Me
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Channing Tatum, Dear John
Choice Movie Actress: Drama
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Miley Cyrus, The Last Song
Dakota Fanning, The Runaways
Amanda Seyfried, Dear John
Kristen Stewart, The Runaways
Choice Movie: Romantic Comedy
The Back-up Plan
Just Wright
Letters to Juliet
The Proposal
Valentine’s Day
Choice Movie Actor: Romantic Comedy
Gerard Butler, The Ugly Truth, The Bounty Hunter
Josh Duhamel, When in Rome
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
Ashton Kutcher, Valentine’s Day
Ryan Reynolds, The Proposal
Choice Movie Actress: Romantic Comedy
Kristen Bell, When in Rome
Sandra Bullock, The Proposal
Queen Latifah, Valentine’s Day, Just Wright
Jennifer Lopez, The Back-up Plan
Amanda Seyfried, Letters to Juliet
Choice Movie: Comedy
Date Night
Get Him to the Greek
Hot Tub Time Machine
Killers
She’s Out of My League
Choice Movie Actor: Comedy
Russell Brand, Get Him to the Greek
Steve Carell, Date Night
Jonah Hill, Get Him to the Greek
Ashton Kutcher, Killers
Chris Rock, Death at a Funeral
Choice Movie Actress: Comedy
Kristen Bell, Couples Retreat
Lizzy Caplan, Hot Tub Time Machine
Tina Fey, Date Night
Zoe Saldana, Death at a Funeral
Emma Stone, Zombieland
Choice Movie: Horror/Thriller
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Paranormal Activity
Shutter Island
Splice
The Stepfather
Choice Movie Actor: Horror/Thriller
Penn Badgley, The Stepfather
Adam Brody, Jennifer’s Body
Leonardo DiCaprio, Shutter Island
Jackie Earle Haley, A Nightmare on Elm Street
Micah Sloat, Paranormal Activity
Choice Movie Actress: Horror/Thriller
Katie Cassidy, Nightmare on Elm Street
Megan Fox, Jennifer’s Body
Audrina Patridge, Sorority Row
Michelle Williams, Shutter Island
Rumer Willis, Sorority Row
Choice Movie: Animated
How to Train Your Dragon
Marmaduke
The Princess and the Frog
Shrek Forever After
Toy Story 3
Choice Movie: Villain
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Stephen Lang, Avatar
Rachelle Lefevre, The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kick-Ass
Mickey Rourke, Iron Man 2
Choice Movie: Dance
Sandra Bullock and Betty White, The Proposal
Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth, The Last Song
Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man 2
Tina Fey and Steve Carell, Date Night
Michael Jackson, This Is It
TELEVISION
Choice TV Show: Drama
90210
Gossip Girl
Grey’s Anatomy
House
The Secret Life of the American Teenager
Choice TV Actor: Drama
Penn Badgley, Gossip Girl
Ken Baumann, The Secret Life of the American Teenager
Chace Crawford, Gossip Girl
Daren Kagasoff, The Secret Life of the American Teenager
Tristan Wilds, 90210
Choice TV Actress: Drama
Sophia Bush, One Tree Hill
Blake Lively, Gossip Girl
Leighton Meester, Gossip Girl
Olivia Wilde, House
Shailene Woodley, The Secret Life of the American Teenager
Choice TV Show: Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Fringe
Lost
Smallville
Supernatural
The Vampire Diaries
Choice TV Actor: Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Josh Holloway, Lost
Joshua Jackson, Fringe
Ryan Kwanten, True Blood
Tom Welling, Smallville
Paul Wesley, The Vampire Diaries
Choice TV Actress: Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Nina Dobrev, The Vampire Diaries
Evangeline Lilly, Lost
Hayden Panettiere, Heroes
Anna Paquin, True Blood
Anna Torv, Fringe
Choice TV Show: Action
24
Burn Notice
Chuck
Human Target
NCIS: Los Angeles
Choice TV Actor: Action
Jeffrey Donovan, Burn Notice
Zachary Levi, Chuck
LL Cool J, NCIS: Los Angeles
Kiefer Sutherland, 24
Mark Valley, Human Target
Choice TV Actress: Action
Gabrielle Anwar, Burn Notice
Mary Lynn Rajskub, 24
Daniela Ruah, NCIS: Los Angeles
Katee Sackhoff, 24
Yvonne Strahovski, Chuck
Choice TV Show: Comedy
The Big Bang Theory
GLEE
Modern Family
Sonny with a Chance
Wizards of Waverly Place
Choice TV Actor: Comedy
Steve Carell, The Office
Jonas Brothers, JONAS
Sterling Knight, Sonny With a Chance
Cory Monteith, GLEE
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Choice TV Actress: Comedy
Miranda Cosgrove, iCarly
Kaley Cuoco, The Big Bang Theory
Selena Gomez, Wizards of Waverly Place
Demi Lovato, Sonny With a Chance
Lea Michele, GLEE
Choice TV: Animated Show
American Dad
The Cleveland Show
Family Guy
South Park
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Choice TV: Reality Show
The Hills
Jersey Shore
Keeping Up with the Kardashians
The Price of Beauty
Taking The Stage
Choice TV: Reality Competition Show
American Idol
America’s Next Top Model
Dancing with the Stars
Project Runway
Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew
Choice TV: Male Reality/Variety Star
Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio, Jersey Shore
Lee DeWyze, American Idol
Brody Jenner, The Hills
Bret Michaels, Celebrity Apprentice
Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino, Jersey Shore
Choice TV: Female Reality/Variety Star
Crystal Bowersox, American Idol
Kristin Cavallari, The Hills
Lauren Conrad, The Hills
The Kardashians, Keeping Up with the Kardashians
Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Jersey Shore
Choice TV: Villain
Russell Hantz, Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains
Jane Lynch, Glee
Terry O’Quinn, Lost
Ian Somerhalder, The Vampire Diaries
Ed Westwick, Gossip Girl
MUSIC
Choice Music: Male Artist
Justin Bieber
Jason Derulo
Drake
Adam Lambert
Usher
Choice Music: Female Artist
Miley Cyrus
Ke$ha
Lady Gaga
Shakira
Taylor Swift
Choice Music: Group
The Black Eyed Peas
GLEE Cast
Selena Gomez & The Scene
New Boyz
Young Money
Choice Music: Rap Artist
Drake
Eminem
Jay-Z
Ludacris
Pit Bull
Choice Music: R&B Artist
Beyoncé
Alicia Keys
Rihanna
Trey Songz
Usher
Choice Music: Rock Group
Kings of Leon
MGMT
Muse
Paramore
Train
Choice Music: Male Country Artist
Luke Bryan
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
Darius Rucker
Keith Urban
Choice Music: Female Country Artist
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood
Gretchen Wilson
Choice Music: Country Group
Gloriana
Lady Antebellum
Rascal Flatts
Sugarland
Zac Brown Band
SPORTS
Choice Athlete: Male
David Beckham (Soccer)
Drew Brees (Football)
LeBron James (Basketball)
Apolo Anton Ohno (Speedskating)
Albert Pujols (Baseball)
Choice Athlete: Female
Candace Parker (Basketball)
Danica Patrick (Auto Racing)
Misty May Treanor (Volleyball)
Lindsey Vonn (Skiing)
Serena Williams (Tennis)
Choice Action Sports Athlete: Male
Travis Pastrana (Motocross)
Kevin Pearce (Snowboarding)
Ryan Sheckler (Skateboarding)
Kelly Slater (Surfing)
Shaun White (Snowboarding)
Choice Action Sports Athlete: Female
Torah Bright (Snowboarding)
Sarah Burke (Skiing)
Ashley Fiolek (Motocross)
Maya Gabeira (Surfing)
Hannah Teter (Snowboarding)
COMEDY
Choice Comedian
Aziz Ansari
Ellen DeGeneres
Jimmy Fallon
Chelsea Handler
George Lopez
On Sunday evening, the finest from Broadway gathered to honor one another in the achievements of both plays and musicals. There were many repeat winners as Fela!, Fences and Red scored numerous wins each.
Hollywood was well represented as Denzel Washington, Scarlett Johansson and Catherine Zeta-Jones each won their respective categories. Some of the best musicians in the world were also present as Billie Joe Armstrong, Questlove and Jay-Z were all in attendance.
List of Winners:
Best Musical: ‘Memphis’
Best Play: ‘Red’
Best Musical Revival: ‘La Cage aux Folles’
Best Play Revival: ‘Fences’
Best Featured Actress in a Play: Scarlett Johansson, ‘A View From the Bridge’
Best Featured Actor in a Play: Eddie Redmayne, ‘Red’
Best Actress in a Play: Viola Davis, ‘Fences
Best Actor in a Play: Denzel Washington, ‘Fences’
Best Actress in a Musical: Catherine Zeta-Jones, ‘A Little Night Music’
Best Actor in a Musical: Douglas Hodge, ‘La Cage aux Folles’
Best Featured Actress in a Musical: Katie Finneran, ‘Promises, Promises’
Best Featured Actor in a Musical: Levi Kreis, ‘Million Dollar Quartet’
Best Choreography: Bill T. Jones, ‘Fela!’
Best Direction of a Play: Michael Grandage, ‘Red’
Best Direction of a Musical: Terry Johnson, ‘La Cage aux Folles’
11-year-old Jaden Smith made a huge name for himself this weekend after his film, The Karate Kid, cleaned up and took top honors at the box office. It exceeded all predictions for its gross and looks to only build upon the good word-of-mouth.
The A-Team fell short of expectations, but still managed to bring in more than $25 million.
Box Office Mojo’s Top 10 Box Office Estimates for 6/11-6/13:
1. The Karate Kid – $56 million 2. The A-Team – $26 million 3. Shrek Forever After – $15.8 million 4. Get Him to the Greek – $10.1 million 5. Killers – $8.1 million 6. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – $6.6 million 7. Marmaduke – $7 million 8. Sex and the City 2 – $5.5 million 9. Iron Man 2 – $4.5 million 10. Splice – $2.8 million
Alice in Wonderland
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway
Director: Tim Burton
Forget about the Alice you knew and loved growing up. Now, picture a dark and twisted Tim Burton-esque setting with characters you loved as a child. That is more like what you will see in the latest Alice in Wonderland creation.
As a young girl, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) would tell her dad about her crazy dreams and would ask if she’d gone crazy. His response would be to lovingly squash those ideas and reiterate that all the best kinds of people have a little crazy in them. Fast forward 13 years and Alice is on the verge of being married off when she starts seeing animals that no one else is privy to.
In the middle of an undesirable proposal, Alice runs off and follows the rabbit she keeps seeing. She falls into a rabbit hole and after a drop that seems to last forever, she hits the ground in a circular room of doors. All of the doors are locked when she finds a key to a tiny door that she can’t fit through. While deciding her next move, Alice finds a liquid that instructs her to drink it and a piece of cake that instructs her to eat it. After following the directions she goes through a few changes that help her get through one of the doors.
Now the interesting things really begin. Her new surroundings are dark, but colorful and mysterious, but enchanting. Alice comes into contact with a group of characters who appear to know who she is. Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas), White Rabbit (Michael Sheen) and Blue Caterpillar (Alan Rickman) are a few of her new companions and it doesn’t take long for them to find themselves in a scary situation.
After escaping an unwelcome guest, Alice is introduced to the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp). Much like the other beings in this new land, Hatter knows exactly who Alice is and what she is destined to do. Wonderland is made up of the good and evil as well, White Queen (Anne Hathaway) vs. Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter).
Alice ends up in the queendom of Red Queen, but Red doesn’t recognize this older Alice. She is under the assumption that Alice is a giant girl named Um. Alice is there looking for Hatter after he was captured by Red’s henchmen. As Alice tries to release her new friends and dethrone Red, she must decide whether she’s strong enough to fight off her enemies.
Even trying to describe the details of this film was difficult, so legitimate opinions are even more so. I thought artistically the film was well done; Burton has such a visceral mind that anything he thinks of can become reality. However, the special effects were just a little too much for me. I realize that Wonderland is a magical world, but I was just overwhelmed with the visuals of the setting and characters.
I can’t say I loved Wasikowska as Alice. I suppose her somewhat moody portrayal of this iconic character worked for what Burton was trying to create, but overall she seemed too depressing. Depp is always great in what he does and he was so well disguised in this character that I was able to separate the actor from the character. His accents changing were a bit confusing for me; I couldn’t remember if Hatter did that in the original takes of this story.
Bonham Carter was amusing, but I found myself more immersed in her male counterpart, Stayne (Crispin Glover). How great is Glover? He never needs to speak much in the roles he plays because his presence speaks so much more than dialogue ever could with him. I’m usually great at picking up the voices of animated characters and I was able to easily pick out the voice of Rickman as the caterpillar. His voice is so distinctive and I thought he was a great choice for the voice role.
I didn’t hate this film, but it wasn’t my favorite either. I can appreciate the art that Burton was bringing to life. However, when the film was over I found myself thinking…”huh?” The artsy/special effects/fantasy elements in film are usually not my first choices when I’m picking a film to watch, so it’s entirely possible I’m missing the bigger picture here. Had any other director created this film I probably would have hated it, but if you are familiar with Burton’s work, you know to be prepared for seeing something completely odd and original.
Leap Year
Starring: Amy Adams, Matthew Goode
Director: Anand Tucker
Sometimes you watch a movie and know it is going to be bad. I do this quite often simply because I like to judge a movie for myself and I have a tendency to like things that are not looked upon in the best light. Leap Year falls into the bad category and there really is no way of sugar-coating that.
This predictable, outrageously boring film tells the story of Anna and her quest to secure herself a fiance. Anna (Amy Adams) is an apartment stager and has been dating her cardiologist boyfriend, Jeremy (Adam Scott), for four years. They are looking for apartments together and after Anna’s friend spies Jeremy going into a jewelry store, she assumes that he is ready to pop the question.
While out for dinner, Anna is surprised to see that the gift Jeremy gives her is not a ring, but a pair of earrings. He has to abruptly leave dinner to attend to a patient and that leaves Anna time to think. Jeremy is leaving for Ireland the next day for a medical conference and she decides that she’s going to step up and ask him to marry her.
Anna makes the decision to travel to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend on leap day, which is a tradition in the Irish culture. Of course, the trip does not go as smoothly as planned and she is sidetracked. After an airport closure, Anna ends up in Wales where she must find someone to take her to Dublin. Having a difficult time finding someone willing to help her, she meets Declan (Matthew Goode). He runs a bar and after much debating, reluctantly agrees to drive Anna to where she needs to go for a hefty fee.
The trip is filled with setbacks and blunders as their car ends up in a ravine, they miss their train and must pretend to be married in order to stay at a local bed and breakfast. Throughout the trip, the travel companions argue and have a difficult time finding anything they agree upon.
After a few days of travel, Anna and Declan finally make it to Dublin where Jeremy is happily awaiting his girlfriend. Just as Declan is about to leave, he realizes he may have more of an interest in Anna than he would have thought. He is upset to see that Anna’s boyfriend is ready to take the next step with her and he leaves without another word.
I couldn’t stop watching the clock on my DVD player as this film went on. I couldn’t believe that I’d watched 25 minutes of the film and absolutely nothing had actually occurred. It honestly took until around the 59th minute for me to actually be interested in something that was taking place. Sadly, that something only lasted about five or ten minutes.
The location of the film was beautiful and all, but the story didn’t add to the surroundings. I also have a huge pet peeve when I watch actors in a car scene and the bouncing of the car is unrealistic looking. I could just picture them having a 2 X 4 under the car and someone cranking it up and down or them being on a dolly that shook the car. I can’t imagine it’s all that difficult to make the movement of a car look authentic.
I’m a huge fan of Adams and the work she’s done, but I did not find her likable in this film at all. Combining that and her lack of chemistry with Goode, this film wasn’t exactly a promising romance-adventure film. I actually thought the two lead actors had more chemistry in the last five minutes of the movie than the preceeding 90. Had they found a way to harness that, this review and this film could have been much different.
I haven’t seen many of Goode’s projects, but I know that he is much better than this film – as is Adams. I will say that the worst casting choice of this film was the blink and you’ll miss it character of Anna’s father, played by the incredible John Lithgow. What an absolute waste of his talent. In addition, I think that Adams and Scott could be the most boring couple to ever grace the big screen.
There was one scene I enjoyed that put the characters in a bed and breakfast with two other couples. The scenes were very predictable, but they were really the only signs of life this film had. I wish I could give more enthusiastic positives about this film, but they just weren’t there.
