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Archive: May 2006 (11-20 of 202)

May 30 2006 09:10 PM ET

HeadScratcher No. 42: Buon Natalie!

by EW staff

Categories: HeadScratcher

152745__macy_l (Alas, technically, this isn’t an official recording. But, oh, if it were…)

So what do these five songs have in common? They were all sung by women named Natalie.

Natalie Wood sang "I Feel Pretty" in West Side Story. Natalie Merchant lends her pipes to 10,000 Maniacs’ "Like the Weather." The Dixie Chicks’ "Not Ready to Make Nice" is, of course, sung by Natalie Maines. Natalie Cole is the voice behind "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)." And "I Try" is sung by Macy Gray (born Natalie McIntyre). A-ha!

I guess you either knew it or you didn’t this week — because we didn’t have too many incorrect responses.

(See the list of winners after the jump…)

addCredit(“Macy Gray: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com”)

(Read full post)

May 30 2006 08:42 PM ET

'X-Men': We have burning questions

by Scott Brown

Categories: X-Men

152745__anna_l So it looks like everyone in the known universe elected to take the mutant cure this weekend. By now you must realize: Side effects include several burning questions. Most are too spoiler-y to be mentioned here. So allow me to play The Provocateur (my lame mutant alter ego) and kick off two larger thematic debates:

1. What was the thinking (maybe that’s too strong a word) behind sampling this web short in a feature film? Yes, I know crowd-sourcing is all the rage in today’s imagination-leeched Hollywood. I know Lost is now as much an online fan conversation as a TV show, and I realize that half of Snakes on a Plane was written by freelance net ironists.

Honestly, though: As the trustee of a beloved franchise, do you reference a popular Web parody of said franchise just for the sake of referencing it? Do people applaud for the sheer familiarity? (Often, the answer is a big scary yes). Is it funny or off-key, like Batman suddenly breaking into a chorus of "Robin Laid an Egg"? Does it sell beloved characters down the river for a cheap laugh? Larger question: Is it disturbing or refreshingly democratic to have mega-budgeted Hollywood, er, juggernauts relying on no-budget Web trifles for inspiration?

2) The issue of "the cure": What divisive social issue does it allegorize for you? Of course, there’s the well-worn "queer theory" approach to X-Men, but reviews of The Last Stand have added abortion and even cochlear implants to the political/polemical mix. (Oh, and in case you’ve been missing the whole Malcolm X/Martin Luther King dynamic between Magneto and Prof. Charles Xavier, Mystique keeps it fresh by refusing to be called by her "slave name.") So… when Rogue (Anna Paquin, pictured) agonizes over whether to take the "cure," what do you see? A young woman trying to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy? Or an innocently parasitic mutant who’d like to be able to kiss her boyfriend without draining his life force?

3) I know I said two, but… dude, still no Gambit?

May 30 2006 06:10 PM ET

Paris Hilton: No talent, no cry

by Michael Slezak

Categories: Music, Paris Hilton

91739__paris_l Break out the ganja (or something to numb the pain)! Word on the street is Paris Hilton’s exploring a reggae sound for her upcoming debut CD; to me, it’s the equivalent of combining two totally conflicting flavors — like chocolate and vomit. And that’s why, in a humble display of dissention, I’ve composed a protest haiku.

no, marley, no cry
money can’t buy tunefulness
only earplugs, jah

Won’t you write one too, mon?

May 30 2006 04:50 PM ET

TV Ratings: Who watches 'The Unit'?

by Michael Slezak

Categories: TV Ratings

1786__unit_l I’ve been staring all morning at the Hollywood Reporter’s complete ranking of primetime network TV shows for the 2005-2006 season, because, well, ratings fascinate me. And also, because I’m still trying to make sense of Arrested Development’s cancellation. Anyhow, here’s five tidbits that surprised the heck out of me:

1. ABC’s Desperate Housewives (22.2 million) has almost twice as many average viewers as NBC’s Medium (11.2 million), which has twice as many viewers as Fox’s The O.C. (5.6 million), which has twice as many viewers as The CW’s recently renewed One Tree Hill (2.8 million).

2. I can finally come out about my secret-yet-cancelled pleasure, Crumbs, since apparently, an additional 10,799,999 folks liked it too.

3. Did anyone ever hear of Survival of the Richest? Me neither, but it still managed to outrank series from tabloid staples like ”actress” Denise Richards and Laguna Beach ‘’star” Kristin Cavallari; their respective series, Sex Love and Secrets and Get the Party Started, ranked 155 and 156 out of, yep, 156 shows.

4. CBS’ cancelled Courting Alex (11.2 million) actually drew a larger total audience than NBC’s freshman hit My Name Is Earl (10.9 million). Sounds like Jason Lee needs to make amends to Jenna Elfman.

5. With an average 15.5 million viewers, CBS’ The Unit (pictured) tied for No. 14 with — drum roll, please — ABC’s Lost. In other words, The Unit is huge. (Insert Beavis and Butthead snickering here.)

What surprises you most about this list?

May 30 2006 03:48 PM ET

Prepare for Katie Couric onslaught!

by Michael Slezak

Categories: Morning Madness

91739__katie_l Just in case Katie Couric’s new bosses at CBS News nix those plans for a Dan Rather Halloween costume or a duet with Taylor Hicks, you might want to catch a series of her wacky greatest-hits clips playing at MSNBC (including bloopers, musical moments, and other highlights from her 15-year run at Today). Of course, if the farewells from Colin Powell, Ben Affleck, and Dakota Fanning (they’ll always have Central Park!) get a little too earnest for you, there’s also an SNL Weekend Update tribute to Couric — not to mention PopWatch’s live blog of her final Today broadcast, starting tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.

May 30 2006 02:54 PM ET

Trailer Blazer: 'Super Ex-Girlfriend,' 'Ghost Rider,' and more

by Michael Slezak

Categories: Movie Trailers

My Super Ex-Girlfriend (July 21) The sight gags — especially the flying shark — look sharper than the dialogue in this mildly amusing trailer about a hapless guy (wooden but harmless Luke Wilson) trying to break up with a vindictive superhero (Uma Thurman). Your enthusiasm may depend on how much you want to see supporting players Wanda Sykes, Anna Faris, and Rainn Wilson perform variations on their standard comic personas.

Ghost Rider (Feb. 16, 2007) Here’s what I can tell: It’s about a skeleton. Who rides a motorcycle. Oh yeah, and he’s on fire. But is this a comedy or a drama? Will the title character let out a Crypt Keeper-style cackle as he zooms up the side of that skyscraper? And has Eva Mendes switched agents yet? These are the questions that linger for me. The important one (will I go see it?) has already been answered with a resounding ”hell to the no!”

The Namesake (Nov. 3) What sounds like a strange brew on paper — director Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) adapts Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel with Harold and Kumar’s Kal Penn and Real World alum Jacinda Barrett — looks positively stirring in trailer form. It would take universally awful reviews to keep me from getting to this flick, especially considering I just finished reading Lahiri’s short-story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, and loved every page of it.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley (TBD) Catch a look at the film that won the Palme d’Or Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival. Cillian Murphy, so terrific in Batman Begins and 28 Days Later, looks to continue his streak of well-reviewed performances as a young medical student who joins the fight for Irish independence in the 1920s.

May 27 2006 12:01 AM ET

PopWatch HeadScratcher No. 42

by EW staff

Categories: HeadScratcher

Another PopWatch HeadScratcher to get you through the weekend:

What do these five songs have in common? Be as specific as possible.

"I Feel Pretty"
"I Try"
"Like the Weather"
"Not Ready to Make Nice"
"This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)"

Send your best guess to popwatch@ew.com.Be sure to write "HeadScratcher" in the subject line and include yourfirst and last names in your email. I’ll post the most interestingresponses Tuesday afternoon.

May 26 2006 11:59 PM ET

Guess Who No. 6: Mike IS a dork!

by EW staff

Categories: Guess Who!

"I could be smoking crack, but my first thought was Justin Henry, the annoying little brother from Sixteen Candles. Congratulations, Jeff Sparkman, apparently you are smoking crack — because it is Justin Henry!

No, it’s not Family Ties‘ little Andy (Brian Bonsall) or A Christmas Story’s Little Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) or The Brady Bunch’s little Oliver (Robbie Rist) or the Life cereal commercial’s little Mikey (John Gilchrist).

And about half of you were convinced — convinced! — it was Eight Is Enough’s Adam Rich. And while I won’t deny that Rich and Henry share a serious resemblance, the correct answer is an all-growed-up Henry , now 34, pictured at left, best known for being both the youngest Oscar nominee ever (in 1979, he earned a Best Supporting Actor nod for his heartbreaking performance in Kramer vs. Kramer, pictured at right, when he was and for being Molly Ringwald’s wiseacre sib, Mike, in 1984’s Sixteen Candles (“sofa city, sweetheart”).

(About a quarter of you knew that – see the list of brown-nosers after the jump…)

(Read full post)

May 26 2006 11:44 PM ET

Weekend To-Do List: To-Don't Edition

by Scott Brown

Categories: Weekend To-Do List

154133__cribs_l We begin this weekend’s To-Do List with a big To-Don’t: Don’t do anything on this list if it means sitting indoors for too long. It’s Memorial Day. Get outside and play Frisbee. Barbecue. Hug your kids/dog/mannequin friend a little harder. Take your video iPod, of course. And your PSP. And your Treoberry CyberPalm PDA-majig. And your full-body "Entertainment Suit," which transmits media directly into your body via direct skin contact. But, by all means, get out there.

MOVIES
Nothing will make you want to enjoy nature more than a viewing of Al Gore’s excellent and (shocker!) lively global-warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

TELEVISION
If you must suckle at the glass teat this holiday weekend, suckle something decent. I haven’t seen any of Sharpe, a summerlong Napoleonic epic starring Sean Bean. (BBC America, Sat. 9 p.m.) But it stars Sean friggin’ Bean. Of the two Mr. Beans, he is the one I’d follow into the breach.

Other than that? Don’t bother. The TV people aren’t expecting you to watch. I mean, they’ve got Tim Allen on Inside the Actors Studio!

BOOKS
If you’re not still observing that French boycott, you might want to pick up Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian’s Gallic comic Get a Life, hilariously ordinary tales of Mr. Jean, a laconic, bulbous-nosed Parisian.

MUSIC
If you hate America, sample the Dixie Chicks new… oh wait, that’s three-year-old copy. Here’s the new stuff: If you love America, try the Dixie Chicks new album, Taking the Long Way. They still ain’t sorry. And that’s the way we like ‘em. And if you’re still grinding that axe, I hear these new albums make excellent ballast for your swift boat.

Chris Williman would like to remind you that Johnny Cash did not have a "shaky" voice — Joaquin Phoenix did. Don’t believe the Willman? Ask Johnny Cash, via his Personal File.

WEB SHORTS
I will warn you: The following is both stupid and contagious. And totally dork-tastic. This marks the first and quite possibly the last time I will feel the urge to join a British ukulele orchestra.

And before you come down off that, head on over to this sweet Vulcan crib (pictured). As always, watch the salsa — that’s real Romulan leather you’re sitting on.

Oh, and if you absolutely must do the X-Men movie thing — yeah, I probably will, too — then be sure to watch this first. And next week, we shall discuss. The word "travesty" may come up, in conjunction with the word "Ratner."

May 26 2006 10:43 PM ET

Todd Haynes' Dylan biopic: We're intrigued...

by Scott Brown

Categories: Movies

154133__cate_l Cate Blanchett (pictured) will play Bob Dylan in I’m Not There, Todd Haynes’ curiouser and curiouser Bob Dylan biopic. Don’t worry, he can handle it. He’s secure in his manhood. Besides, he’s reinvented himself so many times, gender switch should be a cakewalk. Couldn’t be any tougher than the jump to adult contemporary.

How’d this happen? Seems Haynes (Far from Heaven, Velvet Goldmine) couldn’t find a single actor to play Bob Dylan for his new movie. So he found several, including, so far, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Christian Bale, and Blanchett. She’ll play an aspect of Dylan, an androgynous singer-songwriter named "Jude." (Remember the Iggy Pop and Bowie avatars of Velvet Goldmine? Same sorta thing here…) Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, and Charlotte Gainsbourg are also in.

I’m a big fan of Haynes, who has always been a consistently brave, vivid, and visionary filmmaker. He seems naturally attracted to glittering surfaces — luminous rock gods, burnished Sirk-ian parables — and has a habit of prying them up to see what’s underneath, while simultaneously reminding us why we loved the lacquered legend in the first place. If he can pull that off with the greatest counterculture legend of them all, well…, well…, um…, I guess we’ll have to find an appropriate Dylan lyric to repurpose in praise. That’s how we at Entertainment Weekly say thank you.