Archive: April 2009 (11-20 of 498)

Apr 30 2009 03:49 PM ET

'Paradise Lost'... The Movie(s)?

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If I had made a list of the things I was unlikely to blog about today then Paradise Lost would have been pretty near the top, nestled somewhere between the Welsh rugby team’s Grand Slam season of 1978 and monocles. And yet blogging about it I am thanks to a piece in the Hollywood Reporter which claims there are two films in the works based on John Milton’s epic poem. I studied Paradise Lost at school and not once did I think, "Gadzooks! Get Jim Cameron on the phone! This blank verse retelling of the Adam and Eve story, originally published in 1667, is box office gold I tells ya!" Then again, a certain Mel Gibson movie did serve as a reminder that you should never underestimate the appeal of biblical stories. And I’m not talking about Bird on a Wire.

What do you think? Any Milton fans out there? And if you’re unfamiliar with the poem, check out the extract below read by the late, great, British thesp Ian Richardson. Wow, they should rename this place Edutainment Weekly…

Apr 30 2009 02:00 PM ET

ShePop: Time to feed our longtime girl crush on 'Target Women' host Sarah Haskins!

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Sarahhaskinscurrent_lWe’ve been swooning over Sarah Haskins since she declared yogurt the "official food of women" last year in her weekly marketing-to-chicks sendup, Target Women. A year after its inception as part of the excellent Current TV’s infoMania, the spoofy segment has become a viral Internet hit — and has helped its leading lady sell what sounds suspiciously like a funny, smart teen-girl comedy script, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Mean Girls. (And speaking of smart girls and funny ladies, another don’t-miss: Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls at the Party web segments celebrating cool young things, like the awesome teen group Care Bears on Fire.) Here, Haskins chats with us about stupid husbands, girly movies, and VH1′s Tough Love (which she pokes fun at in her most recent segment, embedded below).

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What inspired you to start taking down female-targeted media?
SARAH HASKINS: The yogurt piece was first. So it was a happy accident. It was sort of one of those moments where I was watching TV and I saw these yogurt commercials, and I was like, These do suck. And then once we did that, I was like, We might have something here.

Having skewered Lifetime, Barbie, the Oscars, and skin care, among other things, is it possible you’ll ever run out of things to make fun of on a weekly basis?
I worry. And then something will pop up that blows my mind.

Anything you won’t make fun of?
We’re making fun of Tough Love this week, the VH1 show. [Sample line: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that the worst thing a woman can be is single. 'Worse than leprosy?' you might ask. Yes. Because lepers get to live in a colony and single women live alone."] And I kinda like the guy, but we’re still gonna make fun of it. One [segment] that didn’t work out because we just didn’t have time to get together all the representative media is stupid husbands. I think we need a few more commercials, and then we can do doofy husbands.

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Apr 30 2009 12:00 PM ET

Clip du Jour: Danish Hug Patrol

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Is the following an adorable Danish polita ritual (that would totally be considered sexual harassment in the U.S.) or a rare deleted scene from Love Actually? You make the call. I’m busy packing up my life in order to transport it to Scandinavia.

Holy Jerry Springer lookalike at 0:01!

Apr 30 2009 10:09 AM ET

'American Idol': On the scene at the Top 5 results show

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Tags: , , American Idol

Americanidoltop5_l I entered the American Idol Thunderdome last night in a breathless rush — more on why in a second — so I almost missed a funny (and kinda prophetic) moment during the pre-show preparations. With 40 minutes to show time, the crew was still putting final touches on the lights, and the band was milling about in their civvies, Rickey Minor sporting what I believe was an especially choice Asian-tinged bowling shirt. Just as I took my seat, a bunch of the band decided to warm up their instruments and/or jam out for a bit. The song they chose? "Hit the Road Jack." A pretty hilarious song choice for the American Idol band to play on a results night, no? Especially since it turned out to be the night that Matt "Actually, It’s More Like Three Lives" Giraud was finally and definitively cut from the show. (Due respect to Matty G. fans, of course, but you gotta admit the dude managed to make lingering into an art form.)

I was all with the winded last night because of a promise I made to you — to America — when I last wrote up the behind-the-scenes results night action. That night I noticed that fans for both Mr. Minor and Cory the Warm Up Comic had brought signs proclaiming their fandom, but the woman without whom Idol would be a train-wreck of missing judges, wandering contestants and unruly audiences — I’m speaking, of course, of Debbie Williams, Stage Manager Extraordinaire — had exactly zero signs for her. So yesterday, en route to the Idol studios at CBS Television City, I swung by my local Rite Aid, picked up a sheet of premium-grade 99-cent posterboard, and huddled on the cement floor of the mall parking lot designated for Idol audiences coloring out the words "DEBBiE DOES IDOL GOOD!" The "i" in "DEBBiE" was dotted with a star. Obviously.

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Apr 30 2009 10:00 AM ET

Quote of the Day: 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' edition

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"You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig." — Blondie (Clint Eastwood) to Tuco (Eli Wallach) in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Apr 30 2009 02:28 AM ET

'American Idol': How 'bout that 'Rat Pack' bottom three?

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Tags: , American Idol

I begin tonight’s quick-hit post-American Idol recap the same way I did last night’s, with a quote from mentor Jamie Foxx: "WHAT?" And, folks, I’m not just talking about the Oscar winner’s vocoderific performance of "Blame It." [SPOILERS ahead, West Coast friends!] Nope, I’m talking about the eyebrow-raising bottom three, the top-two status of a certain pink-haired rocker chick, and the fact that Adam Lambert didn’t sit on the floor at center stage when Ryan asked him to choose a spot alongside Kris-Matt or Danny-Allison. Nope, Glambert, basing his decision on the previous nights performances, took his place alongside the latter duo, only to get pulled by Ryan to the other side of the stage, and told he was the missing link in the Rat Pack bottom three! Color me j’shocked, j’flabbergasted, and j’bewildered, ’cause I didn’t see that one coming! But no matter how you felt about the voting tallies, and the eventual ouster of the man whose name rhymes with "hat," you’ve got to admit this was the most suspenseful elimination episode of Idol’s eighth season, and it didn’t need no stinkin’ Judges’ Save to achieve it.

Anyhow, please do post your thoughts/feelings/medical-psychological status in the comments section below, and if you haven’t had enough dramz in your night, do press play on our five-part Idolatry interview with Anoop Desai. Dude is candid, funny, and hella smart, and he also talks about what made him punch a wall backstage at Idol. Not to be missed!

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Apr 30 2009 01:48 AM ET

'Wolverine' vs. 'Star Trek': Which flick will bank more at the box office?

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Wolverinestartrek_lThe summer movie season is just around the corner, with X-Men Origins: Wolverine opening this Friday and Star Trek hitting theaters next week. But which of these heavily anticipated tentpoles will see more green at the box office? Two weeks ago, everyone’s money would have been on Wolverine. Tracking data projected that the Hugh Jackman movie would open to around $100 million, while Star Trek was eyeing just half that, due to an apparent lack of interest from teens and females. But the reviews are starting to trickle in, and so far the notices haven’t been too encouraging for Wolverine, leading me to believe that it could quickly fizzle after everyone sees it this weekend. Star Trek, on the other hand, seems to be building momentum — the sci-fi reboot hasn’t received a single negative review so far.

Which is why I’m starting to think that Star Trek could be the bigger hit. To me, Wolverine projects a recycled vibe, as if the previous X-Men movies were plopped in a blender and then left out for too long. I say this as someone who enjoyed all three of the previous entries; in particular, X2: X-Men United surprised me with its thoughtful parallels to social minorities. But judging from the advertisements and initial buzz, I fear that Wolverine will have no new tricks up its sleeve. Star Trek, by comparison, seems composed of brand-new parts, and I’m intrigued that it’s shaping up to be such a departure from the previous Trek model. Thus, even if Wolverine scores the larger opening, Star Trek‘s aura of novelty is why I’m predicting it will ultimately equal (if not surpass) that hairy mutant’s tally.

Hmm, PopWatchers? Could Star Trek confound the box office trackers and overtake Wolverine? Which movie are you more excited to see? Or is there another summer blockbuster that’ll make mincemeat out of both Wolverine and Star Trek? Michael Bay, you’re not allowed to answer that question.

Apr 30 2009 01:00 AM ET

'American Idol': Hang with Anoop Desai as you chat live about results night!

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Tags: , , American Idol

We all know results night is a test. The endless filler. The Seacrest fakeouts. The 77 minutes of ad breaks. But fret not, fellow Idoloonies! While you’re sure to suffer awaiting the fates of Kris, Allison, Adam, Matt, and Danny, you can hit the mute button at key moments and watch our five-part interview with Idolatry fan and season 8 Idol finalist Anoop Desai. The dashing R&B vocalist dishes song arrangements, eyebrow grooming, internet haters, his feelings on Idol’s producers, and yes, that one time he punched a wall backstage. Now you know you’ve gotta press play, right? All while keeping track of results night proceedings in the comments section below! [Update: My post-show first impression is now live; and check back in the early ay-em for my full TV Watch recap!]

Apr 29 2009 11:30 PM ET

'My Boys': Hey, Bobby, you're boring! How will you change that?

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Tags: , Television

Myboyspoker_lI tuned in to My Boys last night to get my weekly visual of Brendan’s (Reid Scott) scruff and Andy (Jim Gaffigan) napping (or at least talking about napping). The episode titled "Carpe Burritoem" satisfied both of these needs — but also affirmed something I’d been dreading since the third season premiered: Bobby is boring. I’m a fan of the Kyle Howard character (probably because I have a soft spot in my heart for his role in the 1996 movie House Arrest), and I don’t even blame Bobby for Bobby’s boringness. No, I blame P.J. (Jordana Spiro) for becoming that kind of girlfriend.

Granted, Bobby was never the most exciting of the boys, but he at least had the appeal of being the unattainable catch last season. Can’t the guy get a storyline that doesn’t revolve around his domineering gf? Last night, all the boys had their own side stories — from Kenny’s band mastering to Brando’s tryst in Tulsa — except for boring Bobby, whose only on-screen moment away from P.J. was when she volunteered, nay, forced him to be Stephanie’s dumping dummy. Loosen your leash, woman! Did you not learn from last week’s board-game decathlon debacle that homeboy doesn’t like to be emasculated in public? Just because you do it with a smile and in your girlfriend voice doesn’t make it any better.

This is the same fate that I feared for The Office‘s Jim and Pam, although they successfully avoided it because Jim always had his relationship with Dwight to keep him exciting. Word of advice, Bobby: Get a Dwight. Not necessarily someone to terrorize (as that would be very out of character), but just a go-to guy who’ll keep you active so you’re not merely refreshing everyone’s drinks on poker night (which is probably where he was when this picture was taken!). Kenny’s got Mike, Andy’s got his family/napping, Brendan’s got the ladies, and Bobby’s got…P.J.? But P.J.’s got Stephanie, too. Come on, Bobby, step up to the plate (I made a baseball reference!). Do it for all the boring rich kids out there.

Anyone else think Bobby’s stuck in storyline limbo? What’s your remedy?

Apr 29 2009 10:02 PM ET

Sylvester Stallone likens filming of action sequence to sex

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I’ve never been on the set of an action movie (sadly), but this behind-the-scenes video from the set of Sylvester Stallone’s latest, The Expendables, proves accurate what I have always imagined: Grown men stand around going "pow-pow-pow-pow," appear to write the script on the spot, and get their rocks off watching an airplane fly over an explosion. I can’t wait for this movie. (Not sarcasm!)

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