Archive: August 2009 (201-210 of 386)

Aug 14 2009 11:00 AM ET

'Bandslam' star Lisa Kudrow: The EW Pop Culture Personality Test

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Filed under: Movies and tagged: ,

Lisa-Kudrow-EW_lIn the new movie Bandslam, in theaters today, Lisa Kudrow, plays the loving mother of a teen outcast (newcomer Gaelan Connell) with a passion for music. He writes frequently to David Bowie (whose cameo will leave you smiling); he finds himself managing a band fronted by a former cheerleader (Phil of the Future‘s Alyson Michalka) and breaking into CBGB with a fellow misfit (High School Musical‘s Vanessa Hudgens). We recently sat down with Kudrow, 46, and keeping with the spirit of the film, administered an EW Pop Culture Personality Test. We uncovered a phobia, a workout routine that we can totally get behind, and a one-night only karaoke performance we wish had been taped.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The person you wrote a fan letter to when you were young?
LISA KUDROW: When I was really young, I may have sent a fan letter to [The Monkees'] Davy Jones.

And recently?
I got an email to Sarah Jessica Parker because I thought she was so great in Sex and the City: The Movie. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 14 2009 10:19 AM ET

Ewan McGregor, the Friendly 'Ghost'

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Remember yesterday, when we posted a Legion trailer that was more than five minutes long? This thing is the opposite of that thing: A 15-second tease of Roman Polanski’s upcoming The Ghost, starring Ewan McGregor, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Jim Belushi, Robert Pugh, Tom Wilkinson, and Pierce Brosnan. McGregor plays Brosnan’s ghost-writer in the adaptation of Robert Harris’ novel, but anyone can appreciate the somewhat chilling effect of Ewan McGregor’s friendly intro, “I’m your ghost!” on a blistering summer Friday. [via First Showing]

 

Aug 14 2009 09:45 AM ET

Antonio Sabato Jr. gives us six (really good) reasons to watch 'My Antonio'

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Filed under: Television and tagged: , ,

My-Antonio-Sabato_lAntonio Sabato Jr. is looking for love. In Hawaii. With the help of his mother. His journey, the 10-episode My Antonio, premieres Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on VH1. Here, the 37-year-old former General Hospital star and Calvin Klein underwear model tells us why we need to tune in:

1. It’s classy. (Correction: As classy as a VH1 dating show can be.) “When I was talking to my mother about the show, I said no matter what’s gonna happen, whether the girls are drunk or alcoholics, you have me and you. And we’re different. So automatically, you’re gonna have different discussions. The Bachelor and other shows agree with that kind of lifestyle; I don’t agree with it at all. So for me to be around it and be okay with it, would be impossible. You’ll see a lot of it in the show where they go too far, and it’s either ‘I’ve just had enough, you guys can enjoy yourselves, I’m gonna leave,’ or they’re gonna leave, or I’m gonna put ‘em through a test.” (One of the show’s rewards challenges: Sculpting him nude!) Also making the show somewhat unique: Sabato flat-out told producers he wouldn’t be having sex during the five-week production, which wrapped in February. “I said no to that. I don’t know where the girls are from, what kind of lifestyle they had. So it ain’t gonna happen. It’s my life. I have kids. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to catch anything.”

2. But not too classy. “They were drunk, and they were going off at each other, and they were throwing fits,” Sabato says. “Two girls were fighting over what to watch on TV. One girl wanted to watch Nickelodeon, the other one wanted to watch Cartoon Network. I’m serious. I had to hear this, okay. It was Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. It was like, ‘I want to watch this,’ I don’t know if it was SpongeBob or whatever. One was crying because the other one was pissed at her. I’m like, Is this f—ing real?” It gets better/worse. “They were slapping producers in the middle of the night,” he says. (Yes, a woman gets kicked off the show for slapping a producer!) “So all that stuff happens, but you have me… I’m sure I’ll get criticized for all kinds of things, but at the end of the day, I’m proud of the show.”

READ FULL STORY »

Aug 14 2009 09:00 AM ET

'Pet Sounds' minus the instruments: God only knows how it's still amazing

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A post on Metafilter yesterday afternoon pointed to a version of Pet Sounds with the instrumentation edited out, and I have spent the last half hour with my jaw on the floor. I know, I know, news at 11: Pet Sounds is really good, but for an album I know inside and out, this is like hearing it for the first time. “God Only Knows” isn’t even my favorite track usually, but this is completely melting my brain:

There’s more: READ FULL STORY »

Aug 14 2009 08:36 AM ET

'The Real Housewives of Atlanta' recap: Wig Tugs, T-Boz, and Tania

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Filed under: Television and tagged: ,

The name of last night’s episode was “Unbeweavable.” I figured this boded well for the hour. But the action was front-loaded, spring-boarding off of Kim storming out of the restaurant last week. Sheree wasn’t done with her yet and tore after her. NeNe wobbled after the both of them in her five-inch heels, squawking that this wasn’t how she wanted the intervention to go down. Outside, Sheree wrapped her hand around a fistful of Kim’s hair and gave a little yank. “I felt the need to tug on her wig,” she later explained, in an eerily calm voice. “I did not try to pull if off. I did not want to pull it off. I just wanted to shift it a little bit.” Sheree has officially gone to her bye bye place. I would have said this was all staged but Kim’s little wig did indeed sit a little askew, her bangs frazzled and hanging to the right. This was not a good look. Her line of wigs will go nowhere if they can’t sustain the occasional street fight.

READ FULL STORY »

Aug 14 2009 08:00 AM ET

'Degrassi' stars Lauren Collins and Adamo Ruggiero's PopWatch Duel: What's the best fictional high school?

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Filed under: Television, Those Crazy Kids! and tagged: , , ,

Proof that “the college years” aren’t the kiss of death for every TV show, Degrassi: The Next Generation managed to let its characters grow up without going stale. But the teen-oriented series couldn’t follow Paige, Ellie, Manny, Emma, Marco, Jimmy, Craig, and Ashley forever, and we’d seen them through so much. (Seriously: so much!) So Degrassi did what it does — you know, “go there” — and introduced a whole crop of younger, new characters, with new problems to be dealt with in straightforward but often awkward ways. Such is life, you guys.

But as a hardcore D:TNG fan, I missed the old gang. Imagine my delight when word of a two-hour movie surface, my increasing delight to find out it’s awesome, and then the total joy-induced apoplexy when none other than Lauren Collins and Adama Ruggiero — Paige and Marco, OMG — swung by PopWatch HQ. Read on for their PopWatch Duel on what the best TV high school is and for a behind-the-scenes clip of Degrassi Goes Hollywood, which debuts tonight. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 14 2009 07:00 AM ET

Jane Lynch: How 'bout an Oscar nod for her work in 'Julie & Julia'?

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Filed under: Food and Drink, Movies and tagged: , , ,

Jane-Lynch_lMeryl Streep is already generating a heaping portion of Oscar buzz for her winning lead turn in Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia, but there’s a tasty side dish in the film that I’m worried might get overshadowed: Namely, Jane Lynch’s performance as Dorothy McWilliams, beautifully gawky sister of Streep’s Julia Child. In the course of just a few scenes, Lynch manages to bring to life all the mysterious joy and excitement of sisterhood. Indeed, when Dorothy finally crosses the pond to reunite with Julia — remember, their separation was endured without the modern pleasures of Skype or email or all that good stuff we now take for granted — their effervescent reaction is as real and delicious as the boeuf bourguignon and chocolate-almond cakes that take such prominent roles in the film.

So who’s with me on the campaign to at least get Lynch in the running for Best Supporting Actress? And while we’re at it: Shouldn’t we start a parallel petition in the Best Supporting Actor category for costar Stanley Tucci? Sign on the dotted line below if you agree!

Photo credit: Jonathan Wenk

Aug 14 2009 06:00 AM ET

Quote of the Day: Terrifying child edition

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“Are you mad? I am your daughter!” –Possibly possessed Anne Stewart (Alakina Mann) responding to the query “Where’s my daughter?” by her mother Grace (Nicole Kidman) in Alejandro Amenabar’s The Others

Aug 13 2009 05:45 PM ET

'New Moon': Kristen Stewart dishes fashion, down time, and playing Joan Jett

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It’s Part 2 of our Fall Movie Preview photo shoot video of Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner of The Twilight Saga: New Moon. First, Stewart opines on her accidental role as fashion icon; nowadays, every time the girl who plays Bella is identified wearing an article of clothing, it immediately sells out. Seems she’s as befuddled with the trend as we are. Stewart also opens up a little on her other roles, talking specifically here about Adventureland. But for those of you not paying attention, Stewart just wrapped work on The Runaways, where she chopped her hair and dyed it black to play iconic ’80s rocker Joan Jett.

I asked Stewart recently about what seems to be a need to take on other film roles during the scant down time she gets between shooting the Twilight movies. “It would’ve been smart to take some time off too, but I’m really glad I did Runaways,” she said. “If it was Twilight all the time, I would go mad. To just play one character for four years, it’s not what I do. I like to have variation. I like to change it up. To live one experience, it would be like I have this weird alter-ego, alternate life, instead of slipping into a character for 6 weeks, sucking it dry, and leaving. It would be like 4 years of living like a f***ng psycho person, thinking that I’m like Bella. You know what I mean? It would just be impossible for me. The tabloids would have a lot of crazy s— to say about me in that case.”

Say what you will about Twilight, but you’ve got to give it to Stewart. It would be easy to sit around and ride the Twilight train all the way to the bank. This is one actress willing to mix it up while the gettin’ is good. Check out the video chat below, and after the jump, a clip of Stewart and Lautner wrestling during their EW cover shoot.

READ FULL STORY »

Aug 13 2009 05:19 PM ET

EW Picks: Today's best in pop culture

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DVD: Alien Trespass
Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) plays both a human astronomer and an alien voyager in this good-natured homage to 1950s B-movies. Read the review

TV: Into the Pride miniseries premiere (Animal Planet, 8 p.m. EST)
Animal Planet expert Dave Salmoni heads into the African wild to try to save a rogue pride of lions from elimination in this five-part documentary series. Listen, we have nothing but respect for a guy who can live in the jungle for six months — among lions, no less!

Music: The Bachelor, Patrick Wolf
The English avant-gardist’s fourth studio album has attracted healthy buzz among fans of off-kilter indie-pop. Read a 2007 playlist featuring an exclusive Wolf track

Books: The Eleventh Victim, by Nancy Grace
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. TV host Nancy Grace did indeed write a novel. And considering her penchant for drama, it doesn’t seem too far-fetched. Could Grace have a future in fiction? Pick up a copy to draw your own conclusions.

Tech: Lyric Rat on Twitter
If you tweet @LyricRat the lyrics to a song you can’t quite place, the bot will tweet you back the song’s title and artist. Pretty rad.

Click here for more of this week’s picks, or check out an overview of more TV, movies, music and more debuting this week.

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