Archive: June 2011 (31-40 of 401)

Jun 28 2011 07:10 PM ET

Which music acts do you wish would duet with the final four on 'The Voice' finale?

by
Categories: Made Us Think, Reality TV, Television, The Voice
the_voice_final_4

Image Credit: Lewis Jacobs/NBC

Every year while watching American Idol, we anxiously anticipate the finale. Not just because soon after, we’ll finally be forced to cure ourselves of our months-long inappropriate obsessions with 16-year-old reality stars who can carry a tune. No, we also look forward to the finale because that’s when some of the music industry’s greatest legends take the Idol stage and duet with some of our favorite contestants of the season. (Season 10′s finale alone featured artists like Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Gladys Knight, Tony Bennett.)

Well now, The Voice — NBC’s version of a singing reality show, which plays like Idol‘s younger, more daring, and better-looking cousin — is following suit, and offering up some stars to duet with the first season’s final four: Dia Frampton, Beverly McClellan, Javier Colon, and Vicci Martinez. And the talent who will be stopping by, without further ado: READ FULL STORY »

Jun 28 2011 06:35 PM ET

'Most Eligible Dallas': How many of them do you dislike just from the promo?

by
Categories: Reality TV, Television

Let the self-loathing commence/continue: Bravo has released a promo for Most Eligible Dallas, the could-be-addictive reality show premiering Aug. 15 that follows a group of six hot, single friends in Texas. There’s Matt Nordgren, the former University of Texas quarterback; outspoken Southern belle Courtney Kerr, Matt’s best friend, who claims to only have platonic feelings for him but finds faults in every woman he dates; Glenn Pakulak, a punter for the Oakland Raiders who has instituted a “two-date maximum” rule after ending a four-year relationship; Drew Ginsburg, a proud gay man who “prefers cars to couture,” has lost more than 200 pounds, and is now looking for love; Tara Harper (pictured), who’s called off four engagements; and Neill Skylar, a single mom with a one-year-old son, a new band, and a longtime friendship with Matt. (“Though Neill and Matt both say they aren’t looking for something serious, the two can’t deny their chemistry,” the release teases.) Watch the promo below. It doesn’t ID Neill Skylar, so I’m holding out hope that she’s the one we’re supposed to like — and therefore said/did nothing annoying enough to be included in the trailer below. READ FULL STORY »

Jun 28 2011 06:00 PM ET

Bad girls make good: Do 'Bad Teacher' and 'Bridesmaids' signal a new comedy era?

by
Categories: Bridesmaids, ShePop
bad_teacher_5

Image Credit: Gemma LaMana

Last weekend, Bad Teacher landed in a surprise second at the box office, raking in $31.6 million dollars — a solid 50 percent over projections for Cameron Diaz ne’er-do-teach comedy. Another unexpected hit came earlier this season in the form of Bridesmaids, which is well on track to surpass Knocked Up and become producer Judd Apatow’s highest grossing film yet. With these lady-led raunchfests blowing expectations out of the water, have we turned the corner on guys’ domination of the bad-behavior market? Audiences seems to think so. But one thing is for sure: Hollywood hasn’t gotten the memo. With only a few “girls gone wild” movies (for want of a better term) scheduled for release by year’s end, who (and what) will feed this growing appetite? READ FULL STORY »

Jun 28 2011 05:35 PM ET

Rebooted 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' still climbing the box office despite bad reviews

by
Categories: Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Stage/Theater
SMTOTD

Image Credit: Jacob Cohl

A $75 million dollar budget and $1.2 million in weekly operating costs are difficult to atone for, but Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark is doing its best. The show — which officially opened with a retooled version on June 14 – played to 100 percent capacity last week despite earning harsh to middling reviews (overall verdict: what used to be a wild mess, is now a dull less-of-a mess).  And it made bank, taking in $1.7 million — the musical’s best weekly gross since its first seven days of previews back in January, when it earned $1.8 million — which marked a 41 percent increase from the previous week. In fact, the show has been on a constant financial inclined since the beginning of June.

So, is this all good? Not really. Spider-Man‘s producers recently admitted to The New York Times that the show would need to run for nearly seven years to recoup its investors’ cash. That’s one year longer than the Broadway tenure of the much-loved The Producers and Avenue Q (which both ran for six years), but still a lot shorter than the longest running Broadway musical of all time, The Phantom of the Opera (23 years).

Read more:
Julie Taymor says ‘Spider-Man’ harmed by Twitter, focus groups
‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’: The new reviews are in!
EW’s official review of ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’

Jun 28 2011 04:40 PM ET

Would you like to see Jeff Bridges play 'The Giver'?

by
Categories: Nostalgia, Now That's What I Call a Face!
Bridges-Giver-Split

Image Credit: Michael Tran/FilmMagic

Lois Lowry’s The Giver is one of those generation-defining books that practically everyone of a certain age read in grade school and now remembers with a fondness bordering on religion. The fable-like story of an emotionless society where citizens are incapable of seeing colors, The Giver won a Newbery Medal and has sold millions of copies worldwide. Oscar winner Jeff Bridges has been trying to adapt The Giver to the big screen without success for years now, but according to a new report in Variety, Bridges and producer Nikki Silver have reacquired the rights to the book, with an eye towards having Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) write a screenplay… with Bridges starring in the title role, an aging priest-like man who teaches the novel’s young protagonist about everything missing from their soulless society. (You know: Violence, love, sadness, joy, and everything else that defines humanity.) READ FULL STORY »

Jun 28 2011 04:15 PM ET

Who will go home with a Golden Trailer?

by
Categories: Awards, Festivals & Events, Movie Trailers, Movies

Tomorrow night in Los Angeles, some of Hollywood’s most talented filmmakers will be feted at the 12th Annual Golden Trailer Awards. You might not recognize the names of the nominees — BLT:AV, The Ant Farm, Seismic Productions — but these are the professionals who make even the most banal drama or the most threadbare comedy look like the next Citizen Kane or Animal House months before the critics and the Internet can salvage it. Sometimes, they do too good a job (See: Sucker Punch or Terminator: Salvation). READ FULL STORY »

Jun 28 2011 03:50 PM ET

Blue Crush: The new Smurfette breaks (former) little boys' hearts

by
Categories: Animation, Movies

Little boys from the ’80s tend to cite Princess Leia and her gold bikini as the first time their prepubescent minds took notice of a girl, but if we’re being completely, embarrassingly honest — painfully so — we’ve got to admit that Smurfette captured our eyes too.

Now wait a second, no one’s saying a generation of little straight boys had the hots for Smurfette (and she has nothing on the Freudian psycho-sexuality of Leia chained to Jabba the Hutt’s slab), but come on — how could a boy NOT notice her? She was the only girl out of 100 little blue dudes, and unlike tough-as-nails Lady Jaye and crossbow-wielding Scarlett from G.I. Joe, Smurfette was not just pure testosterone with a ponytail and curves.

Click through to see the NEW Smurfette’s fashion spread in Harper’s Bazaar. READ FULL STORY »

Jun 28 2011 03:40 PM ET

How much should Catwoman factor into 'The Dark Knight Rises'? If she should at all?

by
Categories: Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises
ann_hathaway

Image Credit: John Sciulli/Getty Images

With so much mystery surrounding the project, anytime even the smallest amount of information on The Dark Knight Rises leaks out, it calls for examination. The latest bit of info comes from Anne Hathaway’s interview in this month’s Harper’s Bazaar. In the article, the actress officially cast as “Selina Kyle” — and not necessarily Selina Kyle’s alter ego, Catwoman, since a Warner Bros. press release makes no mention of the slinky character — discusses the toll her “rigorous exercise and stunt training” are taking on her toenails. On top of her exercise routine, Hathaway also puts in an hour of dance training immediately after each day’s workout.

Since the news of her casting, there have been only a few clues hinting at how involved Kyle’s Catwoman persona would be in The Dark Knight Rises story. In March, during a segment on Oprah, Hathaway referred to her character as Catwoman for the first time, setting fans’ imaginations ablaze. This latest interview only seems to confirm a more physical role as Kyle, and presence of Catwoman is strongly hinted at in the story. A combination of stunt training and dance certainly sounds like prep work for a role as Gotham’s most notorious whip-toting jewel thief, so maybe there will be more Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises than fans first expected.

But just how much should Catwoman factor into The Dark Knight Rises, and, considering the character’s notoriously shifty allegiances, will she be another villain or fight alongside Batman? READ FULL STORY »

Jun 28 2011 03:15 PM ET

'Go the F-k to Sleep' backlash begins: Are you offended by the best-seller or still think it's f--ing hilarious?

by
Categories: Bitchery, Books, Burning Questions, Everyone's a Critic, Kids' Corner, Skarsgard Your Loins, That Was Way Harsh, Tai
go_the_fck_sleep

Image Credit: Courtesy of Akashic Books

It was bound to happen. Like anything else that becomes a pop culture sensation, Adam Mansbach’s Go the F–k to Sleep has become the subject of inevitable backlash and criticism (and will soon no doubt be followed by the backlash against the backlash).

Mansbach’s hilarious and sometimes all-too-relatable ode to a stubborn child who simply won’t go to bed became a hit even before it was released (it was No. 1 on Amazon’s best-seller list nearly a month before it was available for purchase) and has continued to be a best-seller since. Since then, the book, written in the prose of classic children’s books but with some way more adult language, has become a pop culture phenomenon, being read by the likes of Werner Herzog and Samuel L. Jackson (the latter’s reading is available for free download on Audible.com.)

While the book has been mostly loved by critics and exhausted parents/babysitters/next-door neighbors alike, some aren’t nearly as amused. In a post on CNN.com, Karen Spears Zacharias explained her confusion and worries about the book’s success. READ FULL STORY »

Jun 28 2011 02:50 PM ET

Shia LaBeouf claims to have hooked up with Megan Fox, accurately criticizes 'Wall Street 2' and 'Transformers 2,' generally scorches the Earth

by
Categories: Not Jon Hamm, Transformers
Transformers-1

Image Credit: Jaimie Trueblood

You can’t blame Shia LaBeouf for wandering down some strange tangents in his recent interviews. This is the third time he’s had to do publicity for a Transformers movie, and considering that his character hasn’t noticeably evolved over three movies despite dating underwear models and visiting robot heaven, the guy must understandably want to talk about anything besides the new movie, which I believe is called Transformers: Bad Moon Rising. But in a trio of recent interviews, LaBeouf has practiced nothing less than a scorched-Earth policy, happily explaining why every movie he has made in the last half-decade has been terrible, while also effusively gabbing about all the co-stars he’s hooked up with. Here’s the essential talking points from his new interview with Details magazine:

-LaBeouf and Megan Fox hooked up while filming Transformers 1. READ FULL STORY »

Advertisement

TV Recaps

Powered by WordPress.com VIP