Earlier this week, police in Syracuse, NY shut down an area near a Civil War monument after spotting an unattended box for a Sex and the City trivia game. (It turned out to contain nothing more than...game pieces.) Naturally, this sounded like the kind of ridiculous scenario that might prompt a racy bon mot from Kim Cattrall's Samantha Jones, or perhaps one of the other SATC gals, so I thought I'd put on my Michael Patrick King mask (creepy!) and give it a go.
Samantha: "I've been known to get excited about a suspicious package myself, but I draw the line at dialing 911!"
Badum-bum! Okay, folks, it's your turn. Head down to the comments section and come up with your own best SATC quip. I'm betting (or at least hoping) you can beat my punch line.
Apparently, Mr. Big is coming back for more Sex and the City in the planned sequel, and there's a certain comfort in that: It was tough not to root for Carrie and Big to finally tie the knot in the last movie, if for no other reason than that they'd worked so hard, for so long, to get to that satisfying "I Do." (Plus, you know, he got her that closet!) And it's hard to imagine they would've pulled off a sequel without him -- either Carrie and Big would've had to split by the time the movie picks up, which would be a pretty bleak beginning for a girls-night-out funfest, or Big would have to be conspicuously off on some prolonged business trip or similar. (New Line confirms that Noth will be in the film, but declines to comment on any details.)
On the other hand, Big still causes me all kinds of angst. I didn't love the TV finale because I never bought that this conflicted man-boy mogul would follow anyone to Paris for a Grand Gesture moment. I didn't like the feeling that this show had actually been about nailing down the impossible man -- who rarely, in real life, chases his true love down to declare his undying ardor. I knew Carrie returned to New York at least partly because she missed her friends, but I wanted to feel like it was 100-percent about them. And to this day, even after tearing up with joy to see Carrie and Big tie the knot at the end of Sex and the City: The Movie, I still wonder if they truly belong together, or if they each would've been better off with someone more centered and sane and realistic. (Oh, Aidan.) Then again, maybe I'm just bringing my own Mr. Big issues to the situation (most of us single girls have them) -- and maybe that's just the point, that we all take Sex and the City personally...and we love it all the more for it.
What do you think, PopWatchers? Will you be happy to see Mr. Big back? Do you think this means Carrie could be pregnant with a little Mr. Big?
From: Barrett, Annie
To: Soll, Lindsay
Subject: Liar liar crazyuncomfortableshoes on fire
I thought this would speak to you. From Page Six: "Manolo Blahnik has never seen the TV version of Sex and the City and only recently watched the movie in a hotel room."
Are you outraged? I'm merely amused.
***********************
From: Soll, Lindsay
To: Barrett, Annie
Subject: Re: Liar liar crazyuncomfortableshoes on fire
Hahaha not outraged but how can that be?
His name is spoken more on that show than the word "orgasm"!!!
***********************
Who is lying -- Manolo Blahnik or Linsday Soll?
Kim Cattrall has confirmed, on a British talk show with guest host Mel B., that a Sex and the City sequel is a go. (Watch the interview here.) While the actresses finalize their deals, Slezak and I thought we'd start the brainstorming session. First our suggestions for story lines, then yours.
• Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth): Big loses his money in the current economic crisis, and Carrie's career goes from Vogue to PopWatch a blog. They're forced to reevaluate their priorities and discover happiness isn't just a walk-in closet.
• Samantha (Cattrall): Her PR career takes a nosedive, and she tries to revive her fortunes through a Bravo-style reality show called PR Lady. (She also admits that she could've stayed in Los Angeles with Smith -- and just not worked for him -- because other people in Hollywood have, in fact, been known to need publicists.)
• Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg): Having seem them deal with marital issues in the first film, we want these two to be happy....We also want Miranda to become involved at Brady's school, coaching soccer (even though she's never played soccer) and facing off with other moms at PTA.
• Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Harry (Evan Handler): After extension discussion, and remembering that Charlotte kinda bores us, we decided that she needs serious drama. At first, we thought health scare, which would lead to a nice Samantha-Charlotte moment. (Samantha feeding Carrie in bed was one of my favorite moments in the first film.) But then, we thought about how underused Harry was in that movie, and we determined that he should just go ahead and die offscreen in the sequel. If you make it a random act of violence in Manhattan, you not only get Charlotte losing her hard-fought happy ending, but also all four women suddenly angry with the show's fifth lady, New York. Imagine a sobbing Charlotte telling Samatha that unlike her, she didn't choose to go life alone. And Samantha telling Charlotte she doesn't have to. Tissues, please.
Your turn.
More on Sex and the City:
Owen Gleiberman's review of the movie
Sex and the City: Rating the men
Secrets from the (first) movie set
Confess: The moment you related to SATC
EW’s Sex and the City Movie Central
Sep 18, 2008, 11:08 AM | by Pop Watch
Categories: 'Sex and the City', Books, Deals, Hell to the no!, I'm Just a Geek, Sci-Fi, Things That Make Me Die Inside, To Care or Not to Care, Whining
Which of these two in-the-works books sounds worse, a Sex and the City prequel, focusing on Carrie's teenage years, or a sixth Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel, to be written by a well-known children's book author? Both sound pretty appalling to me.
At least Candace Bushnell herself is writing the SATC book (working title: The Carrie Diaries). Of course, the whole franchise has strayed so far from her original conception that it's not like having Bushnell herself return to take another whack at it is going to make much difference. Back when Bushnell was writing SATC as a newspaper column, it was all about status, with Manhattan as a grid where power, money, talent, fame, sex appeal, and real estate intersected, a Monopoly board where, if you had one or more of those commodities, you could leverage it to acquire the others, and where, as a result, hookups were almost entirely mercenary and devoid of romance. In other words, it was Gossip Girl for adults. So maybe it'll work fine as a teen coming-of-age story.
In contrast, Douglas Adams is not writing the next HHGG book (entitled And Another Thing...) because he is, inconveniently, dead. Instead, the job is going to Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl books. I haven't read them, but no matter how good they may be, they cannot transform Colfer into Adams, and the Hitchhiker series was all about Adams' voice -- that absurdist logic, wild imagination, wicked eye for sci-fi conventions worthy of parody, and cosmic indifference toward mankind, an utterly unimportant species on a backwater planet his books referred to merely as "mostly harmless." Colfer is already celebrated for his own unique voice; how easy will it be for him to suppress that and channel someone else's?
Show of hands, PopWatchers: Are you more alarmed by the SATC prequel or the HHGG sequel? Or can you muster more optimism toward both than I can?
Surprisingly, it isn't Carrie's Vivienne Westwood bridal gown (minus the feather!) or Charlotte's made-in-Poughkeepsie pudding that's become the most coveted product highlighted in the Sex and the City movie. Instead, booksellers across the country have been bombarded with requests for Love Letters of Great Men, the book that inspires Big's apology e-mails. (Abebooks.com, for one, says hundreds of customers have inquired about the book). Only one problem: it doesn't exist. But some consumers have made do nonetheless: The book with the most similar-sounding title to Love Letters — Love Letters of Great Men and Women: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day (pictured, left) — has risen as high as No. 114 on Amazon's bestsellers chart.
While I'm ecstatic that this proves contemporary audiences actually have an interest in reading, and not just aggressive shoe buying, this news made me wonder (and this is the last time I'll wonder Carrie Bradshaw-style, promise!): With so many movies pushing real-life products to collect advertising cash, how often do writers actually create a nonexistent product worth manufacturing? What other fake consumer products from film or TV do you wish existed? I'm not sure if I'd ever buy Love Letters — a bit too sappy for my tastes — but if any company begins to market Saved By The Bell's Buddy Bands, I'd be the first in line at the store (Hey, they work. Just ask Slater). Your turn, PopWatchers!
Even before last weekend's boffo opening, buzz was growing about a possible Sex and the City sequel. Now that we ladyfolk have proved to Hollywood that we really do like to watch movies (why was there ever a doubt?), a sequel seems ripe for the picking. Writer/producer/director Michael Patrick King has said he won't rule out the idea. "I wrote that movie with a beginning, middle and end because I didn't want to leave the audience unfulfilled," he told Variety. "The actresses are great, and if the gods smile and people are still interested, why not?" Kim Cattrall has also expressed interest, but that was before her new sex- (not Sex) themed HBO series was announced.
As a series fan who didn't love the cinematic version, I'm not clamoring for another Manolo-shod stroll down Park Avenue anytime soon. I think my movie date Kate said it best: "The movie really made me miss the show." And I can't help but wonder if we are letting our separation anxiety cloud our better judgment. Sure, it was great seeing the girls again, but what relevant (not to mention interesting) story lines are left? Charlotte as PTA president? Menopausal Carrie? Seinfeld had the right idea: Leave at the top with people wanting more. Let's let our Sexy ladies do the same.
What do you think, PopWatchers: Are you ready for another go? If so, what do you think should happen to your favorite Sex and the City character in the (potential) sequel? Or are you ready to wave goodbye to the fabulous foursome?
I'll admit — I was one of the giddy groups of females who went arm-in-arm-in-arm-in-arm to see Sex and the City last weekend. Right before going, I read two reviews of the film, and then almost immediately wished I'd read neither, both illustrating what to me seemed like valid, though wildly divergent, opinions. ("It's sexy and fun!" "It's sexist and shrill!")
I walked out... confused. I honestly didn't hate the film at first, though after talking it over with a gal pal who loathed it and pointed me towards this, my dislike of the film increased dramatically. (Warning: Spoilers ahead; if you don't want to read them, skip to the next paragraph.) Every character seemed cast in a Jello-tin mold (with the possible exception of Candice Bergen. pictured, in another resigned-yet-lovable mommy-esque role). The Vogue shoot was nauseating. Carrie's behavior towards Mr. Big when he got cold feet was, I thought, beyond parodic vis-a-vis the "expected" feminine reaction — shallow, weak, hysterical. (Beating Big up with a bouquet of flowers? Where was her parasol?)
As a native New Yorker whose parents got hitched at City Hall (and not because the New York library was booked), I totally get where Dodai is coming from: "I used to roll my eyes at the women wobbling on heels as they navigated the litter of soda cans and condoms on downtown streets. Real New York women need to be mobile. Real New York women never know when they might have to run for their lives." And this point: where are movies about "ethnic diversity, genuine soul-searching, "Big" questions — not about men, but about women. About our changing role in society, about our continued second-class citizen status... Especially this year, election year, when the focus on looks, cosmetics and cleavage became politically correct."
Sex and the City — whoa! Who saw that big No. 1 finish coming? Not most box office pundits. Not EW.com's own box-office analyst. Not pretty much every man this side of, uh, Pluto. Did anybody expect that the lovely ladies of the HBO adaptation would beat Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at the box office last weekend? Why yes, in fact, several smarties did — about 40 percent of the players in EW.com's Summer Box Office Challenge called it correctly! Bravo, people! And bravo to the four folks with perfect scores last week, led by our winner-by-tiebreaker, "lisawg22," who accurately predicted the final order of the top 10 at the multiplex.
Wanna get in on the fun? Wanna have a chance to win a free pair of Manolo Blahniks? Well, in that case, you'll have to look elsewhere. But if you want to have a chance to win some free DVDs, you've come to the right place: Just click on over to our game and register your picks for this weekend's big battle (Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With the Zohan (pictured)? Jack Black's animated Kung Fu Panda?) by Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Much like the majority of the nation's movie-going public, I headed to the Cineplex this weekend to catch the Sex and the City movie. [Please stop reading if, like me, you're crazy spoilerphobic and want to avoid even the smallest plot details.] And while I generally enjoyed the film (despite wishing it had a few more laughs and, as usual, taking issue with the too-often infuriating central romance), one thing struck me as I made my way into work this morning: the scarcity of dialog for Carrie Bradshaw's head gay, Stanford Blatch (pictured). In fact, until I double-checked with my pal Kristen Baldwin, I wasn't sure actor Willie Garson spoke a single word in the SATC movie. (Kristen reminded me that Stanford did indeed toss out the zinger, "When I get married I'm going to wear something just like it -- only bigger!" during Carrie's Vogue shoot.)
Yeah, I know Stanford scored one laugh-out-loud moment -- that New Year's smooch with Mario Cantone's Anthony -- yet I couldn't help but wonder: Did anyone else think his role was a little bit anemic? And was there anything else about the movie that left you scratching your head? Holla back!
