Tag: Misc. (31-40 of 413)

Mar 16 2010 05:28 PM ET

Exclusive new pics from 'Beastly': Neil Patrick Harris and inner beauty

The tale of Beauty and the Beast is, as we all know, a tale as old as time. (My personal favorite interpretation is the late-1980s TV series in which Linda Hamilton and the leonine “beast” fought over who would have the bigger hair.) Now, the story will be transposed to the younger set in Beastly which, as you can see in these two exclusive photos, stars the inimitable Neil Patrick Harris and High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens. The press release calls the film “an edgy teen romance about learning how to see past false surfaces to discover true inner beauty.” I’m all for anything with high NPH levels, and it’s a bonus to see that they made the movie’s heartthrob-turned-beast a creepily vascular alopeciac instead of just sticking a pair of glasses on him. (I’m looking at you She’s All That.)

Mar 16 2010 05:04 PM ET

HGTV Dream Home now a reality for one lucky woman

I’m a fairly lucky person. I’ve won grand prizes in raffles — tickets to Disneyland two years in a row during elementary school! — dinners in fancy restaurants, and even a year’s supply of Pepsi. With that streak, I was convinced I was going to win the 2010 Dream Home contest, sponsored by HGTV.

I faithfully entered every day for seven weeks, envisioning myself with the $2 million grand-prize package: a brand spankin’ new, custom-designed and fully furnished Pueblo-style home outside of Santa Fe, N.M.; a 2010 GMC Terrain, and $500,000. Well, the winner was announced last night, and (sad face) it wasn’t me. My instant reaction? Dismay, anger, a hint of jealousy. However, once I got to know the winner — Myra Lewis of New Orleans — I realized that the right woman had won.

Lewis, the assistant director of Dillard University’s Deep South Center for Environmental Justice in New Orleans, was actually watching HGTV with her son, Chris, when HGTV’s Jamie Durie knocked on the door and gave her the life-changing news: that out of more than 40 million entries, she was the big winner. Finding out you’ve won a house is huge, but its impact is magnified once you’ve lost one, like Lewis did during Hurricane Katrina.

Here’s hoping this Southwest dream home offers Lewis and her family nothing but awesome memories — and Myra, if you’re reading, I would love to come over some day for a tour, you know, for the sake of journalistic research.

America got to meet Lewis during last night’s HGTV Dream Home Giveway 2010 special. In case you missed it, you can watch the video, as well as check out a 360-degree virtual tour of the 2010 Dream Home at the HGTV website. Pretty soon, they’ll also announce the location of my future abode the 2011 Dream Home.

So, did any of you PopWatchers enter to win the Dream Home? Do you normally enter contests sponsored by TV networks, and have you ever triumphed and won?

Mar 16 2010 02:04 PM ET

'True Life': Five memorable moments

true-lifeIt’s back! MTV’s ridiculously addictive series True Life returned last night with a somewhat somber edition: “I Need a Transplant.” But the show isn’t always so serious — Following young adults as they navigate through life, True Life episodes have ranged from funny (“I Have Embarrassing Parents”) to strange (“I’m Obsessed with My Dog”) to depressing (“I’m Dead Broke”). It’s a reality show that actually, for once, feels real.

Because I’m fairly sure I’ve seen every episode ever — I could star in True Life: I Have Too Much Time On My Hands — I’ve comprised my five most memorable True Life moments. (See them after the jump!) READ FULL STORY »

Mar 14 2010 10:36 AM ET

SXSW Film Festival: 'Barry Munday' and the legend of Judy Greer

judy_greerImage Credit: Photopro/Landov The biggest delight of Day 2 of the Austin-based film festival was the world premiere of Barry Munday, director Chris D’Arienzo’s big-hearted debut about a rugby-wearing, boob-leering office drone who loses his testicles in a freak accident. Stay with me, people! Barry, played with great oafishness by Patrick Wilson, is a character straight out of the cult hit Office Space. He hits on women relentlessly, he loves a good Chili’s happy hour, he sings in the shower about how awesome he is. But in Wilson’s good hands, Barry is a recognizable and even endearing nitwit without being reduced to easy caricature. Barry loses his balls early on in the film, but soon finds out that a former one-night stand is knocked up with his kid. The woman with the bulging belly, whose face Barry can’t remember, is played by the marvelous Judy Greer.

The movie, which will draw inevitable comparisons to Knocked Up, is a surprisingly wistful and winning ode to growing up and finding one’s place in the world. What really made me want to stand up and cheer, though, was the sight of my beloved Greer getting a shot at material that required more from her than playing the plucky best friend. Here, Greer gets to play the woman at the heart of the story. Her Ginger Farley, a woman used to being overlooked by her family members and co-workers and men at large, is at once prickly and soulful. She gets to flex muscles — comedic and romantic — that have gone underutilized for too long. It’s always a treat to see a treasured character actor take on a starring role. In Barry Munday, a film in need of a worthy distributor, Greer proves once and for all that she deserves much, much more than stock supporting roles.

Who out there is a Judy Greer fan? What’s your favorite role of hers? (Kitty in Arrested Development? Back-stabbing Lucy in 13 Going on 30?) What other character actors would you love to see get a great starring role? Does Barry Munday look like a film for you?

Mar 13 2010 10:35 AM ET

SXSW Film Festival: 'Kick-Ass' premiere, 'Predators' first look

Kick-Ass-movieThe line of movie geeks eager to celebrate Friday’s opening night of Austin’s SXSW film festival coiled around the grand Paramount theater. The draw was the world premiere of Kick-Ass (in theaters April 16), Matthew Vaughn’s cheeky take on the superhero movie genre. Based on Mark Millar’s popular comic book series, the film follows a forgettable high school student (played by the endearing relative newcomer Aaron Johnson) who, with the help of a mail-order costume, attempts to transform himself into a real-life superhero. The very sight of Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s name in the opening credits was enough to elicit calls of “McLovin’!” from the audience. But he in fact sheds some of that exaggerated doofus-cool here, playing an interesting, isolated son of a villainous mobster.

Without knowledge of the comic book, you might think going in that you’re sitting down to a genial movie about high school boys. But the very best of the film belongs to Nicolas Cage, a heroic vigilante out to bring down a mobster, and his highly trained, knife-wielding, wig-wearing 11-year-old daughter. The audience hooted and hollered during all of the kinetic fight scenes with Hit-Girl (played by the thoroughly convincing Chloe Moretz), but the biggest laughs were earned by Cage. His performance is so fun, ridiculous without being hammy, wistful without a touch of melodrama, that it manages to wipe clean the past few years of goofball work. The Austin audience loved Kick-Ass. I was reminded that I f***ing love Nicolas Cage.

READ FULL STORY »

Mar 12 2010 12:52 PM ET

Gabourey Sidibe, please be my friend

Every once in awhile, a new actress establishes herself as a talk show host’s dream: a woman with a killer sense of humor, sharp comedic timing, and a willingness to talk about anything — within reason, of course.

Right now, that’s Gabourey Sidibe.

Of course, we’ve known how comically blessed the actress is ever since her side-splitting interview with Conan O’Brien on his late great The Tonight Show back in November. But now that she’s got Precious‘ DVD release to promote, we’ve been graced with her presence even more on the late-night circuit. On Tuesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, her bubbly personality was on full display as she chatted about photo bombing Jake Gyllenhaal at the Oscars, not wanting to go clubbing with her mom and threatening to shank Sandra Bullock.
READ FULL STORY »

Mar 11 2010 01:10 PM ET

Corey Feldman: We need to change the way we treat child stars

Corey Feldman appeared on Larry King Live Wednesday to discuss the passing of Corey Haim. The two points he wanted to address after the jump.

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Mar 11 2010 06:50 AM ET

'Modern Family' recap: What doesn't kill us makes us stronger

Modern-Family-TruthImage Credit: Michael Desmond/ABC

Umm, hello? Shel Turtlestein! Fliesaminnelli! Zsa Zsa Gaboa! Best pet names ever! This show is pure genius. Pure genius, I say! These fabulous names, plus a fantastic-looking Judy Greer as Phil’s frisky ex-girlfriend, Denise. (You know Judy Greer, she’s everybody’s favorite go-to friend in almost every single romantic comedy — 27 Dresses? Check. 13 Going on 30? Check. The Wedding Planner? Check.) I mean, come on. How does this show do it week after week? It just gets stronger and stronger. And speaking of getting stronger, on to Manny’s sad-sack comment of the evening: “Lots of stuff that doesn’t kill you makes you weaker.” Why does this little boy’s wise-man depression make me laugh so much?

The theme of tonight’s episode was truth. Phil must come to terms with the fact that Denise wants “a slice of him,” Mitchell must stand up to his boss after he realizes that there are more important things in life than his job, and Jay must confess to Manny that he — not a rogue raccoon — killed the boy’s pet turtle, Shel Turtlestein. The truth will set them  free! And it certainly made us giggle. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 7 2010 11:24 AM ET

Sandra Bullock accepts her Razzie in person and continues her charm offensive. (It's working!)

If you’ve been following the Oscar race this season, then you know that first-time nominee Sandra Bullock has played the game like a pro, stating over and over that she is “so not going to win an Oscar” and joking that her main rival Meryl Streep is “white trash.” Her ability to exude just the right amount of self-deprecating charm has been fascinating to watch these past few months. And last night, the star of The Blind Side outdid herself when she showed up at the Razzie Awards in L.A. to accept her trophy for Worst Actress for All About Steve. (Click here for EW’s report on all the winners.)

Bullock appeared from backstage accompanied by three people wearing black “Team Bullock” t-shirts and pulling a bright red wagon full of All About Steve DVDs. She’d brought one for everyone in the audience who, she guessed, hadn’t really even watched Steve. “This is the deal we are going to make,” she said. “You promise to watch the movie and really consider whether it was really and truly the worst performance. If you are willing to watch it, I will come back next year and give back the Razzie.” Then she joked that she was ready to go through the shooting script of the movie, which she’d also brought along. “I’m willing to go page-by-page through my dialogue, so we could be here a while. I will read it like the way I read it in the film and then anyone who wants to give me a line reading of how I could have done it better… So we could do this till about four o’clock in the morning. Or you guys could re-watch the movie and re-think your decision and I will show up next year and then we can all go drink afterwards.”

Here’s her acceptance speech:

Bullock then left to return to a charity event run by Jeffrey Katzenberg (“I have to get back to this charity thing because you know Jeffrey Katzenberg can prevent me from working again!”), much to the disappointment of the crowd, who ate up her appearance like a giant plate of delicious truffles. After the event, Razzie founder John Wilson told EW he couldn’t have been happier with the actress’ good humor: “If you are going to win a Razzie, then that’s the way to do it and have fun with it. I wish there were more people with that combination of self-deprecation and guts.”

I can’t disagree with him on that. After all, Bullock could make history as the first actress to win both an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year. Whether or not her Steve performance was truly deserving of Worst Actress is sort of irrelevant. (Let me remind you that two of her fellow nominees were Megan Fox and Miley Cyrus.) Accepting her trophy in person with such good-humored wit is P.R. gold — for both Bullock and the Razzies. Everybody wins. (Well, except maybe Megan Fox…)

What do you think of Sandra Bullock’s tongue-in-cheek Razzie graciousness?

(Reporting by Katherine Tulich)

Mar 4 2010 11:41 AM ET

Watch four new 'Office' webisodes here!

As if Jim and Pam’s baby wasn’t enough to love about The Office today, we also get four new great webisodes starring Erin and Angela! In the genius four-part series “The Mentor,” Angela takes Erin under her wing (after sanitizing her hands, of course) to teach her about accounting, and life. Erin in a French braid and puffy shirt may be the best thing I’ve seen all week.
Three more after the jump! READ FULL STORY »
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