Archives for February 2011

You Again starring Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Odette Yustman & Sigourney Weaver

Posted on February 28, 2011 Written by ripitup

You Again starring Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Odette Yustman & Sigourney Weaver

Marni (Kristen Bell) has transformed herself from the ugly and unpopular high school girl to a beautiful and successful PR professional. Since she is pretty certain her awful high school days are way over, she’s more than happy to return home for the wedding of her older brother Will (James Wolk).

So she gets the shock of her life when she finds out that he’s marrying Joanna (Odette Yustman), the very girl who made Marni’s life hell all those years ago. What’s more shocking and disturbing for Marni is that Joanna claims to have become a much different and better person and Marni!

Poor Marni has no allies in the house as her mom Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis) wants her to embrace the now and forgive Joanna’s past. Of course Gail’s optimistic “past is past” attitude disappears when she meets Joanna’s aunt Ramona (Sigourney Weaver). As it turns out, Ramona is the very woman who made Gail’s prom a nightmare. And it is Gail’s turn to be frustrated, as Ramon is the ultra successful, ultra-rich, very pretty multi-lingual owner of a hotel chain. And everyone adores this cool aunt, including Marni.

Can mother and daughter keep it together until the wedding? Or will disaster follow as Marni is pretty determined in proving to everyone that Joanna hasn’t changed at all?

You Again is a romantic comedy from 2010, with the emphasis on comedy. It is really fun for the most part, although some things just don’t add up, even for comedy’s sake. And the first half of the movie is a lot more fun than the second. Still, it is a great cast. We even have Victor Garber as Marni’s father and Betty White as her grandmother. Remember Victor Garber as Jack Bristow, a.k.a Sydney’s dad from Alias? If you don’t, please watch him in one Alias episode at least. Then you’ll know why I like watching him in a comedy so much.

I really found Gail’s lack of empathy – even after she finds herself as frustrated as her daughter- hilarious and very humane.

On a note: Could the wedding planner be more annoying and Tim (Kyle Bornheimer) more of a loser? And am I the only one who thought Joanna’s rehearsal dinner show totally stupid and not romantic?

It could have been a little more original if Marni didn’t get her high school crush (Sean Wing) in the end (it is not a spoiler, and u know it!), but hey, all in all, it is a very entertaining effort. It is not a should-see, but a could- see. And its biggest fault is that Betty White’s role wasn’t Betty White enough.

Fun notes:

– Dwayne Johnson has a very small but entertaining part as the Air Marshall

– 70s and 80s duo Hall& Oates make an appearance as themselves.

– Both Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis have co-starred with Mel Gibson in different movies. Sigourney Weaver co-starred with him The Year of Living Dangerously and Jamie in Forever Young.

Currently 5.4 on IMDB.

My verdict: 7 for the first half, 5.5 for the second.

More on Kristen Bell

Veronica Mars starring Kristen Bell, Teddy Dunn, Jason Dohring & Enrico Colantoni

When in Rome starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel

Couples Retreat starring Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, Malin Akerman and Jason Bateman

Forgetting Sarah Marshall starring Jason Segel, Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Russell Brand

Serious Moonlight starring Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Kristen Bell and Justin Long

33 Actors From My Generation – Actors Born in the Years Between 1980-1990

More on Sigourney Weaver

Snow Cake starring Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman & Carrie-Anne Moss

More on Odette Yustman

And Soon the Darkness starring Odette Yustman, Amber Heard &Karl Urban

More on Victor Garber

Glee – TV Series – guest role

Alias TV Series – one of the leading roles

Soon: Scream 4 starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette. Feat. Adam Brody, Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts, Kristen Bell& Anna Paquin

Posted on February 23, 2011 Written by ripitup

Scream 4 starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette. Feat. Adam Brody, Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts, Kristen Bell and Anna Paquin. Image via moviepostershop.com

Seriously? Another one? Coming to the theaters in April, we are faced with the 4^th and hopefully the last installment of Wes Craven’s Scream saga.

The first Scream was fun. It was entertaining, a little refreshing and well, thrilling enough. It was 1996 and director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson had created a nice teen-slasher that had a pretty cool cast too: Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard.

Well, with the exception of Skeet and Matthew, Courteney’s news reporter Gale, David’s Deputy Dewey and then student Sydney made it to Scream 2. Then 3 and finally, to Scream 4.

While I don’t hold a grudge against all sequels as a habit, horror/thrillers usually have a lesser chance of making the audiences happier as opposed to action or comedy flicks. Notice how Scream 1 started with 7.2 on IMDB and Scream 3 is currently at 5.3. I don’t necessarily always agree with the user ratings there, but this sounds fair- if not a little too generous.

But of course when you make a 4^th film, ,it is only a good marketing plan to add more famous people to the cast like Adam Brody, Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts, Kristen Bell and Anna Paquin – and I didn’t notice half of them in the trailer.

It wasn’t just Scream that failed with the sequels, by the way. Horror-films mockery

Scary Movie was, despite being a little too crude at times, was hilarious. I barely remember Scary Movie 2 and 3 and I didn’t bother to see 4th.

So back to Scream 4. We’ve another mask-wearing psycho (or maybe more than one) with, a ridiculous motive, hunting after the cast. We will see if Neve Campell will survive. But I hope not because it just might indicate a 5^th film.

I am really not excited about Scream 4. Are you?

Fun notes:

* Courteney Cox and David Arquette met in 1996, during the making of the first Scream movie. They got married in 1999 and separated in 2010. So yep, the Scream saga outlasted their relationship.

* Courteney Cox isn’t the only Friends cast member Neve Campbell co-starred in a movie with. She also has a movie with Matthew Perry.

* Kevin Williamson is one of the developers & writers of the popular series The Vampire Diaries.

Also on Courteney Cox:

Courteney Cox Trivia

Cougar Town starring Courteney Cox, Josh Hopkins, Dan Byrd, Busy Phillips & Josh Hopkins

Hollywood Stars in Friends

Dangerous Beauty starring Rufus Sewell & Catherine McCormack

Posted on February 18, 2011 Written by ripitup

Dangerous Beauty starring Rufus Sewell & Catherine McCormack. Feat. Jacqueline Bisset, Naomi Watts & Oliver Platt. Image via cinemanow.com

Marco (Rufus Sewell), a handsome and fun-loving guy from an established Venice family. And life is going just fine for him – especially after he falls in love with his sister (Moira Kelly)’s friend Veronica (Catherine McCormack).

Veronica and Marco are crazy about one another. But their happiness lasts only until Marco’s father reminds him that he has to marry according to his station; that is marrying to a girl with parents with the right background. Marco accepts this, devastating Veronica.

Veronica is intelligent, beautiful, modern and elegant. She is also a poet and a romantic. But since her pen wouldn’t feed her or her family, her mother (Jacqueline Bisset) comes up with the most shocking career option: being a courtesan. Although she is outraged by the idea, sleeping with men for money sounds better than living in a convent. So after some training, Veronica turns into the perfect seductress

Of course Marco is shocked and he is disappointed, especially when he is one of the very few men in Venice who is rejected by her – the other one being his own cousin Maffio (Oliver Platt).

Now, Marco is stuck in an unhappy marriage, still madly in love with Veronica. Veronica still isn’t over him and as events unfold, they will find it impossible to stay apart. But Maffio has sworn for revenge and when war strikes, Veronica might just lose all the power she has and witness the whole country turn against her, except for Marco…

The movie is a lovely, romantic period drama with wonderful performances from both Rufus Sewell and Catherine McCormack. Oliver Platt is always fun to watch, even when he plays the jerk.

Naomi Watts has a supporting role as Marco’s wife. The scenery, costumes and the art direction are simply beautiful. It is romantic and thought-provoking. Catherine’s character Veronica is really inspiring. She really had the guts to question the hypocrisy of her time.

It is especially recommended for the fans of period dramas and Rufus Sewell. You might remember Catherine McCormack from her short but very important role in 1995’s Braveheart.

Also on Naomi Watts

The International starring Clive Owen & Naomi W atts

The Painted Veil starring Edward Norton & Naomi Watts

Also on Rufus Sewell

Tristan and Isolde starring James Franco, Sophia Myles and Rufus Sewell

The British Actors We Love feat. Rufus Sewell, Colin Firth, Daniel Day Lewis

The Woodlanders: A Gorgeous Rufus Sewell in an Awful Movie

In a Savage Land with Rufus Sewell

Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence: Fun romcom with Monica Potter, Rufus Sewell and Joseph Fiennes

Vinyan starring Rufus Sewell

The Illusionist with Edward Norton, Rufus Sewell and Jessica Biel

Red starring Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Karl Urban, Morgan Freeman & Helen Mirren

Posted on February 14, 2011 Written by ripitup

Red starring Bruce Willis, Mary-Loise Parker, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren & Karl Urban. Image via c-medya.com

Retired CIA agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is living the quiet, suburban life. The highlight of his days is when he talks on the phone with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) – his representative for the pension fund: Even though they never met, they both have a crush on each other.

While Frank makes plans to meet in person, a team of assassins try to kill Frank. Frank escapes but now that he is a target. So he has to kidnap Sarah, who is unwilling to believe that Frank is in fact ex CIA. But she eventually believes him. Frank realizes that the hit has been ordered by CIA itself. And it is not just Frank. A past Guatemala operation has gotten lots of agents and a news reporter killed. So Frank pulls up a team he can trust – although he has to let each member know that he is not trying to kill them first.

His team includes ex-CIA Joe (Morgan Freeman), nutty but smart Marvin (John Malkovich), ex MI6 Victoria (Helen Mirren) and Russian Ivan (Brian Cox). At first the CIA was confident that their agent in charge, the highly capable William Cooper (Karl Urban) could take care of a “grandpa” agent but as it will turn out, this team of old agents and a civilian can really kick ass and raise mayhem. Catching Frank will be a lot harder than anticipated…

2011’s Golden Globe nominee for Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), Red is a pretty entertaining action/comedy that deliberately starts slow and follows with fast action and good comedy. The cast is incredible, the characters are hilarious. It is one of the most entertaining movies of Bruce Willis, who has been kicking ass in action films for over 2 decades now. And kudos to Helen Mirren, whose character totally destroys all the stereotypical movie roles a 65-year-old actress can get.

It’s unreasonable. It’s illogical. And the ending is predictable. But it is bloody good entertainment. It is hard to pick a favorite character but for me it is a tie between deadly Victoria and the paranoid Marvin who gets upset when he doesn’t kill anyone.

Written by Jon and Erich Hoeber. Directed by Robert Schwentke (Flightplan, The Time Traveler’s Wife). Based on the graphic novel created by Cully Hamner and Warren Ellis.

7 Fun Red Facts:

– Nip Tuck’s Julian McMahon makes a guest appearance as the Vice President.

– The cast also features Richard Dreyfuss.

– The “Russian” Ivan is played by Brian Cox, who is actually Scottish.

– Sex and the City’s Richard James Remar makes a guest appearance.

– Between the cast, there are three Oscars in acting: Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and Richard Dreyfuss are Oscar-winning actors.

– Weeds star Mary- Louise Parker used to date Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who also appeared in Weeds.

Favorite lines:

Sarah is not happy to be kidnapped.

Frank: I was just hoping you’d be a little more understanding of the situation.
Sarah: I was hoping not to get kidnapped. Or drugged. I was hoping you’d have *hair*. So it looks like none of our dreams are coming true at the moment.

Frank (Willis) and Cooper (Karl Urban) are engaged in a deadly fight. Cooper first thinks he can beat Frank easily because of the age difference but Frank beats the crap out of Cooper.

Frank (locking Cooper in a wrestling position):Krodesky trained you?

Cooper: Yeah.

Frank: I trained Krodesky.

Marvin wants to kill the agent who is trying to kill them and has called Marvin an old man.. Frank had previously made him let her go, thinking she was an innocent civilian.

Marvin: Can I kill her now? (Frank nods and Marvin kills her) Old man, my ass!

Favorite scenes (minor spoilers):

– Pretty much all the action scenes, especially the kidnapping of the V.P.

– The very last scene.

Also on Bruce Willis

Surrogates starring Bruce Willis & Rosamund Pike

Top 5 Movie Endings feat. The Sixth Sense

Actor Musicians and Musician Actors feat. Willis and Travolta

What Ricky Gervais said on 2011 Golden Globes about Bruce

10 Celebrity Break-ups You Didn’t See Coming

Also on Morgan Freeman

Thick as Thieves starring Antonio Banderas & Morgan Freeman