New DVD Releases 4/29/08

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
starring: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner

The true story of Elle France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who, in 1995 at age 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, except his left eye. Bauby then used that eye to blink out his memoir.





The Golden Compass
starring: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig

A young girl living in an alternate universe travels to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from a mysterious organization's horrible experiments.






27 Dresses
starring: Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Edward Burns, Malin Akerman

Jane, a young woman who has been a bridesmaid 27 times before, faces her toughest bridesmaid duty ever when she's asked to attend to her younger sister's wedding to the man that she is secretly in love with.

Lifetime Movies: The Ultimate Guilty Pleasure

In honor of today's nasty weather, I'm posting a list inspired by my favorite rainy day activity: watching Lifetime movie marathons. Come on, you can't beat the overacting, the melodrama, the closing courtroom scenes, or the attempts by '90s TV stars to fight typecasting by playing the "bad guys." Here are some of my favorites (most of which are, of course, based on a true story):

No One Would Tell
starring: Fred Savage (The Wonder Years' Kevin Arnold), Candace Cameron Bure (Full House's DJ Tanner)

A shy teenager (Bure) becomes involved in, and eventually can't get out of, an abusive relationship with a popular and attractive athlete (Savage).





She Cried No
starring: Candace Cameron Bure (DJ Tanner), Mark Paul-Gosselaar (Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris), Jenna von Oy (Blossom's Six LeMeure)

When a college freshman (Bure) attends a party thrown by her brother's fraternity, she is date-raped by a fraternity member (Gosselaar).





Dying to Belong
starring: Hilary Swank (ever heard of her?), Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack Morris), and Jenna von Oy (Six LeMeure), Sarah Chalke (Scrub's Dr. Elliot Reid)

After a college freshman's friend is killed during a night of sorority hazing, she (Swank) sets out to expose the dark underside of Greek life.





Death of a Cheerleader
starring: Kellie Martin, Tori Spelling (both Lifetime movie veterans)

Angela DelVecchio (Martin) wants to be popular so much that when popular cheerleader Stacey Lockwood (Spelling) rejects her friendship, she reacts by killing her.




She's Too Young
starring: Alexis Dziena, Marcia Gay Harden, Megan Park, Miriam McDonald

A mother (Harden) is shocked to find out that her 14-year-old daughter (Dziena) has contracted syphilis, and even more shocked to find out that a syphilis epidemic has overtaken the high school.




Also, I found a pretty interesting database that has links to articles about the "real stories" on which these Lifetime movies have been based. Be sure to check out the stories behind Death of a Cheerleader (under A Friendship to Die For) and No One Would Tell.

Upcoming Adaptations from Best-Sellers

I've noticed that there are several upcoming films that have been adapted from best-selling novels. Let's take a look at a few:

My Sister's Keeper
Novel by: Jodi Picoult
Status: Filming; 2009 release
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Alec Baldwin, Sofia Vassilieva, Abigail Breslin

A young teen, conceived as a genetic match for her leukemia-fighting sister, sues her parents for emancipation. A bit of trivia: Real-life sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning were supposed to star in this movie together, however, rumor has it that Dakota pulled out and took Elle with her because she didn't want to shave her head for the role (Can you really blame her?). Here's a picture of Sofia Vassilieva on the set with her shaved head.


The Lovely Bones
Novel by: Alice Sebold
Status: Post-production, will be released on March 13, 2009
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Saoirse Ronan

A young girl who was brutally raped and murdered watches her family from heaven, as her father becomes obsessed with catching her killer, her mother grows distant from the rest of the family, and her sister grows up and experiences things that she never will. After reading the novel, I'm really curious to see the film adaptation, especially since it is being directed by Peter Jackson, the man behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the remake of King Kong.


The Time Traveler's Wife
Novel by: Audrey Niffenegger
Status: Post-production, will be released on December 25, 2008
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Eric Bana

A librarian with a gene that causes him to involuntarily travel through time shares a romance that endures across time with an artist whose life unfolds sequentially.



The Secret Life of Bees
Novel by: Sue Monk Kidd
Status: Post-production, will be released on October 17, 2008
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Sophie Okonedo, Paul Bettany, Hilarie Burton

A 14-year-old girl in 1964 flees with her caregiver to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past in an attempt to escape from her loneliness and her abusive father.

Weekend Box Office Totals April 25 - 27

1. Baby Mama - $18,271,000
2. Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay - $14,570,000
3. The Forbidden Kingdom - $11,230,000
4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall - $11,014,000
5. Nim's Island - $4,525,000
6. Prom Night - $4,400,000
7. 21 - $4,000,000
8. 88 Minutes - $3,600,000
9. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! - $2,410,000
10. Deception - $2,225,000
11. Street Kings - $2,125,000
12. Leatherheads - $1,815,000

For an article on this week's box office, click here. For the complete list, click here.

New to Theaters This Weekend

Baby Mama
starring: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler

When a successful but single businesswoman discovers that she's infertile, she hires an unlikely surrogate.







Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
starring: John Cho, Kal Penn

Well, they've left White Castle, the site of their 2004 film, and now the two stoner friends are stuck trying to flee from the authorities, who suspect them of being terrorists after their attempt to sneak a bong onto their flight to Amsterdam. "Hilarity" ensues.






Deception
starring: Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, Michelle Williams

An accountant becomes the prime suspect in both a woman's disappearance and a multi-million dollar robbery after he is introduced to a mysterious sex club known as the List by his lawyer friend.

New DVD Releases 4/22/08

Charlie Wilson's War
starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman

This drama centers on Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson's secret efforts to assist Afghani rebels in their fight against the Soviets.






Cloverfield
starring: Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel

A group of five young New Yorkers throw their friend a party the same night a monster attacks the city.





The Savages
starring: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman

A brother and sister begin to care for their sick father. Laura Linney earned an Academy Award nomination for her role as Wendy Savage.

First Look at Amelia

Amelia, set for release in 2009, is a biopic of Amelia Earhart, the famous American pilot who disappeared mysteriously in 1937 while flying over the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to make a flight around the world. The film will chronicle Earhart's rocky relationship with publisher - promoter George Putnam, whom she eventually married.

Hilary Swank has been cast as Amelia Earhart. JustJared.com posted the first pictures of Hilary as she arrived in Toronto last week to begin shooting. Apparently, the big uproar is that when Hilary arrived in Toronto, she did so sans eyebrows. I think she's looking quite a bit like Amelia herself.

















In other casting news, Richard Gere is set to plan Putnam and Virginia Madsen has just signed on to play Dorothy Binney, Putnam's first wife. Who's excited?

Weekend Box Office Totals April 18 - 20

1. The Forbidden Kingdom - $20,870,000
2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall - $17,348,000
3. Prom Night - $9,100,000
4. 88 Minutes - $6,800,000
5. Nim's Island - $5,650,000
6. 21 - $5,500,000
7. Street Kings - $4,000,000
8. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! - $3,500,000
9. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed - $3,153,000
10. Leatherheads - $3,022,000
11. Smart People - $1,613,000
12. Superhero Movie - $1,542,000

For an article on this week's box office, click here. For the complete list, click here.

New to Theaters This Weekend

88 Minutes
starring: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski

Jack Gramm, a college professor and forensic psychiatrist, receives a death threat telling him that he only has 88 minutes to live.







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

After Peter Bretter is dumped by Sarah Marshall, he decides to take a Hawaiian vacation so that he can forget her. Unbeknownst to Peter, however, Sarah is traveling to the same resort with her new boyfriend.






The Life Before Her Eyes
starring: Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood, Eva Amurri

A woman's guilt at having survived a school shooting twenty years ago while her best friend did not causes her present-day life to fall apart.

New DVD Releases 4/15/08

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
starring: Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman

After two brothers organize the robbery of their parents' jewelry store, their plan goes horribly wrong.







Juno
starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman

This Best Picture nominee made Ellen Page a household name for her role as a pregnant teen who finds a couple to adopt her unborn child.





Lars and the Real Girl
starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, Patricia Clarkson

A delusional young guy begins a relationship with a blow up doll that he found on the Internet.

Movie Brings Back 9/11 Memories

photo courtesy Mike Lewis, The Gothamist

This week, the movie Julie and Julia was filming in lower Manhattan. The film, due for a 2009 release, tells the story of Julie Powell (played by Enchanted's Amy Adams) as she attempts to make the more than 500 recipes in Julia Child's classic cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," in one year's time from her Queens kitchen. The film also weaves in aspects of Julia Child's (played by Meryl Streep) life.

A small scene in the movie required Amy Adams to emerge from the subway and to walk pass a 9/11 memorial -laden fence outside of St. Paul's Chapel. Movie crews, therefore, had to recreate the memorial that covered St. Paul's Chapel's fence from 9/11 to November 2002.

Many people were taken aback at the sight of the memorial. Some expressed a need for a real one, and others, who perhaps didn't know about the filming, added their own mementos to the fence. The film crew allowed those momentos to remain.

For two more articles about this week's filming, click here and here.

First Look at W.

Oliver Stone has taken on Presidents JFK and Nixon, along with September 11 (with 2006's World Trade Center), and has now set his sights on bringing the presidency of George W. Bush to the big screen. Presently titled W., the movie is listed as being in preproduction, with production starting sometime this month. It will supposedly chronicle the life and presidency of George W. Bush and will be released in 2009.

Here's your first look at the first family:



Josh Brolin - George W. Bush








Elizabeth Banks - Laura Bush







James Cromwell - George H. W. Bush








Ellen Burstyn - Barbara Bush







In other casting news, Thandie Newton (of Crash and, most recently, Run, Fat Boy, Run) has been lined up to play Condoleezza Rice. Ioan Gruffudd will play former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Jeffrey Wright will play Colin Powell.

Thoughts?

Weekend Box Office Totals April 11 - 13

1. Prom Night - $20,804,941
2. Street Kings - $12,469,631
3. 21 - $10,470,173
4. Nim's Island - $9,111,667
5. Leatherheads - $6,276,665
6. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! - $5,920,566
7. Smart People - $4,092,465
8. The Ruins - $3,385,395
9. Superhero Movie - $3,216,247
10. Drillbit Taylor - $2,044,988
11. Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns - $1,555,182
12. 10,000 B.C. - $1,478,374

One interesting note is that Prom Night brought in $9.6 million from 2700 theaters on Friday, giving it the highest opening day for an April horror film. For more information on Friday's totals, click here.

To see the complete box office chart, click here.

New to Theaters This Weekend

Prom Night
starring: Brittany Snow, Scott Porter, Jessica Stroup, Dana Davis

Donna thinks that her senior prom will be the "best night of her life" but when the night takes a deadly turn, Donna and her friends must find a way to escape a sadistic killer from her past.






Street Kings
starring: Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans

When evidence implicates veteran LAPD officer Tom Ludlow in the execution of a fellow officer, he begins to question cop culture and the loyalties of those around him.






Smart People
starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Quaid, Thomas Haden Church, Ellen Page

A widowed professor receives an unexpected visit from his adopted brother and finds a new love.

New DVD Releases 4/8/08

There Will Be Blood
starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Mary Elizabeth Barrett, Paul Dano

This Best Picture nominee deals with family, greed, religion, and oil, while telling the story of Daniel Plainview, a turn-of-the-century prospector.







Reservation Road
starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly, Mira Sorvino

A hit-and-run accident changes the course of two families' lives forever.







Lions for Lambs
starring: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise

When two Army rangers suffer injuries behind enemy lines in Afghanistan, a chain of events is set off involving a congressman (Cruise), a journalist (Streep), and a professor (Redford).

Weekend Box Office Totals April 4 - 6

1. 21 - $15,337,418
2. Nim's Island - $13,210,579
3. Leatherheads - $12,682,595
4. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who - $9,115,987
5. The Ruins - $8,003,421
6. Superhero Movie - $5,417,920
7. Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns - $3,418,255
8. Drillbit Taylor - $3,405,937
9. Shutter - $2,830,336
10. 10,000 B.C. - $2,797,409
11. Stop-Loss - $2,271,595
12. Under the Same Moon - $1,730,661

For an article on this weekend's box office, click here. For the complete list, click here.

From My Netflix Queue...

In honor of John Krasinski's new movie Leatherheads coming to theaters this weekend, I'd like to call attention to one of his earlier, direct to DVD films. Now, I admit, I only rented A New Wave to see a pre-fame John Krasinski, but not even he could save this laughable "action" movie.

Gideon (Krasinski), Desmond (Andrew Keegan; Yes, the same Andrew Keegan who graced BOP and Tiger Beat magazine covers ten years ago), and Rupert (Dean Edwards) formulate a plan to rob the bank where Desmond, an amateur artist, works. The only problem, however, is that Gideon, the group's ringleader, learned everything he knows about robbing banks from the movies.

I'd say if you're a John Krasinski fan and you're looking for a mindless movie that you can make fun of as you watch, go for it and rent A New Wave. It has some hysterical moments (probably by accident) and you get to see John in full on gangsta garb!

To watch the A New Wave trailer, click here.

New to Theaters This Weekend

Nim's Island
starring: Jodie Foster, Abigail Breslin, Gerard Butler

A young girl living on a deserted island with her scientist father gets in touch with a famous but reclusive author.






The Ruins
starring: Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey, Joe Anderson

A group of friends visiting Mexico embark on an archaeological dig in the jungle, where they discover something evil living among the ruins.





Leatherheads
starring: George Clooney, John Krasinski, Renee Zellweger

This romantic comedy, directed by George Clooney and set in the 1920s, tells the story of the beginning of America's professional football league.

Food Inspired by Movies

This week on Bravo's Top Chef, the contestants were challenged to come up with dishes inspired by their favorite films. You can click here to see what the contestants came up with and you can continue reading to see the (less gourmet) dishes that I came up with.

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Want to have what Sally's having? Well then enjoy a chef's salad with oil and vinegar on the side and apple pie a la mode (heated with strawberry ice cream on the side or whipped cream if there's no strawberry ice cream or just the pie if the whipped cream comes from a can).







Lady and the Tramp (1955)

You can't go wrong with a classic dish like spaghetti and meatballs, especially if you have someone to share the noodles with!








Forrest Gump (1994)

Make Bubba proud and have some shrimp. After all, it is "the fruit of the sea." Then, after your meal, you can go play some ping pong.










American Beauty (1999)

As part of his midlife crisis, Lester Burnham quits his corporate job and starts working at Mr. Smiley's, a local fast food restaurant. Reflect on how ridiculous Lester's actions are while indulging in a burger and fries.







The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

All right, it might be a little morbid, but one of the best examples of food being integrated into a film has to be when ruthless killer Dr. Hannibal Lector tells FBI agent Clarice Starling how a census taker once tried to test him and he "ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."



For more food in film, check out this article from chow.com where they list some all time favorite food scenes. Bon Appetit!